When it comes to discussion groups, there are few mysteries that have as many points for discussion as Big Wheat by Richard A Thompson. And it is a great read as well! The story centers on Charlie Krueger, a young man whose family owns a small wheat farm in the northern Midwest. Charlie's older brother, Rob, was the favorite son, the one to inherit the farm, but goes off to WWI and gets himself killed. Charlie, who, in his father's eyes could never take his brother's place, is left to help out his drunkard father who bullies Charlie, his sister, Ruthie, and their mom.

Points to consider - please note that the questions should be read as the book is read to avoid spoiling the ending of Charlie's tale.

The author starts off the story with the setting thrown in with the plot. Do you get the feel of the location as the character’s story is told?

The evil the character does is meant by him to be a healing for the land. How did he come to feel this way?

The second chapter tells Charlie’s story up to the point where these two characters meet in the wheat field. Do the background stories of each of these characters differ? What does this tell you about the two characters?

The chapter ends with the suppositions of why young people leave home. Are these still true nearly 90 years later?

“It had never occurred to Charlie that he might live long enough to see the passing of an entire era.” chapter 3. Compare Charlie in the 1910’s with young people living today. Would most young people have the same thought now? What eras have you witnessed that passed within your lifetime?

Charlie has a confrontation with the farmer who is unwilling to pay him and takes meat and eggs as security. The farmer was a crook and a bully. Do you think Charlie was right to take the food as security? Was there any other way the outcome would have come out fair to Charlie?

“We might not have much in the way of scenery around here, he thought, but we sure as hell have sky.” Chapter 5. Have you ever been to the open plains area? Can you attest to this statement?

What purpose does the Indian, George Ravenwing, serve in the story?

In chapter 5 we hear more from the ‘Windmill Man’ about his reasons for killing. The prairie grasses that continued year after year had deeper root systems than the wheat which is planted, grows and is harvested once or even twice a year in southern areas.

When Charlie falls in with Jim Avery he is quickly able to prove his ability to read people and how they will act. But can he read everyone – women as well as men? Lawmen as well as farmers? What makes this capability so important to Jim?

Sheriff Hollander goes far out of his jurisdiction looking for Charlie when Mabel turns up missing. Had he found Charlie, would he have listened to his story or was his mind made up? Did finding Mabel’s body (Chapter 8) change anything?

Throughout the story, Charlie remembers things his brother had told him – how to fight, how he had to make something of himself, etc. Was the brother always right?

Near the end of the story is a showdown. Did Jim Avery have to die in the story? Could Charlie have gone on working with Jim and his ‘family’ and been the same person in the end? Or did Charlie need to prove himself by becoming the new leader of the ark?

Dead Man's Chest
by Kerry Greenwood is a great addition to her list of mysteries featuring Phryne Fisher
Too much mayhem and mystery has gotten Phryne Fisher longing for a few weeks sojourn at the seaside and she promises her ‘family’ no murders. As she arrives in the town of Queenscliff it looks like the perfect place to relax, but a mystery is afoot as they step into the rented home of a friend. Where are the Johnsons who were supposed to meet Phyrne’s group? Did they leave with their furniture or did someone else take it? And why was the kitchen left completely empty, without so much as a teabag for a restorative cup of tea upon their arrival? In typical fashion Phryne sorts out the problems and looks to her two adoptive daughters, Jane & Ruth, her companion, Dot, and even her dog, Molly, (she’s good at barking, but not too daring) to get things underway. Ruth, who wants to be a chef, would like to work on the kitchen, develop a few menus (at least 4 courses for the main meal each day) and starts listing foodstuffs the household will need during their stay. A neighbor lends a kitchen girl to help with peeling, slicing and dicing and a boy, eager, but used to living on the streets, is given a job as general factotum. As usual, Phryne is soon on the trail of ne’er-do-wells, but as to her promise of no murders, you’ll have to decide that one for yourself.

Advent of a Mystery
by Marilyn Leach is the first in what I hope will be a long series.
The setting is the English countryside town of Aiden Kirkwood where Hugh Elliot is the new vicar of Saint Aiden of the Wood Parish Church. Hugh has been vicar for only a few months. Christmas is approaching, but in the middle of all the preparations, one of their eldest parishioners is murdered. There are very few clues and the local constabulary is rushing to close the case. While Hugh's wife, Berdie, had promised her husband to stay away from any investigating - he is the vicar after all - and particularly mysteries or murders, Berdie and her best friend, Lillie, cannot help but offer their services in Christian duty ... and maybe snoop just a little.
One of my favorite English TV shows is Midsomer Murders, based on books by Carolyn Graham. This mystery reminds me of that series, even down to the long-suffering spouse, which is Hugh in this case. The mystery has been likened to Agatha Christie with a touch of Jan Karon's village stories as well. If you like cozy mysteries, I recommend this title.

