Spirited Away - the fourth Bay Island Psychic Mystery

New publisher - New format - New mystery - Same great characters and writing! Lena Gregory, thankfully, did not end her "Bay Island Psychic Mystery" series when Berkley (Penguin) decided not to publish any more of this series after the third book.  I was fearful we wouldn't see any more of Cass, Bee, and Stephanie!  But, thankfully, Gregory took the series to another publisher (Beyond the Page Publishing, who publish quite a few series from a variety of authors), and they have picked up the series beginning with this fourth book!

Spirited Away opens up Cass Donovan's abilities beyond what even she knew she was capable of - from merely picking up queues and tells that people give off to actually receiving messages from the beyond that could help her save a life!  It's summer on Bay Island, but Cass is troubled.  Something is off, and she can't put her finger on it.  And when a group reading goes awry, it starts a domino effect of trouble for Cass and her friends!  Not only does she mistakenly read a young man and woman as a couple (when they are married to other people!), but she calls out a man for loving a woman other than the woman who is pining after him! This incites a heckler at the back of the room, who goes to blows with Cass's friend, Emmett.  But matters spiral further out of control when the heckler turns up dead in the trunk of a car at Emmett's auto shop - and Emmett's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon!

Gregory integrates elements and characters from the first book in this brand new murder mystery. We see the return of Ellie, who has grown stronger over the last several books, but suddenly has returned to her nervous, fearful, mousy self.  Could Jay have returned, the man who abused her and who took off when he was revealed to be stealing from the local homeowners?  That would make sense, since Luke and Tank have had their hands full lately with a sudden rash of art thefts on Bay Island. Is that why Cass has been so bothered lately?  Or was it simply her own senses warning her of the dead body to be found on Emmett's property?  And whose voice keeps telling her to "Help him!"?   With the help of Bee and Stephanie (although, mostly Bee, since Stephanie has her hands full with a new client who is demanding all her attention reviewing the books of his latest acquisition, the numbers for which are not adding up), Cass looks into the case being brought against Emmett.  They know he is innocent, but all the facts are saying otherwise.

The characterization, as always, is spectacular!  It started off a bit dark and moody, but the further I read into the story, the more I realized that it was definitely story-related, and by putting the reader in that kind of mood at the beginning, it helps get you into Cass's mindset for what is to come.  And once again, Cass, Bee, and Steph are the epitomy of what best friends really are like - they squabble, they get mad at one another, they make up, they support each other, they listen, they call each other out, and, above all else, they are there, no matter what.  Gregory definitely has it down when it comes to realistic dialogue and banter, and I smile so much while reading the book, that I find myself sad when I come to the end of the book.

And speaking of endings - this one definitely has a powerful ending, that's for sure!  With so many potential suspects (Jay, Aiden, Olivia, Bruce, Malcolm, Calvin), it's mind-boggling how Gregory is able to not only keep them all straight, but also tie up their individual stories so that they all make sense!  But, she definitely does it, all the while strengthening the relationship between Luke and Cass and like with Patricia Arquette's character in Medium, her knowledge and abilities are finally recognized by the police as a valuable assets for future investigations (which will make for some interesting reads in future books!).  Oh, and the fact that Cass herself finally comes to terms with the fact that her abilities are real is another fantastic reveal in this book - so she can no longer be considered a fake or con artist - but an honest-to-goodness psychic!

 

(One note - with so many references to the lighthouse in this story, as well as a prominent image of the lighthouse on the cover, I honestly thought it was going to figure into the story somehow.  Maybe it's just foreshadowing for a story yet to come...)

I have book five, but have seen no news on a sixth book yet - hoping Gregory has not given up on this series, because I know I haven't!

RATING:  10 chicken Caesar salads out of 10 for Cass, Bee, and Stephanie - the Nancy, Bess, and George for adult mystery fans!

The Boxcar Children: The Original 1924 Edition

While I am not necessarily a collector of The Boxcar Children series, I do remember reading a number of these books when I was a child.  My school library had both The Boxcar Children and The Happy Hollisters, and I read as many of them as I could get my hands on.  As I got older, I fell more in love with Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, and other series, and so The Boxcar Children got left behind.  Flash forward, and now as an adult, I find that I enjoy going back and re-reading some of these vintage series, and it was with a bit of surprise I discovered that the first book in The Boxcar Children was actually published some time before the series that I grew up reading.

