Cahokia Jazz

I was totally unfamiliar with author Francis Spufford, but I liked this book--if not particularly the ending--I will seek out his other alternate history novel, Golden Hill. Cahokia is the name given to the area along the Mississippi River across from present day St. Louis. Over 80 mounds still remain and further excavations suggested the centralized trading center near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missori and Illinois rivers extended much further out the the main population center. Cahokia was the name of the nearest indigenous tribe when the area was "discovered" by French explorers, in the 17th C, but there is evidence of settlement going back to 600 BCE. The height of the culture was around 1200. "Today, the Cahokia Mounds are considered to be the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico"; it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Spufford's approach is to imagine a history in which native Americans were not all decimated by disease and warfare but, in part, thrived and were strong enough to negotiate a semi-independant status as a city-state within the United States. The city is still a major transit point to the west with trains going to each coast and heavy industrialization with all it's accompanying ills. This is set in the 1920's and the jazz age flourishes here as well with speakeasies, bootleg liquor and rampant corruption. Still the original inhabitants are the governing body and maintain many of their own beliefs, rituals and monuments--most of which have been integrated into a quasi-Catholic religious structure. As in the actual Cahokia, the residents are multi-cultural--primarily American Indian, Black and White--living more or less peacefully although living a largely segregated existence in different parts of the city. Characteristically, if there is money and power to be had, the Whites are scheming to take control and drive out the natives. 

This is the background when Cahokia detective Joe Barrow, a large man of indiscriminate Native origins, and his partner, Phineas Drummond, a seriously bent white cop who served in the Great War with Joe, are called to the scene of a murder atop the Land Trust building downtown. The victim, who turns out to have been a clerk working in the building, is eviscerated in a ritual way that suggests some connection to old Aztec rituals.  The two detectives have very different motives for wanting to close the case. Drummond wants the case closed regardlessof whether or not the actual perpetrators are fitted up for the crime. Joe moves away from the "mentoring" of his partner and pursues the truth, fronting munitions traffickers, a powerful bootlegger, the Native power brokers and the KKK. He fears that if Native Americans are scapegoated as the killers, the Whites will use this as the rationale to overthrow the government.

The world building and the weaving of actual history into the story line are first rate. The setting and feel of the era are richly evoked. And the characters are believably developed with the most significant evolution being for Joe Barrow himself.  Kirkus further elucidates these elements: "Spufford has cleverly thought through all the Risk-board elements of this setup, from Cahokia’s industries, to the intersection of Native folkways and Catholicism, to the city’s various ethnic enclaves... But at heart the novel is a straightforward, smart noir, with Joe torn among his police duties, his sideline as a talented piano player at a local club, an erratic white detective partner, a budding romance, and his own grim upbringing in an orphanage. ... but Joe is an original invention, steeped in complex history—a “Mississippian fusion” of European, American, and Native ideas—and torn over what do for himself, his city, and his culture. A richly entertaining take on the crime story, and a country that might’ve been. 

Reviews have been glowing with Library Journal concluding that "Spufford has written an astounding homage to noir mysteries. A poignant drama-filled novel that his fans and readers of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian will thoroughly enjoy." Publishers Weekly concurs, saying "This richly imagined and densely plotted story refreshes the crime genre and acts as a fun house mirror reflection of contemporary attitudes toward race—all set to a thumping jazz age soundtrack." And Booklist praises, "Spufford... riffs on familiar hard-boiled types (the corrupt cop, the femme fatale) and keeps the plot brisk and violent. But the tune Spufford plays is nothing less than history of an alternative North America, and with his exuberant world building he invites us to consider the notes not played. ...The outcome, suggests Spufford, might be a society just as diverse and dissonant as our own."

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

This light novel from Jesse Q. Sutanto carries a number of important ideas. Raised in southeast Asia, Jesse got her creative writing degree from Oxford (yes, the one in England) and so has the bona fides to bring these cultures together in her books. You'll notice that even the characters in the book come from different cultures with unique foods and customs, but all seem to share the fear of and respect for the formidable "aunties" whether or not they are actually related. 

