Edith Pargeter is one of the grande dames of the historical English countryside mysteries. Writing as Ellis Peters, her most memorable character is Brother Cadfael, a Welshman who joined the first Crusades. Upon his return to England, he gave up his worldly life to join a Benedictine monastery, The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in the English county of Shropshire. He is the herbalist for his brethren and knows the medicinal value of the herbs he grows and finds in the countryside and would prefer to spend his time in his greenhouse. But war and its cruelty come to Shrewsbury Castle. King Stephen and Empress Maud are battling for the kingdom and the lords in Shropshire have taken sides.

The series was well researched and Peters used a number of historical events in her chronicles including the battle in Shrewsbury. In the first title, A Morbid Taste for Bones, one of the abbey’s monks has a vision that one of his fellow brothers will be cured if he visits the spring of St Winifred in Wales. They begin to feel that it would be fitting that her bones should be honored more significantly should they be moved to the Shrewsbury Abbey. Since Cadfael is Welsh, he is included in the group to request the transfer of the relics. When the person most opposed to this is found murdered, it is up to Cadfael to find the miscreant. The ending is a bit of a surprise that I won’t give away here.

In addition to the books by Ellis Peters, two companion volumes were co-authored by Peters and Robin Whiteman. The first is the Brother Cadfael Companion, printed in the US by Mysterious Press in 1995. It includes all things Cadfael: the places; people and events that take place in the 20 Chronicles and 1 book of novellas. The second was also co-authored by Rob Talbot: Brother Cadfael’s Herb Garden: an Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and their Uses, printed by Little, Brown in 1996.

Brother Cadfael’s Chronicles are available on audio as well as print format. Sir Derek Jacobi is perfect at Cadfael on video, originally published for television.

• 1 Morbid Taste for Bones, 1977 by Mysterious Press
• 2 One Corpse Too Many, 1979 by Morrow
• 3 Monk's Hood, 1980 by Warner
• 4 St. Peter's Fair, 1981 by Morrow
• 5 Leper of St. Giles, 1981 by Ballantine Books
  
  

Published by W Morrow

• 6 Virgin in the Ice, 1983
• 7 Sanctuary Sparrow, 1983
• 8 Devil's Novice, 1984
• 9 Dead Man's Ransom, 1984
• 10 Pilgrim of Hate, 1984
• 11 Excellent Mystery, 1985
• 12 Raven in the Foregate, 1986
• 13 Rose Rent, 1986

Published by Mysterious Press

• A Rare Benedictine, short stories from Cadfael's life before the monastery
• 14 Hermit of Eyton Forest, 1988
• 15 Confession of Brother Haluin, 1989
• 16 Heretic's Apprentice, 1990
• 17 Potter's Field, 1990
• 18 Summer of The Danes, 1991
• 19 Holy Thief, 1992
• 20 Brother Cadfael's Penance, 1994

Jane Austen has inspired any number of authors who copy her style and use her settings. There have been books written supposing what happened, for example, once Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy were wed and moved to Pemberley. There is even a mystery series (by Carrie Bebris) where Elizabeth and Darcy must discover who is behind dastardly events befalling their friends a la The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora, according to the books’ jackets.

This entry will be focusing on a series by Stephanie Barron where Jane Austen is the sleuth. The stories take place in villages and towns where Jane’s family lived and visited and Ms Barron uses fictional diary entries and letters to Cassandra, Jane’s beloved sister, just as these devices were used in Miss Austen’s own works.

The interesting aspect to the books is how well Ms Barron is able to include situations that are similar enough to Austen’s own works that, were they not fictional, one might suppose that these events inspired her to write her novels. Included are various footnotes to help a reader who is unfamiliar with life and society in the early 1800’s England.

In the first of the series, Jane is visiting her friend, Lady Scargrave. Isobel calls her from her bed because her husband of only 3 months is in agony. Earlier that evening he was merry, enjoying a party to toast his and Isobel’s nuptials. Lord Scargrave does not revive and to further upset the house party, Isobel receives a ‘missive’ accusing her and the Earl’s nephew of adultery and murder. With so many people in residence and nearby, Jane reluctantly consents to assist her friend.

These titles do follow Jane’s life and travels, and are best read in order.

Published by Bantam Books

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, being the First Jane Austen Mystery, 1996
Jane and the Man of the Cloth, being the Second Jane Austen Mystery, 1997
Jane and the Wandering Eye, being the Third Jane Austen Mystery, 1998
Jane and the Genius of the Place, being the Fourth Jane Austen Mystery, 1999
Jane and the Stillroom Maid, being the Fifth Jane Austen Mystery, 2000
Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House, being the Sixth Jane Austen Mystery, 2001
Jane and the Ghosts of Netley, being a Jane Austen Mystery, 2003
Jane and his Lordship’s Legacy, being a Jane Austen Mystery, 2005
Jane and the Barque of Frailty, being a Jane Austen Mystery, 2006

I hope you're finding some new authors to try. That is the purpose of this blog! Feel free to comment on any of these posts.

This week’s author-character combo is David Rosenfelt who pens the Andy Carpenter mysteries, and Andy is definitely quite a character. Andy is a guy’s answer to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, as long as the guy is a wise-cracking, sports fan who loves his Golden Retriever, Tara. Both Andy and Stephanie call the east coast state of New Jersey home, though Stephanie’s city is Trenton and Andy hails from Paterson, closer to New York City. Andy is a lawyer, son of Nelson Carpenter, former D.A. in Paterson, and the judges really dislike Andy. They don’t like his wise-mouth; they definitely don’t like the stunts he pulls in the courtroom, and they all know him or about him.

