Canadian Reading Challenge 6: Books Read

This year I participated in the Canadian Book Challenge 6. This is an online reading challenge in which participants from Canada and around the world aim to read and review 13 or more Canadian books in a one year span: July 2012 through June 2013. A Canadian book is a book written by a Canadian author or set in Canada.

I  read these books for the challenge:

The Suspect by L. R. Wright

This book is the first in a series by L.R. Wright (1939 - 2001). The series features RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg and librarian Cassandra Mitchell. It is set in a small town on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. The Suspect won the 1986 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel of the year. It was the first Canadian novel to do so.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

The first three books in a series, set in post World War II Britain, in the village of Bishop's Lacey. Flavia narrates the stories. She is the youngest daughter (around 11 years old) in the de Luce family, and lives with her two sisters and their father. Her mother died when she was young. They live in an ancient country house.

Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka

Russell Quant is a private detective, and to this point in his career he has had small, nondescript cases. Now he has a case where a wealthy client has hired him to find his missing lover, Tom Osborn. Set in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Very enjoyable humorous mystery, part of a series of eight books.

Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt

A serial killer novel with too much graphic violence for my tastes. However, the characterization was so strong in that book, and the plotting and setting are so vivid, that I have to try the next in the series.

Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen

Murder at the Mendel by Gail Bowen

The first two books in a series of fourteen books about Joanne Kilbourn, a political analyst and university professor who gets involved in criminal investigations. Set in Saskatchewan. Family and relationships play a large part in these mysteries.

A Stone of the Heart by John Brady

A police procedural featuring Matt Minogue, a Sergeant in the Garda Murder Squad in Dublin. Like some books of that sub-genre, it goes much deeper and examines the character of the policeman and how his family and his environment affect his ability to do his job. The setting is primarily Dublin, Ireland in the late 1980's. Thus the unrest and violence in Ireland at the time is a part of the story. There are nine more books in the series.

The Ransom Game by Howard Engel

This is the second book in a series featuring Benny Cooperman, private detective. Benny is hired to locate a paroled ex-con, by his girlfriend. He is missing and she fears he has come to harm. Her boyfriend, Johnny Rosa, was in prison for kidnapping a wealthy young woman, and the ransom money has never turned up. The book is set in a small city in Canada near Niagara Falls: Grantham, Ontario. This town is based on the real city of St. Catharines, Ontario, where the author was born.

Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings

The first in series of seven books known as the Murdoch Mysteries. Set in Toronto in 1895. William Murdoch is an Acting Detective, ambitious and intelligent. He wants to move up in rank, and he hopes this case will bring him some attention. The author takes us through the investigation slowly, introducing us to the individuals involved. She describes the prejudices of the time and the hardships that the poorer inhabitants of Toronto lived with.

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

This is the second in a series of mysteries set in a small village in Quebec. The investigator is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Surete de Quebec. Gamache is a likable character, a dedicated policeman yet compassionate. I have often said that I prefer a fairly normal protagonist, especially as a police investigator, and am growing tired of flawed and damaged policemen. In this case, Gamache is a little too perfect for me, but still an interesting character.

Kaleidoscope by J. Robert Janes

This book is set in Occupied France, in December of 1942. It is the story of two men who are on opposite sides but must work together. Gestapo Haupsturmführer Hermann Kohler and  his partner, Sûreté Chief Inspector Jean-Louis St-Cyr have been thrown together by circumstances to investigate crimes. They have developed a trusting relationship, but know that due to the realities of war, it will probably not end well. One side or the other will be the victor, and then where will their loyalties lie? This is the second book in the series, and Jean-Louis and Hermann follow cases in a total of 14 books.

I will be participating in the 7th annual Canadian Book Challenge sponsored by John Mutford at The Book Mine Set. You can see information on joining this challenge HERE.

J is for J. Robert Janes

Kaleidoscope by J. Robert Janes is my submission for the Crime Fiction Alphabet at Mysteries in Paradise this week. Please visit the post at Mysteries in Paradise to check out other entries for the letter J.

