Overall, May was a good reading month, beginning with some excellent mysteries and an interesting non-fiction history, but unfortunately, the holiday weekend at the end of the month was soured by bacb-to-back less than stellar mysteries. Ah well, those are not bad odds in the book department.
Death on Tuckernuck by Francine Mathews I originally wanted to read this book for several reasons: I've always wanted to visit Cape Cod and Nantucket and the surrounding area; stories near water become very appealing as the hot, dry, desert summer descends on me here at home and my yearly hankering to escape to a lake or ocean overwhelms me; and cheesily, I liked the cover. I loved the book! In fact, I read over half of it in one long reading session because I didn't want to put it down. Very fast paced and well-written, I was swept up into the many storylines of several Nantucket residents facing a Category 3 hurricane bearing down on their island and disrupting their lives, for some of them, permanently. The majority of the book takes place in the 24-hours of the hurricane's direct onslaught, and switches between the viewpoints of 4 or 5 main characters. Generally I am not a fan of multiple POVs, because many authors have trouble juggling several storylines, but Mathews did a superb job of not dropping any of the story lines nor lingering too long on any. Perfect summertime escapism, Maybe not if you're planning a fall vacation on Nantucket, however. Highly recommended.
Fire in the Thatch by E. C. R. Lorac Poisoned Pen Press began publishing a series called British Library Crime Classics, with introductions by Martin Edwards, several years ago. Long out-of-print British mysteries are reintroduced, with gorgeous covers, to an eager audience--I am one of them--that has discovered, through the wonders of the Internet, a number of OOP authors. Fire in the Thatch, originally published in 1946 and taking place just shortly before that date, is a thoroughly wonderful example of the lost mystery gems in the imprint. Fire in the Thatch takes place in Devon, England, where a war hero has rented a ramshackle thatched cottage, located in a remote village, that he intends to restore. A tragic accident follows, an accident that someone believes was not accidental at all, and Scotland Yard is called in. I loved this book! It's superbly well written, with great attention to detail, an atmospheric sense of place and time that made me feel I was there, and believable characters, some nice, some not nice. Ms. St. Cyres, Nicholas Vaughan, Inspector Macdonald, and respectful recreations of charming yet quirky Devon natives were all well drawn. The mystery is intriguing, and carefully spun out so that the reader, if they try, may guess what happened. I am eager to read more by Lorac, and find more new favorite authors through Poisoned Pen's BLCC imprint. Perfect summer reading. Highly recommended.
Still Life by Louise Penny I have heard for years how wonderful the Inspector Gamache series was, so when the first in the series became available at the library, I grabbed it. And it was worth it. Armand Gamache is not flashy, he's not heroic; he's a middle aged, happily married, quiet man who listens and notices. In Still Life, Jane Neal, a nice, quiet woman whom everyone in the village of Three Pines likes, is murdered with an arrow. Why would anyone want to kill someone everyone agrees was a nice person? What is simmering below the convivial relationships between her friends and neighbors? I really liked Gamache, and I really liked his supporting cast, especially Jean Guy Beauvoir, Gamache's partner and second. A divisive character was Yvette Nichol, on her first case with the Inspector. I sympathized because everyone knows what it's like to start a new job, and not know what is expected of you, what to do and when, how to read your new coworkers. But Yvette was so obtuse and unable to understand the people around her (a difficult place for a police professional) that at times she was exasperating and unlikeable. I thought perhaps she was on the autism spectrum. Some of her internal dialogue was so clueless and arrogant that at other times I thought she was just a jerk. I've since read that the author has said she identifies with Yvette. Perhaps thats why the series and characters are so nuanced. A wonderful start to the series, and now I can't wait to read more. Well written, deft handling of a large number of characters, each individual and never losing their voice, tight control of all the storylines--I can't praise this book enough. Highly recommended.
Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal Second in the series. Maggie Hope has finished her job with Winston Churchill and tried to join MI5. She's done well with the intellectual part of training but has failed at the physical tests, so she's recruited to go to Windsor Castle under the pretext of teaching young Princess Elizabeth mathematics as there is a suspicion a German spy has infiltrated the king's household. I listened to the audiobook of this title, and confess I was really irritated by the narrator's choice of voice for Maggie. Maggie is British but was raised in America and has an American accent. The narrator gives her a high, little girl voice I found really distracting and iannoying. A couple of the coincidences that the story relies on are visible a mile away, although I appreciated the author trying to grapple with headier aspects of World War II, such as how injured soldiers dealt with what we now call PTSD and conflicting loyalties. I don't like the dark turn the series seems to be making, and the emergence of an unnecessary love triangle detracts from the story on serval levels. Let a woman whose love disappears in action go through the loss and bewilderment--tens of thousands of women experienced that. A far fewer number had their loves turn out to be alive behind enemy lines. The addition of that story line is going to make it hard for the author to keep everything moving smoothly, without a feeling of complete disconnection between plots, in future books. Yes, life was disconnected during World War II, but I don't think the author has the skill to make this work. She may be trying to create a more sophisticated subgenre, but it's not what I look for in a 350-page cosy, historical mystery (and that's how these are marketed). And frankly, I found Princess Elizabeth's relationship with the much older Prince Philip kind of creepy. Enjoyable enough but I suspect this will be my last Maggie Hope novel.
