Middle Sister's April Reads

Happy spring! Not much reading done this month because of lots of extracurricular activities, but I did try a partial theme: books.

Read and Gone by Allison Brook I should have saved this book for next Christmas, since it takes place at that time of the year. The series is called the Haunted Library because of the presence of a resident ghost, visible only to two people, one of whom is our amateur detective, Carrie. Carrie's father is a jewel thief, and he re-enters her life just when all is going well--great job, new boyfriend, caring friends. When his partner in crime is murdered, Carrie decides to find the jewels and clear her father's name--of at least this particular crime. I wasn't overwhelmed by the mystery. I'm not a fan of paranormal mysteries (so really, why do I keep trying this subgenre? I love the movie The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and I guess I keep hoping one of these books will live up to that excellence.), and the fact that Eveyln's clothes and hairs kept changing every time she re-appeared distracted me. Shops and salons in the afterlife? Maybe those are her idea of heaven. Some editing issues and typos were distracting, but I can read around those if I find the story interesting enough. But my lack of sympathy or interest in Carrie ratcheted upwards when in Chapter 10, we read: "'He must have been in his mid-sixites, the age I am now.' That is old, I thought." Really, Carrie? Hmm, wonder what the average or median age of cosy mystery readers is? Most egregious editing issue: we are told Morgan is a resident at the Hopewell Home for Seniors in Bantam at location 994 in Chapter 10. At location 1228, Chapter 12, we read "Carlton Manor Nursing Home, where Evelyn's friend Morgan Fuller was residing." What? And her job in P&E is never defined until near the end of the book. There were a lot of little inconsistencies (how could she tell the color of the car in the dark? Why would Morgan trust a complete stranger like Carrie with $200,000? What chorus has only 2 rehearsals before a Christmas concert, one the morning of the event? What hospital allows a concussion patient the option of a wheelchair ride to the car--in every hospital I know, there's no choice--you take a wheelchair to the curb.) and a lot of repetition of verbs (Carrie giggled excessively in Chapter 27, even at things that were not giggleable.) and even some subtle racism (why is the Indian doctor the only person in the entire book whose racial or ethnic or cultural heritage is specifically mentioned?). Carrie's romance, and the book and mystery, were naive and somewhat juvenile; the style fairly bland; and a good editor clearly needed. And no librarian would dismiss someone's fines, just because "It's a Christmas present to you." The city or county government would have that person under investigation for fraud instantly. Unless you really feel compelled to read every book that every takes place in a library, or with a ghost, or has a cat, I recommend you pass on this book. I'd give this one a C-/D+, and only because I didn't throw the book across the room.

Lost Books and Old Bones by Paige Shelton This title is part of the Scottish Bookshop series. American Delaney lives in Edinburgh, works at a bookstore with a secret, unusual, and somewhat creepy 'treasure room,' and has fallen in love. Naturally, dead bodies keep popping up. Naturally, they just happen to be people she knows. Naturally, this secret room just happens to hold clues to the mystery. Tying this mystery to the real history of Burke and Hare, early 19th century bodysnatchers in Edinburgh, was a interesting slant, albeit not handled extremely well. The connections seemed forced and artificial. Although not paranormal, Delaney has 'bookish voices' that spout quotations that are relevant to her search for the killer's identity. Minor typos (missing 'the' at location 803 and time misspelt at location 2385, for example) and inconsistent use of "tae" for "to" in the Scottish characters' dialogue (which itself was annoying; first, that every Scottish person said this, and second, that sometimes within the very same sentence, they used tae and to together, which makes the reader wonder about how they are talking rather than what the character is saying and what it means for the plot). Most annoying: every time Tom, Delaney's boyfriend, reappears after an absence, she calls him "my pub owner." Och, I was ready tae yell "You're a wee scunner!" at Delaney every time I read that phrase. Also annoying: this is third book in the series, and i've not read the first two, and allusions such as that at location 2240 in Chapter 19 to "a few ghosts I'd met last Christmas" without a little explanation were irritating (there are lots of writers who seamlessly makes these kinds of allusions and provide enough information for first-time series readers; it's not that hard to accomplish). I was most irritated that both Delaney and Carrie, from the other mystery read this month, thought the police were incompetent and not following every lead, made public things that had specifically not been made public by the police but which they sure felt comfortable telling everyone they met, and generally just acting like ninnies rather than innocents drawn into murderous circumstances. Maybe it's time for some non-fiction to cleanse my palette. I'd give this one a C, based more on the historical research into Burke and Hare than for any other reason.

The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix Published in 1865, this mystery was selected by my book group for our March/April read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Julian Symons has argued that this is the first modern detective novel, and I'd have to agree. The style and presentation were modern, the prose fairly clean and not very flowery or ornate, and while the subject of mesmerism is dated, it's handled very deftly and scientifically. While investigating the death of a young woman and the suicide of her husband, our detective uncovers a mystery that began years before, thousands of miles away, and through diligent interviews, diary entries, analytical reports, maps, and other modern devices, leads the reader to an inescapable yet unprovable theory. Or was it unprovable? Absolutely delightful, and a must-read for genre lovers.

Middle Sister's March Reads

The Trouble with Harriet by Dorothy Cannell  Originally published in 1999, an electronic version of this entry in the Ellie Haskell mystery series was recently released. When Ellie first appeared in the 1980s, she was a mystery series anomaly--a pudgy, rather plain woman, an ordinary heroine to whom genre characters could easily relate. Written with a not-so-subtle wink towards romance novels and some hilarious, intentionally flowery prose, I loved the series. I don't remember reading this when first published, so I happily revisited Ellie and Ben and Merlin's Court, especially delighted with the title since The Trouble with Harry may be my favorite Shirley MacLaine movie. Ellie's long-lost father arrives unexpectedly at Merlin's Court with the ashes of his lady love, and in the spirit of the movie, her ashes keep disappearing. Not my favorite entry in the series, but I did enjoy the peeks into Ellie's history before she became Our Heroine, and it holds up remarkably well despite the lack of modern technology that often glares in reissued novels. And no typos or other mistakes as the story was moved to a digital format--hooray!  Recommended

A March to Remember by Anna Loan-Wilsey I had to read a book with March in the title in March, right? This march, however, refers to an historical 1894 march by unemployed men on Washington D.C., and sets a murder mystery in and around both those observing the march and those participating in it. The historical aspect was very interesting, as this was an episode of American history I'd never heard of. The topic was very timely given the current economic and political climate in the US. The books appears well researched, in terms of of both the march and the capital of 1894 (appears because I didn't do more than a cursory investigation of Coxey's March myself). Hattie Davish, the main character, is intriguing because she's a working woman (a typist and secretary) at a time when most of these would have been men. I appreciated her sensitivity to the Washington prostitutes and her self-realization that with out a job, she'd be int he same situation as them. However, I found a few parts of the story contrived (her future sister-in-law happens to be friends with the wife of an important government official who happens to have a personal interest in helping the 'fallen women,' the interest of the First Lady in Hattie's personal affairs, etc) and the attitudes of a surprisingly large number of characters astonishingly late 20th century. I know modern cosy readers don't want to be annoyed or embarrassed or aghast by the attitudes of their amateur detectives, but this was veering slightly towards a steam punk-like fictional re-imaging. Hattie's fiancee was Mr. Twentieth Century Sensitive Guy, almost too good to be true. But all in all, it was a quick read, with an interesting historical hook that sub-genre devotees should find very appealing.