Book Review - The Second-Last Woman in England

The Second-Last Woman in England

By: Maggie Joel
Publisher: Felony & Mayhem
Publication Date: May 2012
ISBN: 978-1934609996
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: May 20, 2012

If you don't want to know how the story you're about to read ends before you read it, then you may not want to read this review because there's really no way to review The Second-Last Woman in England without giving away the ending. You see, the prologue tells us exactly what happens to the protagonist of the book, Mrs. Harriet Wallis. On a grey November morning in 1953, she was the second-last woman in England to be hanged. On Coronation Day, 1953, she shot her husband Cecil six times in front of several witnesses. The question is, why? To learn the answer, you must read the book. And after reading the prologue, you'll want to read the book to quench your curiosity.

Chapter one picks up the pervious year, nine months before the murder in September of 1952. All seems well in the upper middle class Wallis household. Harriet is busy interviewing Miss Jean Corbett, a possible new nanny for her two children, Julius and Anne. When the police come to the house to ask Mr. Wallis about one of the employees at the shipping company where he works, Harriet becomes curious and listens in from another room. It seems that the employee, Mr. Rocastle, had been embezzling from the company and has now disappeared. What might Cecil know?

The story progresses through the next nine months, telling bits and pieces of Harriet's story, mixed in with those of Jean and Cecil's. We meet Harriet's brothers Simon and Freddie, and the tangled lives they've lived. There are numerous flashbacks, telling of Harriet's past travels and experiences, as well as Jean's horrific life during the War.

The author does a nice job of setting the pace and bringing the reader into the post-war 1950's, where rationing was necessary and many people struggled amid the bombed out buildings of London. While most of the country struggles, Harriet and Cecil attend frequent parties held for the upper tier of society and worry about seemingly irrelevant things. Jean does her best to care for the Wallis's two children and rebuild her life and gets little to no help (emotional or financial) from her employers.

Wondering what made Harriet, a seemingly happy, well-to-do wife, kill her husband in cold blood will keep the reader involved through the end of the story. However, while the story was well-written, it was hard to like Harriet, who seemed rather cold and empty. Her treatment of Jean, while appropriate for the time period, added to the dislike of her character. It left a bit of a void in the story that keeps the reader from truly caring. In addition, although there are a few twists and turns and the reason for the murder might be unexpected, there wasn't a big, suspenseful buildup, but rather a slow progression to the end that kept the book from being truly satisfying.

Quill says: While not a nail-bitter, The Second-Last Woman in England was a fun mystery story for a lazy afternoon read.

Book Review - The Diva Digs Up Dirt

The Diva Digs Up the Dirt (A Domestic Diva Mystery)

By: Krista Davis
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 2012
ISBN: 978-0425251348
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: May 16, 2012

Desdemona practically lunged at Sophie Winston like a Venus Flytrap getting ready to engulf its prey. She wanted her to find her “little Anemone,” Linda, who had been missing for five years. Seriously, Sophie was not Jessica Fletcher, but rather an event planner who had coincidentally solved a few murders. All her Old Town nosy neighbors, including Francie Vanderhoosen, Olive Greene and her best friend, Nina Reid Norwood, would hear about Mona’s antics AND lies before the day was out. Sophie had her hands full getting ready to plan Roscoe and Princess Mindy’s Greene’s annual party, a party his ex-wife, Olive wouldn’t be attending. Not ever.

Sophie decided to pick up a rosebush and head over to her perennial boyfriend’s house and plant it in his backyard. Her own backyard would soon be invaded by hunk Troy Gardner and his “Tear It Up with Troy” gang for one of those reality shows. It was one of Natasha’s meddling projects and when the backhoe went through her fence it was a bit much. It wasn’t quite as bad as the dung doo problem at Roscoe’s when piles of manure landed in his yard, but still. Wolf was a homicide detective and Soph hoped a little feminine touch in his backyard would be appreciated.

Sophie was prepping the soil for the rosebush when all of a sudden she struck something and it wasn’t liquid gold. It was a handbag, “a nightmare wrapped up in good leather.” Mona quickly flounced into the yard, as well as any elderly Southern belle could, and began to scream. “My baby! He killed my baby!” Her “Linda” was none other than Anne Fleishman, Wolf’s missing wife. Olive always maintained he’d killed her, but it suddenly dawned on Sophie that she just might be dating a killer, a married one at that. The nightmare was only beginning. A mysterious theft, poisonous posies, and something even better awaited her at Roscoe’s...a hand peeking out from underneath a mulch pile!

