Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Bittersweet (China Bayles #23) by Susan Wittig Albert

This Thanksgiving, be grateful for China Bayles—who teams up with an old friend to solve a complex case of theft and murder in a South Texas ranching community…

It’s Thanksgiving in Pecan Springs, and China is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother’s husband, Sam, who are enthusiastically embarking on a new enterprise—turning their former game ranch into a vacation retreat for birders. She’s also looking forward to catching up with her friend, game warden Mackenzie “Mack” Chambers, who was recently transferred to the area. But Leatha calls with bad news: Sam has had a heart attack.

How will Leatha manage if Sam can’t carry his share? She does have a helper, Sue Ellen Krause. But China discovers that Sue Ellen, who is in the process of leaving her marriage to the assistant foreman at a large trophy game ranch, is in some serious trouble. Before Sue Ellen can tell China the full story, her car veers off a deserted road and she is killed.

Meanwhile, when a local veterinarian is shot in what appears to be a burglary at his clinic, Mack Chambers believes his murder could be related to fawns stolen from a nearby ranch. As Mack follows the trail, China begins to wonder if Sue Ellen’s death may not have been an accident, and if there’s a connection to the stolen animals. But their search for the truth may put their own lives in danger. 

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Writing a long-running series is a long-running challenge—an interesting challenge.

I’m sure that there are those of you who already know this and won’t be surprised. But when I began writing Bittersweet, I happened to look at the list of China Bayles mysteries and was shocked to notice that the book was #23 in the series. I mean, I knew that, at some level—after all, I wrote them. 

But still, twenty-three?  Oh my gosh!

Thinking about this has reminded me, all over again, of the biggest challenge involved in creating a long-running series: creating familiar characters but keeping their stories fresh and unfamiliar.

Series mysteries have changed since I wrote China’s first mystery, back in 1991. Then, series characters, like Nancy Drew or Travis McGee, didn’t grow or change, even though the series had been going on for decades (the first Nancy was published in 1930). But by the time I wrote the fifth and sixth China mysteries, I had already decided that the series would have an arc: China would change. She would grow older, get married, gain a family, and rebuild her relationship with her mom. Ruby, China’s best friend and business partner, would change too, meeting a Wild Child daughter she didn’t know, falling in love with a dangerous guy, and becoming more comfortable with her psychic skills.

Now, in Bittersweet, China’s and McQuaid’s son Brian is a freshman in college, their daughter is twelve, and China’s relationship with her recently-remarried mother is secure enough so that she can look forward to a family Thanksgiving. Ruby is babysitting with her granddaughter, Baby Grace, so that her Wild Child daughter can get away for a few days.

But while China’s and Ruby’s relationship arcs help to provide stability, familiarity, and continuity in the series, too much of the same thing can get boring—for the author and (I suspect) for readers, too. To meet that challenge, I like to vary the settings of the books, add new central characters and new conflicts, and explore new themes.

In Bittersweet, China goes with her family to South Texas ranch country, for Turkey Day dinner at her mom’s Uvalde County ranch. There, she runs into an old friend, Mackenzie Chambers, a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden. Mack is dealing with a new job assignment, an on-the-job mystery (involving a dead veterinarian, deer smuggling, and murder) and an off-duty romance with a hunky fellow lawman. 

And, naturally, there’s the signature herb, American bittersweet, which has an evil twin (Oriental bittersweet) and an interesting story all its own. And there are recipes, too, of course.

I know that many series readers enjoy the familiarity of their favorite characters. But at the same time, I hope they’re challenged by the things that challenge me: getting involved in new conflicts, traveling to new and different places, exploring current issues, discovering new things about the plants we live with on this planet of ours. Bittersweet does all of that for me—I hope it will for you, too.

And I hope you’ll join me in looking forward to yet another China Bayles mystery, Blood Orange, in 2016. That will be #24.

Oh, my gosh.

NYT bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert has written mysteries in four series: the China Bayles series; the Darling Dahlias; the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter; and a series of Victorian-Edwardian mysteries with her husband, Bill Albert, under the pseudonym of Robin Paige. She is the author of A Wilder Rose, the true story of the writing of the Little House books, two memoirs, and other works for adults and young readers. Visit her website: www.susanalbert.com 

I have to be honest with you - these books are starting to feel mundane and repetitive. I have been a fan for a long time, but with each one, I feel like they've become predictable and somewhat boring.  I found myself flipping through the pages, not really absorbing much of the story.  The mystery is predictable and the characters have lost my interest.  

