Readers and writers: Treat yourself to two thrillers from Minnesota authors
Two new novels by accomplished Minnesota authors show the wide variety in the mystery/crime/thriller genre. One takes us deep into Spanish history; the other ties together women with the same last name. We recommend both for reading during the lazy days of summer.
'Ring of Lions': by Cass Dalglish (Calumet Editions, $18.99)
Ruben was on one knee, leaning toward the ninth lion as if he was having a face-to-face conversation with the beast. As Drummond moved forward and was nearing the fountain, the lion made a low, gurgling sound before the light stream coming from its mouth thickened and began to bubble and spurt, squirting up and then falling down into the channel at the animal's feet. The spray curved as if it were echoing the geometric proportions of the archways that surrounded the courtyard on four sides. — from 'Ring of Lions'
There is something odd and amazing going on with lion number nine in the famous Court of the Lions fountain at the Alhambra palace in Granada, and Graciela Corzal de Moreno is baffled and concerned. Graciela is director of Alhambra, the Moorish castle-city of the last Emir of Granada. The 12 stone lions were a water clock when they were built in the 14th century, but they hadn't spouted water for centuries. Now one of the lions is functioning again. Was this priceless animal in one of the most famous palaces in Islamic architecture tampered with?
Graciela calls for help from Walter Drummond, an American former FBI agent who investigates the authenticity of documents, art and artifacts.
So begins this historical novel and murder mystery that introduces readers to the Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage site some believe should be named an eighth wonder of the world. Besides taking readers into the history of the Alhambra complex of palaces, the story incorporates the intertwining of cultures and religions during the 800 centuries the Moors dominated what is now Spain.
As Graciela and Drummond travel deep under the palace's tangle of hidden corridors to check the old water system that fed the lion fountain and dig into centuries-old documents, they are joined by Ana Madrizon and Ruben Torres. Ana is a young New Yorker whose family of mathematicians, philosophers and storytellers fled to the mountains when the Moors were forced out of Granada in 1492 by Christian monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Ruben is Graciela's Cuban assistant who believes his Jewish ancestor traveled with Columbus.
When a young man is killed falling from a cliff, the Granada police captain suspects Ruben. But when another body is found in a room beneath the Court of Lions, there is another mystery. The workman had no visible signs of trauma that would have killed him.
There's more intrigue surrounding the treaty signed by the last emir before the Christians took over. What hints lie in the reference to the lions? Is the document Graciela keeps locked in her office a forgery? What does it have to do with words written on the lion fountain?
There are plenty of suspicious characters, including the unhappy director of digital resources for the City of Cordoba, who feels he should have been Alhambra director, and a musicologist who leads French docents to Spain and seems to pop up when Graciela is around.
Dalglish writes her characters vividly as she weaves the history of Alhambra and the Moors' influence into her plot so carefully a reader doesn't realize how much knowledge she absorbs. After finishing this look into the rich culture left by the Moors, readers will want to head to the internet to learn more about these Islamic centuries and the palaces from which the emirs ruled.
Dalglish, a poet and professor of English at Augsburg University, has lived and studied in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Cuba. She will introduce her novel in conversation with Minnesota nonfiction history writer Jack El-Hai at 7 p.m. Thursday at Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls. Free, registration required. Go to magersandquinn.com/event.
'Making Friends Can Be Murder': by Kathleen West (Berkley, $19)
How was I to know that everything would be so different just fourteen days later? I couldn't have known that Ruby and I and all the Sarahs would be thrown together for another, higher-stakes project. Investigating a murder! Can you believe it? It's not like murder and yarn-bombing have much in common, right? — from 'Making Friends Can Be Murder'
There's a lot of fun in this quirky, clever mystery about a group of women with the same name, including one who's dead.
When 30-year-old Sarah Jones is new to Minneapolis, she and a group of women who share the name Sarah Jones bond over pranks like decorating a tree with yarn. Then they learn a Sarah Jones who is not in their group has been killed. That sets the Sarah Jones Project in motion, sparked by a lively 17-year-old. The Sarahs want to find the killer.. Because the women share a name they refer to one another by number. Sixty-Nine is a crochet master retired from corporate law. Thirty-Nine and Forty-Four taught elementary school and Twenty-Seven, Sarah's closest friend, was halfway to a doctorate in sociology. What the Sarahs don't know is that there is a ringer in their midst, a swindler and possible murderer.
Adding a romance vibe is a hunky FBI agent who thinks the original Sarah can help him investigate the woman who has infiltrated the Sarah Jones Project. But can they trust one another?
West keeps the action going through several devices, including group emails, video transcripts made by Seventeen, and interviews with law enforcement.
West graduated from Macalester College and holds a master's in literacy education from the University of Minnesota. She has published three previous novels, including 'Home or Away' and 'Are We There Yet?' She will launch 'Making Friends Can Be Murder' at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Pryes Brewing Company, 1401 West River Road N., Mpls., presented by Magers & Quinn. Free, registration required. Go to magersandquinn.com/event.
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