Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery)

China Bayles is back with another murder mystery on her hands. As she is helping her friend Carole gather yucca leaves for a papermaking workshop, she discovers the body of Ruby's ex-boyfriend, Colin. Ruby, in the meantime, is out of town dealing with her elderly mother as she tries to get her into a nursing home.

As if all that was not enough, China's newly found half-brother wants to find out what really happened when their father drove off a bridge to his death sixteen years before. While China wants nothing to do with this situation, her retired cop husband, now a PI, decides to investigate.

Author Susan Wittig Albert deftly weaves the several storylines together for a solid tale of misguided love and betrayal. How she comes to find out who killed Colin and why is, of course, at the root of Spanish Dagger. While I have read this series from the beginning, I am just now catching up with the latter books. It seems each book was written with more depth and deeper characteriation than earlier books.

Every time I open another China Bayles mystery, I feel like I am returning to old stomping grounds and catching up on what has been going on in my absence. As usual, China and her family and friends keep things interesting in Pecan Springs, Texas.

If you love a good mystery but haven't yet read any of the China Bayles series, you can jump in anywhere. Each book stands alone while you can also go back to the beginning and get the deeper background of her family and relationships. Either way, you will be rewarded with another great mystery.

Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery)

Spanish dagger is yet another great read from China Bayles, her adventurers in a Texas town full of high adventurers and dangers. Albert is one of my long time favorites, All of her books I wold recommend in a heart beat. Her recipes at the back of all her books are mentioned in the book and are normally a great recipe.
Recommend this book 5 stars

As with all the China Bayles mysteries, I read almost nonstop. I am originally from Texas, the San Antonio area, and I find all references to the area endearing. Wish there was a Pecan Springs, I wouldn't mind living there.

This book is only worth two stars since it was checked out from the local library and the cost of it didn't factor into the equation. No doubt it will attract prior devotees of the China Bayles series who perhaps will believe anything this character does, no matter how unlikely it would be for a former defense attorney to do it. Since this was my first exposure to China, I wasn't as forgiving. It will also attract anyone with an interest in the Southwest or botany with its tidbits of plant lore for local color, and devotees of Southwest cooking will appreciate the recipes.

However, if one has any knowledge of law enforcement and investigation, especially in the southern parts of our border states where drug interdiction is an everyday item on the local news, a major point in the main plot line just won't wash and makes the whole story seem just, well, poorly conceived. The author asks the reader not only to believe a police chief nicknamed Smart Cookie, but to swallow the idea that a drug-sniffing dog at Cookie's police roadblock in central Texas, sans his trained handler who is unfortunately dead, will easily alert to what his counterparts at the federal inspection stations located on every major highway heading north from the Rio Grande Valley, and at the border crossing stations themselves, missed. Please.

Then there's the matter of the lengthy discussion of the forfeiture laws to inform her friend Ruby (and the reader) about governmental seizure of assets used in the illegal drug trade, but winds up the tale by exaggerating the benefit to local agencies by including the value of the drugs intercepted in the booty. Really, Ms. Albert? Do they sell the drugs at the local flea market?

Maybe the author thinks she's still writing for pre-pubescent girls who are not known for their critical reading skills, but these are important errors which should have been caught by a careful editor or technical advisor. Additionally there is the irritating non-resolution of the second storyline begun about the probable murder of China's father 16 years earlier that left me wondering why it was brought up in the first place. The only logical answer is that it is a crass effort to garner customers for the next book.

has an excellent series- once i have now gotten to buying the first releases. i have enjoyed some more than others but always great read.

Oh where oh where has China Bayles gone? I agree with the other 2- and 3-star reviewers: Albert needs to revive the franchise by writing well. The gathering of yucca for papermaking was perfunctory and not a plot device; who needed it? In "Indigo Dying," the herb gathering was part of the setting, the festival in town. The books work better when the herbs aren't afterthoughts.

When collecting yucca leaves to use in a paper-making workshop, China
and a friend discover the body of Colin Fowler out by the railroad
tracks. Colin had been dating China's best friend, Ruby, and China was
aware of some of the secrets in his shady past. When another body shows
up at a plant nursery, China is sure the two murders are connected.
With Ruby away, seeing to her mother's admission to a nursing home,
China teams up with Sheila, the police chief in Pecan Springs, to try to
get to the bottom of the mystery. But, Sheila seems a little reluctant
to divulge everything she knows, too, which sets China on her guard.
But there is a very real possibility that this communication problem
between the two women could lead to yet another murder -- this time with
China as the victim.

Albert is doing something a bit different with these last couple of books. She's developing a crisis in the backstory that will span at least three books and it supposed to be the primary focus of the next book, I believe. Because of that, it felt like she wasn't giving proper attention to the matter at hand, which was the murders in THIS book. Because of this, I can't rate this book as highly as I usually do.

