The Wrong Rite by Alisa Craig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since mystery writers think current mystery readers only want cats, dogs (magical or non-magical), witches, heroines who are opening B&B’s, bakeries, cafes and spending a lot of time following and sharing recipes, it’s always a relief to discover a mystery without any of these elements. Charlotte MacCleod wrote mysteries BEFORE all these popular 21st century trends.

(BTW, if a writer wants to write cats, dogs, magical or non-magical, witches, heroines who are opening B&B’s, bakeries, cafes and spending a lot of time following and sharing recipes—she or he is free to do so. But personally I can only take so much!)

Anyway this book is set in of all places, Wales. That’s uncommon. However, it fits with the Madoc and Janet Rhys series. Madoc is a Canadian Mountie and his wife is a woman suited to being married to one. Anyway, the Rhys family gathers in Wales to celebrate the 90th birthday of an uncle, the head of the Rhys family. All would have been well IF they hadn’t included a couple of annoying shirt-tail relations, a brother and sister who were some of the most unique and annoying characters I’d ever read. But so real! We’ve all met variations of them—people who have unique—oh, let’s be honest—odd or outlandish ideas and theories. And they want to share them with everyone all the time. Goodness. I was ready to lock these two in a closet myself.

But their propensity to bore people to distraction isn’t what caused disaster. Many years before a locomotive of circumstances (for which one of them was responsible) had begun and the brother and sister couldn’t stop the train that led to murder. I must say that the whole cast of characters ran true and fascinating in their unique personalities and connections. In an age where families are becoming smaller and smaller and less connected (that’s my take on this), to see the portrayal of a large family of 2nd, 3rd, 5th cousins was definitely interesting. And the mystery elements were consistent, arriving just in time to keep the story rolling along! If you like quirky characters in an interesting locale with an unusual mystery, you might give The Wrong Rite a try.

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The Gladstone Bag by Charlotte MacLeod
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I rarely give 5 stars but Aunt Emma is worth 5 stars. What a character! Indomintable. No nonsense and SMART! Any wrongdoer with an ounce of sense would steer a wide path around her! Of course, the curse of wrongdoers is they always think they are smarter than everyone else! Such arrogance brings its own judgment. And Emma is not the only wonderful character in this book set on a Maine Island. Cousin Theonia comes and a lively bunch of nuts arrive to create as much chaos as they can!
Living as I do in the northwoods amid lakes and Great Lakes, I feel at home in this setting. And am familiar with summer places. Well, Emma volunteers to oversee an aging friend’s summer place and voila–summer is no longer dull. Sarah and Max are not available but consulted. Another lively interesting cozy mystery WITHOUT cats, dogs, baking, recipes, B&B’s, divorced heroines or magic. Wonderful!

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Digging Up the Dirt by Miranda James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One more interesting spin-off from Miranda James’ Cat in the Stacks series set in small college town, Athena, Mississippi. The DuCote sisters, the doyens of Athena, once again find themselves in the midst of murder. (They shouldn’t have hung around with Charlie Harris and Diesel, his Maine Coon!’-)

Anyway Hadley Partridge comes back to town 40 years after leaving abruptly. Evidently the intervening years have not dimmed his perception as a Missisippi Casanova.

The garden club ladies are lining up to see if he still has “it.” Then the bodies start stacking up.

Secrets and obsession set the stage for bad, bad, bad.

I usually don’t tattle but the copyeditor on this book evidently couldn’t keep the two brothers Hadley and Hamish straight. Some times Hadley became Hamish which was probably very disconcerting to him since his brother Hamish was dead! Oh, well… We all make mistakes!

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