This Month's Selection: Notorious by Allison Brennan

Notorious

by Allison Brennan

Wed., Sept. 9

2 p.m.  

New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan introduces an irrepressible, unforgettable, and notorious new heroine in her latest pulse-pounding thriller.

Maxine Revere has dedicated her life to investigating murders that the police have long since given up any hope of solving. A nationally renowned, tough-as-nails investigative reporter with her own TV show, Max tackles cold cases from across the country and every walk of life.

But the one unsolved murder that still haunts her is a case from her own past.

First in the Max Revere series.

Summer Pot Luck Selection: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

All three of the Holmes Public Library book clubs will come together in one big group on Tuesday, August 18, at 6 p.m. to share a pot luck supper and talk about The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz, a fun summer read. Hope you can make it!

Holmes Mystery Readers Book Club on Vacation

The Holmes Mystery Readers will not meet in July and August. We hope you will all come for the Combined Book Club Potluck on Tuesday, August 18, at 6 p.m. when all the library book clubs will come together to share some delicious food and discuss The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz.

About The Spellman Files

Isabel Spellman, the uncompromising—okay, obstinate— twenty-eight year-old San Francisco private eye in Lisa Lutz's riotous debut novel, THE SPELLMAN FILES has her share of problems. And those problems all happen to be named Spellman. Her parents, Albert and Olivia, co-owners of Spellman Investigations, think nothing of placing their daughter under 24-hour surveillance simply to find out if she has a new boyfriend. David, her perfect older brother, who escaped the family business by becoming a lawyer, is hypercritical of just about everything Isabel says, wears, or does. Fourteen-year-old sister Rae lives on sugared snacks, considers recreation surveillance her favorite hobby, and believes that life is one endless opportunity for intra-familial blackmail. And good-natured Uncle Ray, a former cop and health food nut, now embraces gambling and drinking; and when he's not in battle with his niece Rae over the whereabouts of his favorite shirt, must be rescued from "lost weekends."

Welcome to Izzy Spellman's off-kilter world. Equal parts Sam Spade and Bridget Jones, she's a damn good investigator—if only her dysfunctional family would back off and let her do her thing. Izzy's cynical—okay, wise—enough to realize that a primrose-covered cottage with a white picket fence is not in her future. That's okay with her. Ever the jaded P.I., she catalogs her ex-boyfriends with calculated brevity, reducing her romantic misjudgments to curt summaries of name, age, occupation, hobbies, duration, and last words. No sooner has she met a new man that she begins composing his exit profile.

What We Thought: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception (or Foxy Roxy) by Nancy Martin

Mystery Readers Book Club

June 24, 2015

Our Lady of Immaculate Deception

by Nancy Martin

“I mean, I know you better than most, Roxy. You’ve got a bad history too. History that’s really screwed with your head. It makes you do the stuff you do. It makes you less than attractive, let’s put it that way.” Patrick Flynn talking to Roxy Abruzzo, p. 273.

Although readers said they liked this book, the discussion began with book titles they liked better than this one. They felt that the story was a lighter mystery than other selections in our Mystery Book Club. They wanted more developed characters and back history of their involvement with each other. They especially wanted more connections between Sage, Roxy’s daughter, and Arden, daughter of wealthy Julius Hyde, recently murdered. Readers agreed that the most likable characters were Roxy’s sidekick Nooch; her long-time ex -- professional chef and biker Patrick Flynn; and Rooney, her pit bull.

Some readers didn’t like Roxy’s promiscuous behavior. They thought it was unbecoming of her as a role model to her teenage daughter Sage. It was noted that she did have a moral code of her own, never knowingly sleeping with a married man. Others liked her and said her behavior was important because she acted like a man in the rough and tumble architectural salvage business. She was outspoken and independent, and said what’s on her mind and did what she wanted regardless of the consequences.

Pittsburgh is the perfect setting for this mystery involving the international trade in stolen antiquities and local mafia characters, some of which are Roxy’s relatives. Author Nancy Martin has written an interesting story with a sense of mystery and humor that readers said reminded them of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. When the book ended, it was fast and surprising, but still satisfying.

