Tag: re-read

Our Lady of Immaculate Deception
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780312573720
Series: Roxy Abruzzo Mystery #1
Publication Date: March 7, 2010
Pages: 310
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books

This is the first book in a spin-off series, of sorts, from the Blackbird Sisters; it involves a completely different member of the crime family Michael is the heir apparent to, and takes place in Pittsburgh, rather than Philly.

It’s also a much rougher, seedier flavour of cozy mystery, set in a low income area with a high crime rate.  Roxy owns an architectural salvage company, trying to support her daughter and avoid working for her uncle Carmine in the family business.

Martin created Roxy as a deeply flawed, broken woman who uses an active sex life as a weapon, but seems to enjoy it not at all.  She obviously cares a great deal, as she goes out of her way to shelter abused women, support her daughter, and keep her dim-witted friend from violating his parole, but her uber defensiveness is grating and her inability to connect with anyone makes it difficult for the reader to connect with her.  It’s a very different take from the Blackbird Sisters, which didn’t shy away from dysfunction, but still managed to engage the reader.

Different too is this story’s multiple POVs.  When it works, it works brilliantly, offering an ending that might not be expected, but when it doesn’t it leaves the reader wondering why Martin bothered, or at least wondering why certain POVs were included.

The parts were there for a very excellent read, but they just didn’t come together in a way that left me caring at all about any of the characters.  I have the second book of what ended up being a 2 book series, but when I finished my re-read of this one, I found that I just didn’t have it in me to dip into this kind of dysfunction a second time.  Maybe someday.

Murder Melts in Your Mouth
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451223111
Series: Blackbird Sisters #7
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Pages: 282
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

Down-to-earth debutante Nora Blackbird is having a meltdown. A noted Philly philanthropist has taken a swan dive from an office balcony and Nora’s friend Lexie stands accused of the murder. Then her scheming parents reappear, sending all three Blackbird sisters into a panic. Now Nora must uncover her parents’ scandalous high jinks before she winds up taking the heat.

This was a gut wrencher; again, Martin touches on edgy subjects but this time in a more seductive way.  Nora’s best friend’s business partner is found dead on the sidewalk minutes after his exposure for serious financial crimes has been made public.

Nora’s efforts to clear her friend of any suspicion are clouded by a number of factors involving her own family and the cloudiness of the victim’s family life, both of which reveal some rather startling revelations for everybody.

I remember reading this the first time and the feelings of dread and shock I felt as answers to the myriad questions were discovered; there were no happy endings for anyone in this book, although there were some hilarious moments along the way.

Having read the entire series, I think I’d say this is the best entry of the 10.

A Crazy Little Thing Called Death
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451220417
Series: Blackbird Sisters #6
Publication Date: March 4, 2007
Pages: 280
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

ABOUT A CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED DEATH

Nora Blackbird has made the society pages yet again. The impoverished Philadelphia heiress has agreed to wed Mick Abruzzo, son of New Jersey’s most notorious mobster. Now Nora has to help him survive the Blackbird curse: Every time a Blackbird sister marries, the groom is bound to die.

But Nora’s superstitions are eclipsed by some ominous news. Penny Devine, ex-Hollywood starlet and daughter of the Philadelphia Devines, has disappeared, and strangely, her family is very eager to have her declared dead. When it’s revealed that Nora has inherited Penny’s extensive couture wardrobe, eyebrows rise even higher. The only way for Nora to keep her name clear and save her sanity is to snoop among the snooty…until she sniffs out the truth.

While things have settled down for the characters, relatively speaking, Martin digs down again to present another unpleasant but well crafted murder plot: remains of a once famous actor are found on the family grounds during a polo match.  This time Nora’s search for journalistic truth unravels animal hoarding, and some pretty extreme psychological abuse along with the usual bevy of hidden family secrets.

Michael is a more active participant this time around which conveniently feeds into the whole Blackbird curse mythology that’s part of the series: all Blackbird women who marry are doomed to be widowed young.  Michael survives, of course, but a series of maybe accidents provides a convenient of angst for the romance angle.

The ending is well done, but a hot mess; nobody comes out unscathed by the end, with the exception of one person, who tries to offer Nora some perspective on her own life.  It’s a slightly more uplifting ending than perhaps this story deserves but it leaves the reader feeling at least a little lighter hearted.

Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451217639
Series: Blackbird Sisters #5
Publication Date: April 6, 2006
Pages: 260
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

When the tycoon owner of a spectacularly tacky sports bar is killed, Nora Blackbird suspects a secretive politician, a shady former rock star doubling as a pastry chef, and a dangerous aristo-brat on the verge of stardom.

