Artists in Crime

On my lazy day today, I finished Dame Ngaio Marsh's mystery--the 6th in a series of 32 books featuring Inspector Roderick Alleyn--a fairly early one as this is where he meets the woman who later becomes his significant other, Agatha Troy. Alleyn has apparently been on extended leave from Scotland Yard's CID, having spent a year in New Zealand. He meets the well known artist, Agatha Troy, on board ship as he is returning to England via Fiji and then Quebec. He is immediately taken with her, and she is--he believes--immediately put off by him.
Upon coming home to visit his mother prior to returning to work, he is called up to solve a murder at the home of none other than Agatha Troy, who happens to live in the same village as his mum. An artist's model, employed by Troy to support a class of resident art students at her ancestral home, has been murdered--right in front of the class. This will certainly complicate any hopes Alleyn had for pursing a romantic relationship with Ms. Troy.
The book has a great plot. You know the obvious suspect may not really be the murderer, but it takes a while to find out who indeed has plotted to kill the annoying Sonia, since any number of people seem to have had motive and at least a few had opportunity. A second murder--this time of the primary suspect--creates a more complicated picture, but through the solid detective work of Alleyn and colleague Fox, the crime is solved. Published in 1938, this book was fun to read because of the somewhat dated British phrases. One of the early characters, for example, is referred to as "the success" of the cruise ship, meaning she is wildly popular with the men and has a troop of them following her about.

Once a Hero

I long ago read a sci-fi book by Elizabeth Moon,  Remnant Population, that I liked a lot because it had a strong female protagonist and an interesting plot. Then quite recently I read a slightly futuristic book with a male protagonist who had Autism Spectrum Disorder which was just so compelling, The Speed of Dark. This was a book I picked up at DPL Friends' shop for the trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looks like this is part of her "Serrano Legacy" series which had several books that came before and several that came after. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently self-contained that it is worth while reading for it's own sake.
Esmay Suiza, as a junior officer in the Regular Space Service, has apparently not only survived a treasonous attempt by her former ship's captain to turn against the government, but then led a "mutiny" against that captain with a number of the crew. She then went on to defeat the enemy ships using only a partially disabled disabled cruiser. She had never been in combat and yet displayed uncommon abilities to strategize and lead. Where has she been hiding herself all this time? She must face a Board of Inquiry and a court martial, but is eventually cleared of all charges, promoted to Lieutenant, and reassigned to a deep space repair vehicle. First though, she is given 30 days leave and returns to her home planet of Altiplano, where she finds out that the recurring nightmares she's struggled with all her life derived from an actual rape when she was 6 years old, NOT from fever-generated dreams as her father and family asserted for all these years. She is furious and vows never to return.
How will she move forward in the RSS though now that her efforts to remain unobtrusive have been well and fully compromised by her heroic performance during the mutiny. Her commanding officers recognize that she has great potential, but Esmay cannot yet fully accept that view of herself and is terrified of getting psychological counseling that might her her reconcile these conflicting perceptions. Then Esmay uncovers a plot to hijack her ship by a terrifying enemy and again rises to the occasion. I would love to read more of these, even though I am not normally a big sci-fi fan. Moon has obviously put so much thought into these worlds she creates that every sentence conveys a picture. Brilliant really.

Death of a Village

These books by M.C. Beaton featuring highland police constable Hamish Macbeth are always light and entertaining, although now that I have discovered a good reader for the audio versions (Graeme Malcolm), that is really my preferred mode because he gets the accents just right! As usual, Hamish is ever so much smarter than those in the police hierarchy above him and manages to solve crimes, small and large, where others fail to even see a crime is being committed. Here he uncovers an insurance scam involving local shop keepers, a more serious conspiracy at a nearby retirement community in which the residents are apparently being killed off in order to gain title to their property, and then a whole town that has been terrified into silence by some ruthless and clever thieves who are plundering a sunken WWII sub off the coast. As usual Hamish does not want to take credit for the crimes he solves because then he would be promoted and have to leave his lazy life in the village of Lochdubh, where he raises sheep and chickens and occasionally poaches fish from the forestry lands. So he usually manages to shift this onto another person involved or else break just enough rules to get reprimanded but not arrested. He has the predictable problems with women in this episode with local reporter Elspeth Grant being the primary player, and the Currie sisters spreading their typically muddled mix of gossip to muddy the waters.

