Home at Night by Paula Munier

 "...The ghosts that stalk us are the secrets we cannot keep, the trespasses we cannot forgive, the truths we cannot bury. Grackle Tree Farm had held the poet's confidences close for decades. But after all these years of silence, now her secrets were coming to light."

 The plot:  Grackle Tree Farm has just come up for sale. Mercy Carr has loved that old Victorian manor since she was young, and she and Troy Warner need a larger house now that they're married. But when they go to check out the dilapidated house, Elvis (Mercy's Belgian Malinois) discovers a dead body in the library. The man appears to have been poisoned. In his pocket, is a letter dated 1942 from the famous poet, Euphemia Whitney-Jones, to a mysterious lover. Is it a coded letter leading to a hidden treasure? Is that what lead to the dead man's murder? Mercy and Elvis are on the case. 

My thoughts:  This is the fifth book in one of my favorite K-9 mystery series. I love Mercy and Troy and their two dogs, Elvis and Susie Bear! This one was especially fun because of the mystery's literary aspect. I enjoyed Mercy's hunt for the poet's hidden letters, all those old family secrets, and that cool Victorian manor that's rumored to be haunted. There are even Druids. And Mercy's and Troy's relationship just makes me happy. Great prose, well-layered and personable characters, awesome dogs, and a twisty murder investigation make this one a compelling and satisfying 5-star read. If you've never tried this series, I suggest you start with the first one, A Borrowing of Bones. It's excellent, too.

Happy Reading!

Another good K-9 mystery...

 

The Hiding Place by Paula Munier is the third book about Mercy Carr and her Belgian Malinois, Elvis. And there's a lot on Mercy's plate in this one. She just got handed one of her grandfather's cold cases involving a young woman named Beth Kilgore who went missing twenty years ago. George Rucker, the man who killed her grandfather twenty years ago, just escaped from prison. Mercy still hasn't repaired her relationship with Game Warden Troy Warner. And an army vet just showed up at her front door claiming Elvis is really his dog. Things go from bad to worse when someone delivers a pipe bomb to her grandmother's front door.

Even though there's a lot going on in this book, the focus remains on Mercy and Elvis ... and Troy and his Newfie Susie Bear. I really love these characters! I enjoyed their investigation, and that unexpected twist at the end. And I love the snowy Vermont setting. As always, Munier's writing is good. And Mercy isn't quite so stubborn and hard-headed this time around; she only makes one really stupid decision. Luckily, Elvis rectifies it fairly quickly. Because he's awesome. All the dogs in this book are awesome. It's one of the reasons I love this series so much. 

Happy Reading!

Other books in this series:

A Borrowing of Bones (Mercy Carr #1)

Blind Search (Mercy Carr #2)

Blind Search by Paula Munier

Quick synopsis:  Mercy Carr and her Belgian Malinois, Elvis, are back! It's the beginning of hunting season in Vermont when Mercy and Elvis find the body of a murdered woman in the woods. She's been shot by an arrow at close range, and they think a nine-year-old boy named Henry witnessed her murder. Only Henry's not talking--he's autistic and prefers numbers to words or people. He likes Elvis and Susie Bear though. But with his dad suspected of murder and the police wondering what he may have seen, it's clear Henry is in danger. Troy Warner, a Vermont Fish & Wildlife Game Warden and Susie Bear's owner, and Mercy are determined to protect Henry, even if that means finding the killer themselves.

What I liked:

• HENRY. With a penchant for Batman pajamas, prime numbers and playing his own version of Dungeons & Dragons, he's an easy character to love. I also loved how Elvis and Susie Bear are so protective of him, and how he was drawn to Mercy and Troy (who he named Paladin and Ranger).
• MERCY & ELVIS. "Elvis lifted his head, nose nuzzling her thigh. Even so, Mercy felt alone. Whether this feeling was down to another sudden wave of grief over her fiance's death catching her unawares again or the insistent tug of attraction to a certain game warden, she wasn't sure. Elvis licked her hand and she smiled. As long as she had Elvis, she was never alone."
• TROY & SUSIE BEAR. "Susie Bear was excited. All the way from the truck to the restaurant, she pranced in front of him. Despite her size, she was light on her feet. She stopped several times to enjoy the attentions of children and grown-ups alike. The dog's happy-go-lucky personality was a beacon, allowing Troy to shine in her light. He wasn't that good with people, but thanks to Susie Bear, most people never noticed."

