Bookish Nostalgia - October 2015

And now we are in a 'real' fall month - October.  I do like October.  It's not usually yet fall in my part of the world - we have a very short fall season, but it is mostly out of the 90's.  And sometimes Halloween is actually nippy or even cold.  We'll see how this year goes.  It's time to share my best remembered books that I read in the years 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.  You'd think that they would be ghostly or spooky perhaps.  Well, they are at least all mysteries - shocking, I know!  Here we go:

October 1995 - Under The Beetle's Cellar by Mary Willis Walker - This was a local author for me, who wrote about a journalist, Molly Cates, from Austin.  At the time I read this book, we were living in Portland, Oregon.  And I was a bit homesick.  Under The Beetle's Cellar won several mystery awards and honestly, I just remember it scared me.  It was about religious fanatics and an Austin school bus driver who was kidnapped, along with the schoolchildren.  This was only a couple of years after the David Koresh thing in Waco, which weirded all of us out.  I might need to go back and reread Under The Beetle's Cellar.  Time has passed and 20 years later, there have been a lot more strange cult type groups uncovered.  I'm curious as to what my reaction would be now.

October 2000 - Seven Sisters by Earlene Fowler - This is the 7th book in the Benni Harper mystery series that I talked about last week in the 'My Name In Books' post,  I shared that each title of these books is a quilt pattern and that Benni is a quilter and director of a folk art museum.  She's also married to the police chief.  In my reading journal (in which I very rarely wrote notes), I mentioned that this was the 'best Benni Harper book yet and that the characterizations were improving'.  The Seven Sisters is apparently a challenging quilting pattern and the mystery here was also challenging.

October 2005 - California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker - This was a stand alone book by this author and I remember really, really liking it.  In fact, after my library branch agreed to let me start up a mystery book club, it was one of the early books that we read and discussed.  The story of some Orange County, California brothers and their relationship with a girl who is eventually murdered.  It takes place over decades and we see what happens to each brother.  Lots of California culture and history in this one.  I found it fascinating.  Another one I ought to reread.

October 2010 - Crying Blood by Donis Casey - This is the 5th book in Casey's Alafair Tucker mystery series.  Set in early 20th century Oklahoma, it's a series I've mentioned several times.  Crying Blood is primarily Shaw Tucker's tale.  He is Alafair's husband and in this book, Shaw goes hunting with his brother and their sons.  Stuff happens and it's nice to see things from Shaw's point of view.  Shaw is part Native American and there is a whole storyline that follows the lore and legends of the Native people in Crying Blood.  Enjoyed this one very much.

And that's the end of our tour of books for October.  Join me next month when I see what was capturing my attention in November.