Hangman's Root

Not only is the story intriguing, but if you are interested in herbal lore this book is excellent. All of the China Bayles books have an interesting plot with many twists and turns.

I love the whole series! I love the characters, the plots, the herbal references! Quick fun reading- a real page turner!

Susan Wittig Albert's third mystery of the China Bayles series, "Hangman's Root", is a solid mystery, with a surprising killer, and a murder victim with a history of doing horrible, sadistic things to people and animals. China's friend, Dottie Riddle, a biology professor and a "cat lady" is the prime suspect in the murder of the sadistic Dr. Harwick, a colleague. Soon China finds that extortion, embezzlement, and deep hatred figure into this killing. Meanwhile, China and Mike are trying to find a house that they could both move into, with some comic results, and Rudy is trying to deal with a reunion with the daughter she gave up years ago. Not quite as good as "Witches Bane", but the sotry introduces us to some intriguing new characters.

I was talking to a friend the other day who's read this series and we both agreed that we'd love to live in Pecan Springs, Texas and be one of China's quirky friends! The true test of a good mystery is that it keeps you guessing right up to the end, and this one more than fills the bill. The characters are as real as they come and some of the most interesting 'people' I know! LOL! Reading a new China Bayles mystery is like arriving at a party and discovering that all your favorite people are there. In this tale, China is appalled when she hears that her friend, Dottie (The Cat Lady), has been accused of murdering the mean old Professor Harwick (who's been known to threaten her cats) and sets out to find the real killer. Lots of intriguing twists and turns in this interesting, well-crafterd plot. Thanks, Ms. Albert, for creating such an entertaining, likeable character in China Bayles!

I really like this series, and this, the third book in the series is just as good as the others. In this book China takes on a challenging case to try to absolve her friend of a murder that was staged to look like she had done it. China relies on her lawyer friend and her very eccentric friend Ruby to help her friend, the town eccentric called the "cat lady". We also see China take the big step of a committment with her boyfriend. There's enough murder and mayhem as well as gardening information to satisfy anyone who is of that bent.