The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

Reviewed by Kristin

Series books are hard to review. Characters’ back stories can arc through several books, and when done well they can be delightful. A good author creates believable characters for the reader to love, or to hate. People who evoke those strong feelings even when they are fictional—this is what makes a series worth reading for me. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton are two of those characters whose stories I find worth revisiting every year or so when a new book in the series is released. (Not to mention, Karin Slaughter keeps the action coming fast and furious.)

Will Trent is one of those flawed characters who I always find myself rooting for. He had a rough childhood as an orphan in the Atlanta Children’s Home; he was dependent on Angie Polaski, a fellow survivor who he eventually married although her manipulation of him was somewhere between sociopathic and psychopathic; his dyslexia is a secret that he keeps from almost everyone, but somehow he manages to do his job as a GBI agent and do it well.

At this point in the series (Spoilers ahead! Stop reading this review if you are still early in the list!) Will is romantically involved with Sara, a doctor who has had more than her share of tragedy as the widow of a police officer. Sara and Will actually have a healthy relationship, although they are still learning to communicate with each other. Will works with fellow agent Faith Mitchell and they both are kept on their toes by Amanda Wagner, their well-seasoned GBI supervisor who knows everything, and everyone.

Now to address just a little of the plot in The Last Widow:  Michelle Spivey is a wife, a mother, and a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. One hot summer evening, the thirty-nine year old woman is shoved into an unmarked white van in a parking lot right in front of her pre-teen daughter. A month later, two explosions turn the Emory campus into a war zone scene with bodies littering the ground. The GBI is quickly on the case drawing connections between the seemingly unrelated incidents. The investigation takes them from ground zero of the explosions to the north Georgia mountains and beyond. Sara is drawn into the action as the bombers need a doctor, whisking her away to a mountainous compound where something deadly is lurking. Will is determined to find Sara. At any cost.

Slaughter introduced Sara in the Grant County series and Will in the self-titled Will Trent series, with a merging in the 2009 book Undone. If you’d like to start from the beginning, or in the middle, or in whatever book you can find on the library or virtual shelves, here’s a list to help you try to keep things straight.

Grant County

1.       Blindsighted

2.      Kisscut

3.      A Faint Cold Fear

4.      Indelible

5.      Faithless

6.      Beyond Reach

7.      Undone

Will Trent

1.       Triptych

2.      Fractured

3.      Undone

4.      Broken

5.      Fallen

6.      Criminal

7.      Unseen

8.     The Kept Woman

9.      The Last Widow

10.  The Silent Wife (2020)

And just to add to the fun, while making this list I discovered that Slaughter teamed up with Lee Child to write a short story titled Cleaning the Gold involving Jack Reacher and Will Trent. Excuse me while I go make a request for that title….

BPL Book Club Reviews Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

Reported by Lauren

                This month, the BPL Book Club discussed Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. Told from the perspective of fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy, Burns’ novel tells the story of Will and his relationships with his family and friends, most especially his close relationship with his grandpa Rucker who has scandalized their small town of Cold Sassy, Georgia, by marrying the milliner at his general store, the beautiful “Yankee” Miss Love Simpson, only three weeks after Will’s grandma dies. Miss Love happens to be MUCH younger and the prettiest girl in town, and Will’s mother and aunt are furious, not just because they’re in mourning, but also because Miss Love’s presence threatens their inheritance. First Will, and then the rest of the family, eventually come to appreciate Miss Love’s role in Rucker’s life, but not before many hijinks ensue. Cold Sassy itself is at a turning point, caught between its traditional Confederate farmer roots and the rise of industrialized travel and commerce by railroad and automobile. Grandpa becomes a symbol of old made new again (just like the town), and Will watches through innocent eyes as his town, his family, and his own life are changed forever.

                Our Book Club discussion started off with an examination of Will Tweedy and Grandpa’s characters. Will is considered the protagonist, but we decided that Grandpa Rucker is really the driving force of the novel. Several members could see a family resemblance in Burns’ portrayal of Grandpa Rucker as an old Southern man, stubborn and hard-headed, but with a good heart and a mischievous sense of humor. We also enjoyed watching Will grow and mature, and learn life various lessons right alongside his grandfather.

                We next discussed the portrayal of small town gossip, “keeping up appearances,” and traditional death rites. The death of Will’s grandmother sets the story in motion, and it was interesting to see how small southern towns take their grieving so seriously. The family mourns for months, and the entire town attends the “settin’ up” and burial. Rucker’s quick marriage to Love is considered an unforgiveable transgression. Rumors of Rucker’s possible infidelity abound, and the couple is shunned from church and other social gatherings. This bothers Miss Love, but not Rucker! He enjoys the attention, and delights in pointing out the hypocrisy of his fellow “Christians.”

                Overall, we found this book to be a sweet, funny, and endearing portrait of small-town Southern life. The writing style was a little hard to read at times, as Burns is heavy-handed with the Southern dialect, but hearing it read aloud made it much easier to follow. Some commented that they wished Burns had gone a little deeper into the various issues Will encounters, like racism, classism, infidelity, and suicide, but others thought the “skimming over” of the serious parts added to the novel’s charm. The fact that Will is young and doesn’t quite understand how serious these issues are actually gives them more weight. We ended our discussion by saying that while this was no To Kill a Mockingbird, it was entertaining and authentic without going too deep. 4 out of 5 stars!

                Join us next month, August 15 at 6:30 as we discuss Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. All are welcome!

