Category Archives: Wendy Welch

The Monday Book: SIX OSTRICHES by Philipp Schott

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Guest review by Kate Belt from Portland, Oregon, whose passions include everything bookish, libraries, celtic Christianity, Presbyterian Church (USA), technology, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Ocean, outdoors, nature, and authors Brian Doyle and Madeleine L’Engle, both deceased.

Six Ostriches: A Dr. Bannerman Vet Mystery by Philipp Schott (No. 2 in the Series)

3 ½ to 4 stars for a fast paced read sure to please those who enjoy formulaic mysteries and also people like me who don’t, but sometimes find one that intrigues. The setting is in rural Manitoba, Canada. Main characters are Peter – a veterinarian who is neurodivergent with astonishing problem solving skills and his wife, Laura – a paleontologist by education & training and career knitter, their cat, and their dog, Pippin, who wins scent work contests. The plot is driven by the historical conflict between a radical Norse faction who believe that they, not the Indigenous persons who crossed the Bering Strait, were there first and deserve reparation for the land they had occupied. I knew little about the settlements in this part of Canada, so the best part for me was discovering Icelandic/Norse history and anthropology. The story takes a violent turn with animals and people turning up dead. This is your warning if these are your triggers.  I enjoy getting inside Peter’s fascinating brain when he is puzzling out the whodunit.

I can easily imagine the forested and lake setting Schott describes because my husband and I drove the Selkirk Loop, following the route we found in Sunset Magazine. We stayed at the bed & breakfast at Wedgwood Manor in Crawford Bay, in the area of the story’s fictional town. This was also the trip on which coming home, Jim zipped across 2 lanes of traffic on the old highway through Spokane, Washington. I thought he was avoiding a crash, but soon realized he had discovered a Starbucks!  Tells you how desperate we were for decent coffee by that time. Kudos to him for great scent work!

First in the series is Fifty-four Pigs, and No. 3, Eleven Huskies, came out May 14, 2024.  You don’t have to start with No. 1 unless you are a fanatic about reading books in order. I’m not. I discovered this series on a “Shelf Awareness” post and hoped I might finally discover a Louise Penny readalike. New Selfoss is not Three Pines, and Peter Bannerman is not Armand Gamache, but I will keep reading for awhile. I look forward to learning the stories of other recurring characters.

An Open Letter to the Guy Driving the Washington Street Pickup Last Night

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You were mighty and strong in your pick-up truck, weren’t you? Feeling tough. It was so easy, like a Death Race 2000 movie, or one of those video games you enjoy when you’re not working night shift at Wendy’s.

not the actual truck

You gunned your engine, ignoring the two women trying to capture the stray cats, and you killed them right there on Washington Street, under the streetlight. One was a nursing mother, recently flank spayed. The rescue is out a significant amount of money and has four baby kittens in their care now.

Which will probably please you. Anyone who guns their engine in their big 4×4 and aims straight for the cats -and the women chasing them- is someone who thinks the hurt inside them will heal by hurting others.

How’s that working out for you? Does breaking the back of cats so they die in the street heal the pain inside you? Likely you will graduate—if you haven’t already—to being the guy who believes slapping women keeps them in their place. And move on from there.

You are the reason women prefer bears. This too might please you; “am I scarier than a bear?!” When women gather in our little whispered gossip corners of our powerless lives, we talk about YOU, don’t we? This would make you happy. You are powerful because you hurt things and we must fear you.

Except, son, we don’t fear you and we don’t talk about you, besides briefly, with an expelled breath of slight sympathy for how pathetic you are. Small, dismissible, sad but there are more important topics.

Did killing the cats in front of the women trying to save them on Washington Street heal some of the hurt inside you? I doubt that very much. There are people you can talk to who might help you figure that out. If you can lay down the big tires, the revving engine, the desperate search for relevance and importance and power that led you to literally run down a living creature on your way home from your night shift, you might be able to find more happiness in life.

You might want to see what you can do about this, son. Try dialing 988 and getting a conversation started. And please understand, we are not in shock and awe; we are not afraid of you. We are trying not to laugh at you, poor sad little boy; you’re dumber than dirt if you think pain heals pain, and you’re going to experience a lot more pain than you can inflict. You’re trapped.

We will continue working to heal the world. You can get some help. Try it, son. Those women weren’t setting a trap for you, but we sure can see the one you’re in. Wouldn’t you like to get out of it?