Customer Reviews

Bleeding Hearts (China Bayles Mystery)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
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Bleeding Hearts saved my sanity on a recent uncomfortable plane ride. I was able to get fully absorbed and keep the pages turning, despite cramped conditions and witchy flight attendants.

The plot of Bleeding hearts has been described by editorial and individual reviewers. The book gets us reacquainted with China and lets spend more time with her teenaged stepson and larger-than-life best friend Ruby. The plot hinges on a timely topic: a popular athletic coach has been implicated in serious crimes. The high school principal asks China to investigate discreetly.

Albert writes smoothly and professionally, deftly describing characters in a sentence or two and lovingly creating a sense of place. I caught only a few misses. For example, in one scene, China realizes her "backside" will be covered with orange cat hair...but we're not told what she's wearing! With jeans, who cares?

Fans should be warned, though: If you're looking for surprises and plot twists, you won't find them here. While several recent mysteries have turned up a villain who appears out of nowhere just in time to be properly vilified, Albert does the opposite. If you haven't figured out the coach's heinous crime before you've finished reading the jacket copy, you've been on a news fast for the last five years. And if you can't guess where China discovers a stash of evidence -- the only solid clues -- you're a newbie mystery reader (or easily distracted).

So Bleeding Hearts should be read like a trip along familiar territory -- engrossing, enjoyable but not especially startling. Even the subplots -- a missing quilt, letters from China's dead father -- lead us to a whimper, not a burst of gunfire.

I did get a bit puzzled when the high school principal, briefing China about the case, has to whisper "two words" to describe her concerns. These days it's hard to imagine a principal who'd be surprised, let alone one who couldn't say the words loud and clear.

Regardless, Albert's writing skills allowed me to overlook these flaws. I wasn't a bit tempted to put the book down or peek at the ending (maybe because I sort of knew it all along). And any author who can help me survive 21st century air travel has my undying gratitude forever.

So Bleeding Hearts makes me think of perfectly made apple pie: you've eaten
dozens in your lifetime, this one's way better than average...and you want to prolong the experience and go back for seconds.

One of the things I like best about this author is her ability to weave several stories together into a cohesive whole. Her characters are wonderful, her writing bright and refreshing, and her mysteries satisfying. I always look forward to a new novel in this series.

Another in the China Bayles series, and this time Mac isn't very prominent in the story. China is trying to solve the mystery of the death (suicide?) of a young girl of a friend but without raising a lot of eyebrows. Her investigation leads her to a local minor celebrity - and a history of trouble. While China searches for clues, she and her partners are struggling to handle all their business, having branched out into the tea room and catering, as well as cooking and delivering meals for people to keep in their freezers. The three women manage to "close" their cases amidst a hectic work life, mysteries of the past pushing forward, volunteer work, and their social lives. Albert's bonus of recipes and herbal uses is a pleasant addition to the story. Still like this series. It always makes me want to open an herb shop - and I don't even garden!

When Pecan Spring's resident and entrepreneur China Bayles is asked by her stepson's principal to investigate high school football Coach Tim Duffy, she is unable to say no because she hates sexual predators who abuse their power with a passion. An anonymous caller claims Tim left his job in Friendship because Margarita Lopez was talking to the school and the police about his seduction of her daughter Angela using his position, power and authority to seduce her. Angela tore up all evidence of the affair and blamed herself because the coach said she was sending out signals that he couldn't resist.

Ironically, Angela goes to college in Pecan Springs and China learns that the coed met a high school student who was being hit on by Coach Duffy. She doesn't want to go to the authorities for fear nobody would believe that the popular worldly coach would seduce a minor. Angela's roommate tells China that Angela was going to force him to stop his sexual deprivations but instead she commits suicide in a high priced hotel room. There are too many questions that are left unanswered but China is determined to find them so Angela can obtain justice even in death.

This is another entertaining, exciting and enjoyable China Bayles mystery in which the heroine discovers that she has a half brother who wants something from her and learns that her buddy Ruby's boyfriend is not what he seems. There remain open cases that will probably be dealt with in the next book in this series and fans will be eagerly waiting the next installment in this incredibly refreshing series. The heroine, a former lawyer, is a very likeable character and when she investigates something, readers find her actions very plausible. Susan Wittig Albert has written a creative who done it in which things and people are not as they seem.

