seewildflowers

Tail Gait by Rita Mae Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I stayed up almost an hour late last night to finish reading Tail Gait by Rita Mae Brown. It’s the 24th book in the “Mrs Murphy” mystery series. I just read another one in the series, but since it was set around Christmas, I figured this one would be set during the Spring, and I was right. Woo!

Now that Spring has arrived in Crozet, VA, Harry and her family and friends are busy with farming, gardening, golfing, and socializing. Not long after having dinner with retired UVA professor Greg “Ginger” McConnell and some of the UVA football team of ‘59, Harry is dismayed to learn Ginger was gunned down on the golf course. Since he was universally beloved, the police can find no motive for the killing. Harry, however, wonders if something that he was researching led to his untimely death. As she tries to piece together what Ginger was looking into and how it could relate to anything current, Harry puts herself in the crosshairs of a killer.

This was something of a departure in this series. Mrs Murphy seemed to almost take a back seat. Plus, the author was alternately telling another story, one from the time of the Revolutionary War, that impacted current events. I’m not fond of stories that jump around in time, although in this case important information was imparted. The narrative held my attention. Characters were fully realized and portrayed flawlessly.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Smartest thing we ever did, separation of church and state.”
♦ “If that cat gets any bigger, throw some tack on her.”
♦ “She doesn’t need beauty sleep, she needs a beauty coma.”
♦ “Don’t sit under an apple tree and beg for a pear.”

Very good, four stars

A Wild Ghost Chase by Elle Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Earlier this evening I knocked back the rest of A Wild Ghost Chase by Elle Adams. It’s the first book in the “Reaper Witch” series of paranormal mysteries. The main character is Maura, half witch, half Reaper.

After breaking the rules as a Reaper, Maura has turned her back on her paranormal life to live among non-magical people. However, her ability to see and communicate with ghosts continues to plague her. Now she’s been sacked from her job in a morgue and wondering how she’ll pay the rent. Maura is contacted by a teenage ghost blogger who asks her to come to Hawkwood Hollow to lay a particularly nasty ghost to rest. Maura accepts the job, but what she finds in Hawkwood Hollow is unexpected. There are far too many random spirits hanging around, even for a magical town, and she learns that the local Reaper has quit his job and is no longer crossing souls over. Teenage ghost-hunter wannabe, Carey, shows Maura the dilapidated old mansion where the surly spirit refuses to leave. What should be a simple case for a Reaper witch is complicated by a detective who doesn’t want Maura there, a belligerent heir, and her own twin brother, Mart, whose ghost is still attached to her. Maura is determined to get to the bottom of things, if only for Carey’s sake and to show Detective Drew that she knows what she’s doing.

This was a little bit fluffy and a little bit creepy. The ghost of old Mrs Renner was a nasty piece of work, as was her very much alive grandson, Henry Renner. Maura keeps being thwarted by the detective each time she tries to enter the house to communicate with Mrs Renner, and the old harridan is determined to stay put. Maura and Carey were portrayed well, but other characters could have used some fleshing out. The story was almost exclusively Maura’s investigation with some backstory thrown in.

Favorite line: Most magical folk are about as subtle as a troupe of unicycle-riding clowns juggling fireballs.

Not all that substantial, but enjoyable. It deserves 3.5 stars, but since I can’t award halfsies, I’ll bump it up to a four.