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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780440217657
ISBN number: 0440217652
Label: Dell
Manufacturer: Dell
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: March 09, 1999
Publishing house: Dell
Release Date: March 09, 1999
Sale Popularity Level: 538048
Studio: Dell
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Product Description:
Kernels of Truth....
When Eugenia Potter stumbles upon some ancient pottery shards on her ranch, she feels a profound connection with the past. And a deep desire to learn more about the relics. Now, she's heeding the call of her soul--by visiting an archaeological camp amid the magnificent cliff dwellings of Colorado's Mesa Verde.
But strange things are happening at Mesa Verde, from the director's increasing mental confusion to a visitor's grisly death. Even a Talking Circle--a traditional ritual facilitated by the passing around of an ear of blue corn--doesn't reveal the source of the trouble. And when a busload of teenagers on a hiking trip disappears without a trace, Mrs. Potter begins some digging... to unearth a cruel scheme, a long-buried secret, and the deadly fruits of a killer's dark hungers.
Amazon.com Review:
'When she did reach the cafe, she bought her hot sandwich and took it back outside to her car, so that she could sit there and stare at the landmark and think about the Tony Hillerman mystery she had just read. It was set all around the great rock. As she pondered it, recalling scenes from the book, she was glad to leave it to authors like him to find and solve the murderous mysteries of the great Southwest. She'd had her own brushes with homicidal individuals in the past. That was enough--more than enough for a woman who desired only to be a doting grandmother, a good friend, a competent rancher, a bit of a needlepoint whiz, and a plain country cook.' The 'great rock' is Shiprock; the Tony Hillerman book in question is probably The Fallen Man; and the woman hoping for a crime-free life is Genia Potter, the memorable character very first created by Virginia Rich and then continued after Rich's death by Nancy Pickard. As she did in The 27-Ingredient Chili Con Carne Murders, Pickard uses characters and plot suggestions left by Rich to create a solid, comfortable mystery of the sort usually classified as a 'cozy.' But even if you're not a cozy lover, you'll probably be enticed by the setting (an archeological camp near the wondrous Mesa Verde National Park, home of the elaborate, mysteriously abandoned Indian villages), by the characters (some tough and interesting women of varying ages, each with her own reasons for visiting the area), the good food served by a feisty cook named Bingo (the cornbread and cream cheese sticks sound particularly succulent), and even the plot--which involves two murders and the apparent disappearance of 16 teenagers from Texas. --Dick Adler
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Rated by buyers 
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I was pleased with the order. The book is used and old but in good shape. I wanted to read the three novels by Virginia Rich, which I believe are out of print. I am very happy to have the three novels. I have not started reading The Blue Corn Murders yet as I am reading The Cooking School Murders right Now. I just LOVE the culinary mysteries! I am very pleased with Amazon.com.
Thank you, sincerely, Linda De PresteThe Blue Corn Murders: A Eugenia Potter Mystery (Eugenia Potter Mysteries)
Rated by buyers -
This warm and enjoyable book is a tad more adventure than mystery, but has much to recommend it. This was the very first solo outing of Nancy Pickard's continuation of Virginia Rich's series featuring Eugenia Potter. The two had written letters to each other, having in common husbands who were cattle ranchers. It felt like fate to Nancy Pickard when Mrs. Rich's husband asked his wife's editor if another author could continue the mystery series after her sad passing. Virginia Rich's creation is carried on quite nicely by her admirer, Nancy Pickard, whose own Jenny Cain mystery series is very successful.
Some pottery shards found on Eugenia's ranch give her inspiration to attend the Medicine Wheel Archaeological Camp in Colorado to learn more. It is there the older but lively Euginia will bond with a group of friends and have more adventure than she'd bargained for. There are many secrets at Medicine Wheel, and at least one of them will lead to the murder of a young misguided girl named Gabriella who was an Indian wannabe. A missing group of young tourists driven to a dig and a small shampoo bottle full of LSD will play a part in solving Gabriella's murder, but not before a second one occurs and an even darker secret is discovered.
Though the setting and story may sound sort of dark, The Blue Corn Murders very much has a "cozy" feel and style to it. It is well into the book before anything that would constitute a murder mystery takes place. But the atmosphere created by Nancy Pickard is both warm and enjoyable, making it a fun read. Euginia is likable and the other characters become real as the book progresses. Scenes of passing an ear of blue corn around a Talking Circle in the firelight, and archaeological digs add as much flavor as the food the camp's cook, Bingo, creates for the group. There are tidbits about those Ancients called the Anasazi by the Navajo, but Hisatsenom by the Pueblos, and the ruins of ancient cities now abandoned. It is in these ruins, in a Kiva, designed for community worship, that Gabriella will leave this world for the next, with help from someone unknown.
