The Desk From Hoboken, Beautiful Ugly

 Here in Texas it's:

We read mystery books with our favorite hobby theme for our August Mystery Book Club. Indoor hobbies are recommended right now as our temperatures are well over 100 degrees right now.

I chose: 

The Desk From Hoboken by M.L. Condike

About: " In a bid to heal from the grief of a personal loss, forensic genealogist, RaeJean Hunter, takes on a straightforward case —identify human remains found on a nearby college campus, believed to be the 180-year-old remains of Mary Rogers, a woman who died mysteriously in 1841 and was believed to have been buried in the nearby cemetery that had washed away. It should be simple enough, a project to get her back in the game.

Unfortunately, it quickly becomes anything but. In fact, it becomes downright dangerous.

Someone doesn't want RaeJean to investigate the puzzling death of the woman whose death inspired Edgar Allan Poe's "The Mystery of Marie Roget." As she follows clues through four states and discovers living family members who both help and hinder her search, she quickly realizes that the secrets of Mary Rogers' demise were never meant to be exposed.

What lengths will someone go to keep the truth buried in the past? As threats escalate and RaeJean and her family's lives become endangered, she's forced to follow every lead and use every skill she has to find the answers she needs before it's too late. Using DNA from two famous New England families, historical data, modern genealogical techniques, and a little guidance from a seemingly mystical antique desk, RaeJean takes on the cold case despite being given every reason to abandon it.

After all, what truths have been hidden for 180 years that would be worth bribery, kidnapping, and even murder?

RaeJean Hunter is about to find out."

Since I have dabbled in genealogy for years, I wanted to read a genealogy mystery. This was a good story. As above, RaeJean is asked to complete a forensic genealogy assignment. Some bones were found near an old cemetery believed to be those of a famous "cigar girl" named Mary Rogers who died young under mysterious circumstances. RaeJean meets a descendant of the family at the B&B where she is staying while researching. While Lillian who resembles Betty White, acts as if she wants to assist RaeJean, she is less than helpful and maybe is trying to convince her to drop the case. There was another genealogist who started the research but was blackmailed to drop it. Lots of twists, more than one mystery and lots of danger. The story also describes some of the processes of genealogical research and "brick walls". What about the desk? When RaeJean goes to the university to meet with the man who asked her to take on the project, she sees an antique desk with a glass rose that seems to shimmer when she looks at it. She is drawn to asking if she can have the desk as payment rather than money. She takes it home to her newly renovated home office. Her dog keeps scratching at the desk. A puzzle box is found with no "key" which takes her to Chinatown to find someone to open it. Another twist.

I liked it enough that I am interested in reading the second book: The Doll From Dunedin. I am hoping for more from the spooky desk. Also of interest, Mary Rogers was a real person. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rogers

Our July selection was: 

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

About: "Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared. (Strange)

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do."

If you were a fan of Gone Girl, you will like this book. The story begins with the incident above and then jumps to one year later. As the description says, Grady moves to a very small island off Scotland. There's where the stranger things begin. Things are happening inside his cabin when he isn't there. Only women on the island who run everything from the small store to being the law enforcement. Soon the phones don't work, things are disappearing. Quite an ending.

What did the book club think of this book? I had to miss that meeting but the report seems like it was pretty much 50/50. The younger members and those that liked Gone Girl liked it a lot . There are a lot of twists and people to keep up with. If you like Alice Feeney, you will probably like it. Quick read.

Currently reading: With a Vengeance by Riley Segar and A Fine Day For Fishing by Chris Ward.