Christmas Mysteries

It's the first week in April, and like much of the country we've experienced a chilly spring in Louisiana--but not the surprise snowfall that some of our friends and relatives recently had in Virginia .  While we gird our loins here in the Deep South for the approaching summer heat, in my volunteer life I met yesterday with a group of women to plan the Christmas Tour of Historic Homes that we do every other year in our National Historic Districts neighborhood.  I can't believe we are starting this early, but such an event takes a lot of advance planning and behind-the-scenes work just to line up the venues. 

We have several Bed and Breakfasts in our neighborhood, and we hope to feature a newly renovated one in this year's tour.  Below is the entrance to another B & B featured on our last tour!

I guess prepping for Christmas this early isn't freaking me out as much as it might, because I had so many Christmas mysteries laying around the house that I continued to read them long past the holidays.

In my mind I subtitle a post like this as Book by Book: Reading a Home Library, because I continue to pick books off my shelves to read as the mood strikes me.  Then a few other books enter my life through gifts and passalongs from friends.

Christmas mysteries I've read since Christmas:

A Fatal Winter, by G. M. Malliet (2012)
A former spy who became a cleric, Max Tudor serves a rural English parish as their pastor but still manages to use the skills of his former profession to solve murders that mar the peacefulness of village life.  When several members of the wealthy Footrustle family die as the estranged and far-flung relatives gather in the family homestead (a castle) for the holidays, Max is asked by the local authorities to assist.  The setting of the castle and the Footrustle family became tedious for me as I read this book, though Max and other village characters are likable.  This was a passalong book from a friend.

Antiques Flee Market (a Trash 'n' Treasures Mystery), by Barbara Allan (2008)

This paperback appeared on my front porch left by the neighbor who passes books on to me and I to her.  Written by husband/wife writing team, Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins, this light mystery series is set in Mississippi and features a neurotic mother-daughter duo who "pick" and sell antiques. In this book, they track down the killer of one of the mother's old boyfriends.  Mildly entertaining read for the holiday scene.









Dude on Arrival: A Christmas Mystery, by J.S. Borthwick (1992)
Who knows where I got this book but I found it packed away with some holiday decorations.  A dude ranch and resort in Arizona appealed to me as a different place to spend Christmas.  Add to the western setting some colorful characters, a feisty older woman and her English teacher niece as protagonists and this was an enjoyable, escapist mystery.










'Twas the Bite Before Christmas, by Lee Charles Kelley (2005)
I learned so much about training dogs and dog behavior in this book by dog trainer Kelley that I was ready to read more in this mystery series just to add to my knowledge.  The mystery features an ex-cop and kennel owner, Jack Field, and the plot to me was forgettable but I was fascinated by the dog psychology information.






Holly Blues, by Susan Wittig Albert (2010)
If I let time elapse between reading books in Albert's China Bayles series, I enjoy them.  This mystery set at Christmas is the 18th book in this series.  The ex-wife of China's husband comes to town with a hard luck story and an expressed desire to spend some time with her son, China's step-son, Brian.  While the ex-wife is Trouble with a capital "T," China can't turn her back on Brian's mother and when a killer begins to stalk the whole family, China has no choice but to act.  Reading this book was like catching up with an old friend.



The Fleet Street Murders, by Charles Finch (2009)
The story begins Christmas 1866 and finds amateur sleuth Charles Lennox newly engaged to his neighbor, Lady Jane Grey, and standing for a Parliament. seat in Northern England when the murder of two newspapermen captures Lennox's attention. The police appear to be after the wrong men, which pulls Lennox into the case.  The climax comes rather abruptly, but the man who is pulling the strings of the "puppet perps" is brought to justice.  The ancillary characters are well-drawn in this series, and I've enjoyed all of Finch's books that I've read.





The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo (2011 audio book)
I listened to this unabridged version of Norwegian author Nesbo's 2010 (English version) mystery when I drove to and from Virginia at Christmas.  If the other books in this list are cozies and forgettable, though relaxing, reading, this thriller was the opposite.  It served its purpose in keeping me awake during the
drive, but the stark horror of the murders and the
graphic descriptions of the violence made this book hard to listen to at times.  Don't get me wrong, Nesbo is a masterful writer and the intricate, terrifying plots are extremely well-done.  If you enjoy "Nordic Noir" (as some critics term the books coming out of Scandinavia, such as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series), you will love detective Harry Hole.  In this book, a serial murderer stalks women in Oslo and seeks to show he can outwit Harry, and even if you guess the murderer's identity before the end of the book, it doesn't matter, this book keeps you holding your breath until the final scene.  With a giant exhale, I felt like I had accomplished something by completing the book, but oddly enough I was ready to read more thrillers featuring Harry Hole.

The Heroine Who Cultivates Poison Ivy

My favorite camellias find another weathered chair in which to lounge on our cottage porch,
while I lounge about reading one of my favorite mystery authors.

