Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight

Yes, another largely predictable and nevertheless entertaining entry in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie as usual has highly uncooperative FTA's to apprehend with friend Lula's help. She is juggling men who want to sleep with her; although Joe Morelli has the inside track, Diesel makes an appearance and takes up residence in Stephanie's apartment. Ranger has to keep rescuing Stephanie from car explosions. The main plot line this time involves one of Stephanie's FTA's, Oswald Wednesday, who has also ruffled feathers of some international heavy hitters and sent Diesel to capture (or kill) him. The guy is a world class hacker threatening to do really bad things, and when a local group of white hats breach his security in order to try and impress him, they inadvertently put targets on their backs. So Stephanie is trying to keep these naifs safe while still finding her FTA and claiming her bounty before Diesel gets to him.  All the usual additional characters we have come to know and love are here: Stephanie's parents and Grandma Mazur, Connie, Vinnie, and, of course, Lula. Fast paced, fun, and sure to please fans of the series. Publishers Weekly offers a lively and positive review.

Double Shot

I have read many of Diane Mott Davidson's tasty mysteries featuring Coloradosmall town caterer Goldy Schulz. The only one I have posted about previously is Dark Tort; this is the 12th book in the series.  Goldy has a teenage son, a truly despicable ex-husband she calls The Jerk, a loving current husband who is a detective with the Sheriff's department, a good friend who is another ex of The Jerk's, and helpers in her catering business, notably Julian. 

In this installment, John Richard Korman (aka JRK or The Jerk) has had his jail sentence (for physical assault) commuted by the governor and has returned to Aspen Meadows and to making Goldy's life as miserable as he can. When Goldy gets to her new event center to start prepping for a lunch, she is attacked, and then finds that someone has shut off all her refrigeration and the food is all ruined. She scrambles to recover but wants to find out who hated her so much that they would physically harm her and try to damage her business. As usual, JRK precipitates an argument in front of the lunch group--first with a former physician colleague and then with Goldy. Later, when Goldy takes her son Arch to meet his father, ostensibly for golf lessons, she finds JRK shot dead in his garage. Now, because the police find a gun registered to Goldy outside the garage and because of the very public argument with JRK, Goldy is the primary suspect. As usual, she can't wait for the authorities to find the murderer, especially since her husband, Tom, has been removed from the investigation--for obvious reasons. So Goldy and fellow ex-wife and best friend Marla decide to investigate on their own. There is a wealth of clues and suspects, another murder follows, and eventually Goldy solves the mystery--in between catering events. 

While she often describes food prep in the text of the story, the recipes have all been moved to back of the book. There is, of course, an actual cookbook available with all "Goldy's" recipes. I read Davidson's books as a break from darker fare because they are fun, create a sense of small town life, and sound delicious. 

A brief review is available from Kirkus, and a highly entertaining one from Publishers Weekly.

The Paris Library

The author, Janet Skeslien Charles,  uses the American Library in Paris (ALP) as the centerpiece of this historical novel, where Charles actually worked as a programs manager for a time. Based largely on actual people and events, the book introduces us to the dedicated staff and loyal subscribers (patrons) of the ALP during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Told mainly from the POV of Odile, a young woman who has to fight her father to take a job at the ALP in 1939, and of Lily, a teenager in rural Froid, Montana in the 1980's. The book is about friendship, human failings, and the role that libraries and books played in sustaining the morale of war prisoners and hospital patients as well as those living under German occupation. When Odile gets the job at the ALP, it is a dream come true for her. Her aunt had been bringing her to the library since she was a child and that was where she learned to speak English. Her twin, Remy, is a law student who falls in love with one of Odile's colleagues, the children's libarian, Bitsi. When the Germans draw closer to Paris, Remy enlists, with Bitsi's support, which, for a time, strains the relationship between Odile and Bitsi. Eventually they come to be like sisters, bonded by their mutual love for Remy, who is wounded and imprisoned by the Germans. Odile also befriends the American wife of a British diplomat, who feels lost in a country where she has no friends and does not speak the language. Margaret becomes an indispensable volunteer at the ALP.  Odile is in love with, and eventually engaged to, a police officer, Paul;  one of the main secrets that is not revealed until the very end is why Odile is now living in Montana, the widow of American husband. Odile has kept to herself since her husband's death, but befriends Lily, whose mother has died, and tries to help Lily not make some of the same mistakes that Odile feels she has made. "The answers unspool in this well-plotted and richly populated novel" according to the New York Journal of Books.

Kirkus calls the book "an intelligent and sensuously rich novel of a young woman's coming-of-age." Publishers Weekly says it's "a delightful chronicle of a woman’s life in WWII-era Paris and rural 1980s Montana."

An absolutely must-read is the Author's Note which details what happened to several of the main characters after the war. The author's website also provides some wonderful archival materials to learn more about the actual people who staffed and supported the ALP.

The Witch Hunter

This is the first in a series by Finnish author Max Seeck; this is his first publication to appear in the U.S. I would characterize it as Scandinavian (in this case, Finland) noir--which I love in small doses--with a touch of the supernatural. Or so it seems. When a famous author's beautiful wife is found dead in her home, she is dressed in a black evening gown, seated at the dining room table, and wears a rictus of a smile a la The Joker. There is no readily apparent cause of death. Her husband was 4 hours away, giving a book talk about his "Witch Hunt" trilogy, which have become internationally popular and made him very rich. Then the author is apparently killed, along with his police chief escort, on his way home. Or not. Investigator Jessica Niemi feels like she is always a step behind the killer, who appears to be re-enacting the murder's from the "Witch Hunt" books. Perhaps the problem is that there is more than one killer.

The characters are well developed, the setting is chilling, and the story line well paced. Publishers Weekly calls the book "deliciously creepy." Booklist calls it "intensely suspenseful...dark and intricate." Kirkus says, it's "a disturbing tale of murder and madness."

The Bellamy Trial

Published in 1927 by author Frances Noyes Hart (1890 - 1943), the book is ostensibly based on a notorious murder trial in the 1920's, although I have been unable to locate information on that. There is general agreement that Hart's book was a pioneer in this genre of a book based on a courtroom trial, which has now become quite common (e.g., Perry Mason, John Grisham). Hart worked as a translator for the Navy during WWI and was a "canteen worker" in France, which she documented in her book My AEF: A Hail and Farewell. She wrote short stories which were published in popular magazines of the day (Saturday Evening Post, Scribner's, Ladies' Home Journal) and then collected in Contact and Other Stories (1923). She won a Pulitzer for this book, which is considered a classic murder mystery and was later (1929) made into a silent film (cinematography by Arthur C. Miller).

A young woman, Mimi Bellamy, is found stabbed to death in an empty gardener's cottage on an old estate that's no longer occupied.  Her husband, Stephen Bellamy, and a wealthy socialite, Sue Ives, are charged with the murder because they were seen near the cottage and both have motives. We read about the 8 days of the trial and hear from various witnesses--staff, friends, family members--some of whom are reliable and others with their own agendas. With each testimony, the story gets more complicated. Were Mimi and Sue's husband, Pat Ives, having an affair? Or was there something more sinister going on in this small Long Island town where everyone knows everyone else, for better or worse? Each day of the trial is a separate chapter and the story is carried by a novice red-haired female reporter from Philadelphia and a more experienced local reporter, who function, as one reviewer suggested, like a sort of Greek chorus. It is somewhat dated--not surprising given that it was written almost 100 years ago. For example, the jury is all men; all women are "girls" until they are grandmothers. Nevertheless, the story revealed through testimony will keep most readers guessing until the mystery is solved--AFTER the verdict has been delivered.

