Short Story Wednesday: Stories from Fire Watch by Connie Willis

 

Back in August 2022, I read the novelette, "Fire Watch," by Connie Willis. It was published in a collection with the same title, and was part of the same universe as Willis's Oxford Time Travel series: Doomsday Book (1992), To Say Nothing of the Dog (1995), Blackout (2010), and All Clear (2010). I liked "Fire Watch" a lot but I did think that it might not be too clear if the reader had not read at least one of the books in her time travel series.

After reading an additional three stories from Fire Watch last week, I hesitated to write a post about them. Mainly because I found the stories confusing, and two of them I did not really understand at all. 

"Service for the Burial of the Dead"

This one was pretty good. It is a ghost story, set in the 1800s (I am guessing). A young woman is shunned by her neighbors because she has had an affair with a young man. He dies and she dares to attend the funeral. Embarrassed, she leaves the chapel and goes into a room nearby. To her surprise her lover is there, and says he won't reveal himself to any one else until the father of his fiancee settles his debts. The story is somewhat open ended.

"Lost and Found"

An apocalyptic story about cults and the state stealing treasures from the churches. It isn't that this story is totally unclear, it is more that I wanted some more concrete information on what is going on.

"All My Darling Daughters"

This story was long and very icky, but I could not stop reading it. I was hoping there would be some resolution that would make it worth reading. It is science fiction and it concerns a school (on a large space craft). It was about sex and fathers and implied rape and incest. Some reviewers loved this story and others hated it, so don't take my reaction too seriously.

"Blued Moon"

I did not want to give up on the stories in this book and only report on ones that I had mixed reactions to. The fourth story I read was "Blued Moon." It was a highly recommended story by Willis. It was undoubtedly the best story of these four. It is a romantic comedy and a fun and humorous read. It involves a project to restore the ozone layer, which may or may not have disastrous results.

There are seven more stories left in this book and I will persevere,  plus I have two more books of Willis's short stories to read.

Two Novels by Raymond Chandler

 

Raymond Chandler is a very well-known and highly regarded author of hard-boiled mysteries featuring Philip Marlowe. He was also a major influence on future writers in that subgenre. I have read five of the Philip Marlowe novels and I rate all of them very highly. However, it is not the mystery plots that keep me coming back, it is Chandler's writing style that I love.

The Lady in the Lake

Philip Marlowe, a private detective with an office in Hollywood, is hired by Derace Kingsley to find his wife, who has been missing for about a month. The marriage was on shaky ground anyway, and he had received a telegram that she was going to Mexico to get a divorce and marry another man, Chris Lavery. Then a few weeks later, he is told that her car had been left unclaimed at a San Bernardino hotel. He is mostly concerned that she is going to cause some kind of scandal and he will lose his job. 

The plot does get very complex. Kingsley has a cabin on a private lake in the mountains near San Bernardino. Bill Chess is the caretaker for the cabins on the lake; his wife, Muriel, left him about the same time Kingsley's wife supposedly left for Mexico. When Marlowe goes to the lake to interview Chess, they find a decomposed dead body in the lake. Chess assumes it is his wife. There are many characters involved, and an excess of suspects. 

In addition to the beautiful writing and the terrific dialogue, there were several appealing things about The Lady in the Lake. The book was published in 1943, and it was written after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The US was involved in World War II and there is evidence of this throughout the book. This book also seemed to have more humor than other books in the series.

The edition above of The Lady in the Lake is my favorite. It has cover art by Tom Adams, who also illustrated the covers for many paperback editions of Agatha Cristie's mysteries. 

The Long Goodbye

I read The Long Goodbye over two years ago, in 2022. I didn't write a full review at the time and I decided this would be a good time to review it.

In this book Philip Marlow gets involved with two very messed-up men, both alcoholics. Terry Lennox hires Marlowe to drive him to Mexico, no questions asked, and Marlowe goes along with it, because he trusts Lennox. When he gets back to L.A. he finds that Lennox's wife is dead and the police think that Lennox killed her. Following this, Marlowe is hired to find a once successful author, Roger Wade, who has been missing for three days. He finds him and returns him to his wife at their beach house. They want Marlowe to stay with them and keep Wade sober and working on his book. Marlowe doesn't want to get involved with that situation but he keeps getting dragged back into it. That doesn't sound like a complex story but there are many characters, and the two "cases" start to merge. 