Romance novels are not typically where one would find mayhem and murder, but this one is laugh out loud funny with both. The quirky characters in this novel are downhome types with a twist of paranormal in them. There's Glenda, the sorceress, who can make flames appear on her fingers, Delpha, the seer, who really can tell your fortune and Cindy, who invents ice cream flavors like What-Love-Can-Do Strawberry for couples in love and The-Kids-Will-Go-Back-To-School-Soon Lemon which is calming. Jennifer Crusie's book, Wild Ride, written with John Mayer is an enchanting read and deliciously funny.

Mary Alice (Mab) Brannigan grew up in a small town that has an amusement park, Dreamland. Her mother was an opponent of the park - for reasons that become clear by the end of the book - when Mab was growing up, so Mab never visited. After college, her knowledge of carnival restoration made her the perfect person to restore the statues and artwork that had been in the park for decades. Her uncle owns 50% of the park (when and how did that happen?) and got her the job. She's hoping to finish up before October when Dreamland becomes Screamland, but this is where the fun begins. Soon one of her statues walks right into her and another demon appears to be on the loose as well. One of her friend's eyes starts glowing (and what does that mean?) Quickly Mab and Ethan (he's the hunk with the glowing eyes) are caught up and almost begin to believe in the weird happenings in the park, and who or what is behind it all? But this is, above all, a romance with boy meets girl in some pretty hectic situations.

Inez Stannert, her husband, Mark, and Abe Jackson, a black man, arrived in Leadville, Colorado with enough money to open a saloon. It was the late 1870’s and Leadville was once again a boomtown. First gold in 1860 and then silver in 1875 brought men and women to the town seeking fortunes. As stakes were mined, rich men would be looking for those that seemed most promising and tried to purchase the claims. Assayers checked the content of samples brought in by the prospectors and, for a fee, estimate the value of a claim. Stores, banks, saloons, dance halls and brothels sprung up to serve the miners. Sheriffs kept peace and order. With a chance for easy money, any of the men and women might be honest or not.

Mark Stannert had served in the Union army with Abe and they stayed together after the war, moving from town to town gambling and running minor confidence games until Mark arrived in Inez’s family’s hometown in New England. He swept Inez off her feet and they were married in a week. She traveled with her husband and his friend until arriving in Leadville. They formed a partnership, each owning a third share of the Silver Queen Saloon. Their plan was to get enough money together to move to San Francisco and open an establishment there.
Mark left town one day and was never heard from again. Inez and Abe continued running the saloon. The profitable business had two house rules: married men cannot gamble; and drunken men will not be served liquor. Inez hosted a weekly high stakes poker game and took a cut from each pot for the business.

It is winter in the Rocky Mountains. Inez is attending her church intent on its new, interim minister when her friend, Emma Rose, reveals that her husband, Joe, did not come home the previous evening. She is extremely worried as that is so unlike him. Upon leaving church, the sheriff indicates he may have bad news. A body was found in the frozen muck behind Inez’s saloon. Sheriff Hollis hopes someone will positively identify the man who was horribly beaten and unrecognizable. Hope vanishes completely as Abe shakes his head when he sees them.

Of course, Inez and Abe become prime suspects.

I’m enjoying this series because I find historical mysteries interesting. Most authors extensively research the time period about which they write, so readers can get a real feel for life at that time and place. In this case, winter in the Rockies in the 1870's, it is cold and bleak. Ann Parker had discovered she had an ancestor who was a blacksmith in Leadville around that time. Inez is an interesting character because she is somewhat unconventional. She grew up in the east to a good family and was a proper miss, yet she went off with Mark having just met him. She is well known around town and respected by all who know her, but she runs an saloon.

