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China Bayles #21
Widow's Tears
Herbalist and ex-lawyer China Bayles is “in a class with lady sleuths V. I. Warshawski and Stephanie Plum” (Publishers Weekly). In Widow’s Tears, a haunted house may hold the key to solving the murder of one of China’s friends…
After losing her family and home in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Rachel Blackwood rebuilt her house a hundred miles inland and later died there, still wrapped in her grief.
In present-day Texas, Claire, the grandniece of Rachel’s caretaker, has inherited the house and wants to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. But she is concerned that it’s haunted, so she calls in her friend Ruby—who has the gift of extrasensory perception—to check it out.
While Ruby is ghost hunting, China Bayles walks into a storm of trouble in nearby Pecan Springs. A half hour before she is to make her nightly deposit, the Pecan Springs bank is robbed and a teller is shot and killed.
Before she can discover the identity of the killers, China follows Ruby to the Blackwood house to discuss urgent business. As she is drawn into the mystery of the haunted house, China opens the door on some very real danger…
After losing her family and home in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Rachel Blackwood rebuilt her house a hundred miles inland and later died there, still wrapped in her grief.
In present-day Texas, Claire, the grandniece of Rachel’s caretaker, has inherited the house and wants to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. But she is concerned that it’s haunted, so she calls in her friend Ruby—who has the gift of extrasensory perception—to check it out.
While Ruby is ghost hunting, China Bayles walks into a storm of trouble in nearby Pecan Springs. A half hour before she is to make her nightly deposit, the Pecan Springs bank is robbed and a teller is shot and killed.
Before she can discover the identity of the killers, China follows Ruby to the Blackwood house to discuss urgent business. As she is drawn into the mystery of the haunted house, China opens the door on some very real danger…
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 2, 2013
241 people are currently reading
1038 people want to read
About the author
Susan Wittig Albert
120 books2,381 followersSusan is the author/co-author of biographical/historical fiction, mysteries, and nonfiction. Now in her 80s and continuing to write, she says that retirement is not (yet) an option. She publishes under her own imprint. Here are her latest books.
A PLAIN VANILLA MURDER, #27 in the long-running China Bayles/Pecan Springs series.
Two Pecan Springs novella trilogies: The Crystal Cave Trilogy (featuring Ruby Wilcox): noBODY, SomeBODY Else, and Out of BODY; and The Enterprise Trilogy (featuring Jessica Nelson): DEADLINES, FAULTLINES, and FIRELINES.
THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE POINSETTIA PUZZLE #8 in the Darling Dahlias series, set in the early 1930s in fictional Darling AL
THE GENERAL'S WOMEN. Kay, Mamie, and Ike--the wartime romance that won a war but could have derailed a presidency.
LOVING ELEANOR: A novel about the intimate 30-year friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, based on their letters
A WILDER ROSE: the true story of Rose Wilder Lane, who transformed her mother from a farm wife and occasional writer to a literary icon
THE TALE OF CASTLE COTTAGE, #8 in the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter
DEATH ON THE LIZARD, the 12th and last (2006) of the Robin Paige series, by Susan and Bill Albert
TOGETHER, ALONE: A MEMOIR OF MARRIAGE AND PLACE
AN EXTRAORDINARY YEAR OF ORDINARY DAYS
WORK OF HER OWN: A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
WRITING FROM LIFE: TELLING YOUR SOUL'S STORY
A PLAIN VANILLA MURDER, #27 in the long-running China Bayles/Pecan Springs series.
Two Pecan Springs novella trilogies: The Crystal Cave Trilogy (featuring Ruby Wilcox): noBODY, SomeBODY Else, and Out of BODY; and The Enterprise Trilogy (featuring Jessica Nelson): DEADLINES, FAULTLINES, and FIRELINES.
THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE POINSETTIA PUZZLE #8 in the Darling Dahlias series, set in the early 1930s in fictional Darling AL
THE GENERAL'S WOMEN. Kay, Mamie, and Ike--the wartime romance that won a war but could have derailed a presidency.
LOVING ELEANOR: A novel about the intimate 30-year friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, based on their letters
A WILDER ROSE: the true story of Rose Wilder Lane, who transformed her mother from a farm wife and occasional writer to a literary icon
THE TALE OF CASTLE COTTAGE, #8 in the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter
DEATH ON THE LIZARD, the 12th and last (2006) of the Robin Paige series, by Susan and Bill Albert
TOGETHER, ALONE: A MEMOIR OF MARRIAGE AND PLACE
AN EXTRAORDINARY YEAR OF ORDINARY DAYS
WORK OF HER OWN: A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
WRITING FROM LIFE: TELLING YOUR SOUL'S STORY
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 362 reviews
April 13, 2013
When I buy a China Bayles book I expect a murder mystery. Alas, this isn't a murder mystery; it's a ghost story. I hate ghost stories. Oh, there's a murder, but it was completely tacked on with no relationship to the main thrust of the story. What's more it was solved by pure serendipity, investigation and ratiocination not needed. Albert's books starring China Bayles long ago became buy on sight for me, but I'll be checking out the next one carefully before I buy.