These are my notes from two years ago shortly after I read the book:

The writing is beautiful. The reading experience was wonderful, even if the plot confused me (and defies description without spoiling the story). This seemed very different from the first three books. Marlowe never has a real client in this one. He tries to help two different people, over several months time, and neither one seems to deserve his help. The whole experience seems aimless but all the threads come together in the end, with some surprises. 

The Long Goodbye was published in 1953, 10 years after The Lady in the Lake was published. It is the 6th book in the series. 

Short Story Wednesday: "Scribbling" by Helen DeWitt

"Scribbling" by Helen DeWitt was published in the July 18, 2024 issue of The New York Review of Books. The story was fun to read but in the end I did not know what to think of it. It seemed to me to be full of whimsy, but whimsy has never really appealed to me, so why did I like it so much? It is impossible to describe adequately, and so short that I do not want to retell the story.

The premise:

A woman, Flip, is hounded by a New York agent to send him a manuscript. This irritates her husband to no end, and he is uncooperative in every way. Eventually she succeeds in sending a manuscript to get the agent off her back. The agent is thrilled and wants to discuss it. Through a series of mishaps, she finally gets to New York to meet the agent.  

I had to read the story twice, because the first time through I was trying to focus on the sequence of events, and there is much more to it than that. The next time through I focused on the writing style, which is a little over my head. I think I could re-read the story many times.

From the little I have read about Helen DeWitt, I understand that she has had problems with getting published; thus this story could certainly be poking fun at that process. 

If anyone can shed light on this story or other writing by Helen DeWitt, I would love more information on that subject.

Books Read in July 2024

 

I am so far behind on my monthly reading lists; I am writing this summary of July reading in early September. Looking back on July, there was a good bit of variety in my reading. Only three of the seven books I read were crime fiction, which is unusual. The five novels were from my 20 Books of Summer list but the two nonfiction books were not.

So here are the books I read in July...

Nonfiction / Books about Books

More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (2005) by Nancy Pearl

This book is part of Nancy Pearl's Book Lust series, which includes Book Lust and Book Lust to Go. I have read all three of these books multiple times, and I believe this was my fourth time to read More Book Lust. One of the limitations of this book is that it was published almost 20 years ago and so could be considered out of date. For me, that doesn't matter, as I want to know about older authors as well as newer ones. The book is divided into various topics. Many of the topics include mystery and crime fiction suggestions, which I appreciate. And each time I reread the books, I discover new books and authors.

Nonfiction / Travel / Adventure

Lost Lands, Forgotten Stories (2002) Alexandra Pratt 

The subtitle of this book is "A Woman's Journey into the Heart of Labrador." Pratt describes a challenging canoeing expedition that she took with a native guide (of the Innu tribe) on a series of rivers in Labrador. It was an amazing journey. See my review.

Science Fiction

A Closed and Common Orbit (2016) by Becky Chambers

This is the second book in the Wayfarers series; the first two books are only loosely connected. The only characters shared between the two books are Pepper, an engineer, and Lovelace, an AI that ran the ship in the first book. I loved the writing and the story telling and the world building.

Fantasy

The Dead Fathers Club (2006) by Matt Haig

This is a modern retelling of Hamlet. The main character and narrator is 11-year-old Philip Noble whose father recently died in a car accident. I am not sure if it was aimed at adults or young adults, and I am still not sure what I think of it. I liked it, mostly, and it definitely wasn't boring. It was very funny at times and I was pleased with the ending.

Crime Fiction

A Cast of Falcons (2016) by Steve Burrows

Steve Burrows is a Canadian author and this was the first book I read for the Canadian Reading Challenge. A Cast of Falcons is the third book in Burrow's Birder Murder Mystery series. See my review.

War Game (1976) by Anthony Price

Anthony Price published 19 novels; all featured David Audley, a British spy during the Cold War. The focus in this espionage series is on characterization and intellect, not action, although there is some of that present. Most of the books in this series have historical events infused into a present day story (keeping in mind that they were written between 1970 and 1990). In Other Paths to Glory, which won the Gold Dagger in 1974, it was World War I and the battlefields of the Somme. In Colonel Butler's Wolf, the site of the story is Hadrian's Wall. War Game is the seventh book in the series and centers around the English Civil War and events in 1643. I love this series, but I need to read them closer together because I forget who the continuing characters are, except for David Audley.

