Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)

I typically read fellow reader reviews before starting a new book.  Not always to get the synopsis but just to see how people rated the book.  I usually look for the 4-5 star range.  Lately I’ve found myself in a bit of a book slump.  Books others have really enjoyed I found rather lackluster. ..until now.  The general reviews for ‘Into the Free’ by Julie Cantrell were glowing so I decided to give it a chance.  I am so glad I did.  I think this might be one of the best books I’ve read in a while.

Picture it (sorry to get all Sophia from The Golden Girls on you, but it works here): Rural Depression-era Mississippi.  An abusive and absent rodeo father, a troubled mother destined to stay with her abuser, and a young girl being lured into the mystery of traveling gypsies in an effort to escape the tragedy of her life.

There are some wonderful characters in this book.  Young Millie is our heroine and she is a fighter.  She may not always see herself that way, but she is.  River is a traveler who gives Millie hope.  Bump is the rodeo boy with a heart of gold.  And there are some characters who made me want to rip pages out of the book (mainly Millie’s grandparents), but I think sometimes they’re the ones who really make me love the ‘nice’ characters even more.

For me, this book embodied what I loved most about ‘The Help’ and ‘The Secret Life of Bees’.  The coming-of-age tale as old as time, yet told a little bit differently.  Cantrell offers the reader a glimpse into times gone by and a chance to see ‘real’ life with all of its ugliness and beauty.

If you’re like me and looking for a book to restore some hope and faith after a series of blah reads, give ‘Into the Free’ a chance.

Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian

Review by Kelsey O.

**SPOILER WARNING even though I try to make my reviews as spoiler free as possible, sometimes it is unavoidable**

Lara Adrian transports her Midnight Breed series to 20 years into the future after First Dawn. Tensions are high among the humans and the vampires. The Order’s leader, Lucan, is trying to balance the prickly relationship but soon discovers that there are other forces inside and outside the Order working against them and these forces are trying to make the vampires out to be the bad guys.

Edge of Dawn focuses on the breed warrior Kellan and his breedmate, Mira. Kellan was supposedly killed eight years before and Mira has felt empty ever since. He was her best friend and only lover and it was all taken away from her in a ball of fire. Only revenge keeps her motivated and fighting for the Order. Then one day during a routine “babysitting” mission, Mira discovers a life shattering secret, Kellan is still alive. What is worse, he is the leader for the rebels. Kellan has lived with major regret this entire time but after what he saw in Mira’s eyes that night eight years before, he figured he had no choice.

Adrian takes her readers on an emotional rollercoaster. Kellan thinks that disappearing was the way to protect Mira only to discover that he has been wrong all along. There is no way to avoid your destiny and his involves facing the Order and paying for what he has done. As Kellan and Mira try to figure out who the actual bad guys are; they also discover that they can no longer deny their love for each other.

This series definitely got a new makeover and the storyline is refreshed. I was unable to put the book down once I started. The ending reveals where Adrian is going with the series and I for one want to be first in line for this ride.

8 Faces At 3 by Craig Rice

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

This story, published in 1939, is the first of eleven mysteries starring lawyer John J. Malone.  A mean old aunt, who wrote a mean old will, is done in with her own letter-opener. The cops suspect her niece Holly. She claims a nightmare woke her up. While wandering the house, she noticed that all the clocks stopped at 3 o’clock. When she stumbled upon her aunt’s corpse, she fainted. Publicity agent Jake Justus and his love interest heiress Helene Brand are convinced of Holly’s innocence and work with copper John J. Malone to find the real killer.

This is a screwball mystery along the lines of movie version of The Thin Man. Meaning that alcohol is both the fuel and exhaust of the humor.  Helene likes speeding on Chicago’s icy streets:

They spun west into Wacker Drive, turned south again, swung suddenly into a parking lot, struck a patch of ice, skidded around once, grazed the corner of filling station, and came to full stop beside a startled attendant. Jake reached for a cigarette, his hands shaking.