Janes is a Canadian writer of crime fiction and children's books. Per MysteriousPress.com, publisher of his latest books:

J. Robert Janes (b. 1935) is a mystery author best known for writing historical thrillers. Born in Toronto, he holds degrees in mining and geology, and worked as an engineer, university professor, and textbook author before he began writing fiction. ... In 1992, Janes published Mayhem, the first in the long-running St-Cyr and Kohler series for which he is best known. These police procedurals set in Nazi-occupied France have been praised for the author’s attention to historical detail, as well as their swift-moving plots. Bellringer is the thirteenth in the series.

The Story

The  book is set in Occupied France, in December of 1942. It is the story of two men who are on opposite sides but must work together. Gestapo Haupsturmführer Hermann Kohler and  his partner, Sûreté Chief Inspector Jean-Louis St-Cyr have been thrown together by circumstances to investigate crimes.  They have developed a trusting relationship, but know that due to the realities of war, it will probably not end well. One side or the other will be the victor, and then where will their loyalties lie?

The two detectives are sent from Paris to a small village in Provence to investigate the death of a woman who is still lying on the hillside when they arrive. She has been shot with an arrow from a crossbow, thus limiting the suspects to those who can shoot with that weapon accurately. The victim turns out to be Anne-Marie Buemondi, who lives in Cannes but has come to the area to visit her daughter, who has health problems. The plot gets complicated very quickly, with suspicions that the death is related in some way to the activities of the maquis, the French Resistance.

My Take

I enjoyed the book, but I was confused by the narrative and the jerkiness of the plot as I read at least the first half of the book. There were references to past events and other characters that I did not understand. It turns out that Jean-Louis is having trouble remembering the details of a traumatic event that occurred several years earlier, which explains the choppiness of the segments, but reading it was still confusing.

Having read the first two books in the series (several years ago), I had some knowledge of the background of the story, yet this did not help too much. The relationships the detectives have with others (family, superiors) are covered pretty sketchily in this book, compared to the previous two, to give more time to the story, which was fine with me but might seem strange if you haven't read any earlier books. This is not spy fiction, but in some ways it reads like spy fiction. With the French authorities working with the occupiers, there is always distrust and no one ever knows who is on what side.

I have read reviews by others who had similar concerns re the complexity of the plot and narrative, yet most seem to find the series rewarding. It has a lot to offer. If you read this series, I suggest starting with the first book, which does explain the setup. Hopping around to different books in the series after that may not make that much difference.

In summary, this is an interesting and informative book about a time in history that I keep coming back to in my mystery (and non-fiction) reading. I have four more in the series in my TBR stacks, and plan to keep reading through the series. I hope to read the next one soon in order to be able to make comparisons.

What Others Say:

Mayhem, the first book in the series, was featured at The Rap Sheet as a "Book You Have to Read." Here is is what Cara Black, author of the Aimée Leduc series set in modern-day Paris, France, says in that post:

It’s impossible to praise too highly the subtle ways in which author Janes shows the twisted times of World War II in Europe through the stories of his two policemen, both of whom are suffering in their private lives.

J. Kingston Pierce comments at The Rap Sheet on Salamander, the fourth book in the series:

Amazingly, those onetime enemies had not only been getting along since their first adventure in Mayhem (aka Mirage), published in 1992, but had become a rather crack team of crime solvers--often to the disgruntlement of their Gestapo superiors in Paris, who see them as far too independent. While war storms across the face of Europe, it’s up to St-Cyr and Kohler to solve the more everyday but nonetheless disturbing crimes--the assaults, the thefts, the occasional cross-bow killings. Misdeeds outside the scope of state-sanctioned battle.

Additional Tidbits:

Carousel, the second book in the series, is another complex story of three connected murders that St-Cyr and Kohler are charged with solving. I am including an image of the cover for the Soho edition. I like this style of Soho covers in general, and this one is particularly nice.