Dark Fire (2004) by C.J. Sansom

This is a historical mystery set in London in 1540; it is the second book in a series of seven featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake as the protagonist. In the first book, Dissolution, Shardlake was working for Thomas Cromwell, helping with the dissolution of the monasteries. In this book, it is three years later, and he is again working for Thomas Cromwell, this time under duress. See my review.

Currently reading

I am now reading The White Lioness by Henning Mankell, the 3rd book in the Wallander series. It was published in 1993. It is the story of a murder in Sweden that has its roots in South Africa, and it addresses the issues of Apartheid at that time.

 

The two photos at the top of the post were taken in our back fenced-in area in 2010. They are motivating me to spend more time cleaning up the back yard and potting up more plants. The photo immediately above is Rosie the cat, taken in 2013, the year that she came to live with us. Click on the images for best viewing quality.

Dark Fire: C.J. Sansom

Description from the back of my book:

In 1540 Henry VIII has been on the throne for thirty-one years. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake has been called upon to help a young girl accused of murder who refused to speak in her own defense even when threatened with torture. On the verge of losing his case, Shardlake is suddenly granted a reprieve. His benefactor is Thomas Cromwell, the king's feared vicar general, who offers him two more weeks to investigate the murder. In exchange, Shardlake must find a lost cache of "Dark Fire," an ancient weapon of mass destruction. 

My thoughts...

Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom is a historical mystery set in London in 1540; it is the second book in a series of seven featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake as the protagonist. In the first book, Dissolution, Shardlake was working for Thomas Cromwell, helping with the dissolution of the monasteries. In this book, it is three years later, and he is again working for Thomas Cromwell, this time under duress. 

I have read a good bit about Thomas Cromwell in Hilary Mantel's series that starts with Wolf Hall, so I was familiar with Cromwell's career. It was interesting to see Cromwell in this book, at the point in his life when he was falling out of favor with Henry VIII. But Cromwell plays a relatively minor role in the story, and I don't think any prior knowledge is necessary to enjoy the novel.

This book is excellent historical fiction, very well written; the historical setting is described in detail but the reader is not lectured to. I was mesmerized by the story in the first chapter and stayed engaged throughout. The story is very dense, filled with action and interesting developments. The characters are all very well developed, even the secondary characters.

Dark Fire won the 2005 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, awarded by the Crime Writers' Association (CWA).

 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Penguin Books, 2006 (orig. publ. 2004)
Length:       501 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Series:       Matthew Shardlake #2
Setting:      England, 1540
Genre:       Historical Mystery
Source:      Purchased at the Planned Parenthood Book Sale, 2019.

Short Story Wednesday: "Bullet for One" by Rex Stout

"Bullet for One" is a 68-page novella in the Nero Wolfe series, and was first published in The American Magazine in July 1948, the year of my birth. It is one of three stories in Curtains for Three, published in 1950. 

As usual, Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's assistant, narrates the story. Some semi-regular characters are included: Saul Panzer and Orrie Cather, freelance detectives; and Inspector Cramer of the NYC police. Lily Rowan, Archie's sometimes female companion, makes a brief appearance.

This story features five people who are suspected of murdering Sigmund Keyes, an industrial designer who was shot while riding horseback in New York's Central Park. These five people gather at Nero Wolfe's office to hire him to prove that another person, Victor Talbott, is guilty. Victor Talbott was Keyes' sales agent, and is in love with his daughter. He also has the best alibi of all of the suspects. The five suspects that Wolfe is working for are three people who worked in the same office with Keyes, plus his daughter, Dorothy Keyes, and a stable hand at the Riding Academy near Central Park. 

This was a funny story, and I think it was more humorous because it included some of the regular characters in addition to Archie and Wolfe. Archie gets his feeling hurt because Wolfe assigns all the interesting jobs to Saul and Orrie. Wolfe is mainly concerned with food and his orchids while he sends others off to do research. Although some of the facts are hidden from the reader until close to the end, it was a clever ending.

I read another story in the book recently also, but it is a hard one for me to review. It may be my favorite story in this book.

"The Gun with Wings" is about two lovers who come to Wolfe with a problem. They know that the woman's husband was killed and they haven't told anyone what they know, because each of them is afraid that the other might be the murderer. (Her husband was a piece of work.) They want Wolfe to find out who the murderer is so that they can get married. Now that is an unusual problem. 

I reviewed "Disguise for Murder," the third story in Curtains for Three, in April of this year.