Daily Archives: October 20, 2024

10 must-read books for new parents

You did it. You brought new life into the world. Now what? Being responsible for an eating, sleeping, breathing little mini-you can be an existentially daunting concept, but it doesn’t have to be! These must-read books for new parents can help. Here are 10 of the best.

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(Mayo Clinic Press) Fair warning, The Mayo Clinic Guide for Your Baby’s First Years is not a book to be attempted in one sitting. This tome offers insight from one of America’s leading medical institutions on everything from changing diapers to comforting colicky kids. The revised 2nd edition offers further insights into struggles faced by modern parents, including single-parenthood, delayed development, and autism-spectrum disorders. Have questions on anything related to your child’s first three years of life? The Mayo Clinic Guide has you covered.
(Scribner) New York Times bestselling authors Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlis are back with a guide on how to converse with kids. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk will teach new parents how to cope with children’s negative feelings while expressing yours in a way that is constructive and positive. This book also offers insights into alternative disciplinary strategies for kids, replacing traditional methods of punishment with modern techniques to help your little ones discipline themselves. How do you get your kids to cooperate? How do you set boundaries with your child? What should you do instead of raising your voice? This book has an answer for every situation.

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‘I love story’: Colorado Springs author releases 40th book, reflects on writing career

After having her first child, Kimberley Woodhouse found herself captivated by writing.Her baby, Josh, was often sick. To cope, Woodhouse turned to the pen.“I just started writing in the middle of the night to do something with the creative juices. I never told anybody, because I was a music person,” she said.The new mother hid her written work in a drawer for years. Not even her husband knew of her growing collection. It wasn’t until a friend who was helping the family pack for a move to Alaska in 2000 that her stockpile was discovered.“You are hiding your light under a bushel. You got to be sharing these stories,’” Woodhouse’s friend told her.Although Woodhouse initially pushed back, her friend convinced her to become serious about her secret passion.“You got to step out of your box,” Woodhouse’s friend told her.Now, the Colorado Springs-based author is releasing her 40th book, “70 North,” the conclusion to her Alaskan Cyber Hunter series. Her professional writing career spans two decades.Focused on mysteries and thrillers, Woodhouse’s work has won her a Carol Award, Christian Market Novel of the Year, the Holt Medallion and many other accolades. Just recently, she was named a Christy Award finalist in the mystery/suspense/thriller category for her second book in the Alaskan Cyber Hunter series, “8 Down.”From the time she was a teenager, Woodhouse remembers being encouraged to write. But, she felt called to follow a different creative path: music, receiving a scholarship to Juilliard to pursue piano performance and pedagogy.“I decided to go to a different school, because Juilliard was very overwhelming. It was amazing, but overwhelming,” she said.It was at college where Woodhouse met Jeremy, her husband of 33 years. The couple have two children — son Josh and daughter Kayla. Woodhouse’s daughter has a rare nerve disorder, which led the family to Alaska nearly 25 years ago, looking to the weather to provide relief. During that time, Woodhouse learned more about the publishing business and received feedback from editors.After about five years in Alaska, Kayla continued to face health issues, and in search of answers, the family moved to the Springs. It was here that doctors discovered Kayla had a Chiari malformation (where the lower part of the brain presses down on the brain stem), separate from her nerve disorder. Kayla was scheduled for brain surgery for the newly understood problem.During this time, Woodhouse took a break from writing. Her mentor and fellow author, Tracie Peterson, reached out, encouraging her to jump back into her passion.“My life was really hard and we’d gone through some really tough things. It was wonderful to have people who reminded me that there were stories to tell, and there were people’s lives to be touched with story,” Woodhouse said.

