from Victoria McClure: Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert
(Berkeley Prime Crime, 2006)
Greetings, friends. Welcome to the first book review. I am planning to review a wide variety of books, from mysteries to essays to travel books to whatever I happen to find that has a connection to what all of us love—herbs. Sometimes that connection might be through food, other times through travel or a good whodoneit.
This month’s selection is Susan Wittig Albert’s Bleeding Hearts (Berkeley Prime Crime, 2006). I first met Susan at a conference at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana. She had two books out at that time, Thyme of Death and Witches’ Bane. Since then, she has written 13 more China Bayles mysteries, written a Victorian mystery series with her husband Bill Albert (they write as Robin Paige), and started the Beatrix Potter Mysteries under her own name. Susan has also published two works of non-fiction and her latest work, China Bayles’ Book of Days will be published on October 3, 2006.
Like her other China Bayles mysteries, Bleeding Hearts takes place in Pecan Springs, Texas, a mythical town in the Texas Hill Country. China owns Thyme and Seasons Herb shop, which has grown to include Thyme for Tea, a tea room she owns and operates with Ruby Wilcox, a New Age wonder and China’s dearest friend. As is true in all of her books, Albert uses an herb to establish the central theme of the novel. In this case, it is bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa). And, in this novel, hearts do bleed.
I don’t want to give away too much of the story. Suffice it to say, Albert works with situations that affect all of us and all of those dear to us. She does not shy away from that which is painful or hurtful. Rather, she confronts issues head on with a mixture of regret, compassion, anger, and good sense. Having read all of her mysteries over a number of years, I have watched Albert’s writing style grow and change. She has, in many ways, crossed a boundary in her fiction. It has gone from being what one expects in cozy crime fiction novel (dead body, amateur detective who finds out stuff the pros can’t, quirky characters) to fiction in which the crimes are almost incidental. That is, we now read Albert not because of the dead bodies, but because of the human elements she imparts. Her characters are real to us. They hurt, laugh, love, and stumble. And, we are with them through every step. Their lives are complex and rewarding, difficult and daunting, but always interesting to read about.
In Bleeding Hearts, there are philosophical musings reminiscent of Merle Shain (Hearts That We Broke Long Ago, Courage, My Love) and a movement towards more depth and social commentary than might be found in the traditional crime fiction novel. Read the Ballad novels of Sharyn McCrumb if you want to see a similar progression. Susan Wittig Albert’s latest novel is multi-layered and provocative, with a definite continuation of the deepening of her characters and their lives indicative of a writer who is not content to stay within the established boundaries of a particular genre.
