Bleeding Hearts

China Bayles #14

by Susan Wittig Albert

When local football coach and hero Tim Duffy is accused of improper behavior, lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles investigates, following a trail of obsession and murder that may lead to her own doorstep.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Herbs

307 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 4, 2006

About the author

Susan 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

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bleeding Hearts

Susan Wittig Albert

BLEEDING HEARTS is book #14 in the China Bayles series.


Even though BLEEDING HEARTS is the fourteenth book in the China Bayles series, it can be read as a stand alone. I hadn't read any of the previous books and wasn't lost or confused at all. China is asked to investigate allegations against a beloved and larger than life football coach at the high school. Chine used to be a lawyer and agrees to help out. The allegations are disturbing and China just can't walk away. All I will say is that they involve high school girls. The twists and turns really kept me flipping the pages and I'm very grateful to my new friend, BettyLouise for recommending this book to me. Now that I've read BLEEDING HEARTS, I must go back and read the rest of the series. It's just that good.


I really enjoyed BLEEDING HEARTS as it wasn't a typical cozy mystery. The way Susan Wittig Albert writes with so much detail had me feeling as if I were right there in Pecan Springs Texas with the townspeople trying to solve the mystery. BLEEDING HEARTS could be taken right out of one of today's papers. The way the whole town loves the coach and doesn't believe one bad thing about him, happens all the time especially when he is a winning coach. People take their high school football very seriously right? While all of this is going on, China is also dealing wth her own family mystery. She has come across some letters her father wrote to his lover and they change the way she feels about her father.


There are many surprises in BLEEDING HEARTS and just when you think it's all figured out, Susan Wittig Albert throws you in another direction. She pulls her readers right in and never lets them go. I love how she addresses the fact that when these things happen, most times the child is not believed and everyone tries to sweep the allegations under the rug. But not China. She keeps picking at the problem and just can't let it go. As a bonus, since China is a herbalist, there are little paragraphs of herb lore at the start of every chapter. Very interesting to me. Susan Wittig Albert also includes recipes at the end of BLEEDING HEARTS. What more can a reader ask for? I can't wait to continue this series and I'm really looking forward to reading more of Susan Wittig Albert.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleeding Hearts (China Bayles, #14) by Susan Wittig Albert. CD

This latest (for me) China Bayles book took me by surprise. I was expecting more of a cozy type story, but this went beyond the expected. The topics dealt with were certainly not superficial and brought to light consequences experienced too often in the real world. Control is a word that comes to mind. CONTROL -it's consequences especially used to manipulate the vulnerable may become lethal.

China is asked to do her own investigation into the shooting death of a well known high school coach.
Parents and students alike have grown dependent on him due to his leading the team to several championships. Unfortunately, that's not all the leading that coach has done. As China begins to delve into his character another side to this man becomes increasingly apparent.

I highly recommend this book and if you're expecting just another cozy...you've been forewarned.

[Alannah Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book yesterday and stayed up through the night to finish it, it is THAT good.

I've been a fan of the China Bayles series since it started, although I missed a good block of them through a period of my life when I wasn't doing much reading. So now I am reading all the ones I missed, in order. Next to "Thyme of Death" and "Bloodroot," "Bleeding Hearts" is up there with my favorites of the series.

Pecan Springs' winning high school coach is widely heralded and much beloved (it's Texas, after all - the Football State). Then the troubled school principal quietly asks China to look into the possibility that there are a few dents in the golden boy's armor. At the same time, China tries to run from a devastating new potential family secret - this time from her father's side.

The storyline is very relevant to today's headlines, and I like that the ending doesn't necessarily come in a neatly wrapped package. These things rarely are. The mystery wasn't terribly difficult to solve (I solved it before China did, which rarely happens - yay me!) but it doesn't matter because the storytelling is so exemplary. "Bleeding Hearts" is packed with the lush background and rich characterizations that are the hallmarks of Albert's writing.