Murder in Her Stocking: A Granny Reid Mystery by G. A. McKevett

Reviewed by Kristin

Savannah Reid and her six siblings were raised right by their Southern granny.  Granny Reid didn’t take any guff, but she always had a kind word, a knitted scarf, and a full plate to give to any of her grandchildren, or to anyone in need.  Finally, after 23 books featuring the sassy California-based private investigator Savannah Reid, Granny is getting her own book.

Wind back the clock about 30 years to the 1980s in small town McGill, Georgia.  Granny (aka Stella) is mighty worried about her seven grandchildren.  Stella’s son Macon is a truck driver and always on the road, and his wife Shirley is less than a model of propriety.  Shirley is most often found warming a barstool at the Bulldog Tavern, leaving twelve-year-old Savannah to scrape together meals for her siblings.  Stella does all that she can, but Shirley is sensitive to criticism and usually insists that Stella mind her own business.  Stella’s heart aches for the children who are being forced to grow up way too fast.

When Stella finds Prissy Carr (the local floozy) dying in an alley, she ends up right in the middle of the investigation with Sheriff Gilford.  A little hint into Savannah’s life and career choices are revealed, as the mystery-novel-loving-Savannah is right there beside her Granny digging up clues in order to bring the murderer to justice.

While I enjoy the Savannah Reid series, this venture into Granny’s earlier life was welcome and heartwarming.  It’s nice to see Stella as a 50-something grandmother who still displays so much spunk as she cares for her family, friends, and her potential love interest, Sheriff Manny Gilford.  Not that the 80-something Granny has lost any of her gumption, but McKevett used this opportunity to develop Stella’s character more thoroughly, as well as show more about the family situation which shaped Savannah and her younger siblings.

It may be cutesy, but I like the fact that Savannah, her siblings, and her father are all named for towns in Georgia.  Living in Georgia for eleven years, Savannah was a favorite weekend destination for my family.  Many a time I passed through Macon, Marietta, Waycross, Valdosta, and even the small towns of Vidalia, Alma and Jesup.  Another sister, Cordelia, seems to have been named for Cordele, a tiny hamlet along I-75.  My husband practically grew up in southeastern Georgia, and one thing I can tell you is that all of his favorite towns along US Route 23 have a Dairy Queen.

This new series is spun off seamlessly as Granny Reid cuddles her new great-granddaughter Vanna Rose in the prologue and the epilogue, with her memories filling the chapters in between.  I look forward to much more from G.A. McKevett whether P.I. Savannah is cruising the California highways or Stella is rooting out the evil-doers back in McGill, Georgia.

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

Reviewed by Jeanne

It’s been a year since Kate’s husband Matthew died suddenly, leaving a bewildered Kate unable to cope with everyday life.  Her mother-in-law, Cricket, has filled the void by making all the necessary decisions—and now, that includes selling Kate’s house and having Kate and granddaughter Devin move in with her.  Maybe it’s the boxes, maybe it’s Devin’s unhappiness, maybe it’s just one set of orders too many from Cricket, but all at once Kate feels the need to do something impulsive.  She remembers an idyllic summer at an old resort run by her Aunt Eby called Lost Lake, so off they go to Suley, Georgia.  Once there, they discover the resort is a shadow of its former self: the cabins desperately need repair, the roster of guests dwindling, and a developer is trying to buy the land. Will this be the last summer for Lost Lake?

As is usual with Allen’s work, the plots are less important than the people and the ambiance.  Her locations are these wonderful southeastern Never-Never Lands, where the peculiar is the norm, the food is succulent and buttery, where love dares all odds to make it to a happy-ever-after ending, and the characters are all slightly off-kilter and gently odd. There’s Lisette, the mute French chef who knows that words have a terrible power; Jack, the shy suitor who has adored Lisette for years but is too afraid to speak up; Bulahdeen, the elderly woman who takes joy in living and Bulahdeen’s friend, Selma, a ferocious husband-hunter; and Wes, who fell in love with Kate when they were children. There’s always a character or two whom I find particularly memorable.  In this case, it’s Selma, the unlikeable divorcee, who goes through husbands like tissue paper. She’s had seven of them, and now she’s looking for number eight.  At the end, she doesn’t change and is as prickly and defensive as ever, but we can accept her just as Bulahdeen does.  That’s another thing I enjoy about these books: for the most part, the unlovable characters don’t suddenly change to sweetness and light.  They remain true to themselves:  we just understand them a bit better.

And then there’s the alligator.

Or maybe there isn’t.  Everyone says there are no alligators in this part of Georgia.  Kate thought she saw an alligator and nearly ran off the road on the way in, but she hasn’t seen it since.  Devin does, though.  What’s more, the alligator talks to Devin.  He has a secret treasure he wants to share with her.

Unless, of course, there is no alligator.

That’s the heart of a Sarah Addison Allen novel.  If you’re not willing to suspend some disbelief, if you’re not going to go along with the flow, then you’re not going to enjoy this book. Also, if you like involved plots, you probably won’t enjoy this book.  SAA books are like a little slice of a childhood summer, languid and dreamy, where the most improbable things are entirely possible.  They’re a sultry summer evening with cool glasses of ice tea with fresh mint and the best banana pudding you’ve had since you last ate it at your grandmother’s, with the lightning bugs flashing, a shooting star to wish on,  and the occasional mosquito just to keep you on your toes.

And yes, I believe in the alligator.