Harriet Klausner

The hot potato is a popular high school football coach who China finds out has made a habit of abusing young teenage girls. He left his previous post under a bit of a cloud and one of his former "pupils" is found dead apparently of suicide in a Pecan Springs hotel room. The deeper China digs, the more it becomes apparent that this coach is guilty. This book is all about China. We don't see much of her husband, McQuaid, or Ruby either for that matter, but it's still a really good book. Ms. Albert handles this delicate problem with tact and she makes a darn good yarn out of it. I've been reading China Bayles books for six years now, and I look forward to each new one that comes out.

Pecan Springs is no different from most Texas towns when it comes to football--the Friday night sport is king and the winning coach is the biggest hero in town. Unfortunately, China Bayles finds out that the local coach, Tim Duffy, has a dirty little secret that involves sexual harrassment of young teenage girls. Tragedy ensues from an affair which the coach initated, when a young girl is dead of an apparent suicide. China finds herself busy with investigating this situation, plus the disappearance of a friend's potentially prize-winning quilt, and some secrets in her own family that have to do with her father and some old letters that he wrote. China carries on her investigation and eventually pieces together the truth. The only discordant note comes from a couple of clues which come from friend Ruby's Ouiji board (is this what happens when the hero can't figure out what to do next?) All in all, however, this is an interesting book in which author Albert skillfully weaves several plots together into an interesting whole.

The newest book in the China Bayles series will not fail to please. I managed to figure it out quite early, but that didn't dim the pleasure of the book any. While the topic is a difficult one - teachers sexually abusing students - I think the message is good. Definitely worth the time to read. It also ends with a question looming over China to be dealt with in the future - another book! There is also the issue of the mysterious Colin/Dan to be delved deeper into as well, leaving us with plenty to think about before the next installment.

"Bleeding Hearts" is my favorite entry into the China Bayles series. Even though the plot is pretty predictable, I found myself still wanting to read to the end. We even get a few more details regarding the Colin mystery. I appreciate that the author keeps this series fresh by introducing us to new characters such as China's half-brother. "Bleeding Hearts" gives China an interesting new asset to her family.

Reading another China Bayles mystery is like having a cup of China's lemon-lavender tea with the author and China in Thyme for Tea, the tearoom owned and run by China and her seemingly goofy business partner, Ruby, and listening to another of China's intriguing stories. I've read them all, but one does not have to read from book one, Thyme of Death, to make sense of the herbal mystery series. Susan gives the reader just enough information about China's past in each book to either pique one's interest into reading others or to just read on through. Each book of the series revolves around a particular herb, which is part of the title.

My problem with Susan's books is that once I pick them up, I am useless until I turn the last page. Her China Bayles mysteries portray China and Ruby's maturation processes along with mystery, murder, occasional mayhem, the growth of their Pecan Springs, Texas, enterprises, lotsa herb information, and recipes for a great variety of food. What else would one desire for an afternoon or evening [and into the night]? Perhaps a cup of herbal tea and just a bit of chocolate.

Bleeding Hearts continues Susan's tradition of feeding us an amazing amount of esoteric information about the herbs, this time, Bleeding Hearts. However, the sexual misconduct of an athletic coach forms the basis for this realistic story line. The high school principal approaches China with a request to quietly look into an allegation of misconduct of the highly popular coach of Pecan Springs' winning football team. The background of this tale, more serious than many of the China Bayles series, ultimately concerns China's stepson, his good [girl] friend, the apparent suicide of a young woman attending a local college, and the pressures and secrets of the local high society.

The story line is complex and a surprising delicious read. Not only is the recipe for lemon-lavender tea included, but several others, including a healthy dog biscuit recipe [for the overweight Basset Hound of China's household, Howard Cosell]. Alas, I must wait until next April for the next in the series. Or I could pick up one of Susan's Beatrix Potter mysteries or her Victorian series written with her husband under the name of Robin Paige.

Susan Wittig Albert is a friend as well as an outstanding writer. I may be biased; however, I've read some pretty bad books by other friends.

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

I liked this mystery for it kept my interest all the way to the end. Will not give any clues. Also liked that there was really more than one mystery in the book, so more than one plot. This author reminded me of Diane Mott Davidson. Davidson's main character is a caterer while Albert's is into herbs and a tearoom. There are recipes at the end of the book. Not that interested in the herb information, but there might be some who are. Highly recommend this book.