 

The Box-Car Children (yes, it originally was hyphenated) was written by Gertrude C. Warner back in 1924 as a stand-alone story for children. Dover Publications out of New York recently republished the original version of this classic tale, including the original illustrations by Dorothy Lake Gregory.  Now, admittedly, the main gist of the story remains the same - four young children (Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, oldest to youngest) are orphans and are determined to make it on their own.  They do not want to go live with their grandfather, who they have been told is very gruff and stern.  The four children eventually discover an abandoned boxcar in the woods and turn it into their own little home.  Henry heads off to the nearest town to find work to support his little family, and ends up doing odd-and-end jobs for a doctor and his wife.  Eventually, the kids meet their grandfather unwittingly, and it is revealed that the older man has been looking for his grandchildren and that he is not the horrible man the children thought him to be.  They move in with him, and the wealthy man has the boxcar moved onto his property, so that the children can enjoy their former "home" while still living with him.

Yet, this original edition was most definitely changed when it was revised in 1942 and republished by Albert Whitman & Company (who published 18 additional books written by Ms. Warner until she died, at which time, any number of ghostwriters took over writing the series, even though in most cases, the real authors were not credited on the books).  In this original edition, the children's last name is Cordyce, not Alden.  Additionally, when the book opens, the children are still living with their father (their mother having died previously), who is described as "very drunk" (p. 1).  He dies by the second page, and it here that the children turn to the baker and his wife for assistance.  As in the revised version, when they hear that the baker intends to turn them over to their grandfather, the four siblings take off under the cover of night.

In this original story, the doctor is actually a young man named McAllister, who resides with his mother and a cook, Mary Bridget Flynn.  As with the revised text, they help Henry by providing him with extra fruits and vegetables that they claim would have been thrown out anyway, as well as other items that they know can help the children.  In both the original and current texts, the children find the dog, Watch, who becomes a permanent part of their family, and it is Violet's sickness that ultimately reunites them with their grandfather.

While future books become more about the children solving mysteries, this first book was simply the story of four children surviving on their own.  Henry is the oldest and remains a father-type figure for Violet and Benny.  Jessie (referred to as "Jess") is next in line, and she takes up her position as the motherly type with as much responsibility as a grown woman might.  Violet is still a young girl, and Benny is the youngest of them all.  The children are slightly younger in this original story, their ages likely having been increased in the revised version.  Of course, the idea that four children, all of whom are 13 years of old or younger, out there on their own without any parental supervision or guidance, might be severely frowned upon in today's standards.  But for children reading this first book, I have no doubt it was something exciting to see - four very capable children who are able to think, act, and manage on their own, creating their own little home just as any adult family would do.  The story is an adventure tale (much in the vein of Robinson Crusoe or The Swiss Family Robinson), simply relating the daily lives of this family and their strength and fortitude in succeeding on their own.

I am grateful to Dover for re-publishing this original version of the story, as it is definitely a part of history and is a wonderful reminder of how much the times have changed since this story was first written back in the 1920s!  It certainly makes me more appreciative of this series, in general, and am thankful it has endured nearly 100 years (since new books are still being published by Albert Whitman & Company, even today!).

RATING:  9 special pink cups out of 10 for sharing a nostalgic piece of literary history with today's readers and giving us a glimpse at the original Box-Car Children!

The Big Hoax - a Hard Case Crime Comic

Titan Comics has been putting out some really great stories under the "Hard Case Crimes" banner.  Normandy Gold and Peepland are two previous mini-series that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed. So, when I came across this hardcover graphic novel in a recent Previews, I decided to give it a shot. I enjoyed the others I have bought, so thought this premise sounded good as well.  I have never heard of the writer (Carlos Trilllo) or the artist (Roberto Mandrafina), but sometimes that works in the creators' favor, as I come into it without absolutely no preconceived ideas about any prior work they may have done.  And so it is that I finally picked up The Big Hoax to read it.

At 124-pages of story and art, The Big Hoax definitely has plenty of room to flesh out a good, hard-hitting story.  What I did not realize, until I reached the end of the graphic novel and read the bios for the author and artist is that Carlos Trillo died 10 years ago (back in 2011).  This, of course, made me wonder when this story was actually written.  The information I found online surprised me - Trillo was a rather prolific comic writer from Argentina, and he worked on a number of projects from 1963 until the late '90s or early 2000s.  From what I could find, The Big Hoax was originally published around 1996 as La gran patraña.  So, as it turns out, this graphic novel is not just a reprint, but it is also translated from Spanish to English (by Zeljko Medic).  But, that's okay - because that information gave me a new perspective on the story.