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Featured Local Savings“She’d kind of prod me to get me back into being able to use that creativity, because I needed to be refreshed.”For about eight weeks, Woodhouse sat beside her daughter on the couch as she recovered from surgery.“She was reading books, and I was diving back into writing,” Woodhouse said.Many might recognize Woodhouse and her family from the popular reality ABC series, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The family was selected in 2007 — a year after Kayla’s surgery — to be recipients of a newly built home in Colorado Springs. Around the same time, Woodhouse contracted her first book.“Things really started kind of taking off at that point,” Woodhouse said. “It was really exciting, too, after all these years — working and writing for so many years — it just it became a reality.”In 2009, the first installation of her Alaskan Cyber Hunter series was released. The concept of the series came from an idea her husband had in the middle of the night, Woodhouse said.“He rolls over one night, wakes me up and taps me on the shoulder, and he goes, ‘I have an idea,’” Woodhouse said. “I’m half asleep, and he goes, ‘What if the power goes out in Alaska when it hits 26 below … and of course, then my wheels are spinning.”The series follows a team of experts working to track down a serial killer and cyber-terrorist wreaking havoc in Alaska. While working on the story, Woodhouse consulted her son-in-law, who is a cybersecurity expert for the Army Cyber Institute.“It was a lot of fun to brainstorm with him and bring the cyber thread into the stories,” Woodhouse said. “They’re very high in intensity, high action. … It’s so fun to see it come to life.”The final book highlights the account of David “Mac” McPherson, whose wife and daughter were victims of the killer’s first attack. Formerly the head of the Cyber Solutions team, McPherson has since stepped back, obsessing over vengeance. Meanwhile, McPherson’s surgeon, Tracie Hunter, who saved him from the attack, is working hard to stay sober and continue saving lives.“His journey is not just catching the bad guy. His journey is very much one of healing. He’s got to find how to heal and also how to forgive when the person who did it isn’t sorry,” Woodhouse said.An important element throughout her work and in her life is faith, Woodhouse said. It’s what continues to give her hope, which she wants to share with readers, even in the dark themes of some of her novels.“For me, faith is a part of every aspect of my life,” she said. “We wouldn’t make it through without our faith. God is just so good, and that doesn’t mean that life is going to be a bowl of cherries, but I pray that my faith does ooze out in the stories, just to give people hope.”Looking to the future, Woodhouse is eager to start a new chapter in her writing career: children’s books. As a proud grandmother, she’s been reading plenty lately.“It is absolutely the best thing in my life to be ‘Nana the Great,’” Woodhouse said. “It’s always family first, and then I have a million stories still in my head, and I have a lot of books I’m contracted for still, so I’m just going to keep writing until I’m done.”

20th Louisiana Book Festival celebrates readers and writers. Here’s what you need to know.

Planning the Louisiana Book Festival is like planning a Mardi Gras parade, the festival’s executive director Jim Davis said. He’s been coordinating book festivals for 15 years. As soon as the festival is underway, he and his team have to start thinking about the next one.The Louisiana Book Festival is in its 20th year, and according to Davis, it’s a celebration of readers, writers and books in Louisiana.

“Readers come first because that’s our focus,” he said. “We try to make our festival very relaxing and accessible. I think we create a really good environment for people who come to the book festival to have a somewhat intimate relationship with the authors who are presenting.”

Jim Davis is the executive director of the Louisiana Center for the Book and the Louisiana Book Festival.

PROVIDED PHOTO

On Friday, the day before the festival, attendees also have the opportunity to learn from authors in “WordShops” where select authors will be presenting on topics ranging from the business of publishing to writing children’s books.

The festival schedule at a glance is coming soon, but until then, you can check louisianabookfestival.org for more information.This year, poet David Kirby is receiving the Louisiana Writer Award. Many former award recipients will be returning as presenters, and there is also special programming for children such as face painting and storytelling. Costumed characters Waldo, Bruce the Bear and Zoom Squirrel will all be making a special appearance.

Arriea Jones, 8, presses on paper while making an ink picture at the Print Guild of LSU tent at the Louisiana Book Festival at the State Capitol complex on Saturday, October 28, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

We caught up with Davis ahead of the festival to chat about special programs, how to prepare and how books are selected. The Louisiana Book Festival is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, in downtown Baton Rouge.Tell us a little bit about the festival. What can people expect?It’s been held annually since 2002. There were a few years where we had to cancel it: after Katrina, and then during the pandemic, we had to cancel it one year. The next year, we had to have an all virtual festival, but we were able to go back live in 2022.

The festival is a full day of programming with authors presenting their books, either on panels or solo. It’s designed for readers of all ages. We have programs for adults, a children’s pavilion with children’s authors, crafts that relate to the books that are being featured, a teen headquarters, a cooking demo tent with folks who have a book out about cooking and a music stage.

Newlyweds Alex and Christopher Anderson, married Sunday, listen to a poem made for them by Cassandra de Alba at the Poetry-to-Order booth at the Louisiana Book Festival at the State Capitol complex on Saturday, October 28, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

We have a book tent where all of the featured books are available for purchase through our partner, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs. After each program, the authors are scheduled for a book signing in the book tent, so you can hear an author and then go to the book tent and get your book personally signed by the author.

