Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery) [Hardcover]

Susan Wittig Albert (Author)

Book Description

Series: China Bayles Mystery | Publication Date: April 3, 2007

Between the herb shop, the catering business, and a weekend paper- making class, China Bayles has her work cut out for her. And now China's half- brother is opening up old wounds, trying to investigate their father's supposedly accidental death, and her husband is taking on the case-meaning she's just bound to get involved.

To put the unsavory business out of her mind, she's gathering supplies for making paper. But in a patch of yucca plants, she finds a body-cause of death unknown. Many residents of Pecan Springs live seemingly simple lives that hide complex and dangerous pasts, and it appears the victim was one of them. Now, while unraveling secrets that hit close to home, China must set the record straight-and find a killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Violent crime and long-buried intrigue disrupt the peace of Pecan Springs, Tex., home of herb shop owner China Bayles, in the piquant 16th entry in Albert's southwestern cozy series (after 2006's Bleeding Hearts). China's pleasant routines are first disrupted by the travails of her business partner, Ruby, who's apparently been stood up by her unreliable boyfriend, an ex-narc. Then China's recently discovered half brother, Miles Danforth, an attorney, insists on reopening the ice-cold case of their father's death in a car accident 16 years earlier. Miles has uncovered correspondence that their father feared for his life before he died, and recruits the help of China's husband, Mike McQuaid, a former Houston homicide detective turned PI. But China faces a much warmer corpse when she and her friend Carole discover a bloody body by the railroad tracks where they go to gather yucca. Albert's fans will savor recipes such as Texas tarragon vinegar and lemon-mint tea concentrate, plus botanical trivia. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

China Bayles and her business partner, Ruby, have their hands full in the latest installment in Albert's long-running series. The herb shop, tearoom, and catering business keep them busy enough, but China wants to add papermaking to her skill set, and on top of the that, they're awash in family troubles. Ruby's mother is caught shoplifting, and her ex-boyfriend stands her up again. China's recently discovered half brother is sure that their father did not die accidentally. He wants to investigate, and China's husband, a private investigator in need of a case, goes to work on it. Meanwhile, China sets out to gather yucca plants for the papermaking class and finds a dead body. Pecan Springs, Texas, seems like a peaceful small town, but that's never the case in a cozy mystery, and when China starts snooping, she finds several closets full of the kind of secrets that produce corpses. Albert combines a fast-moving plot with the botanical lore and recipes that her readers have come to expect. Solid entertainment well within cozy fans' comfort zone. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1ST edition (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425213943
• ISBN-13: 978-0425213940
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,112,854 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, sheep, geese, as well as the wild things that roam the meadows and woods. Our best buddies are our three dogs (Zach, Lady, and Toro) and our cat, Shadow. I'm a passionate gardener and am concerned about issues of global warming and energy depletion. You can find out more about the way I live in my new memoir, Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place.

I've been writing professionally for nearly 25 years, after a stint in higher education as a faculty member 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.

Now, I write three mystery series: the China Bayles herbal mysteries, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and a new series (starting in July, 2010) called The Darling Dahlias, about a Southern garden club in the 1930s. Writing is not only my work, but my passion. Truly a right livelihood, and I'm grateful to have found it. I am also a member (and the founder) of the Story Circle Network, a nonprofit organization that supports women who want to write about their lives.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A recommended read from the Texas Hill Country, October 14, 2007

By 

Linda Bulger (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery) (Hardcover)

The China Bayles series is alive and well, to the delight of this fan. Susan Wittig Albert always offers the reader a beautifully crafted story along with a wealth of information about plants. The little world of Pecan Springs is a home away from home.

Ms. Albert sets herself a challenge, which she acknowledges in the Note to the Reader at the beginning of SPANISH DAGGER, by interweaving and overlapping the stories in the series. This challenge is compounded by the first person narrative, but nothing could be more effective than the way in which China Bayles fills the reader in on the backstory. This is often a weak area in a series, but beautifully done in SPANISH DAGGER, as in all the China Bayles mysteries. A first-time reader will be effortlessly acquainted with the main characters and the continuing plots.

China's investigative pursuits are woven into the story quite plausibly, another challenge with amateur sleuths. While it's true that the reader has to suspend incredulity at so many murder victims falling at China's feet, Ms. Albert somehow makes it easy. The everyday doings of Pecan Springs form a backdrop to the complex and sometimes hidden relationships that reach from the shop owner next door (Ruby Wilcox) outward to the police chief (Sheila Dawson) and beyond to big-city police and agency corruption. The social issues threaded into the story are clearly there to further the story -- from drug running to a parent's dementia to gossiping townspeople. All part of the package in Pecan Springs!

China Bayles and the other main characters are well-rounded and continue to evolve, with the secondary players also springing to life. Characterization is one of the strong suits of this series. It's hard to go wrong with a few pets, too, and the Rotti Rambo is a worthy companion to the squirrel-chasing basset hound Howard Cosell, and the seventeen-pound Khat on whose clock "it's always five minutes past time to eat."

Anyone familiar with Susan Wittig Albert's work knows that she treats her craft and the reader with great respect. I recommend SPANISH DAGGER as another example of a great read from this versatile author.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written mystery, April 29, 2007

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery) (Hardcover)

China Bayles is busy running her herb shop and catering business and has arranged for a paper-making class run by Carole who has been recommended by her friend, Ruby. Ruby is having a hard time because she has been stood up by her ex-boyfriend and is trying to deal with her mother who seems to be suffering from dementia. When Carole and China begin to gather supplies for the paper-making class, they make a grim discovery and find a dead body. China carries on her own investigation to find the killer, much to the chagrin of her friend Sheila, who is the Police Chief of Pecan Springs. Another sub-plot deals with China's half-brother who is trying to find the cause of their father's death and the fact that China's husband has decided to take the case as part of his PI business, despite China's objections. This plot is only touched on and is apparently going to be addressed in a later book. This is a well-written mystery and, as is true of the other books in this series, it contains information on interesting herbs and their uses, as well as recipes.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent China Bayles mystery, April 5, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery) (Hardcover)

Between running her shop Thymes and Seasons, Thyme Cottage, and her partnering with Ruby Wilcox for Thyme for Tea and Party Thyme, China Bayles has no thyme make that time for herself. She is there for her friend Ruby who just broke up with her lover Collin, owner of an environmental friendly store. She doesn't tell Ruby that he's an undercover cop who got busted when he told a two level dealer that he was about to be busted. She is also adjusting to the fact that she has a half-brother, Miles Danforth who believes his and China's father was murdered in what was supposed to be an accidental car crash.

China's husband, now a private investigator, takes the case and heads out of town to do some investigating. When she finally gets a moment to breathe, she and a friend go to railroad tracks to pick yucca leaves but find the knifed body of Collin. Ruby is in Fredericksburg trying to get her senile mother into an assisted loving facility and asks China to investigate. With key in hand China goes into Collin's store where she gets the numbers of Lucita who called Collin on unexplained business. When China goes to the nursery where Lucita works, she finds Lucita's dead body with her throat cut. Something rotten is going on in Pecan Springs, Texas and China vows to stop it with the help of a drug sniffing rottweiler.

Susan Wittig Albert has written another excellent China Bayles mystery that is filled danger, action and intrigue. The mysterious stranger who is in town is either the cause or the one who intends to stop it. However he has never dealt with the heroine or Smart Cookie aka the Chief of Police. Readers will enjoy learning about China's past family life and hope that the answer about her father will be found in the next book in this delightful series.

Harriet Klausner