The Cold Millions

 Author Jess Walter dives into the fight for labor union rights in Spokane, Washington that took place in 1909. A long-time resident of Spokane, Walter has written 7 novels, one collections of short stories, and one non-fiction book, many of which have garnered awards and positive acclaim (see his website for more about him). Spokane had grown rapidly in the late 1800's and early 1900's and become a major commercial and transportation hub fueled by sitting at the crossroads of 4 transcontinental railroads; the discovery of gold, silver and lead in the area; and abundant timber and, later, agriculture. This rapid development was often accomplished with migrant labor, especially from China, but also from Europe and the eastern U.S. In Spokane there was a layer of brokers between the employers and potential employees called "job sharks," who often cheated the workers and even bribed employers to fire entire work crews so they would have to go through the sharks to get re-hired. The IWW sought to stop this practice and the big employers in the area pressured law enforcement to hinder the union's recruitment efforts in any way possible; this resulted in outlawing public speaking or "soapboxing."

Two itinerant brothers, Gregory or "Gig" the older and Ryan or "Rye"  the much younger one,  get caught up in the free speech fight that resulted in hundreds of men being arrested and jailed in one day. Because of his young age, Rye is released within a few days, but Gregory is sentenced to 6 months for being an agitator. Rye strikes a devil's bargain with a wealthy businessman to get Gig out of jail in exchange for Rye traveling with and reporting back on the activities of the feminist labor leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (she wrote a book about her own experiences in the Spokane jail). Gregory had felt responsible for looking after Rye after their parents died, but then it is Ryan who is trying to take care of his brother. There is a colorful cast of  other characters that adds dimension to the story. 

The Washington Post calls the story "captivating" and the characters "outrageous" and "irresistible." The New York Times notes the relevance of the books themes to those of today as it tackles "injustice, poverty, bigotry, ecological disaster. Turns out this tramp’s tale is a timely book...Walter asks us to connect the dots in his schema to the present day, during another eruption in history’s cycle." Walter's writing is often lyrical and even "breathtaking" (Kirkus). The story is told from multiple points of view and is occasionally a little hard to follow, but worth the effort if you have the stomach for the human cruelty described.

The Citadel

This book was published in Great Britain in 1937 and also received the National Book Award (U.S.) for 1937. Written by A.J. (Archibald Joseph) Cronin, who was himself trained and practiced as a physician, the main character is a newly graduated Scottish doctor, Andrew Manson. He takes a paying job in a mining town in south Wales in order to pay back monies he was given to  complete his education. When he turns up to serve as physician's assistant to Dr. Page, he discovers that Page has been incapacitated by a stroke and is no longer able to practice. But in order to preserve the income that comes from his roster of patients with the local mining company, his wife makes Andrew carry the full case load at a meager salary and pockets the rest. Manson is zealous in wanting to provide medical care to the miners and to improve their living conditions and, at one point, in order to have new infrastructure built, helps another physician's assistant, Philip Denny, blow up the sewers, which are so defective that they are causing water-borne diseases to spread. Eventually resigning his position, he is hired to work in a large and somewhat more prosperous mining town, which allows him to marry Christine. His budding interest in miners' lung diseases propels him to do research on the effects of the working environment and, with his wife's support, he writes a paper on his findings and is awarded an MRCP. This qualification, in turn, leads him to London where he takes up the position of the Medical Officer of the Mines Fatigue Board. Thwarted in his pursuit of further research on lung diseases, he buys a private practice and begins a slide down a slippery slope of treating wealthy hypochondriacs in order to get more income. This change in focus estranges him from his wife. When  patient dies due to an inept surgical procedure by a colleague, Andrew is shocked back to his focus on patient care and reconciles with his wife. Andrew offers to help an old friend's daughter who has contracted TB. But the outdated methods of the London hospital where she is admitted fail to help her and Andrew takes the radical step of spiriting her away to a private clinic established by an American researcher, Richard Stillman, where she is treated with his new methods and gets better. Manson's soured relationships with his money grubbingy physician colleagues and his work with Stillman, who was unlicensed as a doctor in Britain, result in Andrew being brought before the General Medical Council. Against the advice of his lawyer, Manson offers an impassioned defense of his actions and is exonerated.

This book, along with many others of Cronin's, was made into a movie. Cronin's criticism of the corruption in private medical practice is also widely credited for setting an expectation among the public for a change, paving the way for the NHS.

Payback's a Witch

This book by Lana Harper was just pure entertainment. Harper (pseudonymn for Lana Popović) has written several YA witchy novels, but this is her first novel targeted to adults. Emmy Harlow is a witch coming home to fulfill familial obligations in the magical town of Thistle Grove, IL (near Carbondale!!). She has been living in Chicago for the last 9 years, ever since the handsome scion of the Blackmoore family seduced her and then dumped her when they were in high school.  Moving away from the town meant that she eventually lost her magical powers, which emanate from Lady Lake on a hill outside Thistle Grove. The town was founded by four powerful witches, who are also the ancestors of the four magical families that still live there: the Harlows, the Blackmoores, the Thorns, and the Avramovs. Once a generation, the scions from each family--except the Harlows-- come together to compete in a series of magical challenges, the Gauntlet of the Grove. The winning family of the Gauntlet, for which the Harlows have traditionally served as Arbiters and record keepers, not only get the trophy, but accrue greater magic, wealth and influence. The Blackmoores have won so many times that they are now the richest family in town with an entertainment empire pandering to tourists seeking supernatural and horror thrills. The fortunes of the remaining families, especially the Thorns and Avramovs, are waning. Add to that, the  man who broke Emmy's heart, did the same to her best friend Linden Thorn and to the scion of the Avramovs, gorgeously dangerous Talia. Talia and Linden come to Emmy with a proposition; they want to make sure the Blackmoores do not win this tournament. As Arbiter, Emmy cannot be partial, but she can guide them to stay within the Guidelines of the The Grimoire, which controls the behavior of the magical families. Emmy and Talia ignite a passionate sexual relationship as Emmy continues to struggle with whether or not she wants to return to her "real life" in Chicago or re-embrace her magic, her family, her friends, and her home. Some sexually explicit descriptions are included.  

Publishers Weekly calls this "a queer rom-com that bewitches from the very first page...[the]magical joyride manages to feel both vibrantly current and timelessly mystical while avoiding the typical queer rom-com stereotypes."
Kirkus also raves, "the author’s writing shines in the small moments, particularly in the lush language used to capture the enchanting, autumnal atmosphere of quaint Thistle Grove and its supernatural allure. Readers are sure to fall under the magic spell of Thistle Grove and its inhabitants."

