Oldies But Goodies: Malmont & Marshall

Reviews by Jeanne

Every time I open a journal or visit a bookstore, there are many new mystery paperbacks vying for attention.  There are some really wonderful ones, but there are plenty of older books worthy of attention, too.  Here are a couple of series I've enjoyed lately:

In Death Pays the Rose Rent, newly published New York novelist Tori Miracle is happy to have been invited to visit her old school friend Alice-Ann in the wilds of Lickin Creek, PA.  Actually, “happy” doesn’t quite cover it: Tori’s way behind on her rent, broke, and needs a change of scene.  She’s desperate enough that she’s even willing to face Alice-Ann’s husband, Richard, whom Tori considers to be an arrogant jerk.  It turns out that Alice Ann has come to the same conclusion and is about to ask Richard for a divorce.  She’s hoping Tori will provide moral support. 

Meanwhile, Lickin Creek is gearing up for the Rose Festival which celebrates the founding of the town by one of Richard’s ancestors.  As a direct descendant, Richard will be accepting three roses as a token rent.  He does end up with one of the roses, at least:  on his dead body.  And of course, Alice-Ann is the main suspect.

Tori is determined to clear her friend’s name so she uses the skills she learned as a journalist and researcher to start digging.  She feels sure that the solution has to do with something in the town’s past, and maybe even with a mysterious visit from an elderly Thomas Edison not long before his death.  Or maybe it has to do with a missing gemstone that was stolen during the Civil War.  There are many questions, but the answers seem in short supply.

Valerie Malmont is one of those authors who delights me.  Tori is a fish out of water in the Appalachian town where baked pig’s stomach is a local delicacy, but her sarcastic observations never turn into meanness.  She’s bright with a strong sense of humor that helps her cope with the darkness of her past and also serves to keep people at arm’s length.  On the one hand, she’s a sophisticated New Yorker but she’s also a devoted fan of the movie The Wizard of Oz.  She’s a romantic afraid of romance.

And of course there are the cats, Fred and Noel.

Death Pays the Rose Rent is the first in the series and a wonderful start it is.  You don’t have to read in order—I actually started with the third book—but now I know why Tori is known as “the woman who burned down the Historical Society.” I spend a lot of time smiling when I read these books.  They’re just plain fun. Sadly, there were only five books in the series. 

1. Death Pays the Rose Rent
2. Death, Lies, and Apple Pies
3. Death, Guns, and Sticky Buns
4. Death, Snow, and Mistletoe
5. Death, Bones, and Stately Homes

Toasting Tina by Evan Marshall is one of the Jane Stuart and Winky Mystery Series.  Jane is a widowed mother of a young son who makes her living as a literary agent.  Sleuthing is just a sideline.  In this entry, Jane is attending a Romance Authors Together convention which is being held in the same hotel as a feline fanciers’ show.  Yes, that means there are RATs and cats in the same space.  Also attending the former is Tina Vine, a newly appointed VP for a major publisher and an old rival of Jane’s who is using her position to pursue a vendetta against Jane. Tina is also “cleaning house” by dropping some long-time writers for her new prospects, which doesn’t do anything to endear her to some of the attendees.  When Tina is found dead in her bathtub, electrocuted by one of the toasters she collects, there’s no shortage of suspects. . . including Jane.

This was my first Evan Marshall book and I found it to be a charming cozy, even if I hadn’t read the preceding four books.  I particularly enjoyed the peek behind the scenes in publishing.  Marshall was a book editor before becoming a literary agent and mystery author, so he knows his subject well—and from several points of view, not just author.  Winky the cat graces the covers and plays with toys but doesn’t take an active role in any investigations.  There were some personal revelations in this book which I think would have had a lot more impact had I read others first, but I didn’t have any trouble following characters or plot so I’d say this series doesn’t have to be read in order.  I was a bit disappointed to discover that there’s only been one more book in the series and that one came out in 2004.  Marshall wrote four books in another series after that, but seems to be concentrating on his work with authors and would be authors. (Note:  Laura Levine, author of the Jaine Austen mystery series thanks him for his help as her agent in her latest book, Death by Tiara.  It made perfect sense to me, because the two series share certain sensibilities.)

1. Missing Marlene
2. Hanging Hannah
3. Stabbing Stephanie
4. Icing Ivy
5. Toasting Tina
6. Crushing Crystal

Death, Lies and Apple Pies by Valerie Malmont & Appetite for Murder by Lucy Burdette

  

 Reviewed by Jeanne

Death, Lies, and Apple Pies by Valerie Malmont is the second in the Tori Miracle series. Horror author Tori packs up her cats, Fred and Noel, and leaves New York for Lickin Creek, PA and a visit with her new fiancé Garnet.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the week of vacation Garnet had planned has gone awry, but Tori doesn’t have a chance to get bored: right off the bat, she’s named Celebrity Judge of the Apple Butter Festival, succeeding the extension agent who served last year.  Other complications ensue when she discovers Garnet’s widowed sister has moved in with him and said sister is deeply involved with a group trying to stop a nuclear waste dump being placed near the town.  The site hinges on whether or not elderly landowner Percy Montrose will sell the land for the dump.  When Percy dies suddenly, the doctor says it was death from natural causes, but Tori isn’t so sure.  It may just be the journalist in her, but Percy’s death is just too convenient for too many people. . . and that includes Garnet’s sister Greta.

I thoroughly enjoyed Death, Snow, and Mistletoe (fourth book in the series) and found myself easily caught up in this one as well.  The names can be a bit off-putting at times (Bathsheba Butterbaugh or Greta Gochenauer) but that didn’t last long.  Malmont does a good job of balancing the fun and mystery, and while there were times I wish Tori would pause before rushing in where angels fear to tread, I didn’t get annoyed with her as I usually do with heroines who are too impetuous.  I also want to give Malmont credit for handling a difficult subject with some even-handedness: it would be easy to immediately side with one or the other group in the nuclear waste controversy, but she does a reasonably good job of presenting both sides of the argument. 

The only bad thing is that there are just five books in the series.  Apparently, the publisher didn’t think they were selling well enough and declined any more.  The last book came out in 2003.  It occurred to me that since publishing has changed so much, it might be that Ms. Malmont might consider self-publishing so I did a search. Sadly, it turned out that she had died earlier this year so unless she left a manuscript there will be no more.  

Moving from apple pie to Key Lime pie, we have An Appetite for Murder by Lucy Burdette, the first book  in a new cozy mystery series.  Hayley Snow was stocking shelves in New Jersey when she fell head over heels for a guy, even pulling up stakes and following Chad home to Florida.  The relationship lasted about as long as one would expect, which is how she ended up on a houseboat in Key West.  Always a foodie, Hayley finds out about a job opening at Key Zest magazine as a food critic—could anything be more perfect?  Complications arise when it turns out the co-owner of the magazine is Kristen Faulkner, the “other woman” who replaced Hayley in Chad’s affections, not to mention his bed.  Hayley sets out to taste and write a column, only to discover she’s under suspicion for murder. . . Kristen’s murder.

I try not to judge a mystery series by its first book.  Such books usually have to spend a good bit of time introducing the cast of characters, developing a setting, and working up the premise.  Appetite is pretty standard in that regard.  The Key West setting is nicely done, the descriptions of food are good, and Hayley seems to know what to do in regard to writing.  Hayley herself is bit ditzy for my taste, no pun intended, but I hope she’ll mature a bit as the series progresses.  Yes, there was a cat.  His name is Evinrude, and that's all I can remember.

The other problem is that I can’t stop thinking about Key Lime Pie.