That being said, I still think that Susan Wittig Albert is a phenomenal writer, and I still believe that there are stories to be told about China Bayles and her brood.  I just hope that when the next one comes out, it's reminiscent of the former books that made me fall in love with this series.  

Rating: 3 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own.  

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Reprint Spotlight & Giveaway: Death Come Quickly (China Bayles #22) by Susan Wittig Albert

Herbalist and ex-lawyer China Bayles is back. In Death Come Quickly, a friend’s murder may be the key to solving a fifteen-year-old cold case…

When China’s and Ruby’s friend Karen Prior is mugged in a mall parking lot and dies a few days later, China begins to suspect that her friend’s death was not a random assault. Karen was a filmmaker supervising a student documentary about the fifteen-year-old murder of a woman named Christine Morris and the acquittal of the man accused of the crime. Is it possible that the same person who killed Christine Morris targeted Karen?

Delving into the cold case, China learns the motive for the first murder may be related to a valuable collection of Mexican art. Enlisting the help of her San Antonio lawyer friend Justine Wyzinski—aka the Whiz—China is determined to track down the murderer. But is she painting herself into a corner from which there’s no escape?

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NYT bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert has written mysteries in four series: the China Bayles series; the Darling Dahlias; the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter; and a series of Victorian-Edwardian mysteries with her husband, Bill Albert, under the pseudonym of Robin Paige. She is the author of A Wilder Rose, the true story of the writing of the Little House books, two memoirs, and other works for adults and young readers. Visit her website: www.susanalbert.com.

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star (The Darling Dahlias #4) by Susan Wittig Albert

National bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert returns to the small town of Darling, Alabama, in the 1930s—where the Darling Dahlias, the colorful ladies of a garden club, are anything but shrinking violets when it comes to rooting out criminals…

The Texas Star herself—Miss Lily Dare, the “fastest woman in the world”—is bringing her Dare Devils Flying Circus to Darling. Unfortunately, she’s also bringing a whole lot of trouble. As the Dahlias prepare for the annual Watermelon Festival—where they will present the famous female aviatrix with her own Texas Star hibiscus—rumors are flying.

Dahlias president Liz Lacy learns from newspaperman Charlie Dickens that Miss Dare has been threatened and her plane sabotaged. Apparently the bold and beautiful barnstormer has made plenty of enemies. And is it possible she may even be involved with the husband of one of Darling’s local ladies?

And speaking of wings, the new cook at Myra May’s Darling Diner can fry a chicken and whip up a sweet potato meringue pie like nobody’s business. But why is she keeping her past such a mystery?

As the Texas Star barnstorms into town, Liz and Verna Tidwell offer to help bring down a saboteur who may be propelled by revenge. Before it’s all over, there will be plenty of black eyes and dark secrets revealed…

Includes Southern-Style Depression-Era Recipes!

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One of the pleasures of writing the Depression-era Dahlias series is learning what was going on back in the Thirties.  The Darling Dahlias are members of a garden club in Darling, Alabama, in the 1930s.  Each of the books in the series gives us another glimpse into the on-going life of a small Southern town.  In The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star, we get to see one of the biggest events that the little town has ever experienced: a visit by a barnstorming team of aviators, stuntfliers with their airplanes and a team of dare-devil wing-walkers.  

The decade of the Thirties is known as a time of huge economic collapse.  But it was also the "Golden Era" of flying, when aviators - both men and women - shared their passion with people all across the country, making a living (sometimes a scanty one) as performers and entertainers and offering to take people up for a thrilling airplane ride.  The barnstormers usually flew Curtiss JN-4 "Jennies," decommissioned after WWI and sold to flyers for as little as $200.  The Jennies were light aircraft that could be easily maintained and landed just about anywhere.  

The barnstormers were a traveling carnival, and their appearance in small towns was a momentous event, especially since many rural people had never seen an airplane up close.  The pilots and their stunt artists would show off their aerobatic skill and derring-do by performing death-defying stunts for crowds at county fairs.  The pilots flew barrel rolls, loops, wing overs and stall turns, while aerialists wing-walked, stunt parachuted, stood on their hands, switched planes in mid-air, and hung from trapezes (one man hung by his teeth!).  Even Lucky Lindy (Charles A. Lindberg) got in on the act, in the barnstorming years before he took his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.  He stood, hands free, on the upper wing of a biplane while the pilot flew through several loops.  The people on the ground couldn't see that his feet were strapped to the wing and he was held upright by wires.  To them, it looked as if he were flying upside down, as the plane flew its loops.  