Now to start on the next book in the series, "Spanish Dagger." Along with a cup of ginger and nettle leaf tea!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

These just keep getting grittier, more complex and better with each new story. In this one, there is murder surrounding a case of a pedophile that has yet to be acknowledged. High profile, higher regard and tethering out exponentially. Vile topic, but also very real, relative and recurring.

China Bayles is an ex-lawyer that runs an herbal gift shop in Pecan Springs. Ruby Wilcox is her BFF and partner in an upscale tea room, as well as owner of adjoined new age shop. Together, they help the local authorities solve crimes. Sometimes, they are even asked to.

Along with the pedophile investigation, there is an addition to the Bayles family and questions as to the departure of another. There is also an AKA that runs over from the previous book, “A Dilly of a Death” and will continue into the next.

While these books can stand alone, the refer backs would make more sense if all books were read in order.

Each book has herbal tips and lore related to the titled plant, as well as recipes of mentioned meals and resources for further herbal ingestion.

[Ellen Urness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Bleeding Hearts. I saw close parallels to the Diane Mott Davidson books about Goldie and her catering business and the recipes in her books also. Of the two authors, I can not choose which one I like more. I will read all the books of the China Bayles series.China has a good head on her shoulders. She is a retired lawyer, She is a good business woman, a step-mom with common sense and a steadfast 2nd wife all of which would be a hearty challenge to most. In this installment, the murder is referred to early on, but left to happen in the later half of the book. My husband read this before I did and predicted that I would like it. He was right....again!

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book several times. I feel it is must read for everyone concern about teenagers problems.
China is asked by a teacher to look into a story she heard about their high school Football coach having sex with one his students. The coach is very popular as the team is winning. China must be very careful. She starts investigating and finds it might be true. Ruby is having a quilt show and a quilt disappears.
Brian has problems and tries to handle them. China's Mother asks her to pick up her Father's papers from a lawyer. The subplots are handled nicely and come together.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

About 75 pages from the end I worried that this story line was too predictable, but fear not...there were sufficient twists and turns at the very end to make me vey happy! Being the first China Bayles mystery I've read, I am very impressed and of course, can't wait to read the rest of them! I love Albert's writing style: direct, informative, and enough detailed characterization to make me feel as if I know these people!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

What will end up sticking with me is the prescience of the novel to cover the toxic masculinity of small town Texas. Here is framed against the obsession over football and the ways small towns will reward a winning coach regardless of his other actions. But the coach before coming to Pecan Springs was working in Uvalde. The book's climax features a high school shooting.

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[Heather Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just couldn't love China Bayles anymore than I already do. She's so human, and Pecan Springs so real, that it's hard to remember the entire thing is a product of Albert's wonderfully vivid imagination. One thing reinforced by reading this 14th book in the series, I love how Albert doesn't conform her mysteries to the "normal" theme. Dead body, unwilling/unwitting heroine sucked in, finds answers, threatened by killer, solves case, the end. Albert branches out in intense ways. There are many twists and turns in her books, and it's a breath of fresh air to step outside the cozy mystery box and into a story well worth reading.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book rode out hurricane Ian with me, huddled against howling winds and torrential rain - now that I have power and internet back I can write my review.

This is Book #14, under siege I went right on to read Book#15 and #16. It turns out this is a trilogy in the middle of a series, we don’t know that until we read the prologue of Nightshade. Very odd, but it kept me going, sometimes I was reading by the dim light of a battery operated hurricane lantern!!

The stories are getting a little racier - phone sex between China and McQuaid?? Oh, my goodness!!

I also get a kick out of the descriptions of Ruby’s outlandish outfits. The photo of the author shows her as a rather plain Jane in mannish clothes, is she living vicariously through Ruby and all her superficial glamor??

