I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Wrack and Rune
by
Charlotte MacLeod
humor, amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Mysterious Press on November 6, 2012 and has 279 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Rest You Merry, The Luck Runs Out, Something the Cat Dragged In, The Curse of the Giant Hogweed, The Corpse in Oozak's Pond
Third in the Peter Shandy cozy mystery series set in Massachusetts and revolving around an amateur sleuth botanist. The focus is on murder and vandalism.
It’s June and it’s been two months since The Luck Runs Out, 2.
My Take
Professor Peter Shandy has become the go-to guy when murder outs, and while MacLeod does use third person global subjective point-of-view to show us the emotions, thoughts, and actions of a variety of characters, although most of the perspective is Peter’s.
MacLeod doesn’t hesitate to spell out the dialect, contrary to current “wisdom” insisting that the impression of dialect should be in the dialogue tag. It’s an argument I can understand in terms of easily reading it, but I do find spelling it out more effective in establishing character.
That Hilda! She’s a feisty one, lol. I can sympathize with her memories of her father running their farm. It did help that he had had seven sons! She does seem to be lucky in some of her relatives.
It’s all those Scandinavian names in the area that makes it so possibe that the Norsemen really had landed in the area all those centuries ago, making that runestone all the more likely to be historical and upend what we knew of the discovery of America.
It’s so sweet that Peter is developing a special strain of petunias just for Helen. He intends to name it Helen’s Fancy.
I love how charitable the College is. They really care for their students and graduates, partly through the The Agricultural Laborers’ Assistance Fund. Professor Shandy and Ames are a decent pair who also help out. More aid comes through Sieglunde’s assessment of the Horsefalls antiques and that they’re likely to see Great-aunt Matilda’s wedding china as a memory and not as an investment.
I did enjoy the back history MacLeod provides about the college’s founding and all the bad feelings about it from the Buggins family. Crazy old fool, spending all that money on education, lol.
It’s too bad the town doesn’t provide enough funds for the police department. It really does sound like they need a lot of help.
Another sad issue is the loss of so many family farms and those danged pushy realtors and developers.
Wrack and Rune is not short of the action. What with vandalism, murders, Hilda under siege from developers, family betrayals, the truth behind Jolene and Marie’s feuding, those lawsuits Nute is trying to bring, the sabotage on Cronkite, explosives, confronting the crowds and the police, whew.
Hmm, the number of healthy premature babies is abundant.
Ooh, I do love Peter’s attitude about grammar:
”. . . we who degrade ourselves by allowing our standards to be debased without a struggle.”
MacLeod makes great use of satire, creating a soap opera of a story that pokes fun at Scandinavian names and their love of herring; the emotional Thorkjeld Svenson (he so reminds me of Radcliffe Emerson from Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series) and his wife’s obsession with herring; the wide cluster of related people who are the son of so-and-so’s aunt’s brother’s cousin’s wife; the gossip; the school interests; the past histories; poking fun at nasty commercials at mealtimes; and, more.
Cronkite’s excitement about those big “scoops” — that crazy sprinkler system incident, the barbershop quartets parade — in hip boots will keep you laughing.
For some reason, I’ve been reading a lot of stories that involve pushy crowds who have no consideration for person’s property. What’s with that?
More action includes Thorkjeld’s angry attitude towards the unruly crowd, the students’ defense of the Horsefall farm, the murderous attitude of some characters, and the unhealthy greed.
Once I got past Rest You Merry, 1, and started in on The Luck Runs Out, 2, I came to appreciate MacLeod’s sense of humor.
And yes, it still reads like it’s set in the 1950s, although it’s actually the 1970s.
The Story
It was a hideous death that made no sense. Professor Shandy investigates that murder and the increasingly suspicious historic find that rouses all sorts of bad behavior.
The Characters
Professor Peter Shandy is a botany professor. Helen Shandy is Peter’s wife (for the past six months since Rest You Merry) and an assistant librarian in charge of cataloguing the Buggins Collection donated by Belial, who made the best white lightning. Jane Austen is their tiger kitten. Aunt Bessie sent a wedding present.
Miss Hilda Horsefall, who is as sweet as a barrel of vinegar pickles, will be turning 105 and is still very interested in a bit of fun. She suspects that Belial was her grandfather. Hengist “Henny” Horsefall, Hilda’s nephew who helps work the Horsefall Farm, is 82 and named for Great-uncle Hengist, who was named for his great-uncle Hengist who fought with General Herkimer at Oriskany. Eddie (runs a variety store) and Ralph (works at the soap factory) are Henny’s great-nephews who’d give their eye-teeth for the farm. Unfortunately, their wives, Jolene and Marie, don’t get on. Ralph’s son married that Bronson girl. Another son, Ralphie, helps out at the farm all the time; Hilly is a sister. She has ideas about what she and Aunt Hilda could do. Uncle Adelbert is being a jerk.
