Book Review: Ranch Dressing by Diane Vallere (Samantha Kidd #15)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Samantha in another fun mystery

Cons: All cons rounded up and driven out of town

The Bottom Line: 

A week on the ranch

Starts with finding dead body

Book’s fun as always

Murder Down on the Ranch

It’s finally happened. I’ve caught up with Diane Vallere’s books! Me being here at Ranch Dressing, the fifteenth in her Samantha Kidd series, represents the results of a lot of hours of pleasant reading, and this book was no exception. 

For those who haven’t yet met Samantha, she’s a former fashion buyer who has found herself caught up in a series of mysteries after returning to her hometown of Ribbon, Pennsylvania. Quite a few of these are related to the fashion industry in some way. Along the way, we’ve watched her fall in love and get married to Nick Taylor, a shoe designer. 

Although it’s her father-in-law, Nick Senior, who gets Samantha involved in this case. He’s interested in buying a dude ranch in New Jersey, and she and Nick Junior are going along to support him. The entire ranch lifestyle is so far outside of Samatha’s wheelhouse, she doesn’t even have any jeans to wear. But she is determined to keep a low profile and be supportive. 

Her resolve is tested their first night on the ranch when she finds the current owner’s body inside the horse barn. As she gets drawn into the case, can she find a way to get the staff to open up to her?

In addition to fun mysteries, Diane Vallere’s books include great character growth for her characters, especially her heroines. The arc Samantha has been on the last few books really plays into who Samatha is when this book starts. As a fan, I appreciated seeing that play out here. If you were to jump in with this book, you’d miss some of that payoff, but there aren’t any real spoilers for previous books. Still, I’ll always recommend reading a series in order. 

Since this takes place outside Samantha’s hometown, a couple of the supporting players are reduced to cameos. But that gave Samantha and Nick’s relationship a bit more time to shine, which I enjoyed. And it allowed us to get to know some of the ranch staff which was nice because they were an interesting lot. 

Of course, this is a mystery, and this book never forgot that fact. I was quite confused in the best way possible by what was going on as I read the book. Yet the clues and red herrings lead to a logical and satisfying solution. 

Author Diane Vallere is a huge Trixie Belden fan. Any other fans of that kids’ mystery series will very much enjoy the Easter egg she placed in this book. 

As always, this book was filled with humor. I get a few laughs, chuckles, and grins as I read. 

Fans of Diane’s books will be happy to know that her next release, the next in this series, will be coming in a couple of months. If you aren’t caught up yet, that means you’ve got time to read Ranch Dressing before that happens. You’ll be glad you went on this trip with Samantha. 

Enjoy more fashionable mysteries with Samantha Kidd. 

Movie Review: Mame

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Lots of fun

Cons: Rushed ending, Lucy’s uneven performance and weak singing

The Bottom Line:

Enjoyable parts

But ending is too abrupt

And the star is weak

More Mixed Than I Was Expecting

I’d heard the reviews for years – the movie musical Mame wasn’t that good.  But, being the I Love Lucy fan that I am, I’d still always been curious about it since it stars Lucille Ball.  I finally set down to watch it, and I can see flaws, but not that ones you usually hear.

The movie is set in the 1920’s and focuses on Mame Dennis (Lucille Ball).  Single and rich in New York City, her life is one carefree party until the day her orphaned nephew Patrick (Kirby Furlong) shows up on her doorstep.  She quickly falls in love with her ward, and does her best to raise him right.  However, her best and society’s standards are two very different things.  Will she be forced to change her lifestyle?  And what will happen when the market crashes in 1929?

Most of the critics pick on Lucille Ball, and they aren’t completely wrong.  Parts of the movie are comedic, and she is perfect at those scenes.  In fact, some of what happened would have felt at home in an I Love Lucy episode.  She pulls off some of the more serious scenes, but there are a couple of scenes that she can’t quite pull off.  The worst part of her performance is her singing.  While she can’t sing, she refused to let them dub her vocals.  The singing it patched together from many different studio takes.  While it isn’t bad, it isn’t nearly as strong as the singing of her co-stars.

And she has some impressive co-stars.  Bea Arthur and Jane Connell reprise their roles from the Broadway production.  Robert Preston plays Mame’s love interest.  And a young Bruce Davison plays Patrick when he reaches adulthood.

Mame lives a very wild lifestyle, and Patrick gets influenced by that at a young age.  This is a PG rated movie, but adults of young kids still might want to watch it first for a couple of scenes in the first half.

Honestly, I was mostly enjoying the movie.  There are some very funny scenes, and I was really growing to like the characters.  While the songs aren’t especially memorable, there are still some fun song and dance numbers.

Then I hit the final act.  Mame does something in the name of protecting Patrick that really crossed a line for me.  Yet, the ending is so rushed after that we don’t get to see any of the fallout she would have received.  We go from Patrick being furious with her to the final scene without any transition to show us how he forgave her.  It is very jarring.

Maybe if I had seen a stage production of Mame, I would see even more reasons why the movie is bad.  But judging it just based on the movie itself, it is a film with many fun moments ruined mostly by a very rushed ending.

Book Review: People of Darkness by Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn and Chee #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Meeting Chee, great plot

Cons: Set up requires a bit of patience, but it is rewarded

The Bottom Line:

New main character

Payoff worthy of set up

Becomes page turner

Introducing Jim Chee

I’ve been waiting to meet Jim Chee, the other main character in Tony Hillerman’s famous mystery series set in and around the Navajo Reservation. With book four, it is finally time for him to step into the spotlight. And People of Darkness is a great introduction. 

It seems an odd assignment. Chee is asked by a rich man’s wife to locate an old box her husband cherished. Only she doesn’t know what is in it. And she doesn’t want him to involve the local police. She’s even hiring him off the books. The more Chee begins poking around, the more questions he gets. And every person who tells him to stop just makes him more curious. What will he uncover?

This is one of those books that introduces several seemingly random storylines and characters. I’ll admit I was a bit annoyed as this was set up, even though I figured it would all come together. It was just that things were so far removed it was hard to care. But as the book reached its climax, I couldn’t help but be in awe at exactly how everything came together. The ride was well worth it, and it drew me in more and more the further I got into the book. 

I liked Jim Chee. There are similarities and differences between him and Joe Leaphorn. I know I have a few books to go before they start really interacting, and I’m looking forward to that. Having said that, I did enjoy the reference to Leaphorn we got here. 

The rest of the cast is interesting as well. I wish I thought a couple would come back, but I suspect they were only around for this book. I did think we spent a bit too much time with one character, and I’m not sure it really paid off. But that might just be me being nitpicky. 

As always, the Navajo culture plans a big part in the story. I really liked how that was incorporated. And I’m beginning to feel at home in that world after reading several of these books. 

Once again, I listened to the audio version of this book. I enjoy George Guidall’s narration, and he did a fine job here again. I did struggle a bit with one aspect, and it’s not the narrator’s fault. Chee is very close in narration to “she,” and there were a few times I got stopped by misunderstanding them. Again, that was minor. 

I know I have a long way to go with this series, but I’m happy to have finally met the other key player in the series. If you haven’t read People of Darkness yet, you are in for a treat. 

Check out the rest of the Leaphorn and Chee Mysteries.