Very disappointing.
Very disappointing.
May 19, 2013
Wow! Page turner with terrific detailed research of hurricane that swept thru Galveston, TX in 1900. Part ghost story and flashback - a very well written. Fun read!
April 10, 2013
Widow's Tears is the 21st book in the China Bayles series. And still loving the series.
One of the reasons that I like this series, is that Albert provides the reader with interesting little snippets about the herb that is featured in the title of her books. Quite often China will comment, too, within the story itself.
Widow's Tears is a two part book and China pretty much gets a little time off. Ruby owns the Crystal Cave, which is located in the same home that China's Thyme and Season is located and takes the spotlight in this book.
Alternating chapters take the reader back to 1900 in Galveston, TX as the storm that was to devastate Galveston so terribly, is approaching. The story center around a family as Rachel and Augustus Blackwood and their five children, nurse and housekeeper. They thought they would be safe from the storm.
Back to the present day, Ruby has received a call from a girlhood friend, Claire. Claire has inherited the Blackwood Mansion in Round top, TX, from her great Aunt. Claire is asking Ruby to come and help her to get rid of the ghosts that have taken up residence. Claire would like to get the house on the Historic Register and turn it into a B&B, but she needs to get rid of the ghosts first.
Ruby has some psychic abilities and has dabbled with them, but has never fined tune them. Once she arrives, she almost leaves as the groundskeeper is a bit creepy. Once Ruby meets his wife, she also finds out he has a violent nature. Add to this the fact that her car's battery becomes drained for no reason, no cell phone service, puddles of water turn up when they're in a drought, and other super natural occurences, Ruby is not so sure this beyond her capabilities.
China has a very important business matter to discuss with Ruby and what with not being able to get in touch with her, heads for Round Top. Once there she sees what Ruby is up against and ehlps Ruby get an understanding and provides her with the confidence to deal with the ghosts.
Looking forward to the next book in the series.
One of the reasons that I like this series, is that Albert provides the reader with interesting little snippets about the herb that is featured in the title of her books. Quite often China will comment, too, within the story itself.
Widow's Tears is a two part book and China pretty much gets a little time off. Ruby owns the Crystal Cave, which is located in the same home that China's Thyme and Season is located and takes the spotlight in this book.
Alternating chapters take the reader back to 1900 in Galveston, TX as the storm that was to devastate Galveston so terribly, is approaching. The story center around a family as Rachel and Augustus Blackwood and their five children, nurse and housekeeper. They thought they would be safe from the storm.
Back to the present day, Ruby has received a call from a girlhood friend, Claire. Claire has inherited the Blackwood Mansion in Round top, TX, from her great Aunt. Claire is asking Ruby to come and help her to get rid of the ghosts that have taken up residence. Claire would like to get the house on the Historic Register and turn it into a B&B, but she needs to get rid of the ghosts first.
Ruby has some psychic abilities and has dabbled with them, but has never fined tune them. Once she arrives, she almost leaves as the groundskeeper is a bit creepy. Once Ruby meets his wife, she also finds out he has a violent nature. Add to this the fact that her car's battery becomes drained for no reason, no cell phone service, puddles of water turn up when they're in a drought, and other super natural occurences, Ruby is not so sure this beyond her capabilities.
China has a very important business matter to discuss with Ruby and what with not being able to get in touch with her, heads for Round Top. Once there she sees what Ruby is up against and ehlps Ruby get an understanding and provides her with the confidence to deal with the ghosts.
Looking forward to the next book in the series.