Sparkle Hayter wrote 5 mysteries in the 1990's/2000 featuring TV executive Robin Hudson, whose alarm and personal protection system for her New York apartment features poison ivy growing in a planter on her window sills, cans filled with rocks strung in strategic places around her apartment and an old Enfield rifle.   It is the planter of poison ivy, which provides the fragile segue from my posts about the plants in our yard back to mystery reading.

Penguin Books (2000), 228 pages

At the beginning of this book, Robin's apartment burns up, forcing her to kick the planter of poison ivy out of the way so she and her cat, Louise Bryant, can flee down the fire escape and join the other residents of her building in their pajamas standing on the sidewalk.  Escaping with just her laptop, a few mementos and her purse, Robin finds herself bunking at the famous Chelsea Hotel in the apartment of a friend who is conveniently out of the country.  However, Robin soon gets an unwanted roommate, a young woman from an unnamed Easter Bloc country fleeing an arranged marriage, and bedlam ensues.  Murder, mistaken identities, performance artists, inept thugs, a looted piece of art, revenge of a woman scorned, a religious zealot, a convent of nuns who bake and sell expensive cakes--all mesh together somehow in this wild and crazy mystery from Hayter.

The setting of New York city and, in this particular mystery, the Chelsea Hotel, are elevated to character status in the book and make me want to see New York City and the Chelsea Hotel for myself--preferably with someone as wild and crazy as Robin or Sparkle herself.

The plot is relatively unimportant in a Hayter mystery--the Robin Hudson books are so outrageous and entertaining .  Up late one night to finish the book, I was laughing so hard during one scene that I was afraid I would wake up my husband on the other side of the house.  Now I'm sad that there no more Robin Hudson books to read. 

Other books in the Robin Hudson series:
What's a Girl Gotta Do (1994)
Nice Girls Finish Last (1996)
Revenge of the Cootie Girls (1997)
The Last Manly Man (1998)

Wait, I don't think I've read The Last Manly Man!

Hayter was born in British Columbia but has lived all over the world.  She worked at CNN and then reported on the Afghan civil war, but subsequently decided to give up reporting in war zones.  She returned to the states, wrote novels and did stand-up comedy.  She has lived in Tokyo, Paris and most recently has become fascinated with Bollywood and India, where she is currently working on a project.

More Scenes of Spring in Louisiana

I continue to putter about the garden and our plants continue to bloom, so I sharing a few more pics that show off the beauty of our Louisiana spring in the Historic Highland neighborhood.



When the dogwood blooms, our entire front yard looks beautiful.



Carolina jassamine climb the screen that shades the front porch swing. 



Pink Gerber Daisy blooms outside my exercise room on cottage patio.



This Professor Sargeant camellia blooms in front yard.



Yellow Bearded Iris, along with the purple iris, blooms along the carport in back yard





Vase of camellias sits on cottage porch in salvaged chair.

Still Puttering about the Garden

Since my stated goals for my current semi-retired state include spending more time outside in the "garden" (loosely defined as the outdoor space around my house) and learning more about photography, I decided to combine the two intentions today.  I continued with the Zen of pulling weeds and puttering, repotting a few plants I had rooted over the winter.  Time will tell whether they survive.

Then after Ricky took some photos of flowers in our yard and of course his pictures are dang near perfect, I decided to get out the camera that Ricky gave me (his old one!) and take photos.  Ricky says that is the only way to learn to take good pictures is to take a lot of them.  It is such a gorgeous day and spring in Louisiana is truly beautiful, especially before the pollen tints everything yellow, that I figured it would be hard to take awful photographs! (And besides I have Adobe Photoshop, so I can cheat a little.)

The following photos give you a peek at our "garden" spaces and flowers:

My favorite late blooming Camellia beside the cottage porch is bursting with flowers.
 

It hasn't yet gotten too warm to kill the winter pansies and violas in the planter--Mardi Gras colors!
 

The Gerber Daisy in a pot outside my exercise room has bloomed almost all winter.



These yellow flowers in a pot survived the winter and are blooming on the cottage patio.





The bearded irises are starting to bloom beside the carport.
 

The azaleas along the drive-way are blooming
(There is always a cat sleeping, hidden in azaleas--can you see him?)



Baby's Breath and Azaleas line the drive-way
 

Also blooming beside the drive-way are the sweetest clump of snowdrops
(Scientific name: Galanthus nivalis)
 

The last flower on today's tour is a tiny one blooming beside the drive-way--it could be a weed or wildflower.  I really don't know much about flowers or plants, if you haven't figured that out by now.  I grow them, inherited a lovely yard when we bought the house, but often don't know what I have--I guess that's another goal to add to my retirement list!

In the Meantime....