But not all of these pilots and stuntspeople were men.  In 1915, Katherine Stinson became the first woman to perform a loop-the-loop and became a popular barnstormer, showing off her skills.  She would often fix roman candles to the wings of her Jenny when she went up for a performance.  And then there was Gladys Roy, a wing-walker who danced the Charleston on the top wing of a biplane, walked blindfolded from one wing tip to the other, and even played tennis with fellow stuntsman Ivan Unger, in flight.  But it was dangerous work.  In 1926, Roy told the Los Angeles Times, "Of late the crowds are beginning to tire of even my most difficult stunts and so I must necessarily invent new ones, that is, I want to hold my reputation as a dare-devil.  Eventually an accident will occur and then -" It did.  Just one year later, she was killed when she walked into an airplane propeller.  

This is the historical background against which the little town of Darling, Alabama, hosts the "world famous" Lily Dare and her Dare-devil Flying Team.  Lily Dare bills herself as "the fastest woman in the world" because she has recently won several major air races.  She has come to Darling to demonstrate her derring-do and to... 

Well, that's part of the mystery that our friends of the Dahlias garden club will have to solve.  It involves a bit of philandering, a scoop of blackmail, and some very dangerous sabotage - as well, of course, as Lily Dare's fabulous performance in the air.  

The decade of the 1930s is a fascinating time of national disaster and personal tragedies, collective fear and individual audacity, and - among the Darling Dahlias, anyway - a tremendous spirit of courage.  For me, Lily Dare and her Dare-devil Flying Team are a kind of metaphor for the period.  I hope you'll enjoy the adventure.  

Susan Wittig Albert is the author of the novel, A Wilder Rose, the true, untold story of the writing of the Little House books.

Her award-winning fiction, which has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, includes mysteries in the China Bayles series, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and a series of Victorian-Edwardian mysteries she has written with her husband, Bill Albert, under the pseudonym of Robin Paige.

She has written two memoirs: An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days and Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place, published by the University of Texas Press.

Her nonfiction titles include What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest (winner of the 2009 Willa Award for Creative Nonfiction); With Courage and Common Sense; Writing from Life: Telling the Soul's Story; and Work of Her Own: A Woman's Guide to Success Off the Career Track.

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This was such a fascinating story!  The Darling Dahlias series is one I've enjoyed from the start, and this addition to the story was just eye opening.  You can tell from the reading that the author took the time to research the era and the events that occurred during the 1930s.  Especially the airshow.  The time and detail she took to describe the event brought it to life right before your eyes, making you feel as though you were right there, witnessing it all first hand.  

And the characters are always so wonderful.  The author knows how to write deeply rooted, real characters that are just like people you'd meet on the street.  She also writes a great mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end.  

I really like this series, and for anyone who loves a little history with your mystery, you'll enjoy it too!  

Rating: 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own.  

Thanks to the awesome ladies at Penguin, I have 1 paperback copy of Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star by Susan Wittig Albert to give away to one of my lucky readers!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win, and be sure to keep checking back for more awesome giveaways!

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush (The Darling Dahlias #5) by Susan Wittig Albert

National bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert takes readers back in time to small-town Darling, Alabama, in the 1930s—where the Darling Savings and Trust has just closed and the women of the Darling Dahlias’ garden club are betting their bottom dollar there’s going to be trouble…

It’s the spring of 1933 and times are tough all over. The only businessman not struggling is moonshiner Mickey LeDoux, though he still has to steer clear of federal agents. But banks are closing all over the country, and the small town of Darling is no exception. Folks are suddenly caught short on cash and everyone is in a panic.

Desperate to avoid disaster, several town leaders—including Alvin Duffy, the bank’s new vice president—hatch a plan to print Darling Dollars on newspaperman Charlie Dickens’ printing press. The “funny money” can serve as temporary currency so the town can function. But when the first printing of the scrip disappears, the Darling Dahlias set out to discover who made an unauthorized withdrawal.

Meanwhile County Treasurer Verna Tidwell questions whether she can trust Alvin Duffy—and the feelings he stirs up inside her. And Liz Lacy learns her longtime beau may be forced into a shotgun wedding. Seems other troubles don’t just go away when there’s a crisis. There’ll be no pennies from heaven, but if anyone can balance things out, folks can bank on the Darling Dahlias.