The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart I thought the basis for the story had great promise: Princess Alexandrina is the the daughter of the Maharaja of Prindur, whose principality is now under British rule in India. They have moved to England, where they inhabit a world in between--they are not commoners because they are royalty, but they are foreign and therefore suspicious and unaccepted. However, the execution of the book left me unsatisfied. In this second book in the series, Alexandrina, whose nickname is Mink (why is never explained in the book), is bereft when her father dies unexpectedly and she discovers that he has left massive debts she must pay off. She accepts an invitation from Queen Victoria to live at Hampton Court Palace, rumored to be haunted but inhabited by quirky, decidedly live people--until one is murdered. My dissatisfaction with the book stems largely from Mink just not acting as a Victorian-era princess, even one flat broke and foreign, would. She's very open and friendly with her maid (and really, poor Pooki can singlehandedly run the entire household--cook, maid, lady's maid, washing, scrubbing the house, cleaning Mink's clothes by hand, buying the food, and doing a little investigating?) and with others (She just goes up to the keeper of the maze and interacts so informally and familiarly with him, even going to his house unannounced and sitting down with him for a cup of tea? Really?) in a way that a twenty-first century woman might act, but probably not a twenty-first century princess, much less a Victorian-era princess. And what romance with the doctor is there other than Pooki's pronouncement that Mink is attracted to him? I saw no evidence from Mink's behavior or her thoughts that she was interested in the doctor. I wanted to like the book because of the unusual premise. I didn't.
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman I re-read this favorite for an article I was writing, and was reminded why I find Mrs. Pollifax so endearing. She's not spunky--she's just sensible and active and wants more than life as a widow in suburban New Jersey offers. She's kind and thoughtful and smart, and while maybe a bit naive in this, her first CIA assignment, she's cognizant that there are nuances to spying that she doesn't understand. When faced with grim realities, does what she must to survive, yet remains true to herself. Even though the story (originally published more than 40 years ago) is dated (no cell phones, Communists are the evil enemy, no 24/7 news, no sophisticated digital and electronic spy methods), it was just as enjoyable and gripping as it was when I first read it about 35 years ago. Mrs. Pollifax deserves to be as well known as Miss Marple, Miss Seeton, Miss Silver, and the other elderly female sleuths. Highly recommended
The Templars by Dan Jones Exhaustive history of the Knights Templar--their origin, their history, and their modern legacy. Jones has undertaken extensive research to document the real history of the Knights Templar, the various houses and chapters, and their role in the various Crusades. A very large cast of Templars, kings, and sultans and their exploits and contact and impact on European and Muslim history are recounted. Their rise and downfall, successes and losses, torture and betrayal are presented in almost excruciating detail. Mr. Jones ends the book with a rumination on why the Knight Templars resonate in modern society and appear in so many recent books and movies. The juxtapostion of this book, which included discussion of the expansion of Islam in the Near East and Spain, which I read right after last month's history of Nile exploration and it's brief discussion of expansion of Islam in Africa, was very interesting. Highly recommended for history buffs.
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Middle Sister's April Reads
April was the month of non-fiction. With COVID-19 stay-at-home directives, a full month of working from home (now in week 8), the inability to go anywhere and do anything outside except walk my dog and weed the garden, you'd think I would have wanted to read cheesy mysteries that would allow me to escape. But no, I had a hankering for non-fiction, with a smidgen of mystery thrown in, and got to travel to Egypt and the upper and lower Nile, and popped all over the world to see what everyne was doing in the year 1000.