April 27, 2013
I love China Bayles and her friends, and especially her best friend Ruby Wilcox. This book is about Ruby and that makes it special. Kinky, psychic, red-haired Ruby is a real treasure, and has always been my favourite character in this series. Reading a book about her and her amazing personality was a delight. That's the thing with this series. The characters are wonderful-strong and realistic. China and her amazing practicality, Ruby and her wonderful quirkiness, Sheila Dawson and her no nonsense attitude-I love them all. And the plots and mysteries are always first rate. Thank you Ms Albert for the gift of this wonderful series. I also love all the herb and plant lore that I learn in all the books. This book has ghosts, tremendous atmosphere, terrible storms, death and great sorrow, and of course Ruby. What's not to love about the book? Ruby is asked to help an old friend deal with what appears to be an apparation of a woman that keeps appearing in a house that she inherited. Ruby feels a strange pull coming from this house and the story that it is trying to get out, so she agrees even though she doesn't like to use her gift of psychic powers very much because they frighten her. Ms. Albert has set a great place for a ghost story - a creepy old Victorian house that looks a bit crooked on its foundation. The story keeps referring back to September 1900 when a tremendous hurricane completey devastated the city of Galveston. Apparently this storm is still the one with the biggest loss of life (approximately 8,000 souls) to ever hit the United States. It was interesting to get some background on this devastating storm and the death and destruction that it caused. This old story was mixed in with the new one that Ruby and her friend Claire are experiencing in the creepy old house.
March 29, 2015
I've often admired the writing of this author and this series in particular, but this particular book blew me away. It was unexpected and fresh and different. Also intense and genuinely frightening. Susan's books are so well researched, have so many interesting tidbits and often relate to genuine historical events--in this case a profoundly sad event about which I confess I found fascinating reading. It's not that easy to go back and forth between several stories years apart but this book does it with ease and style. I literally held my breath and had trouble not breaking my #1 reading rule--not looking ahead to see what happens. I am astounded that the books in the series continue to be fresh and interesting after so many. I hope everyone will come to enjoy China and Ruby and company the way I have. (Note: I think the series is best read in order.) I hated to see this one end and I look forward to each new one with happy anticipation.
June 13, 2013
In the intro, Albert says that this book will be about Ruby, China's best friend- "and it's about time, don't you think?" No, no I don't. This was by far the weakest book in the long series (I think this is book #21). The ghost part was annoying, the connections to the bank robbers far-fetched, and China was not up to snuff. Boring, boring, boring. I am glad I got it out of the library and didn't buy a copy, as I would not be able in good conscience to loan this out to anyone as a good read.
October 27, 2018
Rachel Blackwood got up early that morning.
This book focuses on Ruby more than China. Ruby has been asked by a friend to come "clear" her new inheritance so that she can turn it into a bed and breakfast. The house was built by a survivor of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Ruby's life is in a state of turmoil and she accepts the invitation hoping to get clarity in her own life.
It is not often that I cry while reading a cozy. This book was so beautifully written that I didn't want to put it down. The storyline starts with Rachel Blackwood on June 8, 1900 in Galveston. The townspeople are aware that a storm is brewing but have no idea of the devastation that is to come. The children's nursemaid, Colleen O'Reilly, has "the sight" and leaves the family before the storm hits. However, she returns to help Rachel with the children just as the water begins to rise.
Ruby's ancestors are intertwined in the story and we see a glimpse of where her talents begin. More emphasis is placed on Ruby's psychic ability in this story as well. Ruby has mentioned letting go of the Crystal Cave and letting her sister take over. However, Ramona wants to be a full partner in all of the businesses. This is something that China will not tolerate.
China stumbles upon a bank robbery that ties into other portions of the story. Her need to discuss the future with Ruby puts her in harm's way when she sets out to confront Ruby.
Rachel's story is so incredibly sad. I simply could not imagine the pain she lived with for sixty plus years following the hurricane. This book made me do some research on the storm and the facts are horrific. I can see why her spirit remains in the mansion that she built as a replica of her Galveston home.
This is a wonderful series and I highly recommend it anyway. This book blew me away. I know that I will come back to it to savor a little slower when I have some quiet time to myself.
This book focuses on Ruby more than China. Ruby has been asked by a friend to come "clear" her new inheritance so that she can turn it into a bed and breakfast. The house was built by a survivor of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Ruby's life is in a state of turmoil and she accepts the invitation hoping to get clarity in her own life.
It is not often that I cry while reading a cozy. This book was so beautifully written that I didn't want to put it down. The storyline starts with Rachel Blackwood on June 8, 1900 in Galveston. The townspeople are aware that a storm is brewing but have no idea of the devastation that is to come. The children's nursemaid, Colleen O'Reilly, has "the sight" and leaves the family before the storm hits. However, she returns to help Rachel with the children just as the water begins to rise.
Ruby's ancestors are intertwined in the story and we see a glimpse of where her talents begin. More emphasis is placed on Ruby's psychic ability in this story as well. Ruby has mentioned letting go of the Crystal Cave and letting her sister take over. However, Ramona wants to be a full partner in all of the businesses. This is something that China will not tolerate.
