Thyme of Death

Tired of straining your brain on those worthy but weighty tomes? Feeling blue and not ready for anything remotely resembling "serious"?

Well, here's a book (and series) for you. Set in West Texas, this easy-going, light-hearted series of mysteries is just the thing for those difficult times when nothing seems to suit, every book is too hard or too sappy, and life is just weighing you down.

There's nothing arcane or "woo-woo" here to put off the reader who avoids fantasy. Just pleasant mysteries solved by a lawyer who has left that career to run an herb shop. Interesting, amusing, and delightfully relaxing, these books will soon work their way into your heart.

"Or did he just say to her, 'My dear Ms. Gilbert, I really think it would be extremely helpful if you took these pills so my corporation and I can make a cool five or ten million dollars on this airport deal'?"

You guys! I have a new mystery series! In my usual overenthusiasm about discovering a long series, I have tried to track down the full series - I wanted to get them in audiobook for the gym, but only about half of the China Bayles series has been done in audio, so I'll be switching it up.

Aaaaaaanyhow.

So China Bayles has quit her toxic lawyering in Houston for Mean Nasty Companies and retired to a little place called Pecan Springs (how could anything bad happen in a town called Something Springs? Only good things spring, like show more winter and bunnies and Slinkies) where she has bought a herb shop called Thyme and Seasons (har har puntastic) and her shop-neighbour is a crazy new Age lady called Ruby, and she has a little cottage behind the shop and thus General Happiness. Except! Drama! Lo, for China's friend Jo has died. Terminally ill already, she seems to have hastened her end with some friendly little white pills and a quarter gallon of Bloody Mary. But that wasn't like Jo. Has there been a Misdeed here? Has there?

I love a single lady investigator (Vic Warshawski, Kinsey Millhone and Amelia Peabody, after a manner, look over my shoulder as I type this). Even better one who's not actually an investigator but gets Caught Up In Things. Throw in the crazy neighbour (Vic and Kinsey each have one of those too) and a smattering of one-liners and puns, and I'm in heaven. It's quite cozy, in that there's only 3 bodies, and while two of them are covered in blood, there aren't any violent knife-wielding men tying our heroine up in a dark room and waiting for the rats... no, China and Ruby solve their mystery over tea and cornbread. There's quite a lot of obvious misdirection, but I didn't guess the baddie, so that's fine with me!

What more do you want? GO BUY THIS SERIES. Now. I'll wait for you to read some and come back and discuss.

Also - what's not to love about that 80's cover? show less

This book is the first in the China bayles series. China is an attorney who has given up the high paced legal jungle to pursue the quiet town living of an herbalist. That's what she says, but she gets caught up in the investigation of a murder which the police see as a suicide of one of her best friends.
The story is well woven around the characters in the small town of Pecan Springs, TX. What amazes me is the way the writer leads the reader down a path leaving subtle clues but misdirecting you in other areas so that when the resolution comes to light, you say to yourself - DAH! I should have seen that, but everything points that other way. Definitely a series I want to continue.

It’s the early 1990s and China Boyles, disenfranchised lawyer and enthusiastic herbalist, has escaped to the fictional town of Pecan Springs, Texas where she acts as the town’s herbalist, selling herbs and items that smell like herbs. When her good friend dies, apparently by suicide, China is suspicious. More deaths ensue as clandestine relationships and financial arrangements are revealed.
Thyme of Death ticks all the boxes for a cozy mystery: somewhat amateur detective, very grisly murders, and police who act as a foil to the main character’s investigations. The chief of police in this small town, though, is only mildly obstructive; despite his slightly repulsive demeanor and habitual suspicion when dealing with China, the Chief show more holds a grudging respect for China. That respect is reciprocated, as China frequently tells her friends not to underestimate the Chief’s abilities.
There’s a bit of romance as well (not with the Chief), and toward the end of the book, possibly a hint of greener pastures for China in that department.

The book has two drawbacks: Most glaringly, dialect is used as shorthand to indicate that a character is somehow unpleasant or unintelligent. When a (presumably uneducated) townsperson uses the word “TV,” it’s depicted as “tee-vee” in dialogue; and when a character uses the word “thang” (in italics) instead of “thing,” the reader knows China does not respect that character. This is an unpleasant and ineffective literary device; I paused at every usage while trying to figure out how “tee-vee” would sound different than “TV.”
The second drawback? I figured out who the killer was early on, and was disappointed to see how long it took China and her cohorts to reach the same conclusion.
This series is still active with 28 titles, the most recent published in 2021. I’m giving it three stars; it’s a series I’ll probably continue, both because I mostly enjoyed the debut novel and because I’m looking forward to watching how technology unfolds as China moves from 1990s snail mail and home phones (they weren’t calling them land lines then) to the uber-connected wireless world of the 21st century. show less

The whole plot seemed contrived, particularly getting China involved in solving it and keeping the police out of solving it. The characters are all small town busybodies with little charm, all of them very much right out of small-town character casting. Despite the chief of police being described as smart and competent, he’s just as quick to declare a murder solved and get back to watching his Sunday football game as any caricature ever was.

I suppose I should have guessed this was just a step above "cozy" when I realized it was the first in a series about an herb shop owner who solves crimes. My personal feeling is that if you have random people solving crimes, they should have a black van and be four people on the run from the U.S. show more military.

Full review at my blog: http://reading.kingrat.biz/reviews/thyme-of-death-susan-wittig-albert show less

It's almost surprising to me how good some of these gimmick mystery series are. There are a lot of lousy ones, to be sure, but many have solid characters, a good plot, good pacing, and enough twists in the puzzle to make it not too easy to solve.

This is one of the better ones. China Bayles' transformation from high-powered lawyer to small-town shop owner is just about believable. The final identity of the murder seemed a bit unlikely, but I thought the motives fell into place nicely. I found the amount of fictional star power rolling through the tiny town to be a bit hard to stomach. Oddly, the smalltown characters seemed a bit more real to me than the millionaires and big-city types, but maybe that was just me. Definitely worthy of show more reading a few more if I find them. show less

Very readable mystery, the first in the series, with mostly unpredictable twists and turns. What made me relate to it even more was the fact that the mystery takes place in the area close to which I recently moved (a Librarything friend suggested this author having learned of my new location, and I am glad she did). The protagonist, China Bayles, having gotten tired of being a high-shot lawyer in a big city, settles down in Pecan Springs (not far from Austin), a small town with an unmistakably rural Texas feel, and while finding great relief in tending to a small herb growing business and shop, she stumbles upon and solves a mystery that makes her use her skills as a lawyer and investigator (her tending to herbs was another perk for me show more - to be interested in the book and, possibly, in the series). show less