Travel Month and Forget Me Never by Susan Wittig Albert

 I can't believe the entire month of August is gone! I am glad though. It is our hottest month here in Central Texas. I guess I got pretty wrapped up with butterflies. Monarchs to be exact. I have some milkweed and hatched 15 monarchs this August. One more waiting to hatch. Here is one. Some flew off as soon as I opened the butterfly habitat. A couple I had to let grab onto a branch and set in a plant. This is one of those I had to coax out. There is a certain amount of daily tasks to make sure all is well. It tasks month from egg to caterpillar to butterfly. With that and trying to keep plants alive and work, I guess I took a break from here.

We did have out monthly Mystery Book Club. For August we traditionally read "vacation" books. Read a book set where you went for vacation or have a vacation planned. Or read a book set in your favorite destination or dream vacation. We had four books set in Texas and three in Hawaii, three in the Navajo nation and seven outside of the continental US. Interesting mix and we learned a lot of history about the settings actually. We went overtime, up to closing!

I chose to read a mystery set in Texas and gave me a chance to catch up on a series that takes place nearby.

Forget Me Never by Susan Wittig Albert

About: 

"Olivia Andrews is locally famous for her blog and podcast, “Forget Me A Crime Victim’s Storyboard,” which is dedicated to telling the stories of victims of crime. Now, she has a stunning story to tell about a decades-old murder mystery involving a prominent citizen of Pecan Springs—someone who isn’t the man everybody thinks he is. But she is killed by a hit-and-run driver while she’s out jogging early one morning. Was it an accident—or something else? Her sister wants to know.

And Olivia’s friend China Bayles also wants to know, urgently. Who is the prominent citizen Olivia was about to expose? How did he manage to get away with murder twenty years ago? Did he kill Olivia to keep her from revealing his secret? What is local lawyer Charlie Lipman trying to hide? And when there’s another murder . . . well, it has to be a part of the same story, doesn’t it? And so does the scrapbook a cousin has compiled to honor the memory of one of the victims and make sure she won’t be forgotten. It might hold the answer—except that the one person whose face China wants to see has been scissored out of every photo.

Forget Me Never asks the compelling questions Who remembers? What do we choose to remember? Why do we forget? Like other novels in the China Bayles series, Susan Wittig Albert’s book is an engaging mix of mystery, murder, and herb lore, past sins and present secrets, and characters who are as real as your friends and neighbors."

This is book 29 in the China Bayles series and brings me up to date. It was a good story. It brought in current times with the young blogger/podcast character. This story title is a reference the the flower Forget Me Nots. China, who is owner of an herb shop, is currently writing a series for the local paper about herbs that can help with memory. I like how the characters have evolved over the years. I like the references to places and terrain that is local. This time, China drives out to Fredericksburg and visits a coffee shop and a diner. The food sounded so good, I looked them up and they really exist! May need to take a road trip.

There are a couple more books I have read or listened to this month and will get them posted. 

Looking forward to Masterpiece Mystery kicking off September 15 with Moonflower Murders and Van Der Valk. 

Currently reading: The 6:20 Man for our next mystery book club.