Death at the Mariner's Hotel by Betty Rowlands Sukey Reynolds is a brand new police constable in this entry in the series, and she's teamed with someone who consistently treats her as just any other brand new constable (which Sukey doesn't say but her actions and thoughts clearly reveal how much she dislikes this treatment). And she makes some rookie mistakes you'd think a former scene of the crime officer would not. Some of these she gets called out for, but others slip by and for me, anyway, colored my reading of the story--for instance, Sukey allowed the nurse to collect the syringe from Gasspar's hospital room instead of collecting the evidence herself. Naturally my suspicious mind thought "What if the nurse is in cahoots with the killer? Will she turn over the real syringe or substitute another one?" Sukey didn't even go in with her to observe the nurse collecting the evidence for an assault or attempted murder. Very amateur hour for both Sukey and the author. I like this series despite blunders like this. Sukey is usually relatable, her life story and the secondary characters who surround her are believable, and the writing is general is good. If you're looking for a new police procedural (bear above amateurish mistakes in mind) or a series with a fairly strong feminine lead, or just a modern English almost-cozy series, you will like Sukey. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sukey show up as an ITV series someday. Recommended
The Year 1000 by Valerie Hansen Although publication of this book in 2000 would have made more sense, The Year 1000 is an ambitious attempt to demonstrate that the 21st century globalized society we are living in today has very real antecedents in prehistory. Hansen seems surprised by the extent of long-distance interaction in some areas of the globe in the past. She begins with the exploration of North America by the Vikings and proceeds on to long distance trade networks in Central America, the Silk Road, Asia, Africa, and everywhere else where archaeologists have demonstrated extensive trade networks existed. And that's probably why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected to: archaeologists have known for decades that prehistoric peoples traded extensively. Would Hansen be surprised to learn that Paleoindians moved obsidian around North America across hundreds and hundreds of miles? Perhaps not globalization in the more capitalistic definition she clearly uses as her basis, but ancient peoples were very much aware of other ancient peoples and societies, even at quite a remove in some cases. This is not new information to students of prehistory, although perhaps to the general public it is. I can't speak to the veracity of her sources, but I do have some particular concerns. I knew one of her sources, the late Mike Coe, personally, and read quite of bit of Mary Miller's published work (I even used one of her books as a supplemental text in a class I taught years ago), and I can assure you that most archaeologists who have worked at or visited Chichen Itza or studied the Maya do not think that the blonde, light-skinned people in the mural in the Temple of the Warriors might be Viking warriors. And she makes similar mistakes in other areas I know very well; for example, she mistakenly calls southwest kivas 'storage rooms.' They are ritual architecture which yes, may have also stored some seed used each year to start the annual planting rituals, but to call them storage rooms misses their main purpose by a mile. She refers to a prolonged period of drought in the Maya area but doesn't tell us what evidence suggests such a drought occurred (I know there are some pollen cores from Lake Peten Itza that suggest that, but there are hundreds of km between the lake and Chichen Itza, the site she's discussing at this point in the book). I don't know enough about the archaeology and prehistory of the rest of the world to feel comfortable voicing some of my issues with her reconstructions, but I found myself scribbling lots of questions marks in the margins. While I really wanted to like the book, because I liked the idea behind it, I hesitate to recommend it. There were just too many question marks in the margins.
The Explorers of the Nile by Tim Jeal Excellent, thorough, and riveting account of the history of European explorations for the source of the Nile, beginning in the mid nineteenth century. This exhaustive history not only delves into the back stories of the famous explorers (Stanley, Livingstone, Burton) but others, not famous, who should be (Speke), but deftly and thoroughly traces their connections to colonialism, the rise of independent states, and modern-day problems and triumphs in 21st-century Africa. I listened to the book, and it was excellently read and produced, but I sorely missed tracing journeys on maps and seeing the faces of the explorers themselves. Strong kudos to Jeal for exhaustively researching his material, including the original sources, many of them unpublished diaries and accounts, that put light to the myths that surround some of the players. In particular, I was amazed to listen to the biographies he was able to piece together about the Africans who served as guides and porters, who carried the expeditions literally on their shoulders, many of whom died for what must have been to them a crazy undertaking. Highly recommended.
