Over It or Still buzzing? (the imperfect assimilation of a recent immigrant)

Catriona McPherson, a Scottish author who now lives in Northern California, has a new book out this week called, Scot Free. This makes her ideally suited to deliver this novel, right now. You may have seen Catriona's many Drinks with Reads posts, watched her win one of her many book awards or noticed that she's the Toastmistress for this year's Malice Domestic Convention. We'll have our book review tomorrow, but for now, let's hear from Catriona about what still amazes her about living here in California.


When Lexy Campbell (heroine of SCOT FREE) moved to California, she was charmed not only by her handsome husband-to-be but also by “the exotic allure of gas-station coffee, drive-thru burgers (with a U!), and right on red”. But when Mr Handsome turns out not to be husband-quality at all, some of the other charms wear off too. “…there I was, drinking gas-station coffee that tasted like fried shoes and eating heinous burgers flipped by people who could neither cook nor spell. Right on red is a wonderful thing but it’s not enough to build a life round.”

Today at Mystery Playground I thought I’d take stock of which exotic wonders are still amazing me, eight years after I arrived in California, and which I’ve got used to. Guess which of these can still make my heart skip a beat: mailboxes, water fountains, two sinks, a big fridge and public holidays.

Mailboxes
I spent the first forty-odd years of my life with my post coming through a hole in the front door and dropping onto a mat.  But now, there’s a mailbox on a stalk down at the end of the county road where the tarmac turns to gravel. I can put stuff in it and raise the wee flag and, when Dan the mailman can’t cram a parcel in, I get a peach-coloured billet doux summoning me to the post office.

Over it or still buzzing?

Buzzerama. I LOVE MY MAILBOX! It’s so cute. It looks like a dovecote, or a little free library. It makes me happy every day.

Water fountains
I love water fountains even more than I love my mailbox, but I’m over them too. I use them most days and I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be without them. Now, in Scotland, it feels wrong to have to take water when you go out for a run. Or buy water if you’re thirsty. Chuh! Water fountains are genius. Thank you, America.

Two sinks
I knew early on in the process of house-hunting that I was probably going to have an en suite bathroom, for the first time in my life (outside hotel stays). This was amazing. And it turned out even more amazing. Because in my en suite bathroom were . . . two sinks! One for Irish Spring scum, beard bits, frogs, snails and puppy-dogs’ tails and one for sugar, spice, and this soap here. 

But am I over it or am I still buzzing?

Are you kidding? I’ll never get over the wonder of this. I deliberately wait until the scientist is shaving and then pad over to soak a little facecloth in cool, clear water and use it to wipe of my cucumber cleanser. We catch one another’s eye and say “Two sinks! Get us!” regularly.

A fridge you could live in
This house was foreclosed when we bought it and so it was completely empty. Boy, the hole for the fridge looked huge. I couldn’t believe there was a fridge that could fill it. I was wrong. People have come down the Zambezi in smaller vessels than my current fridge. Eddie Izzard’s probably planning to cross the Atlantic in something that would fit inside my fridge. And is it empty? Nope, because everything in it is huge too: ten pound bags of local oranges, quarts of milk (pints look dinky now), more yoghurt than anyone has ever eaten in a human lifetime, pickles of a range and number beyond all comprehension . . . 

But am I over it or am I still buzzing?

I’m completely over it. I’m used to it. When guests arrive from Scotland now and open the fridge they ask “Who’s all coming?” and I say “What?” They say “Who’s going to eat all that yoghu- Jeez! What was that noise?” (It was the automatic icemaker. Tee-hee.)

Holidays!

My yearly rhythm was set for long weekends at Christmas, New Year, Easter, May Day, Spring Bank, August Bank, and (recently) St Andrew’s Day. And what a long haul it sometimes was between Hogmanany and Good Friday. But here in California, you’ve no sooner got the tree down on the 6th of January than it’s Martin Luther King Day. And you’re still coasting from that on Presidents’ Day. Easter’s a sore point but Cesar Chavez Day coincided this year. Then Memorial/Labor (Which one’s which? Dunno), the fourth of July, Labor/Memorial (the other one – white gloves back in the drawer), Remembrance Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas again.
 
Buzzing?

You bet. Most of these holidays still come as a complete surprise. The scientist arrives home from work, saying: “University’s shut on Monday.” “Oh?” I say. “Why?” “Someone great but dead?” was one notable explanation a few years back. By now, I can name them all except Labor and Memorial. If anyone knows a trick for that, can you clue me in, please? Ta. 