A fourteenth St-Cyr and Kohler Investigation, Tapestry, has just been published on June 4th, 2013. It and Bellringer are available as eBooks or in paperback.

Janes also recently published a non-series novel, The Hunting Ground, set in Europe in the years immediately after World War II.

This is my thirteenth and final book for the Canadian Book Challenge 6.

Reading in May and Crime Fiction Pick of the Month

In May I read a total of nine books. This month, I read one non-fiction book. All the other books I read were crime fiction. A very good reading month.

The non-fiction book I read this month was Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and hope to write a book review of it sometime soon. So you can get a taste of what it is like...I am including an excerpt from the book description at Goodreads:

In Origins of the Specious, word mavens Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman reveal why some of grammar’s best-known “rules” aren’t—and never were—rules at all. This playfully witty, rigorously researched book sets the record straight about bogus word origins, politically correct fictions, phony français, fake acronyms, and more.

Of the eight mysteries I read in May, none were vintage mysteries, which is unusual. I usually aim for at least one vintage mystery a month. I did read the first three chapters in A Talent to Deceive by Robert Barnard, which is an appreciation of Agatha Christie and her works. I posted some comments on that book here.

Three of the mystery authors I read this month were new to me: Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson, Maureen Jennings, and Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. One author was an old favorite, that I had not read for several years: Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. I read two books that were translated from another language, and one e-book.

Several authors I read this month are Canadian writers, as I was working on finishing up the Canadian Book Challenge 6. That challenge ends in June, and a new challenge begins July 1, 2014. If you are interested, check out the 7th Annual Canadian Book Challenge HERE.

I have been meaning to read more books by female authors, and this month I got closer to that goal. Half of the mysteries I read were by female authors, and one of the authors of my non-fiction book was female. I have a goal to have a month where I read only books by female authors, but don't know if I can accomplish that anytime soon. Several of my favorite, comfort authors are female, and I could at least do a post featuring those authors sometime.

So, to get to the point of this post. I will start by choosing my favorite crime fiction read of the month. My top read this month was The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. This is the first of a police procedural series that stars Inspector Espinosa of the First Precinct in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This detective is a book lover and a philosopher. His apartment is stacked with books. He stops by used bookstores several times during the story.

The book also has an unusual format. The first section, which makes up about half of the book, is told in third person and sets up the basic story. The middle section is written in first person from the point of view of the detective, so at that point we are just getting what he knows about the event. The smallest section, at the end, returns to third person to tie up all the events, in a sense. I found this to be a compelling read and am eager to continue the series. My review is here.

The mysteries I read this month are:

1. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
2. Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings
3. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
4. Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler
5. Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
6. Fell Purpose by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
7. Murder at the Mendel by Gail Bowen
8. House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson

All of the books I read were interesting and enjoyable. In addition to Silence of the Rain, Murder at the Mendel by Gail Bowen (set in Canada) and House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson (set in Iceland) were especially memorable. Both of those were a little different from the normal mystery story, so I guess I am leaning in that direction right now.

The Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme is hosted at Mysteries in Paradise. Bloggers link to summary posts for the month, and identify a crime fiction best read of the month. Check out the link here to see the other bloggers picks.

Murder at the Mendel: Gail Bowen

Murder at the Mendel (1991) is the second in the Joanne Kilbourn series by Gail Bowen, following Deadly Appearances (review here). At this point, Joanne has moved to Saskatoon and taken a temporary job teaching at a college while she finishes a biography that she has been writing. Two of her children are in college in Saskatoon: Mieka, her daughter, and Peter, her eldest son. Peter and her youngest son, Angus, live with her.

An old friend from childhood has shown up again in Joanne's life, and Joanne is not quite sure how to take her reappearance. The friend, Sally, is estranged from her mother and her husband and child, and has shocked some citizens of Saskatoon with her latest works of art, a group of paintings titled "Erotobiography." She was also involved in a very tragic event in Joanne's life when both women were in their teens. This book is a story of relationships, family, and trust. It is very different from the first book in the series but does explore similar themes.