Sophie Winston, Old Town’s darling diva, definitely knows how to dish up a murder...southern style. This fast-paced, zany mystery will delight old-time fans and charm the new with it’s tightly woven plot and quirky characters. The mystery was sometimes as dark and deep as that of du Maurier’s Manderley mansion in “Rebecca,” but more often than not will make the reader howl with glee with all the twists and turns of the plot. It isn’t often that the discovery of a corpse will bring tears to one’s eyes from unabashed laughter, but Davis does just that. As soon as I was convinced that I’d caught the murderer, another character would become suspect. The whodunit could have been almost anyone, but just who was it? Was it Olive, Audie, Violet, Roscoe, Wolf, Princess Mindy...

Quill says: If you like your cozies quirky, over-the-top funny, and hard to solve, Krista Davis can definitely dig one up for you!

Interview with Author Thomas J. Foley

Today we're talking with Thomas J. Foley, author of Most Wanted: Pursuing Whitey Bulger, the Murderous Mob Chief the FBI Secretly Protected


FQ: - You mention several times that Bulger’s reputation, particularly in South Boston, was of a sort of Robin Hood. Did he actually ever do anything to help the residents of South Boston that promoted this image, or was it a complete myth?


Whatever he did he did to promote and maintain this false image. It has been told that he helped the elderly and the poor but we found those stories to be more hype than fact. He and his supporters also claimed that he kept drugs out of the South Boston neighborhoods while law enforcement was aware that he was profiting from the drug trade.

FQ: You make it very clear that Whitey Bulger was no Robin Hood, that he was an incredibly cold-hearted, sadistic killer. If there was one thing you’d like people to know about him, what would it be?


That he was ruthless and how his victims suffered. If you read the accounts of how his victims died you would understand that he was no Robin Hood.

FQ: As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, and alum of the University of Massachusetts where Billy Bulger was President, I find it odd that so many of my fellow residents know little to nothing about the Bulger family. Whereas the New York mobsters seemed to hold almost celebrity status, the Massachusetts mob seemed to stay under the radar. Would you agree with this assessment and if so, why do you think the Massachusetts mob was largely unknown by the public?


Bulger and his crew were not the average run of the mill organized crime group. Boston had its share of celebrity type gangsters just like New York. A lot has been written about the Patriarca/Anguilo crime family that was once part of La Cosa Nostra or Mafia in Boston. They were known as traditional organized crime, following the same culture and structure of other mafia groups throughout the country. They were organized and disciplined with titles such as boss, underboss, consigliere, capo, and soldier. In contrast was the so called Irish organized crime group operating around the same time in the Boston area. In the 1960’s Boston had several of these groups and after lengthy gang wars the Winter Hill Gang emerged. Bulger was part of this group known for their ability to strike at their enemies in a military type manner efficiently disposing of the problem. The mafia in Boston feared and respected the Winter Hill Gang and both operated in a somewhat peaceful coexistence as far as organized crime goes. Bulger’s ability to stay under the radar screen for some time was directly related to the public relations effort making him out to be a “not that bad a guy” and the FBI’s efforts to protect him. Law enforcement knew how dangerous he was but it took time to peel away the layers of false reports and image building over the years. In addition his brother Billy held the most powerful political position in the State as State Senate president. There was little appetite by those in powerful positions to take him on. Bill controlled the legislature and Whitey controlled the streets.

FQ: At the Greek diner, the Busy Bee, you mention doing surveillance and winding up sitting just one booth over from Steve Flemmi, one of Bulger’s associates. Would you tell our readers a bit about that experience?


The challenge that faces organized crime investigators is to be able to maintain constant surveillance of organized crime members activities without being detected. Cases are built on criminal conversations when OC members gather. In this particular case, at the Busy Bee restaurant in Brookline just down the street from Fenway Park, Flemmi and Mafia boss Frank Salemme met with others on a regular basis. Blending in with the other partrons we tried to get as close as possible. We tried to overhear their conversations and at the same time tried to “bug” the booths they were sitting in. Our team had good success on a regular basis but it was always a challenge; a challenge to overhear incriminating conversations and a challenge not to be detected.

FQ: The descriptions of the murders of Steve Flemmi’s girlfriends, Debbie Davis and Debbie Hussey, by Bulger were quite upsetting. It really shed light on Bulger’s horrific, brutal personality. After questioning Kevin Weeks about the murders, were you able to go home and not "bring work home with you"?