311 Pelican Court

Debbie Macomber is an author I have encountered in the distant past, but someone whose books are always around at the airport, so I grabbed one from the "Friends" shop at the public library when I was loading up on vacations reading options. This is the 3rd is a whole series of books set in Cedar Cove on the Kitsap peninsula of Washington state. There is a preceding list of characters and their relationships to one another. In this book we find the inter-twined stories of Olivia and Grace, two best friends since childhood, Grace's daughter, Maryellen who plans to be a single mother, Olivia's mother Charlotte who is taking up community causes in her old age, and the residents of Pelican Court, divorcing couple Zach and Rosie along with their children Allison and Eddie. There is a parallel storyline about the mysterious death of a man last winter at the local B & B, Thyme and Tide, who remains unidentified, but the main story is how Judge Olivia Lockheart's unusual awarding of the house to Allison and Eddie is going to play out. Well written if you don't mind jumping from one story line and set of characters to another every few pages. Pretty believable people populate this picturesque town, so they seem accessible, and Washingtonians will appreciate the locale descriptions.

The Robber Bride

Here is another well known book I have somehow managed to avoid reading up til now. The most recent novel by Margaret Atwood that I have read was Oryx and Crake, several years ago. From her website, we learn that..."Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride is inspired by “The Robber Bridegroom,” a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends."
Three more unlikely friends you are not likely to meet. Diminutive Tony (Antonia) is a professor of history whose passion is war. She visits famous battle sites and collects a flower from each to press into her memory book where she dissects the event to see if it could have turned out differently. Charis (formerly known as Karen) is the quintessential hippy in garb, philosophy, and lifestyle. Brash and bold on the surface, Roz is the president of her own very successful company. In turn, each woman is taken in by Zenia's unique ability to ferret out their vulnerabilities, work her way intimately into their lives, and then steal what is most precious to them. She dies once, ostensibly blown up in a terrorist attack. But then she resurfaces, very much alive, and threatens again to destroy them all. Each woman has already survived a traumatic childhood, but can they survive a re-match with Zenia?

The Giver

This classic dystopian novel and Newbery Award winner by Lois Lowry made it to the top of my "to read" pile on vacation because we have the movie on Netflix that we are going to watch and I had forgotten too much of the book. A perfectly wrought story about where we end up on the road of good intentions--as my former colleague Arthur used to say. It is indeed a sort of hell where there are no colors, no real emotions, no relief in the landscape of gray. Only one person sees beyond this existence and carries the memories of the entire human race throughout history. It is a nearly unbearable burden because these memories include moments of joy and beauty but also moments of the most terrible misery and brutality. As Jonas turns 12, he is chosen to be the new Receiver and holder of these memories.  When Jonas learns the terrible secret of how society is being controlled to avoid problems, he and the Giver come up with a desperate plan to give these memories back to the people. There are 3 sequels to this novel and I am tempted to read them, and certainly looking forward to the movie.

The Kill Artist

This is the first book in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva; having recently read one of the more recent installments, The English Girl, I wanted to backtrack and find out where Allon came from. This is very solid writing with well detailed settings, complex characters, and tight, fast-paced plots. I don't feel compelled to read all the Allon books (14 so far) but would never mind spending a few hours with another installment.
As the book opens, Allon is working as a highly in-demand art restorer, a profession in which he was originally trained through the auspices of the Israeli Secret Service to give him a valid cover for his less public activities. He is hiding from his former life, which he knows was responsible for the death of his small son and the permanent invalidism of his wife, who has been in a nursing home these last nine years. Still his former boss, Ari Shamron, once again the head of Mossad, has tracked him down and persuades Allon to assassinate the terrorist Tariq, the man who killed Allon's son. Shamron says there is proof that Tariq was behind the recent murders of the Israeli ambassador to France and his wife. He wants it done off the books and offers Allon a blank check to make it happen.
Allon recruits a part-time former agent and fading high fashion model, Jacqueline Delacroix, who also hides from her past as Sarah Halévy, daughter of Jews killed in WWII. Allon and Delacroix think they have infiltrated Tariq's organization, when in fact, they have been lured in by Tariq himself. The race is on to find and kill Tariq before he derails the Israeli-Palentinian peace process by murdering the key players, and to get Jacqueline out before her usefulness to Tariq is expended. It is only at the very end of the book that we find out how ruthlessly Shamron has manipulated Allon and Delacroix to get what he wants. Detailed plot summary available here.

