Murder By The Book

"Murder By The Book" is another mystery by D.R. (Doris) Meredith. This is the fifth with Megan Clark and the mystery book discussion group in the Murder by the Yard series. I have enjoyed each one of them. I have not been able to find anything else by this author. And I have been unable to find any contact information for her either.

This book has the same sleuth in it and there is a similar thread as the other books. Each book has offered something different. The series has been a mixture of telling the story from a third person and from a first person point of view (Ryan). In this book we now have another first person point of view by a mystery person - somebody involved in a depression-era mystery brought to light when a car is discovered in a lake drying up. This is one of the mysteries our sleuth wants to investigate but is finding little support from the other members of the book club. Ryan who typically does not support the investigations Megan undertakes is one of the few who supports this investigation because it does not involve a body - until a skeleton is discovered when a laundry building is being demolished.

But wait. Bodies always seem to appear where Megan discovers them. And this time she is a person of interest by the police - more than usual. Especially after she discovers the third body in this book. Each body seems to be left by a serial killer. The bodies were stabbed 13 times, then posed on it's back, and some marks made on the head. When she finally identifies the markings on the heads as letters in the Phoenician alphabet, this seems to be the final clue pointing to her as the murderer. It also let's her know who the murderer is and she has to run from the police in order to clear up these murders. She knows there was an intent in the murders and she was specifically targeted to be made to look guilty.

She is able to prove who the guilty person was in the three murders. She is also able to uncover who the mystery person is and this person tells the story about the depression-era car and the skeleton.

The only mystery unresolved is whether there will be any more Megan Clark mysteries.

Another Murder By The Yard Selection

Yes. It is another book by D.R. Meredith. The title as you see is "Tome of Death". It is another in the Megan Clark / Murder By The Yard book club series - the fourth. But it is NOT JUST another one of the books.

Each book in this series seems to offer something else. Yes - it is a murder mystery and yes - megan Clark figures out who the murderer is. But isn't that one of the things the sleuth is supposed to do?

In this book the author does something different. The author tells two stories of murder. The first is in the 1860's and the second is in "present day" Amarillo. And these two stories get tied together with the discovery of the present day murder. Well, the present day murder actually occurred five years ago but it is discovered by Megan Clark. When she discovers the bones from this murder, she also uncovers the mummy of the murder victim from the 1860's. Interspersed with the story of Megan Clark's investigation of the present day murder, is the story of another investigation from the 1860's by Spotted Tongue. Spotted Tongue is a Comanche and his second wife was the one who was murdered.

You may recall that Megan is a reference librarian in Amarillo but she has her professional training in paleopathology. She uses this training in examining the mummified body of the 1860's murder victim. The victim was suspected of being a Cherokee, but Megan was able to positively identify the woman as a white lady. She was also able to provide information that leads to the discovery of the identity of the present day murder victim.

The book follows the inestigations made by Megan (present day) and Spotted Tongue (1860's) concurrently. Each one questions potential witnesses and suspects. There were obvious differences in their investigations. In Spotted Tongue's case, the murder was personal since it was his wife who was murdered. Megan was connected with the murder victim other than through the investigation.

It turns out both the murderer in both cases were connected in someway with the victim. That is no big surprise. In both cases the murderer tries to kill our investigator. And in both cases I think our sleuth's had figured out who the murderer was.

And to top it off, Megan Clark and the book club are able to determine a possible identity for our 1860's murder victim through their research.

I am looking forward to the next book in this series. I wonder what surprise the author will offer? But first I have to read my book club selection for June.

A Murder From The Past

"Murder Past Due" is the third book in this series by D.R.Meredith. The mystery reading group (with Megan Clark leading the way) has taken on another project. They want to build up the group and help increase business for the book store owner. To do this they have decided to recreate some of the murders in Amarillo’s history and have a tour of where these occurred. One man has joined the group and wants to use the group’s success in solving murders. His grandson’s wife was murdered 20 years ago. A year later, his grandson suspiciously committed suicide. The murder was never solved and there was some feeling the grandson may have committed the murder but there was no apparent motive.

The family is an upper class family and the murder occurred on the grounds owned by the grandfather. Knowing a little about the circumstances, Megan suspects a member of the family is responsible. In order to solve this 20 year old case, she must gather as much information from this guarded family that she can pry from them. She questions each one in a group and then proceeds to question them individually.

