Customer Reviews

Nightshade: China Bayles #16 (China Bayles Mystery)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you haven't read the China Bayles books - please start, but NOT here. This is the culmination of the mystery surrounding China's family and it is the best of all of her stories. The characters are fleshy, the story line is full of mystery - just enough of Ruby and plenty of food. Your mouth will water with the succulent dishes AND the murder mystery. Ms. Albert is a superb writer. I look forward to each book and try to take my time - but in a day or two the read is over and I am waiting again for the next book. Buy the first book and don't stop until Nightshade. This is an excellent series of books written by a skilled author.

Nightshade is the 16th China Bayles mystery and the first in which we hear her husband, McQuaid's,POV. Although the tense changes, I did not find it all that distracting and it was great to know what he thinks and feels about China.This book is the third in the trilogy that began with Bleeding Hearts with the discovery of China's half brother and his interest in their father's death. I liked that Ms Albert took this long to develop the story so that we had a feeling for China's aversion to it but an understanding of why she ultimately gets involved.
The China Bayles mysteries are exceedingly well written and, in my opinion, the best of the genre with the amount of research that is involved and the inclusion of Ms Albert's knowledge of herbs and their uses. And the recipes that are included make your mouth water! Who could ask for more? I highly recommend reading all 16 books, preferably in order, because of the character growth and the new characters that appear now and then.

If you have not read the China Bayles series, I suggest that you get started, and quickly. This is by far the best of the 16 or so books in this wonderful series. It also the last of the trilogy of books about China Bayles' family secrets, and her father in particular. For that reason, I wouldn't suggest starting here. These books progress and the characters develop in each book, so the only way to truly enjoy this series is to start with the first one "Thyme of Death" and read on from there. I envy you your journey into the fascinating world of China and her friends! I really don't want to say too much about the story in this book because it would give too much away, but once you have gotten to "Bleeding Hearts", which is the first of the three books in the mini-trilogy about China's family's past, you will want to read "Spanish Dagger" and this book very quickly in order to get to the heart of the whole story. This book has lots of wonderful herb lore too, and some fascinating recipes at the end. I cannot wait for another China Bayles' book, and hate that it will be at least another year for me to touch base with China and her friends.

Recently, China Boyles learned she had an illegitimate half-brother Miles sired by her father on his secretary Laura who worked in his law firm. He never knew the man he called uncle was really his dad until his biological father died leading to Miles finding letters written to his mother. They implied he was in danger and so were Laura and Miles. Miles believes that the car accident that killed his father was in reality a murder.

China is not interested in reconnecting with her past to find out if her father was murdered but her husband McQuaid, now a private detective, is very interested for numerous reasons. When Miles thinks he located the car that his father died in, he asks McQuaid to meet him at a designated spot. When he doesn't show up, China and McQuaid learn he was killed in the garage where he parks his car for work. McQuaid is determined to carry on with the investigation and when he goes to the location of where the car is supposed to be the woman who is holding on to it looks like she is dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. McQuaid is sure that it was attempted murder and when he pools his information with the info on the tape Laura made that China found, they go to confront someone who might have the answers not knowing that China is in danger of getting shot.

NIGHTSHADE is one of the best books in the China Bayles series. The story is told in the first person POV from the perspectives of China and McQuaid allowing fans for the first time to understand how he thinks. They will love what they learn especially how he sees his wife and his feelings about her that he is too macho to articulate. The mystery is well thought out and the killings in the present have roots in the past. Susan Wittig Albert always delivers a fantastic mystery.

Harriet Klausner

I'd give this 2 1/2 stars if I could.

I really disliked going between first and third voices, and especially hated that McQuiad's was in the present tense. How could that possibly be?

A mystery that stretches across 3 books gets lost. How can it not?

Please let us return to China and friends and their herbal businesses, with a cozy mystery in or near Pecan Springs thrown in for good measure.

This volume continues and brings to the forefront the big mystery surrounding China's father's death 16 years ago in a fiery car crash. Albert has been writing this into the backstory for the past three books, and it takes center stage in this episode and is finally solved. China's husband, Mike McQuaid, who has hung out his shingle as a private investigator, has taken the case for the half-brother China never knew she had, who wants to get to the truth behind their father's death. There are all sorts of political connections and shady dealings that come to a rather anti-climactic conclusion that I could see coming for at least half the book.

