Whistling in the Dark "Whistling in the Dark" by Lesley Kagen is a story told by an unusual voice. Twelve-year-old Sally O'Malley describes a tension filled summer when she tried to protect Troo, her younger sister. It is 1959 and these two sisters are coping with a situation that would have them placed in foster care today. This was a simpler time, but it could also be more brutal and uncaring. Women and children did not have as many resources or legal protections in place as we have in our contemporary society. Women were only expected to marry and clean house and children had a certain invisibility.

Sally and Troo's father had been killed in an automobile accident and their mother quickly remarried an unpleasant man. Since he was a shoe salesman in Milwaukee, the family had to move away from their farm and abandon a beloved dog. Life for these two girls is miserable while they have the usual feelings that this brutal man is no replacement for their beloved father. When their mother is hospitalized, they have no loving supervision. Their older half-sister, Nell, is expected to care for them, but she is deeply involved with her new boyfriend. Also, there is a real danger that the girls must face. A young girl has been molested and murdered in their neighborhood and this tension carries throughout the book. The girls express their understanding of the brutal crime in the simplistic way of children. They even play games that simulate the danger. Sally made a promise to her father that she would watch over her younger sister. When they are left to their own resources during the summer, Sally finds a way to be invited into neighboring homes for meals. Both girls know that a criminal is active in the neighborhood, especially after another little girl is murdered. Sally is a child who is considered to have an overactive imagination so she suspects various people may have committed the crimes. When the reader is seeing and hearing what Sally sees and hears, they share her suspicions or may have other insights. Sally is convinced that first one, then another neighbor is the murderer. The novel has elements of mystery plotting, but it also explores the demons in the minds of young children when their basic security is lost. A midwest child of that era will find much phraseology comfortably familiar.

This novel was donated to the DeWitt Public Library through a memorial gift in honor of Sherry Henderson. [10-05-08]

Fearless Fourteen   Mysteries are my favorite genre. When your life is demanding, they usually are the types of novel that can be read for pure relaxation. You don't need to spend time trying to understand characters' deep psychological motivations, because they are just directly motivated to find the bad guy. Some of my recent favorites are:

"Fearless Fourteen" by Janet Evanovich is the most requested novel at the DeWitt Library. This is an extremely successful mystery series featuring Stephanie Plum, the ultimate Jersey Girl. In the first novel of the series, she lost her job as a lingerie buyer, so she blackmailed her cousin, Vinnie, into giving her a job as a bounty hunter at his bail bond company. Thus begins her very funny, rather inept crime-fighting career. Joe Morelli, Stephanie's on and off again cop boyfriend, has a cousin who robbed a bank of nine million dollars. The cousin has done the time, but where is the money? All sorts of nasty characters are looking for the money. Stephanie and Joe try to keep an eye on the action. Meanwhile, Stephanie has to track down FTAs (failure to appear) such as an eighty-five year old wanted for indecent exposure. The series if filled with hilarious characters that leave you laughing out loud. Its easy to read the series in order because each title has a number.

"Died in the Wool" by Rett MacPherson features Tori O'Shea as the lead character. She is a museum director, amateur genealogist, and local historian. These are not the usual job skills you would expect to be involved with solving crimes. In the second novel of the series, Torie is ready to buy a local house with a past. Three members of one family committed suicide in the house within one year of each other in the 1920's. The way Torie uses genealogical records, news articles, and people's reminiscences to determine what really happened to the family is fascinating.

"Wicked Weaves" by Joyce and Jim Lavene is an inside look at the functions of a Renaissance Faire. Jessie Morton is a college history professor who spends her summers working at a local Renaissance Faire. Since she is preparing a doctoral dissertation on renaissance crafts, each year she apprentices herself to a different craftsperson. This year she is working for Mary Shift, a skilled Gullah basket weaver. When Mary's husband is found murdered near the shop, Jessie must find out who killed him. [10-12-08]

Nice to Come Home To "Nice to Come Home To" by Rebecca Flowers is a girly book, but a very good girly book. The characters are real and react in believable ways to problems that could truly exist. Prudence Whistler's carefully planned life has just fallen apart. All her life she has kept five-year plans going. Then she is fired from her job as a grant writer for a non-profit company. She is thirty-six years old and is realizing that all her friends are married and starting a family. She had always kept a list in the back of her Daytimer of what she wanted and exactly what she needed to do to satisfy her wants. She has spent much of her adult life serial dating and hoping that somehow she will meet the man who will be THE ONE. This bump in her road puts her in an emotional spot where she feels that maybe her current partner might be the person to whom she can make a lifetime commitment. Just as she tries to vocalize this decision, she realizes that she is being dumped. Rudy had been "improved" by Pru and now he wants to find out what else is out there on the social scene.

Pru had always set an example as an older sister to Patsy, but Patsy didn't follow her career pathway. She married briefly and has a charming daughter. Patsy and her daughter still live in Ohio, close to Pru and Patsy's mother. Patsy traditionally visits her sister occasionally for a fun Washington D. C. week. This time, on her visit she meets Jacob, a charming young doctor. When Patsy begins the move to be with him, she finds out how he really is too good to be true.

Pru yearns to have a real family, but what begins to form around her is vastly different from a traditional family grouping. Pru, Patsy, and their mother all learn new ways to form a happy, loving, family unit. When Pru has her sister, a spirited cat, a new puppy, and her niece all living with her in a one bedroom apartment, they all learn love can form a new household. The trouble Pru has finding an appropriate new apartment, a new love, and a successful career leave the reader hoping for the best. This novel is the perfect example of the phrase, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

[10-19-08]

Cache of Corpses  Finally, a mystery writer who thinks outside the box. Henry Kisor, a former literary columnist from the Chicago Sun Times, sets this particular story in fictitious Porcupine County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Porky High seniors have a little contest going to see who can "do it" in the coolest place. What two of them unfortunately discover in an abandoned building is more than they bargained for. A cadaver, less it's head and heads. Deputy Steve "Two Crow" Martinez determines that the body was meant to be found, but not identified. While examining the evidence the deputy and his staff discover small items and a computer label on the plastic wrapping covering the body. This leads Martinez to believe that they have stumbled onto a modern day treasure hunt called Geocaching. Under normal circumstances, participants use GPS or Global Positioning System or other navigational devices to hide and seek containers called geocaches. A typical cache is a waterproof container with small trinkets and a logbook with pencil or pen included. Latitude and longitude coordinates are posted on a website. Other geocachers obtain the coordinates and attempt to locate the cache with handheld GPS receivers. Those who locate them, are free to take a trinket and leave one of equal or more value for the next cacher. They will then fill in a date in the logbook. When two more corpses are found, sans head and hands, Deputy Martinez and staff find themselves following leads to several different states and one shady mortuary. This particular group of cachers is buying medical cadavers, or those intended for organ donation, and leaving them in places off the beaten path and known to locals only. When Martinez discovers the local connection, and an undisturbed body not yet located, the department sets up a stakeout. What they find is a punk with family connections and a long history of having his exploits pushed under the proverbial rug. To complicate matters, Martinez is running for sheriff. The current sheriff is getting on in years and needs to retire, but wants another term. He is local, moneyed and popular in some parts. Steve has an uphill campaign, little cash, and doesn't play dirty. The results will be interesting.

The story line is good, the plot well thought out and the conclusion will delight. Look for Season's Revenge and A Venture into Murder featuring Steve Martinez, on-order at the library. [10-26-08]