The Music Box and The Missing Bride (A Salt and Cedar Antiques Mystery) by Evelyn Hartwell; Charming Gentle Cozy Mystery About Buried Secrets and Caring For Antiques

 

The Music Box and The Missing Bride (A Salt and Cedar Antiques Mystery) by Evelyn Hartwell; Charming Gentle Cozy Mystery About Buried Secrets and Caring For Antiques

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: It makes sense that in the gentle character driven world of Cozy Mysteries, antiques dealers make good amateur detectives. Both detectives and antiques dealers observe objects to find out histories of the people who encounter them. That's the premise behind The Music Box and The Missing Bride, the first volume in The Salt and Cedar Antiques Mystery series by Evelyn Hartwell. It is a charming and gentle cozy mystery that features this premise.

Mara Ellison and Tessa Bloom, proprietors of The Salt and Cedar Antiques store, know how to study, preserve, and sell antiques. At an estate sale, they reach various objects to be examined and displayed. One of them is more interesting than the others. It's a music box with a secret compartment that holds a ring. This attracts the curiosity of the two women and the music box becomes the catalyst for an investigation in the life of a woman who was stuck in a prestigious but miserable marriage and her frantic desire to escape from it.

There are some flaws in the book’s execution but it has an understanding of appraising and caring for antiques and the stories of the people who once held them.

The highlights are not the mystery but the inside look at the antique trade. This book is filled with various moments of antiques being purchased at yard and estate sales, people donating family members’ old treasures, appraising if the items are worth being sold, examining the items, checking for wear and deficiencies, seeing if it needs repair, seeing if it can be repaired without ruining it, learning the story connected to the item, selling it for the right price and moving onto another item.

It is a close up view of what for many readers is often simply a few hours of window shopping and browsing through old photographs, toys, porcelain dolls, miniatures, tchotchkes, and other items. You may wonder who owned them and what the story was behind it. Well this book provides just such a possible story.

The music box gives off that air of mystery with its secret compartment and the wedding ring hidden inside. Why would it be hidden? Who owned it? Who was meant to receive the box? Was there a hidden message connected to the box? Who was the sender and recipient, and what did the message say? Why would someone hide their wedding ring instead of wearing it? If they got cold feet and ran off, where are they now? 

The antiques portion of the book practically overshadows the rest.The main detective duo, Mara and Tessa are incredibly likeable and curious but practically interchangeable. They don't have many distinct characteristics that set them apart from each other and not much of a personal life beyond identifying, investigating, and selling antiques. 

Their only real difference is Mara is more experienced in antique selling and repair than the younger Tessa. Most of their dialogue consists of Mara showing Tessa the ropes in the antiques trade to give her and the reader important insights in how to collect, gather, and care for antiques.

The central mystery is interesting in unraveling the story behind the music box and the ring. We get a story of a woman caught between duty and love and is forced to hide her true self and actual love of her life from a disapproving judgemental public. The box and ring symbolize all that is beautiful and hidden in the name of respectability and conformity.

Since the mystery is entirely set in the past and mostly involves Mara and Tessa investigating in the present, there really isn't much in the way of suspense. The duo are never really in danger and there are no modern people threatening them from revealing the truth. In fact most people provide tips and clues and are just as fascinated as Mara and Tessa are to find out the story.

The lack of suspense makes the book kind of dull but it also gives the narrative a gentle softer approach than most mysteries, even cozy ones. It's not something to be read to keep you on the edge of your seat. Instead it lets you stay where you are in the center of the seat while reading a calming soothing antique collector’s guide and cold case mystery.

 

 

The Fourth Victim (A Belfast Murder Mystery Book 7) by Brian O’Hare; Cold Case Gets Heated By Inspector Sheehan and Co.

 The Fourth Victim (Belfast Murder Mystery Book 7) by Brian O’Hare; Cold Case Gets Heated By Inspector Sheehan and Co.

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: If you are interested, please read my reviews for previous volumes Murder by the Coven, Murder on the Dark Web, Murder of a Runaway, and Conduit to Murder

 In Belfast, if you want a murder, new or old to be solved, then you call Inspector Thomas Sheehan and his team. In this seventh book in the Belfast Murder Mystery Series, The Fourth Victim, they do just that work on a current murder case which takes them to an old one.