This is my first post since Christmas, and I'm not sure why I haven't written.  I don't live in a climate where one wishes to hibernate during winter months, emerging only with the return of spring.  There were a few bone chilling, damp days that only those who live in the Deep South can appreciate.  We know it isn't that cold by the thermometer reading, but the cold permeates and settles into your bones.  My Dearborn heater in the library quite satisfactorily keeps me toasty warm and there I sat and read.


Fun for all ages

Mardi Gras here in our Highland neighborhood was a grand success, and our annual Open House saw more than 100 friends and relatives pass through on parade day, the Sunday before Fat Tuesday, enjoying traditional Louisiana cuisine of shrimp and grits, two different gumbos, red beans and rice, king cake and much, much more.  Ricky then headed to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, while I headed to the sofa to rest!


Parade goers at end of our street

Some folks dress up

Besides the floats, there are other attractions....
 

I retired from my Early Head Start (EHS) position at the end of February, which necessitated packing up two offices and moving furniture and many boxes to our cottage in back.  Leaving was bittersweet as I was the "Mother" of the Early Head Start program here, having written the grant and worked with my wonderful staff to establish the program, then supervised it for over 10 years.  The staff gave me a delightful going away party at a local restaurant where it was like Christmas and birthday combined.  Some of my original EHS teachers returned for the party, and we laughed so much that our waiter was glad when we called it a night. 

Life rolls on in cycles.  After leaving Early Head Start (my first job the summer after college graduation over 40 years ago was teaching Head Start in my hometown), I returned to LSU Health Sciences Center, Allied Health, part-time as an Associate Clinical Professor where I worked for about 15 years before the EHS experience. 

So, the boxes are slowly moving from the cottage to my new office space at LSU Health.   I thought I might find academia too quiet after the excitement of working in early childhood centers filled with noisy young children, but I'm thoroughly enjoying my new position.  The job is "special projects," and, thus, still evolving but I love it.

My goals in my increased leisure time include: work more in the "garden" (I love the way our French friend refers to her outdoor space broadly as the garden, so I think I will, too!); write more; learn more about photography; travel; exercise more; try new recipes so we won't be tempted to eat out as often; and to read every book in my library!  I've started on the last goal with the books shown below. 




 

Christmas Greetings

This has been an extremely busy pre-holiday season for me, thus, no writing!  But I've decorated my house to a fare thee well, entertained on several occasions, cooked some holiday foods, prepared for a federal review at work, and I'm now recuperating from bronchitis and getting ready to drive to Virginia for the holidays. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday surrounded by family and friends. 

I'll see you in 2013!

Thoughts of Food on a Cold Winter's Night

 

I spent much of a Christmas holiday a few years ago in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia where I was born and reared, and where my mother, my two sisters and our families gather every year.   An ice storm's aftermath, plus a dusting of snow, had provided us with an icy, cold, white Christmas.

My childhood home

One frosty night I decided I wanted a pot of spiced tea that, in our family, we have always called "Russian tea."  I had only made the instant mix in the past, so my mother had to show me how she mixed up the pitchers of Russian tea that were often in the refrigerators at our house, or at our grandmother's house, during the winters of my childhood.  Soon, a saucepan containing water, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves was simmering on the stove, filling the house with its fragrance.  We next made a pot of tea, then added orange juice, lemon juice, sugar and the liquid strained from our spices.  I kept inquiring about a recipe but my mother worked intuitively and with frequent taste tests.

Once the tea was made and I was sitting with my steaming cup, my mother retrieved her recipe box from the kitchen shelf.  Inside the box were 3 x 5 note cards, newspaper clippings or handwritten scraps of paper representing my childhood in the form of recipes for casseroles, salads, cakes, cookies--even my grandmother's Russian tea recipe!

My mother began to look at each recipe, culling out duplicates, or dishes she said she would never make again.  As she discarded recipes, I would often protest, "But these have historical value, you can't just throw them away."

 

I started my own stack of cards, and that is how I came to own my grandmother's Russian tea recipe written in her own cursive handwriting, my Aunt Dean's recipe for Christmas fruit drop tea cakes and a version of Snicker Doodle cookies made by Mrs. Brown, an older woman in our neighborhood.  All of these women have passed away, but each was alive again as we read their recipes.  I copied my mother's recipe for lemon squares that I had needed several years ago for a party, and didn't have, and recipes from my sisters for blueberry cake and moist 'n creamy coconut cake.  My mother and I spoke of recipes we wished we had--my maternal grandmother's roll recipe that called for potato water and my paternal grandmother's recipe for carrot cookies. 

Reading recipes on a cold winter night in Virginia helped me remember many magical times from my childhood and evoked memories of family and friends.  I know how fortunate I am to have grown up in a household where we had plenty to eat, surrounded by a loving, extended family.

