The Killing Stones

This is the latest installment resurrecting characters from the "Shetland Island" series by Ann Cleeves. Detective Jimmy Perez is now living on Orkney with his live-in partner Willow and their 4 year old child James. Another baby is imminently due.  Willow is technically Jimmy's boss but they don't seem to step on one another's toes when a missing person turns out to be a murder victim--Jimmy's best friend from childhood, Archie Stout. Archie has been killed near a neolithic archaeological site with one of the two "story stones" unearthed in the excavation. Jimmy constantly struggles with the boundaries between his own personal sense of grief and friendship with the deceased's family and his role as investigating detective. It's approaching Christmas and bad weather has grounded flights from Glasgow so Jimmy and Willow are on their own to figure this out. Two subsequent deaths, also at archaeological sites convince them that it is a single murderer they're seeking. The culprit will come as a total surprise to most readers. I loved the sense of place and the well-developed characters.  

Publishers Weekly calls the plotting "crafty," and ends their review with this endorsement: "The intensely personal nature of the case infuses it with welcome emotional depth, and Cleeves keeps readers guessing until she delivers a gutting climactic reveal that few will see coming. This proves Detective Perez still has the goods. " Kirkus likewise praises "A first-rate mystery full of historical detail and descriptions of a beautiful place."

The Predicament

This novel by William Boyd is the second of his "Gabriel Dax" series about a reluctant spy. Dax is, by profession, a travel writer with several published books to his credit and just about to finish another one called Rivers. Somehow--and one would ostensibly have to go back to the beginning of the series (Gabriel's Moon) to find out the origins of this situation --he has become an occasional spy for MI6 and a double agent for the Russians. Reviews are glowing and Booklist gushes "...this John Le Carré-esque Cold War thriller is something rare--a sequel that surpasses the original. Full of wry humor, this is a compelling novel full of intrigue..."

Dax's profession allows him to travel without suspicion and he is sent first to Guatemala to report on an up and coming labor leader who is expected to become the next President--until he gets assassinated right after Dax's abortive interview with him.  Dax feels he's been set up by the CIA and, to top it off, he gets attacked and stabbed for his trouble. After recovering, he is sent to Berlin to keep an eye on a man suspected of plotting an assassination of John F. Kennedy who is coming for a week-long state visit. Dax manages to "... thwart disaster via a string of accidentally heroic acts inspired by his instincts as a writer. Readers will be charmed by Dax's tendency to fail upward, and Boyd smoothly incorporates real history into his wildly entertaining plot. This is a treat" (Publishers Weekly).  Kirkus concludes their positive review by saying "A thriller that's always in motion but, unlike its hero, always knows where it's going."

The Woman in the Library

This thriller/ mystery by Sulari Gentill will keep you on the edge of your seat as each chapter ends with something of a cliff hanger. Four patrons in the reading room of the Boston Public Library--strangers to each other we are led to believe-- are suddenly united when they hear a woman scream. A dead woman is found in the library later that day, they undertake to find out who the killer is. This is a story within a story and a mystery within a mystery. Writer Winifred "Freddie" Kincaid is joined by fellow writer Cain McLeod, failing law student Whit, and graduate psychology student Marigold in the hunt. Is one of them the killer? Of course they all alibi each other at the time of the scream and supposedly of the murder. Someone begins to terrorize Freddie with text pictures of her own front door as well as that of Whit's house. It's coming from Cain's phone which he says he lost. An interwoven plot line is the correspondence between famous Australian author Hannah Tignone, who is using the events of the 4 to fuel the plot line of her next manuscript, and American wannabe writer Leo. His responses to her manuscript become increasingly sinister and graphic, making you glad they are on different continents--or are they?  Booklist says "The two story lines work together beautifully, amping up the suspense before reaching a surprising conclusion." 

Library Journal concludes their review of the book as "a complex, riveting story within a story. The fictional story of an author writing about another writer with messy, complicated friendships and suspicion is an innovative literary mystery. " Publishers Weekly calls the book a "thrilling excursion into metafiction from Australian author Gentill [which]... wittily examines the writing process itself." They close with this endorsement: "This elegantly constructed novel is intelligent, funny, and profound. Who could ask for more?" Kirkus concludes their review by saying "A sharply drawn fictional hall of mirrors sure to tantalize and occasionally frustrate." 

Bangalore Detectives Club

This light read from Harini Nagendra is like an east Indian cozy, the first in the "Bangalore Detectives Club" series.  Kaveri Murthy is a recently married young woman whose husband Ramu is a doctor at the local hospital in Bangalore. Set in the caste, class and gender structured Raj of 1921, stirrings for independence are afoot. Here is most of the plot from Publishers Weekly: "... Kaveri Murthy, who has a passion for advanced mathematics, lives just outside the sprawling city of Bangalore. While Kaveri and her physician husband, Ramu, are attending a reception at the prestigious Century Club, the body of a pimp is found murdered in the garden. When the deputy inspector of the local police force arrives to investigate, Kaveri confides that she saw the dead man in the garden with his hands around the throat of a beautiful woman. Kaveri's desire to see justice done takes her from the bastions of British wealth to humble mud-floored shacks. By placing her intelligent and clear-eyed protagonists in the multilayered and multicultural milieu of colonial India, Nagendra...imbues this mystery with a rich, edifying, and authentic feel."

