Much Ado About Nauticaling by Gabby Allan

Reviewed by Jeanne

This first book in the Whit and Whiskers cozy mystery series is set on Santa Catalina Island where Whitney Dagner grew up.  She moved away, tried a corporate job, and then came back to help her family.  The Dagners run a glass bottom boat attraction that takes tourists around the island.  Whitney’s grandparents are gradually phasing out their involvement in favor of Whitney’s brother Nick, and Whitney decides to operate a gift shop in conjunction with the boat.

Business has been good, and the passengers have been enjoying themselves, never so much as when a small shark swims under the boat. After they disembark, Whitney is cleaning the glass in preparation for the next group when something else floats into view.  Not a shark this time, but a body.

The body of Jules Tisdale, a wealthy man who took a strong interest in all that happens on the island, and who was rumored to be about to set up a competing glass bottom boat attraction.  This makes Whitney’s brother Nick a suspect, but he’s not the only one with a motive:  the new widow seems much more interested in her upcoming inheritance than in who may have murdered her husband, there seem to be some women scorned in Jules’ past, and certain other island business owners may have had reasons for wishing Jules ill. 

Just to make things more interesting, Whitney’s ex-boyfriend Felix has turned up and is working for the police department as a diver. As little as she wants to, Whitney may have to team up with Felix if she’s going to keep Nick from going to jail.

I found this to be a solid, middle of the road cozy with most of the usual trappings.  I have to say that it suffered a bit unfairly because one of the subplots was almost exactly the same as in another cozy mystery I had finished just prior to starting this one.  The other book had been written some years before, so it was just my bad luck that I read these two so close together.

I liked the descriptions of the island and of the treasure maps Whitney and her grandfather set up, complete with a findable treasure.  Grandmother Goldie is an interesting character, a woman who feels she has earned her retirement and is bound to enjoy it. There’s an adorable cat along too. The one negative I’ll give is that the book ends a bit abruptly right after the murderer is revealed.

The second book in the series is due out in the summer of 2022.  The title is Something Fishy This Way Comes.

 

Nevermore: Cat Saw Murder, Jefferson's Sons, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Island, Snow Leopard, Tipperary, Island That Dared

 

Nevermore opened up with another recommendation for a mystery which has been making the rounds:  The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens. Originally published in 1939 but recently reprinted, this delightful mystery features mature sleuth Rachel Murdock whose visit with her niece turns into a murder investigation.  Our reader added her positive review to the chorus, but noted that she was shocked that the 70ish Rachel was considered to be very elderly. 

Another book making a return appearance was Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Told from the point of view of three of Jefferson’s children by Sally Hemings, the book portrays the inconsistencies of Jefferson’s views and the inequalities experienced by his mixed race children. The book is both heartbreaking and enlightening.  Our reader was fascinated with the book, calling it both delightful and insightful. She highly recommends it for anyone with an interest in American history, or for anyone looking for a good story. The book is generally found in the Young Adult section, but adults will find it to be just as worthwhile.

 

This matched well with the next book, the classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Our reader was enthralled with the book, finding it difficult to put down.  Stowe knew former slaves and so had first-hand accounts to describe the horrors of slavery.  Our reviewer feels that everyone should read this book.  

The next book had a very brief review.  The Island by Peter Benchley has to do with the strange disappearances of many boats along with the people on board.  Our reader called it “one of the worst books ever.” Enough said. 

 

The Snow Leopard by Richard Matthiessen is an older title, dating from 1978, but it still captured the attention of our reviewer.  The book chronicles Matthiessen’s journey to the Himalayan Mountains to study the blue sheep, but the journey is as much a spiritual one as it is a physical one.  Buddhist philosophy plays a large role, and Matthiessen does a brilliant job of blending the search for an elusive creature with the search for peace. 

 

Our next reader so enjoyed Frank Delaney’s novel Ireland that she decided to read Tipperary as well.  The latter book set during the late 19^th-early 20^th centuries has two narrators:  one is Charles O’Brien, a historian who tells of his life, including interactions with influential Irishmen such as James Joyce.  He falls in love with an Englishwoman many years his junior who wants to reclaim her Irish home, Tipperary Castle. There is a second narrator who purports to have found this memoir and who comments on it. Our reader said it was confusing in places but a really good book if you could keep track of the characters and events.

 

The Island That Dared by Dervla Murphy is an in-depth look at Cuba.  Murphy is a well-respected travel writer, and here she seeks to experience Cuba in much the same way as ordinary Cubans. She’s looking for the backwaters and areas tourists never see, and interacts with the Cuban people.  She also provides a wealth of historical background and insight, with certain conclusions that some people might view as controversial.  Our reviewer recommended it highly, and felt that everyone needed to read it in order to understand the whole historic and modern day Cuban situation.

Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison

 

  Reviewed by Jeanne

After Evie's husband Robert dies suddenly, she discovers they were in deep financial difficulty. Even her home is in jeopardy. When Nigel, Robert's solicitor, offers a flicker of hope in the form of a loan with an island hotel as collateral, Evie and her California-based sister Margot head to the remote island off the coast of Cornwall to check things out. 

 

This proves more difficult than expected when the hotel owner claims not to know Robert and that no such loan was ever made.  In order to win cooperation, Margot claims she is scouting a location for a movie, much to Evie’s chagrin.  Things soon take a darker turn when a murder occurs.

 

The setting takes a star turn in this book.  The island is reachable only by ferry, giving the place a wild yet claustrophobic feel.  The hotel, far from being the glamorous spa of the imagination, is badly in need of repairs.  The islanders aren’t exactly a great welcoming committee either.  There are a lot of secrets to be untangled, and not just the murderer’s identity.

 

Evie is still a bit bewildered by her sudden widowhood, but she is made of pretty stern stuff.  I was less fond of Margot, whose wild lies rather got on my nerves, especially when it seemed pretty obvious that few were taken in by them.  There is indeed a cat, as promised by the cover, who communicates with selected humans and is a good source of information—if you believe in feline witnesses.  One of my favorite characters was the island’s police officer, who seemed to be both capable and to view the sisters with a bit of an amused eye.

 

This is a first in series book, so I think things will smooth out since at least some of the characters have been introduced.  While both Evie and Margot are British and the story is based in the UK, it read oddly like an American cozy to me.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just not quite what I expected. I’ll be interested to see what happens in the next Island Sisters Mystery book.