China stumbles upon a bank robbery that ties into other portions of the story. Her need to discuss the future with Ruby puts her in harm's way when she sets out to confront Ruby.
Rachel's story is so incredibly sad. I simply could not imagine the pain she lived with for sixty plus years following the hurricane. This book made me do some research on the storm and the facts are horrific. I can see why her spirit remains in the mansion that she built as a replica of her Galveston home.
This is a wonderful series and I highly recommend it anyway. This book blew me away. I know that I will come back to it to savor a little slower when I have some quiet time to myself.
April 23, 2017
I was a bit hesitant when I started this book. A good book friend who is usually on the same page as me when it comes to the books we like didn't care for this one. Well, this was one time that didn't happen. I loved this one! Tales with changing POV are not really my thing, especially when the POVs are in different times. The story in the past takes place on the day the 1900 hurricane hit Galveston, TX. It's fictional, but based in fact. I was hurriedly turning the pages on the "present" story to get back to that one. Found myself reaching for the Kleenex toward the end. GREAT story! RECOMMEND!!
June 24, 2015
Widow's tears by Susan Wittig Albert is the 21st book in the China Bayle's mystery series. China's friend and partner, Ruby is asked by a friend to help investigate ghostly phenomena in a mansion she had recently inherited. I was very disappointed in this book. There was no real mystery at all and with the book jumping around from the past to the present, it was disjointed and distracting. China played a very minor role. The herbal information was interesting but seemed out of place. Not of the standard I have come to expect from this series.
April 16, 2013
Since I enjoy the China Bayles series, I struggled to finish the first 75 pages and give Widow's Tears a chance. It was nearly impossible. SWA took forever to tell any of the story. To be truthful, I am not a big fan of Ruby's and I downright dislike her self-centered sister who was given entirely too much story-telling time.
April 29, 2013
Although this is an addition to the China Bayles mystery series, it is really a ghost story (centered around China's friend Ruby), not a mystery. I am not a fan of ghost stories and psychics and was disappointed in this one.
November 2, 2019
Oh the irony of reading this just after Halloween. Psychic, Ruby Wilcox, owner of the Crystal Cave In Pecan Springs, is out to help an old childhood friend as she moves into the house she just inherited. The very house where Ruby first learned of her gift. The very house that terrified her then and more so now.
Told in 2 eras, present and 1900, when quintessential Hurricane took out Galveston and the family behind the haunting Ruby faces with her friend, Claire. It made a fun spooky read while the temps were down and we were experiencing our own windy, rainy night.
Alongside the above is a rash of bank robberies that end with the hauntings, but not for the same reason. This makes my favorite China Bayles mystery yet. Go Ruby!
Recipes, resources, herbal lore and more always included.
Told in 2 eras, present and 1900, when quintessential Hurricane took out Galveston and the family behind the haunting Ruby faces with her friend, Claire. It made a fun spooky read while the temps were down and we were experiencing our own windy, rainy night.
Alongside the above is a rash of bank robberies that end with the hauntings, but not for the same reason. This makes my favorite China Bayles mystery yet. Go Ruby!
Recipes, resources, herbal lore and more always included.
June 4, 2014
This book was certainly different from the rest of the series. It was focused on the destruction of Galveston in the Great Galveston Hurricane, on September 8, 1900. It tells the story of Rachel Blackwood, and how she sees the storm coming, and how she looses her husband, all her children, her housekeeper and her beloved house. No one believed a Hurricane could be this deadly and reach Galveston, but it sure did. The story is based on eye-witness reports, though Rachel Blackwood is a fictional character created by the author.
Rachel went kind of mad with grief, and had the house her husband designed for Galveston, rebuild in Texas. But she had only her memories to work with, so it sure looked frightening and just wrong with strange angels and corners on the outside. She lived there to a very old age with only a housekeeper to keep her company, and her memories of her children and husband. Even the decorations inside are just as they were back then, in happier times.
The new owner of the house is Claire, a childhood friend of Ruby’s and the one present when Ruby saw her own ghosts, when visiting the house Claire’s grandmother was living in. And now Claire has called for her help, and although Ruby never wants to visit the Blackwood Estate again, she cannot refuse her friend’s desperate plea for help. And so she sets out for a journey to the Blackwood Estate. Perhaps she can use the time away to sort out her own too busy life and make some decisions about what she wants to do. Her sister has offered to buy out her share in the business Ruby has going with China and Cass, and she is very tempted, but she also knows that Ramona and China will never get along.
Having arrived at the estate, Ruby soon gets a taste of the ghost hanging around and making itself known. But how she can help her friend, Ruby has no idea just yet.