The Devil and the Dark Water

This novel by Stuart Turton is an historic novel, I guess, or as The Guardian describes it, "A maritime mystery with fantastical overtones." The two protagonists are "Arent Hayes, a physically imposing specimen with a kind soul and a 'poisoned' past, and healer Sara Wessel, abused wife of soulless Governor General Jan Haan, who happens to be Arent's uncle" (Kirkus).  I am copying the Publishers Weekly review since it does a better job of summarizing the plot than I could. "Set in 1634, this outstanding whodunit from Turton (The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) opens in Batavia, where celebrated investigator Samuel Pipps, who was working in the Dutch East Indies until his arrest for an unknown reason, is about to be transported to Amsterdam aboard the Saardam, along with his longtime sidekick, Arent Hayes. From the dock, a bloody man issues a dire warning to the Saardam's crew and passengers. As the grim figure, who appears to have leprosy, prophesies that the ship won't reach its destination, his clothing bursts into flame. Hayes and another passenger, the governor-general's wife, rush to help the dying man, only to find that his tongue had been cut out, making any speech impossible. The puzzles only continue once the vessel sets sail, including a locked-room murder, the reappearance of the dead leper, and a ghost ship dogging the Saardam. As Turton ratchets up the tension en route to the brilliant resolution of the plot, he keeps readers in doubt as to whether a rational explanation is possible. Fans of impossible crime fiction won't want to miss this one." 

Kirkus also comments that Turton "brings a pointed social conscience to bear in his commentary on the ill treatment of women and the exploitation of the lower class," and concludes that he delivers "A devilish sea saga that never runs out of cutthroat conspiracies." The Guardian says of the author's skill, "Turton has got his world up and running inside the first two pages; thereafter, deceptions and diversions multiply until the ultimate, outrageous reveal, at which point the dark water turns out to be rather darker than you imagined."

Lazarus

I have read a previous Lars Kepler (husband-and-wife Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril's team pseudonym) installment in the " Joona Linna series," The Sandman, and it was very dark. I guess I forgot just how dark until I embarked on this very Scandinavian noir (#7 in the series) that takes place several years after the events in that book. In fact, the villain of The Sandman supposedly died but reappears here, hence the title. When someone starts killing some of Europe's most heinous criminals, nobody is particularly worried about catching the killer, except that two of the murders have connections to Joona Linna, who becomes convinced that they are being committed by the man that he thought was dead, serial killer Jurek Walter. His partner, Saga Bauer, is the one who shot Walter and she thinks Joona is totally off base, but there are too many similarities to the earlier deaths by Walter, and Joona goes on the hunt to prove he's right and trap his enemy once again. 

Booklist says, "Kepler combines explosive action with masterfully developed tension." Publishers Weekly agrees that fans of this genre and/or series "won't want to miss this one."

While Justice Sleeps

I read this book a while back and just realized I hadn't posted about it. This is rising Democratic star Stacey Abrams' first dip into fiction writing after two non-fiction books.   The premise is that a Supreme Court Justice, irascible Howard Wynne, has slipped into a coma leaving his law clerk, Avery Keene--not his estranged son or wife--as his legal guardian. When Avery gets a strange call from the woman who had been his home health nurse, she goes to see her and finds her murdered. The stakes rise from there as people try to discredit Avery, the wife tries to have the judge taken off life support, and the son offers to throw his lot in with Avery to figure out what is going on. Justice Wynn was likely the swing vote on a pending case involving a biotech firm, a case that is at the heart, we learn of a worldwide conspiracy.

I love this summary from The New York Times : "The seemingly misanthropic and possibly paranoid Associate Justice Howard Wynn insults the president of the United States to his face; bemoans the ravages of Boursin’s syndrome, an apparently degenerative brain disease that is sapping his mental acuity; inveighs against the capacity of humans to deploy scientific breakthroughs for dangerous ends; refers to himself as a threat to national security; harries a nurse who has been blackmailed into spying on him; designs chess-related clues to his investigation of undescribed matters in a case pending before the court; and sequesters them for one of his law clerks to decode — all before lapsing into a coma induced by what may be a suicide attempt. Whereupon the nurse, contrary to instructions from her unknown blackmailer, saves Wynn’s life by calling 911." They admire her ability to weave multiple threads of plot together, but bemoan her superficial character development.

Booklist calls it a "gripping legal thriller," and I agree that, for all its flaws (see Kirkus) once started, you will want to finish this book.

Under the Whispering Door

I picked this up thinking it would be a light read, fantasy about a tea shop that is a way station for the dead on their way to whatever is beyond. But as author TJ Klune says in the opening Author's Note, "This story explore life and love as well as loss and grief. " And it did, indeed, do that, bringing me to tears when I finished it, even though it had a "happy" ending of sorts. 

The premise is that Wallace Price, a thoroughly not nice man and a shark of a lawyer, dies suddenly of a heart attack. The next thing he remembers is sitting at his funeral and seeing only his ex-wife and his ex-partners in the law firm in attendance. And nobody has anything good to say about him. The a young woman he does not recognize, comes up and tells him that she is his Reaper and has been sent to accompany him to meet his assigned Ferryman. Wallace doesn't want to accept he is dead, but is nevertheless whisked away to a distant place he doesn't recognize, a small town in the wooded hills. His Reaper, Mei, takes him to a weirdly built tea shop outside town called Charon's Crossing Tea and Treats, where he meets his Ferryman, Hugo. He also meets Hugo's dead grandfather, Nelson, and Hugo's departed dog, Apollo, who just keep hanging around the tea shop as ghosts to look after Hugo. We can conclude from various clues that Hugo is black and gay, while Mei is of Asian descent. Wallace steadfastly clings to his desire to return to his life for a while but eventually begins to recognize how devoid of meaning it was. When the deadline for his passing through the door on the top floor of the tea house grows nearer, Wallace tries to make up for many things he now wishes had been different and to help others who are struggling with loss. 

Publishers Weekly says, "Tenderness, wit, and skillful worldbuilding elevate this delightful tale." Library Journal also offers a positive review, "Tenderness, wit, and skillful worldbuilding elevate this delightful tale." And Booklist calls it "is a sweet tale of grief and second chances, and a ghost story about not giving up on even the most lost of souls."

We Were Never Here

I read another book by Andrea Bartz, The Herd, and was intrigued by the premise of this one. Once again, Bartz laser focuses in on relationships between women, both of whom come from unhappy or even tragic family situations and have bonded on this basis since they met in college. They are both now in their 30's. Every year since graduating from college, Emily and Kristen have gone back packing to exotic locales. Kristen has moved from Milwaukee to Australia a couple years ago and Emily misses her a lot, so these trips are now a time to reconnect. On a recent trip to Cambodia, Emily hooks up with a guy who attacks her when they get back to her hotel. She is fighting him off when Kristen arrives, bashes him over the head and kills him. They agree to dump the body into a river in order to avoid dealing with the legal system there, but Emily is traumatized and Kristen stays in touch with her every day to help her cope and eventually get back to some semblance of normal life. That is all background. When the book starts, they are traveling to out-of-the-way places in Chile. This time it is Kristen who attracts attention and goes off with a guy. When Emily returns to their hotel, she finds Kristen standing over the dead body of the man and Emily agrees, once again, to skirt the authorities and help get rid of the body. It's Emily who seems most distressed by this death and keeping silent about it, especially with her budding romantic partner, is eating her alive. Kristen decides to move back to Milwaukee but becomes ever more possessive and controlling of Emily. Their relationship deteriorates when Kristen shows Emily a picture of the dead man from Cambodia taken when he and Emily were drinking together. She had promised to destroy all the evidence and it's clear she is using it to threaten Emily. 