Readers were served cannoli and lemoncello cookies while discussing a quote by Hank Phillippi Ryan in relation to Martin’s book. “I remember Lee Child said his father told him: readers want something new-but they want it to be exactly the same as they already like.”

Have you read Our Lady of Immaculate Deception, now retitled Foxy Roxy? What about the second book in the series, Sticky Fingers? Please share your thoughts in the comments! You don't have to be part of the group already to join the discussion!

This Month's Selection: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin

Mystery Readers Book Club

Wed., June 24, 2 p.m.

Our Lady of Immaculate Deception

by Nancy Martin

Big truck, big dog, big hair. Bad attitude.

Roxy Abruzzo, bestseller Nancy Martin’s latest creation, is a loud-mouthed, sexy, independent-minded niece of a Pittsburgh Mafia boss trying to go (mostly) straight. She’d like to stay completely out of her uncle Carmine’s shady business dealings, though he's trying to reel her in. She'd like to concentrate on the architectural salvage business she runs mostly on the up and up for a tidy profit. She'd like to keep her rebellious teenage daughter on the straight and narrow. But Roxy knows where all the good intentions in the world usually lead, and when she can’t help herself from tucking away an ancient Greek statue that's not really hers, she pays for it by getting caught up in the chaos surrounding the sordid murder of the statue’s former owner, heir to a billion-dollar Pittsburgh steel fortune.

Of course, she has plenty of help getting in and out of trouble, including her sidekick “Nooch” Santonucci, too dumb to say no to whatever Roxy wants to do and strong enough to do it; her widowed aunt Loretta, a lawyer whose big hair and short skirts are as big a help to her in court as her brains; and Patrick Flynn, ex-marine, professional chef, and former high school flame, fresh from Afghanistan to torture Roxy, just like old times.

Please comment here or on the discussion post after our meeting if you'd like to be part of our virtual group. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this book by very popular author Nancy Martin! It's a fun one to end our first year of our Mystery Readers Book Club, where we've been reading first books in series.

What We Thought: Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva

Mystery Reader

May 2015

Rogue Island

by Bruce DeSilva

The mean streets of the Mount Hope section of Providence, Rhode Island evoke a strong sense of place. Readers easily visualized the apartments and businesses of the area. The description of the fires and deadly results of the arsonist deeds affected our readers. Book club members like a good mystery and gritty characters but draw the line on the murder of children and attacks on fire fighters. 

Liam Mulligan, investigative reporter, uses his sarcasm and dark view of everything to write stories that accurately represent his neighborhood and the politics of it along with a criminal element that invades Rhode Island society. Sometimes Mulligan must cross the line to save his friends and keep himself out of trouble. He usually succeeds but there are exceptions.

Although the story is compelling with danger around every corner, readers appreciated the lighter touches of the editor’s insistence on a dog story which turned out to be just as lame as Mulligan had said. Most of the female characters were likeable in their own quirky ways, but everyone had it in for Dorcas, the not yet divorced ex-wife. The nicknames Mulligan gave everyone helped readers keep track of the characters, “Thanks-Dad”.

All agreed that the book ended abruptly and left some loose ends that needed tidying. Perhaps relationships will be dealt with in DeSilva’s second book, Cliff Walk. Readers were surprised that drinking was more emphasized than smoking considering the newspaper culture of hard drinking and hard living. The group ended the discussion with an endorsement of the positive side of Rhode Island and its cultural advantages.

This Month's Selection: Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva

Mystery Readers

 

Rogue Island

 

by Bruce DeSilva

 

Wednesday, May 20, 2 p.m.

 

Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Novel

 

Liam Mulligan is as old school as a newspaper man gets. His beat is Providence, Rhode Island, and he knows every street and alley.

He knows the priests and prostitutes, the cops and street thugs. He knows the mobsters and the politicians—who are pretty much one and the same.

Someone is systematically burning down the neighborhood Mulligan grew up in; people he knows and loves are perishing in the flames, and the public is on the verge of panic. With the whole city of Providence on his back, Mulligan must weed through a wildly colorful array of characters to find the truth.