Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer (Book Review)

Title: Why Shoot a Butler?
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publisher/Publication Date: Originally published in 1933 by Georgette Rougier - Reprinted in 2009 by Sourcebooks Landmark.

First sentence: The signpost was unhelpful.

From the back cover: Every family has secrets, but the Fountains' are turning deadly. . . On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel. The girl protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her - at last until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating Shirley Brown begin to add up. . . In an English country-house murder mystery with a twist, it's the butler who's the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, in ferreting out a desperate killer, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant, but this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth.

My thoughts: I am not a huge fan of this genre, having just read my first Agatha Christie novel last fall, but since I liked the Christie novel thought I would give it a shot. This one was just okay for me. It did start to pick up towards the end and I got more engaged in the story, but not sure that I would have stuck with it if I hadn't promised to read it! I am glad that I did though, as I have been wanting to try out some Heyer novels. By the end of the book I did have an idea of who the perpetrator was - but wasn't clear on why he was doing what he was doing. As Amberley began to lay out all the clues, it became clearer to me - and that is when you say -"Oh yeah, how could I have missed that?!" I do have some of her romance books to give a go next and am interested in seeing how they will differ from this mystery.

Read an excerpt of Why Shoot a Butler?

Why Shoot a Butler?
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks/April 2009
ISBN-10: 1-4022-1795-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-1795-1
329 pages

Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man by Claudia Mair Burney (Book Review)

Title: Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man (an Amanda Bell Brown mystery)
Author: Claudia Mair Burney
Genre: Mystery/Christian
Available: Now
ISBN-10: 1416551948
ISBN-13: 978-1416551942

I read this book for fun.

First sentence: I had every reason to be peeved, and I told Carly so.

Amanda Bell Brown was celebrating her 40th birthday with her sister Carly when it was interrupted by murder. You see, Carly is a medical examiner and she was the one on call. The victims were two men whose house Bell had been to years before when she was working/investigating cults. But if it wouldn't have been for those murders, Bell would never have met Jazz Brown - lieutenant with the Detroit Police Department.

And so begins Bell and Jazz's friendship - courtship - headlong tumble into love - whatever you want to call it. As they work together to try to solve these murders (Bell is a forensic psychologist) they learn how much they really care for each other.

One of the cult members, Susan, "escapes" and ends up at The Rock House. This is the church Bell attends, where the pastor, Rocky, is also her ex-boyfriend. Susan appears to be in a catatonic state, so Bell goes to visit her to see if she can get her to talk. After waiting hours, Susan doesn't move or speak so Bell goes home. The next day Susan writes Bell's name, so she called in again. She doesn't say much, but what she does say seems to implicate someone for the murders. Susan soon leaves the Rock House and nobody can find her.

Bell gets Rocky to tell her the addresses/phone numbers that Susan gave them when she showed up - before she went catatonic. Bell sets out to find the leader of the cult. She puts her life on the line to try to save the women and children involved. You see - 10 years earlier, she was actually in a cult where she was beaten and de-humanized - where she eventually lost a baby she was carrying. She has a hard time separating the present from these haunting memories in her past.

When the cult leader and Susan show up at her apartment, what will she risk to save Jazz, who she believes might be "The One?"

I recently read Deadly Charm (review here) which was the third Amanda Bell Brown mystery. I loved this one as much as that one and can't wait to get book 2 - Death, Deceit and Some Smooth Jazz. There is something about the way the author writes that just stays with me. I love the sarcastic flirting that goes on between these two - it keeps me smiling all the way through the book. Sometimes, reading as many books as I do, the characters can get mixed up or the plots can be confusing - but I don't find this happening when I read the Amanda Bell Brown books. Keep them coming!

Deadly Charm by Claudia Mair Burney (Book Review)

Title: Deadly Charm (an amanda bell brown mystery)
Author: Claudia Mair Burney
Publisher: Howard Books/Simon & Schuster
Genre: Christian Fiction
Available: Now

First sentence: Rocky showed up at my apartment door with an offer that, in his words, I "no coulda refuse."

Dr. Amanda Bell Brown, or Bell to her friends, has been pretty lost without her husband Jazz. He had left her the day after they got married when he found her kissing her ex-boyfriend Rocky. Well, actually Rocky had kissed her. He did not know that she had gotten married and she was trying to let him know without causing more hurt.

Rocky was the pastor of the Rock House. Ezekial Thunder and his family were staying with Rocky while Ezekial was trying to jump start his ministry again. He had made a shambles of it a few years back when he had an affair with an intern. Since then his wife had passed away and he had married the intern, Nikki. Together they had a little boy, almost 3, by the name of Zeke or Little Zeekie. Ezekial had other children - all of whom were named some form of Ezekial.

Bell does not really care for Ezekial and Nikki, especially after her "exorcism" of her "interracial dating and adultery" demon at Ezekial's Crusade. It had ended badly with her vomiting right at the feet of Ezekial. This episode made it on CNN when they began covering the Thunders after Little Zeekie accidentally dies while taking a bath at Rocky's. Or was it an accident?

Bell decides that it is up to her to find out. She teams up with her detective husband, Jazz, whom she is still separated from, to try to find out the truth.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Bell was full of quick wit and a sarcastic tongue which brought a smile to my face quite often. I loved the banter between Jazz and Bell. They clearly loved each other but were both very proud and independent. Here is an excerpt of that banter:

I didn't move. "What are you doing?"

"Opening the door for you."

"Why didn't you drive over to where your car is?"

"I'm not ready to leave yet, Bell."

"What if I've had enough of you for one day?"

"Oh, I happen to know you can take more of me than that." He said this with a wicked grin.

"Is your head always in the gutter?"

He leaned toward me, his arm resting on the top of the Love Bug. "Get out of the car, baby."

"No."

"I know you're mad. We can talk inside."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"You asked me to look into this for you, and that is what I did. Will you get out of the car so I can tell you whatI accomplished this evening?"

I took a peek at him. "You were just working?"

"I was."

"You're not attracted to that Cruella De Vil stick figure?"

"Hardly"

"And you don't think I'm too fat?"

"Bell, get out of the car. It's cold out here."

"You were supposed to say something romantic that made me believe you don't think I'm fat."

"Bell, if you don't step out of the Love Bug right now, I'm going to drag you upstairs."

"That fell way short of romantic, not to mention you still haven't said I'm not fat."

He sighed and rake his fingers through his hair. "You're not fat. I think you're stunning. You're so hot that I can hardly resist you, even though I'm still mad at you."

I grinned. "You think I'm hot?"

"Perhaps you should focus on my saying I'm still mad at you."

"You'll get over it. About me being hot. . ."

"You'll be hotter inside your apartment."

"Do you want to ravish me?"

"No. I want to throttle you. Please get out of the car."

I stepped a leg out. "I'm only letting you inside so you can report what happened with your girlfriend Nikki."

He moved back, took my hand, and helped me out of the car. "Fine."

"I don't want you getting fresh just because you're my husband. We're separated."

"You grill me about whether or not I want you, and now you insist that I not flirt with you."

"I have my standards." (pg 135-137)

This goes on all the way through the book. It cracked me up because I could so see arguing like this with my husband. Come back tomorrow for the First Wild Card Tour and read the first chapter!