Hangman's Root

Rating:
Summary: A solid third helping..
Review: Susan Wittig Albert's third mystery of the China Bayles series, "Hangman's Root", is a solid mystery, with a surprising killer, and a murder victim with a history of doing horrible, sadistic things to people and animals. China's friend, Dottie Riddle, a biology professor and a "cat lady" is the prime suspect in the murder of the sadistic Dr. Harwick, a colleague. Soon China finds that extortion, embezzlement, and deep hatred figure into this killing. Meanwhile, China and Mike are trying to find a house that they could both move into, with some comic results, and Rudy is trying to deal with a reunion with the daughter she gave up years ago. Not quite as good as "Witches Bane", but the sotry introduces us to some intriguing new characters.

Rating:
Summary: Third book in the China Bayles herbal mystery series
Review: This is a book about animal rights, a cat collector, and herbs. Like most of China's adventures, it is set in Pecan Springs TX, where the parsley is always green, the rosemary never freezes, and China's herb shop is almost always open--except when she's out, solving a mystery

Rating:
Summary: ready to give up on series
Review: This is my third China Bayles book and I am not impressed with the character. She is not very likeable and the story lines are barely enough to keep me from putting the book down. I like the setting of Central Texas (having grown up here), but she continually gets facts wrong. I mean, she even misspells "y'all" for goodness sake! That's something I am having a hard time getting past. I'll finish this one, but I think it's time to put this series down and find one that has a lead character that a reader can like and pull for. China is not that character.