“Baby,” he said admiringly, ”baby, that was as skillful drunken driving as I’ve ever seen.”

I know, isn’t this appalling? Levity. Vulgarity. Smoking.  DWI. Plus, we are subjected to cynical Depression-era wisecracks: “If there was such a thing as ethics among human beings, there wouldn’t be any need for lawyers.” The quips are more Groucho Marx than Oscar Wilde:

If your sister has committed this crime….

If she has, it’s all the more reason for getting a good lawyer.

Again, just disgraceful. But it’s funny as heck too.  Jake Justus and Helene Brand make a Nick and Nora-like couple. Neither one can be described as a thinker. Practical Jake is so impulsive and active that he punches out the DA. To test a theory, Helene jumps down a laundry chute. These are just two examples of the bizarre antics in this nutty plot. One critic at Southern Illinois University said, Justus and Helene “apply their own snoop and blunder technique of investigation to the affair.”

So like I hinted, our more evolved generation, which sees wine more as medicine than “bottled poetry,” may reject with scorn and horror the reckless and unhealthy choices made in this vintage mystery. However, readers who like Damon Runyon or Ellery Queen or antique wiseacre Americana  will enjoy.

Notes:

1. Fun Fact #63: In 1946, Craig Rice was the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.

2. The phrase “bottled poetry” is by Robert Lewis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island.

And Four To Go by Rex Stout

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Some readers are fans of the Nero Wolfe novels, while others prefer the novellas. Me, I prefer the novellas since the novels (especially the early ones) suffer from padding. Plus, plots can be wafer-thin in Wolfe novels —  but skinny plots are enough for a novella.

First published in magazines such as Look, Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post, the novellas were then bundled in paperbacks with titles that included a number (like this one) or harkened to a number (Homicide Trinity).

Three of the four stories collected here are related to holidays. The last story, the best one, is the least fantastically unrealistic story. George Orwell said we readers are taken with the London created as a world of its own by Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens.  So it is with Rex Stout’s imagined New York City. Wolfe’s brownstone and office at 618 West 35th Street. Holiday parades and shopping and museums. Lively street scenes and restaurants. Even the long-gone telephone exchanges  – Algonquin, Gramercy, Swinburne – evoke feelings of nostalgia and the reassuring appreciation that the Wolfe stories are never going to change.

Christmas Party – Unconvinced that Archie is in fact engaged, Wolfe implements a bizarre strategy to leave the brownstone and spy on him. A monkey wrench is tossed into the gears of his tactic when a party guest is poisoned by cyanide. The one is hilariously satisfying for reasons I can’t possible reveal in a review.

Easter Parade – In a fit of orchid envy, Wolfe sends Archie to the Easter Parade to snatch a sample of a new variety from the corsage of the wife of Wolfe’s orchid enthusiast-rival. The problem is that the wife collapses dead, which attracts the attention of the authorities. The story is attractive mainly due to the absurdity of the premise.

Fourth of July Picnic (aka The Labor Union Murder) – Wolfe shows his colors by, shockingly, leaving the brownstone and giving a speech at a picnic of a union of restaurant workers. But one of the attendees gets knifed. To stave off being arrested, Wolfe has to trick the killer into betraying himself. A good puzzle, with fine scene setting.

Murder is No Joke (aka Frame-up for Murder) – This is an ordinary whodunit story that showcases Wolfe’s ability to associate unconnected facts and arrive at a parsimonious solution. Also, the story harks back to yesteryear when it was okay not to suffer churls or poor English. The elitist Wolfe gets in his digs at the grammar-challenged homicide detective. Cramer: And when I come and ask what you sent Goodwin there for, ask you plainly and politely, you say that you will — What are you laughing at?’ …. Wolfe:  ‘It escaped me, Mr. Cramer. Your choice of adverbs. Your conception of politeness.’

When it comes to Nero Wolfe, my order of preference is early novels good, later novels better, and novellas best. Thankfully, all are well represented at PBS, so order away.