To Thine Own Self Be True: A Stella Crown Mystery

#3 Stella Crown mystery. It's nearly Christmas in rural Pennsylvania, and Stella is half-heartedly making holiday preparations on the farm. The last thing that anyone wants to have to deal with is a murder and a disappearance--although focusing on someone else's problems is ever a way to avoid confronting your own. That's what happens when Wolf, the tattoo artist who is working on Stella's new tat, disappears mid-tattoo. Wolf's wife Mandy calls him into the back room, and Stella, tired and feeling warm and comfortable, falls asleep for about twenty minutes. When she awakens, Wolf and Mandy are both gone, with Mandy's body turning up later in the dumpster. Everyone who knows Wolf knows he would never have done his wife harm, so Stella sets out to help the police by inquiring among the biker and body art crowd who would likely clam up under questioning by the cops. Mandy and Wolf were both political-minded and had been active in a group putting forth the rights of tattoo artists, so the police and Stella wonder whether there is some connection to Mandy's death and Wolf's disappearance or if it was some personal motivation. Meanwhile, Stella's former hottie Nick shows up, and ends up snowed in at the farm for the holiday with Stella and her farmhand Lucy, her daughter Tess and Lucy's boyfriend Lenny. Still unsure of her feelings, things don't go so well, especially at first. Once again in this book, Stella seems constantly on edge with raw emotions and she's prickly as a porcupine. Her family and friends seem to be well-endowed with forbearance, as I think I would have just drifted away from someone who is such a crab all the time! But they stick with her through thick and thin, and so I guess I will, too, if only to discover if she finally finds some happiness. I do like Stella, I wish she'd just lighten up a bit sometimes. There is promise, judging from the ending.

Stella - she's the real deal! Love her dialogue! Love her attitude! Judy Clemens has developed an authentic character who just keeps getting better and better as the series develops. Waiting to read her next adventure!

Dairy farmer Stella Crown is mourning the loss of her good friend and farm hand Howie by having his name tattooed as an ID bracelet on her wrist. It's the end of a long day, and when Wolf stops tattooing to follow his wife Mandy into the back room, Stella nods off for a little while. She's mildly irritated when she can't find Wolf or Stella, but figures something came up and she'll get the rest of the tattoo next time. Unfortunately, there may not be a next time. Mandy is dead of hypothermia after being hit on the head and left in a snow bank; Wolf is the obvious suspect for the police, because he can't be found. Stella and her friends know better, but have a hard time convincing the police. Stella gets help on the case when a man from her past, Nick, shows up on her doorstep. Together they start nosing around the tattoo community, finding controversy and hidden agendas all around them. TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE is the third in the Stella Crown series. The plot takes Stella out of her comfort zone, both personally and within the surprisingly diverse tattoo sub-culture. As in the previous books, Clemens seems to take pleasure in rearranging Stella's world from the ground up. It's certainly a pleasure, as a reader, to watch Stella cope with all the changes, to see her grow as a character. It's also a challenge trying to figure out where Clemens can go from here, a challenge she's surely capable of meeting.

Sometimes when you've enjoyed an author's first book, you womder if they can keep the series fresh. One author who can is Judy Clemens. In the third of her Stella Crown series, we find the tattooed Harley riding, dairy farmer, getting a new tattoo. Nodding off in the chair, she awakes to find, half a tattoo, the artist missing, and his wife dead. Not a good start to ones day. Blaming herself, she is determined to find out what has happened. The deeper she looks, the more motives she uncovers among an array of characters. Judy Clemens has been nominated for an Agatha and Anthony award. Not a cute cozy, not hardboiled either. The Stella Crown series is somewhere in between, and will appealed to all types of mystery readers.

Deciding to treat herself for the holidays, Pennsylvania dairy farmer Stella Crown drives to Wolf Ink to have artist Wolf etch her a new tattoo. While Wolf lectures Stella to stop moving, his wife Mandy tells her droll stories that keep her laughing. Mandy leaves for the back room, but soon asks Wolf to join her for a minute; Stella dozes for twenty minutes. When she awakens from her catnap, she finds herself alone with only half the tattoo finished and the weather turning ugly. She goes home though the ride takes over twice as long as normal due to the falling snow. Soon afterward Lansdale Police Detective Shisler and Officer Beane arrive to question Stella about when she last seen Scott (Wolf) and Mandy Moore. After answering specific questions from the two cops, Shisler informs Stella that just outside the tattoo parlor Mrs. Moore froze to death after being hit on the head; Wolf vanished. Feeling guilty because Mandy may have died while she left in a tizzy, Stella investigates an angry client and illegal tattooists working the under sixteen trade in back allies while never changing needles. The third Stella Crown amateur sleuth mystery is an entreating and educational tale that will have the audience appreciating the heroine's efforts as well as reconsidering the stereotyping of bikers and tattoo artists. The story line is driven by the Harley riding tattooed Stella who feels a sense of responsibly for Mandy's death though she knows she did not cause the tragedy. Her inquiry enables the audience to understand the damage caused by the back alley criminal tattooists (sounds like abortion before Roe vs. Wade) and the holier than thou legislators who condemn an entire industry due to these few miscreants. Harriet Klausner