As in the first book in the series, the story is told in first person and Joanne is not really doing any sleuthing. But there are murders and the reader (at least this one) is interested in figuring out who the culprit is and what the motives might be.  Joanne is not the best judge of anyone's actions or motives in this case, because of her deep involvement with Sally and her family.

My take:

I enjoyed the book very much. The story of Joanne and her family and friends and how they cope with the deaths was as interesting as the investigation of the crime, which is almost in the background.

I enjoyed it so much that I went out and bought the next two books in the series before I had finished this one. I want to see how the series develops. And, the fourth book, A Colder Kind of Death, won the Arthur Ellis award for best novel.

I am not overly fond of amateur detectives in mystery novels, so I was just as glad that Joanne was not actively involved in trying to aid in discovering the murder. I am enjoying reading about real locales in Canada, and Gail Bowen does a great job of describing Saskatoon and its people.

It was also fun to read a reference to a landmark in California. Sally is describing a trip with an older man who was her mentor. The motel referenced is The Madonna Inn.

"... Once he did a class in San Luis Obispo for a month or so." She smiled at the memory. "Oh, Jo, we stayed at this motel that had fantasy rooms -- a real fifties place -- the court of Louis, jungle land, the wild west, that kind of thing."

I read this mystery for the Canadian Book Challenge 6. This is my twelfth Canadian book that I have read for that challenge.

A Red Herring Without Mustard: Alan Bradley

Flavia de Luce is the imaginative and entertaining narrator of A Red Herring Without Mustard. This book is the third in a series, set in post World War II Britain, in the village of Bishop's Lacey. Flavia is the youngest daughter (around 11 years old) in the de Luce family; she lives with her two sisters and their father. Her mother died when she was young. Each member of the family is unique, and none of them communicate their feelings very well. Thus Flavia is an outsider and a loner, in her family and in the community, and she seems to like it that way.

The series does require a good amount of suspension of disbelief. In reality, not many eleven-year-old protagonists can solve a mystery. Not many of them have crimes happen so close to home. But the author, Alan Bradley, is successful at convincing us that Flavia can do this. And he tells the story so beautifully.


The mystery, the exposure of the culprit or culprits in each book, is good, but not the main draw. The thing that keeps me coming back is Flavia, with her love of chemistry and science, her determination and her fearlessness.

We do have a policeman, Inspector Hewitt, that is sometimes at odds with Flavia. They have a mutual respect and liking for each other, although it is not always apparent.

Flavia plans to show Hewitt a body on the grounds of their estate:

“Hold on,” Inspector Hewitt said. “You’ll do no such thing. I want you to keep completely out of this. Do you understand, Flavia?”

“It is our property, Inspector,” I said, just to remind him that he was talking to a de Luce.

“Yes, and it’s my investigation. So much as one of your fingerprints at the scene and I’ll have you up on charges. Do you understand?”

Later, Flavia asks about some notes he is taking:

It’s not polite to ask ” he said with a slight smile. “One must never ask a policeman his secrets.”

“Why not ”

“For the same reason I don’t ask you yours.”

How I adored this man! Here we were the two of us engaged in a mental game of chess in which both of us knew that one of us was cheating.

At the risk of repetition, how I adored this man!

In Flavia's world, there are other mysteries. What happened to her mother? Why do her sisters torment her? How will they solve the problem of the lack of funds to support the estate? I actually wish they would work through these problems at a faster rate, although the first three novels seem to take place within the same year.

In my review of the first book in the series, I said that these books were not young adult books. I have since reconsidered that opinion. The books are on Young Adult book lists, and I think they work equally well for young adults or adults.

I have read and reviewed two of the series:
 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
 The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

Here are some other reviews of this book that may entice you to try the series.
A review by Sarah Weinman at National Post
At Mysteries in Paradise
At Stainless Steel Droppings

A Red Herring Without Mustard is the tenth book I have read for the Canadian Book Challenge 6, which began in July of 2012.

