Witches' Bane, Susan Wittig Albert

My first read of the new year. This is the second in a series of mysteries featuring China Bayles as herbologist/amateur detective.

China Bayles gave up the rat race in Houston, where she was a successful defense attorney, for the quiet life in the small town of Pecan Springs in the Texas hill country. She runs Thyme and Seasons, an herb shop, while her best friend Ruby runs Crystal Cave, the town's only New Age shop, in the space next door.

It's almost Halloween, and the town has had a number of strange incidents that have many townspeople believing some kind of witchcraft or dark magic is being done. There's been chickens killed, a goat slaughtered, and a cross burned in someone's yard, and then one of the town's wealthy citizens receives a voodoo doll. It doesn't help that Ruby has been teaching Tarot classes, which in a small town is tantamount to teaching witchcraft, or that a local group of Wiccans holds their ceremony marking the beginning of a new year on Halloween night, complete with people dancing around a fire in white robes.

When the same woman who recieved the voodoo doll is murdered on Halloween night with a knife stolen from Ruby's shop, China finds herself trying to help her friend prove her innocence. Suspicion is then placed on Andrew, Ruby's latest boyfriend, and even though China has never trusted him, she finds herself trying to solve the mystery to set Ruby's mind at ease.

Although I had a pretty good suspicion of who'd done it before China solved the case (not from the very beginning, mind you, but shortly before it dawned on her), I can't wait to read more of these, to see how Ruby gets revenge on the preacher who's been picketing their shops, to see whether China decides to move in with McQuaid, or even if she starts calling him by his first name, just to check in and see what's going on with everyone.

Witches' Bane, Susan Wittig Albert, (c)1993 - checked out from my local library. **** (out of 5)

Fer-De-Lance and The League of Frightened Men, Rex Stout

I found this book with the first two Nero Wolfe stories at the bookstore several weeks ago, and since I've been a Nero Wolfe fan for almost as long as I can remember, but haven't read the books in a while, I picked it up. Although it had been some time since I'd read one, Wolfe and Archie were just as I remembered them, Wolfe following his routine to the letter, Archie being the smart alecky sidekick trying to prod him into earning enough money to pay the bills.

I don't know how much to really say about these stories, I wouldn't want to give away an ending if anyone happens across this who hasn't read these yet. In Fer-De-Lance, Wolfe and Archie are called upon to find a woman's missing brother, but that case leads to Wolfe discovering that another man, whose death was thought to be natural, was murdered. Now they must solve both cases, if Archie can get Wolfe out of the kitchen and back to work.

In The League of Frightened Men, a group of men still trying to atone for a horrible prank in their college days becomes frightened that the person injured in that prank is trying to kill them. They hire Wolfe to prevent that from happening. It's notable in that it's one of the few books in which Wolfe actually leaves the brownstone.

It amazes me that Fer-De-Lance is the first Wolfe story - it certainly felt like Wolfe and Archie had been there in the brownstone forever, solving cases and annoying the police. Their routine was already established, and in fact Archie mentions he'd lived there with Wolfe for seven years and mentions cases they've worked on. I finished the book in about two days, staying up late one night to read the last few chapters. I will say that I think in those two days, I drank almost a gallon of milk, because every time Archie got himself a pitcher of milk from the kitchen, I found myself craving a glass as well. I guess I should just be glad I don't drink beer, as I'd never be able to keep up with Wolfe's six quarts a day.