M.F.K. Fisher, the essayist who writes about food in many of her books, stated it this way: "When I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and the warmth and the love of it."    She went on to add that, "...with our gastronomical growth will come, inevitably, knowledge and perception of a hundred other things, but mainly of ourselves."

A Cold Christmas mystery

Hampstead, Kansas is caught in a deep freeze which is affecting not only the weather but apparently the characters in Charlene Weir’s fifth Susan Wren mystery.   Weir immediately sets a tone of desperation touching the lives of many Hamstead residents at Christmas.  There is an immediate feeling of foreboding, followed by some graphic descriptions of the deaths that occur--it doesn't seem like a "cozy" mystery.  

Initially Weir introduces a lot of characters quickly and it seems like a creepy furnace repairman is the only connection among them, but eventually the small town relationships emerge.  To me, as an introduction to Weir's Susan Wren series, this mystery does not work well as a stand-alone book.  Since I haven’t read any of the earlier books I had no idea who some of the characters were or their relationships with Police Chief Wren, e.g., other police officers who were at home sick with the flu. 

 

Worldwide Mystery, 2002
Original publication, 2001, St. Martin's Press

There seemed to be a lack of character development but the plot kept me turning the pages as the book drew to an end.  The family around whom the main murder mystery evolves both evoked my sympathy and extreme irritation.  I was hoping someone would intervene before child protection got involved.  One Good Samaritan did step in to help but it seemed to be a one and done attempt.  Again the book's focus seemed to be people in town who were socially isolated for one reason or another—illness, abusive husband, sanctimonious busybody, a character too proud to ask for help, people under stress who were basically unhinged.  Important details about the characters seemed to  emerge willy nilly in the book.  To me it read like a draft rather than a finished product.  Weir dedicated A COLD CHRISTMAS to mystery writer Susan Dunlap who had advised Weir that a book could be created from a manuscript of complete confusion. Maybe so, but the initial problems of the manuscript show.

Even noting all these issues with this book, I would read another of Weir’s Susan Wren novels to see if they make more sense when I start at the beginning of the series.  Weir’s first Susan Wren mystery THE WINTER WIDOW was winner of St. Martin's award for best traditional mystery. 

 

Ivy Beasley and company

Ivy Beasley is a cantankerous, older woman who has relocated to a retirement home to be near her only relative, her younger cousin Deirdre.  Ivy Beasley might be recognized by some readers as previously inhabiting the village of Round Ringford as a character in author Ann Purser’s non-mystery Round Ringford series.  I’ve not read the Round Ringford books so this mystery series is my introduction to her.  I love this line drawing of Ivy but don’t know who to attribute it to.

Ivy is unhappy and bored living with a bunch of old people in the retirement home, but she isn’t the type of person who makes friends easily because of her prickly and sometimes sanctimonious demeanor.  Soon another newcomer to town befriends her after church one day.  Augustus Halfhide is a tall, thin secretive man who seems to be keeping a very low profile in town.  When Gus and Ivy get together after church one day, they decide to establish an inquiry agency.  (After all, in my experience the gray-haired network is one of the most efficient research groups in a community!)

 

Deirdre joins the group, too, since they need her for transportation and as a financial backer for this new enterprise.  Deirdre is bored, too, if she would admit it.  Soon another member of the retirement home joins the agency and Enquire Within is born.  They soon have their first case when Gus’ elderly neighbor is found murdered in her cottage next to Gus’.  I think you either enjoy this cozy series and appreciate the unlikely group of protagonists, with their over the top quirkiness and grouchy moods, or you hate the series.

The characterization drives the novels because the mystery unfolds slowly and some readers find the pace to be too slow and indeed boring.  A few Kindle reviewers were especially vituperous in  their comments as I noted when I read the second and third book in the series as Kindle downloads.  I went ahead and read all three of the books in the series because I enjoyed the idea of elders being successful investigators.  Ann Purser is not Agatha Christie and Ivy is no Miss Marple but the village life and unusual characters kept me interested.

The books in this series are as follows:

The Hangman's Row Enquiry

Berkley Prime Crime, 2010

 

The Measby Murder Enquiry

Berkley Prime Crime, 2011

Read in Kindle download

 

The Wild Wood Enquiry

Berkley Prime Crime, 2012

Read in Kindle download

 

About the Author, Ann Purser:

(Author biography taken from Goodreads)

 

Ann Purser lives in the East Midlands, in a small and attractive village which still has a village shop, a garage, pub and church. Here she finds her inspiration for her novels about country life. She has only to do her daily shopping down the High Street to listen to the real life of the village going on around her.  Purser brings a wide range of experiences to her writing.  She was a magazine columnist for 6 years and an art gallery proprietor for 10 years. Working in a village school added more grist to the mill, as does singing in the church choir and membership of the Women’s Guild.   She is mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy and wrote a non-fiction book for parents of children with disabilities.

