Bloodroot

Rating:
Summary: ENJOYED EVERY WORD
Review: A wonderful read here. Not only do we get a very interesting plot, but a lot of good trivia also. Very good character developement along with a very smooth syntax makes the entire book a joy to read. I am not a big mystry fan, but this certainly could turn me into one. I was also quite impressed with the research which apprently went into this book. Being a gatherer of facts, I found the information in the book to be quite factual and as I said, informative. Thank you Ms Albert!

Rating:
Summary: I find Albert's books very interesting mysteries...
Review: Albert is a good writer and I enjoy learning about the deep South and even more learning about herbs and their ancient usage. In this book, China (the protagonist and owner of an herbal shop and tea shop) is required to confront her unsavory past when her mother calls and frantically begs her to come to the family plantation. Apparently, her old maiden aunt took a cane to a man who was trying to get land from her (probably legally his)...but her aunt is also sick with Huntington's disease. Huntington's is a familial, genetic disease that is much rarer then Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. It also tends to occur sooner in life then either of the other two diseases.

So not only does China have to find out whether this man died from being whacked with a cane by an old lady, but she also has to worry about whether her mother and her possibly have Huntington's. Not only does she solve the mystery, but in her family research she finds out the information that helps her to deal with all of this knowledge.

I would hate to see people do genealogy research because they are fearful of some disease. Family research should be done to find out information about what your ancestors did and accomplished. Huntington's disease is an awful disease that we still do not know a lot about...they are working on genetic therapy for it (replacement of genes) but still have a way to go. Everyone has 'problems' in their backgrounds, but it should not be approached in fear on the basis of a mystery. Enjoy the book, but take it with a grain of salt and a big dosage of knowledge.

As usual, the herbology is great and very interesting.

Karen Sadler

Rating:
Summary: Pleasing series
Review: China Bayles doesn't think of Jordan's Crossing, her family's Mississippi plantation, as home but when her mother asks her for help in dealing with her great-aunt she can't stay away. As it turns out, her mother needs a lot of help. Great-Aunt Tullie is in the advanced stages of Huntington's disease and has attacked an employee who later turns up dead. China has to try to find the real killer and also deal with her feelings about her family home and her genetic predisposition to Huntington's disease. I did figure out the mystery fairly quickly but still enjoyed this novel as part of a continuing series. The first in the series is Thyme of Death.

Rating:
Summary: The same China Bayles, but deeper
Review: China Bayles has an ambivalent relationship with her mother Leatha. Leatha spent most of China's childhood and adulthood in an alcoholic fog. Leatha is now on the wagon, but with so much baggage the relationship is still difficult. Leatha is staying with her sick Aunt Tullie on the family plantation in Mississippi, and there is something very wrong. The manager, Wylie, has announced to Leatha and Tullie that he has a deed to the land under the plantation's main house, is assaulted by the angry old woman and disappears. Leatha, naturally very worried, begs China to come out and help her solve the problem. Reluctantly, China drives to Mississippi to resolve the problems, but they are deeper and more difficult than she realizes.

This is a much more personal mystery for China. In her other stories, she always seems just a little removed from the action. In this one, she is deeply involved with each and every one of the main characters, and related to most of them. Her family has more secrets than she or Leatha ever realized. The ghosts are a nice touch. They add to the atmosphere of the old house. This is a very enjoyable mystery. China Bayles fans will love it and it will appeal to many others who would not otherwise read one of these mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: Something different but very good in this mystery series
Review: China Bayles is a self made independent woman who turned her back on her mother's Mississippi family because she refused to conform to the old South's vision of how a woman should behave. She lives in Pecan Springs, Texas with her husband and stepson. She proudly owns the Thyme and Sears herb shop and is co-owner of Thyme for Tea teashop. She has no plans to return to the family plantation of Jordan's Crossing until her mother calls her because she needs her help.

When China arrives at the old homestead, she learns that her great-aunt Tullie, a victim of Huntington's Disease, has struck down the plantation manager in a pique of anger. China's mother argues with her daughter that the irate manager walked out of the house enraged, but he has since disappeared. The police want to question Tullie about the spat. As China struggles to balance family loyalty with her legal responsibilities, she unearths secrets that should stay buried in the land that created them.