When an attempt is made on her life, she knows she is getting somewhere. She has not put the information together yet but the killer knows it is a matter of time. In order to uncover the mystery, Megan along with members of the mystery reading group and the Gorman family reenact the fateful night when the lady was murdered. Megan has the part of the lady who was murdered and will be the target for another murder. Just as she suspects, the murderer comes after her. She tells him (yes it was a man) why she knew he was the one. Luckily she had a couple of persons waiting to protect her. But the murderer does not get captured but dies on the scene as an apparent hemorrhage in the brain.

Later she tells the group how she figured out who the murderer was. There was an aspect of each of the murders they reenacted that applied to this mystery as well.

I enjoyed this book as much as the other two in the series. The thing unique about this one was the write up about the four other murders they reenacted. By the way, the other four murders were real cases.

The other things I enjoyed about this book were the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. These were quotes from characters / actors in various mystery movies.

I give this a thumb up.

Stringing Along

I just finished the second (of five) book in the Megan Clark (or Murder By The Yard book group) series. It is called By "Hook or By Book" and was written by D.R. Meredith. I enjoyed it.

One of the things some people do not like about book series is the repeating of information covered in a previous book. For example, the introductions to the characters are similar to the introductions in a previous book. OF COURSE!!! There are reasons for this. Number one - the reader may have not read any of the previous books in the series so introductions are important. This is certainly the case here as well. And the introductions are consistent - the character does not become a totally different person. However, the author can build on the character description so we get to know the character better. People can change.

It was an interest in discussing mystery books that started the first book in the series. It is a shared interest in string figures that is the occasion for this book. Because of the shared interest, Megan and the Murder By The Yard book group organize a string figure convention. Things start off well. But one murder leads to another and the suspect and connections have to be determined. There is no shortage of suspects - Megan is a suspect again. And Megan of course starts her personal investigation. Needless to say, Megan is again responsible for solving the cases.

Do you remember the reason why Abigail the book store owner liked mysteries over romances from the previous book? To paraphrase - there are hundreds of ways to commit murder. Two ways were the causes of the murders in the previous book. Well ..., two other ways are used here - the hangman (a string figure that can be dangerous) and nicotine poisoning. The way these were done was interesting.

One of the interesting things about this book are the descriptions of how to do different string figures. I was more interested in the story so I brushed past these and did not try any of them. I would think trying these while reading the book would take away from the story. But the instructions are real.

The other thing I thought humorous is how the author introduced another one of the books she wrote in this book. The character who mentioned the book title could remember the book but could not remember who the author was.

Would I recommend this book? You bet!!!!

The Librarian, The Reading Group, and The Bookstore

This is a catchy title – does it sound familiar? Kind of like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Well.., it is not exactly the title of this book – it is just the title of this posting. I like the actual title of the book – Murder in Volume. This is the first book a new series (to me) by D.R. Meredith. It is new in the sense that I have not read it before. The books in this series are actually out of print and I have been lucky to come by four of the five books in this series. On to the book ….

The sleuth is Megan Clark who is a reference librarian in Amarillo. She actually has a Ph. D in Forensic Pathology. So far she has not been able to get a job where she can use her training.

Do you remember Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson? She is kind of the Sherlock Holmes of this book and is often referred to as this by her friend Ryan Stevens. He even identifies himself as being her Dr Watson. It seems to me that in most of the Sherlock Holmes books the story was told in the first person by Dr Watson. One of the things I like about this book is that it alternates between a third person account to a first person account by Ryan Stevens.

Another thing I like about this book are some priceless quotes made in the book. Here is one made by Agnes the bookstore owner. “Not that I have anything against romances – Lord knows I sell enough of them – but there are more ways to commit murder than there are to have sex, and that makes murder more interesting.” I think this may be one reason I like to read murder mysteries.

There is another interesting thing about how this book was written. At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote made by somebody. This quote relates to something about the chapter. You read the quote and then you read the chapter to see the connection.

I also like the way the characters in this book are described. You get to know a little about them – especially the main characters.

The book opens with a murder that is unexplained and you do not know the connection to the overall book – but there must be one. Megan brings Ryan into a mystery reading group at the bookstore. (Do you see the connection to my title?) After one of the mystery reading groups meetings, one of the members are murdered and Megan becomes one of the suspects. In spite of warnings from the police (and Ryan), she gets into the middle of the investigation. The bookstore owner is attacked for an unknown reason. And books bought by two of the older members of the discussion group end up missing. All of these wind up being related and the key to capturing the guilty person.

That is the gist of the story. I did not want to tell to much in case you get the opportunity to read this book. I know I enjoyed reading it.