In this volume, Sheehan and his partner, Detective Sergeant Denise Stewart are called into investigate the murder of Seamus Higgins, MLA who was beaten to death in his apartment. He has a very colorful past, as part of the New IRA and may have been targeted by them or members of other terrorist or paramilitary groups. Besides that, the team discovers that 14 years ago, he was involved with an unsolved murder concerning four wayward law students, a little girl, a grieving mother/attorney, and an errant vehicle.

This volume covers two specific murder cases, the current one and the one from 14 years ago. The investigation into Higgin’s death is efficiently handled especially when there are similar murders suggesting a pattern. There are some red herrings that are slightly hampered by a flashback occurring too early in the text for the Reader, but they provide some interesting leads for the investigators to uncover.

Unlike many of the other books in The Belfast Murder Mystery Series, this one doesn't get too involved with the personal lives of the investigation team themselves. The only subplot is Malachy McBride, one of the detectives, becoming a bit too friendly with a person of interest. It is charming but not overpowering leaving the mystery to do most of the heavy lifting.

In fact the strongest characterization occurs during the murder from 14 years ago. It's very reminiscent of movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer in which an early murder occurred, was never solved, and a grief stricken loved one takes it upon themselves to do what the law couldn't and execute vigilante justice even if it takes years to get it done.

The flashbacks contain a fascinating story that is the highlight of this volume. From the callous wayward self-serving youths who caused this tragedy to the family who found their motivation to fight against it either by latching onto a cause, trying to move forward with their lives, or seeking blood for blood, it is a strong look on the effect that murder has on the people involved. 

The Fourth Victim reminds us that sometimes time can change the way that we see an investigation and what we thought then may not be the same now. That often, a case is never really cold. It just takes a bit longer to heat up.

Weekly Reader: The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Author-Editor Conflict Becomes Suspenseful, Bloodier, and Deadlier Than Usual

 Weekly Reader: The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Author-Editor Conflict Becomes Suspenseful, Bloodier, and Deadlier Than Usual

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: One thing that I will say as an Editor and Book Reviewer, no matter how often I disagree with authors, I am glad that our disagreements don't go the way of William Lansing and Kyle Broder in Lee Matthew Goldberg's The Mentor. This psychological thriller takes the never ending struggle between authors and editors and twists it to violent and deadly means.

Professor William Lansing is delighted to learn that his former student, Kyle Broder, has attained superstar status in the publishing world. The young editor gets the credit for discovering and editing the debut novel of rising star author, Sierra Raven. William thinks that Kyle would be the perfect editor to pitch his magnum opus, Devil's Hopyard, to. After all, William had been working on the book for ten years and he helped Kyle out when he was a troubled addicted college student so…favors?

Unfortunately, William's manuscript is an incredibly disturbing look into the mind of a deranged psychopath. Worst of all, it's a badly written incredibly disturbing look into the mind of a deranged psychopath. It's about the rape, murder, and cannibalism of a young woman and hits too close to home for Kyle's liking.

Kyle has no intention of publishing it and let's just say William does not take constructive criticism well. His desire for literary fame becomes an obsession and his means to achieve it become violent. Soon, Kyle begins to wonder how much of William's work is the product of a writer's imagination and how much of it is based on true events.

Just like with Goldberg's previous books, Slow Down, Orange City, and The Desire Card series, The Mentor shows the dangers of unbridled ambition and what happens when one's ambitions overpower their sense of ethics, morality, legality, and basic humanity. They become someone to be feared, someone who believes that the end justifies the means, any means, no matter who suffers.

William has that kind of ambition. He is definitely someone who we can't separate the art from the artist. Everyone around him and everything that he does is just material for his book. It's hard to tell whether he had these graphically violent thoughts before he wrote them or being a writer came first and he found gruesome inspiration. Either way, he sees everyone as characters in his novel that he could do the most horrific things or make them do the worst things and they act according to the orders of him, the author.

Kyle is a more sympathetic character since he is the one getting stalked and gaslit, but he also has an unchecked ambitious side. He rejects William's manuscript because he finds it disturbing, but at first he is less concerned about the content than about what it would mean for his reputation. He is a rising star attached to a couple of potential bestsellers, a coming of age novel and a crime thriller, surefire hits. Kyle does not want his star to be hitched to a poorly written and potentially controversial work. He is not concerned about the potential loss of life and confession of an actual crime rather than what it would mean if his name was attached to it. It's only when William's desire for fame and violent tendencies affect Kyle personally that he realizes just how deadly William's desires are.