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Mystery Playground Book Club - Death Comes to Pemberly

It's time for our first ever Mystery Playground Book Club Meeting. Our first pick was Death Comes to Pemberly by PD James. Here's what the MP team thought. Make comments below or come to the Mystery Playground Facebook Group. 

Here are a few questions for book clubs who read the book:

1) Do you think the characters remained true to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? 

2) Did you like the book?

3) Were there any plot holes, or things that bothered you?

4) Do you want to see the TV mini-series based on the book?

Deborah

The book started out a little slow for me. James' summarizes Pride and Prejudice a little and I thought if you're familiar with Austen you don't need it, and if you're not familiar with it, the summary goes too fast to be of any use. After the summary, I found the book highly entertaining and easy to follow the plot. 

For me, the characters were true to Austin, for the most part, with one major exception. I did have some questions about the ending, which I won't discuss here in case you haven't read it. I have already seen the TV mini-series, but I didn't remember the ending when I read the book. 

Pat

I thought the book was great fun. I hadn't read Austen in years, but reading the phrasing in this book brought it back. The backhanded insults made me laugh. Mrs. Bennett and Lydia are still laughable. Without giving anything away, I'm still not sure about how Wickham was portrayed. This was a fast, enjoyable and easy read. Great for a break. 

I enjoyed the book, but I have no interest in seeing it on TV now that I know the ending. I'm glad I read the book. I wouldn't have picked it up myself. 

Kerry

I’m a big fan of PD James mysteries as well as all of the Jane Austen novels, so I was very excited to read Death Comes to Pemberley. 

I think James really captured the characters as they appeared in the original Austen novel. The mystery she created surrounding the ball at Pemberley was very intriguing and kept me guessing throughout.

I enjoyed reading The author’s take on the lives of the Darcy’s post Pride and Prejudice. She managed to write the book as if it were written in the Jane Austen period. Once I had myself in that mindset, it was all smooth sailing and very enjoyable. I’m now off to see the movie, so I can see how the book was adapted for television.

Crime & Beyond Reads John Hart

The Denver-based book club Crime & Beyond just read a book by one of their favorite authors, John Hart. Kerry Hammond is here to tell us what the club thought about the book.

This month Crime & Beyond met to discuss John Hart’s latest book Redemption Road. Hart is one of our favorite authors and we have read and discussed almost every book he has written. His books never fail to create a wonderful book club discussion and we were not disappointed with his latest.

Redemption Road was a story about, well, redemption. But whose redemption, you might ask. Well, therein lay the discussion. The book’s Amazon description is as follows: Imagine: A boy with a gun waits for the man who killed his mother. A troubled detective confronts her past in the aftermath of a brutal shooting. After thirteen years in prison, a good cop walks free as deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen…This is a town on the brink. This is Redemption Road.

There is no doubt that Hart is an excellent writer, and our club members gave his latest book extremely high scores. Many times you read a book that has a great plot but uninteresting characters, or vice versa. Hart is able to not only make his characters come alive on the page, but he writes an extremely suspenseful plot that keeps the reader turning each page until the wee hours.

As much as Hart’s books have a sense of place, we noticed that the setting in Redemption Road seemed slightly less important in the scheme of things. It really could have been any small town USA, the characters and situation were what mattered—the setting holding a secondary position.

Next month we will be discussing Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger. 

 

2016 Book Picks with Amy S. Foster

Every Wednesday this month, we've been running book recommendations selected by some of our favorite up and coming authors. Today we have Amy S. Foster, who's not only a novelist but also a celebrated songwriter, best known as Michael Bublé’s writing partner. You might recognize her work in his four hit singles, including "Home" and "Haven't Met You Yet.”  

She has also collaborated with Destiny’s Child, Diana Krall, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and a host of other artists. She is also the author of the novel When Autumn Leaves. Amy is the daughter of singer B.J. Cook and the legendary music producer, David Foster. Fun fact about Amy: Her extended family tree includes Bella and Gigi Hadid, Sara and Erin Foster and Brody and Brandon Jenner, and Clay Aiken! The Rift Uprising, her YA debut, was released this October. 

And now for Amy's favorite novels of 2016...   

