Something More Than Night

I must have seen this book reviewed on Powell's book blog because I am unfamiliar with author Ian Tregillis, although he written other books. Everything gets turned on its head in his version of the world. The premise is that there is a coup brewing in the celestial realms; the archangel Gabriel has been murdered, though it's not clear why until the very end. Heaven is not the realm of peace and harmony we stereotypically believe it to be, and the various levels of creatures who reside there are imprisoned in a sense and not at all happy about it. When earthly Bayliss is tapped to find a compliant human replacement to fill Gabriel's spot in the Choir, he accidentally kills the wrong person--a dame instead of the mugg he had targeted. Did I mention that Bayliss fashions himself after Philip Marlowe? You only think you know what is going on in this book, because Tregillis leads us all astray. Bayliss is not who he claims to be, i.e., just a low level angel who has to bend to more powerful forces, but who, like Marlowe, has a code of honor requiring him to protect the dame in distress from those same dark and very dangerous and very weird beings. Molly, said dame, is also quite a bit more than your ordinary "monkey"--er, I mean human. The celestials have a decidedly low opinion of earth's two legged occupants.  Tregillis writes with flair and color and will leave you gasping for breath trying to keep up. This was a totally entertaining and surprising read from start to finish and I will definitely look for more of his books.

The Arsenic Labyrinth

Third installment in Martin Edwards' "Lake District" mystery series, this one is set in the former mining district of Coniston. See earlier posts of The Coffin Trail and The Cipher Garden for a more detailed cast of regular characters and previous cases. This time the re-opening of a case by Hannah Scarlett's team is prompted by a story in the local papers about the 10th anniversary of a disappearance. No one has seen or heard from Emma Bestwick for 10 years and journalist Tony DiVenuto is playing the story for all it's worth. Apparently, he has struck a chord because he receives an anonymous call saying that Emma won't ever be heard from again. The call came from con man GuyKoenig, who has returned to the Lake District after a 10 year absence--an absence which coincided with the disappearance of Emma. He in fact didn't mean to kill Emma, but ultimately did. Why Emma agreed to meet him in an out-of-the-way spot on the fells near the ruins of an arsenic mine drives this mystery. Daniel gets involved because he is researching for a possible new book on John Ruskin, who lived out his final years in Coniston, and was known for his antagonism toward industrial development. Once again, a complex plot with lots of twists and turns. Several side stories are developed as well as the main plot lines. Not too surprisingly, Miranda decides to move back to London, and Hannah and Marc's relationship continues to be full of discontents on both sides. Frankly the possible relationship between Hannah and Daniel just fails to arouse my interest. There are several more books in this series, but I don't feel compelled to read any more of them at this point...maybe after we have returned from our trip there.

The Cipher Garden

This is the 2nd of the Martin Edwards "Lake District" mystery series--see my previous post on the first one, The Coffin Trail, for a cast of characters. The cold case team, led by Hannah Scarlett, has received an anonymous letter saying that the wife of murder victim Warren Howe, was the killer, even though the case had never been solved. Hannah's sargent, Nick Lowther, was on the original investigating team, and grew up as friends with one of the potential suspects. He seems reluctant to re-open this particular cold case, so Hannah and one of the team's other detectives begin some initial inquiries.
Daniel is still intrigued by the apparent randomness of the garden layout for Tarn Cottage and has now figured out who the original owners were, so he's hot on the trail, hunting for information that will help him decipher the dead-end paths and odd plantings there. Hannah's partner, Marc, is helping Daniel look for material as he pursues his used book business. Miranda has had offers to write magazine columns but it will require her spending more time in London and Daniel is having doubts about whether she is really going to stick with their decision to leave their former lives mostly behind and stay in the small village of Brack. Daniel is still wanting to spend more time with Hannah, both for the insights she can possibly provide into Daniel's father, and also because he is attracted to her. His endeavors coincide with Hannah's investigation since the murder victim was half of a landscape/ garden design partnership, which is still functioning and is hired by Daniel to help him sort the garden. In the midst of everything, Daniel's sister Louise comes to stay after breaking up with her partner, and things get a little testy between her and Miranda.
Hannah is having some challenges of her own in both her personal and professional relationships. Nick is acting strange, and Marc is clearly annoyed at Hannah's continuing obsession with work. The case they have re-opened is a challenging one, not because of lack of suspects, but because there are too many, although they all seem to have alibis. The remaining Howe family--wife Tina and children Sam and Kirsty--, along with the wife of Howe's business partner, and the clients in whose garden Howe was killed are all in the mix. Again this is a twist you'll never see coming. The prologue as usual sets up expectations, but they will be the wrong ones as new facts come to light only very late in the book.