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin Four years ago I started working in a field where the Meyers-Briggs, Strengthfinders, and other personality trait tests are well known and frequently discussed. When I saw this book, I thought, "Well, tendencies are perhaps not as immutable as personality traits, so let's see how this schema arranges people." And was floored when I recognized almost every single tendency that defines the upholder in myself. The other tendencies are questioners, obligers, and rebels, and while I saw some of me in the questioner and obliger, I have no rebel tendencies at all. Not a surprise to me at all. It was interesting to think of family and friends in light of this framework, but I'm pretty sure I will not actualize her recommendations on dealing with the other tendencies. They should just do it because. Recommended
Death at the Mariner's Hotel by Betty Rowlands Sukey Reynolds is a brand new police constable in this entry in the series, and she's teamed with someone who consistently treats her as just any other brand new constable (which Sukey doesn't say but her actions and thoughts clearly reveal how much she dislikes this treatment). And she makes some rookie mistakes you'd think a former scene of the crime officer would not. Some of these she gets called out for, but others slip by and for me, anyway, colored my reading of the story--for instance, Sukey allowed the nurse to collect the syringe from Gasspar's hospital room instead of collecting the evidence herself. Naturally my suspicious mind thought "What if the nurse is in cahoots with the killer? Will she turn over the real syringe or substitute another one?" Sukey didn't even go in with her to observe the nurse collecting the evidence for an assault or attempted murder. Very amateur hour for both Sukey and the author. I like this series despite blunders like this. Sukey is usually relatable, her life story and the secondary characters who surround her are believable, and the writing is general is good. If you're looking for a new police procedural (bear above amateurish mistakes in mind) or a series with a fairly strong feminine lead, or just a modern English almost-cozy series, you will like Sukey. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sukey show up as an ITV series someday. Recommended
The Year 1000 by Valerie Hansen Although publication of this book in 2000 would have made more sense, The Year 1000 is an ambitious attempt to demonstrate that the 21st century globalized society we are living in today has very real antecedents in prehistory. Hansen seems surprised by the extent of long-distance interaction in some areas of the globe in the past. She begins with the exploration of North America by the Vikings and proceeds on to long distance trade networks in Central America, the Silk Road, Asia, Africa, and everywhere else where archaeologists have demonstrated extensive trade networks existed. And that's probably why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected to: archaeologists have known for decades that prehistoric peoples traded extensively. Would Hansen be surprised to learn that Paleoindians moved obsidian around North America across hundreds and hundreds of miles? Perhaps not globalization in the more capitalistic definition she clearly uses as her basis, but ancient peoples were very much aware of other ancient peoples and societies, even at quite a remove in some cases. This is not new information to students of prehistory, although perhaps to the general public it is. I can't speak to the veracity of her sources, but I do have some particular concerns. I knew one of her sources, the late Mike Coe, personally, and read quite of bit of Mary Miller's published work (I even used one of her books as a supplemental text in a class I taught years ago), and I can assure you that most archaeologists who have worked at or visited Chichen Itza or studied the Maya do not think that the blonde, light-skinned people in the mural in the Temple of the Warriors might be Viking warriors. And she makes similar mistakes in other areas I know very well; for example, she mistakenly calls southwest kivas 'storage rooms.' They are ritual architecture which yes, may have also stored some seed used each year to start the annual planting rituals, but to call them storage rooms misses their main purpose by a mile. She refers to a prolonged period of drought in the Maya area but doesn't tell us what evidence suggests such a drought occurred (I know there are some pollen cores from Lake Peten Itza that suggest that, but there are hundreds of km between the lake and Chichen Itza, the site she's discussing at this point in the book). I don't know enough about the archaeology and prehistory of the rest of the world to feel comfortable voicing some of my issues with her reconstructions, but I found myself scribbling lots of questions marks in the margins. While I really wanted to like the book, because I liked the idea behind it, I hesitate to recommend it. There were just too many question marks in the margins.
The Explorers of the Nile by Tim Jeal Excellent, thorough, and riveting account of the history of European explorations for the source of the Nile, beginning in the mid nineteenth century. This exhaustive history not only delves into the back stories of the famous explorers (Stanley, Livingstone, Burton) but others, not famous, who should be (Speke), but deftly and thoroughly traces their connections to colonialism, the rise of independent states, and modern-day problems and triumphs in 21st-century Africa. I listened to the book, and it was excellently read and produced, but I sorely missed tracing journeys on maps and seeing the faces of the explorers themselves. Strong kudos to Jeal for exhaustively researching his material, including the original sources, many of them unpublished diaries and accounts, that put light to the myths that surround some of the players. In particular, I was amazed to listen to the biographies he was able to piece together about the Africans who served as guides and porters, who carried the expeditions literally on their shoulders, many of whom died for what must have been to them a crazy undertaking. Highly recommended.
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin Four years ago I started working in a field where the Meyers-Briggs, Strengthfinders, and other personality trait tests are well known and frequently discussed. When I saw this book, I thought, "Well, tendencies are perhaps not as immutable as personality traits, so let's see how this schema arranges people." And was floored when I recognized almost every single tendency that defines the upholder in myself. The other tendencies are questioners, obligers, and rebels, and while I saw some of me in the questioner and obliger, I have no rebel tendencies at all. Not a surprise to me at all. It was interesting to think of family and friends in light of this framework, but I'm pretty sure I will not actualize her recommendations on dealing with the other tendencies. They should just do it because. Recommended
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