Holly Blues (China Bayles Series #18)

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More About This Book

Overview

"In a class with...sleuths V.I. Warshawski and Stephanie Plum," China Bayles deals with a most unwelcome guest...

China Bayles is fit to spit when her husband's troubled ex-wife, Sally, shows up at her herb shop, claiming to be broke with nowhere else to turn. China isn't sure if it's the goodness of her heart or the scent of Christmas wreaths, but she invites Sally to stay.

Then China starts receiving menacing calls from an "ex" of Sally's, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago. With her P.I. husband out of town, it's up to China to weed out the truth behind whatever it is Sally's running from before danger catches up to all of them....

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
The arrival in Pecan Springs, Tex., of Sally Strahorn, the insecure ex-wife of China Bayles's husband, PI Mike McQuaid, leads to trouble in Albert's sprightly 18th China Bayles mystery (after 2009's Wormwood). Against her better judgment, herbalist and tea-shop owner China takes pity on Sally, who's just lost her home and suffers from split personality disorder, and offers her a place to stay. Soon enough, a stalker targeting Sally makes threatening calls to China, and the police suspect Sally of involvement in a murder. With Mike away on business, China again turns sleuth to determine what connection the stalker might have to the deaths of Sally's parents almost 10 years earlier—and to prevent any harm to herself or her children. More than once China and her best friend, Ruby, dress up as Sesame Street characters to disarm suspicion. Series fans will enjoy catching up with old friends, though newcomers are likely to find the soap-operish family relationships of less interest. (Apr.)
Kirkus Reviews
Christmas with herbalist China Bayles and a visitor who spells trouble. Although traffic has been slow at her shops, China and her family-her husband Mike McQuaid, private eye and part-time college professor, his son Brian, and China's niece Caitlin-are making do. When Mike's former wife, Brian's mom Sally Strahorn, turns up begging for a place to stay, China, a tough former trial lawyer, feels sorry for Sally, who has multiple-personality disorder and claims to be broke. Things change when China starts getting phone calls from a polite but somehow menacing stranger who wants to see Sally and claims to have the car Sally says was repossessed. Though a case takes Mike to Omaha and leaves China on her own, she can always count on her business partner Ruby and her friends, who include the chief of police and the county sheriff. Sally vanishes just before the police chief comes looking for her as a person of interest in her sister's murder. She pops up just long enough to phone China and beg her to get Mike to go to her hometown in Kansas, where the librarian claims to know who murdered Sally's parents and perhaps lit the fuse to all her current problems. For the sake of Brian, China and Mike struggle to find the truth. Albert's Texas Hill Country mysteries (Wormwood, 2009, etc.) are always a good value for both the mystery and the horticultural insights.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780425240618
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 4/5/2011
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 146,366
  • Series: China Bayles Series , #18
  • Product dimensions: 4.10 (w) x 6.70 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Susan Wittig Albert
Susan Wittig Albert

Susan Wittig Albert grew up on a farm in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. A former professor of English and a university administrator and vice president, she now lives with her husband, Bill, in the country outside of Austin, Texas. In addition to the China Bayles mysteries, she writes a Victorian mystery series along with her husband under the pseudonym of Robin Paige.

Biography

Susan Wittig Albert grew up on a farm in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. A former professor of English and a university administrator and vice president, she now lives with her husband, Bill, in the country outside of Austin, Texas. In addition to the China Bayles mysteries, she writes the Victorian Mysteries series, along with her husband, under the pseudonym of Robin Paige.

Author biography courtesy of Penguin Books, LTD.

Good To Know

In our exclusive interview with Albert, she revealed some fun facts about herself:

"My first job was selling ladies' undies at Woolworth's for 35 cents an hour in Danville, Illinois."

I learned to garden from my mother, who thought that the most important thing you did every spring was to plant the potatoes. I learned to read from my father, who never planted a potato in his life. Somehow, I managed to create a life and make a living between these two extremes. Happily, I haven't had to go back to selling undies. Not yet, anyway."

"I love living in the country with Bill, two black Labs, and a black cat. I'd rather read a book or write one than do just about anything else in the world, except maybe for gardening and sitting in a bathtub full of hot, hot water and bubbles. Or knitting, spinning, weaving, dyeing -- I'm a fiber-arts fanatic."

"You can find out what I'm doing today (or what I did yesterday) by checking out my web log, at susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes (but there's no web cam, so don't look for me in the bathtub)."

    1. Also Known As:
      Robin Paige
    1. Date of Birth:
      1940
    2. Place of Birth:
      Danville, Illinois
    1. Education:
      Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 17 )

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Sort by: Showing all of 17 Customer Reviews

  • Posted February 2, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    superb amateur sleuth

    It is Christmas time and the wonderful smells of the Yuletide season spices up Pecan Springs. Although China Bayles runs Thymes and Seasons Herbs and works with her partner Ruby Wilcox catering events with Party Thyme and their Thyme for Tea Shoppe, she looks forward to the holidays. That is until her husband's former wife Sally Strahorn enters her office. Sally suffers from dissociative identity disorder so is an unfit mother, a liar, and a thief depending on which personality surfaces.

    Sally tells China she is broke with no place to go; China knows she should say nothing, but agrees to put her up for now. Sally makes friends with China's niece, whom she and her currently out of town spouse have adopted. A man calls the shop and then China's home asking for Sally both times. China confronts Sally, who says he is Jess Myers, her former friend turned stalker. Myers is soon spotted in Pecan Springs as Sally vanishes. China learns that Sally is a person of interest in the hit and run death of her sister Leslie. Preferring to believe that Sally did not murder her sister or another woman killed in the same way, China and Ruby investigate in a case that places them in danger.

    A China Bayles amateur sleuth is always special as the key characters change over time. The secondary cast gives the series a sense of continuity while the inquiry feels genuine as the two partners simply ask questions while pretending innocence. Even Sally seems a bit more mature. Although, placing oneself in danger is an amateur sleuth occupational hazard that China has accomplished eighteen or so times, Holly Blue is a terrific whodunit as the case takes personal spins for the heroine.

    Harriet Klausner

    1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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