Review: Celebration in Purple Sage
I have been on a quest for non-LDS cozy mysteries I can read without embarrassment. This is the second in an occasional series on the books I test out. I review them first as stories, and then evaluate their adherence to LDS standards and teachings. It’s unlikely that with our high standards we will find books that are an exact match, but we are seeking the closest stories we can find.
Book: Celebration in Purple Sage
Author: Barbara Burnett Smith
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: 1996
Author Website: Purple Sage
Jolie Wyatt is a personable woman who keeps up with her family’s demands and the challenges of Texas ranch life, waits for her first book to get accepted by a publisher while working on the next one, and…oh yeah, solves a murder here and there. Celebration is the third book in this series, and one of my favorites. The Texas town of Purple Sage, so well developed by the author that it is a character in itself, is hosting a weeklong celebration. A highlight of the celebration is the opening of a new museum commemorating a time when German POWs were kept in the town. However, before the building is open to the public, the woman who put together the museum is murdered and Jolie’s friend, the sheriff, is shot—and someone intends to finish killing him. With the sheriff hidden away for safekeeping during his recovery, a deputy who is known to be a bit stupid is in charge, and has great plans for this case to get him a promotion. He promptly targets Matt, Jolie’s husband, as his favorite suspect. Needless to say, the feisty Jolie is not going to allow him to frame Matt without a fight.
The week’s events are complicated by the arrival of Matt’s parents, who prefer Matt’s ex-wife Cecily to her, and who bring his ex-wife along to the party. As the original Wyatt clan remembers the days when they were all one big happy family, Jolie’s feelings are hurt and she withdraws, damaging her relationship with his family, but also with her husband. Can she survive a week of Celebration, a visit from the in-laws and outlaws, a family feud and a murder all at once?
Jolie is one of the most believable amateur sleuths on the bookshelves today. She is spunky and impulsive, and she stands up for what she knows is right, even when it’s hard. She solves crimes the way most amateurs would, through intuition, a bit of snooping and listening to gossip, and a dash of knowledge gained while learning to write mysteries. She’s not perfect and things don’t always—don’t usually—go the way she plans them to, which makes it so much easier to identify with her. She just seems like someone who would live in your neighborhood, and if she did, you’d choose her as a friend.
The supporting characters are well drawn, each serving a purpose and also making the story lively and intriguing. For me, well-written characters are more important than plot, and most authors excel in one or the other. Smith manages to write both to perfection, making this a series you have to stay up all night to finish.
LDS Evaluation:
This particular book has one serious challenge. Jolie and Matt were once married to each other and separated due to lingering problems Jolie had coping with the blow to her self-esteem from her first marriage. They filed for divorce and then reconciled. However, the divorce came through just as they were reconciling, and Jolie and her son Jeremy move back in with Matt without redoing the marriage. Happily, Matt’s mother learns of this oversight near the end of this book and sees to it that the problem is resolved. So, in all future books, Jolie and Matt are married.
Although both Jolie and Matt had been married to others before, their reasons for divorce would be perfectly acceptable within church standards. Matt’s first wife had been an alcoholic unwilling to change, and Jolie’s first husband decided parenthood and marriage weren’t his thing, and disappeared with his new girlfriend. When Jolie and Matt married the first time, Matt adopted Jeremy.
There is swearing and some mild use of deity as terms of exclamation. There are no sexual scenes at all. There were some jokes about how you could tell God was not a woman.
In general, I felt comfortable reading this book. I feel more comfortable now that Matt and Jolie are remarried, of course. Overall, the moral standards of the book are good, and Jolie has strong feelings about what is right or wrong, and about the importance of family life. Tradition for LDS readers is that those who are not members of our church are given more leeway in their behavior, particularly in language, because they aren’t expected to uphold our standards, and using this tradition, I consider Jolie, her family and her friends to be people I would be comfortable hanging out with. I enjoyed reading this book very much.
Barbara Burnett Smith, the author of the Purple Sage books, was killed soon after I wrote this review. She died after being hit by a car while partipating in a dog rescue during a storm. When I posted on a mystery list about my search for clean cozies, she emailed me about her books. I responded that I was a fan and had all of her Purple Sage books except her last one, and she promptly sent me an autographed copy to enjoy as a gift, and included a beaded bookmark she had made herself. Over the days following her death, I read of many who had been touched by her many kindnesses to others: encouragement to timid new writers, gifts to fans and even to complete strangers struggling with challenges, and her volunteer work. She's greatly missed in the world of mystery fans.