She obtained an Oxford Degree as an adult and eventually decided to try her hand at writing novels.  Round Ringford became Ann’s village in a series of six novels, each with a separate story, but featuring the same cast of characters with a few newcomers each time. The list of books gives details of each story, and each features an issue common to all villages in our rural countryside.

Because Purser is a big fan of detective fiction, her next series became the Lois Meade Mysteries, each title reflecting a day of the week--Murder on Monday was born, Terror on Tuesday, and Weeping on Wednesday. The rest of the week follows!  The Ivy Beasley series is the most recent one.

Purser sets aside mornings for her writing, and the rest of the day finds her walking the dog, retrieving bantams’ eggs from around the garden, gossiping and taking part in the life of the village.

 

 

 



A Reason to Give Thanks

Living life or writing about it?  Reading for pleasure or working on my paying job?  Volunteering in my historic neighborhood or chilling in my library?  Taking care of the hundreds of details for upcoming Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas holidays or trying to enjoy all the fun activities that happen in my part of the world in the fall? 

 

These are some of the quandries of my life right now, and probably many of yours as well.  It's not that I don't want to write in my blog because I love writing my posts--it's just that I am pulled in so many different directions. 

 

I'm thankful to have a rich, full life!  In a minute I'm going to walk over to the park where our annual Highland Jazz and Blues Festival will be taking place--five and a half hours of music on two stages, food and craft vendors--a fun time as only Louisiana can do it.  I'll hear some great music, visit with friends, supervise the festival information and t-shirt booth  volunteers I lined up--and basically have a great day, hopefully forgetting about my "To Do" lists.

 

I'll get it all done--and what doesn't get done, probably won't have dire consequences.  Soon I'll return to my blogging.  Until then, have a wonderful Thanksgiving week. 

Russell Means and the Yellow Thunder Camp

Another man that I associate with South Dakota has died--Russell Means, the controversial Indian activist, succumbed to esophageal cancer.  Where to start talking about Russell Means?  Russell was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation that adjoins the Rosebud Reservation where I lived and taught from 1980-1982.  Russell was a legend on the Rosebud Reservation, and I don't mean to imply that his legendary status was necessarily positive.   On the other hand, in my limited experience, there was always in-fighting among Indians so everything you heard about someone else had to be taken with a grain of salt.  (I use the term, Indians, instead of Native Americans because that's what my Indian friends used.  The preference is the tribal name, and most of the folks described here are Sioux.)

Russell's family moved to California when he was a child, and he became another disenfranchised urban Indian, falling victim to every stereotypical vice--drugs, drinking, brawling, arrests, jail time, failed marriages, domestic violence--a pattern that continued off and on throughout his life.  On the other hand, Russell had the ability to identify legitimate Indian issues and bring them to the forefront of the national consciousness, working in conjunction with other Indian activists.  At the same time, he was never adverse to getting publicity for himself in the process.  Russel Means, like many Indians, was a survivor.


Russell Means as young man with AIM
(kansascity.com)

When he and Dennis Banks and other American Indian Movement (AIM) activists occupied Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, the purpose was to bring to the forefront the injustices of government policy against the Indians while it also showed the complicated relationships and in-fighting on the reservations themselves. You can read more about the seige of Wounded Knee here.

I did meet Russell Means once at the Yellow Thunder encampment in the Black Hills.  The Sioux lay claim to the Paha Sapa, sacred lands and hunting grounds of the Black Hills taken from them.  They have a legitimate complaint.  The encampment was a protest and a demand for a return of the sacred lands of their ancestors.  Click here to read about this on-going land dispute, the trail of broken treaties and the positions of both sides.

I remember there were armed guards on the dirt road entering the camp, but we were expected.  One of our friends had made arrangements for us to visit.  I don't remember if we were searched, but the security looked like they took their jobs seriously.  Most of our group of friends and I were content to explore the camp, peeking into tipis and watching life in the camp. 

My ex-husband, the politico, who at this time was ghost writing speeches for a friend of ours who was tribal chairman of one of the Sioux tribes, sat at a picnic table and talked with Russell Means.  My ex and I were researching a paper on Indian education and the American Indian Movement at the time, but it appeared that the role of the Sioux women at the encampment was to "wait on" the men, so I was not impressed with that scenario.

My big memory of that trip was disappointment.  We were supposed to return to the camp the next day to meet Willie Nelson!  I was so excited.  Willie, of course, is a big supporter of Indian rights (as well as farmers), and we were also in Rapid City to attend a Willie Nelson concert--he did a benefit for the Yellow Thunder Camp that we attended.  The next day Willie was to visit the Yellow Thunder Camp, and we were going back, too.

aerial view of Yellow Thunder encampment in the Black Hills
(ritonews.blogspot.com)

Now Willie Nelson is someone whom I've always wanted to meet.  Then it snowed and we didn't have vehicles that could make it to the camp in the snow.  Opportunity thwarted!