The Coffin Trail

This is the first in Martin Edwards' "Lake District" mystery series, and I really felt I should read a few of them just to put myself in the right frame of mind for our upcoming visit to that area. The main characters are: Daniel Kind, a rising star in the history faculty at Oxford; Miranda, his new passion and a London based journalist; Ben Kind, Daniel's now deceased father and former supervisor of Hannah Scarlett, one of the youngest DCI's ever to come up through the ranks in the Cumbria constabulary; Nick Lowther, her sargent; Marc, Hannah's live-in partner and a used book dealer.
Not only is Daniel sick of the politicking in academia, but his previous girlfriend, Aimee, committed suicide and so Oxford holds a lot of attendant bad memories. When Daniel and Miranda take a trip to the Lake District on a spur-of-the-moment vacation, Daniel takes them to the village of Brack, nestled in a hidden valley (Brackdale) where his family vacationed one summer before Daniel's father abandoned his family to get involved with another woman. That summer, though, holds fond memories for Daniel and so he is open to the idea when Miranda, spurred on by a "For Sale" sign on a run down cottage, says they should chuck it all and move there. They do indeed buy the cottage, Miranda takes on coordinating a makeover from top to bottom and Daniel tackles the long neglected garden. Daniel had actually befriended the young man who lived in the cottage that long-ago summer. Barrie Gilpin was slightly autistic and so kept at arm's length by most of the villagers, but the two boys had a wonderful time together exploring the valley. Daniel could not believe it possible, when many years later, Barrie was believed to have brutally murdered a visiting tourist and left her body on the Sacrifice Stone, which stands in silhouette as part of the surrounding mountain range. Barrie fell to his death that same night, accidentally or not, and so was never charged, nor was he ever cleared, and his mother lived with the villagers' assumptions about her son for the rest of her life.
Hannah has been put in charge of a new "cold case" team--she believes because of a murder case that went sideways, letting the man she is sure is guilty go free. The murder in Brackdale was one that Hannah helped Ben Kind investigate and so this is the case she chooses to start with. Given that Hannah worked with his dad after Ben had left, Daniel sees her as a potential source of information to help understand why Ben never stayed in touch after leaving. Moreover, Daniel sees historians as detectives of sorts, and he--apparently like his father--just does not think Barrie killed the woman. So Daniel and Hannah's paths will cross and recross as Daniel plays amateur sleuth, and Hannah reopens the case. Both find themselves somewhat intrigued by the other but unwilling to do anything to threaten their primary relationships--for now. Fair amount of local color, pretty complex and well-drawn characters, a twisty plot you cannot see coming. Not the best writer I've ever read, but competent, and I will move on to the next installment, The Cipher Garden.

Notorious Nineteen

I do not know how I could have missed this installment in Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" number series; I have read every single other one, including Takedown Twenty. Predictable in so many ways, but also predictably entertaining. Evanovich likes to keep the "big question" of who Stephanie will finally end up with going and going--will it be her cop boyfriend, Morelli, or the equally handsome and somewhat darker Ranger. Someone from Ranger's old special forces unit has gone off the beaten path and is threatening both Ranger and his friend and former fellow soldier, Kinsey, who is supposed to be getting married. The threats are scarey and are not limited to just Ranger and Kinsey but extend to Kinsey's fiancee, and now to Stephanie, since she has agreed to be Ranger's "date" and 2nd set of eyes at the various pre/wedding festivities. In the meantime, Stephanie and Lula are trying to bring in a variety of perps who have missed their court dates. The biggest monetary prize would come from Geoffrey Cubbin,  a man who embezzled $5m from the local retirement home, Cranberry Manor, and who Vinnie put up a lot of bail money for. Stephanie is behind on her rent and needs to score, and she just can't figure out how a man could go missing from a hospital floor--unless someone or some ones from the hospital staff are in on the disappearance. Turns out, this is not the first patient to go "missing" from the hospital. Cars blow up, apprehension situations are frequently slapstick (think arresting someone while you are naked), and the heat between Stephanie and Morelli and between Stephanie and Ranger never seems to die down. All the rest of the usual cast are present and making a good accounting of themselves. Good plot line; great light reading.