You see, when I first read the story in its entirety, I found it a bit odd.  Several characters break the fourth wall repeatedly, talking directly to the reader about not only the story itself, but about the main characters in the story.  There is also quite a bit of female nudity - and I mean FULL female nudity - which I didn't necessarily find off-putting, but I thought it to be somewhat biased that the reader is treated to numerous panels of female bodies, while the males remained carefully hidden/shadowed/discreet.  This fear of showing male nudity, while showcasing and praising female nudity, is an age-old argument, and my philosophy is - either show both or show neither.  But, considering this was originally written nearly 20 years ago, and in another country entirely, made me realize that I can't judge this based on today's viewpoints.  So, I took another crack at the tale.

The story is about a young woman who seeks out the help of alcoholic, ex-cop Donald Reynoso to help her.  You see, she is Melinda Centurion, otherwise known to the people of La Colonia as "The Intact Virgin."  But her life is a lie, a fictional tale created by the self-proclaimed talent, Milton Bates, at the request of the governor of La Colonia.  It seems the people have been churning out children left and right, all of whom are fodder for the guerillas who want to take over the province.  The governor convinces Bates to come up with a story that will encourage the women to remain chaste and lower the number of children being born, thus lowering the number of guerillas that his army has to fight.  Thus, "The Intact Virgin" was born!  (In reality, she is extremely loose of morals, sleeping with her uncle and pretty much any other man along the way!)  Now, though, her life is in danger, as someone has discovered that Melinda is sleeping with Donnie's own brother, who happens to be the Minister of the Interior for La Colonia.  If the people find out that Melinda is, indeed, not a virgin, then her uncle's plan will fall apart, and both she and Donnie's brother will be killed.  Not one to turn down a woman in need, Donnie agrees to help - but little does he realize that the hoax perpetrated on the people is but one of many hoaxes that will come into play before this whole drama is over!

Trillo creates a filthy world of crooked politicians, deadly assassins, seedy bars, filthy whore houses, and protagonists who are anything but good and innocent.  And with the second go-around at reading the book, I found that the interruptions by Milton Bates, Tropico (the owner and singer of El Rey Mago), and Mama Geremga (who runs the local brothel) to actually be a unique way of providing readers with backstory to the characters, and it added some flavor to such a dark tale.  And Mandrafina's art may be overexaggerated in parts (particularly with regard to the characters of color), I did find that he has an amazing talent when it comes to his characters' expressions - on page 38, for example, the looks on Melinda's and Donnie's faces tell the reader exactly what the character is feeling without any words necessary.  And the analogy set forth by Trillo and Mandrafina on pages 62-63 provides readers with an excellent foreshadowing of what is to come for one of the characters.

Certainly, The Big Hoax is not a story that I would typically read under normal circumstances; however, I am ultimately glad I picked it up, as it reminds me that great storytelling in comics is not limited to just the United States - there are some amazing creators and fantastic works from all around the world!

RATING:  8 men-eating women from Guyana out of 10 for reminding me that a really great story does not necessarily have to have a happy ending.

Boystown, Season Seven

The boys are back for another season!  And let's face it - after six seasons, how much more drama and excitement can these characters take?   How much more can the reader take? Well, considering this series is currently up to Season Ten, with Season Eleven in the works, clearly it is well-received.  And I can understand why - the characters are actually engaging at most times, and the stories, while sometimes over-the-top and truly Dynasty/Dallas-worthy, will keep the reader turning page after page to see where it is all going to lead.  And the fact that author Jake Biondi is not afraid to kill off some of the main characters once in a while - well, that tells you that you never know what to expect with this series. And just when the mysteries of the previous books get solved, Bioni drops more mysteries into the mix, more secrets waiting to be unveiled, and more deadly plots than you can shake a stick at!

Boystown: Season Seven brings resolution to all of those cliffhangers from the previous book.  Cole was left to burn in a room by his captor, while Derek and Michael break in to save him, only to get shot instead! Max, out of control in a jealous rage, swings the fire iron at Patrick, but misses and hits his own son instead!  The car carrying Justin and Gino sinks into the murky waters of Lake Michigan as Gino breaks the surface - while Justin is trapped unconscious in the car!  As Jensen is found guilty of the murder of Rachel Carson (who he did not kill!), Emmett collapses to the floor as a result of the brain tumor growing in his head! David's life is nearly lost on the surgery table, but when he comes out of it, his life is forever changed!  And Rob's sister, Rita, tells her brother that she is pregnant - with Cole's child!  So, yeah, this season starts off with a bang, no doubt about it.