Postscript: Russell Means' ashes were spread over the Yellow Thunder Camp after his death.  May the struggle to address the injustices perpetrated against Native Americans of all tribes soon be over and let justice prevail for our country's native peoples.

Those were the days, my friend...

We were young, idealistic--my ex-husband ran the campaign headquarters for McGovern in Abingdon, VA near where we attended college.  I was working for the county and was forbidden from campaigning for any political candidate, but I worked in the next county over from the headquarters, so I figured what my bosses didn't know wouldn't hurt them.  I wanted to be part of the excitement, part of the process.  I loved politics back then.  We worked county fairs and other events.  I can remember trying to convince those good old boy farmers to at least consider McGovern.  We had some success.  Back then there were a lot of Democrats in southwestern Virginia.  It was just over the mountain from the coal fields, and the miners traditionally voted Democratic. 

The southwestern portion Virginia is part of the 9th Congressional District and extends from Roanoke, Virginia, all the way to the Tennessee line.  The 9th Congressional District used to be known as the 'Fighting Ninth,' "because of its taste for raucous politics, which by and large were culturally conservative and economically populist." (To read the National Journal Almanac article referenced in this post, click here.)

"As early as 1765 settlements were being carved into the great Valley of Virginia, which bends westward and south toward Tennessee and the Cumberland Gap, " reports the National Journal Almanac.  I know because my ancestors were part of that group of largely Scots-Irish settlers, establishing their homestead in 1782 in what is now Smyth County, Virginia.  The settlers were fiercely independent.  Most were farmers, but many in the more mountainous western portion of the region eventually became coal miners.  This area developed separately from eastern and northern Virginia.

"Politically, this virtually all-white area opposed slavery and was skeptical, if not hostile, to the Confederacy. Out of the crucible of struggle between secessionists and unionists, Southwest Virginia developed a robust two-party politics after the Civil War, with both parties resembling their national counterparts more closely than in the rest of Virginia."  (National Journal Almanac)

This independent thinking at least allowed for dialogue between idealistic recent college graduates and other southwest Virginia voters in 1972.  George McGovern was a World War II hero who now opposed the war in Vietnam--he had earned the right to be anti-war, having experienced war first hand.  WWII was a "just war," and the good people in southwestern Virginia realized that Vietnam didn't make much sense to them, yet too many of their sons had gone off to southeast Asia. Rich men's sons don't fight the wars.

George McGovern was the son of a Methodist minister, and the mountains of Virginia had been the home to circuit riding Methodist preachers who had won many converts. Methodist churches dot the landscape there.  The local college my ex and I attended was a Methodist school.  It's hard to demonize a patriotic war hero who was the son of a Methodist minister, so the people would at least talk to us. 

I can't remember how the district went in 1972.  As I recall, McGovern did better than expected.  In subsequent years, the district has become more Republican in national elections although the long-time Congressman from the 9th District was a Democrat until ousted in 2010 by a Republican who didn't even live in the District!  The 9th district voted narrowly for Democrat Bill Clinton twice, but voted by much wider margins for Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. In 2008, the district went 59%-40% for Republican nominee John McCain. (National Journal Almanac)

But during that long ago summer and fall of 1972, we were hopeful that a thoughtful man from South Dakota might become President of the United States.

Scones and Bones, by Laura Childs

I drank my first cup of hot chocolate of the season and have attended at least one night of the Red River Revel--the large fall arts, music, and food festival on the Shreveport river front--so I guess autumn has officially arrived.  As usual, our cool weather has been rather elusive and has retreated a bit, leaving Indian Summer behind.  I'm all for displaying the oranges, yellows and browns of the season as a good faith sign that fall is here, however, and neighbors are following suit as jack-o-lanterns and other Halloween decorations appear on porches and lawns.


Berkley Prime Crime, 2011
295 pages

It seemed like an appropriate time to hunker down with a cozy mystery featuring hot tea and pirates, crossbones and jeering skulls.  Laura Childs' 2011 Scones & Bones, the 12th in her Tea Shop Mystery, focuses on events surrounding a mug allegedly made from the famous pirate Blackbeard's skull and accented with a 10 karat diamond.

While attending the grand opening of the Pirates and Plunder Show at the Charleston Heritage Society where the skull mug and other pirate treasures are displayed, Theodosia and her master tea blender, Drayton, are on the scene when a Heritage Society intern is stabbed to death as a pirate-crazed thief steals the grotesque mug.  The police seem stymied in the search for the murderer so the Director of the Heritage Society, Timothy Neville, begs his friends, Theodosia and Drayton, to poke around to see if they can learn anything about the murder that might help the police. 

