Indigo Dying (China Bayles Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Susan Wittig Albert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2004 | Series: China Bayles Mystery (Book 11)

China Bayles heads to the tiny town of Indigo, Texas, to teach a Colors to Dye For workshop. But she quickly discovers that Indigo is a town with more than its share of dark secrets-secrets that someone thinks are worth killing to keep.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This latest accomplished entry in Albert's detective series featuring defense attorney-cum-herbalist China Bayles is both a smalltown murder mystery and a portrait of a Texas community whose existence is threatened by a dispute over mining rights. Bayles, who was also featured in Albert's Bloodroot and Mistletoe Man, has recently become part-owner of a combination herb shop and tea house called Thyme for Tea in tiny Indigo, Tex. But her new life-and the lifestyle of the bohemian entrepreneurs and elderly Indigo natives in the community-is put in jeopardy when Casey Ford, a reviled but powerful Indigo resident, concocts a plan to sell the coal-mining rights to a national conglomerate, a scheme that would allow him to evict most of the store owners in town once the deal is done. Ford is murdered days before he signs the agreement. Bayles and her husband, another former attorney named Mike McQuaid, find themselves stymied in their investigation of the murder by a town full of suspects who close ranks as they celebrate Ford's sudden death. Albert does a nice job of placing believable red herrings in Bayles's way, and she adds colorful details about herbal medicine and the dye business (another of Bayles's specialties). The heart of the book is the detailed depiction of smalltown life in Indigo, which separates the novel from genre fodder by providing a rich context for the mystery. The satisfying ending is icing on the cake, and Albert's impressions of Indigo are likely to stay in readers' minds long after the murder has faded.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

A brilliant [and] entertaining detective writer. -- Dallas Morning News

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (January 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425193772
• ISBN-13: 978-0425193778
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My husband Bill and I live on 31 acres in the Hill Country of Central Texas, and have longhorn cows, chickens, and geese, as well as the wild things that roam the meadows and woods. Our best buddies are our two dogs (Mr. Toro and Miss Molly Maquire) and our cat, Shadow. I garden for food (passionately) and am concerned about issues of global warming and energy depletion. You can find out more about all this in my memoirs: Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place; and An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days.

I've been writing professionally for over 25 years, after a stint in higher education as a professor and administrator. When I first started writing full time, I worked in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series--yep, you got it: I am both Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon! (How cool is that?) In the years I was writing young adult novels, with Bill or by myself, I wrote over sixty books. In addition, Bill and I wrote a series of Victorian/Edwardian mysteries together, as Robin Paige.

I am currently writing two mystery series: the China Bayles herbal mysteries and The Darling Dahlias, about a Southern garden club in the 1930s. You might also enjoy my eight-book series, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter. Another in-the-works project: a book about Rose Wilder Lane and her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Writing is not only my work, but my passion, and I am unspeakably grateful for the opportunity to follow my bliss.

I am an active member (and the founder) of the Story Circle Network, an international nonprofit organization that supports women who want to write about their lives. We offer the May Sarton Women's Memoir Award, publishing opportunities, workshops, online classes and writing circles, an editorial service, and lots of opportunities to connect with other women. I am the Coordinating Editor of SCN's book review website (the largest/oldest women's book review site on the Internet) at storycirclebookreviews.org. Check us out!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Good One!, February 28, 2003

By 

Marion "[e-mail]" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Indigo Dying (Hardcover)

I enjoy reading Ms. Albert's fast-paced, well-written mysteries because I always learn something new and fascinating about herbs. In this China Bayles story we learn history and a bit of folklore on the art of fabric dying using natural plants and herbs. The plot was tight and kept me guessing up to the last chapter. If you love herbs and mysteries, then this is the series for you!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful China Bayles mystery, January 17, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Indigo Dying (Hardcover)

Pecan Springs is the home of China Bayles, proprietor of the Thyme and Seasons Herb Shop and the co-owner of Thyme For Tea. She also rents out the small cabin behind her store to Ellen Holt, a beautiful reporter from Ohio doing a story on small town Texas. China and her best friend Ruby travel to nearby Indigo for the weekend to give a workshop and participate in the art and crafts festival.

They will be staying at the cabin of China's college friend Allison Selby, who along with the other thirty-six residents of Indigo are trying to revitalize the town. Allison's Uncle Casey Ford owns most of Indigo and intends to sell the mineral rights to Alcoa, who want to strip mine a seam that goes through the town's center. When Casey is murdered it is presumed that one of the townsfolk did it to preserve the town but Ruby and China, acting on a hunch, decide to investigate. Their search leads them right back to Pecan Springs and China's Midwest tenant.

In the latest China Bayles mystery, the author, for the most part, has taken her heroine out of her adopted hometown and placed her in various localities as a way of keeping the character fresh and the story line original. It works. Readers will find INDIGO DYING a very complex yet satisfying novel with a support cast second to none. Readers will enjoy observing China happy in her professional and personal lives and will eagerly await her next misadventure.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small Texas Town Murder Mystery!, March 21, 2003

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Indigo Dying (Hardcover)

This book is quite different than most of the others in the series. Even the theme is different because the book is written around the whole concept of natuaral dyeing. Plants are still a part of the story, but in a different way. In this book China and Ruby set out to save a small Texas town from dying. The local landowner wants to sell the mining rites to the land, and it didn't seem to matter to him that the land had people's houses and businesses on it. Needless to say, he was not a popular citizen and when he turns up dead, no one in the small town of Indigo seems to mind a bit, but then other things start heating up and another body is found that seems totally unrelated to the first murder, and China and Ruby, along with China's McQuaid are on the tail of a murderer. Not a bad little story.