How are books/authors selected?

We have a selection committee within the library. It’s kind of an informal process, and anybody can recommend a book to us to consider.It’s an ongoing process from one festival to another. As we find out about books, we start inviting authors continually throughout the year. We try to have something for everybody.

Part of our mission is to be supportive of Louisiana authors and Louisiana publishers.

So, we always find out from Louisiana publishers what books they have coming out in the next year before the festival. We get those lists, get those copies and make decisions as we go. But Louisiana readers don’t just read Louisiana writers, and they don’t just read books about Louisiana, so we’re looking at what’s being sold, what’s coming out nationally, and we try to get some big names from national best sellers.

Author Adam Dennis points to his book “Gary and the Tooth Fairy” that is featured at the Louisiana Book Festival at the State Capitol complex on Saturday, October 28, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Just when we think we’ve completed our roster, we find out about another book that we didn’t know was out there, and we try to squeeze another one in. It winds up that the festival’s kind of bursting at the seams.

Is there any special programming this year?We have someone coming to the festival who is an internationally recognized expert on the Beatles, Bruce Spizer. He’s done a series of books on different albums by the Beatles.

One thing special that we’re doing this year — this is a one-off, we always have live and in-person programs — James Lee Burke, a very national bestseller, popular author from Louisiana, doesn’t travel any more and he lives in Montana, so we’re going to be able to do a virtual, live program with him.

We have a full day of poetry too. The Louisiana Poet Laureate, Allison Pelegrin, will be hosting two panels that feature Louisiana poets. The National Student Poets will be with us. Each year, five poets are selected from five regions throughout the country, and they’re all going to be with us. I think it’s their only appearance this year outside of the ceremony where they were announced.

Author Toya Boudy demonstrates cooking cajun chili at an author meet and greet at the Louisiana Book Festival at the State Capitol complex on Saturday, October 28, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

What advice do you have for people as they’re looking at the festival schedule and deciding what to go to?

Work ahead of time.Print the schedule out and have your pen ready and make notes. Your source for finding out about those names and authors listed is the website because of the two wonderful resource pages for the festival: Featured Authors and Featured Books.

So a title or a book cover may catch your eye, and you can click on that book and it will take you to the author’s page where not only do you find out about the author, but read a description of the book that’s being featured.This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Book about New Hamburg’s historic buildings wins provincial award

