Ahira's Hangar

We are missing more than a year's worth of posts from this thread... I hope that they come back.

In the meantime, I recently read a good character-based mystery by a writer named Charlaine Harris. By character based, I mean that developing the main character was just as important as the mystery itself.

The book was called Shakespeare's Landlord, and was set in a tiny town in Arkansas called Shakespeare. The main character in the book, Lily Bard, had been the vivtim of a horrifying crime earlier in her life. She ended up in Shakespeare, sort of hiding from her past. She doesn't want anyone to know what had happened to her, as it was so horrific it makes people view her as a victim rather than as a person.

A murder takes place in the tiny town, and Lily, as a mysterious outsider, is investigated by the police. Her past gets out, and interesting things happen as a result. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Last week I read a little mystery book lent to me by a friend, called The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog by Marian Babson. It was rather light and fluffy reading, and featured some elderly actresses who were old time movie & early TV stars. I think it might have been part of a series, but it was understandable as a stand-alone novel. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I am reading another book passed on to me by a friend -- How to Murder a Millionaire by Nancy Martin.

A former debutante and social butterfly, who becomes impoverished when her parents skip the country, leaving her the family farm/estate and a two million dollar tax bill, takes a job as a gossip columnist for a newspaper in Philly. This is the first job she has ever held, as she was borin into some seriously old money. She becomes involved in a murder investigation when the police ask her for help, as the socialites they are investigating prove to be closed mouthed snobs who will not cooperate with them.

In addition, there is an old family curse that every girl born into that family will marry a bad boy who will die young, leaving her widowed. So Nora and both of her sisters are all young widows, and deal with weird romantic lives as a result. Well, one of the sisters is now on her second husband, but he seems like a weirdo. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Duchess wrote Quote:In the meantime, I recently read a good character-based mystery by a writer named Charlaine Harris. By character based, I mean that developing the main character was just as important as the mystery itself. OMG, this could be the Charlaine Harris who writes the Southern Vampire series, one of the series is title Undead walking. Most of the folks I know who read lots of vampire stuff, and FWIW I know a few, like her stuff. What is it about southern gals and vampires? Laurell K. Hamilton is a Missouri gal, and Anne Rice thinks of herself as a Louisiana woman. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>

I do not know if this is the same writer, as I had never heard of her before my friend handed me the little mystery books. But I could definately see this writer being able to write horror stuff, and write it well. The atmosphere in the little town in Arkansas is claustrophobic and creepy, and she really captures that small-town-where-everyone-knows-everyone's-business very well.

In addition, the old crime that happened to Lily, the main character is definately worthy of a horror novel in its sheer horridness and nastyness. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Taras, I did some checking around, and I believe that the Charlaine Harris who wrote the mystery book I enjoyed so much a couple of posts above, is indeed the same woman who wrote a series about vampires. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I am in the middle of the middle book of a three book mystery series passed on to me by my mystery loving friend. (How is that for a tongue twister sentence? ). There might actually be more than three books, but she passed on the three.

The series is called The Karma Crime Mysteries and is written by Claire Daniels. The books are called:
Body of Intution
Strangled Intuition
Cruel and Unusual Intuition

They are set out in California amongst some people who take New Age stuff like auras and spiritual healing very seriously. In fact, the main character, a former lawyer named Cally Lazar, is a massage therapist who can see peoples's auras and is a spiritual healer of sorts (she calls herself an "energy worker").

Since I am not into New Age stuff myself, I'm having a bit of trouble taking the characters seriously, especially Cally's boyfriend who is always going on about "dark forces". I think he needs to go on prozac or something. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Here's a link that shows all her books.

www.fantasticfiction.co.u...Harris.htm

Adios
Rockin' & in The Land of Oz
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Thank you for the link. I enjoyed Shakespeare's Landlord enough that I would definately be interested in reading more of the Lily Bard books...and possibly those vampire ones as well. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I read through a big stack of mystery books while camping on the beach the last few days.

I finished up the third book in the Karma Crime Series by Claire Daniels, called Cruel and Unusual Intuition. This is the one that was extremely "New Agey". As I said before, I had some trouble taking it seriously. And I wanted to kick the boyfriend, and his "Dark Forces" nonsense right in the pooter.

