Death of a Wandering Wolf: A Hungarian Tea House Mystery by Julia Buckley

Cozy mysteries are my go-to books when I need something in between heavy books or when I just need something that easily grabs my attention and takes me away for a bit. This series has quickly become a favorite of mine after only two books. 

Death of a Wandering Wolf is the second in this series by Julia Buckley. I'm a bit bummed that now I'll have to wait for awhile before I can read the third. I may check out a few of her previous series while I wait. 

The Hungarian Tea Shop Mysteries center around Hana, her mother and grandmother. They own and operate a tea shop in the suburbs of Chicago. They are Hungarian, and many of the folks that live in the community are also either first or second generation Americans. Their tea shop is pretty popular, and  a big part of their community. There's also the interesting angle of Hana's grandmother: she reads tea leaves with eerie accuracy. And that little gift of magic has also been passed down to Hana-which she's quickly becoming aware of in the first two mysteries. That magic is helping her solve some murders. With the help of handsome Erik Wolf, a local detective, she's quickly realizing that there are many connections between her family and the community they live in-connections that go back decades to Hungary. Those connections are putting Hana in danger. 

This mystery revolves around the sudden murder of local well known artist William Kodaly--a man Hana just met at a garage sale, where she purchased a few of his paintings and a ceramic wolf. Hana collects antiques, and the wolf caught her eye. Kodaly was happy to sell it on the cheap, because he said it gave him bad vibes and he wanted it gone. Shortly after Hana leaves the sale, someone murders him. And when Erik discovers a tracking device on the wolf, Hana realizes this murder was not random, but deliberate. Now she's got to figure out who murdered Kodaly, and why. 

The list of suspects is large, thanks to Kodaly's romantic past-he dated a lot of women. Does one of his paintings point to the murderer? 

Besides the murder mystery, we continue to see Hana and Erik's relationship evolve, and Hana's decision to accept her magical gifts and develop them into something she can use and understand. And the food! Oh, the food. All the talk of sour cream and paprika had my mouth watering. My stomach is growling just thinking of it. 

I've really enjoyed both the first and second novels in this series. I certainly hope there are more to come. This series has me looking at other cozy series and expanding my TBR list for cozy mysteries. 

Rating: 4/6 for an entertaining read full of delicious food, warm and likable characters, and a mystery that isn't easily solved. Love this series. 

Available in paperback, ebook, and audio. 

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Death of a Wandering Wolf: A Hungarian Tea House Mystery by Julia Buckley

Inferno by Dan Brown

Inferno by Dan Brown is the hottest adult fiction book of the summer.  It's been years since Dan Brown published his last novel, The Lost Symbol and now he's returned with a thriller set in Italy.

This novel returns with our hero, the Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon.  And it starts off with a bang.  Robert wakes up in a hospital, and he doesn't remember where he is or what's happened to him.  He thinks he's in Massachusetts, but quickly discovers he's in Italy--Florence, to be exact.  It appears someone tried to kill him, and he's got the stitches from a near miss with a bullet in the back of his head.  

Ok.  As a reader, you have absolutely no clue what is going on--you know as much as Robert does, which isn't much.  

And then all hell breaks loose.  This novel is one long chase through Florence, Venice, and eventually another country (I won't tell you!).  And it all takes place over a few days.  It's an exhausting journey that Robert begins, aided by Dr. Sienna Brooks--a young English doctor who was working at the hospital the night Robert was brought in unconscious.  Robert is desperately trying to remember why he's in Florence, and who the heck is trying to kill him.  All he remembers is a woman with silvery hair begging him to "Seek and ye shall find", surrounded by dead bodies.  What the  kind of hallucination/bad dream is this?  And he's also seeing images of this is his mind:

This creepy mask is called a plague mask.  Doctors wore it in Venice when the Black Death was killing thousands of people a day in the 1300's.  They thought the long beak would keep them from being exposed to the plague.  

All this connects to Dante's Inferno.  And Robert Langdon is under a time crunch to put all the pieces together.  And he's being chased by a heck of a lot of people.  Who is the enemy, and who is trying to help him?

I enjoyed this novel.  You get a tour of Florence and Venice and all the important buildings, art, and symbols around both cities.  It can be a bit dizzying and distracting, and it makes you want to stop reading and look up photos on the internet.  I think for me, the only answer is to actually go to Florence and Venice.  You don't have to read Dante's Divine Comedy to understand this novel; it is all explained as you move through the story.  The incredible beauty man has created is overshadowed by the incredible evil man has also created; it's up to Robert to stop it before it's unleashed.  Can he do it?

Oh, the ending was not what I was expecting.  I thought it was pretty darn clever, and left me saying "holy crap!".  The ideas Dan Brown brings forth in this novel are certainly relevant in today's world and will have you thinking about population growth and the earth's ability to sustain it. Major themes are nature, science, and evolution--do we ethically use science to progress humanity?  And what is the evolution of humanity, anyway?  It will be interesting to see if Dan Brown continues his next novel on this theme.  I will certainly be reading it!

Rating:  8/10 for a good old thriller based on Dante's Inferno.  The descriptions of places and art around Florence and Venice can be a bit dizzying sometimes, but certainly immerses you in the world of this novel.  A perfect read for a summer vacation.

Available in hardcover, e-book, and audio.

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Inferno by Dan Brown