There seems to be no lack of people in Charleston who collect pirate artifacts, so Theodosia baits a trap for the killer and almost loses two of her friends in the process.  Truthfully, the action associated with identifying and capturing the murderer isn't that captivating.  Even at the end of the book, mystery continues to shroud the skull mug  as it disappears into the Charleston Heritage Society vaults to be kept hidden for another few decades. 

Reading about the scones and dessert offerings at the Indigo Tea Shop (the tea shop that the main character Theodosia operates with the help of a master tea blender and a chef), as well as the eastern shore treats served at the Charleston parties Theodosia attends, make this a mystery during which I spent as much time resisting the urge to raid the refrigerator as wondering who killed the poor intern.  I want Haley, the Indigo Tea Shop chef, to come live at my house!

One can see the other creative side of Author Laura Childs who is a former CLIO award winning marketing CEO as she includes recipes and ideas for hosting various kinds of tea parties at the end of this book.   See below:

Letter Writing Tea

 

Aren't you tired of texting and e-mail?  Wouldn't it be fun to compose an old-fashioned letter?  Round up some quill pens, ink and fancy stationery, and invite your friends in to letter-writing tea.  Put on some relaxing music and let everyone jot a letter or a few thoughts while enjoying an afternoon of tea.  Oolong is a thoughtful blend that goes nicely with quiche, citrus salad, and lemon scones.  If you want to give your guests favors, think pretty pens and tiny notebooks in net bags.

Haley's Proprietary Lemon Scones

 

 

3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1 Tbsp. baking power

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 Tbsp. water

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine the lemon zest and sugar, using a spoon to firmly grind it all together.  Add the sugar to the flour mixture and mix well.  Cut the butter into the mixture until you get an even, cumbly consistency.  Mix in the nuts, if using.  Pour in the buttermilk and stir thoroughly until the mixture forms a dense dough. Take a good-sized lump of dough and gently form it into a triangular scone shape.  Place the scone on a baking sheet lined with parchment, then continue forming scones until the mixture is used up.  Whisk the egg with the water to form an egg wash, then brush the egg wash on top of each scone.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

 

 This book counts toward my "Pastry Chef" status in the  Foodies Read 2 Reading Challenge!



The Middle East

The Middle East is a powder keg and the situation gets more complicated and confusing by the day.  NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel’s recent article, "The Arab Spring is dead--and Syria is writing its obituary" at least identifies some of the major players in this ever shifting dynamic. (Click here to read Engel’s article in its entirety.)

NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel

Things have changed since “The Arab Spring” saw Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen undergo relatively peaceful revolutions led primarily by students and intellectuals.  These uprisings successfully ousted repressive, corrupt military strongmen who primarily came to power as a result of the Israeli military victories of 1948 and 1967, according to Engel.  The Middle East spring upheavals didn't start out as religious power struggles but they have morphed into such a scenario, Engel says, citing the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood that has taken control of the Egyptian revolution and more moderate Sunni Islamists who have risen to power in Tunisia. 

Struggles between the Islamic factions, the Sunni and Shiites, are occurring in country after country in the Middle East.  The Sunni consider Shiite Muslims infidels who veered from the true path of Mohammad over 1,000 years ago.  This is an epic struggle for power, Engel emphasizes, and that has gone on for centuries between the Sunnis and Shiites for control of the Middle East and the Prophet Muhammad's legacy.  The situation is not new.

This renewed conflict, however, can be traced back in recent history to Iraq and the American invasion in 2003, which pitted Sunnis against their rival Shiites.  As a result of George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, Iraq is now controlled by a corrupt Shiite government.  Until the U.S. invasion, Saddam and the Sunni minority controlled Iraq, which was the continuation of a 14-century history of Sunni controlling Mesopotamia despite Shiite being the majority.  Iraqi Sunnis are still angry and sometimes fighting in their stronghold cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.  To say the war in 2003 destabilized the region would be accurate but it is an area long plagued by religious power struggles (Engel, 2012).

A major player in the region now is Iran, a major Shiite controlled country, where 89% of the populace are Shiite. Now Iran is no longer an isolated Shiite country, and because it has wealth, technology and weaponry, Iran has emerged as a key supporter of Shiite initiatives in the Middle East (Engel, 2012).

Just to the northwest of Iraq is Syria and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family actually isn't Shiite but Alawite, a Shiite-linked offshoot that makes up just under 13 percent of the population.  In Syria, 70 percent are Sunni, 3 percent are Shiite and another 12.8 percent are Alawite.  Iran and Syria are allies and have been since Assad's father's regime (Engel, 2012). 

And it is in Syria where a major battle rages between the Shiite and Sunni factions--most of the rebel forces fighting against Assad's government are Sunni.  The radical Sunni group Al-Qaida weighed in heavily in the Iraq war but underestimated the US military. Al Qaida lost in Iraq, but they are trying to make up for lost time in Syria. They are moving into Syria to help their Sunni brethren, the rebels. Engel feels the chaos of Syria could make it a safe base of operation for Al-Qaida.  However, Al-Qaida make bad bedfellows because they have a habit of killing their hosts if they don't adhere to their strict interpretation of religious doctrine.