Now to Book#15

[Kyrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one because I had a hard time believing China missed something that jumped out at me from the moment it happened. I also had difficulty understanding how Sheila could be acting like such a cop and then let China dig through things that should have been left for the police. China's disinterest in the information about her father surprised me. There's a lot of loose threads in back stories that will probably come forward in later books (I hope). Just struggled with this one.

[Lizzytish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m enjoying this series. However, the in-depth review of each character and such gets a little weary. I love the recipes. Maybe one day I’ll make one. Lol
China gets involved with murder of a high school coach which hits close to home as her son was involved. I didn’t understand how clueless China was. I was a couple steps ahead the whole book and knew early on who the killer was. Oh, there is also a missing quilt.
China also learns something interesting about her father.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For any China Bayles fan, you'll love this latest herbal mystery in the setting of Texas from this newest one of SWA. Good tidbits on the flower for any gardener or herbalist. A must read.

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

China Bayles, the former lawyer who now operates growing tea and herbal businesses, is busy. Not only is it her herb shop, but she and her friend Ruby have opened a tea shop and most recently a catering business. And she is stepmother to a teenager.

But China is soon called on to take on an investigation for the principal of her son's school. An investigation of allegations of improper behavior against the school's winning football Coach Time Duffy.

And during her investigation, she unearths the death of a young woman who apparently was a victim of the man's attention. China suspects that in addition to the Coach's behavior, the woman's death may be found to not suicide but murder.

This series always features the smart China Bayles and a cast of characters that are realistic, funny, and clever as Bayles. The description of small town life is spot on and each book features all too believable situations and a murder that builds in depth and complexity. I thoroughly enjoy them and this one hits a nerve with all parents who worry about their children. Bleeding hearts hits home.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

China gets asked to do an investigating favor for the high school principal that balloons into a much bigger issue than she bargained for while trying to run her various businesses with Ruby. Her son becomes involved & once again, McQuaid is out of town on his own investigation. I like that character & feel like they are a good team working together, so it irks me when the author sends him off & he disappears. After all the angst of previous novels about whether to get married, then all the drama involved with the marriage, you'd think she'd let them be together more often. But I digress. This story gets to the "heart" of a sticky issue involving high school athletics & coaches who cross lines. Although China was a little slow with some of the clues & I had it figured out before she did, it was a good story & mystery. Plus there's a brand-new wrinkle in her life that looks to be in the next volumes, plus we find out some more about Ruby's mysterious new boyfriend. So character development among our friends in Pecan Springs, TX.

[Amy Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In addition to running her herb shop, catering business, and tea room with her friend and business partner Ruby, China is raising her teenage stepson and navigating a fragile relationship with her mother. But when another friend asks China to do a little investigation on an anonymous accusation against the town's hero, Coach Duffy, she dives in. Her investigation leads her to dark secrets and disturbing coverups.

Meanwhile, China reconnects with a figure from her past who says he has information about her father, who died in an accident 16 years ago. China prefers to focus on her investigation, but as it's wrapping up, she reads old letters from her father and discovers that may have been more to his death than she suspected.

I have read only 1 of the previous 13 novels. This one works as a standalone, but, as with most series, it would probably have more meaning if I knew more of the backstory.

[Brenda Gunier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner in the China Bayles series. It include murder, suicide, and theft, all woven together and educating us along the way for good measure.
First China is checking out a story about the winning football coach, a rumor she finds to be a repeating problem for the popular coach. To do so she must travel down south to her Mom's. There her mom has another surprise for her concerning her deceased father.
Meanwhile with McQuade out of town, China tries to keep the home front going with Brian and his girlfriend and then Ruby with work. Add in a quilt show and new catering and troubles on all fronts.
China works on all fronts and a personal revelation upsets it all but will she mange to put all the pieces together?

