Mother of Rome and Brit Mysteries

Where does the snow end and the blossoms begin?

Here's a trio of books that I recently read and enjoyed as the fickle Colorado weather played havoc with my need for sunshine and vitamin D. We had three inches of snow a few days ago, but now it is all melted and the tulips, daffodils, and crabapple trees are doing their thing.

Mother of Rome, by Lauren J.A. Bear - another wonderful novel by the author of Medusa's Sisters, which I read and loved last year. This time Bear tells the story of Rhea Sylvia, princess of Alba Longa, who becomes a wolf after giving birth to twin sons, Romulus and Remus--who were fathered by Mars, Roman god of war. 

Alba Longa was the city on the Italian peninsula founded by Aeneas, who fled there with the survivors after Troy fell to the Greeks, back in the mists of time.

This was a wonderful imagining of how Rome was founded, weaving the myths of the she-wolf suckling the infant boy twins, with the Aeneas myth, and throwing in Vestal Virgins as well a hunky river god of the Tiber River. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Rhea as she grew from entitled princess to super mom in wolf's clothing. Her cousin Antho was equally interesting--bartered into a loveless marriage after her father usurped the crown from Rhea's father, but strong and capable in her own right. Like with Medusa's Sisters, the theme of sisterhood runs strong in this novel.

The Crossing Places, by Elly Griffiths - This is the first in Griffith's Ruth Galloway series, which I heard about last year and finally got a copy from my used bookstore, after putting in a request for a copy. Ruth is an archeologist at a university in Norfolk, England, which was the hook that pulled me in. Ruth is brought into a missing child investigation when the local police unearth human bones near the site of an ancient sacred site that is in a salt marsh near where Ruth lives. 

The setting, the story, the main characters (Ruth, her neighbors, the local police, and her university colleagues), and the archeology were all fantastic. I am definitely going to be reading more in this series.

The Darkest Evening, by Ann Cleeves - another blue-covered mystery set in England, this is #9 in Cleeves's Vera Stanhope series. I just love reading about Vera and how she goes about her work. This time she discovers a car abandoned in a snowstorm, complete with an infant inside but the door wide open. Vera and her colleagues solve the mystery of the murdered mother, but not without needing to delve into the farming community's deepest secrets as well as poking around in the skeletons in Vera's own extended family closet.

Gardening Update

The onions, peas, lettuce, spinach, and strawberries are all thrilled with all the moisture over the past week and are healthy and growing rapidly. I've been repotting the seedlings under grow lights, and my guest room is starting to look like a jungle. I cannot plant most things outside until mid-May, but the violas are now in pots on the back deck. 

Love this time of year so much.