Here is a plot summary from the publisher, which is pretty accurate. " Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady-ah, lady of a certain age-who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her college-aged son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing--a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?"--"

Library Journal praises, " Sutanto excels at creating lovably flawed characters, the mystery has plenty of twists to keep readers guessing, and Vera's case notes at the end of some chapters add humor to the deductive process.... A mystery with warmth, humor, and many descriptions of delicious teas and foods." Publishers Weekly calls it a "stellar mystery" and concludes their review by saying, "The engrossing plot, which is full of laugh out loud humor and heartfelt moments, builds to a satisfying conclusion that will leave readers eager for more Vera. Sutanto has outdone herself with this cozy with substance." Booklist opens their review with this assertion, "Death shouldn't be funny or sweet or heartwarming, except maybe in a new cozy series starring Vera Wong, the widowed owner of San Francisco Chinatown's rather decrepit Vera Wang's World-Famous Teahouse." They go on to add some details of the plot: "when she discovers a corpse on the floor. The police arrive, refuse her amazing tea, barely investigate, and leave. Vera knows she's looking at foul play, no matter what the authorities insist. Of course, she'll solve the case by gathering (and feeding) the most likely suspects--an alleged reporter, a supposed podcaster, the dead man's wife, and his twin brother. Vera's next deadly installment hasn't yet been officially announced, but the success of Sutanto's best-selling Aunties series certainly points to more tales of murder."

It took me a while to warm up to Vera, but I stuck with it because my friend Anne Z. had given me the book. I am glad I did as it is both a good mystery and a warm-hearted story of unexpected friendships.

 

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon

The Emerald Mile is a boat, a 17-foot wooden dory to be precise. You have to row it with big oars. This particular boat lived more than one life, dying in a rapids of the Colorado River, retrieved from the town dump, and rebuilt with some modifications by Kenton Grua. Two times, Grua set the speed record for going down the Grand Canyon with this boat. Although author Kevin Fedarko calls this the story of the fast ride through the canyon, it is so much more. It is about everything related to the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon: it's first discovery by Spanish explorers in the 16th C, Powell's initial traverse of the canyon, the remarkable span of history revealed in the canyon's geology, the river's tumultuous behavior that spurred engineers for the Bureau of Reclamation to try to control it with massive dams, the people who fought to save its wild nature, and the elegant wooden dories brought to the canyon by Martin Litton that all the boatmen (and women) admire. You will learn about the ground breaking engineering that went into building both the Hoover and especially the Glen Canyon Dam, and you will also learn--along with the Bureau of Reclamation--that even these enormous structures could not fully control the wild Colorado. You'll meet some of the people who loved the canyon and river so much that they made it their life's work. As Publishers Weekly  succinctly points out, "Grua's wild ride on the Colorado, how it mirrored his mercurial personality, is just one part of Fedarko's story; however, the river, which runs through seven states, and the canyon, rich in both geological and political history, prove to be the real protagonists." This is the very best kind of non-fiction, incredibly well-researched as well as accessibly and beautifully written; many reviewers spoke of the poetic descriptions. I loved this book and often had a hard time putting it down. Whether or not you're an aficionado of rivers and boats, you'll find this book fascinating. Kirkus reviews says it best, "An epic-sized true-life adventure tale that appeals to both the heart and the head."

Text is followed by an interview with the author, pages of photographs, a lengthy Acknowledgement, detailed notes and sources, a bibliography, and finally, an index.  The quotes that precede each chapter are absolutely spot on, from Shakespeare to Wallace Stegner to Edward Abbey.

An interview on NPR with author Fedarko is here.

Someone to Watch Over Me

Ace Atkins was chosen by the Robert B. Parker estate a decade ago to continue Parker's "Spenser" series; this is the latest of the "Robert B. Parker's Spenser" novels by Atkins. For the most part, I would say he maintains the characters, action, settings and dialog. I did, however, in this book run across a piece of dialog that was from characters in another series (Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch) that was just jarring when uttered by Spenser.  Dialog has always been so key to the charm of the Spenser series and defines both individual characters and relationships between them. 

Here is the plot summary from the Robert B. Parker website. "Ten years ago, Spenser helped a teenage girl named Mattie Sullivan find her mother's killer and take down an infamous Southie crime boss. Now Mattie—a college student with a side job working for the tough but tender private eye—dreams of being an investigator herself. Her first big case involves a fifteen-year-old girl assaulted by a much older man at one of Boston's most prestigious private clubs. The girl, Chloe Turner, only wants the safe return of her laptop and backpack. But like her mentor and boss, Mattie has a knack for asking the right questions of the wrong people.

