Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Bonita Faye by Margaret Moseley



Blurb:

When small town girl Bonita Faye's abusive husband, car salesman, and fishing guide Billy Roy is killed, she begins an adventurous new life that takes her from Poteau, Oklahoma to Paris and back again in a story of murder and redemption...and more murder...stretching over three decades.

About the Author:

Margaret Moseley was born in Oklahoma, reared in Texas and lived twenty years in Arkansas. Her resulting combined regional accent gives the reader of her best selling book and Edgar finalist Bonita Faye a unique flavor to her protagonist Bonita Faye's trials and tribulations. While the reader knows from the "get-go" that Bonita Faye killed Billy Roy up there on Cavanal Hill, it's a toss-up as to how she will spend the next forty years. Told in the first person, readers will laugh and gasp as Bonita Faye deliberately weaves and molds her future with the book's climax having her face another murderous decision!

Moseley writes very different mysteries, but whether her books involve a witness to a murder—Milicent LeSueur—or follow the sleuthing of Texas bookseller Honey Huckleberry—The Fourth Steven; Grinning In His Mashed Potatoes; A Little Traveling Music, Please—her writing is creative, whimsical and entertaining. Moseley currently lives in Texas with her writer/computer programmer husband Ron Burris and their two indescribable rescued Beagles, Matilda and Sadie.

Review by Rochelle:

I have never met such a lovable murderer. Bonita Faye is frying chicken perfectly when Deputy Sheriff Harmon Adams comes to the door to tell her that her husband’s been shot. He stays for lunch and is still there when the church ladies descend. I’m afraid I startled my neighbor when I got to this part, because I laugh out loud and I’d been reading so quietly by the elevator while I waited for my laundry, she hadn’t noticed me until I guffawed. But really, I just had to laugh.

“They just start coming to the house of death just as sure as if there were a steeple over it with a bell tolling a message, ‘Someone’s dead. Come one, come all. There’s food to be had and kitchens to clean. …

“Years later…my best friend Patsy and I made a pact. Whoever died first, the survivor would come and clean out the crumbs from the silverware drawer before the church ladies got there.”

Bonita Faye is one of those books that should come with a warning: “Choking Hazard! Do not eat or drink while reading this book.”

And that’s not even the coolest thing about Bonita Faye. It’s a masterpiece of language. Told in first person, the beginning of the book was a grammatical mess that kind of drove the editor in me nuts. The narrative was full of “ain’ts” and double negatives. “I ain’t never seen…” Grrr… But Bonita Faye is a high school drop-out living in Oklahoma in the late forties/early fifties. How could she possibly speak any other way? Eventually, she receives an education, and the quality of the narrative grows as Bonita Faye gains sophistication. The “ain’ts” and double negatives disappear.

I couldn’t put down Bonita Faye. She was warm, witty, and loveable, despite being a murderer. But it was “just a little murder.” And she planned to be sure whoever died first—her or her best friend Patsy—the silverware drawer would be clean.

Heat Rating:  G
Length:  240 Pages
Prices:
Print:
Hardcover:  $20.00
Paperback:  $11.99
Digital:  $2.99

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle

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