oregon – ~*LunaSea*~

Wren, M.K. Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1984.

Reason read: Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey was published in January of 1984.

Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey is a super fast read and the premise is pretty simple as well. Conan Flagg is primarily a bookseller with a private investigator hobby on the side. This time he is investigating the death of his friend, Corey Benbow. Young, vivacious Corey was found dead after a suspicious car accident. Toxicology reports reveal a lack of alcohol or drugs in her system and there were no skid marks at the scene…so was it suicide? Conan doesn’t think so. To make matters worse, the police seem to be wrapping up the case too quickly (no official autopsy?). Considering the number of Corey’s inlaws who stood to gain something from her disappearing permanently, Conan sets out to discredit alibis and sort out motives. The only negative about this story was the sheer number of characters for such a short book.

Note: Since I didn’t find a lot to quote, I wanted to draw attention to the title of the book. Wren quotes an old folk song of the same name (“Darlin’ Cory”). Since the lyrics were so in line with the story I just had to check it out and I’m so glad I did! This is a really cool song. Lots of great artists have covered it over the years: Bruce Hornsby, Bill Monroe, Pete Seeger and Bob Weir, to name a few.

Author fact: Wren also wrote King of the Mountain which I will be reading in February 2037 for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Wake Up Darlin’ Corey is short, only 180 pages long.

Nancy said: “The mystery shelves are packed with tales set in Cascadia” (p 153) and mentions Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey as one such mystery.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living High in Cascadia” (p 148).

Gloss, Molly. Wild Life.New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

I suppose I could make some wiseazz crack about my college days, but I will refrain 🙂 for your sake.

Wild Life takes place in the wilds of Oregon/Washington state in the early 1900s. Charlotte Bridger Drummond is a feisty, independent, feminist, single mother of five (all boys) who supports her children by writing dime store novels. She has a bit of an ego and flies the feminist flag a little too frequently, but has a good heart. When her housekeeper’s granddaughter goes missing in the logging hills of the Oregon/Washington border she bravely joins the search believing her strength and savvy will bring the child home. To her utter surprise Charlotte gets lost herself and must depend on a group of shy Big foot-like beasts for survival. While the overall premise of Wild Life is fascinating and the strength of Gloss’s writing is intoxicating, the mishmash of storytelling misses its mark. Interspersed between Charlotte’s tale (in the form of a diary) of her search for the missing child and her adventure with the wild ones is a third-party narrative about barely related characters, short literary quotes, science related newspaper and journal clippings, and substantial excerpts from CBD’s current in-the-works novel. Much like I wanted to see the Ya-Ya scrapbook in The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells I think Wild Life would have benefitted from a scrapbookish approach (think Nick Bantock).

I am in love with how Molly Gloss writes. Here are a few of my favorite one-liners. First, “They wrestled daily over important matters such as whose arrow came nearest to killing a particular Indian or slavering wolf, and trivial matters such as who wiped whose snot on whose trousers” (p 25). I instantly thought of Silas and Atticus. Here’s another, “There is something about a lighted room when you are standing outside it in the cold night” (p 32); and one more, “I’m a notoriously poor friend where tears are concerned” (p 54).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Companion Reads” (p 63). I’m reading Where Bigfoot Walks by Robert Michael Pyle as the companion to Wild Life.