A book that tells the stories of historic buildings in New Hamburg has won a provincial award.The five-volume book is called The Historic Buildings of New Hamburg And The People Who Lived In Them. On Wednesday night, it was awarded the Stephen A. Otto Award for Research and Documentation by the Architectural Conservancy Ontario.Before knowing they had won the award, two of the three authors — Marie Voisin and Kristen Hahn — sat down for an interview on CBC K-W’s The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris.This third author was Ernie Ritz, the last mayor of New Hamburg and the first mayor of Wilmot Township. He died in March.The following interview with Voisin and Hahn has been edited for length and clarity. Audio of the interview can be found at the bottom of the page.Craig Norris: What got you interested in chronicling all of these historical sites?Marie Voisin: It started in 2012. I used to go for walks and runs and sometimes it would be at night and I would see the lights on in houses and I would think, I wonder what that house looks like.So that led to deciding to find out which were the oldest houses and who built them. I enlisted the help of Ernie Ritz, who was our leading historian, a wonderful man, and he just passed away this year in March. But he was with us through most of this journey to chronologize the people and the buildings. Norris: Kristen, 300 pages to five volumes. That is a bit of a jump. What made it so much larger? Kristen Hahn: Well, it’s as soon as Marie gathered together this information, all of this research about the owners of these properties, and then she pulled in the archive from the New Hamburg Independent, which goes back to what, 1875?And it became clear that each of these people had stories. They had tiny little things, whether that’s a lost dog or a issue with the tavern laws, they were tiny stories to each of these lives. And so now we have this vast collection of names, of dates, of parentage and all of the stories that then come with it. And the thing just ballooned.Norris: So this must have been a, I will say, arduous, perhaps undertaking?Hahn: If you don’t enjoy it. Norris: OK, that’s true. Must have been awesome. Hahn: It was awesome.Norris: How did you collect the personal stories? I mean, where did you get your research?Hahn: Well, Marie spent many years in the archives. And so there’s a lot of the New Hamburg Independent on microfilm there. Thanks to the Township of Wilmot for holding together a fantastic historical record. Then from there, through census records, through voters lists, then you start to assemble the people who are married and oh, and also the way they died. We have a massive section in our index of just the way people died back then, which is markedly different from how we die today. Norris: How so? Hahn: A lot, Well, a lot of things that are cured by vaccines. Norris: Marie, there is your personal passion, obviously for this area, right. But talk a bit about why it’s important that we all know more about New Hamburg’s history and heritage?Voisin: We just are renters of all these buildings over years. I think that people might live for 60, 70 years in the house, but then it passes on to a new generation. And so we don’t know the people that lived 100 years ago, but they’re the ones who established the town and the buildings. So this is our way of just acknowledging them, that we’re just going through but the buildings will be there forever. Hahn: And I think that also by telling people who it was who lived in these places before, it will hopefully encourage them to take good care of the homes that they have so that they’ll last for another 100 years.Norris: Marie, tell us a bit more about Ernie Ritz and his role in this.Voisin: Ernie was my mentor, probably the first person I met in New Hamburg. He never forgot any details, he remembered everything and his mother had the same photographic memory and she lived to almost 107 so she passed on all those details to him, too.Whenever we wanted to know anything, we would just ask Ernie. He was remarkable and such a kind, lovely man.Hahn: Very generous with what he knew.Norris: Kristen, do you have any favourite revelations in any of these? Hahn: We dug up some interesting material on the first mayor of New Hamburg.Frequently when New Hamburg is discussed, we bring up Nithy … Nithy is an alligator that was found allegedly in the Nith River in 1953. Sort of like Nessie. It was the chief of police, George Thomas, who said that he found these tracks along the banks of the Nith River. And it became this story that just spread like wildfire. It even got as far as Queensland in Australia that they picked up the story and there was Medicine Hat, Alta., there was some kind of trash talking back and forth about Ogopogo and Nithy. But at the heart, at the centre of the story, George Thomas invited this guy named Tuffy Truesdale to come to New Hamburg. And Tuffy was a wrestler. He was a professional wrestler until his ignominious defeat at the hands of a luchador named El Santo.And then he decided to get into animal wrestling. So he was an alligator wrestler with an eight-foot alligator named Rodney. And the thinking was that he’d set up camp on the banks of the Nith and the sounds that his alligators would make would lure Nithy out of the water and he’d wrestle Nithi to the ground and that would be that. But it was, by all accounts, a quiet night … According to his wife, he kept Rodney in a tank of water under the bed. And because he was, like, just a little bit afraid of this thing, anytime the alligator would slosh, he’d wake up in a panic. After he received 40 stitches from a sort of a bad tussle with Rodney, he moved on to the questionably safer pursuit of bear wrestling.Norris: You’ve been nominated for the Stephen A. Otto Award. What would that mean to you if you won it?Voisin: We weren’t writing these books for a nomination or an award. We’re just gonna be happy if we sell 379 books. Norris: Why 379? Is that the break even point on the Voisin: That’s how many houses that were in the study.It would be quite an honour. And I wish Ernie were here to be here for this.We had a good time during COVID because we just got up everyday and worked for eight to nine hours at our desk. It was wonderful. Norris: Kristen, to tell us where can we get these books? Hahn: Well, we’re just finalizing the layout of it. So it should be going to print later on this year. At which point it will be available through independent bookstores and we’ll do some online orders as well. LISTEN | Book that focuses on heritage buildings in New Hamburg up for provincial award:The Morning Edition – K-W8:20Book that focuses on heritage buildings in New Hamburg up for provincial awardThree New-Hamburg-based historians joined forces to create a vast, five-volume chronicle of heritage buildings in Wilmot Township. Two of the authors, Marie Voisin and Kristen Hahn, talk about what went into the 13-year long project, which is up for a provincial heritage award.

Manorama Hortus: Book fair begins on 26, art exhibition on 28

Kozhikode: Hortus, the art, culture, and literature festival organised by Malayala Manorama, is all set to spark a fresh wave of creativity in Kozhikode, India’s first UNESCO ‘City of Literature’.

The festival, scheduled to take place on Kozhikode Beach from October 31 to November 3, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at 4 pm.

The event will host an array of discussions, with debate sessions kicking off on November 1. Over the course of three days, 400 nationally and internationally renowned writers and artists will engage in 130 sessions.

