Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh

Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh

Albert Honig is an elderly bachelor beekeeper, content living alone with his bees as his constant companions.  Once he was friends with the girls next door, Claire in particular, but an incident years ago suddenly ended their relationship.  Years have gone by and all three continue on with their lives, never interacting.  Albert senses something is wrong next door and discovers that the Bee Ladies (as his next door neighbors are now known in the neighborhood) have been killed during a burglary.  Who would want to rob the elderly sisters?  Can the secrets of the past solve the mystery of the present?

Told by Albert, the novel leisurely moves between the present and the past unveiling aspects of the main character’s lives little by little.  Albert can be frustrating at times to both the investigator and the reader, fixated on his bees more so than on the investigation, or so it seems.  Each chapter opens with a bit of bee lore or knowledge and everything he relates does have meaning.  A well-crafted mystery and study of family.

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

Brigid Quinn, former Special Agent with the FBI, now retired, tells you to never trust a woman who tells you her age.  She then tells you that she is fifty-nine.  This uneven footing is how the story starts.

For Brigid the one that got away was the Route 66 killer.  The agent she was training was taken by this serial killer and her remains were never found.  Now it looks like the killer is in custody and he will lead them to the body.  Has this horrible saga finally come to an end?  Or is it just the beginning of another mystery?

This is a well-crafted thriller that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat.  I really loved the main character.  While she does occasionally feel her age, she’s also fit and still packs quite a wallop.  I hope the author figures out a way to get her involved in another thriller soon.

Place your holds now -- it is released on March 12th!

The Good House by Ann Leary

The Good House by Ann Leary

Hildy Good is the premier real estate agent in the small New England town of Westover.  At least she was.  Until she lost her protégée to Sotheby’s after the inquisition…intervention…that her daughters arranged.  Living in a house she can’t afford unless she gets some choice listings Hildy is under a little stress.  But she knows everything and everyone in her small town and knows that she can use her knowledge to her advantage.

I recommend this book on audio.  The reader has a great “let’s sit down and talk” type of voice.  I couldn’t stop listening!  Even though the main character has a myriad of faults you can’t help liking her and wanting her to get herself together.  She just seemed so real.  Getting the point of view of an alcoholic in extreme denial (and getting in her head to hear all her justifications for her own actions) was eye opening.

This story really gets to the underbelly of this idyllic small town showing that nowhere is a perfect as it may appear.

Schroder by Amity Gaige

Schroder by Amity Gaige

Young Erik Schroder was born in East Berlin and came to the United States with his father to Boston.  When applying to attend summer camp he decides to recreate himself taking on the identity of Eric Kennedy.  This is a persona that he likes and in the mid-80s it was easy to create a new identity for oneself so he became Eric Kennedy.  As Eric Kennedy he got married and had a beautiful daughter named Meadow.  All is not well in his marriage and the two divorce with his ex-wife all but getting full custody.  Eric loves his daughter and wants to be with her but he knows that if he starts to fight too hard his true identity will be revealed.  While he never did anything horrible in his past, the fact that the past he has always told his family and friends about is a lie.  So Eric spontaneously takes his six-year old daughter on an adventure: an adventure that his ex-wife and the authorities call kidnapping.

This book is written as an apology to his ex-wife.  The chapters are short, each detailing episodes from his life as well as what he and Meadow were doing while on their adventure.  He knows that as a parent his ex would want to know everything her daughter experienced while not with her mother. 

While some reviewers say there is nothing to like about Schroder I found myself not only liking him, but empathizing with him.  He dreamed of a better life for himself and things just didn’t work out the way he envisioned.  A quick, interesting read that really allows you to get into the head of the main character.

Harvest by Jim Crace

Harvest by Jim Crace

In a village somewhere in Medieval Britain the master’s dovecote is burnt to the ground.  The day before a hearth fire was sighted where one never was before.  Strangers have established a hold in their insulated village.  If there is disaster it must be the fault of the strangers, even though most are quite certain that residents were involved.  The strangers are punished, not harshly some judge, but misfortune seems to spring from the incident.  How did life in this perfect village go so badly so quickly?

A sociological study of the feelings of us and them as well as the motivations and rationalizations of groups rather than individuals this is a quick and interesting read.

The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler

The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler

Lily Azerov is a refugee from World War II in Europe.  She makes her way to Israel and brokers a marriage arrangement with Sol Kramer in Montreal.  Upon her arrival in Montreal her fiancé takes one look at her disembarking from her train and walks away.  Thankfully for Lily, Sol’s brother Nathan steps up and marries her.  Soon after their marriage a baby is on the way.  When their child, Ruth, is a few months old Lily goes out to get milk and never returns.  When Ruth is six years old a rock comes in the mail from her mother.  The family now knows she’s alive but has no idea where she is or why she left.

Told in alternating chapters by Lily and Ruth we slowly learn the story of both women.  What happened to Lily in Europe?  How does Ruth deal with being abandoned by her mother?  This book asks a lot of questions, and while is answers most, I don’t think it completely answers the most pressing questions brought up in the narrative.

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

While Caleb is an extremely important character in this story, it is Bethia Mayfield, his very good friend, who narrates and shares her innermost thoughts in her diaries with us.  Through her eyes we see what life on her island, what we know as Martha’s Vineyard, was like in the late 1600s to the early 1700s.  She also journeys to Cambridge to work as a housekeeper for a school and sees how life there differs from her beloved island where she could more freely communicate with her Indian friends and the “rules” were much different.

Inspired by Caleb Cheeshahteaumauck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, the grounding of actual historical events makes this read a well-crafted history lesson as well as a well-written novel.