Book of the Week: A Vote for Murder
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007With today being Halloween it seemed most appropriate to feature a mystery book. A Vote for Murder is just one of the many books in the Murder She Wrote series written by Donald Bain and Jessica Fletcher. It is however the only one (at least that I know of) based in D.C. The main plot is about Jessica being in town for a literary festival hosted by the Library of Congress (sounds similar to National Book Festival) and ending up discovering someone who has been murdered while at a reception at a Senator’s house in Mclean, Virginia. Basically the similar type of plot line you see in all the Murder She Wrote books with her somehow discovering or being around when a murder happens and then having to solve the case. It does have its own unique aspects that make the plot different in content to differentiate from other books in the series and show its different setting of D.C. It even has George Sutherland, the Scotland Yard man that Jessica has a thing for, involved in the plot to some extent. It is full of twists about who could have murdered the person, romantic affairs involving the Senator, and political scandals. Overall a great mystery book set in D.C. for those who enjoy the more mainstream mystery murder writers. If you want something less mainstream and still D.C. Mystery to curl up and read this Halloween, check out one of the Roosevelt or Margaret Truman mysteries.
. This is not exactly a book, but it is found in bookstores and in a way made to be a type of travel book that is more portable in that you can just take a card or a few instead of a whole travel book when you go out and about the city. This deck has 50 different walks that allow you to explore different areas of D.C. Each card features a map of the area the walk is in on the front with the specific path shown using a red, white, and blue line. Many start and end at Metro stops making them easy to use even for areas you are not familiar with. The back of the cards gives the directions for the walk, points of interest, a little about the points of interest, and Metro Station information for the walk or other public transportation when not near Metro Station. The walks include several different ones for discovering the places of interest around the National Mall. There are ones for walking around the White House, the Tidal Basin, Washington Navy Yard, K Street, Georgetown, Arlington National Cemetery, and the National Arboretum. There are also several cards with nightcrawl routes in many different areas. The variety of things featured in the walks makes this deck include a walk that is a good match for the interests of just about any body.