With so many characters on the board these days, it's sometimes difficult to keep up.  It usually takes me a few chapters each season to get back into the groove with who is who and who is dating/married/related to whom.  Quickly enough, though, the excitement starts to die down, and there is once again a slow build up to what you know is going to be some major cliffhangers at the end of the season.  Biondi provides some devious and downright evil villains this season - Franco Armani continues to be a major threat, as his obsession with Jensen turns deadly ... Camille Ciancio and her nephew, Marco (who everyone still believes is dead) are vying for control of the family company and push the Mancini family out of business ... and the introduction of Aiden Carmichael brings an entirely new gameplayer to the scene - one that will have devastating consequences on both the Ciancio and Mancini families!

Meanwhile, the lives of the two families continue to intertwine.  Justin and Gino are married, and their love is put to the test as they both survive the car's dive into the cold waters of Lake Michigan, but Gino's push to prove himself capable to running the family company drives a wedge between the two of them.  Meanwhile, Cole is having a hard time dealing with the circumstances of his kidnapping, and knowing Rob is still on the loose causes stress on his and Derek's relationship.  At the same time, Max is overcome with grief at having struck down his own son, who could now face severe brain damage, so he decides to leave town to learn how to deal with his anger issues, Dustin leaving with him.  Patrick stands by Emmett as he learns the prognosis regarding his brain tumor, which is inoperable, and the medicine is not working.  Adam and David are going forward with their wedding, despite David being confined to a wheelchair; and Keith faces the trauma of almost losing Michael once again to the gunshot wound he sustains at the hands of Rob.  Joyelle seems to be the only one with good news, as she accepts Mateo's marriage proposal - but when she learns that he lied to everyone about Hugo's mother (who is really Camille!), she breaks it off, leaving herself open to Jack, who is more than willing to step in and offer his support.

It's a true soap opera, there's no doubt about that - and Biondi excels at setting up each chapter to read like a television episode.  By the time you finish each chapter, you feel like you've just watched an intense, fully-filled episode of Boystown, and you are left breathless, waiting to see what happens next.  And the mysteries this time around surround Emmett's realization that he may have very well been the one to kill Camille's daughter all those years ago - - the missing memory card that could hold the key to obtaining Jensen's freedom from jail - - and the true identity of Aiden Carmichael and why he seems so intent on destroying both the Mancini and the Ciancio families.  The answer to that last one will definitely come as a surprise.

And, of course, there is the huge opening gala from the Ciancio-Mancini Youth Center, that is not only meant to bring the two families together and honor Tyler's memory, but is also the setting for Keith's big proposal to Michael.  But, as with any good drama, the only fireworks that go off at the gala are the most deadly in nature!  Derek and Cole face off against Michael on the rooftop, and one of them ends up lying on the roof after being shot, his blood spilling out.  Adam and David are stepping out for a breath of fresh air, when Aiden climbs into a van, intent on running them down - and succeeds in hitting one of them, sending him across his windshield and over the back of the van to the hard pavement.  Keith ends up at the wrong place and the wrong time, getting shot and falling backwards down the stairs before he can propose.  Justin confronts Aiden about his true identity, and Aiden stabs him and leaves his motionless body bleeding out on the floor.  Mateo and Jack fight on a rooftop over their love for Joyelle, and one of them ends up going over the edge.  Franco sets up an impossible choice for Jensen - Hugo and Ethan are trapped in two separate places, both filled with deadly gas that will kill them within the half hour - he only has time to save one!  Who will he choose?  And Joyelle gets the shock of her life when Mateo shows up at her door with her baby, Hope! But not far behind him is the last person in the world Joyelle would expect to see (considering she thinks he is dead) - the baby's father, Marco!  And probably the most heart-breaking of all of this season's cliffhangers is Patrick, who is talking with Emmett when he realizes that his worst fear has come to pass!  And the final paragraphs of this season provide readers with a small glimpse into the future - with not one, but two funerals, one of them for a Mancini brother!  But which brother is it who is being laid to rest?