Publishers Weekly calls the "book riveting."Kirkus offers a very positive review: "Bartz's latest thriller is full of twists and turns as Emily discovers new things about the friend she thought she knew so well. The dread creeps up slowly on both Emily and the reader as more and more comes to light and the truth slowly reveals itself. Up to the unexpected climax and beyond, Bartz’s writing will keep readers on their toes, questioning everything and looking for hidden meanings in every communication between Emily and Kristen...the overall plot is exhilarating. A slow-burn thriller that gradually suffocates both the protagonist and the reader—in a good way."

The Man Who Died Twice

I loved this sequel to The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. The setting and characters remain largely the same--a group of 4 septuagenarians living in a lovely retirement village in England, Coopers Chase, (see my post of the previous book for more about the characters). When Douglas, an old acquaintance (or was he something more?) of Elizabeth's comes asking for help, she feels obliged to respond, even though they didn't part on the best of terms. He is accused of stealing twenty million pounds worth of diamonds--from the wrong man. This broker for shady characters has his reputation to protect and will hunt Douglas down and kill him if the diamonds are not returned. In addition to the usual cast of characters--who all get further development-- we meet two MI 5 agents who have worked with Douglas and know Elizabeth by reputation, as well as "some new bad people: a local teenage thug; a tough-nut female drug dealer who (helpfully) goes weak at the knees around Bogdan; a high-level underworld 'middle man' from whom mafia diamonds have been stolen" (The Guardian). People get killed and Elizabeth, Ron and Joyce take the lead in setting a trap for the killer. Donna turns to Ibrahim for counseling after her set up of her boss and her mother turns out to be wildly successful, leaving Donna feeling lonelier than ever. So much heart is in these books in terms of dealing with the losses accompanying aging, and also so much spirit. You won't regret reading these and I look forward to further adventures with this group. The Guardian sums up my sentiments well, "The comedy in The Man Who Died Twice allows for all its characters to be alert to sobering realities: of time running out; of losing loved ones to death or dementia; of feeling physically unsafe in the modern world; of grown-up children finding you stupid and tiresome. It’s this self-awareness that grounds Osman’s characters, and makes us look forward to seeing them again." The Washington Post calls the cast of the Thursday Murder Club "a senior version of 'The A-Team.'” This review goes on to give brief intros to the various plots and subplots of the book. Kirkus rates this book as being even better than the first one, concluding "A clever, funny mystery peopled with captivating characters that enhance the story at every quirky turn."

The Ghostwriter

This novel by Alessandra Torre (who has written 23 novels) was chosen by my mystery book group for this month's (Oct. 2021) read. Protagonist Helena Ross is a famous and successful romance writer who has lost both her husband and her daughter. She lives alone in their huge house with almost no furniture and never sees anyone. She communicates only by email with her agent, Kate. But a diagnosis of terminal cancer will change all that. There is one last story she must tell before her 3 months is up and she quickly figures out that, given her failing body and mind, she can't do it alone. So she commands her agent to contact the author with whom Helena has had a running feud for over a decade. Although Helena despises Marka Vantly's trashy pornographic books, Helena recognizes an ability in Marka to imbue her characters, and therefore her readers, with real emotion. She wants Marka to be her ghost writer. This final book will be Helena's confession. We figure out early on that she probably killed her husband somehow, but the extent of her guilt is not revealed until the end; the attempt at suspense is dragged out far too long in my opinion. The ghost writer turns out to be a surprise and is probably the more engaging character. Helena herself is a miserable being and, although one can feel sad for her, it's hard to like her. It is well written otherwise, with well-developed and credible characters.

Undead Girl Gang

Sometimes you just have to take a break from the more serious or emotionally heavy reading--or at least I do. And this book about 4 high school students--one of whom is a budding Wiccan and 3 of whom are/ were dead--just fit the bill. Written by Lily Anderson, our protagonist is Mila Flores, a junior who considers herself fat and accepts that this, in conjunction with her non-white skin, dooms her to outsider status at Fairmont Academy. Fortunately, she has an amazing best friend, Riley, who is also an outcast due to the fact that her parent own the local funeral home and live in an apartment upstairs. The problem when the book opens is that there have been 3 recent deaths at Fairmont, all of which the police ruled as suicides. Two of the school's "mean girls" may have hanged themselves in the nearby park, and Riley is found just days later drowned in the scummy local creek. Riley had lured Mila into experimenting with herbs and small spells and that reputation hasn't increased her popularity either. They stored all their crystals and plants at an abandoned house on the edge of town and used it as their mailing address to order stuff by mail. Mila is surprised by the delivery of a large and apparently very old grimoire, addressed to Riley. And then she finds a spell in the back of the book for bringing back the dead. The local dealer in Wiccan magic supplies will have nothing to do with the idea, but Mila is desperate to get her friend back and to prove that she did not commit suicide. Accidentally, she brings back not only Riley, but also their arch enemies, June and Dayton. Unfortunately none of them remember any of the events that led to their deaths, but swear they wouldn't have committed suicide. So it's up to Mila to figure out who the killer is and bring him/ her to justice.  

As the author says, "My books are about snarky girls and emotional intelligence and—sometimes—monsters." And Kirkus is generally positive in their review, saying the book offers "Superlative pacing and writing that flows well make this title stand out. A well-paced undead romp..."

Hamnet

This historical novel by Maggie O'Farrell tells the story of the death of William Shakespeare's 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Although the Shakespeares' last name is never used, there is never a question about who is at the center of this story. Very little is known about them but here are some nuggets of fact (according to the New York Times):

Fact: "We know, for instance, that at the age of 18, Shakespeare married a woman named Anne or Agnes Hathaway, who was 26 and three months pregnant. (That condition wasn’t unusual for the time: Studies of marriage and baptism records reveal that as many as one-third of brides went to the altar pregnant.) Hathaway was the orphaned daughter of a farmer near Stratford-upon-Avon who had bequeathed her a dowry. This status gave her more latitude than many women of her time, who relied on paternal permission in choosing a mate.

Fact: Shakespeare was a grammar school graduate, the eldest son of a glove maker in declining fortune. His father had once been the equivalent of Stratford’s mayor, but by the time his son was 18, he had fallen into debt, disrepute and legal opprobrium.

A few more facts from the historical record: The child whose imminent arrival likely forced the timing of the Shakespeares’ November wedding was born six months later, a girl named Susanna. Two years on, the couple had twins: Judith and Hamnet. In 1596, Hamnet, just 11 years old, died. (The cause of death is unknown; O’Farrell imagines, plausibly, that it was plague.) By then William Shakespeare was an established playwright, living in London but providing amply for his family, amassing Stratford property and returning home for visits."

The Guardian calls it a "profound study of grief and love" and goes on to say, "O’Farrell’s portrait of maternal and sibling bereavement is so accurately expressed it’s almost too painful to read. Hamnet is, above all, a profound study of loss." And they point out one of the things that I most appreciated about the book, which is the largely female perspective on people and events about which we thought we were already knowledgeable. The grief is not just Hamnet's parents, but also his twin sister's, Judith, who bemoans the fact that there is no word to describe the person who was once a twin but is no longer.  

My book group was enlivened by a discussion of how much research O'Farrell conducted to add authenticity to her fictionalized account.

A review from NPR's Heller McAlpin calls this novel "timeless and ever-relevant."

The New York Times Book Review called it one of the 10 best books of 2020.

And a really interesting interview transcript from the Folger Library is here.

