Customer Reviews

Spider in the Sink (Kate Mulcay Mystery)

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

 

 

What a treat to again get a glimpse of the wonderful world of Celestine Sibley. The stories always end too quickly or rather you wish they would just continue.

It is almost Christmas and Kate Mulcay is working with plants, as she is prone to do, when she meets the new handsome priest from the nearby Episcopalian church. She hasn't been in the market for a husband since the death of her beloved Benjy, but this man is terribly attractive. Ms. Sibley weaves the priest, along with three teenage girls, a couple of homeless men Shag and Warty, a driver Beau, at al. smoothly into a plot that involves what appears to be the murder of a rich Buckhead socialite. Ms. Sibley was a longtime Atlantan who has written book after book about her beloved city, one of the problems I found with this otherwise most inviting little mystery. Since the story is told from the viewpoint of Kate, Ms. Sibley gives far too much information about the city she loves. The references are accurate and interesting certainly to another Atlantan but Kate tells the reader a lot more than she shows him. But there are references to the Olympics, Mayor Maynard Jackson, Capitol Homes, Underground Atlanta, the City Grill, the Carter Center (President and Mrs. Carter make a cameo appearance in the novel) the Candler Building--the list goes on. You can almost find your way around the entire city from just reading this novel. Another problem is that sometimes the characters speak better than they should. For instance Beau may use the word "git" in one sentence and in the next one speak impeccable English: "I don't know anything about that poor woman's being murdered." And while "Foodstamp" is a perfect name for a homeless man's dog, surely a newspaper in a major U. S. city would never be named "Searchlight." Perhaps Ms. Sibley did not use the actual name of the newspaper in Atlanta in her novel for legal reasons; on the other hand, she did use the real name of one of its employees, Robin McDonald, a police reporter. In the novel she becomes a character that Ms. Sibley refers to several times as "Robin McDonald, the pretty police reporter."

For the most part, however, Ms. Sibley gets the dialect right. People "knowed," they "git," they "brung," they have "young'uns," they "spark." Her plot also moves right along as she develops both a murder mystery and a love story.

For those who read Ms. Sibley's column in the ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION for many years, it is easy to see shades of her in the character of Kate. Like Celestine, she lives in a log cabin in north Fulton, she is fond of simple things and gardening, she detests pretention and she always has a hand for the homeless and those less fortunate than she. The ending of this little gem is really quite moving and makes a fine statement on why people of all faiths or no faith at all celebrate Christmas.

When I finished SPIDER IN THE SINK, I was reminded how much I always enjoyed reading Mr. Sibley and how much I miss her comments about the way the world runs and what we can all do to make it better.

One of the most worthless books I've ever read-and I don't ask much from pulp mysteries. What's with this chick?!? She meets this preacher who almost minute one inexplicably starts talking of wanting to marry her, and even though she seems to barely like him she considers it ... over and over again?!? Even if she did like him, what kind of fool must she be to seriously think of marrying someone she has had so little actual contact with?!? His actions were so bizarre at times that any sane person would be running for the nearest exit. Their whole interaction was ridiculous. As were the antics of the schoolgirls. Do not waste a single second on this book! I only gave it 1 star because there wasn't a lower option.

I only made it about 2 chapters in this one. Again, Sibley's writing style is fairly good, but she doesn't do needed research. The protagonist was so silly in the previous book that I nearly didn't open this one, but I'd checked it out and thought I'd give her another chance. One of the characters is supposed to be an Episcopal priest, and, admittedly, Episcopalians come in some pretty strange forms these days, but I can't imagine one who would have an Advent wreathe with three purple candles and one white for Christmas (three purple and one rose, and a white one in the center for Christmas; or four purple and one white in the center for Christmas) nor "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" would be sung in the service before Christmas itself. NOT during advent. Episcopalians aren't that hard to research. Why didn't she inquire? It wasn't worth finishing the book.