While I have been enjoying the drama, the suspense, the action, the devious plots, and the cast of characters, this is going to be the final season I read of Boystown.  Yes, I realize that means I will never get the answers to all those questions of who lives, who dies, and who survives the tragic events of the gala; however, the gratuitous and explicit sex scenes in these books have become too much and detract away from my enjoyment of the stories.  I'm not a prude by any means, but really, there is no reason for the explicit, pornographic descriptions of these characters having sex, and the scenes add absolutely nothing to the story other than for "stimulation" for the readers.  I must prefer writing that leaves these sort of things to the imagination (which ultimately make the scenes that much more intense and meaningful than getting graphic descriptions), and the amounts of scenes in this particular season took me out of the story too many times.  So, I've ultimately decided it is time to put Boystown to rest on my shelves.  I certainly wish Biondi well with his series, and I hope that the oft-talked about television rendition of these books comes to life one day, as I will be one of the first in line to watch it (with the hopes that the sex will be tamed down somewhat for television!).

RATING:  6 small blue memory cards out of 10 for keeping the drama and the characters fresh, and providing cliffhangers that are truly worthy of a night-time soap opera!

The Story of a Bad Boy - A Story for Boys

Okay, so there's a funny story as to how I came to possess this book.  Nearly five years ago, I was traveling back from Kentucky and stopped at an antique mall in Ringgold, Georgia.  I stumbled across a book there called Bad Little Hannah, and I couldn't resist picking it up (in my geeky mind, thinking that perhaps it was a story of Hannah Gruen as a child LOL).  I read it, and while it was definitely a product of its time and not exactly exciting, it wasn't overly bad (no pun intended).  I read it, shelved it, and hadn't thought much more about it.  Until a few months back...

A friend of mine in Massachusetts (you know who you are!) called and was telling me about this bookstore he was in.  He had found a book in dust jacked for relatively cheap and wanted to know if I was interested in it.  The title was The Story of a Bad Boy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich.  I laughed at the name, but as I thought about it, I remembered that Bad Little Hannah book and thought to myself, "Well, I have a book about a bad little girl, so why not one about a bad little boy?"  So, I had my friend pick it up for me.  I've had it on my reading shelf for a bit and finally got around to reading it.

 

The Story of a Bad Boy is the story of Tom Bailey (which is the author's name, begging the question of whether these are real adventures of the author, exaggerated tales from the author's youth, or just completely made up stories about a boy who happens to have the same name as the author), a young boy who is uprooted from his life in New Orleans in the 1800s and transported to live with his grandfather in the New England town of Rivermouth.  A quick online search reveals that the story is, indeed, partially autobiographical, with Rivermouth taking the place of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Aldrich apparently grew up.  Whether the events that take place in the book actually happened or not, well, that's anyone's guess.

Aldrich introduces his protagonist in an unusual way.  "This is the story of a bad boy. Well, not such a very bad, but a pretty bad boy; and I ought to know, for I am, or rather I was, that boy myself."  From the very first sentence of the very first chapter, the reader is challenged - is the story merely one told from first person point-of-views, or is the story an autobiographical telling of the author's life as a child.  In either event, the reader knows from the get-go (as if the title of the book was not sufficient enough to clue one in) that the protagonist is no saint.  But just how bad this boy is, well, that's something for the reader to decide along the way.  

As soon as Tom Bailey finds out his father is sending up to New England to be "educated," the first thing Tom does is to kick over "the little negro boy who happened to be standing by me at the moment." Now, one must remember, this story was written in the early 1900s and tells the tale of a boy who was growing up in the mid 1800s (although the time is never sufficiently stated in the story to make a determination of the exact year), so the reference to "negro" men and women and their status in society was a product of the time.  But his actions towards this small boy is only the beginning of the so-called bad things that Tom does over the course of 245 pages.  Despite his protests, Tom indeed does get moved up north.  Aboard the ship to Riversmouth, Tom strikes up a friendship with a man who goes only by Sailor Ben.  They part ways, never thinking their paths might cross again...

Tom settles into life in Riversmouth fairly quickly - and while he makes quick friends with a number of the boys at the local school, he ends up getting into trouble fairly quickly and pretty easily.  He gets into a fight with the school bully; he and the boys steal an old cart and wheel it into the huge bonfire in town; he and the boys build a winter fort out of snow and have a major snowball fight that turns rather violent, injuring several boys; he and the boys play a prank on a seamstress and shopkeeper, trying to play matchmaker with the two of them; he and the boys set up some old cannons to fire off in succession, scaring the entire town one night; he and the boys go into an ice cream parlor, order plenty of the frozen dessert to enjoy, and then take off without paying; and many other pranks and misdeeds!  Some of these things can easily be written off as the pranks of young teenage boys, while others were downright deadly!

