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Book Review: Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer

May 11, 2015 at 8:33 am by Claudia

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Today I am reviewing Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

About the book (from the publisher): Where is Kent Heyward? The twenty-three year old heiress from one of Charleston’s oldest families vanished a month ago. When her father hires private investigator, Liz Talbot, Liz suspects that the most difficult part of her job will be convincing the patriarch his daughter tired of his overbearing nature and left town. That’s what the Charleston Police Department believes.

But behind the garden walls South of Broad, family secrets pop up like weeds in the azaleas. The neighbors recollect violent arguments between Kent and her parents. Eccentric twin uncles and a gaggle of cousins covet the family fortune. And the lingering spirit of a Civil War-era debutant may know something if Colleen, Liz’s dead best friend, can get her to talk.

Liz juggles her case, the partner she’s in love with, and the family she adores. But the closer she gets to what has become of Kent, the closer Liz dances to her own grave.

My review: I reviewed Lowcountry Bombshell by Boyer a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it. Then, as now, Boyer writes a tightly plotted mystery where Charleston and the island named Stella Maris, where Liz lives, are lovingly described in rich detail. This series is written by a Southerner who clearly loves her chosen home. I tip my hat to her – her words make Charleston and Stella Maris come to life.

Liz is a strong female protagonist, who balances her tough work as a private investigator with the demands of family, lover, and friends, with a running commentary on what designer handbag she’s carrying or outfit she’s wearing. In other words, this mystery series is a combination of the American version of a cozy mystery and Chick Lit. It’s very entertaining and a perfect summer read.

I love the other-worldly character of Colleen, Liz’s best friend who died too young. Only Liz can see her and she flits in and out of the story, all the while keeping her protective eye on Liz. It’s a lovely eccentric character detail in a series that honors and nurtures the eccentric.

But that leads me to something I must address. Liz’s family is portrayed as a group of endearing Southern eccentrics. There is one scene in which Liz goes to her parents’ house for dinner, a dinner where they are to meet her sister’s new boyfriend. I won’t go into detail, but the successful efforts of her father to rid the backyard of tunneling rodents with gasoline and bullets was too much for me. This reviewer, who cannot bear to see cruelty to animals – any animals – found it very hard to read. I have to admit that it put me off the book for quite a while. I love eccentricity as much as the next person, but there are lots of other ways to make that quality come to life on the page. I think this particular choice was an unfortunate one. I’m fully aware that many readers will not even blink an eye when reading this scene. Nevertheless, you’re reading my reviews in great part because they are honest and forthright, so I have to share my reaction with you.

That being said, I think Boyer is a very good writer. The Lowcountry series is richly Southern, with fascinating characters and compelling plots. There’s a nice dose of humor, as well. The plot has lots of twists and turns that will keep you guessing while following along with Liz as she methodically sifts through clues, interviews suspects, and tries to figure out who is telling the truth and who is not.

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About the author: Susan M. Boyer is the author of the USA Today bestselling Liz Talbot mystery series. Her debut novel, Lowcountry Boil, won the 2012 Agatha Award for Best First Novel, the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, and garnered several other award nominations. Susan loves beaches, Southern food, and small towns where everyone knows everyone, and everyone has crazy relatives. You’ll find all of the above in her novels.

Susan lives in Greenville, SC with her husband and an inordinate number of houseplants.

I’m giving away a copy of Lowcountry Boneyard. Just leave a comment here and I’ll pick the winner on Thursday evening.

New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Monday.

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On This Sunday

May 10, 2015 at 8:26 am by Claudia

Grocery shopping, recycling, lawn mowing, bramble pruning – our day yesterday was productive and busy. It feels so good to be outside working; whether it be in the garden or on the porch or pushing a lawnmower. After the long, long winter and then, just when I was ready to hit the ground running, a sinus/allergy/cold/whatever thing that knocked me out for several days – glory be.

