The book starts with a gathering of the Texas Star Quilting Club, some old ladies of Pecan Springs, who are experts at gossiping and watching their neighbours. And lately, they have had their eyes on Larry Kirk. He is going through a divorce, as he is a work-a-holic, and his wife has found a new ...
An interesting collection of short mysteries, with a lot of glimpses into the lives of the secondary characters and townspeople not usually given as much attention in the series. I am not really into the herbalist scene and I have two black thumbs, so the side bar stuff was not really for me. S...
Marital bliss is only a few short days away for China Bayles and Mike McQuaid, who have finally agreed to tie the knot after months of rehabilitation following Mike's gunshot wound and China's near-death experience. The garden is ready, the guests have been invited and China's new tea-room is in ...
University politics is a fierce competition, too often riddled with animosity and infighting as those involved plot against each other to gain greater status and tenure. Sometimes, as China Bayles discovers in her latest mystery, it can even be deadly. China's friend Dottie, a cat-loving profes...
How do you solve the murder of a woman who kept so much to herself that all you have to rely on are the skewed memories of the people who knew her? People, of course, who had every motive to kill her and every opportunity...people whose memories are shaded by the pain her actions, intentionally ...
Having survived a whirlwind holiday season, China Bayles finds herself growing more unhappy with her life as a shop owner and with her personal relationship with her significant other, McQuaid. Desperate for a period of rest and peace that will give her time to answer the difficult questions abo...
Three stars for the mystery, only one for China herself. She is undoubtedly one of the most selfish and mean-spirited women I have come across. Selfish because she's only considering her own needs in the book, not those of other people, and mean-spirited because she is just plain MEAN to her mo...
I really enjoy the China Bayles mystery series set in the Texas Hill Country. I always recommend that you read them in sequence so the you understand the characters so much better. They've become friends that I am interested in and enjoy hearing more about. This particular book is an exception to...
We aren't mourning anything or anyone, really. We're talking about plants. Once in awhile we refer to the mystery of how and why the woman who was screaming in the trailer while it burned to the ground with her inside it was killed, but the murder is peripheral. The subject should scream with urg...
Enjoyable as most of the China Bayles mysteries are, but I don't much care for Wittig's new habit of moving to other points of view to tell the story. Seems disruptive and a little like maybe she's gone as far as she can with China and is wanting to move on to a new character. Mostly in this book...