And speaking of deadly - the story is not without dire consequences!  When the boys pull their money to purchase a small boat, they decide to take her out to one of the islands for an afternoon of fun - but that fun turns to despair when a storm hits, and one boy goes back to try and secure the boat, but ends up floating out into the stormy waters without any hope of rescue.  His body later turns up on the beach of Riversmouth, and Tom and his friends must face the death of one of their own.  And if that were not enough, Tom eventually receives word that his father has passed away, having contracted cholera and did not recover.  Thus, once his father delivered him to Riversmouth, Tom was never to see his father alive again.  These two heart-breaking incidents raise questions in the mind of the reader - did Tom merely act out because of his losses, or did he suffer losses as a consequence of his actions?

 
And just in case you think this book is completely different from all the mysteries that I read - there is one small mystery, which involves Sailor Ben, who unexpectedly shows back up in Riversmouth and decides to settle down in the town.  The reason he settles down may come as quite a surprise, but the revelation was actually foreshadowed early in the story when Tom first arrives in Riversmouth and becomes acquainted with everyone in his grandfather's house, known as The Nutter House.  Thus, even if it is not a series book (as I am normally apt to read), it did have a bit of mystery thrown in.

Now, something I found to be rather interesting while I was looking up some information on this book - The Story of a Bad Boy has been published by a number of different publishers over the years, and each publisher provided different covers for the book.  The particular edition I purchased was published by Grosset & Dunlap and features a cover by what appears to be Alfred Krenda - this is the first cover featured at the beginning of this blog post.  However, there were a number of other covers that I found, and I feature them here for your enjoyment (meaning if you decide to hunt down this book, you certainly have a number of options if you are to judge a book by its cover!).

 

Overall, the book had its moments, but it was not overly thrilling or engaging, at least for me.  This is more of a "time in the life of ..." tale, that has its ups and downs, its happy and sad moments, and its few moral lessons learned.  I guess reading stories like this reminds me that my true love is for mysteries, the supernatural, and the occasional sci-fi/fantasy.

Now I'm left to wonder - will I ever find any other "bad" books out there?

RATING:  5 small pieces of molasses candy out of 10 for reminding readers that not all bad boys are bad all the way through!

***If you are interested in knowing more about Bad Little Hannah, you can scroll back through my posts here to July 31, 2016 and see my blog posting that reviews that book!

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey - a DC Black Label mini-series

 When Warner Brothers and DC first announced they were planning a Birds of Prey movie, I was over-the-moon ecstatic!  I have loved the Birds of Prey since their first appearance as a mere Oracle / Black Canary team-up way back in DC's Showcase comic.  When they confirmed that Huntress would be a character in the movie, I could hardly contain my excitement, since Huntress has always been my favorite comic book character.  Then, WB after the Suicide Squad film, it was announced that Harley Quinn would be in the Birds of Prey movie.  I thought to myself, 'Okay.  She'll be the villain they are after.' But oh, no, they couldn't do that.  Instead, Harley Quinn, because of her popularity, suddenly had to become the main star of the film.  And thus, the film became known as Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.  Ugh. Not happy at all.  The previews for the film focused on Harley Quinn, with barely a glimpse of the Huntress or Black Canary.  And then Cassandra Cain and Det. Renee Montoya suddenly got thrown in the mix.  No Oracle.  No Barbara Gordon.  No Lady Blackhawk.  None of the regular Birds of Prey appeared.  And when I finally saw the film - well, less than stellar would be the biggest understatement of the year.

 

So, since DC had no on-going Birds of Prey series at the time, they announced a new mini-series coming out by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, two amazingly talented creators. Only, the title was: Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey.  UGH!  But, I have every issue that the Birds of Prey have been in since those Showcase comics, so I bought it.  The fourth issue came out relatively recently, so I sat down and read the mini-series.  Conner's art is absolutely beautiful, as it always is.  And yes, it is the current Helena Bertinelli version of Huntress, which I'm not exactly fond of, but it is the Huntress, so I can deal with that.  Yes, it has Black Canary, Cassandra Cain, and Renee Montoya as the other cast for the Birds, but it also has Barbara Gordon (not necessarily as Oracle, though) and Power Girl (whose series Conner and Palmiotti worked on) and the Atlee version of Terra (who Conner and Palmiotti also created).  Unfortunately, just like the movie, the Birds of Prey and their supporting cast are just background characters - make no mistake about it, this is completely a Harley Quinn mini-series.