Never Coming Back

Author Tim Weaver has had several previous books published in Great Britain but this--his fourth--is the first to be released here in the United States. They all feature David Raker, former journalist, who now specializes in helping to find missing persons. Apparently in a previous book, he was grievously wounded and in fact died for a few short minutes before being resuscitated. He has now left London and taken up residence in his parents' old cottage in Devon while he recovers physically and mentally. He has brought a roommate with him, former police officer with the Met in London, Colm Healy, recently fired and at loose ends. He doesn't stay in the picture long, just enough to get his teeth into the case of an unidentified corpse found washed up on the local beach.
The story line flips back and forth from a time about 15 months ago to present day. It also changes locales from the Devon coast, populated largely by fishermen and farmers, to the Las Vegas of big spenders and shady behavior. The missing persons in this story are an entire family--Paul and Carrie and daughters Annabelle and Olivia--who just disappeared, leaving behind the family dog, dinner still cooking on the stove, computers still turned on. No sign of struggle, unless you count the spilled milk carton. Cars are still in the driveway. Wallets and laptops still in the house. No credit card use and no contact in the last year. Emily is Carrie's sister and asks David to find them. He plunges into a thoroughly convoluted cover-up at multiple levels and in many directions, all designed to protect one man and his descendants. That man ran Sobibor and got away from the Nazi hunters by hiding in Las Vegas. His son and grandson apparently carry on the family tradition of unhesitatingly murdering anyone who proves inconvenient or potentially threatening.
Although this book is, according to the author, only 2/3 the length of the original draft, it still feels at times like it goes on too long. And it also seemed over-wrought in some of the details--he discusses the dark, lightless eyes of the killer about 30 times too often. Nevertheless, Raker finds out what happened to the family and I won't spoil that outcome here. Locales are convincingly portrayed and Raker is an interesting character. I might be tempted to read one of the earlier books or the one that came after this one, Fall from Grace.

The Girl Next Door

Ruth Rendell has been a prolific and well-respected writer--considered to be one of the grande dames of British mystery writers. But I am getting more hardened about not reading things that do not engage me, and this book did not.  Probably says more about me than about the book. We know almost from the beginning of the book who the skeletal hands in the buried biscuit tin belonged to and who put them there. But by the time they are discovered, the murderer has lived a long and well-off life and now resides peacefully in a luxurious retirement community. Strike one against the story line IMO. But more damning from my perspective is that I did not come to care about or empathize with any of the characters in the first 80+ pages of the book, nor could I imagine this changing significantly. Hence, I let it go without finishing. The most extensive review and summary of story line I found were in the Washington Post.

Bone Crossed

This is #4 in the "Mercy Thompson" series by Patricia Briggs. If you have been reading my earlier blog posts (Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed) , you are probably tired of hearing how much I like these books and how difficult it is to put them down at night...they are the chief reason I stay up way past my bedtime these days.
     The title has to do with a magically charged skull and crossbones that has been painted on the door of Mercy's auto repair shop. It is an indicator to all magical creatures that Mercy has been labelled a traitor--specifically to the Vampires--and it means open season on hunting her. Marsilia, Queen of the local seethe, has found out that Mercy killed Andre, her 3rd in command, and wants more than ever to kill Mercy. She has kidnapped, starved and tortured Mercy's vampire friend, Stefan, and dropped him in Mercy's living room, hoping he will be so overcome with hunger that he will kill Mercy. But Stefan's will is strong and Mercy is surrounded by werewolves, so the plot fails. Still it seems prudent that Mercy accept an unexpected invitation from an old college roommate, Amber, to come to Spokane and help rid the house of ghosts. There's only one very powerful vampire in Spokane and surely Mercy can stay out of his way for a few days. But the haunting in friend Amber's house is no ordinary ghost, and Amber's husband turns out to be said vampire's attorney, so Mercy runs head on into Blackwood. When Mercy calls on Stefan to come help her with the malevolent ghost, he advises Mercy to head home asap. It appears Blackwood has already fed on Mercy without her knowledge while she was staying in Spokane. Mercy  agrees to a blood exchange with Stefan in a desperate effort to keep Blackwood from being able to enslave her. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the werewolves and vampires have agreed to a negotiation meeting and everyone learns just how cruel and calculating Marsilia has been in her dealings with Stefan.
     Things are continuing to heat up with Adam, and with the pack, because Adam made Mercy a member of the pack without asking for the pack's approval first. Many are very unhappy about a coyote being a pack member and Mercy is struggling with rejection as well as the continuing panic attacks and flashbacks following her rape (see Iron Kissed). Then Mercy is kidnapped by Amber's husband, who has come under Blackwood's thrall; Blackwood is holding their son Chad prisoner and threatens to kill him if Mercy is not brought to him. Now Mercy is about to learn why Blackwood wants her. If he drinks her blood, he gains her powers. That is how he has managed to function during the day and to kill with a touch. Mercy partners with one of Blackwood's other prisoners, a fae called OakMan, to bring down Blackwood and his minions.
     The really great thing about these books is the impressive level of detail and thought that Briggs has put into creating the politics and protocols of the supernatural creatures' worlds. Highly recommended as always.