Includes Southern-Style Depression-Era Recipes

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In this fifth book in the Darling Dahlias series, times are tough in Depression-era Darling, Alabama.  And especially tough right now, because a big New Orleans bank has taken over the Darling Saving and Trust and has closed it for an audit.  Verna Tidwell, the county treasurer (and treasurer of the Darling Dahlias Garden Club) has no idea of how she'll make the county payroll - until the new president of the bank hatches a scheme to print scrip (Darling Dollars!) for people to use until the bank reopens.  But after Charlie Dickens, the newspaper editor, prints the scrip, it goes missing.  And thereby hangs the tale of course.  

As some of you probably know, I love writing about pants.  (My other series, the China Bayles mysteries, features an herbalist.)  One of the things I've enjoyed about this series is the garden connection.  Each of the books has a plant in the title: the Cucumber Tree, the Naked Ladies, the Confederate Rose, the Texas Star.  And now, the Silver Dollar Bush. And yes: each of these is a plant name! 

"But where do you get those titles?" people ask me. 

Well, here's how I do it.  I keep a list of intriguing plant names.  (I have to tell you that I was super-intrigued by "naked ladies"!) I begin by choosing one that seems interesting, and start doing research about the plant, in books and online.  The "silver dollar bush", for instance, is one of the folk names for Lunaria annua, an old-fashioned cottage-garden plant that is also called the "money plant" (and sometimes "honesty") because its seeds resemble large silver coins.  I remember using them for play money when I was a girl - maybe you do, too.  

The seedpods are easily dried to make a stunning winter-time display; the purple blossoms also make a pretty bouquet. (You can read more about Lunaria on my website.) 

So here I am, with a possible title plant that reminds me of money, and a book that is set in 1933, the year that Franklin Roosevelt took office.  The economy had fallen into what seemed like a bottomless nosedive, banks were closing by the hundreds, and the first thing the new president did to halt the panic was to declare a national bank holiday and close all the banks.  There was literally no money.  No credit cards, either, because our easy plastic currency hadn't been invented yet.  

Faced with this situation, many towns did a very creative thing.  They decided to print their own money.  People could use it locally to buy and sell goods and services, pay for relief programs, and get business moving again.  They liked it because it supported local businesses, as opposed to the chain supermarkets, which were beginning to crush the local mom-and-pop groceries.  (Where have you heard this before?)  Large cities (like Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit), and small towns (like Key West, Florida, and Clear Lake, Iowa) turned to scrip as a solution to the crisis.  There was opposition, of course, but many towns discovered that printing their own dollars helped everybody - and took the pressure off the banks.  

And that became the central plot of The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush.  In little Darling, Alabama, the Darling Dollars seem to have the potential for helping the town's businesses stay alive and the county workers get paid.  But when every single Darling Dollar turns up missing - well, that's the mystery that members of the garden club, led by their treasurer, Verna Tidwell, have to solve.  

I love reading books that teach me about people and places and different eras.  I very much hope that the realism of this Depression-era story line will add to your enjoyment of The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush.  

Susan Wittig Albert is the author of the novel, A Wilder Rose, the true, untold story of the writing of the Little House books.

Her award-winning fiction, which has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, includes mysteries in the China Bayles series, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and a series of Victorian-Edwardian mysteries she has written with her husband, Bill Albert, under the pseudonym of Robin Paige.

She has written two memoirs: An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days and Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place, published by the University of Texas Press.

Her nonfiction titles include What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest (winner of the 2009 Willa Award for Creative Nonfiction); With Courage and Common Sense; Writing from Life: Telling the Soul's Story; and Work of Her Own: A Woman's Guide to Success Off the Career Track.

Author Website | Author Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest 

Susan Wittig Albert's Darling Dahlias series is unlike any other I've ever read before.  Set in the 1930s, it just exudes southern living during a period of time that most Americans struggled financially - the Great Depression.  It's a unique look into how different characters dealt with different issues, and being swept back in time for a change in a cozy series is such a thrill!  

The characters in Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush are wonderful.  They're vivacious and entertaining, and the scenarios they all find themselves in will make you chuckle and keep you frantically turning the pages.  It's a wonderful addition to this already brilliant series, and I'd recommend it to any one that enjoys a little history with their mystery.  

Rating: 4 stars 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own. 

Thanks to the awesome ladies at Penguin, I have 1 paperback copy of Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush by Susan Wittig Albert to give away to one of my lucky readers!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win, and be sure to keep checking back for more awesome giveaways!

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