“Gathering Mist,” by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane)
Gathering Mist, by Margaret Mizushima, Crooked Lane Books
Deputy Mattie Wray and her K-9 partner, Robo, generally solve mysteries in her small Colorado mountain town. But in “Gathering Mist,” Mattie and Robo are called to Washington state to find the missing daughter of a celebrity, just a week before Mattie’s wedding.
The search turns sinister after one of the rescue dogs is poisoned. Then Mattie discovers the missing girl isn’t the only child who has disappeared in the area. Mattie, Robo and her fiancé, Cole, are used to hunting bad guys in Colorado’s sunshine and snow. But in “Gathering Mist,” they fight the Northwest’s rain and cold and thick forests to solve the mystery and find the girl before it is too late. And before the wedding date.
“Gathering Mist” is author Margaret Mizushima ninth Timber Creek K-9 mystery, and by far her best. It is sharply focused and skillfully written and establishes Mizushima as one of the West’s finest contemporary mystery writers.
“Colorado,” by Grant Collier (Collier Publishing)
We all know Colorado is spectacular, but just how extraordinary it is is evident in Grant Collier’s lush collection of landscape photos in this coffee-table-size book. Collier, who started out publishing then-and-now picture books, apparently comes by his talent naturally. His great-great-grandfather was Joseph Collier, the famed 19th-century Colorado photographer.
“Colorado” is filled with stunning shots of our state’s mountains and plains, not a human in sight. Collier’s most spectacular photos show nature in action — lightning over mountain peaks, a lunar eclipse, a rainbow and meteors streaking across the sky.
Quieter shots show meadows of flowers and columbine on a rocky slope. And some of those flowers may soon become extinct because of climate change. “Wildflowers are not just beautiful but play a vital role in the area’s ecosystem,” Collier writes. “Fewer wildflowers lead to fewer pollinating insects, which can, in turn, bring local ecosystems to the brink of collapse.”
Icing on the cake for “Colorado”: a section at the end with Joseph Collier’s historic photographs.
“Tell Me What You Did,” by Carter Wilson (Poisoned Pen Press)
Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson (Poisoned Pen Press)
Poe Webb hosts a podcast for evildoers. “Tell me what you did,” she asks on each segment. Callers confess to everything from stealing a dog to murder. Nothing shocks Poe until a caller announces, “I killed your mother.”
Poe’s mother was indeed murdered. In fact, Poe, then 10, saw her mother having sex with the killer, and watched him stab her mother to death. The killer threatened her, and Poe never told what she knew about the murder.
The caller reveals too many details that only Poe knows. But she’s confused. Several years earlier, she actually tracked down and murdered the man she believed killed her mother. Was she wrong? Did he rise from the grave? Did she kill an innocent man?
The caller agrees to a second interview, but then he turns the tables on Poe and demands she let him interview her — on Halloween. The novel, by Erie writer Carter Wilson, goes back and forth between Poe’s attempt to find the killer and the Halloween interview with the killer in charge. What hold does he have over Poe that she agrees to let him confront her? Does he know what she did? It’s a twisty novel with a surprise ending by the author of “Mr. Tender’s Girl.”
“Mademoiselle Eiffel,” by Aimie K. Runyan (William Morrow)
After her mother dies, Claire Eiffel is forced into the role of family matriarch. Not only is Claire not yet 15, but her father is the famous Paris architect. She is responsible for his lavish entertainment and must run a household of servants while raising her younger siblings.
Of course, she is up to it. Aware of her responsibilities, Claire gives up her hopes for a career as an artist. She acts as her father’s private secretary and accompanies him on business trips. She handles everything from last-minute guests to her brother Edward’s wastrel ways. When it becomes obvious the family engineering firm will go not to Edward but to engineer Adolphe Salles, Claire marries him.
Her father’s masterpiece is the Eiffel Tower, of course. Claire is an adviser to both father and husband. And all this while wearing corsets and raising three children of her own.
“Mademoiselle Eiffel” has a feminist tilt. Still, Claire is a woman of her times, and a wealthy woman at that. Local author Aimie K. Runyan writes of Parisian elegance in the last quarter of the 19th century. There are lavish parties and couture gowns, fine carriages and elegant mansions. One could dream of living that life, if women’s clothes were not so confining and meals didn’t end in heartburn. Runyan has done a nice job in creating a 150-year-old world, one in which a 14-year-old girl is forced to meet a woman’s challenges.
Denver author Sandra Dallas is a freelace book review.