Scorpion

I have never read the previous novels by Christian Cantrell--a software engineer in addition to being an author-- but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. This book is variously referred to as speculative fiction or a science fiction thriller. It is set in the near future with lots of cool technologies that could soon be with us. The premise is that a divorced and still grieving (over the accidental death of her daughter) CIA analyst, who usually has a 9-5 desk job, is tasked to track down the "Elite Assassin." The killer has struck several times with no consistency in mode of murder, no apparent connection between the victims, and the only clues left are 4 digit numbers that are stamped, tattooed, cut, or pressed into the victim's flesh. The only thing revealed by her intensive searches through unimaginable amounts of data is that the age of the victims is decreasing; it is finally the murder of a 9 month old infant that galvanizes Quinn to undertake this assignment. Quinn Mitchell is not a field agent, and yet she finds herself flying all over the world in order to view murder scenes first-hand in her pursuit of the killer. In one humiliating interview, a hotel manager, who could identify the killer, suggests that Quinn quit following the bodies and start following the money if she wants to get ahead of her target. What I liked most about this book, aside from the cool tech, the twisty plotting, and the intriguing characters was the author's droll sense of humor, revealed in clever comparisons and turns of perspective. I highly recommend this book as do Publishers Weekly, which calls the book "as entertaining as it is intellectually and ethically challenging," and Kirkus, which concludes "...the technology sings, the physics is plausibly presented, and the suggestion of time travel fascinates. A fast, fun, and intelligent SF thriller."

A Different Dawn

This is a sequel to the book I recently posted about, The Cipher, by Isabella Maldonado, which was the first in her "Nina Guerrera" series. The ad hoc team from the earlier book--comprised of 2 profilers, a techie and field agent Nina-- has now tentatively become a fixture at the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. When two geographically distant triple murders get connected through the ViCAP system and their boss wants them to figure out if this is a serial killer at work.  What they discover is that someone has been committing murders, staging them to look like murder suicides, every Leap Day for the last 28 years. The murders always involve a family with a new baby girl, and always point to the mother as the murderer. The killer has been so successful, that many of the big city homicide units didn't realize that all three were victims. The team's task is to figure out what motivates the killer to try and narrow down the search. In the process, Nina will discover that was never the throw away baby she grew up thinking she was. But the discovery will put her directly in the cross-hairs of the killer. Publisher' Weekly calls this sequel "captivating." Kirkus describes the storyline as "A horrifying crime, cat-and-mouse detection, aha moments, and extended suspense, more or less in that order."

The Shadow Box

Hard to believe that Luanne Rice has written 35 books and I don't think I have ever read any of them. I liked this book, though, and would gladly pick up another one by her. Chapters are narrated by the two main characters:  Claire Beaudry Chase, nature lover, artist and wife of Griffin Chase, a powerful state's attorney who is running for governor of Connecticut; and Conor Reid, Connecticut State Police detective and brother-in-law of Claire's best friend, Jackie. Other chapters are narrated by Tom Reid, Conor's older brother and local Coast Guard commander, and Sally Benson, an interior decorator for the money crowd. The timeline goes back and forth between days leading up to the attack and the days following. On the day that Claire is having an exhibition of her shadow boxes at the Woodward-Lathrop Gallery in the town of Black Hall, she is attacked in her garage and left for dead. Unbeknownst to her attacker, the 100-year-old beam on which Claire had been strung up broke, and Claire did not die. She revives enough to leave the house, cover her trail, and head for a decrepit old cabin in the adjacent woods, for she is sure that her attacker was her husband. Claire had also become convinced that Griffin's college girlfriend--who supposedly slipped on the shoreline rocks and hit her head and drowned--was killed by him. Claire discovered Ellen's body in a tide pool on a late night date with Griffin, which she's sure was not a coincidence. Claire and Griffin have both previously been married and Griffin has two grown sons, Alexander and Ford. Although there had been a long-time attraction between Claire and Griffin, they were from different social sets: Griffin comes from old money and belongs to a tight-knit community living in mansions on the bluff outside town. Claire comes from much less affluent circumstances and learned from her father how to appreciate and survive in nature. She puts her father's past teaching to good use in staying out of sight until she can figure out who to trust, for Griffin has every law enforcement official in the area in his pocket. This is about the psychological and emotional as well as physical abuse of women and potential readers should be aware; although, Claire is a strong, resourceful person and conveys the message in the end that abused women can triumph. Kirkus notes, "Rice’s compelling heroine and crisp prose lift her brisk thriller above the formulaic." Publisher's Weekly suggests the book might make you pull an all-nighter.

Our Woman in Moscow

I enjoyed this book by Beatriz Williams more than some others I have read lately.  I like good historical fiction and this book is centered on the period of the Cold War (1952) with some flashbacks to the summer of 1940 in Rome just as war was engulfing Europe and to 1948 in Great Britain. Ruth and Iris Macallister are twin sisters but couldn't be more different. Ruth is confident and brash, Iris is timid and unassuming. They go for an extended stay in Rome, where their brother is working at the American embassy. When a colleague of their brother's, who  also  works at the embassy, starts paying attention to Iris, she is swept off her feet; Ruth disapproves of the relationship. As the war draws closer, Ruth returns to America, but Iris stays behind with her lover, Sasha Digby. Ruth and Iris fall out of touch. Years later, Iris, Sasha and their children disappear from London and the suspicion is that they have defected to Russia. Readers have known all along that Sasha was passing information along to the Communists. After over 12 years of no contact, Ruth receives a postcard from Iris asking Ruth to come to Moscow to support Iris during a difficult pregnancy and, of course, Ruth will still do anything to help her sister. Then Ruth is contacted by an FBI agent, Sumner Fox, who wants to join her --ostensibly as her husband--to try and get the Digbys out of Russia; an agent from the KGB is equally determined to see that doesn't happen. Quite a good thriller and I didn't see the ending coming. Reviews available from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and a lengthier review in The Star Tribune.

Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered

Admittedly an intriguing title, I picked up this book based on a recommendation from a friend, but couldn't persist after about 100 pages. It's written by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, who are co-hosts of the podcast "My Favorite Murder!" Part memoir and part advice column, the book shares stories from their own backgrounds, "their biggest mistakes and deepest fears, reflecting on the formative life events that shaped them" and also "focus[es] on the importance of self-advocating and valuing personal safety over being 'nice' or 'helpful'"(from the publisher).  Of course they bring in stories of true crimes since that's what their podcast is all about. As Publishers' Weekly notes, "The genres of true crime and self-help might seem like odd bedfellows, but Kilgariff and Hardstark... create a winningly quirky amalgamation of the two."

Kill All Your Darlings

I don't believe I have read any of David Bell's other books, and I had a bit of a hard time getting started on this one. The storyline is conveyed through 3 different narrators: Connor Nye, who recently lost his wife and teenage son in a freak boating accident;Madeline O'Brien, a former student of Connor's who disappeared 2 years ago and has now reappeared in town; and Rebecca Knox, another undergraduate student. Connor was distraught and dysfunctional after losing his family. His work suffered and he hasn't written anything in years. He is up for tenure in the English department of a small town college and desperately needs to publish. The police and everyone else presume that Madeline is probably dead, and Connor takes the desperate measure of revising her thesis submission and submitting it for publication. Amazingly, the thriller is picked up and published. That's when Madeline reappears. Of course, it it's revealed that he plagiarized the book Connor will lose his job as well as the money paid to him by the publisher--which he's already spent. But more problematic is that the description of a murder in the book mirrors an actual murder that took place shortly before Madeline disappeared, and the details lead the local police to suspect Connor might be the killer. The murdered woman was a friend of Madeline's. Connor needs to clear his name somehow and find a way to pay Madeline off so she doesn't reveal what he's done.