Meanwhile, in Pecan Springs China has problems of herself, when Ramona seeks her out. Ramona presents her offer to Ruby as a done deal, acting like she and China are the best of friends and working together already, with of course Ramona calling the shots. But China was not a lawyer for nothing, Ruby cannot sell her share to Ramona without offering it to China first, and she will never ever let that happen. She will buy the business herself, no matter how or where she will get the money for it. But working for Ramona, who is so very pushy and convinced of being right all the time, no way. But China also cannot just wait until Ruby gets back to get the real story out of her. And as there is not cellphone reception where Ruby is, China will just drive over and ask her herself.
But another nasty storm is brewing, and soon China finds herself stranded with Ruby and Claire, finding out that ghosts are real, no matter who unable she is to believe in them. The connection between the ghost Rachel, Claire and Ruby is grieve. Claire lost her husband, and Ruby her boyfriend, and she is still grieving over Colin.
There is a subplot about a couple of bankrobbers, which I guessed from the start, although the ending is not a very good one for them, and kind of horrifying. The story of the ghost and what happened in Galveston back then, is the main story in this book, with Ruby and China more as witnesses after the fact. It absolutely kept me reading, I wanted more and I just had to find out what would go wrong next. Of course the present day storm added to the atmosphere a lot.
To read what has happened is frightening, and portrayed very realistically. I am again very glad we have none of these kind of lethal storms here in Holland, that our weather is much more moderate. Sure we have very nasty storms, like in 1953, but we certainly hope we are prepared now against water that high and strong. Most of Holland is below sealevel (luckily not my city though!).
There is only a mention of the usual cast of characters in this book, China’s husband and their children, and Ruby’s extended family.
I did like this story a lot, but I do hope to get back to modern day mysteries and murder for China to solve, in the next books. And as usual, there is a description of a herb in the start of each chapter, and there are some recipes in the back as well, from food served in their tearoom.
8 stars.
Rachel went kind of mad with grief, and had the house her husband designed for Galveston, rebuild in Texas. But she had only her memories to work with, so it sure looked frightening and just wrong with strange angels and corners on the outside. She lived there to a very old age with only a housekeeper to keep her company, and her memories of her children and husband. Even the decorations inside are just as they were back then, in happier times.
The new owner of the house is Claire, a childhood friend of Ruby’s and the one present when Ruby saw her own ghosts, when visiting the house Claire’s grandmother was living in. And now Claire has called for her help, and although Ruby never wants to visit the Blackwood Estate again, she cannot refuse her friend’s desperate plea for help. And so she sets out for a journey to the Blackwood Estate. Perhaps she can use the time away to sort out her own too busy life and make some decisions about what she wants to do. Her sister has offered to buy out her share in the business Ruby has going with China and Cass, and she is very tempted, but she also knows that Ramona and China will never get along.
Having arrived at the estate, Ruby soon gets a taste of the ghost hanging around and making itself known. But how she can help her friend, Ruby has no idea just yet.
Meanwhile, in Pecan Springs China has problems of herself, when Ramona seeks her out. Ramona presents her offer to Ruby as a done deal, acting like she and China are the best of friends and working together already, with of course Ramona calling the shots. But China was not a lawyer for nothing, Ruby cannot sell her share to Ramona without offering it to China first, and she will never ever let that happen. She will buy the business herself, no matter how or where she will get the money for it. But working for Ramona, who is so very pushy and convinced of being right all the time, no way. But China also cannot just wait until Ruby gets back to get the real story out of her. And as there is not cellphone reception where Ruby is, China will just drive over and ask her herself.
But another nasty storm is brewing, and soon China finds herself stranded with Ruby and Claire, finding out that ghosts are real, no matter who unable she is to believe in them. The connection between the ghost Rachel, Claire and Ruby is grieve. Claire lost her husband, and Ruby her boyfriend, and she is still grieving over Colin.
There is a subplot about a couple of bankrobbers, which I guessed from the start, although the ending is not a very good one for them, and kind of horrifying. The story of the ghost and what happened in Galveston back then, is the main story in this book, with Ruby and China more as witnesses after the fact. It absolutely kept me reading, I wanted more and I just had to find out what would go wrong next. Of course the present day storm added to the atmosphere a lot.
To read what has happened is frightening, and portrayed very realistically. I am again very glad we have none of these kind of lethal storms here in Holland, that our weather is much more moderate. Sure we have very nasty storms, like in 1953, but we certainly hope we are prepared now against water that high and strong. Most of Holland is below sealevel (luckily not my city though!).
There is only a mention of the usual cast of characters in this book, China’s husband and their children, and Ruby’s extended family.