Booklist calls this book "A fine start to a promising series." They describe Kaveri as ingenuous and brave, intelligent an charming. Her husband and the local police superintendent, although worried for Kaveri's safety chasing after a murderer, applaud her investigative skills. They make comparison to the "No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith, and also to the "Nancy Drew" series mysteries. You'll like all the characters here. A fun read.  

The Great Gatsby

Hard to believe I've lived this long and never read the book although I vaguely remember seeing the movie. Such a tragic story...love gained, love lost, love gained, love lost. Gatsby is considered to be the seminal representation of the Roaring Twenties. Maybe for the ultra rich. I would agree with the reviewer in the Guardian who notes that "...the characters in The Great Gatsby are in themselves very flawed and very hard to sympathise with."  And also with the quote he picks out that characterizes their flaws: "They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money and vast carelessness." Even our narrator, Nick Carraway, offers little to hold onto or empathize with. Here is the conclusion to their review: "Their inability to care is what makes The Great Gatsby the stark opposite to Romeo and Juliet where the lovers are sacrificed and Verona is healed. In Fitzgerald's masterpiece nothing is made whole by this tragedy. Many consider The Great Gatsby to be depressing because, in the end, those who dream do not achieve their aspirations. However, the main message that Fitzgerald sends to us isn't that dreaming will lead to despair, but that chasing an unworthy dream will lead to tragedy." Gatsby is stuck in a memory from years ago and he can't seem to imagine that, while he has been working to earn Daisy's love, Daisy has changed.

The New York Times examines the reviews of the book, both positive and scathingly negative, e.g., meritricious, a bauble, work of an author who is "barely literate" (Gore Vidal). And they note that perhaps the best way to gauge the immortality of a work is by reviewing the "insane glut" of influence that the book has had on literature, stage and screen.   In that regard, Gatsby certainly deserves its reputation. 

The Heart of a Stranger

This memoir by Angela Buchdahl talks not only about her life circumstances but also about her inner journey to claim community with her father's Jewish heritage. Her mother is Korean Buddhist and never converted, but supported both of her daughters' participation in Judaic culture and practice. Angela became the first  Asian American rabbi in the United States and was eventually given the head office over one of the largest congregations in the world, streaming services to over 100 countries. She faced the usual issues of antisemitism, but also prejudices without the religious about her gender and her mixed parentage. 

The Washington Post calls the book "inspiring" and has this to say about its author: "She’s the rock star rabbi, the Beyoncé of the clergy set. She’s called upon to explain the Jewish holidays on network television, her online sermons draw more than 100,000 views and her name once was an answer on “Jeopardy!” Angela Buchdahl’s improbable rise from an early childhood in Korea to the pulpit of Central Synagogue in New York City, one of the leading Reform synagogues in the United States, all while deftly overcoming gender and racial barriers, is a story that begs to be told."They go on to describe her writing style as "warm and engaging" and have more to say about Buchdah's writingl: "She presents herself as both author and teacher, memoirist and evangelist. This unconventional structure will surely engage readers interested in but unfamiliar with Jewish history and precepts. " 

Kirkus praises "Buchdahl’s eloquent memoir braids a narrative of growth and discovery with sermonic reflections on biblical texts. This is a book about finding a calling, but it is also a book about inclusion..." and close their review with "An inspiring life story of believing and belonging, told by one of the most influential figures in modern American Judaism." 

Publishers Weekly concludes their glowing review by saying "In a moment of rising social division, racism, and antisemitism, this stirring call for unity resonates." You can find multiple interviews and videos of her sermons online. 

The Book of Magic

This is the conclusion of Alice Hoffman's "Practical Magic" series which is preceded by The Rules of Magic and Practical Magic. Although this book's storyline is about trying to reverse the ancestral curse on the Owens family that dooms any of their beloved partners to early death, it's also about love winning out over everything. The two orphaned sisters, Sally and Gillian, have kept themselves from falling in love to avoid the curse and have also hidden the truth from Sally's two daughters, Kylie and Antonia. Of course Kylie falls in love and her fiancee is seriously injured in a car accident which sets her on a path to discover the truth about the curse and to find a way to reverse it. Sacrifices will be required. 