Spurge Lumpkin is Hilda’s handyman. The lascivious and duplicitous Canute “Nutie the Cutie” Lumpkin runs an antique shop, Nute’s Nook, in Lumpkin Center. Kenny, his mother was a Swope, has the land next door to Hilda’s. Bill Swope, I think he’s Kenny’s son, is doing some surveying and plans to major in Orchard Management.
Orm Tokesson was the Norseman.
Canute “Canny” Lumpkin, Spurge’s great-uncle, is fondly remembered by Hilda, even 40 years later. Other Lumpkins who could have inherited include Hannah, her brother Floyd, his son Malcolm, and Charlie Spurge and his wife and two sons.
Mrs Lomax is the cleaning lady for a number of professors. She’s also related to half the population of the county and quite the gatherer of information. Her aunt Aggie. Aunt Betsy Lomax is actually a cousin by marriage. Effie Lomax née Fescue is said to, um, have spent time with Belial.
The too-pushy-for-words Loretta Fescue is a realtor who’d been married to that drunken Jim Fescue. It seems he had reason to resort to drink. Their son, Fesky, does a good job of faking up repairs. He works for Gunder Gaffson and his company, Gaffson Development Corporation — Gaffson has a really bad reputation as a developer.
Balaclava Agricultural College was . . .
. . . founded by Balaclava Buggins and is located in Balaclava Junction, Massachusetts. His brother had been Bedivere and his son was Belial.
Thorkjeld Svenson is the college president and Grand Master of the Straight Furrow. He also has, now, the possession of the crummiest car in Balaclava County. He and his wife, Sieglinde, have seven daughters. Gudrun and Friedeswiede are their only unmarried ones. Thorkjeld’s 102-year-old uncle Sven came over from Sweden for Birgit’s wedding to Hjalmar Olafssen in The Luck Runs Out. Now Sven is making up for all those years of monogamy — just ask Hilda. Thorkjeld’s great-aunt Ylva had been Sven’s wife.
Professor Timothy Ames is Peter’s best friend and collaborator on the Brassica napobrassica balaclaviensis that brought fame and wealth to the college and the two professors. His son, Roy, married Laurie Jilles. Both are biologists who got teaching fellowships; they’ve moved in with Timothy and take care of him and the house. Jemima Ames is Tim’s deceased spouse (Rest You Merry). Lorene McSpee had been Timothy’s housekeeper in The Luck Runs Out.
Professor Daniel Stott and Iduna Bjorklund (The Luck Runs Out) are on their honeymoon. Odin and Freya are some of the Balaclava Blacks. Miss Tate is a student who hopes to become a food columnist. Bashan of Balaclava is the college’s prize bull. Janet is a librarian. Dr Porble is the library director; Grace is his wife who helps out.
The Balaclava Busters beat the Lolloping Lumberjacks of Lumpkin Corners at the Balaclava County Draft Horse Competition in The Luck Runs Out. The Headless Horsemen of Hoddersville, a local workhorse association, didn’t get close.
Fred Ottermole is the police chief for Balaclava Junction. The Lumpkinton chief of police is a Fescue, ahem, and hasn’t any more time for Peter than Ottermole.
Cronkite Swope is a reporter for the Balaclava County Weekly Fane and Pennon. He’s busy making plans for the winner of the Miss Balaclava Beauty Pageant. Cronkite’s mother, Marie’s cousin Bertha, married Charlie Swope and additional sons include Huntley and Brinkley, who both work at the soap factory. (Bertha was Mr Lomax’s cousin too.) Doc Fensterwald inspects the body. Charlie Ross runs a garage where the inhabitants of the Crescent also store their cars — one simply doesn’t park one’s car in the Crescent. Henry Goulson is a funeral director as is Jack Strath. Ferguson “Fergy” Black runs the Bargain Barn. Millicent Peavey is the waitress Fergy met in Florida. (Joe Peavey had been her second out of four.) It sounds like Henny made a good escape from Effie Evers. She and Bill Lewis went to work at the soap factory. The Lewises have some useful guard geese. Jeff Lewis is a son.
Roger Mudd was a renowned newscaster. Felicia D Hemans was effective in her PR for the pilgrims. Belinda was kidnapped in The Luck Runs Out. Paali had been a handsome Finnish boy who did babysitting. The Balaclava Boomerang is a popular drink invented by a Buggins. Peter and Helen’s neighbors include the overly nosy Mirelle Feldster and the Enderbles.
King Canute conquered England and married Emma, Ethelred the Unready’s widow.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a chocolate brown background with two overlapping creamy brown circles, each containing a horned Viking helmet with shading and highlighting. At the top is the author’s name in white. Below the graphic is the title in a slightly deeper creamy brown. At the bottom is the series info in white.
The title is the Wrack and Rune of both the involved families and that amazing historic find.