[Jaime Ann Sanborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit that I love this series. Yes, I know I have been critical of past books. They were definitely not all page turners and Albert has some major issues with fat-shaming (although I suspect she doesn’t think so). The books were written decades ago (many of them) and the author is not nearly as woke then as she likely is now (I hope). This story is one of the best so far. Bleeding Hearts deals with statutory rape and sexual misconduct. It is a powerful story and worth the read. The entire China Bayles series (give or take a story) is engaging and worth the time. I love many of the characters and find myself wishing I could visit Pecan Springs (even though it has an unusual amount of murders for a small town).

[Becky Tatar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark story, dealing with child sexual abuse, and the popularity and fame that accompanies winning high school football coaches, especially in football crazy Texas. Along with this mystery, China finds out she has a half brother! Her father was apparently in love with his secretary, and carried on the affair from before he even married China's mother! She even knows this half brother, since he was in their father's office all the time when they were teens. But he didn't know that Robert Bayles was his father, either. And there's a mystery with Robert Bayles' death that Miles Danforth wants to look into, but China is like, no way. It's been 16 years. Plus, Brian is acting weird.

[Not Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire anyone who writes a book and actually gets it public. This one though... oh. my gosh, it's fairly awful. We know everything before the protagonist does. The clues are laid out more plainy than breadcrumbs. The main character, however, must be blind as a bat. They are lite up like highway signs and she just can't see them.
Also, I'm more than half way through and we've just met the first identifed black character and the author has given him ghetto/slum speak. "What do y'all think you're doin'? Y'all shut them doors and keep them cameras in that truck. No pitchers less the chief sez so."
I'll get through this, my first - and last - of the series.

[Crystal Toller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the new football coach in Pecan Springs. When the principal of the high school, Lisa Simon receives a call stating that the coach has some issues of sexual misconduct pending against him where he was coaching before, Lisa asks China to look into it. What China discovers and what happens make for an intriguing read. Good character development and good editing. A really enjoyable read.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Believe this is one of Susan W-A's better books. China finds herself caught up in the death of a young college co-ed who had been seeing a high school coach since she was 16.
China also received a call from at attorney, who turns out to be a brother she never knew about.
Quite a few twists, turns and life lessons.

[Karyn Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

China is asked to investigate the hero of Pecan Springs, Tim Duffy, the high school football coach. A lot about Small Town politics, families who think they are royalty, and football. And underneath that, what really goes on in small towns, the powerful who take advantage of the innocent and powerless. A wonderful read. China is the best.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important topic to build a mystery around, and Albert does a good job showing how so many people are harmed and the ripples keep growing. The idea that teens have many more serious problems to deal with than they should have is clearly developed. Side stories about China's father and Ruby's boyfriend seemed unnecessary in this book, perhaps better on their own.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the China Bayles series. I love all the trivia that's included. The background story is timely and the mystery is intriguing. The beginning seemed a little more introspective than usual and I was anxious for the story to get on. "Smart Cookie"? What an awful nickname. It's something that you might describe someone as but as a nickname...?

[Elizabeth Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series and, while I admit I am a bit behind, this was one of the best of the series. I love the details in these stories, the friendship and love in the family of characters you expect to hear about each time. The murder seems almost secondary to the story.
However, the murder was a surprise, in that it happened, who did it and what it led to. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

[Suzanne Mccandless · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun mystery set in the hill country of Texas as all China Bayles books are. It's like taking a little walk through the lands that surround me. The mystery itself might have been a little predictable, but I give her an A for Effort. Her characters may be a little over the top, but the trip through the landscape is worth it to this Texas girl.

[Alise HARRIS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this China Bayles book. Usually she is so smart, but I figured out the killer and who stole the quilt before she did. She was also being so blase about those letters.

[Muffin Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

China is asked to dig into a pervy high school football coach's past and finds that he is indeed a perv. Murder ensues and is followed by suicidal remorse. Luckily there is a quilting show in town to take everyone's mind off of the rape/murder/suicide.

Another good one from Pecan Springs.

[Linnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is one of the earlier books in the series so it is interesting that what we know from reading later one, is just being addressed. The story is very important and dealt with in various ways. the ending was interesting,,