Doc's Codicil
Doc’s
Codicil is a mystery told with gentle humor. It tells the story of a
veterinarian who teaches his heirs a lesson from the grave.
When Wisconsin veterinarian
Doc dies, his family learns that to inherit his fortune, they must decipher the
cryptic codicil he added to his will—“Take Doofus squirrel-fishing”—and they
can
only do that by talking to Doc’s friends, reading the memoir Doc wrote of a Christmas season decades earlier, searching through Doc’s correspondence, and discovering clues around them. Humor abounds as this mismatched lot tries to find time in their hectic lives to work together to solve the puzzle. In the end, will they realize that fortune comes in many guises?
only do that by talking to Doc’s friends, reading the memoir Doc wrote of a Christmas season decades earlier, searching through Doc’s correspondence, and discovering clues around them. Humor abounds as this mismatched lot tries to find time in their hectic lives to work together to solve the puzzle. In the end, will they realize that fortune comes in many guises?
The house was dark except for the pool of light thrown by a
lamp behind my chair and small multi-colored Christmas lights surrounding the
window on my left. The lights gave a dim but cheerful glow to the edge of the
room. The crystal, silver, and pastel globes on the Christmas tree standing
against the opposite wall reflected that light, and as the furnace kicked in,
the reflections danced across the wall, betraying currents of warm air moving
gently about the room.
Heat, wonderful heat. I gave my wine glass a twist to
celebrate feeling my toes again. The liquid ruby swirled round the glass, as I
offered a silent toast to Mary, may she sleep soundly tonight. On the second
glass, I was startled by a swoosh of air exhaled by the cushion of a
wing-backed chair to my left. I glanced at the chair, but couldn’t bring it
into focus. Contacts must be dirty, I thought and returned to my book.
I . . . poured a third glass. This had to be the last.
Tomorrow would be another fourteen-hour workday. I took another bite of
Stilton, crumbly yet creamy, a pungent and savory blue with a background of cheddar,
when I heard a throat clear.
I put my book down and looked around the room. Empty.
. . . A shadow moved
in the dining room . . . “Who’s there? What the hell is going on?” I whispered.
A man’s voice came from the kitchen. “Cripes, some host you
are.”
Set up to appeal to readers of allegorical fiction, in the vein of J.P. Kotter, Spencer Johnson, Ken Blanchard and others, I would call this more fictional memoir than mystery.
People who are interested in large animal veterinary medicine themed memoirs will also appreciate sections. In truth, I really have no other book to compare this to.Set between a 1987 Christmas Nativity event (worst pagaent ever) and the 2013 reading of Doc's will, and the mentioned codicil, the underlying idea of each story is to keep family together and build a stronger connection.
Told via a memoir type manuscript written by Doc shortly before his death to describe ill conceived dreams and unprepared plans and by the narrative of Doc and Linda's heirs attempting to solve riddles required to gain their sizable inheritance, this is a book from which I believe each reader will take away something different.
According to Gary
Jones, his life has been a testament to questionable decisions and wishful
thinking. His wife of forty years, however, says she knows of nothing in the
record to justify such unfettered optimism. Jones says the book is a work of
fiction; that's his story, and he’s sticking to it.
He’s part of the
last generation of rural veterinarians who worked with cows that had names and
personalities, and with dairymen who worked in the barn with their families.
He’s also one of those baby boomers, crusty codgers who are writing their wills
and grousing about kids who can be damned condescending at times.
Gary practiced
bovine medicine in rural Wisconsin for nineteen years. He then returned to
graduate school at the University of Minnesota, earned a PhD in microbiology,
and spent the next nineteen years working on the development of bovine and
swine vaccines.
Doc's
Codicil is the bronze medal winner of Foreward's INDIEFAB Book of The Year
awards, humor category.
Website: www.garyfjones.com
BQB Publishing: https://bqbpublishing.com/product/docs-codicil/
Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-codicil-gary-f-jones/1121269584?ean=9781939371836
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteIf I might further describe the story, it is a book within a book (think Sarah's Key, but with laughter). It also has s character a bit similar to the Huko, the six-foot invisible rabbit in Jimmy Stewart's movie old movie "Harvey."
Oh yes - I love Harvey
DeleteI hope you love Doofus.
DeleteGreat review, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the best book that you have read recently? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the drawing
DeleteI can't name one book. Lets take them by genre
ReplyDelete9 Lovers for Emily Spankhammer, for humor. It's a gas.
All the Light We Cannot See, for literature
The 5th Wave, for Science Fiction
The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being by Alice Roberts (Evolutionary anatomy--Hey, I'm a veterinarian and a docent at a zoo)
Anything by Alan Roberts for comic mysteries
Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods, for travel & humor
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker, for psychology (how humans learn)
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David
Sedaris, for essays.
I can't miss mentioning Ron Rash's Serina and The Cove. Depressing but riveting.
And "The march of Folly" for history
I should add that our zoo has a nice collection of primate skeletons on display. I wouldn't know what to look for in comparing them if it weren't for Alice Roberts's book.
ReplyDeleteWhich Christmas cake and/or dish do you like best?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is desert--a Boch de Noel with chocolate/coffee frosting and an orange almond cake. I use an old recipe from one of Julia Child's cookbooks. I have to confess that I'm also very fond of fruit cake. I haven't made one for 20 years. The last one I made, I overdid the rum and amaretto I soaked it with every week for 6 months. When my daughter (10 years old at the time) tried to eat it, she put a fork into it and said, "Mom, the cake squirted at me.) It was good, but high octane.
DeleteCongrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, and good luck.
Delete