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The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek–the blue librarian
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
by Kim Michele Richardson
Two tales woven seamlessly into one—that’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, a work of historical fiction carefully researched and crafted by Kim Michele Richardson. Cussy Carter is a blue-skinned young woman, strong, determined, and the subject of suspicion, hatred, and discrimination in the backwoods of the Kentucky Appalachians in the 1930’s. She is also a Book Woman, a librarian who travels by mule to deliver books to the far reaches of the mountains to patrons who otherwise would have no reading options. Cussy, also called Bluet, knows her place in society as does her Black friend Queenie. They are both considered “colored.” Most people are disgusted by looking at Cussy and certainly avoid any kind of touch.
Richardson paints a moving portrait of Cussy and what it must be like to be an object of ridicule and perhaps the last of her kind. You will be hoping for the best for Cussy who, as a coal miner’s daughter, lives in poverty but shares freely with her even more impoverished patrons. Her father, also a Blue, suffers from lung issues and horrible working conditions.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a work you will read with your heart in your throat, amazed at the struggles and sufferings of Cussy, her pa, her patrons, and those who dare show kindness to her. At the same time, the book is uplifting because there are good people included in the story and Cussy always stands as a model of someone who does what is right because it is right and in spite of those who would hurt her.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: There are helpful Author’s Notes at the end of the book discussing the rare condition called methemoglobinemia. Richardson also gives background on the Pack Horse Library Project and courting candles. She explains that she altered one fact regarding dates so that she could include certain medical information.
Publication: May 7, 2019—Sourcebooks Landmark
Memorable Lines:
I lived for the joy of bringing books and reading materials to the hillfolk who were desperate for my visits, the printed word that brought a hopeful world into their dreary lives and dark hollers. It was necessary. And for the first time in my life, I felt necessary.
I couldn’t help notice again how the students waited for me, looked up at me, all quiet and not a single fidget or wiggle, as hungry for the stories in these books as they were for the food that always seemed sparse in this real land.
Nary a townsfolk, not one God-fearing soul, had welcomed me or mine into town, their churches, or homes in all my nineteen years on this earth. Instead, every hard Kentucky second they’d filled us with an emptiness from their hate and scorn. It was as if Blues weren’t allowed to breathe the very same air their loving God had given them…
Tell Me No Secrets–missing delivery man
Tell Me No Secrets
by Lynn Chandler Willis
I’m gong to work hard at sharing Tell Me No Secrets by Lynn Chandler Willis without giving away a very important theme that emerges and defines the rest of the book. Ava Logan, publisher of a small-town weekly, has her own difficult childhood history but was rescued and raised by her foster mother Doretha, who is also a preacher. Later she escapes from an abusive marriage when her policeman husband is killed on the job. She has three children and is in a relationship with the county sheriff Grayson Ridge who is the complete opposite of her deceased husband.
Trouble starts when Ava spies a backpack in the river during her daughter’s baptism. It belongs to Scott, an employee of the paper who has gone missing. The rest of this page turner is devoted to an investigation to discover what happened to Scott and why. Setting is extremely important in this book as much of it relates to customs of the backwoods of the Appalachians where there are “granny witches” who don’t really practice witchcraft; they treat people with herbal remedies. Religion has different flavors there, and dousing rods are not uncommon.
You’ll enjoy meeting the regular characters that populate this book. Not everyone is painted with the same brush, but they are all depicted realistically. There are also characters to feel ambivalent about and those that are downright evil. Social problems both in and out of the “holler” are addressed as well. Just when you think the book has drawn to a satisfactory conclusion, the investigation takes a turn and everyone is presented with a surprise ending.
I would like to extend my thanks to Edelweiss and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: This is #2 in the Ava Logan Mystery Series but works well as a standalone. We jump right into the current mystery with the first lines of the book: “People don’t just disappear. Unless they do.” The author, however, does an excellent job in the first chapter of putting the new mystery in the context of what we need to know of the characters’ backgrounds.
Publication: June 11, 2019—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
Praying for the best, expecting the worst. Sooner or later, the two collide and you’re left numb to both.
“Just cause you ain’t the enemy don’t mean you’re our friend. Right, Momma?” Such wisdom from someone deemed simple.
You could set your clock by the depth of Nola’s southern accent. Up until lunchtime, she worked to keep it in check, careful with her pronunciations. After lunch, tire became tar and fire became far.
Fractured Truth–it’s complicated
Fractured Truth
by Susan Furlong
Brynn Callahan suffers mental effects from being part of a Marine search team for the dead. She and her dog Wilco both received physical injuries from an encounter with an IED in Iraq. Retired from the military, they work as a team for the local sheriff.
In Fractured Truth, Brynn has been chosen for her job, despite a less than stellar work record due to PTS and associated addictions, to act as a liaison between law enforcement and the people group she was born into. She is half Traveller or Pavee, originally an Irish roaming group who settled in the Appalachian mountains in Tennessee. She is only partially successful in this role as the Pavees view her as an outsider and traitor for working with the police. She is helpful, however, in that she understands their customs and perspectives.
Brynn and Wilco are called upon to locate the body of a girl found by a cross-country skier. Wilco is successful and later, thanks to his sensitive nose, is able to locate another woman’s body who police suspect is in a river. The plot is very complex with many suspects. While investigating these crimes, Brynn is also dealing with PTS issues that she tries to overcome with alcohol and prescription drugs. In addition, she has past relationships that color her attempts to establish a new life in Bone Gap. She suffers discrimination from the Pavees and from some of her “settled” coworkers who look to blame the Pavees for problems. The Pavees, in turn, ostracize Brynn and her grandmother.
Fractured Truth has a good solid plot. It is a fascinating mystery, if somewhat gruesome at times. Author Susan Furlong, who has a talent with words, has created an interesting character in Brynn Callahan. I didn’t find her likeable or unlikeable, but I did find myself rooting for her in her struggle against her personal demons. Her battles are deep and painful, and unfortunately there are many returning soldiers who literally share the same torments. The book ends with the criminal cases solved but some loose ends that will carry the reader into the next book in the series.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #2 in the Bone Gap Travellers series, but works well as a standalone.
2. Since I review a lot of cozy mysteries, I want to point out that this book is not a cozy mystery. It falls in the traditional mystery series category. Some might classify it as a Police Procedural or a K-9 mystery. It is quite successfully all of these things!
Publication: December 18, 2018—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
A little smirk played along the corner of her lips. She enjoyed causing trouble. Gone was the withering flower, replaced by little Ms. Mean Girl. Who was the real Winnie? I had no idea. This interrogation was giving me mental whiplash.
“War is a series of relentless extremes. Boredom to certain death. No between. Anxiety becomes a part of who you are. You never turn it off. You do, and you’re not on your game, not able to save your own thankless hide, let alone your buddies.”
We kept our boundaries tight and adhered to a strict moral code, but somewhere along the line, we’d forgotten to allow for humanness. Rules and rigidness had replaced love and mercy.
education pathways 