"Killer On A Hot Tin Roof"

"Killer On A Hot Tin Roof" is one of a series of "Delilah Dickenson Literary Tour" mysteries by Livia J. Washburn.  Delilah runs a literary travel agency and the latest tour is off  to New Orleans for the annual Tennessee Williams Literary Festival.  Delilah seems to have her hands full with this group -- trying to keep them all happy and out of trouble.  When one professor brings along a man who claims he is the one time lover of Tennessee Williams as well as the real author of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," sparks fly and murder brings out the worst in everyone. 

I found the book a light summer read but despite the fact I didn't figure out who the murderer was until about the time Delilah uncovered him, it wasn't the type of mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat not wanting to put the book down.  However it had some memorable lines:

"I can show you the places where my pen slipped into the scars and irregularities of the wood and it left marks on the paper...just like our lives slip into the scars and irregularities of the world and it leaves marks on our hearts."

"Sometimes I think if is one of the most useless words in the English language, because most of the time it's just pointing out where you went wrong and there's not a blasted thing you can do to change it.  All you can do is keep going forward and hope for the best."

pazt

"Desert Run" - a Lena Jones Mystery

"Desert Run" is the 4th book in the Lena Jones mystery series by Betty Webb.  The story centers around a film being made about an escape in 1944 from a German POW camp near where Scottsdale, AZ, is now located.  Although the story about the prison escape is true, Webb has added three additional escapees to the original 25 and built a mystery around these three ficticious characters.

Lena Jones has been hired by Warren Quinn, the director of the documentary to provide security for the film set.  When one of the surviving escapees who is wheelchair bound is murdered, Lena begins an investigation that leads to another mystery - who killed the Bollinger family around the time of the escape?  Was it the teenage son who wasn't home at the time supposedly or someone else?  As she begins to look into those murders, other murders occur and it looks like the past and the present may collide.  One of the victims is a friend she had hoped could give her more information about the Bollinger case so it becomes a personal vendetta to find the murderer or murderers.

In the meantime, Warren Quinn is developing feelings for Lena and it appears she might be reciprocating them - can it go any further when he returns to his home in California?  Her business partner has also given his notice that he's off to work at a "real" job now that he's getting married.  Will she be able to survive and thrive without Jimmy available to do investigative work via the computer?  The future holds promise and uncertainty for Lena - if she solves this murder mystery, what's next on the horizon for her?  Another great read!  pazt

"A Shot In The Dark"

I miss Peter Sellers!  "A Shot In The Dark" was his second film in the Pink Panther series and he starred with the beautiful (and sexy) Elke Sommer in this one.  She's a maid in the household of a millionaire and, when her boyfriend (the chauffeur) is murdered and she's found with a smoking gun in her hand, she's the obvious murderer.  However, Inspector Clouseau (played by Sellers) in his haphazard way sets out to prove her innocence.  Every time he has her released from jail, though, another household member ends up murdered with her holding the murder weapon!  I haven't laughed this much at a movie in a very long time.  If laughter truly is the best medicine, then this is the movie to watch to help you heal!  pazt.

"A Fatal Grace"

"Dead Cold" by Louise Penny is also known as "A Fatal Grace" which was the version I found at my local library.  This is a Three Pines Mystery and the second book in Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series set in Canada.  Three Pines is a fictional hamlet created by Penny and "located" outside Montreal.  After reading her 6th book in the series, "Bury Your Dead," I decided I wanted to read them in order and watch the characters develop throughout the series.

"A Fatal Grace" is the winner of The New Blood Dagger and the Arthur Ellis award.  This mystery puzzles me somewhat because it refers to a case that Gamache needs to revisit that has been a blight on his career but doesn't give complete enough details to satisfy me so I'm hoping that mystery will eventually be cleared up in future books in the series.

It's winter in Three Pines and CC de Poitiers is a fairly new resident in town purchasing the Hadley house on the hill - moving in with her husband and their overweight daughter.  CC has self published a book and is in the process of trying some other ventures but what she seems most accomplished at is verbally destroying her daughter's self-esteem, being absent from hearth and home, and creating in others a total dislike of her!  So....it's no surprise when she ends up murdered but the method of her murder puzzles Gamache and his team and it will take some sleuthing to uncover a cunning murderer who had the ability to electrocute CC on a frozen lake in full view of a crowd of spectators at the annual curling tournament.

Once again I was treated to continued character development of the residents of Three Pines and Gamache's team as they attempt to solve the murder of this universally disliked woman.  At the start of the investigation Gamache asks Robert Lemieux to join his team for this investigation.  (Lemieux was the duty officer at the Cowansville police station who informed Gamache of the death.)

Once again, I read this book quickly and I'm already awaiting arrival of the next book in the series.

pazt