Sunday 12 July 2009

Sunday July 12th, 2009 Dinner and a Murder

The phrase says that “everybody loves a mystery”, and in my case it couldn’t be more true, if given a choice I’ll always grab a whodunit. While my tastes vary from the hard boiled thriller to the intricate plots of a historical mystery, depending on my mood and the season; I’m always in the mood for a cozy mystery.


For those not familiar with mysteries, cozies are a subgenre known for their humour and attention to character. Normally, cozies develop into series, each developing the characters, their eccentricities and environment of the sleuths’ world. The fun in cozies is spending time with Miss Marple and the residents of St. Mary’s Mead or Jim Qwilleran and his sleuthing cats, Koko and Yum Yum in one of Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who.. mysteries or tracking the romantic life of Stephanie Plum and the antics of Grandma Mazur in the latest Janet Evanovich; and the mystery just keeps you turning pages.

If you like a mystery as much as I do; this summer the library has a great contest for you, with its adult reading game, Dinner and a Murder. Come in to any branch and pick up a ballot, just read five books and solve the murder for a chance to win a $50.00 gift certificate for a five course gourmet dinner for two in the Nordic Dining Room at the Valhalla Inn. The more books you read the more ballots you can complete.

In order to get you on the case and whet your appetite, there is also a $50.00 gift certificate from Boston Pizza (perfect for stakeouts), as an early bird prize just for coming in and filling out a ballot.

The books you read for the contest don’t have to be mysteries, just read what you enjoy. If you are interested in grabbing a cozy mystery or two for camp, here are a collection of new ones the library has just ordered.

Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen

Set in 1932, Bowen's third whodunit to feature Lady Georgiana, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria), will please fans of romantic, humorous historicals. Georgie makes an ill-advised attempt to start her own business, leads to embarrassment, danger and scandal. Sent off to the family castle in Scotland, Lady Georgiana turns sleuths when a series of serious accidents suggests that someone is targeting members of the royal family. The violence soon escalates to murder, leaving Georgie in the crosshairs.


Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews

Winning a rose show can drive a person to murder, in the 11th Meg Langslow mystery set in Caerphilly, Va. Before the event, Meg’s dad’s roses are sabotaged, and another enterant’s purebred Maltese is kidnapped in order to prevent the owner from competing. The stakes turn deadly when while exploring the estate, where the show is taking place, Meg discovers a woman stabbed in the back with a pair of gardening shears. It’s up to Meg to weed out the murderer before she becomes the next gardener pruned.

Fed Up by Jessica Conant-Park

In the 4th mystery to feature Chloe Carter, it’s up to Chloe to clear the name of Josh Driscoll, her chef boyfriend, when he serves up some poisoned lamb on a cable cooking show called, Chefly Yours, and a randomly chosen participant eat too much of the digitalis-laced dish and dies. Was she the intended victim or just unlucky? Was it a prank gone wrong, someone out to steal Josh’s TV show, or murder for another reason? The preparations for Chloe’s best friend’s wedding may distract her from her sleuthing a bit but Chloe intends to find the culprit.

The Alpine Uproar by Mary Daheim

In Daheim's,21st mystery to feature newspaper editor-publisher Emma Lord, an altercation between car mechanic and trucker at the Icicle Creek Tavern in Alpine, Wash., leaves one dead dead and another in jail. Emma, however, thinks that the witnesses' statements don't quite add up, especially when they're followed by a traffic accident that kills the nephew of the local grocery store owners. Emma then learns that the nephew was high on cocaine and other drugs at the time, suggesting that a dealer is active in the area. Her investigation into the drug trade may just make her, their next victim.

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

This is the ninth re-imagining of the life of Sherlock Holmes by mystery novelist Laurie R. King, who fleshes out Holmes character with a loving and much younger but equally brilliant wife, named Mary Russell. The focus of this book is Sherlock Holmes estranged artist son, Damian Adler, who unexpectedly arrives on Holmes and Mary’s doorstep, trying to enlist his father’s aid in searching for his missing wife and daughter. While Holmes tackles the case, Mary goes undercover to investigate Damian’s questionable past.

Lori Kauzlarick, Public Services Assistant

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