A Pinch of Poison

This is a fun link in the chain of Hemlock Falls mysteries with a somewhat twisted ending. The Inn at Hemlock Falls in the beautiful upstate New York region has seen its fair share of murders while the beautiful, young, ex-artist manager, and her sister Chef try to run the Inn and make a living at it. As is normal in these series's, there are multiple interacting components. There is, of course, the soap opera part of the story where we get to interact with various characters who come back book after book and see how their lives develop; there is the actual mystery itself which typically features a murder and our heroes and heroines trying to solve it or them; and there is the general plotting and ambience of the storyline and how it fits in space and time with the other two elements. The soap opera part in this book involves Quill's love life now that she has broken up with her boyfriend. You see, he wants to marry and start a family and Quill is not sure she is ready to take on those obligations as babies would definitely take her even further away from her art. Her sister, Meg, is in love with the local doctor but they are postponing their nuptials to see what happens with Quill. In this novel, the other members of the staff and town are not as prominent so we find nothing much happening with Doreen, Marge, Dina, or any of the other regulars (well, that's not quite true as Doreen does do something but I think it is a fluke...) The mystery involves the new family that moved into town and that bought the local newspaper. The family scion who chooses to run it is an ex-DMV employee who like to play at being a reporter and transforms the town newspaper into a fine example of yellow journalism "Inn's Kitchen to be closed because of poisoned toilets!" etc. His mother is murdered early on in the story and then his sister is also killed in one of the most inventive murder scenes I have ever read. That was probably the highlight of the book for me. As the story evolves and everyone starts focusing in on the who-dun-it part I found myself identifying the murderer but not being able to close in on the motive. I was gratified to find out that I was correct about the murderer when I finished the book, but I found the explanation of the way in which the multiple murders were committed to be very weak. The motive is understandable but also farfetched (murdered people know the murderer but still stick around and do not even attempt to avoid them...) Finally comes the general ambiance of the book and its overall feeling and this one was first rate. The humor was understandable and funny, the juxtaposition of locales and reasoning was logical, and the introduction of a Japanese business titan into the mix was somewhat in line although overdone (why does the driver not like Jello that much???) So, overall, a very nice effort and a good read for the beach. Enjoy.

This is my first Claudia Bishop book, my first stay at The Inn at Hemlock Falls. The writing was good enough that I easily checked-in at the reception desk, and was happily ensconced throughout the plot as an invisible observer, sometimes chuckling at character shenanigans, sometimes wide-eyes at crisp realism in a cozy culinary. The ambiance of plot, characters, descriptions, and dialogue were so seamless I didn't notice them; I felt as if I were unlocking my room's door with a personal key each time I reopened the covers of the book. That type of seamlessness is a feat, even for a wordsmith, since most novels slip into "effort" at least once in a while and the reader can feel the writer's presence as the author works to be intriguing, diddles with dialogue, or pulls on reserves to pen with panache (like I'm doing here!). Bishop seems to have perked right along, living in her story, rambling through a manuscript with her characters, as one of them (Quill). Love the exchanges between the sisters (Quill and Meg) and other characters; all the book's residents feel to be very homo-sapiens, yet they border (giving great fun to the reader) on being caricatures. I could almost see the characters strutting across pages, or shambling, in the case of Hedrick, "this journalist" who could definitely step out of A PINCH OF POISON and into a comic book without a paper glitch. The second murder scene was rivetingly realistic, one of the best I've read in a mystery. It was simply, chillingly, graphically narrated with the deft pen (excuse the unseemly simile) of a gourmet chef wielding a razor-edged butcher knife, including only the balsamic necessity of the essence of the event. It reminded me of a death scene in another great novel I'll hold in my hands one day. The ending pulled an intriguing, Agatha Christie type of Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in which the culprit is beyond what would be anticipated in detective fiction, yet fully acceptable within parameters of plot. I don't see any flaws in this mystery. But, then, I love great escape novels, and seem to have a knack of picking out those works which become, for me, the Five Starred feats among the offerings. Thank you, Claudia!! With Respect, Linda G. Shelnutt

The inhabitants of Hemlock Falls are chagrined by the antics of Hedrick Conway, who has bought the local newspaper and is publishing it under the title of "The Trumpet". Conway finds a scandal under every rock and bush and publishes outlandish stories for the sake of a newspaper sale. He tries to find something scandalous at the Inn at Hemlock Falls and succeeds in angering Meg, who takes great pride in her cooking and does not appreciate Conway's attempts to close her kitchen. In attendance at the Inn are an interesting group of characters who comprise the Rudyard Kipling Condensation Society. There is more than poetry in the air, however, as dead bodies begin turning up with alarming regularity. Quill, the owner of the Inn, has had a parting of the ways with her ex-boyfriend, Myles, who is the town sheriff. That makes things a bit touchy as they both do their own investigation as to the identity of the murderer. Bishop is a good writer and spins an interesting mystery, although she leaves out some facts which make it difficult for the reader to solve the mystery before Quill does.