I found it a little distracting that the book is constantly shifting back and forth between the present day and the events leading up to the murder and to Madeline's disappearance. Connor seems more a pathetic character than a sympathetic one. Madeline is actually the one I felt more compassion for. Rebecca seems not fully developed even though she plays a key role in moving the plot forward.  Review from Publishers' Weekly. 

The Maidens

I read Alex Michaelides previous book, The Silent Patient, and was sufficiently impressed to look forward to this one.  Publishers' Weekly offers a favorable review and does a good job of summarizing the storyline so I provide it here. "London psychotherapist Mariana Andros, the protagonist of this stunning psychological thriller from Michaelides (The Silent Patient), suspends her patients' group therapy to rush to Cambridge University to comfort her niece, Zoe, whose best friend, Tara Hampton, has been murdered. Mariana soon focuses on the charming, handsome Edward Fosca, a Greek tragedy professor who has assembled a secret society of female students known as the Maidens that included Tara. Mariana's obsession to prove Edward guilty of murder is tinged with her all-consuming grief over the death of her husband, Sebastian, a year before, and her protectiveness of Zoe, whom she raised after the young woman's parents died. Her investigation intensifies when two more of the Maidens are murdered, but the police and Zoe dismiss her theories. The intelligent, cerebral plot finds contemporary parallels in Euripides's tragedies, Jacobean dramas such as The Duchess of Malfi, and Tennyson's poetry. The devastating ending shows just how little the troubled Mariana knows about the human psyche or herself. Michaelides is on a roll."

I would agree with Maureen Corrigan's criticisms in The Washington Post: "But Michaelides’s plot begins to go off the rails when a graduate student in mathematics falls instantly in love with Mariana and proposes soon thereafter. Credibility is further strained by Chief Inspector Sangha, who’s in charge of the investigation, a man with “a lean and hungry look” who treats Mariana with instant (and unexplained) disdain. The novel’s credibility fully disintegrates at a memorial service held in the college chapel for the first victim. There, Professor Fosca and “The Maidens” process in and no one in attendance — university administrators, parents or students — places a red-alert call to authorities from the Sexual Misconduct Review Board." Likewise, Kirkus is not favorable in their review: "With its ambience of ritualistic murders, ancient myths, and the venerable college, the story is a gothic thriller despite its contemporary setting. That makes Mariana tough to get on board with—she behaves less like a modern professional woman than a 19th-century gothic heroine, a clueless woman who can be counted on in any situation to make the worst possible choice. And the book’s ending, while surprising, also feels unearned, like a bolt from the blue hurled by some demigod. Eerie atmosphere isn’t enough to overcome an unsatisfying plot and sometimes-exasperating protagonist."

The Cipher

Author Isabella Maldonado had an extensive career in law enforcement that certainly adds credibility to her stories; she rose through the ranks to retire as a police captain after two decades and also graduated from the rigorous FBI Academy at Quantico. Her main character, FBI special agent Nina Guerrera, was abandoned as an infant and suffered the worst the foster care system had to offer before running away for good at the age of 16. She was subsequently kidnapped, tortured and raped but managed to escape, change her name, and finally become an FBI agent. Her abductor was never found. When she is captured on video defeating two would-be attackers during her morning run, it goes viral and her former nemesis finds her. He decides to use social media to bait and harass her while continuing to carry out a string of murders. She is brought into a team on the Behavioral Analysis Unit along with two profilers and a techy. Eventually she learns that she no longer has to fight her battles alone.  Short reviews from Kirkus and Publishers' Weekly.

The Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging

Written by former war correspondent and journalist, Sebastian Junger, this is a short book about the importance of community in the human experience. He delves into a number of historic examples to show that humans innately respond to evolutionary foundations required for preservation of their tribe.  This is a short but wide-ranging book that looks at history, psychology and anthropology. When we are distanced from one another by the relative safety and abundance of modern life, we actually suffer higher rates of mental illness (depression) and suicide. Those problems often disappear during times of crisis or following natural disasters. But this is only true when those events have a leveling effect and when there is a sense of shared purpose. "Disasters create a 'community of sufferers' that allows individuals to experience an immensely reassuring connection to others (p. 53)...individuals are assessed simply by what they are willing to do for the group" (p. 54).

"...radically divergent priorities that a society must have during peacetime and during war. Because modern society often fights wars far away from the civilian population, soldiers wind up being the only people who have to switch back and forth" (p. 78). Soldiers' experiences range from the best of times to the worst of times (p.81) and they often find returning to peace time society imposes a loss of comradeship and meaning.  He talks at length about PTSD, especially among soldiers, but also compares it to the PTSD experienced by non-combatants, such as rape victims. 

American society has low social resilience which requires egalitarian wealth distribution and resource sharing."Earliest and most basic definition of community--or tribe--would be the group of people that you would both help feed and defend." We are a country at war with itself. The most alarming rhetoric comes out in disputes between liberals and conservatives. Junger contends they are both right, i.e., they both stand upon evolutionary principles of survival. Conservatives believe that free loaders are not to be tolerated and Liberals believe in a culture of compassion for the less fortunate. To me, the question that remains is 'Why do some people gravitate to focus on one or the other of these values?'

"As modern society reduced the role of community, it simultaneously elevated the role of authority" (p. 25). "If you want to make a society work, then you don't keep underscoring where you're different--you underscore your shared humanity" (p. 127).  Why isn't this working now during the pandemic and the increasing disasters exacerbated by climate change? The pandemic has not served as a societal leveler as do natural disasters, rather it has highlighted the gaps between rich and poor. 

This book offers some answers to pressing questions but also leaves many unanswered; it's a quick worthwhile read and will no doubt generate good discussion in my upcoming book group meeting. 

Reviews from: The New York Times, Kirkus, and The Guardian are worth reading also.

Lady Clementine

 Marie Benedict writes about amazing women who have received little attention in history. Kirkus calls it a "rousing tale of ambition and love," and the ambition is not just on the part of Winston. Drawn together at a very fundamental level by their childhoods that were devoid of significant affection, Clemmie and Winston--or Cat and Pug as they affectionately called each other--form a bond so strong that it cannot be sundered by wars, flirtatious women or even the death of a daughter. Based on a voluminous correspondence between the two that was kept and published by their daughter, it is clear that Winston could not have succeeded without Clementine, and Clementine would have withered under the strictures imposed on women at the time without the dramatic stage of Winston's political career. Booklist summarizes the story this way: "Beginning on Clementine's wedding day in 1909 and tracing key events in her life for the next 35 years, the book focuses on Clementine's struggle to be both an emotional and intellectual support to her demanding husband, her mixed feelings about motherhood, and her own strongly held political beliefs, which she was often forced to sideline in service of her husband's ambition."

She supported Winston absolutely although she frequently reined in his harsh attacks on those who worked with him, offered advice that he would hear only from her, and often helped rewrite his speeches. She felt she was an inadequate mother, but she took up the cause of women and children with a vengeance, and was solely responsible for improving the conditions in air raid shelters. She talked to the people who were harmed by the war and carried their concerns to the top levels of government. She had her own struggles with depression as well as disapproval from family members and officials surrounding Churchill for the active role she took in political and government affairs. Having read two books about Churchill (The Splendid and the Vile and Hero of the Empire), this book offered a very different perspective on Churchill that painted him as a flawed human who thought himself destined for great things. Clementine helped hide the flaws and achieve his destiny. 