My one complaint:  Mercy and Troy seemed to take a nice step forward in their relationship about halfway through the book, only to take two steps back at the end--a setback I found both frustrating and stupid. Here's hoping they resolve it quickly in the next book. 

Happy Reading!

Post script:

If you haven't read A Borrowing of Bones, Munier's previous novel about Mercy and Elvis, I'd recommend reading that one first. 

A Borrowing of Bones...

How it begins:  

"Grief and guilt are the ghosts that haunt you when you survive what others do not. Mercy Carr survived, and so did Sergeant Martinez's dog. Nearly a year after her best friend died in Afghanistan, she rose at dawn and took Elvis on another long hike through the Vermont woods. A tired dog was a good dog. ... So every morning they marched off their grief mile after mile in the mountains, where the cool greens of the forest could chase away the dark ghosts of the desert."

The main characters:

Mercy Carr, 29, former military police who's stubborn and independent, quotes Shakespeare and who's still grieving the death of her best friend and fiance ... and her dog, Elvis, a five-year-old bomb-sniffing Belgian Malinois with canine PTSD.

Troy Warner, 33, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Game Warden who's wife left him one year ago ... and Susie Bear, his Newfoundland retriever mix that he rescued who now helps him with all his search and rescue jobs.


The Mystery:

Mercy and Elvis are out hiking when they find an abandoned baby in a clearing in the woods. Troy and Susie Bear come up to help investigate and stumble upon some old bones nearby. Is it just some strange coincidence, or are they somehow connected? As Mercy and Troy investigate further the mystery surrounding both only deepens.

What I liked best:

Mercy, Elvis, Troy and Susie Bear!  Mercy and Troy are both a little broken and not sure they can trust each other. But they do trust their dogs. And together they make a formidable team. I liked the growing friendship between Mercy and Troy and I loved their dogs. The mystery is good as is the Vermont setting, but it's the characters who make it really compelling. I'd give this one 4.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

The White Christmas Inn

Christmas in Vermont at the Evergreen Inn. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? Only things aren't as perfect as they seem:  Jeanne and Tim, the owners of the inn, are struggling to make ends meet and might have to close; Hannah, who's there for her picturesque winter wedding, just got a call from her fiancee ending their relationship; and Molly can't seem to overcome her writer's block no matter how hard she tries. Add in a snowstorm that strands them all at the inn along with several other unexpected guests and you get Colleen Wright's charming Christmas novel.

I was really in the mood for a story with humor and heart and a happily-ever-after ending, and this book hit the spot on all three counts. The writing is good, and I liked all the characters...especially Hannah's childhood friend, Luke. Geoffrey, the grumpy Brit, also made me smile. And I thought the setting was great. I mean, who doesn't love snowed-in stories? And while the plot is completely predictable...it's also completely enjoyable. So if you're looking for a fun light-hearted Christmas read, give this one a try.

Happy Reading!

The Broken Girls

Simone St. James is one of my favorite authors. I love the haunting, suspenseful atmosphere she always manages to create and how her novels are that perfect combination of ghost story and mystery. Her latest, The Broken Girls, is no exception. The narrative alternates between 1950 and 2014 and involves the murders of two girls. There's more, of course, but I feel like pretty much everyone has already read and reviewed this one, so I thought I'd just mention a few of the things I liked best about it:

The Setting:  Idlewild Hall, an isolated boarding school in Vermont for girls that no one else wants. (It also happens to be haunted.)

The main character/narrator:  Fiona Sherida, a freelance writer whose sister was murdered 20 years ago. She's stubborn and fiercely independent and determined to uncover the secrets of Idlewild Hall.