Writer M Mukundan will inaugurate Pusthakashala, a book fair to be organised in conjunction with Hortus, on October 26. Writer Lijeesh Kumar will receive the first book, and Joy Alukkas, Managing Director of the Joy Alukkas Group, will preside over the event. The event promises to be one of the largest book festivals in the country.

AksharaprayanamThe Aksharaprayanam (journey of alphabets), an exhibition that chronicles the evolution of Malayala Manorama from its founding in 1888 to 2024 through pictures and words, will also be held as part of Hortus. A children’s pavilion featuring a cooking studio offering Korean delicacies, along with kite-making, kite-flying, and quiz competitions will also be launched alongside.

The Vilambara Sandhya (proclamation evening) will begin on October 26, during which over 60 new books will be launched. This event will also showcase a variety of cultural performances, adding to the festive spirit.

Art exhibition by Kochi BiennaleThe Kochi Biennale Foundation, in collaboration with Meitra Hospital, will also hold an art exhibition. Bose Krishnamachari will lead the exhibition, which Minister P A Muhammed Riyas will inaugurate at 12 noon on October 28.

Jayant Mammen Mathew, Executive Editor of Malayala Manorama, will preside over the event. Nihaj G Mohammed, CEO of Meitra Hospital, will address the event. Artists P S Jalaja and S N Sujith will curate the exhibition.

La Rue: Fall book highlights include ‘Author’s Guide to Murder,’ ‘Connie’

Diane LaRue, special to The Citizen
Fall is a big season for publishers, a time when so many great books can be found in bookstores. This year is no exception, and I have three terrific books, something for all types of readers.The first book is a mystery written by Team W, as they are known — good friends Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White — titled “An Author’s Guide To Murder.” The authors met at a book conference, became friends, and decided to write a book together.In this fifth collaboration, three American authors are at a Scottish castle owned by a very famous and successful writer. They are supposed to be there for a writing conference with the famous writer, but they each have other reasons to be there.When the writer ends up murdered, the women become suspects in the killing. The book alternates between the police interrogation of the women and the lead-up to the murder. The police interviews are hilarious as we get to know each of the authors.

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Kat writes erotica and plays her part with innuendo and outrageous flirtatious behavior. Cassie is a mom of six who writes cozy mysteries and has a Mary Poppins bag filled with every item anyone would ever need. Emma writes historical fiction and is what would be called a history buff, always ready with a quick historical fact whether anyone wants to hear it or not.Readers of Team W’s novels will get immense enjoyment as the authors have played around with their own personalities and created characters that mix-and-match their own writing style and lives. I found myself laughing out loud several times.Although it is humorous, there is a serious undertone as we learn why the women have come together to confront the famous writer. It is billed as “Murder, She Wrote” meets Agatha Christie, an accurate assessment. I highly recommend.Lynda Cohen Loigman’s new novel “The Love Elixir of August Stern” tells the story of Augusta Stern, an 80-year-old pharmacist who has just (unwillingly) retired to a Florida community her niece found for her.On her first day there, she discovers that Irving Rivkin, who worked as delivery boy in her father’s pharmacy back in the 1920s, also lives in the same retirement community. Irvin hurt her deeply many years ago and Augusta never got over it.This is also a story told in two different timelines — the 1920s and 1997. Frequently in two-different-timeline novels, one story is more interesting, but Cohen had me equally engaged in both stories.Augusta is a fabulous character; she can be difficult and a tough nut to crack. Although she initially keeps to herself, she eventually makes friends. What she doesn’t understand is why Irvin is pursuing her romantically after he broke her heart years ago with no explanation.It’s refreshing to see more older female characters in recent novels, and Augusta is one of the more intriguing and well-drawn ones. We get the opportunity to see how she became the person she was, and her close attachment to her great aunt Esther, another intriguing older female character. The setting of 1920s Brooklyn is so vividly created, I could picture Augusta’s father’s pharmacy clearly. I also highly recommend “The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.”

There are many memoirs out this fall, and Connie Chung’s “Connie” is one of the more interesting ones. Chung, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, became one of the most prominent broadcast journalists in the 1970s.She was one of the few female television reporters covering the Nixon White House during the tumultuous Watergate years. Chung has to battle not only sexism but also anti-Asian attitudes during her tenure. She believed the best way to do that was to become one of “boys” — she could curse like a sailor, and she gave as good as she got.Chung worked incredibly hard, and would take any opportunity to show that she was a team player. At one point she anchored a pre-“Today Show” news hour, reported on stories for the “Nightly News,” then did live news cutaways at 9 and 10 p.m. She worked nearly around the clock.