I did like this story a lot, but I do hope to get back to modern day mysteries and murder for China to solve, in the next books. And as usual, there is a description of a herb in the start of each chapter, and there are some recipes in the back as well, from food served in their tearoom.
8 stars.
© 2014 Reviews by Aurian
March 19, 2014
I didn't realize it was #21 in a series. Uh. I hate series books. Half of the book is a reintroduction of what has already happened in the LAST 20 books!!
October 23, 2022
This is the book I should have been reading during Hurricane Ian or maybe not! The story encompasses the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. The author’s descriptions of the event was outstanding- I felt like I was just about to be washed away in the surge. I have read “Isaac’s Storm” so I was very familiar with the horrendous storm that devastated the island.
The story has Ruby as the leading lady this time. Her story is intrinsically woven into the past and then brought current as she tackles the ghost of Rachael. I am not a fan of ghost stories, but I enjoyed this tale in spite of a lot of supernatural happenings.
When I worked at Wells Fargo I was involved in an armed robbery. The guy was wearing the same outfit as described in the book, a hoodie and a mask, unidentifiable. Fortunately he shot through the ceiling and not at me!
This is definitely one of the better plots in the series. But that editor was sleeping on the job again, on one page the ghost is wearing a skirt and blouse and a few pages later her garb is described as a dress! Also, a text message doesn’t play a song, it dings!!
The story has Ruby as the leading lady this time. Her story is intrinsically woven into the past and then brought current as she tackles the ghost of Rachael. I am not a fan of ghost stories, but I enjoyed this tale in spite of a lot of supernatural happenings.
When I worked at Wells Fargo I was involved in an armed robbery. The guy was wearing the same outfit as described in the book, a hoodie and a mask, unidentifiable. Fortunately he shot through the ceiling and not at me!
This is definitely one of the better plots in the series. But that editor was sleeping on the job again, on one page the ghost is wearing a skirt and blouse and a few pages later her garb is described as a dress! Also, a text message doesn’t play a song, it dings!!
April 5, 2021
This is one of my favorite series. I don't read it in any kind of order and it does not diminish my enjoyment to do so.
This particular outing was a different flavor as it focused more on Ruby than China, as well as almost half of the book was about an event that occurred in 1900. The book goes back and forth in time moving the story forward.
There is also a ghost in this book and I think it's the first time occurrence for this series. I really liked seeing Ruby tune into her own spiritual abilities and especially liked seeing China's reactions.
This is the 21st book in the series and I am usually done with a long-series author well before book 21, but I am definitely not done with China and Ruby and Pecan Springs.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
This particular outing was a different flavor as it focused more on Ruby than China, as well as almost half of the book was about an event that occurred in 1900. The book goes back and forth in time moving the story forward.
There is also a ghost in this book and I think it's the first time occurrence for this series. I really liked seeing Ruby tune into her own spiritual abilities and especially liked seeing China's reactions.
This is the 21st book in the series and I am usually done with a long-series author well before book 21, but I am definitely not done with China and Ruby and Pecan Springs.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
June 27, 2021
This is not a typical China Bayles mystery, but it is still an interesting, if slightly dark story. It goes back and forth between a contemporary ghost story and a story set during the 1900 Galveston hurricane and centers primarily around Ruby instead of China. Coincidentally I just downloaded Isaac's Storm about the hurricane, so I'll be able to follow up on the historical part of the story.
May 15, 2021
Excellent - read until after 1, the last time I looked at the clock and said I’ll just finish this chapter, yeah, sure.
August 4, 2022
This book focuses on Ruby as she goes to help a longtime friend figure out why her newly inherited house might be haunted. The back story of the Galveston flooding in the 1900s was very sobering.
May 3, 2013
I have always liked Ruby, she is China's friend and she has a spark and a zest for life along with perceptive powers to see beyond the ordinary. Widow's Tears is partly Ruby's story, but the real story is the devastating hurricane that devastated Galveston Texas on September 8, 1900. Told in flashbacks, that part of the story drew me in deeply.
It is hard to imagine the size of the storm that struck Galveston that day, and a mind boggling thing to realize; they had no idea it was coming. In the world of September 8, 1900, the residents of the barrier island just looked out to the Gulf and said, we are having a tropical storm as it was making land fall. No predictions of storm paths, no evacuation orders, and in some cases, no, or pitifully inadequate, preparation or defenses.
The tone of this book was just right, a touch of the contemporary, a grounding in the familiar of the series, the tea shop, the Crystal Cave, the Herb Shop and Thymely Gourmet. Daily life, the joy of friendship, the beauty of nature and the sadness when tragedy strikes, serving to remind us to pay attention, to appreciate, to love deeply and tell the ones we love often.
