| Susan Witting Albert & Robin Paige Home Page |
|
China Bayles Mysteries:
"Bloodroot" [10/01 HC]
Susan Witting Albert grew up on a farm in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. at the University of California at berkeley. A former professor of English and a university administrator and vice president, she now lives with her husband Bill in the country outside of Austin, Texas. Susan and her husband co-author a victorian mystery series as Robin Paige.
| China Bayles Mysteries | ||||||||
| 1. "Thyme of Death" | 2. "Witches' Bane" | 3. "Hangman's Root"
| 4. "Rosemary Remebered"
| 5. "Rueful Death"
| 6. "Love Lies Bleeding"
| 7. "Chile Death"
| 8. "Lavender Lies"
| 9. "Mistloe Man" |
|
|
"Thyme of Death"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, March 1994 Reviewed on 5/2/00 | |||||
|
When her best friend, Jo Gilbert, dies of an apparent suicide, China Bayles, ex-lawyer and
the owner of Thyme and Seasons Herb Company, just can't believe that Jo would ever do such a thing. Prodded by
her friend Ruby Wilcox and Jo's daughter, Meredith, China looks behind the quaint facade of Pecan Springs, Texas
and takes a suspicous look at everyone. And though she finds lots of friendly faces, China is sure that one of them
hides the heart of a killer.
{Thyme is commonly found both in the kitchen and the medicine cabinet. It has been used for centuries to preserve
and season food and as a cough remedy, a digestive aid, and an antiseptic. in the Middle Ages, the herb was thought
to be an antidote against fear. Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper believed it to be a "certain
remedy for that troublesome complaint, the nightmare."}
| ||||
|
"Witches' Bane"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, September 1994 Reviewed on 5/7/00 | |||||
|
When a case of deadly Halloween hijinks, a holiday prank culminates in a brutal murder,
China Bayles's, ex-lawyer and herbshop proprietor, friend Ruby Wilcox becomes a prime suspect. When Reverend
Billy Lee Harback, a mudslinging minister, accusues Ruby of New Age witchcraft, it makes everything even more
complicated. Even though Ruby, the owner of the New Age shop, The Cystal Cave, is unorthadox in her beliefs she's
not a witch and didn't kill anyone. With help from her hunky boyfriend, Mike McQuaid, a former cop, China's determined
to not only clear Ruby but to find out who is the real killer.
{Withes' Bane, better known as wolfsbane, monkshood, and old wiveshood, was once believed to
be the creation of Hecate, the goddess of the underworld. In various times and places over the centuries, the herb
has been used to kill wolves and tigers, to poison wells against an advancing army, and to execute criminals. Its thick
root has occasionally - and fatally - been mistaken for horseradish.}
| ||||
|
"Hangman's Root"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, August 1995 Reviewed on 5/19/00 | |||||
|
A prominent animal researcher has been hanged. And suspicion has fallen on Dottie Riddle,
the Cat Lady - a local biology professor whose obsession with rescuing strays makes her, in some people's minds,
capable of murder in defense of animals. But China doesn't believe that Dottie would ever kill anyone. And in the
middle of her investigation China has to make a very personal and hard decision about moving in with McQuaid and
his son Brian. but with the help of the new head of campus secruity, Sheila Dawson, her crazy friend Ruby and McQuaid,
China's determined to stop the killer before someone else is murdered.
{Hangman's root is known more commonly as catnip. It can be brewed as tea to relieve coughs and
upset stomachs, or to relax before bedtime. According to focklore, the root could cause anger and aggression,
so seventeenth-century hangmen would chew it before an execution, thus giving it the name "hangman's root."}
| ||||
|
"Rosemary Remembered"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, August 1996 Reviewed on 5/19/00 | |||||
|
China discovers the business can be murder when her accountant, Rosemary Robbins, is killed.
With an abusive ex-husband and plenty of former clients in the picture, there's no shortage of suspects. And China
must trace a crooked trail of passion and greed to discover who would profit most from murder.