I think it was these murders that really drove us and made us so determined to bring Bulger to justice. As difficult as it was to listen to the gory details of these murders at the same time it was uplifting in that our case against Bulger was being strengthened. Finally we had eye witness testimony and the bodies to prove what we had been saying for years; mainly that Bulger was an animal not that harmless guy that many tried to portray him as. Those in law enforcement who protected him and defended him for so long could no longer do so when the bones of his victims including both Debbie Hussey and Debbie Davis were being pulled from shallow graves after tortuous deaths. Difficult for us to live with; yes. But it was making the case to bring Bulger to justice.

FQ: Is Catherine Greig, Bulger’s girlfriend, also awaiting trial? What is likely to happen to her? Is she still "a real ball buster"?


Catherine Greig has plead guilty to related charges. She is to be sentenced this June. She has tried to portray herself as an innocent bystander but she is far from it.

FQ: So many people would have given up long before seeing Whitey Bulger brought to justice. Between the threats and FBI cover-ups/misinformation, how did you keep going?


Our job was to investigate organized crime. Bulger was the most dangerous and ruthless organized crime figure in Boston for many years. When we targeted him we soon found out that Bulger’s activities were only part of the problem. Corruption in law enforcement directly related to Bulger’s criminal activities soon began to make an organized crime case expand into a deep and complicated public corruption investigation. For us to quit, like others had done in the past, would mean we would become part of the problem. It was our job and we knew it was time for this to end.

FQ: One of the things I kept wondering as I read your book was that your wife must have been incredibly understanding – and worried. Did your investigation of such a dangerous criminal put a strain on your relationship?


Our team was fortunate to have understanding wives in a business that I can only describe as extremely demanding and challenging. Often we didn’t tell our wives of all we were involved in so that they didn’t worry and at other times they were the ones we relied on when we needed to talk. I know my wife understood the importance of our work and what we were up against. She made so very difficult a time a lot more bearable.

FQ: Will you be attending the trail (and/or testifying) of Whitey Bulger?


Yes..I will be attending the trial. I have testified in other related trials but have not been told if I will be needed to testify at this time.

To learn more about Most Wanted: Pursuing Whitey Bulger, the Murderous Mob Chief the FBI Secretly Protected please read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.

Book Review - Grace Among Thieves

Grace Among Thieves (A Manor House Mystery)

By: Julie Hyzy
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 2012
ISBN: 978-0425251393
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler

Review Date: May 16, 2012

Emberstowne’s Marshfield Manor was once again quiet, exuding a more stylish and elegant aura. Grace Wheaton was back on the job as curator and manager of the estate, preparing to help Corbin Shaw produce a DVD touting the finer points of the North Carolina mountain manor. Advertisement was good for business, but corpses simply were not. Grace’s predecessor, Abe Vargas, and Zachary Kincade had been murdered in the manse and the last thing she needed to do was dwell on it. Detectives Flynn and Rodriguez, two of the worst bumbling officers the Carolinas had to offer, could manage without her assistance.

Bennett Marshfield, owner of the Manor, was quite fond of Grace, or Gracie as he preferred to call her. His demeanor was as elegant and appealing as his home, which in part served as a museum. A polite way to put it was that he was a “very upscale hoarder,” something that served the public well. The one thing that didn’t serve him well was his stepdaughter, Hillary, who used him for an ATM machine and a man-magnet. Whenever her toadies found out she wasn’t actually an heiress they hoofed it off like Secretariat at the Kentucky Derby. One horse’s patoot Grace was glad to get rid of was her former beau, Jack Embers. Least ways she pretended to be.

Grace had little time for “her highness” and her inane desire to be a movie star because John Kitts had a late-day tour arriving. Another thorn in her side was the mysterious disappearance of valuable artifacts from both the Kane and Marshfield manors. Grace would soon encounter yet another when Lenore Honore, an OCD member of the tour, decided to play touchy feely with Marshfield’s personal belongings...that is before someone decided to snap her neck and toss her down the stairwell. Apparently, it just wasn’t going to be her day. Frances, Grace’s decidedly disagreeable assistant calmly probed, “How come we never had any murders at Marshfield before you got here?” She couldn’t answer that one, but when she received a note claiming, “You’re dead. You just don’t know it yet,” she knew there might just be another murder at the Manor...hers!