From the author's bio at the site for the Flavia de Luce series:

Alan Bradley was born in Toronto and grew up in Cobourg, Ontario. With an education in electronic engineering, Alan worked at numerous radio and television stations in Ontario, and at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in Toronto, before becoming Director of Television Engineering in the media centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK, where he remained for 25 years before taking early retirement to write in 1994. He became the first President of the Saskatoon Writers, and a founding member of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild.

The Ransom Game: Howard Engel

Howard Engel set out to create a different type of private detective in his books, per an interview with Bill Gladstone:

"I had read a lot of mystery novels over the years, and I decided I would try to make a character who wasn’t like any of the others," he said. "Where one American detective was fast with his fists, Benny Cooperman was going to avoid confrontation. Where the others were American and Christian, Benny Cooperman was going to be Canadian and Jewish. And where most of the American and British detectives came from large cities like New York, London, San Francisco or Los Angeles, Benny Cooperman was going to come from a small town."

The Ransom Game (1981) is the second book in the series, following The Suicide Murders. Benny is hired to locate a paroled ex-con, by his girlfriend. He is missing and she fears he has come to harm. Her boyfriend, Johnny Rosa, was in prison for kidnapping a wealthy young woman, and the ransom money has never turned up. Obviously, there are lots of people interested in where the money is located. All of them assume that Johnny has it hidden somewhere.

The story takes us through several twists and turns, to both the less savory parts of town and the wealthy family of the girl who was kidnapped.

In most of the books in the series (based on reviews and articles), Benny's family is prominent, especially his parents. In The Ransom Game, they don't figure much in the story. His parents and his brother have all gone to Florida and left Benny in the cold of Grantham, in Canada. This is the third book that I have read recently that mentions that many Canadians go to Florida in the winter. I had no idea. The books were by three different Canadian authors, so it must be true.

A recent blog post by Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist... noted that private eyes are often scraping by, with not much money to live on. This certainly seems to be the case for Benny. He lives in a hotel room, which he describes in the book:

Here the dusty curtains, the pile of books on the chair, the laundry balled up with promises in the cupboard, the faint chemical smell that came from the sheets, even when they had been changed, always got me thinking the things I didn't want to be thinking about.

My take:

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The main character is interesting; I liked a lot of the secondary characters, especially the policemen who help him out with the case. The author kept me guessing as to the solution of the mystery, and some red herrings played out realistically.

My only quibble with these books is that the two I have read so far seem formulaic, and follow a typical plot line of the hard-boiled private eye novels. Private eye is approached by beautiful young woman; private eye takes the case, of course. He falls for some beautiful female involved in the case. This one follows the standard story even though the detective is not so hard-boiled, not macho at all.

About a third of the way in, I forgot all about that, and just enjoyed the story for what it is. I will be trying more of the ten remaining books in this series. I recommend that you give this series a try if you like private eye novels.

I read this book for the Canadian Book Challenge 6. The book is set in a small city in Canada near Niagara Falls: Grantham, Ontario. This town is based on the real city of St. Catharines, Ontario, where the author was born.

A Stone of the Heart: John Brady

A Stone of the Heart by John Brady is a police procedural. Like some books of that sub-genre, it goes much deeper and examines the character of the policeman and how his family and his environment affect his ability to do his job. The setting is primarily Dublin, Ireland in the late 1980's. Thus the unrest and violence in Ireland at the time is a part of the story.

Matt Minogue is a Sergeant in the Garda Murder Squad in Dublin. He was seriously injured when a government official that he was protecting was killed by a bomb. Soon after he has returned to work, he is put on a case.

Jarlath Walsh, a student at Trinity College Dublin, is killed on the grounds of the college. Evidence points toward the death being linked to drugs, although people who knew Jarlath don't believe that. Minogue is not sure whether his superiors genuinely want him to handle the case or if this case is a test of his ability to work as a policeman again. Either way, he has no doubts about his abilities. He is, however, affected negatively when the case proves to be related to IRA violence in Ireland.