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey opens with a Harley Quinn dream sequence.  Then a visit from Power Girl, who stops by to just check-in on Harley and gets the story of how Harley stranded herself and Poison Ivy on a deserted island so they could have some alone time, and how Ivy was mad at her and won't speak to her.  Then 'The Dreamin' Seaman' hotel where Harley and her gang have been staying has been torched, and her friend Tony has been hurt so badly he's in the hospital.  And Harley wants not only payback, but she wants to get the funds to pay off the (a-hem) mortgage company - and she knows just how to do it.  So, it's back to Gotham for Harley (along with Red Tool [can you say Deadpool knock-off?], who is bound and determined to protect his Harley) with a plan to get the money she needs, payback the people who hurt Tony and torched their home, and teach her ex a little lesson in the process.

 

Enter Renee Montoya, who is determined to send Harley back to New York. And Huntress, who is also after the same men as Harley.  And Black Canary and Cassandra Cain - well, just 'cuz.  Now, there is no denying the fact that Palmiotti is an excellent writer.  His dialogue and jokes (the number of beaver jokes is outrageous, and yet, each and every one of them made me giggle, if not outright laugh) are fantastic, and the story moves at a pretty good pace.  The only problem is, 3/4 of the book is about Harley, and maybe, if we are lucky, we get about 1/4 of the book that features members of the Birds of Prey, and even then, a lot of that time has the Birds interacting with Harley.  Yes, I get the fact that DC and WB see Harley Quinn as their big-time seller, but c'mon?  The original Birds of Prey series ran for well over 100 issues, and there were two other series that followed that - surely that is enough to show that there is plenty of interest in the Birds of Prey sufficient that they can stand on their own without the need to throw Harley Quinn into the mix?!  But, as usual, the comic company feels the need to force the comic to match whatever movie happens to be out there at the time (even if the movie did not exactly do so well).

Now, I'm not going to lie - I did like the fact that Conner and Palmiotti gave us a couple of appearances by Power Girl (next to Huntress, she's my second favorite all-time character), as well as Atlee (who appears to have dropped the name Terra, since, as she says in her appearance here, that she doesn't want to use that name since she found out someone "mean" was using it before her).  Since they worked on both the Power Girl and Terra series for DC, it's only natural they would want to at least give their characters a brief appearance (and since Power Girl actually had a mini-series where she teamed up with Harley - and yes, I have that, too, since it does have Power Girl in it).

The mini-series has plenty of humor, plenty of mayhem, and, since it is DC Black Label, it has plenty of foul language (which, oddly enough, does not seem so out of place for a character like Harley and the streets of Gotham City).  No outright nudity, but there are a number of butt-shots and near-nudity.  I'm guessing after Batman's goods were shown in that first Black Label mini-series by DC, they have backed off on any outright nudity (but violence and every curse word under the sun are okay).

Now that this is out of their system, I'm hoping if DC does any more Birds of Prey series in the future, they will give readers and fans the REAL Birds of Prey back!

RATING:  6 cans of Reaper Madness Energy Drink out of 10 for at the very least, giving us another Birds of Prey book to hold the fans over until DC finally revives the original concept...

The Mystery of the Bones - Snow & Winter, Book Four

After waiting as long as I possibly could, I finally sat down to read the fourth, and sadly, the FINAL, book in the Snow & Winter mystery series by C.S. Poe.  It is always a sad thing for me when I series I enjoy so much comes to an end, and there is always this small bit of hope in me that the author will change their mind and continue the series (unfortunately, though, in this case, it has not yet happened).  But, I could put it off no long, as I wanted to see what mystery could possibly top the last three unusual, historical artifact-related murder mysteries and how Sebastian Snow would solve it.