{Rosemary has been surrounded by more legend than possibly any other. For centuries it has
been used medicinally, as well as to favor food. It is known as the herb of remembrance. At funerals, branches of
the herb were placed on graves as a symbol that the departed friend would not be forgotten.}
| ||||
|
"Rueful Death"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, August 1997 Reviewed on 5/19/00 | |||||
|
In search of respite, China takes off to St. Theresa's Monastery with her friend Maggie, a former
nun. The goal is a brief, tranquil retreat - but there's a conflict at the convent. The mother superior has recently died,
and a battle over the futre of St. Theresa's suggests that her sudden demise might not have been accidental. Now,
China's quest for a replenished spirit takes second place to a more earthbound pursuit: catching a killer.
{Called "the herb of grace" by Shakespeare, rue was used by the early Catholic church to repel demons
and evil, was believed to be an antidote to poison, and was thought to be a means of identifying a witch in medieval
Eurpoe. In more modern times it has been associated with the idea of repentance, or "ruefulness."}
| ||||
|
"Love Lies Bleeding"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, November 1998 Reviewed on 6/8/00 | |||||
|
As a Texas Ranger, Roy Adcock outwitted plenty of dangerous characters. But now the retired
Ranger has been shot dead - with his wife's gun. The case hits close to home for China Bayles, since Dolores Adcock
had been at the herb shop just that morning. But what hits closer to home is the way China's longtime boyfriend,
McQuaid, starts behaving after hearing the news... and the secret phone call she overhears between him and another
woman. Now, as clues mount and accusations fly, China must question the Adcock marriage - and her own
relationship.
{In medieval times, the blood-red tassel flowers of Love-lies-bleeding represented incorruptibility,
and were worn as emblems of vitue and perfection by knights and heroes.}
| ||||
|
"Chile Death"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, October 1999 Reviewed on 6/8/00 | |||||
|
China Bayles is looking forward to the annual chili cook-off in Pecan Springs. And when the event
arrives, she takes along her fiané, gving both of them a nice break from China's visiting (i.e. meddling)
mother. But then cook-off judge Jerry Jeff Cody dies of an allergic reaction - to a peanut. Everyone knows peanuts
don't belong in a bowl of Texas chili... and China knows something suspicious is afoot. Now, with rumors flying about
foul play - and whispered stories about Jerry jeff's womanizing ways - things are heating up all over.
{Chile peppers, a member of the nightshade family, have a wide variety of medicinal and practical
uses. Belonging to the genus Capsicum, various peppers have been employed as digestive aids, animal and
insect repellents, and headache treatmanes, as well as extremely popular cooking ingrediants prized for their hot,
spicy taste.}
| ||||
|
"Lavender Lies"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, October 1999, HC Reviewed on 8/5/00 | |||||
|
"Good Riddance" is the response of every Pecan Springs resident to the murder of Edgar Coleman,
a local real estate shark found shot to death in his garage. With the small-town gossip mill running full tilt, it doesn't
take long for China to learn that Coleman was hiving numerous affairs and was blackmailing City Council members for
their votes on a bad land development deal. With her fiancé, interim police chief Mike McQuaid, immersed in the
murder investigation - and the suspect list growing longer by the minute - China can forget about a honeymoon, unless
she can find the killer. As China investigates, she starts digging up dirt on people she knows - and unearthing secrets
best left six feet under.
| ||||
|
"Mistletoe Man"
Berkley Prime Crime Books, October 2000, HC Reviewed on 4/17/01 | |||||
|
Former big-city lawyer China Bayles worked hard to make her herb shop, Thyme and Seasons, a success. Now business
is booming at her newest venture, Thyme for Tea - but China is too distracted to revel in her latest entrepreneurial triumph.
When she's not trying to spend more time with her new husband and stepson, she's worrying about Ruby, who just hasn't
been herself lately. To further complicate matters, China has to round up a supply of mistletoe, the season's most popular
herb. It seems an easy enough task - until her chief supplier turns up dead.
| ||||
| My page is free thanks to Geocities. |