This is the first book in a series of ten, published in 1988. Brady was awarded the Arthur Ellis Award for this title for best first First Novel in 1989. The award is presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Candian crime and mystery writing.

The author was born in Dublin and graduated from Trinity College. Per the author's website, he and his wife divide their time between Ireland and Canada, where their family lives.

Minogue's back story and his family relationships are revealed gradually throughout the book. I enjoy books that combine themes of family and relationships with a mystery. I am looking forward to more of this story.

Deadly Appearances: Gail Bowen

Andy Boychuk is a Saskatchewan politician who has recently become the leader of the Opposition party in his province. There is a picnic to celebrate, but just as he gets up to speak, he drinks some water and falls to the floor. His close friend and colleague, Joanne Kilbourn is nearby and rushes to attempt CPR – to no avail. On this hot summer afternoon, her life changes. Andy's death is clearly murder, and she wants to know who has done it.

Preparations for the funeral introduce us to the politician's wife and the other party members who were his support group. We learn of tragedies that have occurred in both the victim's life and Joanne's life. Joanne has three children, one about to move away to college. She is widowed and lost her husband three years earlier as the result of a senseless act of violence. She decides to step away from politics and campaigning for a while and write a biography of Andy. In searching deeply into her friend's past, she stumbles on secrets and clues to the reason for his death.

Joanne tells this story in first person narrative. She doesn't really function as a sleuth in this book, as she is never actively looking for the murderer. Many people suspect Andy's wife, because of her weird behavior, but Joanne does not believe she is capable of that.

I read this mystery for the Canadian Book Challenge 6. I enjoyed learning about the Saskatchewan area. The politics of that province were an element in the story, but I never caught on to the workings of politics and the government in Canada. Thus I did not understand the importance of some of the occurrences. Or maybe it is just that I have never understood politics anywhere. As in Anthony Bidulka's books about Russell Quant, also set in Saskatchewan, several of the characters have Ukrainian backgrounds.

This almost did not feel like a mystery to me. Sometimes those are the best kinds of novels. There is a death and it is clearly murder. There is an investigation, and the reader knows that long hidden secrets will be revealed. But mainly this is the story of a woman grieving for a friend and a colleague she respected, and dealing with a life turned upside down by the loss. And it was the telling of that story that was most engaging to me.

This book is the first in a series of fourteen books. It was published in 1990 and the most recent book in the series will be released in the US in August 2013. I will be interested to continue the series and see where it takes Joanne.


Links to posts at other sites:

• Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist... profiles this book.
• Bill at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan provides his insights on the book.
• Maxine’s review at Petrona.

Forty Words for Sorrow: Giles Blunt

Description from the back cover of my paperback edition:

In the quiet Canadian town of Algonquin Bay, a frozen body has been found in an abandoned mine shaft. She is quickly identified as Katie Pine, a teenager who had disappeared months ago. At the time, Detective John Cardinal insisted that Katie was no ordinary runaway. His relentless pursuit and refusal to give up on the case got him demoted from Homicide. But now the Canadian police force wants Cardinal back on the case -- with a new associate by his side. And as these two untrusting partners gather evidence of a serial murder spree, a pair of sociopaths are closing in on their next victim...

There are two quotes on the front cover: "One of the finest crime novels I've ever read." (Jonathan Kellerman) and "The most horrifying story since The Silence of the Lambs" (Los Angeles Time). Both of these quotes are true (in my opinion) and they illustrate my problems with the novel. It was a compelling read but I often wanted to put it down and give up on it, due to the explicit nature of the descriptions of the crimes.

Likes:
All the characters were well-defined, not just the main characters. A lot of police procedurals is visiting people for interviews, and all of those people seemed real, with their own problems and lives.

