La Plante, L. (2007). The red dahlia. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.

This is a police procedural. The murders are homage to the Los Angeles Black Dahlia murder.  On January 15, 1947, the mutilated body of Elizabeth Short was discovered in a residential neighborhood.  Thus, began a mystery that has intrigued for decades. The details of the crime are beyond gruesome.  This is one of the coldest of unsolved cases.

Now, you have the backdrop for The Red Dahlia.  The countdown begins as we follow Detective Anna Travis as she races against time to capture a copycat killer. During the course of her investigation, she must work with her mentor, and one-time lover, Detective Chief Inspector, James Langton.  Their relationship is one of the subplots, but it’s not particularly interesting.

The writing is excellent, the pace quick.  LaPlante is skilled in character development and building suspense. My interest peaked when the investigation began to focus on an upper class family. The pattern of familial relationships is as chilling, if not more so, than the actual murders. I gasped outloud more than once reading about the Wickenham family.  Money may not buy happiness, but it certainly can maintain delusion.

If you like to read mysteries and have moved beyond cozies, I recommend Linda LaPlante.  She is the creator of the original BBC/PBS series, Prime Suspect and producer/creator of dozens of television shows and movies in the United Kingdom and United States.  Her books have captivated millions of readers around the world.  For more information about this exciting creative writer, producer, and entrepreneur go to www.laplanteproductions.com.

Barry, B. (2006). The lace reader. New York: Harper Collins.

The unreliable narrator, Towner Whitney, is a member of a family of women who can divine the future by reading patterns in lace.  I had not heard of this form of divination before so as a tarot and dream reader, I was intrigued. Towner has returned home due to the disappearance of her beloved Aunt Eva. This trip home and the events that follow trigger a long‑awaited breakthrough in Towner’s therapy which her Jungian therapist says has reached an impasse. This is a tale of mystery, secrets, myths, and magic entangled with the history of Salem, Massachusetts and the islands off its coast.

It’s not often I find a novel that impresses me with rich language, evocative description, and historical detail.  This was a magical, surreal journey into the life of a woman and her family. It explored the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, first love, second chances, fanaticism, class, power and religious tolerance.

Importantly, we are given a glimpse of the ways in which people are judged mentally ill by the dominant culture and their symptoms treated without acknowledgment of underlying transpersonal causes. I recommend this book to anyone interested in transpersonal psychology, mystery, history and divination.

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, HarperCollins, 2008 (ISBN 978-0-688-16318-1)

I love to read history as non-fiction or fiction. Reading Lehane’sThe Given Day, a masterful blend of fact and fiction, was a great pleasure. It’s rich with characters, suspense, and a plot that just grabs you from the very beginning. Lehane’s detailed descriptions placed me in the action – ready to organize a union or defend my rights by any means necessary. The passion in this novel brings to life the United States of the early 20th century with much of the action in Boston, Massachusetts highlighting the beginnings of tremendous change in the status quo. Workers agitate for better conditions, pay and respect; black veterans of World War I come home expecting or hoping for more from a country where many thought them not American; suffragettes demonstrate for the vote; and politicians take advantage of everything and everyone.