This is a different China Bayles unlike the one readers have come to know and love. The audience sees her as a true daughter of the south, fully cognizant of the rules, expectations and ties that bind her to a place she no longer can call home but has a hold on her loyalties. There are mysteries aplenty in BLOODROOT, some of them of the otherworldly kind. The author allows us to see, through the fist person narrative, how a Southern woman copes with her environment. This is a wonderful reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to Read
Review: I have yet to miss a book in this series but I wished I did this one. The family history was confusing especially when the author kept referring to them differently -- one sentence a character might be referred to as Great-Great grandfather and the next it would be Leatha's grandfather. Also, I was confused as to a character that had a different name than what was on the family tree so I had no clue what was going on -- I did go back and re-read portions after I had read an except of a diary entry and the light went on but reading 120 pages for a light to blink... well, 'nuff said.
Once I figured out who the characters all were, the plot was so obvious it hurt and to have to read China being braindead with her questions to figure out the truth was less than thrilling.
Had I not had the prior history of this series, I would have never made it through this book.
Let's hope the next one get's back to the roots of China (and McQuaid).

Rating:
Summary: Sweet Home Pecan Springs
Review: I was initially disappointed that Susan Wittig Albert diverted her wonderful series from the delightful Pecan Springs to the deep south...not that this isn't fascinating to this Australian reader/author but I missed the wonderful Ruby and even the stepson. I didn't miss McQuaid much. I seem to have taken his infedility harder than China.
However, Wittig's examination of China's relationship with her mother, the family disease (both mental and physical) was fascinating. Wittig's descriptions of the south in all its decadent glory were excellent, even if you could spot the plot a mile away.
As usual, she explores local herb lore with charming results, however, I got a little confused with the barrage of dead family members and not sure I like the living family members...I just hope the next book doesn't take place on Leatha's farm...I wouldn't really buy Leatha and China becoming best buds. I'd like to go back to Thyme and Seasons and the Crystal Cave. Bring back Ruby! I am definitely going to try out the cookie recipes!

Rating:
Summary: Almost, but not quite...
Review: I've read most of Wittig-Albert's books,and I've liked them. This one, though, attempts a stronger thematic element: relationships between mothers and daughters. And in an effort to let the reader know that this is NOT just plot, but an examination and a message, she over-does it. There are several sets of mothers and daughters whose stories are woven here, to the point that we want to cry out, "Ok, ok. Enough! I get the point." Now, who killed Wylie? Add to that some gratuitous recipes and a ghost who conveniently leaves old diaries around and trails lillies of the valley scent throughout the house, and you have one long and slightly boring experience.

Rating:
Summary: Almost, but not quite...
Review: I've read most of Wittig-Albert's books,and I've liked them. This one, though, attempts a stronger thematic element: relationships between mothers and daughters. And in an effort to let the reader know that this is NOT just plot, but an examination and a message, she over-does it. There are several sets of mothers and daughters whose stories are woven here, to the point that we want to cry out, "Ok, ok. Enough! I get the point." Now, who killed Wylie? Add to that some gratuitous recipes and a ghost who conveniently leaves old diaries around and trails lillies of the valley scent throughout the house, and you have one long and slightly boring experience.

Rating:
Summary: Nice change of pace
Review: In the previous books of the China Bayles Series, Susan Albert did a good job of using the lovely Hill Country of Texas as her setting. In this book she evokes the melancholy mood and slower pace of the Mississippi Delta and uses it to create a book about five generations of China's relatives and the tangled web of deceit which some of them wove. Without her usual supporting cast of husband, son, best friend, and other inhabitants of Pecan Springs, China goes to the Mississippi plantation of her ancestors to help her mother Leatha to care for her sickly Aunt Tullie. There has been a death, and Leatha is afraid that the old woman is somehow involved. When China investigates the murder, she finds more than she bargains for and begins uncovering long-hidden secrets of her family. Before she is through she discovers forbidden love affairs, illegitimate children, suicide, murder, and many betrayals by family members. This is a nice change of pace for this series and it shows that Albert can write about a variety of settings with continued high quality in her writing.