Those who enjoy a lot of atmosphere and a very likable central character will find both in The Blue Corn Murders. It is an easy read, and as long as you are aware going in that it is more on the cozy side, you will find it very enjoyable. Archaeolohists Corn Bread and Bingo's Chocolate Cornies are just two of the five recipes included in this light mystery with a lot of flavor.
Rated by buyers -
Exuding an Ancient Indian Mystique, the cover art on BLUE CORN MURDERS glows in Southwestern pastels of aqua and gold. A subtle metaphysical aura, similar to Louis Lamour's HAUNTED MESA, permeates the book with a promise to reveal ravens, rain, and secrets of grain. The plot opens with the feel of stories told of long ago and far away, even though the tall grass pasture on Eugenia Potter's Arizona cattle ranch shows simple, sunny serendipity rather than darkening storms or warring winds.
A comical contrast in the private thoughts of Eugenia and her 70-yr-old, manly neighboring rancher warmed my face into a knowing smile. This poor man didn't have a clue. Between-the-lines of her passing thoughts, Genia was aware of this assumption gap, but she was becoming increasingly mesmerized by an archeological discovery. Gracious considerations about helping the poor devil onto her page slipped into the ozone of intriguing antiquities.
To the backdrop of her rancher neighbor scratching his head, yet convinced he knew how to handle cows and women, Genia surged forward into a rash of preparation for a journey to Cortez, Colorado, sensing she would be opening a spiritual door into an unknown but exciting world. I applauded Genia as she quickly discounted concerns about realistic age limitations interfering with her ability to step up to this potentially daunting exercise. As a rancher lady who regularly hefts herself on and off horses to survey her domain, her bones may creak but they accomplish their purpose well enough when turbo-charged by a willful desire to live with grit and adventure.
The plot weaves insidiously through a physically demanding program at The Medicine Wheel Archeological camp in Cortez, building convoluted layers of intrigue laced with metaphysical machinations, from the prickly floor of the prairie to surreal levels of Anasazi lore. Given contrasting styles and backgrounds, women of various types and ages bait each other; and a male camp organizer, coexisting comfortably with females, adds spice to the relationship drama as multiple mysteries are set, matched, and checkmated. Maybe this game-board complexity should be no surprise. An ear of corn, icon of elemental magic, does look somewhat like Nature's chessboard.
The final chapter comes full circle, as fiction does when entering the realm of art. As chapter 37 opens, it seems to be leading Genia into a righteous build-up of rage and rancor; the volcanic tension is aimed toward her bull-headed neighbor, the clueless male who stood beside her in the pasture as the novel opened on page one. Then, surprise! The last 3 sentences stage a perfectly-prosed-release, rare and uncanny in it's quantum-quick, cathartic delight.
BLUE CORN is an engrossing, bewitching read, enriched from the perspective of a seasoned, well-aged female character of wit, wisdom, and wherewithal.
Now that I've written comments on the 3 novels which extended Eugenia Potter's character into Nancy Pickard's authorship, I'll be ready to begin (after addressing piles of other novels recently read) my anticipated drift back in time, into Eugenia's world as it was developed by her creator, Virginia Rich.
After reading the easily available Eugenia Potter offerings by Pickard, I had planned to unearth a copy of the pilot of this series, THE COOKING SCHOOL MURDERS. But, on checking Amazon's stock, I was pleasantly surprised to see that THE NANTUCKET DIET MURDERS was on a "Super Saver No Shipping Special," so I ordered that book (along with 3 additional culinary cozies by other favorite authors). I received the welcome package from Amazon yesterday, via USPS, a week earlier than the projected arrival!
Strolling through Amazon's carnival, where do I go next?
Linda G. Shelnutt
Rated by buyers 
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The mystery here takes quite a bit of the book to set up, that is, unless you count the 'mysterious' pottery as the gist of the book. After an arduously prolonged development of a mystery, the book is nearly over. The only factors it has going for it are an impressive use of vocabulary and it beats starring at a blank wall for entertainment.
Rated by buyers 
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I just finished reading this book & it had a good ending but the whole store line was a little slow. Both ms. Pickard & ms. Rich are wonderful authors. I really love her books. Even though it is not her best book it still is a good book and worth reading.
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