My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows

There was just something so wonderfully cute and clever about this book. It’s a retelling of the tragic historical figure Lady Jane Grey (remember the movie?! With Helena Bonham Carter?!) I’m a sucker for historical fiction anyhow, but I love the way they turned the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants into a conflict between people who can turn into animals and people who can’t. I mean the fact that Henry VIII alone turned into a lion and ate people…come on! It was incredibly well written with compelling and really well rounded and devised characters. A totally fun read. My thirteen year old loved it and so did I.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben Winters

A few years ago a very smart editor at Quirk Publishing got the brilliant idea to take works in the public domain and rewrite them with the current fads that had taken popular culture by storm. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was released and immediately became a hit. I am a huge Austen fan but not enough of one to be bothered with Zombies. I don’t get Zombies… so I didn’t read it. This year I came across the retelling of Sense and Sensibility and I decided to give it a try and I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed the new take with the ocean as the big bad. In this version, something has happened, a curse maybe? Where no one is safe from the creatures that rise from the seas and attack unsuspecting humans. Poor Elinor and Marianne, trying to navigate their unjust lowering of economic station AND all manner of weird, massive and aggressive sea monsters that plague their shanty/cottage (despite the many wires and alarms they have rigged up to protect them.) This book is a whole bunch of fun plus the writing is pure Austen. I think Jane herself would have been amused.

Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well by Nancy Atherton

The Aunt Dimity series is one of my favorite cozy mystery series. As far as I’m concerned, it’s got it all- a smart no no-nonsense female protagonist (who is also mother and a wife) a ghost (in the form of Aunt Dimity who converses with Lori, the aforementioned protagonist via a journal where they ‘write’ their conversations back and forth) and a cute little English village. I am also a person who likes a mystery that isn’t necessarily a murder because I’m a wimp. I think Nancy Atherton does a fantastic job in each book creating an interesting narrative that isn’t violent or traumatic. The books are very well written and paced perfectly. I love this particular one in the series because Lori finds a Wishing Well and naturally people’s wishes start coming true. Other authors might have taken this to a really dark place but Atherton keeps it light and funny and suspenseful.

Here's a little bit about Amy's YA novel, Rift Uprising...

Normal seventeen-year-old girls go to high school, binge watch TV shows all weekend, and flirt with everyone on the face of the Earth. But Ryn Whitaker is trying to save it.

Ryn is a Citadel. A soldier. A liar. Ryn and her fellow Citadels were specially chosen and trained to guard a Rift—one of fourteen unpredictable tears in the fabric of the universe that serve as doorways to alternate Earths. Unbeknownst to her family, Ryn leaves for school each day and then reports for duty as an elite, cybernetically-altered soldier who can run faster, jump farther, and fight better than a Navy SEAL—which comes in handy when she’s not sure if axe-wielding Vikings or any number of other terrified and often dangerous beings come through the Rift. A fine-tuned weapon, Ryn is a picture-perfect Citadel. But that’s all about to change.

When a young man named Ezra is pulled through the Rift, Ryn finds herself immediately drawn to him, despite her training. What starts as a physical attraction quickly grows deeper, and Ezra’s curiosity throws Ryn off balance when he starts questioning the Rifts, the mysterious organization that oversees them, and the Citadels themselves—questions that lead Ryn to wonder if the lies she’s been telling her family are just the surface of a much bigger lie told to her. As Ryn and Ezra desperately try to get to that truth, they discover that each revelation blurs the line between the villains and the heroes even more. 

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads David Baldacci

The Denver-based Crime & Beyond Book Club has a new David Baldacci book to recommend. Read on for Kerry Hammond’s report.

This month the Crime & Beyond Book Club met to discuss The Guilty by David Baldacci. The Guilty is Baldacci’s 4th book in the Will Robie series, and he has written several books in the Camel Club and King and Maxwell series as well—the latter having been a TV show starring Rebecca Romijn. All in all, the author has written 32 novels for adults and, luckily, seems to have no intent on stopping.

In The Guilty, Will Robie is a government assassin, a very good one. That is until one day when he can’t pull the trigger. Failing at the one thing he’s good at puts Will into a personal tailspin, one that he needs desperately to come out of. As Will steps back to analyze what is happening to him, he ends up going back to his hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi. Not only does he think he has some personal demons he needs to confront there, but he finds out that his father is about to go on trial for murder, and Will may be the only one who can help him.

This was our club’s first Will Robie novel and the book got great reviews from our members. As a group, we like Baldacci’s writing. The book contains clever twists and plenty of action. The characters drew us in and we enjoyed both the father/son relationship between Will and his Dad, as well as the friendship between Will and Jessica Reel, his co-worker of sorts.

In addition to great characters and a twisting plot, the setting of the book added a strong layer of suspense to the novel. Baldacci portrayed Cantrell, Mississippi in such a way as to draw us all into the local politics you might find in such a small southern town.

We were able to find quite a bit to discuss, always a plus in a book club. The Guilty is a great book club read and recommended.

Follow Kerry on Twitter @kerryhammond88