The previously isolated Shiite regime in Iran is now empowered by a Shiite government in Iraq. The Sunni are concerned about the Shiite interlopers from Iran and Iraq, with their weaponry and wealth of oil resources. The Sunnis are determined not to lose Syria, too.  Most of the fighting is currently in Sunni areas, with over 20,000 people dead.  The Sunni number one billion world-wide, whereas the Shiites comprise about 150-200 million, with about 75% living in just four counties--Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and India (Engel). But right now the Shiite seem to hold the upper hand.

The Syrian government  has helpful allies in Hezbollah and Iran. Iran is technologically advanced and provides markets for Syrian goods. Hezbollah, a radical Shiite militia, essentially controls Lebanon. Syria maintains ties to Lebanon and claims that Lebanon "belonged to" Syria before the region was divided up by France and Great Britain after WW I.  Iran and Hezbollah are starting to exert more influence in Syria as Assad's position weakens.

Lebanon, located west of Syria, is where many people think the next outbreak of sectarian violence will occur. Lebanon is Sunni in the north, Christian in the middle and Shiite in the south, with each making up about one third of the population. This dynamic mixture has resulted in a lively cultural mix and recurrent cycles of civil war.  Emerging on top in Lebanon are the Shiites, shored up by their powerful and well-financed militia, Hezbollah.  Hezbollah is heavily armed and has thousands of rockets pointed at Israel.  The rockets come from Iran and Syria.  Hezbollah is the tail wagging the dog in Lebanese politics (Engel).

Summing up the players, according to Engel: in Syria, we have government forces loyal to Assad (Shiites and Alawites) fighting mostly Sunni rebels who are trying to oust Assad’s regime.  In Iran we have a well-financed and relatively stable Shiite government that is a major sideline participant in the sectarian violence. In Lebanon we have Hezbollah, a well-financed and vehemently anti-Israeli military force that is weighing in on the side of the Shiite government forces in Syria. The Sunni rebels in Syria are now accepting help from foreign fighters who are part of the militant Al-Qaida. The only thing for sure in this turbulent region is the violence won't end soon.

Against this backdrop, I read the most recent Daniel Silva spy novel, The Fallen Angel, set against the volatile Middle East situation and the precarious position of Israel in the area's politics.

The Fallen Angel, by Daniel Silva
HarperCollins Publishers, 2012
405 pages, suspense spy novel

Gabriel Allon is an art restorer, a former Israeli spy and sometimes assassin who now working on a famous art restoration at the Vatican.  He is there because of his old friend, Monsignor Luigi Donati, private secretary to Pope Paul VII and keeper of Vatican secrets. When a Vatican museum curator is found dead in St. Peter's Basilica, the police believe it is suicide but the Pope and Monsignor Donati suspect otherwise. Allon is brought in by the Pope and Donati to do an independent investigation.

Gabriel learns that the dead woman had discovered a grave secret--one that led her to her grave.  She knew the identity of a kingpin in a professional antiquities theft ring with ties to the Vatican.  Gabriel is supposed to quietly investigate her death but soon discovers the curator's death is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Vatican and the Italian police know much more than they were telling Gabriel, but with the help of his old friends in the Israeli services, he soon uncovers another dead body and plots by Hezbollah to fund their militia operations through illegal operations of many kinds--"Gambino's on speed"--or so Hezbollah has been called.

Gabriel and his current wife, Chiara, must scramble to stay alive and ahead of the various deadly intrigues.  Gabriel's investigation eventually leads back to the Middle East powder keg, literally, as efforts are uncovered that will cause a major religious disaster and start an armed conflict to end all others. Gabriel and his friends in the Israeli service must find a way to avert catastrophe.

In all aspects of this complicated plot, with its many subplots, the actual events in the book are much different than the spin story that is released to the public.  You start to realize anew that this happens everyday in our world.  It goes without saying that Silva is an apologist for the Israeli's, and this doesn't take away from his writing at all.

While in some ways the novel's plot is convoluted, Silva manages to bring the reader right along with him. I didn't find Silva difficult to follow, although I have started with book 12 in this series.  Silva is an excellent writer, writing well-plotted and crafted books.  When I attended the recent used book sale, I made sure to purchase several of Silva's Gabriel Allon spy novels.

I read Daniel Silva's The Fallen Angel against the background of the article I summarized above, which made Daniel Silva's novel much more compelling for me.   Silva also provides some background at the end of his book and give sources and the rationale for his perspective.  As former journalist, Silva is also a researcher with credible sources, which lend his stories the ring of truth.  My reading list currently contains more books about the Middle East.