The Roar of the Crowd (Randy Craig Mystery #6) by Janice MacDonald (Ravenstone Books trade paperback, 30 June 2014).
Randy Craig (whose background you should already know if you read yesterday's Stuff and Nonsense), is running a high school theatre program associated with the organizers of Edmonton's annual Shakespeare in the Park series.
The gig is thanks to her old friend, English professor Denise Wolff, who's dating the artistic director of the FreeWill Players. Randy has plenty of time to focus on creating the curriculum for the three-week class because her significant other, police detective Steve Browning, is on assignment in Scandinavia.
But Randy has just begun the job when the lead actress, an Edmonton native who "made good" is murdered. When the police look at Denise as the prime suspect, Randy has no problem helping her friend to clear her name.
I usually whiz through books this compelling very quickly, but the Randy Craig series takes place in my hometown. And Janice MacDonald's descriptions of Edmonton locations and events are so detailed that I find myself pausing every few paragraphs to indulge in a trip down memory lane.
I remember attending the University of Alberta for both my degrees, and when she describes walking from one building to another, I think about making the same trip myself. I clearly remember the route of the #9 bus, and going to the Mayfield Dinner Theatre.
But since I haven't lived in Alberta's capital for nearly twenty years, though, sometimes I have to stop and ponder things like "Was the Garneau Theatre the one on Whyte Avenue or the one across the street from the HighLevel Diner?"
The Randy Craig books are like tourist guides wrapped in wonderfully-written mystery stories. They'll make you want to go to Edmonton and experience the vibrant cultural scene and explore the beautiful river valley. I think it's time to plan a trip there, myself.
FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of the book.
What Strange Creatures by Emily Arsenault (William Morrow trade paperback, 22 July 2014).
The story opens as narrator Theresa Battle wonders what one should do when one's brother has just been arrested for murder. What she does, after watching The Colbert Report, cleaning around her kitchen faucet, making herself a protein smoothie, and feeding her pets, is to investigate. As a doctoral candidate who's been working on her dissertation for some years, Theresa knows how to research.
Since Jeff's apartment didn't allow pets, he had asked Theresa to keep his girlfriend Kim's puggle, Wayne, while Kim spent a few days visiting her sister. With no sign of Kim on the day she was to return, Theresa contacts Jeff, who hasn't heard from her either. He can't call her, because she left her cell phone in his car.
Eventually, Kim's body is found, several miles from where she'd been staying, apparently strangled. Jeff is arrested when they find items covered in Kim's blood in the trunk of his car.
Theresa's investigation takes her deep into Kim's past, where she learns that Kim's childhood best friend had been murdered and that Kim was trying to accuse the attorney who'd prosecuted the case of malpractice. This attorney, Donald Wallace, is now a prominent local politician who is very hard to pin down.
Emily Arsenault, author of three unique literary mysteries (The Broken Tea-Glass, In Search of the Rose Notes, and Miss Me When I'm Gone, has created another gripping, un-putdownable story, this time about a young woman who discovers herself while trying to help her brother. Readers who enjoyed those books, as well as fans of Tana French and Erin Kelly, will love this book.
*The title of the book is part of this quote from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.
FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for the e-galley.