Some of the other characters in The Mentor aren't as clearly defined. A rival of Kyle's sucks up to William until it becomes feasible not to. Kyle's girlfriend, Jamie, plays the usual love interest character who at first doesn't believe that the protagonist is being stalked until they too become a victim. Sierra becomes a pawn in Kyle's chance for stardom and ultimately William's chance for notoriety. Everyone is collateral in this one-on-one battle.

The final chapters of The Mentor are drenched in irony as things turn on its head and the drive for ambition becomes one of infamy. William gets his stardom in the worst way possible and Kyle has to live with the consequences. 

New Book Alert: The Family Man: Getting Away With Murder by Anna Willett; Efficient and Engaging Psychological Thriller About Cold Unsolved Crimes Finally Becoming Warm and Solved

 New Book Alert: The Family Man: Getting Away With Murder by Anna Willett; Efficient and Engaging Psychological Thriller  About Cold Unsolved Crimes Finally Becoming Warm and Solved

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: No matter how long ago a crime occurred, there will always be a demand for it to be solved.  A deceased John or Jane Doe finally has a DNA match and is reburied under their real names. A murderer or pedophile who long ago escaped justice is finally held under scrutiny, has their day in court, and victims are finally vindicated. Sometimes it takes many years for a cold case to get warm.

Anna Willett's The Family Man: Getting Away With Murder shows just such a situation. It is an engaging and efficient psychological thriller about the resurrection of a long ago kidnapping and murder case that has been screaming to get a resolution and how that resolution is finally answered.

Married couple, Marcy and Dustin just moved into a new house. While cleaning out the attic, Dustin sees an old VHS tape. The curious couple watch and are horrified by what they see. No it's not a home video of an embarrassing Christmas or a Tommy Wiseau film. It's much worse.

What they see are four people, two men and two women, bound, hooded, and dressed in their underthings. Three of them recite the same lines and the fourth is defiant to her captors. It doesn't matter. The results are the same. The screen goes dark and it doesn't leave much to the imagination as to what happens to them.

Marcy and Dustin turn the VHS into the police. DS Veronika Pope leads the investigation. They immediately find out that the house once belonged to Thomas Malicourt, a deceased businessman with a wife, April, and daughter, Hannah. To all intents and purposes, he was the ideal family man. But this tape opens up another darker side to him, one that is depraved and violent. 

Unfortunately, Malicourt is dead and has been for sometime. But this case is far from over. The four victims are not identified. There is also a good chance that Malicourt had an accomplice that is not identified and is wandering around unchecked and not caught, looking for a new opportunity to feed off their lust. 

The Family Man intensely pits Veronika's courage and dedication to her job against Malicourt's violent tendencies and sociopathic ability to cover his crime even after two decades. 

Veronika is presented as an interesting lead character without her personal life taking over her role of solving this case. She is a single mother of a teenage son. Both she and her son live with her mother who helps look after the boy when Mom is on duty. Being both a police officer and a mother, Veronika feels very strongly about this case especially after the victims are identified and some of them were only a few years older than her son. This protectiveness allows her to focus on the case at hand until it is solved.

The more Veronika and her colleagues peer into Malicourt's private life, the more that they see what a sick sadistic person that he really was and spent much time hiding that depravity behind an unimpeachable good name. It turns out that the name was all that was good about him. 

Besides using DNA, the police have to rely on old articles and reports of missing people in the Perth area. (Interesting fact: this is the second suspense thriller  that I reviewed this year that is set in Perth, the first being Robert News' The Colours of Death: Sgt. Thomas's Casebook.)

They also interview friends,coworkers, and family members of Malicourt and the victims. The quiet unassuming man of their descriptions becomes a violent unrepentant monster the more that his private life is investigated.

Some witnesses and interview subjects are grateful to finally see justice done and receive answers to the disappearance of their loved ones. Some like Malicourt's daughter, Hannah, are openly hostile and don't want to reopen bad memories. Ultimately, it's Hannah and her family that become the catalysts that result in a break in the case. 

The Family Man is the type of book that reminds their Reader that sometimes it takes time, but justice will be met.