And for what we learn about the horrific storm, the 8,000 to 10,000 people who lost their lives in what had seemed an idyllic island paradise, it was a story that needed to be told, and remembered. I want to read more about Galveston, a city rebuilt with a stronger sea wall, determination and less hubris, and a place that has more meaning to me now than the haunting lyrics of the Glen Campbell song that has been running through my head as I read.
It is hard to imagine the size of the storm that struck Galveston that day, and a mind boggling thing to realize; they had no idea it was coming. In the world of September 8, 1900, the residents of the barrier island just looked out to the Gulf and said, we are having a tropical storm as it was making land fall. No predictions of storm paths, no evacuation orders, and in some cases, no, or pitifully inadequate, preparation or defenses.
The tone of this book was just right, a touch of the contemporary, a grounding in the familiar of the series, the tea shop, the Crystal Cave, the Herb Shop and Thymely Gourmet. Daily life, the joy of friendship, the beauty of nature and the sadness when tragedy strikes, serving to remind us to pay attention, to appreciate, to love deeply and tell the ones we love often.
And for what we learn about the horrific storm, the 8,000 to 10,000 people who lost their lives in what had seemed an idyllic island paradise, it was a story that needed to be told, and remembered. I want to read more about Galveston, a city rebuilt with a stronger sea wall, determination and less hubris, and a place that has more meaning to me now than the haunting lyrics of the Glen Campbell song that has been running through my head as I read.
April 24, 2013
I have long been a fan of the China Bayles herbal mysteries but this one, I believe, is my favorite of them all. This time out the tale is really Ruby's. She gets a call from a old friend who needs some psychic help with a house that she has inherited. Ruby, feeling torn in too many directions with business, family, and her grief over her lover's death thinks taking the time to go to her friend's assistance might be a well-deserved vacation of sorts. It turns out to be nothing of the kind. Running parallel to this storyline is the compelling account of one Rachel Blackwood's experience during the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the deadliest storm in US history. And then there are is the recent rash of bank robberies, and a murder in Pecan Springs. China, needing to talk to Ruby and unable to reach her by phone or text, drives out to the strange old house in the middle of nowhere just as a storm that promises to pack a wallop descends on the area. The creepiness reaches it zenith as the stories converge. Who will survive? Will China or Ruby ever be the same? Whew! What a ride!
November 6, 2013
Deep dive into the supernatural in this one...the handling of that was just ok. Not a very convincing ghost story, but still an entertaining book w/ the usual herbal lore, local color, and likable characters. The best thing this book had going for it was the background for the story: the horrifically devastating hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900. The flashback chapters that described the tragic destruction of all but one of a family's members, while fictional, certainly happened for real to hundreds of actual families. Historians still don't know how many were lost, but the estimate is somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000. The sad ghost in this story wasn't scary, but even if she had been, the real horror was what actually happened so many years ago, and how the arrogance of weather forecasters, the vanity of an architect whose buildings proved completely vulnerable, and the lack of foresight on the part of the city planners combined to help doom Galveston's chances of being the most important port city in Texas.
November 29, 2016
I have loved every one of this series that I've read, but this is the first that I've recommended to my husband. The book combines the narration of the Galveston hurricane of 1900 with the fictional story of a family that went through that horror. It ties into the China Bayles series through Ruby, who is asked to help a friend to decide what to do with a haunted house she has inherited. We don't experience a mystery as to the ghost or a probable reason for the house being haunted because a minute by minute narration of that hurricane is interleaved with the Claire/Ruby/China story.
The hurricane is most believably recreated for those of us who do not experience storms of that magnitude in our normal life as well as the flash flood aftermaths in the hill country of Texas.
We almost didn't need the bank robbery in Pecan Springs, the only actual crime other than the caretaker's abuse of his wife.
Hurricane, ghost, tropical storm, flash flood, bank robbery, proposed sale of Ruby's business, development of Galveston, oil exploration, and fracking - all there.
The hurricane is most believably recreated for those of us who do not experience storms of that magnitude in our normal life as well as the flash flood aftermaths in the hill country of Texas.
We almost didn't need the bank robbery in Pecan Springs, the only actual crime other than the caretaker's abuse of his wife.
Hurricane, ghost, tropical storm, flash flood, bank robbery, proposed sale of Ruby's business, development of Galveston, oil exploration, and fracking - all there.
