Bloodroot

China is summoned by her mother to the home of her great-aunt Tullie at Jordan's Crossing, the plantation that had been in her mother's family for generations. Her mother's phone call had not been a simple invitation but a demand. There was a mysterious disappearance of a man only hours after Aunt Tullie had whacked him in the head with her cane. The more questions China asks, the more confusing and detailed the story becomes, until she finds herself discovering answers to secrets long buried by her ancestors. Nothing is as it seems in her mother's family, and some questions are never meant to be answered.

My mother always said you shouldn't shake your family tree too much because a monkey might fall out of it. That is a warning that show more China should have taken to heart in this tale. This book was completely different from others in this series, different setting, different feel to the characters, but I have to say it was one of the best ones I've read so far. I had the whole thing figured out way before China did and there were several times with I wanted to reach out and shake her and tell her to get back to her room and READ, but I still enjoyed this tale. It gets a 4 from me. show less

For a long time, it has seemed to me that every chapter in my life's story has held a meaning I'm meant to understand, a lesson I'm meant to learn - and this one is no different. Before I went to Jordan's Crossing, I believe it was possible to cut myself off from a past I had rejected, to disinherit myself from my family and renounce its unhappy legacy. But the past, as someone has said, is always present, no matter how completely you reject its mysteries or pretend that they don't exist. I think now that everything that happened during those difficult days at Jordan's Crossing was meant to make me come to terms with what is in my blood, to force me (if you'll pardon the metaphor) to dig out my roots.

I enjoyed this book in the China Bayles series. Located on the Mississippi plantation where she grew up, the story takes China back into her family's history - good and bad. The twists and turns of how her ancestors are related and their characters brings to light a genetic inheritance that could prove deadly to China and her mother. Her great grandmother, Pearl, leaves her diary that mysteriously finds its way for China to read and solve the mystery,
I also tried the cold cucumber soup recipe and it was delicious!

This was a fantastic story for its multilayered story lines, southern gothic elements, and historical elements. Not a traditional who-dunit by any means but something much better!

Loved this story. It was chance to see China at her best, AWAY from McQuaid and Brian. The thing I didn't like was the fact that she believed Amanda's story too quickly. She should have demanded a DNA test before she let her anywhere near the old lady. Also, and this is a minor thing, the family tree chart includes Brian as her son. He isn't a blood relative so there should've been a notation indicating that he is a stepson. At least an asterisk or something. Other than that it was a fun addition to the continuing series.

This book is well into Albert's China Bayles Mystery series but with a very different plot and atmosphere. Although Albert and her husband write many books, they seem to be able to avoid the reworked plots so many series writers employ because they can still make money off the same old thing.

This China Bayles novel is very different from the others in the series. It has a bit of a darker feel to it. China travels with her mother to the Louisiana home of an elderly great-aunt and uncovers the answers to a number of questions about her family's troubled past. A very good read.