Publishers Weekly praised Benedict's novel: "Accurate era descriptions add to the realism of the story, and Benedict reveals the connection between Clementine's grounded energy and her thoughtful influence throughout times of war and peace."

The Forest of Vanishing Stars

This fictionalized account of actual events by Kristin Harmel is beautifully written but disturbing on a content level. There are extensive author notes about groups of Jews who escaped the German ghettos in Poland and hid in the Polish forests for the duration of the war. They were constantly hunted and, therefore, constantly moving. "More than 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland on the eve of WW II--more than any other country in Europe....they made up 10 percent of Poland's population, the highest percentage of Jews anywhere in Europe...between 2.8 million and 3 million Polish Jews were murdered during the war. That's somewhere between 84 percent and 91 percent of the entire Jewish population of the country....Jewish casualties in Poland far outweighed those in any other country during the war..." ( p. 361). Those who survived were the inspiration for this story.

When she was only 2 years old, Inge Jüttner was kidnapped from her parents' home in Berlin and taken to live with a woman in the Nalibocka Forest. They lived off what they could hunt and gather and moved on a regular basis. Inge became Yona--a reference to the dove shaped birthmark on her wrist--and was educated through stolen books and survival experiences. She knew lots of information and she knew how to keep herself alive, even if it meant killing someone else, but she knew little of how humans interact. When her kidnapper/mentor died, Yona was in her 20's and had never been around others until she encountered a small family of escaped Jews in the forest. She saved their lives, but the wife's distrust of Yona was so great that they separated and were captured and killed. When Yona net the next and larger group of escapees, she was determined to keep them alive. And she did. She also learned about heartbreak when the head of the group partnered with her and then got involved with another woman. Yona left and went to a village where she encountered a group of nuns who were trying to prevent a massacre of the town's citizens by offering themselves as sacrifices. Yona also encounters her father, who is now a high ranking officer in the German army. When she realizes she cannot change him, she returns to her adopted family in the forest.

This was a book that taught me about a part of Jewish experience during the war with which I was totally unfamiliar. Author Harmel also researched what would be required to survive hidden in the forest, especially during the bitter winters, so this was also educational. I never cease to be amazed at man's inhumanity to their fellow humans and I strongly felt that we are headed that way again--vilifying anyone we can label as other, not just in this country, but globally. I despair that humankind will ever truly evolve on this emotional level before we wipe each other out.

Positive reviews from Publishers' Weekly.

The 22 Murders of Madison May

I was not familiar with any of Max Barry's earlier works but was intrigued by the premise of this one. When we first meet Madison May, she is a real estate agent trying to sell a run-down house in Queens to a potential buyer--a reasonably attractive guy if a little unkempt. But then he proceeds to tell her that he's not from this world, that they have met before, and that he loves her--and then he kills her. Political reporter Felicity Staples get assigned to cover the story since the crime reporter is off having a nooner with one of his co-workers. There is a strange symbol left on the wall of the room where Maddie was murdered and Felicity notices the same symbol on the hat of a bystander who appears in one of the photos taken at the crime scene. With help from a colleague, the symbol is traced to a juice company. No one thinks this strange except Felicity. On her way home, this same bystander appears on the platform, hands her a gray egg-shaped object and pushes her off the platform. She survives by hiding in a cavity beside the tracks, but when she emerges, the world is slightly different than the one she left. Her long-time boyfriend now cooks, she has only one cat instead of two, the clock hanging annoyingly over her desk in the news room is gone, etc. But in this slightly altered world, Maddie May gets murdered again, only this time she's a TV weather reporter. Her killer is pursuing her across parallel universes trying to find the Maddie he fell in love with and killing all the ones who don't quite meet his expectations. Felicity is determined to stop him. This is definitely a mind-bending read and I have to admit that it took me a while to engage with the characters, but half-way through, I knew I had to finish. 

Kirkus calls this a "...very clever, unpredictable little murder mystery with some bittersweet tones about the things we do for love."Publishers Weekly has a somewhat lower opinion of what they describe as a "middling SF thriller" and they conclude "Barry fails to make Felicity’s response to her mind-bending situation psychologically plausible." I guess I would agree that the idea was better than the execution.

Olympus, Texas

 This debut novel by Stacey Swann takes place in the small town of Olympus, not too far from Houston. The Briscoe family is well-known there, both as one of the wealthiest families and because o the patriarch's (Peter's) many affairs. Wife June has reconciled herself to an extent but has also accumulated a well of resentment that sours her relationships with two of her three children, March and Thea. Two of Peter's illegitimate children, twins Arlo and Artie, have actually become loosely connected members of the family. When March had an affair with Vera, his brother Hap's wife two and a half years ago, it ruptured not only his relationship with Hap but with his family and he left town for self-imposed exile with no communication about his whereabouts. Now he has returned and a chain of events is ignited that will include broken marriages and a tragic accidental death. Publishers Weekly notes that "Swann's luminous debut" is "Rife with allusions to mythology (March's dogs are named Remus and Romulus, portending the explosive and deadly flashpoint in Arlo and Artie's conflict), this epic makes the most of its vivid Texan setting, becoming as well a love letter to the state's rugged beauty and homegrown familiarity..." The action takes place over just six days, but the occasional flashbacks provide "rich portraits of a character’s history" according to The New York Times.  Kirkus concludes, "Swann's debut is rich in Texas flavor and full of nods to classical mythology—quotes from Ovid, twins human and canine, and the kind of relentless bad luck that usually means you've offended a deity. A total page-turner." I also consumed this one in a single day.

Eight Perfect Murders

This book by Peter Swanson is my mystery book group's choice for July. I finished it in one day. I read some reviews that found it lagged toward the end or that the ending was predictable, but I have to say, that was not my experience. I had no idea who the murderer was. The premise is that widower Malcolm Kershaw is co-owner of the Old Devils bookstore in Boston. Years ago, when he was just an employee, he posted an article on the store's blog called "Eight Perfect Murders" which described those mysteries in which "the murderer comes closest to realizing that platonic ideal of a perfect murder." They were Agatha Christie's A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin's Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History. Years later, Malcom is contacted by FBI agent Gwen Mulvey who feels someone is imitating--at least in spirit--the murders in this list of books, and she is hoping Malcolm can shed light on who it might be. Both Gwen and Mal have secrets from each other and neither entirely trusts the other initially. Malcolm reveals one of his secrets to the reader fairly early on, and it quickly becomes clear that, not only is the killer using his list, but the victims are connected to Malcolm as well and Mal needs to find out who it is before anyone else dies and before his remaining secrets are revealed. 

The Library Journal concludes, "The wintry New England setting and eerily cool narration, together with trust-no-one twists and garish murders, will satisfy thriller readers..." And Publishers Weekly agrees that "Classic whodunit fans will be in heaven." Kirkus notes that "the pleasures of following, and trying to anticipate, a narrator who’s constantly second- and third-guessing himself and everyone around him are authentic and intense.....The perfect gift for well-read mystery mavens who complain that they don’t write them like they used to."

