Borrowing Death by Cathy Pegau

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: April 17, 2016

Suffragette and journalist Charlotte Brody is bracing herself for her first winter in the frontier town of Cordova in the Alaska Territory. But the chilling murder of a local store owner is what really makes her blood run cold... After three months in Cordova, Charlotte is getting accustomed to frontier life. She is filing articles for the local paper--including a provocative editorial against Prohibition--and enjoying a reunion with her brother Michael, the town doctor and coroner. Michael's services are soon called upon when a fire claims the life of hardware store owner Lyle Fiske. A frontier firebug is suspected of arson, but when Michael determines Fiske was stabbed before his store was set ablaze, the town of Cordova has another murder to solve. Her journalist's curiosity whetted, Charlotte begins to sort through the smoldering ruins of Lyle Fiske's life, only to discover any number of people who might have wanted him dead. As the days grow shorter, Charlotte's investigation turns increasingly complex. She may be distant from the trappings of civilization, but untangling the motives for murder will require plumbing the very depths of Charlotte's investigative acumen...

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Cathy Pegau’s Murder on the Last Frontier blew me away when I read it last year. The author’s tone and the scope of her story left a lasting impression on my imagination so it should come as no surprise that I jumped a mile high with glee when I received a copy of book two of the Charlotte Brody Mystery series. I shamelessly bumped it to the top of my TBR and jumped in with all the enthusiasm of kid let loose in candy store. 

The first few chapters took me right back to Pegau’s earlier work which was perfect as the sequel picked up where its predecessor left off. Cordova hasn’t changed much and Charlotte’s progressive ideals are still ruffling the feathers of the frontier town’s most esteemed conservatives. I reveled in the delightful atmosphere Pegau creates on the very edge of civilization, but that’s as far as my appreciation went. 

I find a lot of merit in Charlotte’s character, but something I liked about book one is how she happened to find herself in the midst of a murder investigation despite her personal desire to disappear and blend in. This go round she’s actively pursuing the perpetrator in blatant defiance of Deputy Marshal James Eddington and the shift didn’t sit well with me and I found myself frequently annoyed that she seemed to believe her ‘almost’ relationship with the deputy entitles her to special treatment and insider information about his work. 

Speaking of Mr. Eddington, I’m not ashamed to say that I lost all respect for the man. Ignoring the fact that Cordova’s primary law enforcer seem to spend most of his time letting Charlotte do his job, I flat out refuse to condone his pursuing a woman under false presence. His reasoning is absolutely shameful, but the fact that Charlotte spends the novel making excuses for her ‘honest’ and ‘forthright’ suitor sent her tumbling from a paradigm of feminine strength to an emotionally weak and intensely insecure mess.

The fact that Charlotte’s personal life eclipsed the mystery didn’t help matters. I was intensely appreciative of the hesitancy and restraint exhibited in book one of the series, but the emphasis placed on their growing affection in Borrowing Death annoyed me. I liked the mystery and the layers Pegau built into it, but I couldn’t help feeling it played second fiddle to Charlotte’s love life. 

I enjoyed many members of the supporting cast and found a lot of merit in Henry, Adam, Bridget, Caroline, and Rebecca. Camille’s storyline seemed awkward to me, I’m still not sure why Pegau included it as it didn’t seem necessary and served only to reiterate experiences established in Murder on the Last Frontier, but what do I know right? 

Borrowing Death has its moments, but I can’t say it lived up to my expectations and I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing the series when Murder on Location is released next year.

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Every time they chatted, there was another exciting lecture Kit had attended, or some rally or march. It sent a pang of homesickness through Charlotte, but at the same time she was happy to have the opportunity to get her life together in the quiet remoteness of Alaska. Well, relatively quiet, if you didn’t count the dead bodies.

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Irish Eyes by Andrew M. Greeley

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Personal Library

Read: Dec. 16, 2011 

Nuala Anne McGrail, that beautiful Irish spitfire, now lives in Chicago with her husband, Dermot, and their new baby, Nellliecoyne. As Nuala fans may suspect, Nelliecoyne is no ordinary baby: she is fey like her mother, and can see into the past as well as the future. Both Nuala and her daughter have had strange vibrations from a place on the lake where a shipload of Irish-Americans lost their lives a hundred years ago. In the course of their investigation, Nuala and Dermot make some dangerous enemies, and eventually have to solve a murder and find a buried treasure. Will Nuala survive the attacks of a sleazy DJ, and a dangerous run-in with the Balkan Mafia? And how does the diary of a young Irish woman at the turn of the century play into these events? Once again, Andrew M. Greeley--that master of the human heart--creates an engaging, charming story that will delight fans young and old.

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*** NOTE: This review contains spoilers. Please take heed and proceed at your own risk. 

Time it seems has changed my opinion of the Nuala Anne books. I read the first book of the series, Irish Gold, nearly ten years ago and greatly enjoyed it. So much so I immediately sought out the sequels. I devoured Irish Lace, Irish Whiskey, Irish Mist and Irish Eyes that same summer. I set the series aside to focus on my academic obligations but somehow didn’t find my way back to them until now. I decided to reread Irish Eyes to refresh my memory. Greeley tends to recap key information about the characters so I didn’t see much value in revisiting all five novels. No. Irish Eyes would be enough. Sadly, the book just wasn't as good as I remembered.

Why was I disenchanted my second go round? That’s a dumb question. The real query is where do I start. For one, Dermot is a push over and he knows it. He self-validates in every novel. It is annoying. Almost as annoying as his spending the entire book shaking his head and saying yes dear without complaint. I don’t find it appealing. I like a man with a little backbone, who has opinions and isn’t merely an extension of his spouse.