The Mystery of the Bones celebrates the one-year anniversary of Sebastian Snow meeting Calvin Winter during that whole crazy fiasco with the Poe-related crime.  Christmas time is just about here, and Seb and Cal are planning their wedding (or, rather, Seb is planning it and Cal is just along for the ride).  Sebastian has made a promise to no longer snoop into any more murder mysteries, and it's a promise he intends to keep.  Until Seb receives a mysterious box delivered to his antique shop.  A box with a horrid stench coming from it.  A box that contains a decapitated head. And try as he might (and boy, does he try to stay out of it), Sebastian Snow finds himself once more trying to track down a deadly killer with an unhealthy obsession with antiques - this time, bones.  Or, more specifically, the skull of one Edward Drinker Cope.

Poe once again utilizes real historical material to craft a wickedly good murder mystery.  The mysterious notes that arrive with the boxes (yes, Seb does receive another box or two...) are written intentionally Spencerian script with late nineteenth century verbage that ultimately strikes a chord with him - the Bone Wars.  I had to look it up, and sure enough, it turns out "the Bone Wars" was a real period of time during which there was a race to dig up fossils of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. The two most recognized names associated with the War are Edward Drinker Cope of Philadelphia and Othniel Charles Marsh from Yale.  Needless to say, Poe utilizes these men and their rivalry within the story, as a murdering maniac calling himself The Collector sets forth the most obscure clues that leads Sebastian on a quest to figure out not only what he is looking for, but where it can be found, and to whom it should be delivered.  At first, he tries to ignore it, despite that gnawing sensation within to figure it all out.  Sadly, when he doesn't move fast enough, The Collector gives him the incentive he needs.  The murderer kidnaps Calvin and gives Seb only 48 hours to find the skull, or Calvin will forfeit his life!

The characters in this book (heck, in the whole series) are so well-written, with dialogue that comes across so natural (Seb's sarcastic side definitely reminds me so much of myself!).  It really brings all of the characters to life and makes them feel very real.  And Seb's reaction with his ex-boyfriend, Neil, when he shows up at the antique store on page 11 after the delivery of the severed head is priceless:

Neil seemed to only just notice me as he stopped at the stairs. "Nancy," he said by way of greeting.

"Bess," I countered.

I laughed out loud when I read these two lines - regular readers may not have caught the reference (thinking "Nancy" meant nothing more than a reference to the fact that Seb was gay and out), but I immediately caught the references to my favorite of all sleuths, Nancy Drew - and the character names fit perfectly: Sebastian, as an amateur sleuth, would definitely be Nancy Drew, while Neil, with his fear of coming out of the closet represents the ever-fearful Bess Marvin.  Kudos to Poe for throwing in so nonchalantly a Nancy Drew reference like this!

Now, the identity of The Collector does come a bit out of left field, but when this character is first seen in the book, I immediately thought in the back of my mind, "this is most likely the killer."  While there were several potential suspects, they all seemed too obvious, and some of the things this particular character said made me think they had to be the one doing all of this (even though I had no idea why they would be doing it).  

One last thing about the story is the fact that after three books, some of Calvin's family finally makes an appearance in this book, and Seb's reaction to Cal's brother calling and then showing up in town is perfect - it's probably how I would react to in-laws who were homophobic and kicked my partner out of their lives when he came out to them.  However, that being said, I was a bit disappointed that this certain subplot never actually gets resolved by the end of the book.  And considering how much the relationship of Seb and Cal has been developing over this four-book series, I would have liked to have seen resolution to Cal's relationship with his family.  Or (fingers crossed!!!!!), perhaps this is a sub-plot Poe has purposefully left dangling in case she decides to come back and write a fifth book?!  One can only hope!

 

Finally, I must again thank Poe for yet another reference to the Miss Butterwith books - a direct reference to the series of cozy mystery books written by Christopher Holmes in the Josh Lanyon "Holmes & Moriarty" series of mysteries.  I just love the idea that Snow & Winter are in the same world with Holmes & Moriarty, and it gives me hope that one of these days Poe and Lanyon will bring these characters together for a super mystery (I mean, after all, if Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys can team-up, then surely Snow & Winter and Holmes & Moriarty can!).

[Oh, and Poe - "Ben Dover" as a character?  Really?  Why not mention his sister, Eileen Dover? LOL]

Over-all, this has been a thoroughly enjoyable series of mysteries to read, and I would definitely recommend them to any mystery fan out there (WARNING:  there are some rather explicit scenes in the books, but they do not take over the book and can be easily skimmed over without affecting the reading of the story).

RATING:  10 original autographs of Christopher Holmes out of 10 for creating yet another well-crafted mystery of antiquities and history that completely draws the reader into the story, not wanting to put the book down until it's done!