This is my happy time. This time, when spring has sprung, when plants are emerging from the ground and the garden needs tending and weeding and mulching, when seeds need to be planted, when pots need to be filled with flowers, when the porch needs to be restored to its role as our outdoor room, when the funky patio is decorated, when I see birds in the birdbath for the first time this year, this time is my favorite. Time enough for the heat and humidity of mid to late summer, when there is nothing for me to do in the garden. Right now? Happy Claudia.

On another note, today is Mother’s Day and I wish a very happy one to all of you who are moms, whether to human children, children of the furry variety, or to nieces and nephews, or students, or neighborhood children. We all function as mothers.

It’s also a poignant day for some; the picture perfect mother-child relationship is not the norm for many, some have never known their mothers, there are mothers who have lost children and those who struggle to conceive. And some, like me, have lost their mothers. This day is a tough one for me, there’s no getting around it.

I’m a mom – a mom to all the students I have ever taught, a mom to my beloved pets, past and present. A mom to Winston, and Riley, and Scout.

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What a privilege it has been to be a mom to this girl. She is ‘the best girl in the world,’ something I say to her a hundred times a day. She’s my baby, my girl, my daughter.

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Happy Sunday.

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Lilacs, Mulching & Mistaken Identity

May 9, 2015 at 8:51 am by Claudia

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Mulching in sunny, 87° weather proved to be a bit daunting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the calendar read May 8th yesterday. Too hot – much too hot for this time of year. It looks as if it will be with us for a few more days. Still a bit under the weather, but much better, I unloaded 5 bags of mulch throughout the garden beds; dumping a bag into my new cart, scooping, carefully arranging it so as not to damage the base of already established plants, scooping and scooping some more.

I took a couple of breaks, drank lots of water, stopped for lunch, but let me tell you, I was exhausted at the end of the day. I supposed it was a combination of the heat, a still recovering body, and pollen. Lord, do we have pollen. But I couldn’t let it go much longer or I would have had to thoroughly weed everything again.

All the while, however, the scent from the lilacs kept wafting in my direction.

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Oh. my. heavens. Such a glorious scent. This particular lilac is called the Pocahontas Lilac and it has deep purple blooms. This year, in particular, there are a lot of flowers. I planted it on Mother’s Day in 2008 (not long after I started this blog.) Seven years later, it is nicely substantial. As I was writing this, I wondered just when it was that I planted it, so I searched the blog posts and found my answer. A blog turns out to be a very nice way of keeping track of events!

The two big rose bushes are questionable at the moment. One shows some green leaves coming in at the base. The other, older bush is still bare. I wonder if this winter was just too much for it? The thought of digging it out of the ground is daunting. Keep your fingers crossed. I’m hoping that the late spring is the culprit and that some growth will show itself soon.

The peony shoots are about 10 inches high, so it looks as if we’re right on track for bloom in and around the first week of June. The trees have all leafed out and the catalpa is starting to show baby versions of what will become giant heart-shaped leaves.

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Thank you so much, everyone, for alerting me to the fact that my ‘dogwood’ was really a crabapple! That’s one of the wonderful things about blogging, this sharing of information. I don’t begin to pretend I know everything about gardening, or trees, or rose bushes. And one of the areas in which I know next to nothing is flowering trees, perhaps because we didn’t have any of them in my yard when I was growing up, and we still don’t have them here – save for what turns out to be a baby crabapple tree.

But I’m actually more excited about the crabapple than I was about the dogwood, because I’ve always thought them to be so beautiful. So now we know: dogwoods have 4 petals, which are really leaves/bracts, and my little tree’s blossoms had 5 petals. Once Nancy alerted me, I googled ‘crabapple photos’ and there, staring at me, was just what I was seeing through my own camera lens.

Let’s see, last year I was certain the big bush over by the shed was a wiegela and it turned out to be flowering quince. This year, I was certain my little volunteer tree was a dogwood and it turned out to be a crabapple. We never stop learning, do we? I love it.

Today, maybe some weed whacking. Or wacking. I’m never sure just what it is.

Maybe a trip to our local nursery. Definitely a trip to the grocery store.

Happy Saturday.

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Book Review: Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer

On This Sunday

Lilacs, Mulching & Mistaken Identity

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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