When is the last time you read an old fashion, nail biting, "girl, get out of there" mystery?
As a child mysteries were my favorite genre';
Nancy Drew my sleuth of choice.
During fourth grade, library day was my favorite. My best friend and I would rush to the bookcase holding all the Nancy Drew books. With heads together we browsed, consulted one another and made our selections. At the end of the day, if we had planned well, one would go home with the other to spend the night. After a snack, giggling and sharing all the secrets we thought we knew, and the obligatory time playing outside, we would end up stretching out on the sofa, heads resting at opposite ends, reading our latest find. Forced to go to bed, we continued to read until sleep overtook us. The first one to wake the next morning would rouse the other and we would continue our reading before breakfast. Our reading skills were comparable; most often we finished our books within minutes of the other. One would close her book, then the other. We always claimed we had just finished our favorite, giggle, then exchange books to be read before returning to school the next Monday. This routine was repeated long after we ran out of Nancy Drew mysteries.
A few weekends ago the heat was nearing 100 and oppressive.
After a quick trip to the farmer's market, breakfast and a few errands it was time to retreat indoors. I couldn't think of anything more desirable than to stretch out with a good read. I pulled several books, read the synopsis, and without a "BFF" to consult, made my selection.
Cornelia Read's first novel,
A Field of Darkness, was the perfect choice, and a most delicious escape. I was hooked the moment I opened the front cover.
"There are people who can be happy anywhere. I am not one of them. When the house on the next street went up in flames for the second night in a row, I wondered again what the hell I was doing in Syracuse. "
Madeline Dare, the poor relation of a wealthy Long Island family, is unhappily and begrudgingly living in Syracuse. Working as a lifestyle reporter for the local newspaper she becomes obsessed with the brutal murders of two young women nineteen years earlier. Upon receiving a set of dog tags belonging to a favorite cousin, and believed to be tied to the deaths, she convinces her editor to allow her to research the story. Madeline must risk her own safety and return to an unwelcome past to uncover the truth.
Curled up on the sofa, Willie at one end, I at the other, totally immersed in
A Field of Darkness, I was once again that fourth grade girl clenching a book, totally immersed, and begging our gutsy heroine to turn and run.
It has been a long time since I found myself captivated by a mystery.
Ms. Read delivered!
Have you read a really good whodunnit lately?
Happy Reading!