In the first book, Open and Shut, Andy is defending a client accused of jewelry theft. The case is going to the jury and evidence is all circumstantial. His investigator, and love of his life, Laurie, walks into the courtroom. He asks the court if he may have a few minutes to confer with Laurie, which is granted. When he comes back, he states that someone has confessed to the crime, and that throws the court into a tizzy. It turns out that that statement was false, but Andy used it to his advantage to remind the jury that they have a duty to believe the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You’ll have to read the book to see if it worked. You’ll also read about the inheritance from his father, the D.A. 22 million dollars is a vast sum of money that remained in the bank untouched for decades. Where did it come from and how did Nelson acquire it?

This is another series that would be better to read in order as events flow from one to the next, but that is my opinion.

Published by Mysterious Press

• Open and Shut, 2002
• First Degree, 2003
• Bury the Lead, 2004
• Sudden Death, 2005
• Dead Center, 2006

Published by Warner

• Play Dead, 2007
  

Hello again,

My next author is Australian and her heroine, Phryne (frý·nee) Fisher, is, too. Kerry Greenwood has been writing historical mysteries for many years now and it is only in the last five years that mystery readers in the US have been able to enjoy this series. The list below is in order by original publication date in Australia. When brought to the US, publication was not in the original order, according to Robert Rosenwald of Poisoned Pen Press. (http://www.poisonedpenpress.com/)

The mysteries take place in the mid 1920’s, though there are flashbacks to WWI and just after. Phryne was born in the poor part of a town in Australia. Her father was a minor lord who later inherited his title because the more closely related heirs died. He moved the family back to England and took up residency on his estate. He hoped Phryne would turn into a perfect little English miss, but she would have none of that. She ran away to help in the war effort and found herself driving an ambulance in war torn France. Her experiences were often horrific and several volumes have mentioned some of these.

She is now the Honorable Phryne Fisher of Melbourne, Australia and can do as she pleases. Her clothes are ‘au courant’ by local couturiers. She can fly a plane, drive like a racer, dance the Charleston and knows what she likes; she is completely irrepressible, think Emma Peel, from TV’s ‘The Avengers’, as a flapper.

These are best read in order because they do follow a sequence and characters tend to stick around Phryne and appear in later books, but each book is a story in itself if you want to try one out. The audiobooks produced by Bolinda Audio are excellent.

Originally by McPhee Gribble in Australia & later Poisoned Pen Press in USA

• 1) Cocaine Blues, 1989, 2006
• 2) Flying Too High, 1990, 2006
• 3) Murder on the Ballarat Train, 1991, 2006
• 4) Death at Victoria Dock, 1992, 2006
• 5) The Green Mill Murder, 1993, 2006*
• 6) Blood and Circuses, 1994, 2006
• 7) Ruddy Gore, 1995, 2005

Originally published by Allen & Unwin in Australia & later Poisoned Pen Press in USA

• 8) Urn Burial, 1996, 2005
• 9) Raisins and Almonds, 1997, 2007
• 10) Death before Wicket, 1999, 2008
• 11) Away with the Fairies, 2001, 2005
• 12) Murder in Montparnasse, 2002, 2004
• 13) The Castlemaine Murders, 2003, 2004
• 14) Queen of the Flowers, 2004, 2008
• 15) Death by Water, 2005, December, 2008
• 16) Murder in the Dark, 2006, not yet available in US

* the paperback edition contains the whole story; parts were inadvertently left out of the original hardbound US publication

Hi and welcome,

This blog will be featuring thrillers and mystery fiction that I have found either on my own or heard about from others. This entry features author, Lee Child, and his character, Jack Reacher.

Jack was born in Berlin, West Germany. Hid dad was a Marine and his mom was from France. He has an older brother, Joe, whom he hasn't seen in a long time. The family lived on military bases throughout the world, moving as required by his dad’s orders. Jack attended West Point and joined the Army himself. He won awards for his marksmanship and was in the Military Police. There are very few things that scare him.

He has since left the Army and travels the United States in order to get to know his country. Jack has an excellent internal alarm clock and is good with numbers. Of course, in each of his thrillers he encounters someone with a problem. At times this someone is a stranger or it’s someone he knew or Joe knew, but Jack helps him or her and then moves on, because Jack is a loner.

Jack is a great character. He doesn’t always follow the letter of the law, but he gets the job done and each of his books makes a great read. I have also listened to Bad Luck and Trouble, read by Dick Hill, which was excellent.

By the way, I'm one of those who prefers to read books in order, but the Jack Reacher novels rarely refer back to previous titles in the series, so reading them in order is not really necessary.

Jack Reacher Novels published by Delacorte Press

• Nothing to Lose, 2008
• Bad Luck and Trouble, 2007
• The Hard Way, 2006
• One Shot, 2005
• The Enemy, 2004
• Persuader, 2003

Jack Reacher Novels published by G P Putnam's Sons

• Without Fail, 2002
• Echo Burning, 2001
• Running Blind, 2000
• Tripwire, 1999
• Die Trying, 1998
• The Killing Floor, 1997