The New York Times offers a fairly complete synopsis of the storyline and closes with this: "If the ending feels overly tidy, well, fairy tales don’t enchant with nuance so much as the sweep of their stories. And, like the witches who populate her stories, Hoffman certainly knows how to enchant." Kirkus commments "Ultimately, for better or worse, each Owens woman must face her fear of love. For all the talk of magic, the message here is that personal courage and the capacity to love are the deepest sources of an individual’s power."  Booklist calls this "a tale of finely wrought female relationships, magic, and love." Publishers Weekly concludes their review by saying, "Hoffman runs through the Owens family history over the centuries, and though the accounts of bloodlines and varied relationships can be confusing, the story brims with bewitching encounters and suspenseful conflicts revolving around good magic versus bad magic. Hoffman brings satisfying closure to the Owens saga." 

Evensong

I have not previously read anything by Stewart O'Nan. This is a story without a plot line, rather a series of vignettes revealing the inner and outer lives of 4 aging women who are key players in an organization called the Humpty Dumpties in Pittsburgh. Publishers Weekly offers this good summary and review: O'Nan...once again finds extraordinary resonance in the lives of ordinary people. In Pittsburgh, 89-year-old Joan Hargrove, leader of the Humpty Dumpty Club, a group of elderly women who help each other out, lives the "nightmare" they all share when she falls down a flight of stairs and breaks her leg. With Joan recovering in the hospital, it's left to other club members to fill the void: Kitzi delivers prescriptions to Gene and Jean Sokolov, brother-and-sister hoarders who live with a houseful of cats, and slowly becomes enmeshed in the siblings' lives; Susie, a divorcee, takes care of Joan's cat and finds romance with a retired postal worker who plays in a bluegrass band. Meanwhile, Emily, a recurring character in O'Nan's fiction, is having trouble with her sister-in-law, who is showing the first signs of dementia. The drama here is strictly low-key (a funeral is the emotional high point), but O'Nan proves that he has no peers when it comes to evoking the quotidian challenges and routines of daily life. It's a bittersweet celebration of the twilight years. " 

Kirkus closes their review with these positive comments: "This frank depiction of people nearing the ends of their lives might sound bleak, but O’Nan’s brilliantly rendered characters refuse to be pitied, matter-of-factly accepting loss and physical decline as they go about their days quietly sustained by their faith and commitment to service. Unsentimental yet deeply moving: more wonderful work from the versatile, masterful O’Nan." There are excerpts from multiple review sources here. 

 What left me dissatisfied was the difficulty in figuring out the relationships (besides HD membership) between the primary characters and between them and many of the secondary characters as well as the lack of resolution for some of the crises facing the group.  It was also a challenge at times to know who was speaking in the dialogue exchanges. Apparently there are previous installments that deal with the Maxwell family: Henry Himself and Emily Alone. Seems like it might be advisable to read these before tackling this one. That being said, the characterizations are poignant and rich, the characters' struggles all too real and familiar. His writing merits further investigation.

The Secret of Secrets

This latest (sixth) installement in Dan Brown's series featuring religious historian and symbology professor Robert Langdon is a wild ride. Not only is there a complicated plot but there are some big ideas being promoted here, namely nonlocal consciousness. At the close of their lengthy review, the New York Times says, "It may be best to read “The Secret of Secrets” as an artifact of a lost civilization, a misty evocation of vanished literary glory. It made me nostalgic for a golden age when a single written work could not only sell millions of copies, but also galvanize public opinion, spark furious debate and rotate history a few degrees on its axis." The Guardian effuses "Here’s a plot that starts thick and gets thicker. Every few pages brings a cliffhanger..." 

Kirkus opens their review with "...Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague." And they continue, "But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009)...It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail..." and they conclude, "There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational. A standout in the series."

The Impossible Fortune

This fifth installment in the "Thursday Murder Club" series rejoins our fearsome foursome a year after the death of Elizabeth's husband Stephen has died. Joyce's daughter, Joanna, is getting married and one of the wedding guests, Nick--best friend of the groom--approaches Elizabeth and asks her to find out who is trying to kill him. There may well be a veritable fortune--a quarter of a billion in Bitcoin-- at stake. But getting to the money requires finding both his 6 digit code and that of his business partner, Holly. Nick disappears and it's feared that he is dead. Then Holly is killed. Every character has a whole other story going on besides the search for the money and at times it is a bit confusing as the POV narrator switches so frequently. 

An interview with the New York Times about the book and his writing generally is here. The interviewer notes that "Osman’s work reflects his own witty and openhearted view of human nature..." and also observes that his characters "are aging almost in real time. Tucked inside the crowd-pleasing plots are themes of grief, loss, friendship, the renegotiated relationships between parents and their adult children, and the indignities and sorrows of old age." Osman himself comments that "he wants to present his sleuths as complicated and flawed, just like anyone else."

Kirkus says in their review that "the Thursday Murder Club is back and better than ever." And they go on to conclude: "There are satisfying red herrings and a well-constructed answer to the puzzle of what happened to Nick and why. And you’ll be happy just to have spent some time in Osman’s delightful world. "If you’re coming to the series from the Netflix movie, start at the top. If you’ve read the others, this is a high point.