Oh China, what has happened to you?

You've gone from an interesting, three-dimensional character to a busybody who somehow ramrods her agenda down everyone's throats.

The plot of this book wasn't half-bad (though the various drug agencies had me confounded), but China's attempts at mystery solving (telling the chief of police what she'll do and what she won't, inserting herself in investigations, giving a possible killer her home address???) were baffling. I am all for suspension of disbelief, but this was ridiculous.

Bring back the old China. Please!

China Bayles used to be a lawyer, but now she is an herbalist in a small town in Texas. Her husband, a former policeman, is now a private investigator. China finds the body of a missing man while her half brother is reopening old wounds in looking into the death of their father many years before. China Bayles is a series protagonist, and I would suggest reading these books in order, starting with, I believe, "Thyme for Murder." Some author's books in a series don't stand alone as well as others, and "Spanish Dagger" could use some preliminary information. Despite this, however, China Bayles is a likeable heroine, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. As a matter of fact Susan Wittig Albert is also one half of Robin Paige whose books I also enjoy.

This was the first China Bayles I read, and it fulfilled every expectation I have for a great mystery novel: good characters; memorable setting and atmosphere; and a serious plot that engages the reader all the way through. You will also learn a lot about yucca as you try to figure out the connections between Ruby, her (ex) boyfriend, Lucita, Sheila and drugs, police corruption and murder. There is also an intriguing subplot taking us through China's complicated relationship with her mother/father/half-brother. You will love the people of Pecan Springs and Texas hill country.

Ms. Albert is one of those rare writers who crafts her series books to work as stand-alone novels, and this book worked just fine as a stand-alone. I loved it enough to want to return to Pecan Springs again and again. I'm a big fan of Ms. Albert's "Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter," and am now equally enthusiastic about the China Bayles series.

Let's hope there are many, many more books to come from this talented writer. This is a very good way to spend $7.99, and way more satisfying than what's playing at the box office!

China Bayles' herb shop, Thyme & Seasons is doing well but not well enough to pay all the bills if her husband Mike's PI business doesn't get some customers. But in the vein of being careful what you wish for, Mike's next case is for China's newly found half-brother, Mike Danforth. Danforth believes that China's father was murdered and wants McQuaid to open this cold case. This, as you might guess, upsets China's mother.

And speaking of mothers, Ruby's mother is causing quite a stir in her seniors community and Ruby needs to have her moved to a new apartment where she can get the intensive care she needs now that she's showing signs of dementia. With all this going on, China has little time to spend with Carole Gayle who has arrived to give a papermaking workshop and needs help gathering samples. It's while they're out gathering Spanish dagger that they find a body and now time may be running out ... the killer needs to be found before the town gets torn apart by a jurisdictional dispute between local police and Texas DEA agents.

When you pick up a China Bayles mystery, you know several things: the book will be filled with interesting herbal information; the characters you've come to care about will be involved in some sort of mischief or mayhem; there will be a mystery to solve; there will be some delicious recipes to try out; and Pecan Springs will still be a smallish town filled with characters that can support even more books to come.

The mystery hinges on some very interesting bits of Texas legal history. I think I enjoy these books as much for their information about Texas history and culture as I do for the herbal lore and the characters.

If you like cozy mysteries where the violence is off stage but you still have characters you can care about and learn from -- give these books a try. You don't need to start with the first one. Albert manages to give you enough back-story to pick up on what's happening to the characters and how they inter-relate. But, I'm sure once you read one you'll want to start at the beginning.

China Bayles is back. This time she is sponsoring a paper-making workshop behind her herb shop. However, while she is gathering wild yucca or Spanish dagger with the workshop teacher, she comes across a body--once again. Susan, a friend of mine, has written her sixteenth China Bayles mystery, all with herb titles and a plethora of information about the featured herb slipped in between page-turning mysteries. I have learned to schedule time to read my once-a-year treat because once I begin, sleep, meals, grandchildren, and other pleasures are neglected.

Spanish Dagger is no exception. Subplots abound, in some instances wrapped up from previous books; in others begun, such as China's complex relationship with her father. Not so much as to annoy the reader, however, because you could pick up any one of the books in the series and be fully satisfied with a complete story. This time, the mother of China's friend and business partner, Ruby, shows signs of Alzheimer's, and Ruby must work with that very serious issue through the book. Ruby's current love plays a major part as well.

China's involvement in the most recent murder begins when she volunteers to feed and water the murder victim's Rottweiler. She just happens to look around the place and discovers a note hidden in one of the potted yuccas. Naturally, she hands the note to her friend Smart Cookie, the police chief, but not before she has read it. The plot thickens!

Albert's writing is gripping, intelligent, and often humorous--not cute and coy humorous as some mysteries are. Her main characters are true-to-life and believable. She has written another entertaining mystery with the occasional pause for deep thought.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women