Where the Crawdads Sing

I have now read this best selller by Delia Owens twice, most recently for my book group, and am astounded at my failure to have posted about it. This is Owens first novel (written at age 70) although she has co-authored--with her former husband-- several non-fiction accounts of her work as a wildlife scientist in Africa. The biography on her website describes her childhood as follows: "Her mother, also an outside-girl, encouraged Delia to explore far into the oak forests, saying 'Go way out yonder where the crawdads sing.' Her mother taught her how to hike without stepping on rattle snakes, and most important not to be afraid of critters of any kind. Delia went on to spend most of her life in or near true wilderness, and since childhood has thought of Nature as a true companion. One of her best friends." Hence we have the basis for the main character Kya and for the title of the book. 

When she is five years old, Kya watches her mother walk away from their rough shack in the North Carolina marshes and Kya doesn't stop looking for her until well into adulthood. Within the next few months, the older siblings all drift away, leaving the now 6-year old to fend for herself with periodic appearances by a drunken and abusive father. Over the next few years, Kya throws herself into learning to survive and even tames her father for a few months by cleaning and cooking to the best of her ability. In that short time span, he teaches her how to fish but then eventually leaves her as well. At one point, the truant officer comes out to take her to school but one day of bullying is all Kya can handle, and afterwards she successfully eludes any attempts to find her in the marshes. She becomes known in town as the "Marsh Girl" and local boys make a sport of coming to her shack to taunt her. And then one day, Tate, a former friend of her youngest brother, comes into her life and he befriends her and eventually teaches her how to read and count. Her curiosity about the natural world around her is limitless and she gradually develops the artistic skills inherited from her mother to start drawing and even painting the creatures and environment she so closely observes. Her only friends are the Black man who runs a small gas dock, Jumpin, and his wife Mabel. Of course, the inhabitants of Colored Town are also outcasts and so are more sympathetic and supportive of Kya, collecting clothes for her and buying the mussels she collects,  thus giving her some small amount of money to buy staples.

When Tate leaves for college, Kya once again experiences her desolate loneliness and is vulnerable to the charms of the town's former high school football star, Chase. He courts Kya until she gives in to his sexual advances, which he brags about in town and then goes off to marry someone else. Chase is eventually found dead out near an abandoned fire tower and Kya is blamed and put on trial. This is a coming of age narrative, a love story, a mystery, and a paean to nature--all rolled up in lyrical language that reflects Owens' passion for nature and her appreciation of humans' (and animals') basest and best instincts. Although set in the 50's and 60's the issues of prejudice, poverty, and longing for belonging still resonate today. The book holds several surprises at the end, but every reader will agree with the NYT's assessment that whatever rewards come to Kya, she has earned the hard way. Read about the book's remarkable trajectory to sell more print copies than any other adult title in 2019.

The Religious Body

I had never heard of Catherine Aird until I joined a British Mysteries group on FB. Turns out this author has been writing for over 50 years and has been awarded lifetime achievement awards for her work, including the British Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger Award.  Aird is the pseudonym for Kinn Hamilton McIntosh and she wrote the first of two dozen "Calleshire (a stand in for the county of Kent, where she lives) Chronicles" in 1966. This is that book. Before I start on the plot, I will share some of the accolades I found on the Crime Reads website: The New Yorker considered her “the very best in British mystery;’ The Times of London called her “never less than elegant and mischievously sharp;” the Washington Post said, “Aird’s intelligence shines through every sentence.”

Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Berebury Division of the Calleshire Constabulary is called to a suspicious death, along with D. C. William Crosby, in the village of Cullingoak. Inspector Sloane had never been inside a convent, but the local doctor who was called by the Mother Superior, astutely determined that this was not an accidental fall down the stairs as it initially appeared. It's clear that the woman's head had been bashed in, the body concealed, and later thrown down the stairs to try and cover up the murder. Trying to collect information inside a convent, where the nuns are encouraged to keep their eyes ("custody of the eyes") and ears on their own business, presents real challenges. The two nuns who sat on either side of the deceased Sister Anne say she was at the evening service, but the post-mortem reveals she would have been dead a couple of hours by then. Two days later, the inspector gets a call to investigate the Guy Fawkes bonfire at the nearby agricultural institute which abuts the convent's grounds. The "guy" that was being burned turns out to be wearing an old habit stolen from the convent and the eyeglasses of the deceased nun. the Principal of the institute, Mr. Ranby, is more than happy to identify the culprits but interviewing the 3 young men leads the police no closer to identifying the killer. And then one of the 3 students who stole the habit from the convent is found murdered. Sloan keeps gathering information, even seemingly irrelevant facts, and finally formulates a theory. The inspector, with the cooperation of the Mother Superior and the priest who looks after the nuns, sets a trap that nabs their killer and I never saw it coming.

The book is filled with details about life in a convent and a small village and the details of a police investigation, constrained, as so often happens, by the micromanagement of their superior. Several reviewers have noted that Aird brings in elements of both English cozies and police procedurals. The article about Aird and her body of work at Crime Reads is a masterful overview and will entice you to read her books better than anything I can say. Sloan's wife does not appear in this book but apparently becomes a worthy character in her own right in later installments. And it appears that D.C. Crosby never gets any smarter nor does Superintendent Leeyes get any less annoying. And several other characters get more fully developed as well. Lots to look forward to! Moving on to the next in the series, Henrietta Who? (1968).

A Double Death on the Black Isle

This is the sequel to A Small Death in the Great Glen by A.D. Scott in the "Joanne Ross/ Highland Gazette" series. I've also read A Kind of Grief, which comes later in the series (#6) and was a bit of a spoiler for reading this one but....still worth the read. As with her other books, she does a wonderful job of conveying a sense of place for a small town in the Highlands of Scotland 10 years or so after WWII has ended. In this book, Joanne is being given the opportunity to spread her wings and do real reporting for the regional newspaper, which the editor, McAllister, is attempting to revamp and expand. They get a golden opportunity when someone firebombs a fishing boat in the town's canal and sinks it to the bottom, providing lots of fodder for front page news. Joann and friend/ colleague Rob are assigned the story and race to the scene where "wee Hector" is taking photos left and right, aggravating the boat's crew members, but hoping to get himself hired onto the paper as the official photographer. The British class system is fully on display when Joanne's best friend from boarding school, Patricia, reveals that she is pregnant and getting married to the owner of the destroyed boat, Sandy Skinner. Patricia's mother, who is the lady of the manse on the Black Isle (which is really a peninsula) is outraged that her daughter would marry a common fisherman, and many suspect he was only after Patricia's land and money. Then, on the same day, Fraser, the elder son of the manse's farm manager and Patricia's new husband die. Are they accidents or murder? There are plenty of people who didn't like both men, but the prejudiced town policeman immediately seizes upon two McPhee brothers as likely culprits in the murder of Fraser because there had been a shoving match between them outside a bar the evening before he died. The McPhees are Tinkers or Travelers, itinerant laborers, who are looked down upon by settled folk. Joanne and colleagues are, of course, trying to get to the bottom of things but she also has to deal with the challenges of being "a single mother working to support her two girls after leaving her abusive husband" (Kirkus). The abusive husband puts in a couple of appearances. Her colleagues (all men) don't fully understand why she doesn't divorce him, but the culture looks down on divorced women and Joann fears it would taint her daughters' lives as well. Richly drawn characters and settings as well as colorful dialog, interesting relationships, and "a fine mystery" (Kirkus) make this a worthwhile series.