Enjoyable as most of the China Bayles mysteries are, but I don't much care for Wittig's new habit of moving to other points of view to tell the story. Seems disruptive and a little like maybe she's gone as far as she can with China and is wanting to move on to a new character. Mostly in this book...
We aren't mourning anything or anyone, really. We're talking about plants. Once in awhile we refer to the mystery of how and why the woman who was screaming in the trailer while it burned to the ground with her inside it was killed, but the murder is peripheral. The subject should scream with urg...
I would call this book a "cozy" in all ways. It is not as readable as the " China Bales Series" by the same author. What you might like about it, if you are from the South, or like stories about the south, is- - it is a very southern style read. The garden club ladies get involved with a crook,...
This is the 5th book in the Cottage Tales series. This one occurs after Beatrix and the town are cut off from the world due to a snowstorm. There is a death, which appears to be accidental and the burning of a hay barn. There are mysterious markings on a tree nearby. The animals and Beatrix ...
Some really nice characters flanked by some rather mediocre storytelling... the moments with Beatrix and her thoughts are lovely, but the narrator is constantly stepping out of the story to say things like, "I know we view things differently in the 21st century but this is how the Victorians felt...
I wanted to like this one, but I just can't get past my absolute and complete exasperation for the romanticizing of the Confederacy. Can we just not anymore? The only character in the book I wasn't totally embarrassed by by the end was Charlie Dickens whose inner monologue at least recognized th...
I love the characters; the cozy based-on-a-true-story mysteries are generally interesting; the parallel human/animal/Beatrix Potter material has so much potential. Yet so much of each book is spent repeating the back story for it all (telling rather than showing) in a narrator's voice that is mor...
I really enjoy the China Bayles mystery series set in the Texas Hill Country. I always recommend that you read them in sequence so the you understand the characters so much better. They've become friends that I am interested in and enjoy hearing more about. This particular book is an exception to...
AUTHOR: ALBERT, Susan WittigTITLE : The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star Date Read: 03/30/14RATING: 4.5/B+GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS: Mystery/2013/Berkley/284 pgs SERIES/STAND ALONE: #4 in Darling DahliasTIME/PLACE: 1930's AlabamaCHARACTERS: Lizzy/Garden c...
I have been a big fan of Susan Wittig Albert's writing for a long time, beginning with her China Bayles/herbal mysteries. But, in my personal opinion, I think her 1930s-themed "Darling Dahlias" is Albert at her absolute best! Set in Alabama, this series captures the essence of the Depression-era...
Susan Wittig Albert’s exciting mysteries have been praised as “unique” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and “fascinating” (Booklist). Now, a dead man’s bones are uncovered—and Texas ex-lawyer and herbalist China Bayles must dig into a pair of murders separated by time but connected by motive… When Ch...
In this “intelligently plotted and deliciously descriptive tale” (Publishers Weekly), national bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert tells the story of a woman’s search for justice—and of her struggle to reconcile the demands of her business with the desires of her heart… Former big-city lawyer...
Three stars for the mystery, only one for China herself. She is undoubtedly one of the most selfish and mean-spirited women I have come across. Selfish because she's only considering her own needs in the book, not those of other people, and mean-spirited because she is just plain MEAN to her mo...
Having survived a whirlwind holiday season, China Bayles finds herself growing more unhappy with her life as a shop owner and with her personal relationship with her significant other, McQuaid. Desperate for a period of rest and peace that will give her time to answer the difficult questions abo...
How do you solve the murder of a woman who kept so much to herself that all you have to rely on are the skewed memories of the people who knew her? People, of course, who had every motive to kill her and every opportunity...people whose memories are shaded by the pain her actions, intentionally ...
University politics is a fierce competition, too often riddled with animosity and infighting as those involved plot against each other to gain greater status and tenure. Sometimes, as China Bayles discovers in her latest mystery, it can even be deadly. China's friend Dottie, a cat-loving profes...
