Holding Court

I knew just a few pages into KC Held's debut, HOLDING COURT, that I was going to enjoy the book--particularly after discovering that Held and I have a mutual adoration of Elizabeth Peters' wonderfully madcap mysteries, and those were part of her inspiration behind this book.

This book was fun, breezy, and witty with just the right touch of romance. Juliet ("Jules") Verity was a delightful main character--smart, loyal, and just self-deprecating enough to be relatable. Part of this, of course, comes from her "PTS"--or self-diagnosed psychic Tourette's syndrome, where she feels an inexplicable compulsion to blurt random things that turn out to be true. (Jules is aware that this isn't real Tourette's syndrome, and even comments on the fact that corprolalia, or the blurting tendency most commonly associated with Tourette's syndrome, only happens in 10 % of the cases). Whatever the cause, her blurts are a source of annoyance and embarrassment to Jules.

As the story begins, Jules is looking for a summer job--and finds the perfect one at a local Medieval dinner theater, where, she believes, she'll get to wear an attractive dress and discretely ogle her long-time crush from a distance. But life, of course, rarely works the way you planned (especially in novels!) and Jules finds herself cast as a mad, fortune-telling nun, of all things, and that her crush's girlfriend is also part of the staff. When Jules stumbles across a dead body (that disappears while she's trying to summon help), things only get worse, particularly as Jules tries to uncover information that could clear herself from suspicion.

Held does a wonderful job with this--it's compulsively readable, quick, and the characters run the gamut from funny to downright creepy. Despite the potential darkness of the murder, Held keeps the tone light even as the tension picks up (a perfect combination for me: there's a reason I read cozy mysteries!). Recommended for readers looking for a light-hearted, escapist read.

Duck The Halls (Meg Langslow #16)

I think Donna Andrews is one of the funniest mystery writers writing today (RIP Elizabeth Peters!). Meg Langslow is a terrific character: smart, grounded, humorous.

Only days before Christmas, perpetrators unknown leave a dozen or so skunks in one of the local churches, and Meg's organizational ability is called upon to rearrange all the church events while the building is fumigated. But as the pranks escalate to arson and someone dies, Meg's has to use all of her skills to solve the mystery before it ruins Christmas.

This particular installment wasn't one of my favorites. It had all the right elements: bizarre crimes, Meg's eccentric family, the quaint setting. I liked it--I'll no doubt read the next one (I mean, I've read all sixteen so far)--but it wasn't my favorite.

I'm trying to make a conscious attempt to study author techniques as I read, instead of blitzing through on a buzz of plot-fueled adrenaline. One thing I did admire was the way Andrews set up a personal as well as professional goal for Meg. Alongside the murder, Meg and her husband struggle to find quiet time to recreate the idyllic Christmas of Meg's childhood (and one both her mother and mother-in-law seem determined to ignore). The resolution of this particular goal was my favorite part of the whole book--it reminds me that readers need emotional payoffs (of the good kind) as well as just plot resolution.

The Enchanter's Heir

I love Cinda Chima's books. I've loved her Seven Realms series, and I loved her Heir Chronicles, though I thought she'd concluded that series with the Dragon Heir. Imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I found a new one at the library! Only, silly me, I somehow thought this was a companion novel to the other books--that is, a storyline that would largely wrap up in this book. My biggest complaint now is that since this book came out only recently (in October), I now have to wait to see how the cliff-hanger ending resolved.

I'm still processing the book, though, which adds an intriguing new dimension to the world of the Heir Chronicles. In fact, the story starts out largely outside of the traditional world of the magic guilds, with a commune in Brazil (Thorn Hill) where magic wielders have chosen to leave the guilds behind. Only then disaster happens (and one of the big mysteries of the book is what, exactly, did happen--was it an accident? Deliberate sabotage?) and all the adults at the commune are wiped out, poisoned, and many of the children die as well. Those who survive are deeply scarred, their magical gifts changed and sometimes distorted beyond all reason. Jonah Kinlock survives, but with a gift that is also a curse: he can kill with a touch.

Fast forward ten years or so: Jonah is busy fighting shades, undead creatures who are on a continual quest to find fresh host bodies to sustain them (and with painful links to the Thorn Hill massacre). Meanwhile, Emma Greenwood is happy playing the blues in Memphis and living with her luthier grandfather--until she finds him dead under strange circumstances. With only a few clues left by her grandfather, Emma goes to live with her father in Cincinnati (not coincidentally near Anchorage, where the survivors of Thorn Hill have taken refuge, and Trinity, the center of the new guild leadership from the other Heir novels).

While Jonah seeks to untangle the mysteries of Thorn Hill (which are linked to the increasingly powerful and organized shades), Emma tries to figure out her own past, and her own odd connection to Thorn Hill.

I liked both of the main characters--and of course, that key to good romantic suspense, their inability to get past their own obstacles in the relationship (the fact that Jonah could kill Emma if they ever kissed is naturally part of their chemistry). But I loved the way music threads through the story and I'm really curious to see where Chima goes with the driving mystery of Thorn Hill. I could have done without the cliff-hanger ending (dang it!), and there was a surprising amount of death in the novel (though it was fun to see certain villains from previous stories finally get what they deserved).