Murder at Teal's Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery that Inspired Twin Peaks by David Bushman and Mark T. Givens

 "We started out wondering who killed Hazel Drew; we wound up just as immersed in another, even more rudimentary mystery: Who was Hazel Drew?"

(Photo of Hazel Drew and Laura Palmer, fictional character from the television series "Twin Peaks.")

I hadn't read a true-crime mystery in quite a while and chose it from among the Amazon First Reads selections. I got through it but didn't really enjoy it. For one thing, I had to endure pages of "Dramatis Personae," as the authors introduce all the people involved in this icy-cold case, over 100 years old---the victim, Hazel Drew, the detectives, doctors, family, employers, friends, townsfolk, the press. As the story is told, they end up repeating many of these descriptions. There are SO many characters it is difficult to remember who's who.

I must admit the authors did an amazing amount of research, apparently 5 years' worth. It started when David Bushman heard an interview with Mark Frost, cocreator of the TV series, "Twin Peaks."  After hearing about the inspiration for the series, Bushman became compelled to delve into the 100-year-old unsolved mystery of the murder of Hazel Drew. Frost has even written the Foreword for the book. Unfortunately, I was completely unfamiliar with "Twin Peaks" so many comparisons of Hazel's death to the fictional one of Laura Palmer were lost on me. Perhaps, if I had seen the show I would have gotten more out of the book. 

The reader is forced to make it almost to the end of the book to find out WHO murdered Hazel Drew, in the opinion of Bushman and Givens. Obviously, the book held my interest since I finished it; there were parts I found interesting, but many were tiresome. I am rating it a 2.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

"At first, passing seemed so simple, she couldn't understand why her parents hadn't done it. But she was young then. She hadn't realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you."

          -Stella's thoughts, from the novel

This Page Turners' January selection was highly recommended by at least 2 members, and it did not disappoint. It was a family drama unfolding over about 20 years (1968-1988) and told from different perspectives. 

In a small black community in the South, we meet Desiree and Stella Vignes, twin daughters of Adele, all of whom are light skinned enough to pass for white. When the sisters run away at age 16, Stella decided to "pass over" while Desiree does not. Stella ends up marrying a wealthy white man and having a blonde, blue-eyed daughter, Kennedy. Meanwhile Desiree had wed a black man with very dark skin and has given birth to Jude, a daughter with her father's coloring. The twin sisters lose touch for almost 20 years, but their daughters fatefully connect in some interesting ways. (Almost incredibly so.) The chapters alternate in telling Desiree's, Stella's, Jude's and Kennedy's stories, making for a real page turner.

I finished this novel in the same week I saw 2 plays involving race issues. "Sweetwater Taste" was about a black man facing mortality who wants to be buried in the family cemetery which is segregated although the family tree has both black and white branches. "The Mountaintop" involves an intriguing (fictional) look at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last night before his assassination at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. I can only hope I am a bit more enlightened about the black experience.

I am rating The Vanishing Half a 5. It should provide a rousing discussion for our book club when we meet this week. More then....

There is a good chance I'll eventually read The Mothers by this author.

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I was forced to miss the meeting to discuss The Vanishing Half due to a COVID exposure. That was not easy! May have been only the second I have missed in 13 years.

I had 3 awesome helpers filling in the facilitator duties. Here is what was reported: 

The discussion centered on the characters in the book, their gender and racial fluidity and the all-consuming task of trying to be someone or something you are not.  The group had lively conversations related to some of the questions provided. 

The novel was well-received with an average rating of 4.3, mostly 5's and 4's. I'm so appreciative of folks carrying on without me! Hope that doesn't happen again for a longgggg time!

Deep Sleep by Steven Konkoly

My Kindle says I read 54% of this book. That is all I could stand. I am a little surprised I made it that far! I will rate this spy thriller (far from thrilling to me!) a 2. I didn't feel there was a worthy quote to start with and I had no desire to make the effort to add a cover image.

This was a free Amazon First Read that was admittedly ill-chosen. Good Reads had it rated 4.06 and Amazon, a 4. Those folks giving high ratings must be a lot smarter than me because I was confused the whole half of the novel as to who was chasing who and why. I almost never give up on a book I have started but this time I had to make an exception. Life is too short to struggle through a novel when there are so many great ones out there!

If you decide to tackle this one, good luck!

Blood Hollow by William Kent Krueger

 "It would be easy if we all had visions, or if we all believed in those who did. My own feeling is that faith was never meant to be easy."

                            -Father Mal Thorne, from the novel

This is my fourth in the Cork O'Connor mystery series---another winner! It is "creme de la crime" to borrow a term from the author's acknowledgments. I have no doubt I will eventually read every novel in this series. Cork and his family are like good friends now.

Charlotte Kane, a lovely teenage girl is found dead, her body frozen near Cork's town of Aurora, Minnesota (a place I know well by now). Solemn Winter Moon, a young Ojibwe who has a reputation as a wild and reckless teenager, is charged with her murder. Cork had been a close friend of Solemn's father, now deceased, and fervently believes in his innocence. He persuades his wife, Jo O'Connor, a lawyer who often gives legal assistance to the Ojibwe people, to defend Solemn. She, in turn, enlists her husband, the former sheriff, to investigate and hopefully find other suspects. And boy, does he ever find some! Just when you think Cork's found the murderer, the plot jerks you back into turning more pages.

Not only does Krueger develop characters you care about (and some you can hate!), but he also weaves a compelling mystery and paints vivid pictures of the natural environment of Northern Minnesota.

This book deserves my 5 rating, but I am bidding farewell to Cork for a while to go back to some of my favorite genre, historical fiction. I will return soon to Mercy Falls, book 5.