Published by Poisoned Pen Press

Silver Lies, 2003
Iron Ties, 2006
Leaden Skies, 2009

You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned Janet Evanovich yet since I know she’s one of the most popular female mystery authors. She has a new book coming out in June, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, which is, as you might guess, the 15th title in her Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie is a Jersey girl born and raised in the Burg, a neighborhood in Trenton. She’s still single and lives in an apartment with her hamster, Rex, most of the time. When her apartment has been trashed or she needs to hide or feel safe, she moves in with Joe Morelli or into the Rangeman complex.
In the first volume, ‘One for the Money’, she has lost her job as lingerie buyer for a department store and is looking around for a job. Her cousin, Vinnie, is a bail bondsman looking for someone to find people who did not appear for their court dates. If they are not found and do not reschedule, then Vinnie is out the bond. When he hesitates to give Stephanie the job, she blackmails him; Vinnie has secrets. Stephanie earns a percentage of the bond amount to bring them in.
Evanovich’s books are full of funny, quirky, characters and laugh-out-loud antics. Her Grandma Mazur has come to live with Stephanie’s parents and has her nose in everything. Grandma forgets she’s not a spring chicken any longer (by a long shot!) and wants to assist her granddaughter in her job. Stephanie meets up with quite a few other individuals, many who are funny and a few who are sinister. Her mother, who wonders where she went wrong in raising Stephanie that she turned out without a steady job and carrying a gun, and her long-suffering father, who just wants dinner on the table at a reasonable time are among Stephanie’s foibles along with Joe Morelli, with whom she has a long history and is the subject of her first apprehension, and Ranger, Carlos Manoso, who is an expert employee of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and helps Stephanie learn the ropes. There’s lots of sexual tension between Steph and these two hunks.
I have listened to many of the Stephanie Plum titles on audio and I enjoy C J Critt’s readings. She is not the only narrator, however, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide. There are 4 titles that feature Stephanie Plum in what Evanovich calls her Between the Numbers Series as well, but these are shorter, though even more outrageous.

Published by Scribner

One for the Money, 1993
Two for the Dough, 1996
Three to get Deadly, 1997

Published by St Martin’s Press

Four to Score, 1998
High Five, 1999
Hot Six, 2000
Seven Up, 2001
Hard Eight, 2002
To the Nines, 2003
Ten Big Ones, 2004
Eleven on Top, 2005
Twelve Sharp, 2006
Lean Mean Thirteen, 2007
Fearless Fourteen, 2008
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, 2009

From a cozy series, we turn to a gritty, hardboiled series by Philip Kerr. Bernhard Guenther looks for people. More precisely, he tries to find out what happened to people, for he lives in perilous times, 1936 Berlin, and more often than not there are no answers, much less good ones. Nazis, the Gestapo and the SS are everywhere and usually behind the disappearances, so Bernie must tread carefully lest he come under the suspicious eye of a member of law enforcement. This is not always easy to do because he must ask questions to find answers. In the first volume of the series, Bernie is ‘requested’ to come to the aid of the owner of one of pre-war Germany’s largest steel mills. Herr Six, the owner, is looking for jewels, or is he? He claims a valuable necklace was stolen from his daughter and son-in-law’s home after they were murdered and the home set ablaze to cover up the deed. As Bernie gets deeper into the case he finds more questions than answers, some from top-ranking officials.

Philip Kerr recreates an extremely realistic Germany under the Third Reich. Once a woman married, she was expected to stay home and take care of the family. This also helped with unemployment. Another program to keep people off welfare was the building of the autobahns. Pay was minimal, but men were working, and the autobahns were strategic to the Nazis, since they were built to allow armies and their equipment access to countries such as Czechoslovakia which was invaded a few years later. At this point Jews were not the only people sent to KZs, concentration camps. Homosexuals and Communists were sent there as well. In fact, Bernie remarked about one man who was all three that his luck hadn’t run out so much as hopped on a motorcycle and fled. In the midst of this were the 1936 Olympics and Jesse Owens.

This is one of those series that I’d run into every so often and finally read the first in the series. I highly recommend it to readers of hard-boiled and noirish mysteries as well as fans of historical mysteries. In the meantime, I’ve requested the second title on audio and anxiously await its arrival. Philip Kerr, by the way, has written a variety of thrillers as well as a series, Children of the Lamp for middle-school-aged kids. He lives in Scotland.

Published by Viking

March Violets, 1989
The Pale Criminal, 1990
A German Requiem, 1991

Published by Penguin Books

Berlin Noir, 1993 compiles the 1st 3 titles

Published by G P Putnam’s Sons

The One from the Other, 2006
A Quiet Flame, 2009