The ghost:  the mysterious Mary Hand, who roams the grounds of Idlewild, bringing people's worst nightmares to life. But who was she in real life?

If you couldn't tell, I liked this one a lot! It's fast-faced, deftly written and practically impossible to put down once you start. The boarding school girls and Fiona are all great characters....I was quickly drawn into their stories, and found myself liking each and every one. And the ghost? She's great, too. I just wish she'd had more of a presence. This book felt more weighted on the mystery side of things than the supernatural this time around. But it's still a great read, with a satisfying ending. So...

Happy Reading!

Other St. James titles I've read and reviewed:

Silence of the Dead

An Inquiry Into Love and Death

Lost Among the Living

The Other Side of Midnight

The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad

Who:

• Mandy Wilks, sixteen and missing
• Frank Rath, current PI and former police detective with a teen-age daughter of his own.
• Sonja Test, Canaan's "forensics team-of-one", mother & marathoner
• Harland Grout, detective on the Canaan police force
• Ned Preacher, the man who murdered Rath's sister and who's up for parole...and out for revenge

Where:  Rural Vermont

What:  Girls are going missing without a trace; beautiful Mandy Wilks is just the latest victim. And no one knows why...or who is taking them. But Rath is determined to find a connection and figure out the truth, while keeping his own daughter, Rachel, safe.

"Wherever there were girls, some would go missing, plucked like errant threads from the fabric of  everyday life and cast into a lurid nightmare of someone else's making. Movies created suspense out of a 'forty-eight-hour window' cops had to find a girl alive, as if kidnapped girls had a 'kill-by" date. The colder reality remained:  A girl gone missing against her will, nine times out of ten, was dead within three hours."

The Verdict:  I didn't love this book, but I did like it enough to want to read the sequel, and not just because of the cliffhanger ending in this one. Rath is a flawed, but dogged detective; I liked him more as the novel went on, but I think Sonja was my favorite character. I like the way she and Rath work together. Too bad she wasn't in this book more. The mystery surrounding Mandy's and the other girls' disappearances was good:  interesting and intense, but not necessarily mind-blowing. I'm hoping the next one, The Name of Dead Girls, is better. That's why I'm off to put it on hold.

Happy Reading!

A bookish trifecta...

Today is Dorothy Canfield Fisher's 137th birthday. Her classic children's novel, Understood Betsy, which was first published in 1916, is also celebrating a birthday. It's 100th! How cool is that? Even better, Understood Betsy takes place in Vermont, which, for me, checks off another New England state in Lory's Reading New England Challenge. And that's three!

When this novel begins, Elizabeth Ann is a thin, little girl of nine living with her Aunt Harriet and Aunt Francis who coddle and fuss over her. She is a fearful, dull child prone to tears. But then Aunt Harriet gets sick and Elizabeth Ann is sent to live with her Vermont relatives, Uncle Henry, Aunt Abigail, and Cousin Ann, at Putney Farm. They dub her Betsy and teach her to do things like drive a team of horses and make butter, as well as to act and think for herself. Betsy blossoms under the care of her Vermont relatives. She gets a kitten, gains some independence, makes new friends, has some adventures, and soon discovers that while "Not a thing had happened the way she had planned...it seemed to her she had never been so happy in her life."

One hundred years after it was first written, Understood Betsy has a definite old-fashioned feel to it, with chapter headings like "Elizabeth Ann Fails in an Examination" and "Betsy Has a Birthday". Fisher is generous with her authorial comments throughout the novel, and Betsy learns many life lessons while at Putney Farm like, "A dim notion was growing in her mind that the fact that she had never done a thing was no proof that she couldn't." Wholesome would be a good word to describe this book, but I think that's why I like it. Understood Betsy transports you back to a more innocent time where life moves at a slower pace, hard work is valued, children don't grow up too fast, and happiness is found within the walls of a humble but loving home. It reminded me of both Pollyanna and Little Women, which isn't bad company to be in.

So, Happy Birthday, Dorothy Canfield Fisher!

(And Happy Reading!)