Middle Sister's May Reads

More flights in May plus unusually cool weather gave me lots of reading time this month; see earlier mid-month review for another title.

Trilby by George Du Maurier We all know the term Svengali, and I've even seen the black and white silent movie, but I'd never read the book about the terrifying mesmerist. My book club had read it years ago, but with so many new members, we decided to read it again. It's an interesting look at the bohemian lifestyle in Paris in 1894, although I suspect highly whitewashed for reader sensibilities. Blatant anti-semitism running through the novel is uncomfortable for a modern reader. However, as an early psychological thriller, Trilby was an interesting novel. I just wish I spoke French. Gentle reader, beware, there is a lot of French in the novel that was not translated in my edition, and that did affect my enjoyment and perhaps comprehension of the story. 

A Crafter Hooks a Killer by Holly Quinn There are a lot of knitting mystery series out there, and only a small number that feature crocheting; these could be counted on one hand. This crochet lover naturally wanted to dive into a story that featured crochet, the cover of which had a golden retriever on it. WHat's not to love? Sadly, this book. It's the second in A Handcrafted Mystery series, and it seemed to me that there were plenty of holdovers from book one that were not explained very well in book 2. The timeline was confusing to me--Sammy has taken over her friend's community crafting commission store because her friend was murdered, but one of the characters in this book is a young man who witnessed her murder as a boy. How many years have elapsed here? Sammy, Ellie, and Hannah and the ridiculous S.H.E. Nancy Drew wannabes was very immature and the constant reference to S.H.E. was very annoying. Their actions were not those of mature women, sisters and cousins who'd shared a love of mysteries as kids now faced with a real life mystery, but of high schoolers on a lark. The romantic interest was very tame, so readers who don't like any spice in their books will appreciate that, but to me it was just boring and bland, and Sammy's rudeness to Nash and inability to understand her actions were actually hurting the chances of finding and convicting the murderer made me want to throw the book across the room. Some parts dragged really slowly; the writing (downright terrible in some parts), the story, the pace, the characters--everything would have benefitted from a strong editor. Let's put it this way--I wrote a record 66 notes on my Kindle about errors, issues, and inconsistencies in this book. Not recommended, even as a beach vacation read.

This mystery left such a bad taste behind that I had to read the exact opposite of it. I'm currently reading an excellent, well-written nonfiction science book that I'll review early in June.