November 9, 2015
Not that I have read all of Susan Witting Albert's books, but this one seemed to me to be a departure from her usual form of writing. For one, instead of following her main character, China Bayles, she followed China's friend and business partner, Ruby, who is summoned to help a childhood friend who has inherited the distinctly weird Blackwood House. Claire hopes to turn the "crooked" house into a bed and breakfast but she needs to get rid of the Victorian ghost who haunts it. And she is hoping that Ruby, who has a gift, can do the trick. But the idea of delving into her gift further than ever before has Ruby scared.
The story is wrapped up with an actual event — the 1900 Galveston, Texas, hurricane, in which more than 8,000 are believed to have perished. Forecasters believed that the town was safe from the hurricane but that was a deadly wrong prediction. This more than the mystery itself is what drove me to finish this book up in little more than a day.
The story is wrapped up with an actual event — the 1900 Galveston, Texas, hurricane, in which more than 8,000 are believed to have perished. Forecasters believed that the town was safe from the hurricane but that was a deadly wrong prediction. This more than the mystery itself is what drove me to finish this book up in little more than a day.
June 27, 2013
I have read all of the China Bayles series usually waiting with bated breath for the next in the series. I love all the characters in this series and straying away from China to highlight others just increases the depth and interest in this crazy lot for me.
"Widows Tears" did not disappoint It was quite interesting to learn Ruby's family history and the depiction of the Galveston Hurricane was extremely realistic. I also enjoyed the way Ms. Albert built the tension of Ruby's current story and taking the location to one other than Pecan Springs made everything feel more menacing. Don't read this if you're home alone at night unless the doors are locked and the alarm set. Then find a comfortable spot and prepare to read your way through the night! Hurray for another wonderful book from Susan Wittig Albert!
"Widows Tears" did not disappoint It was quite interesting to learn Ruby's family history and the depiction of the Galveston Hurricane was extremely realistic. I also enjoyed the way Ms. Albert built the tension of Ruby's current story and taking the location to one other than Pecan Springs made everything feel more menacing. Don't read this if you're home alone at night unless the doors are locked and the alarm set. Then find a comfortable spot and prepare to read your way through the night! Hurray for another wonderful book from Susan Wittig Albert!
April 10, 2013
I have enjoyed the series, and this book was no different. However, it has fewer elements of a mystery than normal; the mystery is solved incidentally, not through sleuthing. What IS interesting is the history of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Much of the history repeated in the book is taken directly from narrative accounts of the hurricane told in John Edward Weems' A Weekend in September, with stories told by actual hurricane survivors. I also saw less of an herbal motif in this book than in previous ones.
The supernatural elements and lack of mysterious or herbal elements supports the fact that this is more Ruby's story than it is China's.
The supernatural elements and lack of mysterious or herbal elements supports the fact that this is more Ruby's story than it is China's.
October 6, 2013
I usually like a China Bayles mystery. Not this time. #1. I'm not a fan of ghost stories. #2. I'm definitely not a fan of the occult. #3. I'm not prepared to shelve all of my brain cells in order to read a book. #4. I just don't like Ruby Wilcox - she's tolerable as a side character in a typical China Bayles mystery but too much as the star.
All that said, I really did enjoy the historical sub-novel of the Galveston flood. I could imagine along with the participants the sheer terror of that event. That part was well done. But not the rest of it. Sorry Ms Wittg Albert. Please don't do that again.
All that said, I really did enjoy the historical sub-novel of the Galveston flood. I could imagine along with the participants the sheer terror of that event. That part was well done. But not the rest of it. Sorry Ms Wittg Albert. Please don't do that again.
May 31, 2013
Wow! This is the best China book yet. I literally could not put it down, it was so well written. The backstory was incredibly detailed and interesting and made me want to learn more about the storm. Ruby is not my favorite character in this series, but I enjoyed the focus on her in this book. I also appreciated the contrast between her and China's perception of what was going on. It has to be difficult to keep characters in a long running series dynamic, yet true to character, and no one does it better than Susan Albert!
March 5, 2021
Spooky tale focused on events from the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Ruby's the center of this story. A friend has inherited a house that she wants to turn into a B&B. The friend needs to figure out what's causing all the paranormal activity in the house. There's flashbacks to the 1900 hurricane. Ruby's sister is trying to get Ruby to sell her share in the Cave and other enterprises to her. Also, there's a bank robbery and murder in Pecan Springs, although, honestly, it seemed a minor detail in comparison to the tragedy of the hurricane and all the other events.
July 1, 2013
Creepy as heck! I've read almost all, if not all, of the books Albert has written, but this will probably be the last. If I wanted a bloody creepy ghost story I would have gotten one, but I don't like them, and I THOUGHT I was getting a nice cozy mystery. The historical thread of the story was very interesting, but the ghost story thread was not cool at all. Very disappointed!
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