Mysteries

I'm not normally a big mystery reader. I like them okay, but for some people mysteries are like potato chips. For me, they are more like popcorn. Great every once in a while, but I can leave it be. Now, potato chips, specifically those Kettle Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper ones.....I will eat those until I'm sick, but I digress.

Recently I found myself with two mysteries going. Not only that, they were both historical and with women protagonists. That took some mental aerobics, I can tell you! Anyway, it all got me thinking about mysteries and how fun they are.

So I just finished The Serpent's Tale, by Ariana Franklin. This is the second mystery about Adelia Aguilar, a Salerno-trained forensic pathologist. Turns out Salerno in the 12th century was a well-known center of "modern" medical knowledge, allowing Jews, Arabs and women to study in their college! The first novel is The Mistress of the Art of Death, in which the Henry II has sent to Salerno for a master of the art of death to investigate the murders of some children in Cambridge. He's upset because the Jewish population there is incarcerated and therefore, cannot pay their taxes, a major source of his treasury. Both novels are exciting, surprising and fun, a decidedly macabre way.

The other one I'm reading (not quite finished) is The Tenderness of Wolves, by Stef Penny. This one is a gnarly murder mystery, filled with people who are not what they seem, characters with suspicous backgrounds, and the cold and unforgiving Canadian north in the 19th century. Also exciting, surprising, but not so sure about the fun part.

For kids, I'd recommend Carolyn C. Cooney's Janie series. It starts with The Face on the Milk Carton. What would you do if you saw a picture of your 4-year-old self on a milk carton under the word Missing! Janie can even remember the dress she's wearing in the photo. What Janie does is question everything about her comfortable life, uncovering some hard truths.