Summer House with Swimming Pool

I did not read The Dinner, Herman Koch's first novel, which apparently got rave reviews, but based on reading this book, I am not going to seek it out either. I thought about stopping several times but just kept reading more out of morbid curiosity. I did not like any of the characters in this book, not that they weren't well drawn, rather that they are really not likable people. And if you can't identify with any of the characters or at least admire them, what is the point? Set in Holland and maybe France, the protagonist is a Dutch GP, Marc Schlosser, who really detests his patients, as best I can tell. He does not want them to take their clothes off because he thinks they are ugly, and he just listens to them for 20 minutes because he figures that's what it takes to keep them coming back. When a famous actor, Ralph Meier, becomes a patient, and then invites Schlosser, his wife and two daughters to visit him and his family at the summer home the Meiers rent near the coast of ???, life begins to spin out of control. There is something "off" about Meier, the way he looks at women, and on one occasion, his apparent willingness to beat them senseless if they provoke and then deny him sexually. When Schlosser's 14-year-old daughter disappears one evening while everyone is at the beach and is later found raped, suspicions grow, and Schlosser takes an unexpected opportunity to punish Meier, using his knowledge and skill as a physician. Turns out Meier didn't commit the rape, but he's dead now anyway, thanks to Schlosser, and really, he deserved to die. Just checked the NYT Book Review, and was pleasantly surprised to find they shared my assessment!

Promise of Shadows

This is a new author to me, Justina Ireland, and apparently this is only her 2nd novel. But the premise is a popular one, i.e., half gods (half humans) live among or near us and we poor mortals know nothing about it. Politics, feuds, prophecies and ancient enmities fuel this entertaining tale with a Harpy and various other beings based on Greek mythology providing the cast. When the book opens, we meet 20 something Zephyr Mourning (the aforementioned Harpy) who has been sent to Tartarus (part of the Underworld) to toil the rest of her life away, because she killed one of the  Æthereals.

Harpies are warrior women, but Zephyr has never really been any good at conjuring magic or killing people, so imagine her shock when she finds her sister murdered and she actually kills the murderer--who just happens to be a god. Harpies aren't supposed to be able to do that, and Zephyr is further surprised that the High Council (the gods) condemn her to a hellish labor camp instead of death. Someone is pulling strings. When a childhood friend, Tallon, along with his brother Blue, show up to break Zephyr and her guardian/friend Cass out of the Underworld and take them back to the Mortal Realm, things start looking up. And then Zephyr finds out that the half-gods all think she is their promised savior, the Nyx, a dark goddess who can finally help them regain power against the abusive gods. Zephyr is a coward as well as a klutz and she just doesn't see how she is going to save the world, but she is fueled by her rage against those who ordered her sister's murder, and then also killed her best friend, Cass. It looks like Hera is behind a plot to kill anyone who might have dark powers and capture their shades for a magical spell that will give her dominion over all mortals. Turns out that Hades is Zephyr's father, so she has much more power at her disposal than she ever realized and she swears she will avenge the shades of her sister, Cass, and all the other murdered victims or die trying. The powers of light are not always right, nor are the dark powers necessarily bad in this story--a welcome change. If you enjoyed the series from Rick Riordan or Michael Scott with similar mythological approaches, you will love this slightly older age outing. Review from Kirkus is here.

