Twisting the Rope ( Black Dragon Series )

This book is a nice follow-up to Tea With The Black Dragon. I didn't expect it to match the first one - and it didn't - but it did satisfy my curiosity about Martha's life with Long. That being said, and this is no fault of the story or the author, this book is one of the worst edited and proofed I've ever read -full of disconcerting typos. It should be discounted as a damaged product.

Mayland Long and Martha Macnamara are as unlikely a couple as you could hope to meet. Martha is a fiftyish musician, Mayland is-- well, Mayland is unusual, as people who have read the first book in this set, Tea With the Black Dragon, know. When the book opens Mayland, Martha, Martha's young granddaughter Marty, and an ill assorted group of egotistical musicians have been on tour for eight weeks, playing traditional (and not so traditional) Irish folk songs. At this point tempers are frayed while insults (and the occasional fist) are flying.Then Marty disappears, a member of the band is found hanged by a twisted grass rope off a Pacific pier, and it up to Martha and Mayland to solve the mystery of where Marty is and who the murderer is. Written in the mid 80's this book is a great favorite of mine, an urban fantasy mystery that mixes Celtic and Eastern lore with some solid detection. The scenes with the band seem very true to life and the fantasy elements are delightfully underplayed. The chapter titles, by the way, as well as the title Twisting the Rope are all titles of trad. Irish tunes.

I read this one years ago after "Tea with a Black Dragon" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, if you can just find a copy of "Tea" you'll be set. Good luck! I don't have my own copies of either of these books and am really happy to find that "Twisting" is available again.

I read this one years ago after "Tea with a Black Dragon" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, if you can just find a copy of "Tea" you'll be set. Good luck! I don't have my own copies of either of these books and am really happy to find that "Twisting" is available again.

With much of the charm of her first book, Tea with the Black Dragon, MacAvoy revisits Oolong and Martha - now on tour with a "traditional" Irish band. There is a mystery, a little supernatural activity, and the brilliant characterisations that you would expect from this author. To fully appreciate the story you should have read Tea, which is sadly out of print, but it stands alone as a good read.