Diane LaRue

She is one of the few people to work on-air for all three broadcast networks — she co-anchored the “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather (who undermined her), co-anchored “20/20″ on ABC and was an anchor on the local Los Angeles CBS station for years.If you know of Chung’s career, you’ll want to read “Connie,” and if you don’t know her, you’ll want to read what it was like to be a woman in the news business at this time. It’s a fascinating read.If you readBOOK: “The Author’s Guide To Murder” By Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White GRADE: A PUBLISHER: William Morrow COST: Hardcover, $30 LENGTH: 416 pages BOOK: “The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern” by Lynda Cohen Loigman GRADE: A PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Press COST: Hardcover, $29 LENGTH: 312 pages BOOK: “Connie” by Connie Chung GRADE: A PUBLISHER: Grand Central COST: Hardcover, $32.50 LENGTH: 323 pages
Diane LaRue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and blogs about books at http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com. She is president of the Friends of Webster Library and manages the Book Cellar, a nonprofit used bookstore that benefits branch libraries of the New York Public Library in New York City.

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Book review: Death Rites by Sarah Ward

Death Rites by Sarah Ward is published by Canelo Crime
Jon Gower
If the measure of success of a crime novel is the speed with which you turn its pages then the latest work by Lampeter-based writer Sarah Ward requires one of those rubber thumb-thimbles that bank tellers use for counting notes. It’s a compelling tale and one which takes you a long way from her home in Ceredigion.
Death Rites is set in a normally quiet college town in New England, where a newly hired archaeologist, Carla James is settling into her first term of teaching, But hardly has she managed to sit down in her chair before she is whisked away to a crime scene, where some oddities about the killing mean the police reluctantly need to call in some expert help.

Serial killer
The cops in question include a surly one straight out of central casting, who doesn’t seem all that keen to help, as seems to be true of so many of the townsfolk especially when it becomes evident that a serial killer is on the prowl.
The college authorities don’t want the adverse publicity while the police don’t want the work, not if it keeps them out of the bar. Then there’s the powerful family whose name is found all over the place, from college benefactors to shopping mall developers, who seem to somehow own the place. It’s a situation with a lot of suspects too, which all helps keeping the reader guessing or being led down dead ends, if you pardon the pun.
Tight-lipped silence
In the face of so much tight-lipped silence, Carla is forced to go solo, ferreting around for clues which seem to connect the ritualistic symbols and paraphernalia found near each victim with very old superstitions about effective ways to ward off witches.
In so doing she puts her own life in danger, even as she begins to discern a pattern emerging, which suggests that the killer is building to his own violent crescendo of crime, thus giving her much less time to get to the bloody heart of the matter. It certainly doesn’t help that Carla’s been given a room in college vacated by her predecessor who seemed to have walked into the river with her pockets weighted down with pieces of quartz, and the suggestion that she, too is a victim of the shadowy assassin. The book gives us regular glimpses into the killer’s mind as he recollects his dark actions and we can feel his compelliing need to kill again.

Fogs of the past
It’s a neat twist to have a crime mystery with an archaeologist hero, as it takes us away from the modern plot to the suspicious fogs of the past, a feature of the writing of the likes of James Lee Burke, who’ll often connect modern New Orleans or Montana with the dark days of the American Civil War. Like Burke, Ward is very good at deftly conjuring up place, in this case the new country in which Carla James now finds herself:
She loved the thought of New England brought alive in the books by Edith Wharton and John Updikea and wanted to embrace the small towns that retained their settler feel, the changeable seasons each with their own dynamic and the academic excellence offered by Jericho College.
As the book’s strapline has it ‘It takes an expert in death to catch a killer’ and there’s certainly a lot of learned expertise on display in this confident, solidly constructed page-turner. It’s evident that Carla has what it takes to act as the bedrock of her own series, digging into the past to understand the present, and, one suspects, should that series come into being, looking for love.
Lone wolf
Because Carla is a lone operator not out of choice but because she had lost her partner. In that sense she is an expert in death two times over, which helps explain her ready empathy with the victims’ families and her ability to read the runes and signals that take her ever closer to the heart of the dark web in which her dastardly, calculating killer sits, plotting his next murderous move, counting down his victims.
Death Rites by Sarah Ward is published by Canelo Crime. It is available from all good bookshops.

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