Summer Reading

 

The Brontes.

 

 

 

 

 

Volcanos and other sciency stuff

 

 

Sheila Simonson

local author

 

 

 

Sheila Simonson is a local author who was a (much younger) colleague of my Dad's at the community college where she taught English and History.

She is the author of two mystery series and a Regency Romance series.

 

 

Regency Romance

 

 



A Cousinly Connection

Sheila Simonson
1984

24 year-old Jane Ash goes to Meridan Place to assist her recenltly widowed Aunt Louisa.  The new heir, Louisa’s stepson, Lieutenant Julian Stretton, badly injured and previously estranged from his father, returns to try and straighten out the estate which is heavily mortgaged.  Jane helps her aunt and six cousins and in the course of her visit falls in love with Lord Meridan.  Set after Waterloo in an English village, the story has strong, engaging, and likeable characters in a believable plot, with the occasional amusing incident.  The author does a good job with finely drawn character development and deftly resolves the conflicts leading up to the final witty paragraph.

 

 

The Bar Sinister

 

Sheila Simonson

1986

 

This book, dedicated to author Anne McCaffrey, is set in the Regency time period 1812-1815.  Emily Foster, widow with a young son, decides to take on the care of two young children.  Their father, Captain Richard Falk, turns out to be the baseborn son of a Duchess.  This delightful Regency Romance is also full of intrigue as Richard, now a retired Colonel and earning his living as a writer of satirical novels, reconnects with his mother and a sister, yet must flee the murderous plots of his half-brothers with help from his close friend Tom Conway.  The characters are charming, the setting colorful and interesting – from London to country village with frequent mention of the wars of the time period.  (The military details are probably of more interest to those who are already knowledgeable about these historical facts.)  A well-written and thoroughly pleasant read.

 

Lady Elizabeth’s Comet

Sheila Simonson
1985

This second in the Clanross saga focuses on, of course, Lady Elizabeth Conway, and the new Lord Clanross, Tom Conway, the unexpected new heir to the estate.  Lady Elizabeth and her younger sisters are now under the authority of this distant relative.  Although Elizabeth spends a lot of her time in her observatory, she helps their neighbor, Dr. Wharton, perform surgery on Tom’s war wounds.  When Elizabeth discovers a new comet and plans to publish her findings in a scientific journal her fiancé Lord Bevis disapproves.  This Regency Romance is sweet yet not syrupy and is a very amusing and chatty first-person account.

Love and Folly

Sheila Simonson
1998

It’s 1820 and the Clanross twins are eagerly awaiting their coming-out season.  Jean falls wildly in love, Maggie, more sensible, sets her sights on someone suitable while Tom, Lord Clanross, and his wife Elizabeth must try to keep them from folly.  The book also features Colonel and Emily Falk from a previous book in the series.  The story has the usual engaging characters with witty dialogue and clever plot.



 

 Lark Mystery Series

 

 

Larkspur

 

Sheila Simonson

1991

 

Told in the first person, this mystery novel follows Lark Dailey who is busy running her new bookstore in a small northern California town. When she is invited to a house party by a famous poet he is dramatically poisoned and Lark and her boyfriend Jay( a local cop) have to figure out which of the wealthy man’s friends and relatives is the guilty one.

 

Skylark

 

Sheila Simonson

1992

 

In this, book two of the series, Lark goes to London and witnesses an abduction.  The book is a combination spy novel, mystery, and travelogue with great description of London and Yorkshire.

 

 

Mudlark

Sheila Simonson

1993/1995

Lark has moved from California to coastal Washington state and is busy remodeling their home when her new neighbor, Bonnie, finds a dead body on the beach.  The convoluted plot contains a controversy over beachfront development, local politics, Native Americans, and an unemployed logger who kidnaps Lark and Bonnie.  The storyline has a somewhat unclear ending.  Contains some descriptions of the beach and surrounding areas.

 

Meadowlark

 

Sheila Simonson

1996

Lark is busy with her new bookstore but gets talked into helping with a writer’s conference at a local organic farm.  A missing person case turns into a homicide.

 

 

Malarky

Sheila Simonson

1998

This is the fifth book in the series.  Lark is with her dad in Ireland where he is doing historical research when she discovers a body.  While trying to figure out “who done it” she also drives her dad around parts of Dublin and southeast Ireland so there are some interesting descriptions of the locale.

 

 

 

Latouche County mystery series

 

Buffalo Bill’s Defunct

Sheila Simonson
2008

Meg Mclean moves to fictional “Latouch County” in the Columbia River gorge to begin a new job as a small-town librarian.  When a body is uncovered in her garage she and her new neighbor Rob Neill, sheriff’s investigator, must follow the clues to solve not only the murder but a ten-year-old theft of native archaeological artifacts.  With interesting Pacific Northwest ambience and some well-drawn characters the book suffers from stereotyped characters and a less than convincing plot. 

An Old Chaos

Sheila Simonson
2009

The plot involves a landslide in a brand new housing development brought about by crooked county officials.  The book includes some nice descriptions of the Columbia River Gorge from the Portland/Vancouver area through Camas to Hood River.
 

Beyond Confusion

Sheila Simonson
2014

Librarian Meg Mclean and her cop boyfriend, Rob Neill, return in another Pacific Northwest murder mystery.  This time the plot revolves around some property donated to the local tribe for a branch library and the vandalism and related murder.



Call Down The Hawk

Sheila Simonson
2017
The new Latouch county mystery pits a California banker, turned Washington vintner, against his neighbors.  Throw in a PTSD Veteran and estranged family members as suspects in his murder and Rob Niell must try to unravel the mystery.  Some of characters as well as the setting are interesting but unfortunately stereotypes abound.  There is a useful cast of characters in the front of the book.