Never Go Back

This novel in the "Jack Reacher" series by Lee Child is predictable, but also predictably satisfying as are the other Reacher books I have read. Reacher has been carrying on lengthy phone conversations with the current commander of the 110th MP, the unit he used to command. Her name is Susan Turner and, for no other reason than because he likes her voice, he has traveled back to DC to ask her to dinner. And because Reacher lives his life the way he does, with no more baggage than a folding toothbrush, he can do just that. But someone is expecting Reacher and has some surprises in store for him, including a paternity suit from a woman he claims not to know, and a wrongful death suit--validated only by affadavit--regarding a man Reacher says he never laid a hand on. To top it off, Major Turner has been incarcerated on bribery charges that very day. Reacher gets "called up" by the acting commander, essentially re-enlisted, and then arrested and imprisoned. Even before that, however, tough guys were sent to Reacher's motel room to try and scare him into leaving town. And we all know Reacher never walks away from a fight. And now he figures that all these trumped up charges have something to do with him coming back to see Turner. So he finds a way to break them both out of prison so they can figure out what the hell is going on that is so important, and who is pulling the strings at such a high level. For the pursuers seem to know their every move mere minutes after they make them in spite of their best efforts to cover their tracks. They head to California to find out if Reacher really has a daughter he didn't know about, with the DC metro police, the FBI and the secret enemies all in pursuit. Of course he will best the bad buys, solve the mystery, and walk away without the girl. That's what Reacher does, and you'll be rooting for him all the way.

Silent Night

Apparently when he died in 2010, Robert Parker had begun the manuscript for this Spenser novel set at Christmas time. His literary agent of several decades, who also become the executor of his literary estate, undertook to finish it. The premise is that an 11 year old boy comes to Spenser's office to seek his help for the man running a home for street kids. When Spenser investigates further, he find that Jackie Alvarez has an unlicensed home, Street Business, that takes kids off the street and gets them started with minimum wage jobs. Someone has been roughing up the kids and stealing their money. Alvarez wants Spenser to help find who is responsible and put a stop to it. Perfect sort of case for our literate do-gooder private eye and gourmet cook. Christmas is coming and Spenser is trying to plan the menu in-between investigating. Turns out the problems is Jackie's older brother, Juan Alvarez, big-time Boston philanthropist and successful business man, who has also been providing the money to keep Street Business running. The tricky part is figuring out why Alvarez wants to shut down Street Business, and catch him in the act, without jeopardizing the home and the kids who have taken sanctuary there. Hawk, Susan, Pearl, and even Rita Fiori all make a showing. I don't think the dialogue between Spenser and Hawk is quite as sharp, but the element that ties this particular piece of pro-bono work to Hawk's past is somewhat intriguing. Kirkus did not give this a glowing review, nor did Publishers Weekly. Strictly for Parker/ Spenser die-hards; otherwise, you will get more joy from the earlier Spenser novels.

All the Light We Cannot See

This brand new novel by Anthony Doerr is set in the run-up to and through WWII, and told through the viewpoints of two main characters. Marie Laure went fully blind at age 6 and lives with her father, who is the key master at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. As the Germans approach Paris, Marie-Laure's father is entrusted by the museum with a rare diamond to keep it hidden; Marie-Laure and her father head east and eventually arrive to stay with her great uncle, Etienne, on the isle of Saint-Malo. Her father is not only a skilled locksmith, but also a maker of exquisite small models. He built one for Marie-Laure of their entire Paris neighborhood so she could learn her way around. He is building her one for the town of Saint-Malo when he is betrayed by a collaborator for "taking measurements" of buildings.  Interned in a German prison camp, he is never seen again. Etienne has suffered what was then called "shell shock" from his experience in the Great War, and has not left his house (and often his room) for several decades. He is cared for by a housekeeper, who gets fed up and joins the resistance. She persuades Etienne to use a hidden radio transmitter in the attic of their house to transmit logistical coordinates. When the old woman dies of pneumonia, Marie-Laure and Etienne take over the task of picking up the information in a loaf of bread and transmitting the valuable data.
Our other main story teller is Werner Pfennig, who, with his younger sister Jutta, is raised by an French nun in an orphanage in a mining town in Germany. Their father was killed in the mines and Werner expects the same fate to befall him unless he can escape. He finds old radio parts in the trash and is able to receive transmissions of science talks for kids before they are cut off by the war. It turns out that the broadcasts were recordings made by Etienne's brother. Werner becomes the local radio repair wizard and at age 12 is sent to a school for German boys to be trained as an electronics engineer. He eventually helps develop equipment that can be used to locate the transmissions of resistance groups and is sent out with a small group of German soldiers to locate these radios and kill the people operating them. Near the end of the war, he gets sent to Saint-Malo and his path crosses that of Marie-Laure, but he cannot bring himself to betray her.
This is a story rich in character, setting, and emotion. It is often bleak, although not hopeless. Excellent historical fiction and a thoroughly engrossing read. Rave reviews and more detailed summaries from the NYT, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.