I am a big fan of the China Bayles series, but this particular book turned me off completely. For one thing, having one mystery span three entire books is just a bit much, IMO. But the biggest problem with this is that it doesn't even feel like Susan Wittig Albert wrote it. For the first time, she has decided to change POV and switches back and forth between China and McQuaid and that is very seldom a good thing in a novel, I've found. But the bigger sin is that she not only changes voice and POV, she changes tense! When we are seeing the world through McQuaid's eyes, we aren't really getting his thoughts and opinions as he has them. We are instead told "McQuaid is doing this now," and later, "Now McQuaid is doing THIS." I felt like he had a very chatty mouse in his pocket whispering into a tape recorder or something. I found this not only stupid, but extremely distracting. Enough so that I didn't even want to read those chapters told in that fashion, I wanted to just skim through them and get back to China. And then the author must have known her readers would be doing that because I'll be damned if she didn't have the anti-climactic climax, the culmination of three novels (!), told in that silly, icky third person voice in such an impersonal way that by that time, I honestly didn't care anymore.

I'm glad this isn't the way she wrote the other books in this series, or I'd have never picked up the second one. And I sincerely hope that she goes back to her normal method of telling China's story in the next book. If not, I'll be closing the cover on China Bayles. I didn't even want to finish this, and I can't believe I'm saying that!

Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert is the final book in her trilogy concerning the death of China's father. There are wonderful twists and turns of a very complex plot. I like the way that the author has increased McQuaid's character in using his voice to tell part of the mystery. This successfully fulfills the trilogy. This trilogy focuses on her father's death and the secrets that emerge.

The Nightshade family of plants includes benign, decorative and toxic members. In this latest offering in the China Bayles series, seemingly benign questions lead to uncovering a toxic combination of greed and secrecy that place China and her immediate family on a dangerous path.

Nightshade completes the story line that began in Albert's book, Bleeding Hearts, and continued in Spanish Dagger about China Bayles' relationship with her deceased father. Although the author reassures the reader that it isn't crucial to the story's enjoyment to have read the other two books, it does provide considerable background and makes the reader aware of the emotion China has allowed herself to feel over the loss of her father. Not wanting to revisit the topic, China keeps her half-brother at arm's length for as long as possible, but is finally forced to deal with Miles Danforth's suspicions about their father's accident.

When Miles hires China's husband, McQuaid, to assist him in his investigation, China takes part reluctantly in the search for her father's missing car, only to discover that Miles may know more than he is telling about the entire situation. In addition, China finds herself interacting with her father's old legal associates, whose current actions provide even more fuel to the investigative fire.

China is also charged with breaking the news to her partner and friend, Ruby, about a substantial inheritance from her recently deceased boyfriend. While it would seem good news, Ruby is overwhelmed with caring for her mother, who is ill with Alzheimer's and still dealing with the loss of her man. China knows she needs to address the situation with care and concern, hallmarks of her character that set these books apart from run-of-the-mill mystery series.

The author provides several chapters told from McQuaid's point of view. This additional voice was a bit odd for me in the beginning, but as the story progressed I looked forward more and more to McQuaid's take on the unfolding events.

Add this one to your summer reading stack and you won't regret it. Better yet, get the three books and invest some quality time getting acquainted with China Bayles.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

China Bayles said all along that she didn't want to become involved in investigating the sixteen-years-past death of a father she never could seem to please. She would like nothing better than to have the past and its painful memories stay dead and buried. Recent events, however, have turned up not only a half brother she never knew, but letters and other evidence that point to the possibility that her father was murdered. When her half-brother is killed under suspicious circumstances, it is up to her husband, McQuaid, to convince her to investigate further and even to narrate part of the story--a new twist.

Gladly, we meet old friends from Albert's prior stories as we visit Pecan Springs and China's herb shop and catering business, but the subtle twists and turns of her new investigation soon drag a reluctant China on a journey into the past. In this third book of a trilogy (first came Bleeding Hearts and Spanish Dagger), the door is closed on China's complex relationship with her father and maybe on some cold cases from her past as well. This doesn't happen without a lot of pain and soul-searching on China's part. What is it about fathers and daughters?

As in the prior fifteen books in Albert's herbal mystery series, we learn many interesting facts, uses, and mis-uses for plants. In this case, the often deadly nightshade genus is featured. The origins will surprise you, though, as they can be found in most people's everyday diet. Readers will be eager to try the herbal recipes and will be entertained from page one through to the surprise ending. Whether you are a long-tern fan of the series or this is your first Albert read, you'll enjoy China's latest exciting and suspenseful adventures.

by Rhonda Esakov
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Susan Wittig Albert has continued another great entry in her mystery series
with former lawyer China Bayles. I like that the main character has flaws but is learning from them. Part of the book is from her husband's point of view and it gives more dimension to the main character, China. Some major questions get answered, but there are enough loose ends that will hopefully be answered in the next book. This is a great book to sit and relax with a cup of tea.