The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell ****

The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell is 20/24 in the Kay Scarpetta series. Kay Scarpetta is a forensic pathologist. In this book, we have three women. Dr. Emma Shubert is a paleontologist who disappeared on a dig in Alberta Canada. Mildred Lott is the wife of billionaire Channing Lott with business interests in Alberta. He is on trial for her murder. There is no body. Peggy Stanton was found in the Boston harbor suspended by her neck with weights on her ankles. Kay believes all three are connected, but how?

This 500-page book is packed full of technical jargon. “No petechiae I can find…No irregular areas of hemorrhage to the sclera or the conjunctiva,” most of it unexplained. However, the technical stuff has little to do with solving the mystery. Some seem to be just filler: “He’ll take a look with the stereo microscope, the polarized light scope, the Raman spectrometer…same interference colors and same birefringence.”

But Peggy’s cat and Millie’s dog seem more important than all the hyper-technical forensic stuff. “The plastic ring on the floor.” I indicate what’s behind the umbrella stand. “A cat toy.” “No sign but appears there was one.”

The surprise hero of this book is Kay’s niece, Lucy Farinelli, a “rogue technical genius,” who performs hacker miracles while spouting the required technical jargon.

I hear you ask, “You sound so negative. Why?” When Kay gets close to unraveling the mystery, the killer confesses. In the end, when Kay is in serious jeopardy, she works hard to rescue herself, but just when she has her chance, deus ex machina steals her opportunity and rescues her. 

A page-turner with flaws. Terrific if you don’t think about it.

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations. 

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young ***

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young is a teen dystopian novel about high school girls at the Girl’s Innovations Academy where the courses are Beauty, Compliance, Social Graces, and Decorum and Modesty. The one recognizable class is Basics where math is taught once a month. “Too much thinking is bad for your looks.” Eventually the girls rebel, but the twist ending devalues their victory. Regardless, the series continues for another couple of books.

When Mena, the first-person protagonist, breaks one of the many rules, Guardian Bose redirects her. Afterward, she reflects, “He’s never spoken to me so viciously. I’m shaken by it all, but at the same time, I’m deeply ashamed. We’re not supposed to anger the men taking care of us. I never have. It was selfish of me not to listen immediately.”

When the girls fail at being redirected, they are subject to impulse control therapy, a mysterious ordeal after which their memory of it is erased. They are also given an assortment of “vitamins” every night to help them stay calm and behave.

The school teaches the girls that “shame is the best teacher,” and “beauty is [your] greatest asset.” Every minor injury is repaired with a graft to keep their skin flawless. The girls are admonished to “demonstrate your value…by showing how appealing a beautiful, obedient girl can be. Hold your tongue. Bat your eyes. Be best.”

Eventually, the girls wake up to their predicament. They see the men’s behavior as predatory. Part of this awakening is from a poem “Girls with Sharp Sticks” that opens with “Men are full of rage/ Unable to control themselves,” and closes with “And so it was for a generation/ The little girls became the predators.”

If you are a teen wishing to oppose the patriarchy, this could be your series.

For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2020/03/normal-people-by-sally-rooney.html

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”

 

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B Ross ****

In Miss Julia book 1 of 22, Miss Julia's husband dies. Miss Julia was an obedient, sheltered, and childless wife. After 44 years of marriage, she knew nothing about family finances; she didn’t even know how to write a check. Her husband left a sizeable fortune and a child with his mistress Hazel Marie Puckett. Pastor Ledbetter wanted to assume guardianship of Julia and use her money to expand his church. Brother Vern Puckett wanted to do something similar with Hazel Marie to take control of her presumed inheritance. Apparently-weak women preyed on by paternalistic men.

Julia was a sheltered southern lady. “And, oh, I’d been proud of who I was. Julia DeWitt Springer, Wesley Lloyd Springer’s wife. Dumbest woman in town.” He kept her in the dark, gave her a small allowance, and told her what to think. “Now, after forty-four years of blissful ignorance of Wesley Lloyd’s activities, financial or otherwise, I settled down to enjoy the benefits of widowhood and a full checkbook, both of which I was mastering with hardly any problems at all.”

Julia’s antagonist was Presbyterian Pastor Larry Ledbetter who quoted Bible verses to defend his desire to assume guardianship of Julia and her fortune and excuse her dead husband’s decade-plus adulterous relation with Hazel Marie. The Pastor went so far as to hire a psychologist to declare Julia to be a nymphomaniac and incompetent.

Hazel Marie Puckett belonged to the Puckett clan, a notorious group of troublemakers. Brother Vern Puckett was a televangelist. “They beat the s**t outta me, ... And he said if I wasn’t going to be obedient…, he’d just had to keep Junior… Said I wasn’t fit to raise a child… He said he’d just keep Junior till I decided to submit to the Lord’s will.”

If you like to see nice women win, this is the book for you.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.