I enjoyed the setting. I read this book for the Canadian Book Challenge 6. The book is set in a small community in northern Canada. The author was raised in a similar town. Per the Wikipedia article about the author:

Blunt grew up in North Bay, and Algonquin Bay is North Bay very thinly disguised — for example, Blunt retains the names of major streets and the two lakes (Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing) that the town sits between, the physical layout of the two places is the same, and he describes Algonquin Bay as being in the same geographical location as North Bay.

Dislikes:
For me, this book was much too graphic. The story is the hunt for a serial killer, and the descriptions of the crimes went into too much detail for my taste. There was one section on torture devices that I had to skip over.

Neutrals:
Here we have another policeman with angst and family issues. The portrait of John Cardinal is so good that I really did not mind. He is not really damaged, he just has made mistakes and has a lot on his mind. I actually sympathized with his family issues, and felt they made the story stronger.

I have read criticisms that this is not really a whodunnit but a "whydunnit". To a certain extent this is true, although for at least the first third of the book we do not know the identity of the culprit. However, I like whydunnit style of mystery, so that worked fine for me.

Overall:
I found this to be a very well-written novel with interesting characters, and I enjoyed most aspects of the book. I recommend it to any reader who likes serial killer thrillers and doesn't mind the graphic violence. And even if you don't usually go for that kind of book, I would give it a try. This book won the Silver Dagger awarded by the Crime Writers Association in 2001.

Amuse Bouche: Anthony Bidulka

I found this story to be a fast-paced mystery that held my interest and left me eager to continue with the series. I liked the main character. Russell Quant is a private detective, and to this point in his career he has had small, nondescript cases. Now he has a case where a wealthy client has hired him to find his missing lover, Tom Osborn. The client, Harold Clavell, and Osborn were going to be married in a private ceremony, and Osborn just never showed up. The evidence points to Tom having run off to France, where the two were supposed to spend their honeymoon. Quant takes a trip to Paris to find the missing man... and some answers for his client.

There were several aspects of Anthony Bidulka's writing that I enjoyed. The story is told in first person, which works well in private detective stories. The details of the everyday lives of gays and lesbians are included in an unobtrusive way. Russell is gay (and unattached) and he is investigating the disappearance of another gay man's lover. Another enjoyable aspect is the use of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as the setting. Knowing very little about any province in Canada, I liked the introduction to the area.

A small thing, but I really liked Russell's dog and Russell's relationship with the dog and that Russell has a normal, non-work life with friends and pets. He feels like a real person dealing with a real, although somewhat exotic, case. I mean, he gets to jet off to France.

I have some small criticisms, but none that ruined my enjoyment as a whole. I thought the book was too long. Not sure what I would shave off, but parts of it went on too long. He either spent too much time in France, or the resolution should have been tied up sooner.

This wasn't my usual type of mystery. I don't normally choose light, humorous mysteries. Note that I am not saying it is lightweight, just light in tone. Comments I read prior to reading Amuse Bouche indicated that there is a lot of humor. I did not find the book that humorous. This is not a criticism. I think I am lacking some fundamental humor gene. Regardless, I liked the upbeat feel of the book. Keeping in mind that this was Bidulka's debut novel, I am sure I will enjoy Russell's other cases. There are seven more in the series.

At samesame.com, Anthony Bidulka talks about his writing...

I knew a little about travel and food and wine. I knew about Saskatchewan. I knew about being a gay man on the Canadian prairies. I knew about seeking new directions, following passion, which is what Russell Quant does in the books. It turns out this was the successful combination for me, and just the thing to create a series that truly distinguished me from my colleagues.

If you are like me and wonder what "amuse-bouche" means, here is one definition from wordsmith.org.

This is a tidbit, often tiny, served as a free extra to keep you happy while you are waiting for your first course to come. It gives you an idea of the chef's approach to cooking and the restaurant's attention to your appetite.

And this is the perfect title for this book, because this is a taste of Bidulka’s approach to writing and mystery, and whets the appetite for more.

