Livia J. Washburn

I'm giving this two stars only because it's nice and I'd feel guilty if I slammed it with one star.

I read this because I found it on the book swap table at work and I'm currently obsessed with all things pumpkin. It seemed appropriate to read this little mystery.

What a waste of time! It was like watching an episode of "Murder,She Wrote" that took days instead of an hour. I know, I know, I should have expected that.

It was just so overly polite and persnickety from start to finish. I was completely annoyed by Phyllis and all her friends and especially by her grandson and his 'fection (aka ear infection) who served ABSOLUTELY NO PURPOSE.

The mystery itself was not too exciting and the sudden solution out of left field. Not nearly enough clues for my liking. I also didn't understand the serious dislike of the police detective....maybe that's a holdover from a previous book? I'll never forget because I won't be touching this series ever again.

Not recommended even for a time-killer beach read or for a plane ride. SNOOOOZER from start to finish.

(I will be keeping the pumpkin cheesecake muffin recipe though!)… (plus d'informations)

When the poll for our monthly read in the American Western group I’m in came along last month, it seemed a rare occasion when I would have been happy with any of the choices. I finally voted for this one because it seemed the most underrepresented as per reviews, especially on Amazon. Now that I’ve read it, I’m certainly glad I came across it.

This is a Western in the old-fashioned tradition. It even has some pulp elements in the plot, and the quick flow of the story. Whether it was a conscious choice or not for author Livia J. Washburn, I felt this was close to a well-written homage to some of the better dime westerns of old, when you’d run across an author whom you’d never heard of, and finally put the book down thinking it had been a surprisingly good read. Bandera Pass is like that.

There is really nothing new under the sun where the Western genre is concerned, which is one of the elements that draws most people to the American Western. The moral integrity and codes of honor, the values so in conflict with modern times, is what attracts readers to the time-honored genre. There’s some of that in Bandera pass, making this a familiar — in the good way — and enjoyable Western read set in Texas in 1874. Most of it takes place in Bandera County, where thirty-three years earlier a famous ambush occurred at Bandera Pass.

The book opens with a nightmare Sheriff Samuel Knight is having, that will eventually tie into the narrative of two Texas Rangers named Hank Littleton and Joe Casebolt. They are chasing down a former member of the now defunct State Police who has turned outlaw. But before they set out after him, the old and seasoned Casebolt, and the young but sharp Hank have a whale of a time bringing in the Kimbrough gang. The action is well written and it’s exciting when Hank and Joe are ambushed at Medina River while trying to bring the gang back for trial. A humorous and eventually poignant element is introduced because Casebolt has a toothache he isn’t exactly in a hurry to have looked at.

The author is obviously familiar with the Texas landscape and does a good job of describing the area as the Rangers head for Bandera County. There they meet up with the aforementioned Sheriff Knight, his wife Faye, and more importantly for Hank, his young and foolish daughter, Victoria. What Sam’s nightmare is about is revealed, and it will play a role by the end of the narrative in a psychological twist the reader won’t see coming.

A lot of work went into making this an easy, breezy read. I was worried for a while as a romance began to bloom between Hank and Victoria, that it would become mired in the typical unassuming cowboy falling for the spirited — i.e., annoying and foolish — but pretty girl. It’s to the author’s credit that she instead used that element of the story to show that there are consequences for foolish and headstrong actions in these days, and sometimes they can be deadly. In this case, they are very sad.

This one has a stagecoach robbery, some exciting posse action, and a twist most won’t see coming. The ending is terrific, making this a good one. Bandera Pass has an old-fashioned, dime-western kind of feel to it. Low-key but breezy, with some good action sequences, Bandera Pass delivers the goods. An enjoyable read for fans of the traditional Westerns of old.… (plus d'informations)

Phyllis Newsom’s best friend & boarder, Eve, walks down the aisle for the fifth time. Shortly after the honeymoon, the bridegroom is brutally murdered & Eve is arrested for the crime. Naturally, busybody Phyllis must come to the rescue & save Eve from paying the penalty for someone else’s misdeed.

None of the characters are particularly appealing. Phyllis and Carolyn are bossy, gossipy, and prone to almost constant bickering. Phyllis’ significant other, Sam, is a pathetic caricature of an in-bred hillbilly whose cornpone lingo is simply nauseating.

The worst aspect of this book is the fact that the killer and the killer’s motive are obvious from the second the character is introduced. The author may as well have just had a marching band playing with a banner that said, “THE MURDERER HAS ARRIVED!” Once the murderer made a glaringly obvious entrance into the narrative, I immediately knew the who & the why of the crime. I didn’t see the need for reading any further, so I just skipped ahead to the final chapter, and—lo and behold!—I was correct. Not a lot of whodunit suspense to be had here, folks.

This is the second Livia Washburn mystery I have read, and I must say that Miss Washburn seems to have a serious problem subtly introducing the actual murderers into her storylines. In both books, Washburn really stumbles with making her villainous characters fly under the radar; instead, they sort of just clumsily trip onto the scene, flailing their arms in the air, shouting, “Here I am! I’m the killer, and here’s my motive!” It’s truly the one Achilles' heel a professional mystery writer should not have.… (plus d'informations)

Phyllis Newsom—a sixty-something retired schoolteacher, boardinghouse proprietor, and all-around busybody—discovers the dead body of Logan Powell, local real estate mogul and philandering husband, at the annual Harvest Festival. The strange thing is Logan’s corpse is found dressed up as a scarecrow and sitting on a bale of hay among the Festival decorations. Logan’s long-suffering wife Dana is immediately suspected and quickly arrested for his murder. But, Phyllis believes Dana is innocent and sets out to find the real culprit before Dana is sent up the river for a crime she didn’t commit.

This book isn’t awful, but it’s not very good either.

Phyllis and her friends are not very likeable or even well-developed characters. Some of them are downright irritating. Phyllis and Carolyn are both incredibly pompous and bossy to the point of obnoxiousness. The absolute worst is Phyllis’ cornpone boyfriend & boarder, Sam. Sam finds it impossible to pronounce any words ending in “-ing” and all of his ‘I reckons’ and ‘darn tootins’ get darn obnoxious right quick. Almost all of the characters are public schoolteachers and the fact that they are all idiots and can’t manage basic English grammar is irksome…sadly realistic, but irksome.

I found it particularly funny that Phyllis is supposedly babysitting her four-year-old grandson Bobby, but she manages to constantly foist the snot-nosed little tot off on her paying guests.

Sadly, there really is little mystery in this ‘cozy mystery’. The murderer (& the motive) are glaringly obvious from the moment the character is introduced. And Phyllis does very little in the way of putting clues together; she just sort of has an epiphany moment in the kitchen, and—Bob’s your uncle!—Dana is exonerated and the real murderer is not-so-dramatically apprehended. Meh.

I’d probably be willing to read other installments of this series if they come my way, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to track them down and I certainly wouldn’t go out and buy them.… (plus d'informations)