Murder and mayhem at the Marshfield Manor is once again on Grace Wheaton’s to-do list. Murder, a deep dark secret, and a new romance turns this “Manor House Mystery” into a recipe for a decadently scrumptious southern special. The mystery had just the right touch of sophistication that fans of the series have come to expect with Bennett Marshfield and Grace on board. Hillary Singletary, Grace’s “nosy assistant,” Frances, Ronny Tooney, and the two Keystone Kops, Flynn and Rodriguez gave a nice, lightly humorous balance to the tale. The action cracked in all the right places with a little bit of romance to glue it all together. If you like your mysteries served up with a sweet southern style twist, amateur detective, Ms. Grace Wheaton, will gladly take you on a tour!

Quill says: Grace Wheaton is the type of sophisticated southern sleuth that cozy fans will adore!

Book Review - The Sadness of the Samurai

The Sadness of the Samurai

By: Victor del Arbol
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Publishing Date: May 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9475-6
Reviewed by: Mary Lignor
Review Date: May 16, 2012

In a brief preface, taking place in a hospital in Barcelona in the spring of 1981, a woman, Maria Bengoecha, is on her deathbed. She’s under police guard because she is about to stand trial for murder. Maria was accused of plotting the escape from prison of a man who she had previously prosecuted for murder. Maria is a lawyer, as you have probably figured out. As readers will ponder the event that brought Maria to this place, we will be taken back to 1941 in Merida, Spain.

Enter Isabel Mola (in 1941), another woman who is in a mess of trouble. Isabel is trying to get away from her viscious, Facist husband, who has mistreated her frequently and forced her to leave with their young son, leaving another son behind. Isabel has a lover, who will eventually betray her and drag them back to her husband. All this comes down to a Facist bid for power in pro-Nazi Spain and what happens there. Most historians will get this part.

The novel goes back and forth between accounts of the lives of Maria and Isabel and will eventually connect the two. Things were so disturbing in Spain during both time periods and the author does not gloss over this aspect of the story as the lives of these two women unfold.

This is an extremely violent book that will definitely set the scene for blood and gore and may overwhelm some readers. It is also a translation and sometimes things do not translate well. Between the jumping between the time periods (1941 and 1981) and the translation, the text can be rather confusing in places. Readers may have to re-read a few sections as well as have some knowledge of Spanish history for a full understanding of the story. The Sadness of the Samurai is the first of this author's books to be translated into English, and is a difficult thriller and will require the reader to be patient to avoid being confused.

Quill Says: This can be an extremely difficult book to read in places as there is much cruelty to women. If you can move beyond the violence, and don't get lost in some of the side stories, it is overall a good read.

Magic Treehouse 20th Anniversary

MARY POPE OSBORNE’S MAGIC TREE HOUSE^® SERIES

CELEBRATES 20^TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2012

MORE THAN 100 MILLION BOOKS SOLD WORLDWIDE

National Literacy Programs, Theatrical Projects and Philanthropic Initiatives
to Launch Throughout Celebratory Year

Magic Tree House, the award-winning children’s series that is widely regarded among teachers and parents alike for its power to instill a passion for reading, celebrates its 20^th anniversary. Written by Mary Pope Osborne, the series has sold more than 100 million books and has been translated into 32 different languages in 100 countries.

To celebrate this major milestone, a calendar of national literacy endeavors, theatrical projects, philanthropic initiatives and publishing releases have been scheduled throughout the year. Following is a brief description and timing of each event:

Online Literacy Program

Classroom Adventures Program is a free, comprehensive set of online educational resources for teachers. Complete with lesson plans, curriculum guides and creative activities, the Classroom Adventures Program, which launched earlier this year, incorporates every book in the series including the nonfiction Fact Tracker titles, enabling teachers to build upon students’ interest in Jack and Annie’s adventures, while simultaneously meeting core curriculum standards across a multitude of subjects.

Theatrical Projects and Tour

Read! Read! Read! A Magic Tree House Live Adventure is a live Jack & Annie musical with meet and greet for kids, complete with book stampings and photo-ops. It will be performed at SeaWorld San Antonio on April 21 and then for four weeks at the California State Fair in July with several local charity tie-ins.

Magic Tree House: A Night in New Orleans, a musical featuring original music by legendary New Orleans composer Allen Toussaint and based on Magic Tree House #42: A Good Night for Ghosts celebrating the life of Louis Armstrong, will introduce children across the country to jazz. Co-written by Will Osborne and Murray Horwitz, the musical will be previewed in April and will premiere at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center as part of the James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival in October.

Publishing Schedule

Magic Tree House #49: A Perfect Time for Pandas – the 49^th book in the Magic Tree House series to be published on July 24, 2012.

Magic Tree HouseFact Tracker #26: Pandas and Other Endangered Species to be published on July 24, 2012.

Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark – The first book in the series, originally published in 1992, will now be available as a full-Color 20^th Anniversary Edition, published on September 25, 2012.

Magic Tree House #44: A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time to be published on September 25, 2012 in trade paperback.

All Magic Tree House books are available in print, as e-booksand Listening Library audio books, which are all narrated by Mary Pope Osborne.

Author Activities

Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce will embark on a three-city tour in the Fall.

An anniversary video is now available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adTSMVtJ1xI

National philanthropic initiatives will be announced separately in the Spring. Publishing activities will be supported by national consumer print and online advertising campaign, as well as retail promotional activities and events.

Teachers and kids can experience more of the Magic Tree House fun at: www.magictreehouse.com.

Mary Pope Osborne is the award-winning author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, including novels, retellings of mythology and folklore, picture books, biographies, and mysteries. From 1993-1997, Ms. Osborne served as president of the Authors Guild, the country’s leading organization for published authors. She has traveled extensively in the US and abroad, visiting schools and speaking on issues related to children’s literacy. She recently spoke at the UN regarding the importance of worldwide literacy. She lives in Connecticut with her husband.

Random House Children’s Books is the world’s largest English-language children’s trade book publisher. Creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books, novels, and ebooks, the imprints of Random House Children’s Books bring together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series. The company’s website, Kids@Random (www.randomhouse.com/kids) offers an array of activities, games, and resources for children, teens, parents, and educators. Random House Children’s Books is a division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG, a leading international media company.

Book Review - An African Affair

An African Affair

By: Nina Darnton
Publisher: Plume
Publication Date: May 2012
ISBN: 978-0452298026
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: May 15, 2012

The gentle winds wafting across the Sahara Desert can slowly drift across the Atlantic Ocean only to become full blown hurricanes when they touched land. The seeds of another sort of hurricane were brewing in Sub-Saharan Nigeria as the lifeblood of William Agapo and his wife were drained by the knife of an unknown assassin. The authorities claimed it was a robbery, but was it? Agapo was the "most valuable agent" in Lagos and any fool could see there was much more to his death that a simple robbery when expensive jewelry was left behind. Figuring out whether it was the signature of local operatives or Solutions Incorporated could be tricky.

Lagos CIA agents quickly gathered together to brainstorm and attempt to set in motion new contacts. "We'll get along fine, won't we Dave?" Vickie Grebow and Goren would now work together, like it or not. A quick move would put her in place as the embassy's deputy political officer to check out General Michael Olumide, Nigeria's current drug running military dictator. Few people looked toward Nigeria as the place to be, but journalists from around the world were there looking for that plum story that could net them a Pulitzer. Lindsay Cameron worked for the New York Globe and finding that plum amidst all the corruption wouldn't be that easy.

When Lindsay had first arrived she headed to Ikoli, where most of the ex-pats were. Her friend, Maureen, was new to Africa, but was a long-term friend. Linds told her that when they drove, "the houses got bigger and nicer, but the smell never changed and the garbage mounds were just as high." The place had its own distinctive perfume with human excrement as its number one ingredient. The sounds of discontent were equally distinctive with shouts of mobs as they called for Olumide's downfall and the rise of Fakai. Lindsay had scored an interview with evil. Kofi Ransom, who was missing, claimed that "if you are walking in the forest and you see Olumide and a python, kill Olumide first."

Bodies seemed to be cropping up everywhere, including that of Babatunde Oladyo, one of Fakai's supporters. Lindsay had plenty of questions for Olumide, but was he going to answer them? His reputation of cruelty and deceit were well-known, but he didn't know just how persistent she could be. With a country in turmoil James Duncan suddenly stepped into her life, a life that had no room for someone who "didn't like competing with breaking news." People were dying and she had to figure out what was going on. "The lion be juju. You rub head and make prayer. It give you power." Was any amount of power going to help her if she stepped into the fray and headed to "The Next Step," the "Juju House?"

This is an amazing tale of political intrigue in the tumultuous landscape of Nigeria. Although this book is widely touted as a thriller, I found it one whose nature was more pensive, intellectual, and ultimately more believable than the standard cliffhanger. I was riveted by the historical vignettes interwoven in this fictional tale. Lindsay, who was feminine, yet strong, was an in-the-trenches journalist who brings Nigeria alive for the reader. For example, many statements were quite striking: "She was grieving for the agony of the country, the everyday brutality of life here."

Quill says: Nina Darnton's debut novel is a stunning portrayal of Africa that will definitely have a place in the post-colonial African literary scene.