Linda Lee Peterson

“The Spy on the Tennessee Walker” by Linda Lee Peterson

Peterson has done a gorgeous job researching the era of the Civil War and has extracted detail that stimulates refreshed interest in readers. Readers can learn that Walt Whitman was a field nurse and that women worked passionately toward the war effort as well. There are also allusions to the Underground Railroad, new medical practices, emergent artistic photography and invention during that time as well. All that was missing was a great recipe or two. The narrative is brief and yet chock full.

“The Spy on the Tennessee Walker” is bumpy road reading. There are two main points of view that move the story along: Maggie the main narrator and Magazine Editor who desperately wishes to unearth family secrets and than Victoria who’s secrets via her journal are unearthed.

Readers move back and forth from San Francisco to Mississippi and through the transactions between family members we learn how people research and piece together their ancestry. Upon reading this review, it occurs to me that this book should have been edited down and featured on Ancestry.com for as an example of what can be done with family stories and why they should be researched.

When I read Victoria’s journal entries I was enchanted by simplicity and elegance of the past. Because of this, I wish there was more of Victoria’s story and less of Maggie’s who was annoying and unnecessary. The luxury in creating fiction is the author’s opportunity to make a narrative fabulously interesting and the character of Maggie detracts from such purpose.

Would I read it again? No. Would I extract a laundry list of topics from this book that may lead to subject guidance in future works of fiction? Yes. Not a must read in my view, but not a complete waste of time either.… (altro)

Edited To Death featured Maggie Fiori, a former stay-at-home mom who dabbles in writing for a local San Francisco Bay Area magazine. She discovers her editor and former lover murdered and somehow becomes the new editor of the magazine.

Although I love cozies, this seemed a little flat. I guess I wasn't crazy about either Maggie or her husband. I wanted to love this book but I didn't. (I didn't hate it either.) Most moms wouldn't let their kids be threatened and still keep up detective work. A part time writer taking over management of a magazine also seems somewhat improbable.

I wish the author much luck on her series. I requested the book as it was set in San Francisco and I enjoyed the setting.… (altro)

Maggie Fiori is a freelance writer who finds her editor dead upon arriving at his apartment to talk about an assignment. This sets her on the path to become an amateur sleuth in search of the killer. I chose this book because it was set in the Bay area, one of my favorite locations, and because the protagonist was a writer (another of my favorite pastimes). While the book kept my attention, I really couldn't rate it a page-turner. And there were a couple of things that just didn't seem right: 1) Maggie seems to have had a fairly lengthy affair with her editor, even though she was happily married to someone more attractive and more her age. I don't dismiss the possibility that this could happen, just that the explanation was a bit flimsy. 2) It also didn't seem realistic that Maggie would choose detection over her family's safety. I can't imagine a mother doing that. But then, I guess, novels don't have to be realistic. It's just that these little things seemed to nag at me while reading.

The main character, Maggie, was advertised as having a "smart mouth" and "razor-sharp wit" but she didn't really seem all that bright to me. And, I didn't find her dialogue to be "smart-mouthed", but rather mundane instead. And, unlike some novels that promise a sequel, I'm not sure I have the desire to read another book of her exploits. It was an OK book, decent story line, but somehow didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. I didn't really care for any of the supporting characters...they seemed a little too "generic" for me.… (altro)