Nuala is perfection personified. She always has the answers, is always in the middle of things, never fails to be less than amazing and always looks fantastic doing it. People like her don’t exist. Real people have faults, real people make mistakes, real people have depth, complexity and baggage. Her flawlessness is exasperating.

Did I mention the couple has no real world worries or concerns? Dermot is a college drop-out who managed to make a pile of cash while working at the Exchange. His mistake allowed him to retire in his mid-twenties. He writes novels as a hobby more than anything else. Naturally the books are bestsellers. Nuala has an accounting degree but makes a living as a folksinger. Is anyone shocked that her records go platinum?

I don’t think I need to go into the fact that Dermot and Nuala’s daughter is a perfect replica of her mother (minus the red hair) and it goes without saying Nelliecoyne is intelligent and advanced for her age. No child of Coyne’s would dare be anything else less than impeccable. Gag me.                                     

I think I’ve stated I don’t have a problem with sex in literature and for the record, I don’t think the intimacies in Irish Eyes would offend the casual reader. The problem is that I just didn’t find the scenes appealing. A man suckling his wife for breast milk just didn’t do it for me. I don’t mean to sound judgmental, some people might get hot and bothered by the idea but for me it was just awkward. Very awkward.

Having thoroughly stated why I dislike these books we come down to why I bother reading them. As always, it is the history. Greeley loves Chicago almost as much as he loves Ireland and her people. Reading his books is like entering a portal to times long forgotten. In Irish Eyes, we glimpse the booming shipping industry of the Great Lakes and harsh realities of life at the turn of the century with just a touch of Irish mysticism.

Greeley’s richly imagined storylines are also nothing to sneeze at. While vacationing, Nuala, Nelliecoyne and the Coyne's wolfhound, Fiona, pick up strange vibrations from a ship that sank off Grand Beach nearly one hundred years ago. In an effort to understand their latest physic episode, the Coyne’s start an investigation that leads them to a forgotten chapter of Chicago’s past, its connection with Ireland’s political struggles and the fate of the Ardagh Chalice. Meanwhile the couple is dealing with a media circus caused by the sensational accusations of DJ Nick Farmer. Nick’s unexpected death only complicates matters, more so as his fate seems to have ties to the Balkan mafia.

Will I read the rest of the series? Probably. Will I recommend to others? Not without a disclaimer. The books aren’t awful but they aren’t for everyone. I do want to make two further notes before I wrap up. Greeley is a Catholic priest. The books are not preachy in the least, I wouldn’t even call them religious fiction but I would avoid his work if religious concepts aren’t to your liking. The same concept applies to Republicans. I wouldn’t usually address the subject but every novel in the series seems to take a dig at conservatives. I find it annoying as I don’t appreciate party politics in fiction but I wouldn’t be surprised if these comments upset more political readers.

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It wasn't the chalice, Nuala Anne. It was a winter storm that came too early, an old boat, and a dangerously irresponsible captain. Ellen's parents were young and romantic and convinced that they were immortal.

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A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Local Library 

Read: Nov. 9, 2011 

From the brilliantly imaginative New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd comes an unforgettable new character in an exceptional new series. England, 1916. Independent-minded Bess Crawford's upbringing is far different from that of the usual upper-middle-class British gentlewoman. Growing up in India, she learned the importance of responsibility, honor, and duty from her officer father. At the outbreak of World War I, she followed in his footsteps and volunteered for the nursing corps, serving from the battlefields of France to the doomed hospital ship Britannic. On one voyage, Bess grows fond of the young, gravely wounded Lieutenant Arthur Graham. Something rests heavily on his conscience, and to give him a little peace as he dies, she promises to deliver a message to his brother. It is some months before she can carry out this duty, and when she's next in England, she herself is recovering from a wound. When Bess arrives at the Graham house in Kent, Jonathan Graham listens to his brother's last wishes with surprising indifference. Neither his mother nor his brother Timothy seems to think it has any significance. Unsettled by this, Bess is about to take her leave when sudden tragedy envelops her. She quickly discovers that fulfilling this duty to the dead has thrust her into a maelstrom of intrigue and murder that will endanger her own life and test her courage as not even war has.

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I don't have much of a background with regards to World War I lit. All Quiet on the Western Front all but killed my interest in the genre. For years I wouldn’t touch anything on the subject. I changed my tune after reading Barbed Wire and Roses. The book left such an impression on me that I started looking for other books set during the Great War. One of the first titles that caught my eye was a murder mystery involving a young war era nurse. I all but ran to the library to find a copy of Duty to the Dead.

Now, I rarely have this problem but every time I opened this book I found myself fighting to remain conscious. The plot was decent but the writing was bland, the characters forgettable and the murder mystery decidedly mediocre. I did enjoy the complicated web of loyalty between the various members of the Graham family but the lifeless story telling killed the book as a whole.

Looking back, the only really notable aspect of Duty to the Dead was the sinking of the Britannic but even here I felt short changed. While technically well-illustrated I found myself caring more about the historical event than its place in Todd’s story. I liked it but it has little relevance to Bess Crawford's experience with the Grahams. I find it sad that the most interesting scenes in the book don't really fit the rest of the novel.

This was my first time reading Charles Todd and I can’t say I am that impressed. I’m not writing off other titles by this mother/son writing team but I’m in no hurry to sample their other work.

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It was impossible not to like him, and liking him, it was impossible not to feel something for him as he fought a gallant but losing battle with death. I wasn't foolish enough to believe I was in love, but I was honest enough to admit I cared more than I should. I'd watched so many wounded die. Perhaps that was why I desperately wanted to see this one and snatch a victory out of defeat and restore my faith in the goodness of God. But it was not to be.

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