Review: Farewell, Miss Zukas by Jo Dereske

To those of you familiar with Jo Dereske's series featuring Lithuanian/ American librarian Helma Zukas this book comes as a bittersweet surprise. This will be the last of Dereske's books featuring the wonderfully uptight OCD inclined Miss Helma Zukas (short for Wilhelmina). In fact this is the book that rounds things up and gives her fans (me included) the ending we've been wanting for years.

I've been enchanted by Miss Zukas, everyone's dream of an efficient librarian, since the very first book. Though she can be stern and off-putting with her rigid inclination to have everything just so - she has a kind heart and her early loneliness was palpable. Your heart just went out to her.

Plus, at her age, who would have thought back then, that a hunky police detective, recently divorced and fearful of entanglement, would eventually fall for a touchy, reluctant woman, past the first bloom of youth?

Saving the best for last, author Jo Dereske gives us a wedding - Helma has FINALLY said yes! She and Chief of Police, Wayne Gallant, of the Bellehaven, Washington, Police Department are to be married......sigh! (To think how clunkily slow this courtship has commenced, it just made me smile going in to know that the day had finally arrived.) Neither of these two are the sort to make snap judgements or decisions. In fact, if it were up to Helma, the happy event would be a year off.

But first, the usual Miss Zukas complications have to get straightened out.

First of all there's a robbery and death at the senior home where Helma's ancient Aunt Emily and Helma's not-so-ancient mother, Lillian live. Has 90 year old Aunt Em really committed murder? Surely she doesn't have the strength to heave a young robber out a window? Or does she? 'It's the adrenaline,' claims Ruth, Helma's life-long best friend, the razzle dazzle artist (opposite of the OCD Helma in every way) with an eye for tall men.

Then there's the criminal investigation and the fact that some of the stolen items keep getting mailed to Helma at home and at the library. Of course, then, she must take an active interest in who did what at the Senior home. Helma can't help thinking Aunt Em is holding something back.

But the robbery and death are mere stumbling blocks when there's a wedding to be planned. To that end, Helma's mother Lillian is making plans to turn the long-hoped-for-event into a Three Ring Extravaganza - ignoring Helma's more cautious inclinations.

Then in another twist,  Lillian decides she too will have her own happy ending. Enter TNT, the retired Irish gent who lives next door at Helma's apartment complex. He has been Lillian's on again/off again beau for awhile. Now they're permanently on again leaving a very disconcerted Helma to try and tip-toe past his apartment door after her mom has obviously spent the night.

As the investigation continues, Helma is worried that Aunt Em's faulty memory has come in very handy. She's obviously keeping secrets about the dreadful day she got up from a nap and was accosted by a robber who promptly fell (or was he pushed?) out the window. Could there have been a second robber?

In the meantime, Ruth the flamboyant artist, decides to lend a hand with the investigation since she's not painting at the moment having hit another artist's block. (Same as a writer's block.)

"...the coincidences all begin with the letter L." Ruth ticked off on her fingers. "Two ladies with Lithuanian genes robbed, stolen Lithuanian box, returned Lithuanian box, smuggled Lithuanian booze. I detect a theme."

In addition, the cop in charge of the investigation, Carter Houston - formally derided by Ruth for his staid, impeccably dull appearance and Helma-like OCD behavior, turns out to have secrets of his own.

At Carter's doorway, Ruth picked up a framed canvas that sat face-in to the wall and turned it to expose an oil painting. It was a sunset, approximately. At least the colors were sunset colors.

"Who did this?" Ruth held the painting at arm's length, critically eyeing it.

"It's a gift. I was thinking of hanging it, but..."

"But' is right," Ruth agreed, gazing around Carter's tidy office. "It's nice, but I wouldn't call it your style." She set the painting down face-out and gave the frame a friendly pat. "I used to be a painter. Painted like the wind. Day and night. But then one day - poof - it was gone. All dried up. No more where that came from. I may as well turn my brushes into toothbrushes." She heaved a dramatic sigh. "Now, I collect cat statues."

When it becomes obvious that clues are there for the taking at the local Lithuanian Club, Helma and Ruth show up asking questions.

Meanwhile, back at Bellehaven Library (surely the busiest library in the country), Helma must also deal with a crowd of dissatisfied local authors who are angrily picketing outside.

Finally, there's a mad dash to the airport to stop a plane from taking off with a possible bad guy on board, then a mad dash to an impromptu wedding.

"I had an interesting conversation with your manager," Wayne said. [Chief of Police talking to Helma]

"Walter David?"

He nodded, a quizzical look on his face. "He seemed to think your cat is a bad influence on his cat. Boy Cat Zukas is neutered, right?"

"He is. I found Moggy [Walter David's Persian] on my balcony, wet and dirty."

"And Boy Cat Zukas was with her?"

"On the railing. He and Moggy had a relationship once, but certainly they wouldn't remember it."

Wayne grinned and glanced over at Boy Cat Zukas who lay curled up in his basket with one eye open in that disturbing manner he had. "Never underestimate a cat."

"Do you like cats?" she asked.

"Some cats."

I loved this book, but I'm saddened that there will be no more adventures in library etiquette and murder from one of my very favorite fiction characters, Miss Wilhelmina Zukas of Belle Haven, Washington. (I may even miss Boy Cat Zukas.)