This one was sort of weird, with Martin juggling a lot of balls in the air at once.  There’s Nora’s on-again-off-again relationship with Michael and the constant tension his ties to the mafia brings; a new suitor half-heartedly trying to woo her away; her sister Emma’s continued uneasy relationship with sobriety; the bizarre behaviour of her party-planning friend, and the dead owner of the Fitch estate and a new hot-wing sports bar called Cupcakes.

Martin continues to weave uneasy topics into her plots – this one involving the disreputable dead man and his step-daughter – but mostly this felt like a transition book; more about the character development and overall arc than its own murder mystery.

From a plotting perspective, it was well done – even on re-reading I hadn’t remembered how it ended, but the result was a story that felt more than a little seedy and dissatisfying.  Good but with an unpleasant after-taste.

Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451213952
Series: Blackbird Sisters #4
Publication Date: March 6, 2005
Pages: 262
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

A TEMPEST IN A C-CUP

Nora’s next journalistic assignment: the unveiling of the most miraculous bra in fashion history. But before Nora can hand in her uplifting story, her boss is found shot execution-style and trussed up in expensive panty hose—an Abruzzo family trademark. Now Nora must find the killer before her innocent lover takes the rap. That means shadowing the most glamorous suspects in Philadelphia—including a bad-boy designer, a former child star, a high-strung ad exec, and a pair of luscious twin models. Though Nora’s accustomed to upper-crust murder, cross your fingers for the Blackbird sisters, because this time, high society has never seemed so low-down dirty.

Probably the edgiest of the series, the storyline of this book delves into bullying and just brushes the edges of sadism, with a cast of characters that are anything but cozy and charming, yet the author still manages to keep the overall tone of the book from becoming too dark, although at times it’s definitely difficult to read.  Martin also uses this book to both redeem and get rid of a loathsome recurring character, which frankly made me happy as I don’t really like the nemesis trope much.

The plotting got the job done.  I’m not sure if I was surprised by all the revelations the first time I read the book – it’s been too long – but on the second read, everything clicked along without any shocks; it wasn’t transparent, but it all made sense in the end.

Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451208866
Series: Blackbird Sisters #2
Publication Date: July 1, 2003
Pages: 250
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Signet Mystery

When a high society jewel thief winds up drowned at the bottom of a pool with a tacky garden gnome tied to her ankles, Nora must swing into action to save her old flame from a hasty murder charge.

The jewel-thief wife of an old college flame of Nora’s has been found dead at the bottom of the pool after a party one night.

While Nora is never really considered a suspect, she’s close to the family and the patriarch is up for a big government position so Nora once again uses her social schedule, listening to, and chatting with, people who knew the victim and who might have wanted her dead.

The plot of this one was a little bit wacky, but touches on a few darker and racier themes that are usually a no-go in cozies, but Martin does it so well the reader rarely notices.   The culmination of the mystery ends up with Nora in peril, but kudos to Martin for coming up with a rather clever method of self defence that, while wholly implausible except under the most unusual circumstances, wins points for sheer creativity.

How to Murder a Millionaire
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451207241
Series: Blackbird Sisters #1
Publication Date: August 1, 2002
Pages: 254
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Signet Mystery

Nora Blackbird, society columnist and down-and-almost-out former debutante, reclaims her place within Philadelphia’s elite when she stumbles upon the murdered body of a millionaire art collector.

The first book in what would become a 10 book series (not counting novellas) sets the tone.  Nora is the middle sister of three who were raised in a blue-blood Philadelphia Main Line family to be debutants, but whose parents spent all the fortunes, raided their trust-funds, then stole enough money from friends to leave the country, leaving the oldest with the family furniture, the youngest with the family’s art collection, and Nora got Blackbird Farm, complete with a 2 million dollar tax bill.

With no skills but great connections, she’s given a job as the assistant to the social columnist at the tabloid newspaper, owned by a family friend.  At a party celebrating the newspaper’s longevity, she finds said owner dead in his bedroom and its obviously murder.

I like that Martin chose to make Nora the opposite of the clichéd amateur sleuth: she’s not fragile at all, takes Krav Maga for exercise, but she has a fainting problem, and being kind and classy is deeply woven into her dna.  But she can’t help but want to help people when they ask her to, and her job attending parties gives her a ready made opportunity to ask questions and listen to gossip.  I like that Nora’s obvious romantic interest is the son of a mob boss who is fighting to stay out of the family and against the criminal instincts he was raised with, and that he shows his interest with sincerity instead of braggadocio.

The mystery was well plotted with a resolution that neither transparent nor obvious, and it made sense at the end.