I read the second book in the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries by Nancy Martin, called Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds. This series is set in an old blood/money family in Philadelphia who has fallen on hard times. The family also has an old curse that the daughters all marry bad boys who die young, leaving them young widows. This generation has three daughters, no sons -- all three of them young widows who are attracted to bad boys. It is written very tongue-in-cheek, and even though I wouldn't normally be particularly interested in stories about poor-little-rich-girls, these are actually a lot of fun.

I read the first and the fourth (someday I hope to go back and read the second and third ) books in The Archaeological Mysteries by Lyn Hamilton. These books were called The Xibalba Murders and The Celtic Riddle. They are about an antiqie collector/boutique owner from Toronto, Canada who travels the world on buying trips for her store, and runs into mysteries involving valuable ancient artifacts. The first book was set in the Yucatan and involved a priceless Mayan artifact, that people are willing to murder to get their hands on. The seond is set in Ireland and involves a will that leaves clues for a treasure hunt for a valuable artifact -- and also an old family feud. These were fairly interesting (it helps to know a bit of the mythology of the involved culture) and I hope to read more of the series someday.

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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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While on my trip to New York I didn't have too much reading time, as we kept very busy.

But I did sneak in two short mystery books. They were called Some Like it Lethal and Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die. They are the third and fourth books in Nancy Martin's Blackbird Sisters Mysteries series. Like the first two books, these are pretty fun reads. The first of these two deals with blackmail and murder in Philadelphia's high society. The second of the two deals with murder and the debut of a new wonder bra. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I have been reading my way through a wonderful mystery series by Alexander McCall Smith called The Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency Series. Danlo, Lady Tam might like these. They are charming and warm, and the heroine is quite wonderful - intelligent, cheerful, hard working, likes to help others, cunning but very moral, and with a heart as big as her size 22 dress size. And the stories have a unique and lovely setting in Botswana.

The titles are:
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

I am on the third book right now, and have been completely delighted by these books. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Am about to start the fourth Ladies #1 Detective Agency book, The Kalahari Typing School for Men. These books are so charming and warm.

The heroine is Precious Ramotswe, a lady in her 30's, and while not well educated, is very intelligent and wise. She is the sort of person you wish you could have as your next door neighbor.

The first book in the series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, tells of how she uses money from her father's estate to found the first detective agency in Botswana. She does this because she wants to help people. One of the most haunting cases in the first book is that of a missing little boy, thought to be kidnapped by witch doctors.

In the second book,Tears of the Giraffe, Ramotswe considers marriage to a good man, and tries to find out what happened to a young American man who disappeared many years before.

In the third book,Morality for Beautiful Girls, Ramotswe must take care of a second business when its owner falls ill. Her agency is hired by a beauty pageant to see if the finalists behave in a moral fashion. She also is hired by an important government official to find out if his family members are poisoning each other.

But these little descriptions only give a bit of the flavor of the books. One of the main characters is the country of Botswana itself -- a beautiful and beloved land -- and one in transition from cattle farms and extended families to one of a more Western bent. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i>Edited by: Duchess of Malfi at: 8/31/05 10:13 am
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I've been out of action with a tummy bug the last couple of days, but I did manage to read The Full Cupboard of Life in between naps. It was warm and soothing, as are the others in that series (a good thing to read when under the weather). In this one, Ramotswe in hired by a rich woman to check out her suitors to see if any of them want her rather than her money. Not a bad idea, and if I ever become rich and single... The last book in the series, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, was only out in hardcover the last time I checked, so I probably won't be reading it until its out in paperback or I find it at the library. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I was finally able to track down the rest of the books in Charlaine Harris's Lily Bard mystery series. They are short little books, so I have been reading them while waiting to see whether or not I get deployed for disaster relief (there's not much point in starting something long or complicated when you might have to leave town with very short notice).
The titles:
Shakespeare's Landlord
Shakespeare's Champion
Shakespeare's Christmas
Shakespeare's Trollop
Shakespeare's Counselor

The books feature Lily Bard as the main character. She was the victim of a truly horrifying crime, hated being seen as a "victim", so moved to the tiny town of Shakespeare, Arkansas to start a new life. The story of how she does that, and becomes more and more emotionally healthy as time goes on is the primary story of the series, though the mysteries are interesting as well. Good, meaty, character driven stories. Lily's emotional health growsa bit by bit in each book, so its probably a good idea to read them in order. <i>Edited by: Duchess of Malfi at: 10/19/05 10:01 pm
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