To view the complete list of Jo Dereske's Miss Zukas series, please use this link.

Better Late Than Never: February is National Library Lovers Month

I'm a little late to the dance, but that's the usual course for me. In honor of all library lovers everywhere (myself included) Murder, Mystery and Mayhem posted a pretty comprehensive list of library mysteries. Here's the complete list on the MMM website.

There are quite a few on the MMM list I haven't read. Time to add to the old TBR list. For my money, the library is always the perfect place for a spot of murder.

My own favorite mayhem in the library books?: The Miss Zukas mysteries by Jo Dereske.

Link to the Fantastic Fiction site and a complete list of the excellent Miss Zukas mysteries. (This is a series that should be read in order.)

Speaking of Books...A Favorite Series

Combine cozy and ascerbic and what do you get? The Miss Zukas mysteries by Jo Dereske. I first began reading these books several years ago and so far, I've read most of them and enjoyed them all.

Wilhelmina Zukas aka Helma Zukas is a librarian (what's more fun than a librarian who solves crimes?) of midwest Lithuanian heritage (ok, what's more fun than a Lithuanian librarian who solves crimes?) who lives in the Pacific Northwest town of Belhaven, outside Seattle. She is a long time librarian at Bellhaven Public Library. The first books in the series were written in the mid-90's before libraries were overrun with computers, though even then, they'd begun their assault. Miss Zukas and her cronies (they more cynically than her) think of themselves as in the business of providing information to library patrons (library-goers are always called 'patrons'), aside, of course, from the process of borrowing books. Miss Zukas, especially when working the phone desk, always responds with patience and fortitude (laced with acerbic wit), no matter how inane the question. She considers it her sworn duty.

I won't get into the changes coming or already established with the advent of computers to libraries across the country, I much prefer to simply enjoy Miss Zukas' crime solving adventures as they stand right now.

These books all depend on the character of Miss Zukas for their entertainment. She is such a well established presence that it's fun just to see how she'll handle any of the plot twists that author Jo Dereske sends her way. Miss Zukas is what used to be known as a spinster of a certain age, she's never married and lives alone in an apartment complex a few miles from the library. In many ways, the Bellhaven library is her life.

In the first book in the series, MISS ZUKAS AND THE LIBRARY MURDERS, you may find yourself not really liking her much, I mean, she is a very rigid personality - everything must be done just so. Spontaenous, she is not. She has her way of dealing with life - apartment kept scrupulously neat, closets and clothing divided a certain way, everything in its own place. She thrives on repetition and order. But as we read further into the series, we begin to understand the excrutiating loneliness at the core of her life. She has solved that problem by dealing with the world in a way she's found that works for her. When I realized that, I began to like her more and more. She's a survivor.

Miss Zukas has a best friend, though maybe the word 'best' is stretching it. Ruth is the exact opposite of Miss Zukas, she is a free-spirited, trouble-making and finding, flamboyant artist (with lovers who come and go) who is always trying to drag Helma off on some hair-brained scheme. They both come from the same area of the mid-west, so that's the basis of their relationship. Helma tolerates Ruth, though in some deeply profound way, I believe she needs Ruth in her life as some sort of balance. Without Ruth, Helma would probably shrivel up and turn into a prune.

Miss Zukas is not fond of animals either, but over the course of the books she finds herself, cohabitating with a cat who takes up residence on her balcony and refuses to leave. She eventually feeds the animal but refuses to name it. How this relationship evolves is part of the charm of the series.

As Helma gets involved in murder, she comes in contact with police detective Wayne Gallant, a divorced, unhappy cop who doesn't know what to make of the strait-laced and very rigid Miss Wilhelmina Zukas. That evolving relationship is fun to watch as well.

Chapter One - The Body in the Fiction Aisle

On Thursday morning, when Jack the janitor stumbled over the body in the Mo-Ne aisle of the fiction stacks, losing his oatmeal and orange juice only a little way from the outreaching shadow of dark blood, Miss Helma Zukas was late for work, a rare occurence that caused her to miss the initial hysteria and excitement of the discovery.

Miss Zukas was just sliding behind the wheel of her Buick, dressed for a day at the public library, all except for the brown oxfords she wore to and from work to save her heels, when she glanced out over Washington Bay and saw sunlight glimmering through the cement gray clouds. Golden beams flickered wanly on the distant crown of Orcas Island. But it was enough of a warning for Helma. She was certain she hadn't pulled the opaque shades that protected her furnishings from the sun.

"I should have known this weather wouldn't last," she said to herself as she climbed the outside stairs to the third floor of the Bayside Arms, avoiding the elevator because Miss Zukas always avoided elevators. She was going to be late for work but it couldn't be helped.

Those few paragraphs give you the beginning of an idea who Miss Zukas is. The reason these books work is because Miss Zukas, as a creation, works.

Far as I know, these books are not available in hardcover, only in paperback. But they are still in print and worth looking for. The first three books together would make a great Christmas present for yourself or for the cozy mystery lover on your list.

1. Miss Zukas and the Library Murders
2. Miss Zukas and the Island Murders
3. Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death
4. Miss Zukas and the Raven's Dance
5. Out of Circulation
6. Final Notice
7. Miss Zukas in Death's Shadow
8. Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence
9. Bookmarked to Death
10. Catalogue of Death
11. Index to Murder

Read more about Jo Dereske and her books here.