Soon Spenser and Mattie find ties between the exploitation of dozens of other girls from working class families to an eccentric billionaire and his sadistic henchwoman with a mansion on Commonwealth Avenue. The mystery man's wealth, power and connections extend well beyond Massachusetts - maybe even beyond the United States. Spenser and trusted ally Hawk must again watch out for Mattie as she unravels a massive sex-trafficking ring that will take them from Boston to Boca Raton to the Bahamas, crossing paths with local toughs, a highly-trained security company, and an old enemy of Spenser's—the Gray Man—for a final epic showdown."

Publishers Weekly offers a less than laudatory review, calling this book a "tepid...contribution" to the Spenser series. However, Library Journal asserts that "Parker keeps kicking in Atkins's capable hands." I did enjoy meeting new character Mattie and she may develop into an interesting character on her own. The person who recruits the teenagers for the wealthy billionaire is indeed formidable. The billionaire is obviously a stand-in for Jeffrey Epstein.

All Shot Up

 Chester Himes is one of the less famous but well-regarded authors of hard-boiled detective fiction. He is best known for his "Harlem Detective" series that features two Black detectives, Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. They write their own rules, but always with the good of the Harlem community at heart. 

This essay by S. A. Cosby in the New York Times, celebrates what Himes' writing meant to so many readers. Publisher Penguin Random House offers this introduction to Himes' career and work. "Chester (Bomar) Himes began his writing career while serving in the Ohio State Penitentiary for armed robbery from 1929 – 1936. His account of the horrific 1930 Penitentiary fire that killed over three hundred men appeared in Esquire in 1932 and from this Himes was able to get other work published. From his first novel, If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945), Himes dealt with the social and psychological repercussions of being black in a white-dominated society. Beginning in 1953, Himes moved to Europe, where he lived as an expatriate in France and Spain. There, he met and was strongly influenced by Richard Wright. It was in France that he began his best-known series of crime novels—including Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) and Run Man Run (1966)—featuring two Harlem policemen Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. As with Himes’s earlier work, the series is characterized by violence and grisly, sardonic humor." 

They also provide a brief plot summary for this book, the 5th installment in the Harlem Detectives series. "... Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones investigate a series of seemingly unrelated, brutal crimes. A gold Cadillac, about as large as an ocean liner, rocks a woman to the pavement in the cold streets of Harlem. Three goons in cop uniforms heist a small fortune and leave an important politician dead. All told eight bodies stack up over the long, bloody weekend, but they won’t spoil in this weather. And Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson have to follow the trail of brutal violence, perversion, and cold murder—and avoid getting caught in the fray."

The Sparrow and the Peacock

This book won an Edgar for "Best First Novel by an American Author" and was on the best book of the year lists for NPR and The New Yorker. Author "I.S. Berry spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA, serving in wartime Baghdad and elsewhere. She has lived and worked throughout Europe and the Middle East, including two years in Bahrain during the Arab Spring" (author's website). 

Here is the laudatory review from Publishers Weekly with a brief plot summary. "Berry's stint as a CIA officer lends a palpable veracity to this outstanding debut thriller. In 2012, 52-year-old CIA veteran Shane Collins is assigned to Bahrain's capital city of Manama during the Arab Spring uprisings there. His career is circling the drain, but his young station chief, Whitney Mitchell, is a star on the rise. In order to collect information that proves Iran is fueling the local revolution, Collins has riskily embedded a local agent in a volatile rebel group. Then Collins attends a gala where he's struck by a massive mosaic and again by the beautiful artist who created it, Almaisa. Shane begins a lengthy pursuit of Almaisa, and before long, he's juggling new love, a budding conscience about his work, and bloody complications with his revolutionary informant. The plot's many twists will captivate readers, and Berry's gorgeous prose is its own reward, with echoes of Le Carré and Graham Greene..."

I wasn't engrossed in the book, not the plot, not the characters. But the author certainly captures the setting well and offers insights into procedural espionage tactics to a greater degree than in most spy novels.