Marital bliss is only a few short days away for China Bayles and Mike McQuaid, who have finally agreed to tie the knot after months of rehabilitation following Mike's gunshot wound and China's near-death experience. The garden is ready, the guests have been invited and China's new tea-room is in ...
A brand-new mystery in the endearing Beatrix Potter series from a national bestselling author. During Sawrey's annual summer f?te, Miss Beatrix Potter receives an unexpected visitor in the form of Baby Flora, left in a basket on her doorstep with a note, a sprig of hawthorn, and a scarab ring. Al...
This is the most exciting, magical story by Susan Wittig Albert! Even though she colours in every resident, we stay with characters we like: Beatrix, Will Heelis, Caroline, Dimity Woodcock, and introduce Irish schoolmate Deidre Malone. Deidre is housed by the veterinarian family, for being the...
Readers of the China Bayles mystery novels are familiar with the usefulness and wonder of the many herbs the amateur sleuth sells in her beloved Thyme and Seasons shop. Compiled by national bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert at the request of her fans, China Bayles' Book of Days gathers toget...
Everyone in Sawrey likes Ben Hornby. So when Beatrix finds the shepherd dead in the meadow and suspects foul play, she wonders who would have done such a thing. A trio of village cats has an idea: When Ben breathed his last, his sheep must have seen his killer before scattering. So they set out t...
An interesting collection of short mysteries, with a lot of glimpses into the lives of the secondary characters and townspeople not usually given as much attention in the series. I am not really into the herbalist scene and I have two black thumbs, so the side bar stuff was not really for me. S...
The book starts with a gathering of the Texas Star Quilting Club, some old ladies of Pecan Springs, who are experts at gossiping and watching their neighbours. And lately, they have had their eyes on Larry Kirk. He is going through a divorce, as he is a work-a-holic, and his wife has found a new ...
Tiggy-Winkle, Josey and Mopsy, and Tom Thumb were napping. Mrs. Tig, who looked very like a stout, bristly little person, stirred, blinked, and sniffled. The sniffling turned to snuffling, and in a moment she was seized by a loud a-chew!“My pocket handkerchief,” she muttered, rooting around on th...
“I can see how pleased you are,” I said. I stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to the shop. As I said, I’ll be out until rather late this evening. But I’ll be home all day tomorrow, if you’d like to look at the letters and decide which ones the library should copy for you.” Ro...
. . When we took leave of Lady Longford at the end of Chapter Six, she had been nearly bowled over by the news that her husband’s collection of moldy old books was worth the tidy sum of ten thousand pounds sterling. But as you will recall, Mr. Depford Darnwell, who appraised the collection, made ...
These cousins also share another common name: dayflower. Both are beloved by bees and other pollinators; both are invasive. One of the plants called widow’s tears is found in the genus Commelina. Its showy flower is made up of two larger symmetrical petals above (usually blue—some people think th...
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His green eyeshade was pulled low, and a cigarette hung limp out of one corner of his mouth, the smoke curling in front of his face. A half-full bottle of warm Hires Root Beer, his second of the morning, stood at his elbow, and an overflowing ashtray sat on the Webster’s Dictionary. The typewrite...
After she and Sarah got home and carried their purchases into the house, the first thing she did was turn on the parlor radio to try and catch a weather forecast. Ten minutes later, the announcer on WALA was reporting that the storm that had been hanging around out in the Gulf had finally crossed...
It has a long history of use by Native Americans and by the colonists who copied their medical practices. The root was boiled and pounded into a poultice or made into an ointment to treat burns, skin sores, eruptions, cancers, and rheumatism. A tea was used to treat liver ailments and dysentery. ...
Troub—Helen Boylston—always complained that I was at my mother’s beck and call. She was right, of course. Still, the situation was desperate. My father was sick. My mother was sick. They had to have help. Who else could they turn to but me? But the matter was more complica...