Monday, June 14, 2010

Murder at the Portland Variety (A Libby Seale Mystery) by: M.J. Zellnik

I have just finished reading another historical mystery. This one is set in Portland, Oregon at the turn of the century. Since, I am unable to travel at this time this is a good way to visit places that I would like to see in person. There is a second book in this series which I am going to start reading tonight, so that review will be up next, but in doing a little bit of research to find out if there were other books coming out I discovered that Midnight Ink Books has not opted to publish the 3rd book. I also discovered that M. J. Zellnik is a brother, sister team, Miriam and Joe. It's a real shame that Midnight Ink Books has chosen to pass on the 3rd book because this is a wonderfully written story.
The cast of characters all have very interesting personalities and Libby Seale is what I like to call a "plucky" heroine. You get an interesting take on the workings of a vaudeville theater of the time. They also included in the story about the early use of the telephone, which I found very interesting because today the telephone is something that is so taken for granted and is practically permanently attached to people's heads.
Libby with the help of her new friend Peter solve the mystery with lots of interesting twists and turns and the Zellnik team end to story with you wanting very much to follow Libby into the next phase of her life.
I don't know that much about the publishing world, but I think I'm going to do a little more research and try to find out if the Zellnik team have been able to find another publisher.
If you like "plucky" heroines and some wonderful Oregon flavor at the turn of the century, this is a 2 book read for sure.

Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥ 

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