MISS ME WHEN I'M GONE (2011)

Miss Me When I'm Gone by Emily Arsenault

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my introduction to Emily Arsenault.

A friend mentioned Miss Me When I'm Gone to me because she thought I would relate to the description of one of the characters as a collector of people. There were other aspects that drew me to the mystery as well.

THE STORY: Gretchen Water's successful writing career is cut short when she dies after falling down a long flight of stone steps outside a library. Jamie, her best friend since college, is asked to become literary executor of Gretchen's unfinished work.

The story is cleverly told by alternating writings from Gretchen's notes and her earlier book with first person narration from Jamie, who is pregnant with her first child. 

"Tammyland", is a memoir about the author's divorce interspersed with the lives of certain iconic women of country music. The amount of research that went into writing the sections purportedly from the actual book is massive and adds to the enjoyment even for those of us who aren't country music fans.

WHAT I THOUGHT: This is definitely what I call a literate mystery. It's not so much the action but the research into finding out why that is compelling. And while you're following along with Jamie as she tries to pay tribute to her friend, you'll learn a little about country music!

FIRST LINE: "This gem might be well known among seventies tabloid readers and longtime county music fans, but perhaps not to the general reader: Tammy Wynette once saved Burt Reynolds from drowning in a bubble bath."

BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended for readers of Laura Lippman and Tana French.

Title: Miss Me When I'm Gone

Author: Emily Arsenault

Genre: Literate Mystery

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

No. of Pages: 336

Copyright: Original edition (July 31, 2012)

ISBN-10: 0062103105

ISBN-13: 978-0062103109

Emily Arsenault is also the author of The Broken Teaglass, In Search of the Rose Notes, and Miss Me When I'm Gone. She lives in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, with her husband and daughter. (From Amazon) Her newest book What Strange Creatures came out in original paperback July 22, 2014.

THE POISON TREE (2011)

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read Erin Kelly back in 2013 when her third book The Burning Air was offered on NetGalley. In my review I pledged to read both of her other books immediately since I had picked up her first The Poison Tree at a library book sale.

Since May of 2013 it has languished in a pile of other titles I have been meaning to read. Sometimes, just because the book is in the house or on my Kindle, it moves down the list. My loss because this is a truly compelling psychological suspense story.

OPENING LINE: "I let the telephone fall from my hand." With those few words, we are already drawn into the spiderweb.

The setting is London. Our narrator is Karen, an outstanding student and linguist, ready to graduate university. Her future is set. She just has to choose her path when she meets and becomes infatuated with Biba, an actress and free spirit. Eventually she moves into the crumbling mansion where Biba and her brother live. The lifestyle is bohemian and seductive and ultimately destructive. Lies and unspoken truths unfold layer by layer.

Even though the story jumps back in forth from 1997 to 2007, the transitions are beautifully handled. The reader is never confused about time and place. Erin Kelly writes so well that there were sentences I should have marked so I could find them again. These are the two things that make a book special for me: good writing and surprise. The Poison Tree has both.

Time to find a copy of The Dark Rose. 

BOTTOM LINE: If you like Kate Atkinson, Donna Tartt, or Tana French, you should try Erin Kelly. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Title: The Poison Tree

Author: Erin Kelly

Genre: Psychological Suspense, Thriller

Publisher: Viking / Penguin Books; Reprint edition (January 6, 2011)

No. of Pages: 336 pages

Copyright:2009 / Reprint 2011

ISBN-13: 978-0-670-02240-3

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Library book sale

Erin Kelly was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex. She read English at Warwick University and has been working as a journalist since 1998, writing for newspapers and magazines including Red, Psychologies, Marie Claire and Elle. She continues to write about health, lifestyle, women’s issues and parenting. Her fourth novel, The Ties that Bind, is out now, followed in August by Broadchurch: The Novel, inspired by the first season of 2013's mega-hit ITV series.

She lives in north London with her husband and daughters. (paraphrased from Erin Kelly's website)

Tim Burton to Direct Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Tim Burton to Direct Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. You can read what I had to say about it when I read it two years ago by clicking HERE.

THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC (2011)

I have happily stumbled onto the Japanese Literature Challenge #6. I say happily because I just finished reading Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic and have an overwhelming need to share its haunting beauty with other readers.

An exquisite gem of a book. The Buddha in the Attic is an emotional experience and not a casual read. It borders on poetry.

Rather than telling a story in the traditional manner, Otsuka interweaves the voices of many to create an impression of a whole and by doing so makes the argument that we dehumanize by labeling. It is the small particulars that she brings to the readers attention that make this book unique and moving.

Almost a century ago women were brought from Japan to San Francisco as 'picture brides' for the immigrant Japanese workers. The story follows them through the arc of their history up until their removal during World War II..

I had never heard about the internment of Japanese Americans until I had a roommate in college whose family had lived through the experience and ultimately left this country for Canada. A number of years ago my husband and I drove to the site of the Hart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, a desolate, isolated place that once was home to over 10,000 detainees. Apparently an interpretive center opened in 2011, but when we were there, it appeared abandoned.

The basic facts are of internment are devastating by themselves. The Buddha in the Attic makes the story personal and heart breaking.

Otsuka's  first novel, When the Emperor was Divine (2002), could be considered a companion piece in some ways. I read that stark and beautifully written novel suspecting it was drawn from family history, and in fact discovered that her grandfather was one of many suspected Japanese spies arrested shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Otsuka's mother, uncle, and grandmother were interred at a camp in Utah for three years.

My father always told me the world was not fair, but what he didn't stress is how randomly cruel it can be even for the innocent.

TECHNICALLY, THAT'S ILLEGAL (2011)

Technically, That's Illegal by Ann Sattley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For years I have been insisting that everyone is violating some law/rule or other whether they are aware of doing so or not. So I was delighted to find this author who did some research that proves the point. A quick read, this is her experiment in 'trying' to follow the rules! RECOMMENDED.

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Fever Dream (2011)

Fever Dream by Dennis Palumbo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just devoured Dennis Palumbo's second Dan Rinaldi mystery called Fever Dream. Wow! Another wild ride that I just couldn't put down.

Short chapters invite you to read just one more, but Palumbo has refined the trick of planting some tantalizing bit of information, as you get ready to place your bookmark, and that keeps you reading way past your bedtime.

When an exceptionally violent bank robbery takes place in downtown Pittsburgh just as election time approaches, the police once again reluctantly enlist the help of psychologist Rinaldi to help with the sole survivor. The twists and turns make for a wild ride.

I loved the Mirror Image and Fever Dream is even better! Now we just sit back and wait for the third entry in the series.

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