Monday, August 27, 2007

Cyndy Salzmann's Crime and Clutter ~ Reviewed



Crime & Clutter
by Cyndy Salzmann
Published by Howard Books
ISBN-10: 1582296448

Description:
Mary Alice is a member of FAC – Friday Afternoon club. Dear friends from this group take it upon themselves to help Mary Alice with the overwhelming task of sorting through and cleaning out a storage unit that was left to Mary by her lost father.

Mary let it slip at a meeting one day that she was late paying on a storage unit that belonged to her late father. All the ladies stopped talking and gave Mary Alice their full attention. Father passed away? Why hadn’t she mentioned this before? What is in that unit that she keeps paying for it each month? Why hasn’t she looked at it sooner?

The FAC club takes on this mission to help Mary Alice face her father’s past thru the stuff in the storage unit. As they enter the unit they discover a 1963 Volkswagen mini bus, tattered letters and other personal items from her fathers mysterious past. What does all this mean?

Review:
Cyndy does a great job revealing history from the 60’s thru Mary Alice’s father’s past. The 60’s were such turbulent times and the people were free thinkers. I love how she captures the mind set of the Hippies. She is great about showing the who, what, where and how they lived. It was very fascinating and disturbing at the same time. Some of the choices the people made in the story broke my heart when you see the cost they had to pay for those choices. I also rejoiced for the characters for the redemptive power of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

Another thing I LOVE about this book are the many recipes spread out throughout the chapters. They look so yummy. There are 26 in all. They are indexed in the back of the book for easy access. I definitely want to try the Fried Twinkie recipe. (Oh, did I say that out loud!!! J ) This book was so much fun reading and then the fun continues as you make the food afterwards. What are you waiting for? Dig in!

Nora St.Laurent
Life Way Book Club Leader

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