As a last thought, this is from Anthony Bidulka's page at Amazon (US).

One of my favourite sayings is: Life is short, but it can be wide. I try to remember to do whatever I can to make my life wide, wide with people and places and extraordinary experiences. And I am grateful for every second of it so far and every second of it yet to come. 

I think that attitude is reflected in his writing, and I admire that.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: Alan Bradley

This is the introduction to the Flavia de Luce Series at the author's website for the series...

Picture an ancient country house somewhere in England. The year is 1950.

Picture a girl who lives there with her most unusual family. Her name is Flavia de Luce—and she’s almost eleven.

Picture a long-abandoned Victorian chemistry laboratory; no one ever goes there but Flavia. Put them all together and you’ll have a new kind of detective fiction . . .

I think it does a pretty good job of setting the scene.

 The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag is the second book in the series. I enjoyed it just as much as the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

I like the setting: post World War II Britain, in an English village, with quirky characters. Two minor characters that interested me were a Land Girl and a German prisoner of war still working on a farm in 1950. Such tidbits of history that I was previously unaware of add to the story for me.

The very young protagonist is interesting and intelligent. Some readers find her intelligence unbelievable but I was not bothered by this at all. I went to school with a lot of kids who were gifted in that area and they were a lot like Flavia. The author does well in moving into the second story without rehashing all that occurred in the first one. The reader can easily pick up on various recurring characters and the relationships.


But most of all I just like the way the story is told through the eyes of a very imaginative nearly 11-year-old girl. She is precocious in some ways, naive in others.

This book has one problem inherent in the amateur detective sub-genre. Or for that matter, any series that features a limited geographic location, a small town or village. There is an unrealistic proliferation of murders and bodies in a small area and a short span of time. In the first book, there is a dead body in the de Luce garden. In this book, there is another murder in the village, and this story occurs shortly after the first book ended. Thus, going into the book, the reader must accept these limitations and suspend disbelief. I had no problem with this. I was charmed by the story and how the author tells it.

If I could find any flaw in these books, it is that Flavia continues to concoct poisons to inflict on her eldest sister. Flavia is a budding chemist, using a chemistry lab set up by a prior resident at Buckshaw Manor, the family home. These are mostly harmless poisons but still... that isn't my favorite part. The antagonistic relationship between Flavia and her two sisters bothers me. But, the family is an unusual one, and these issues are not enough to keep me from enjoying the books.

If you are looking for more detail on the story and the mystery, here are some other reviews:
At Mysteries in Paradise.
At Chasing Bawa.
At Stainless Steel Droppings, where I was first enticed to try the series.

This is the third book I have read for the Canadian Book Challenge 6, which began in July of 2012. I have 10 more books to read for that challenge in the first 6 months of 2013.

S is for Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (RIP #3)

“Apart from the soul, the brewing of tea is the only thing that sets us apart from the great apes.” 
― Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

From the review at Amazon...

It's the beginning of a lazy summer in 1950 at the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey. Up at the great house of Buckshaw, aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce passes the time tinkering in the laboratory she's inherited from her deceased mother and an eccentric great uncle. When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself, much to the chagrin of the local authorities.

This was a fun mystery to read. After reading two very bleak books about the horror of life in Germany during and after World War II, I was ready for something lighter and less serious. This book was actually set at about the same time period, and does reflect some of the hardships of post-War Britain, but it is not nearly so grim.

The book did not interest me when it first came out. With a precocious 11-year-old as the detective, I thought it would be too cutesy. Plus, mysteries featuring amateur detectives are not my favorite type. But there are always exceptions.  I ran into a review at Stainless Steel Droppings which convinced me I had to try the book. I found an inexpensive copy at the book sale a year ago, but only read it just recently.

This book is my pick for the 2012 Crime Fiction Alphabet for the letter S. Please visit the post at Mysteries in Paradise for other entries for this letter. 


This post is also my third for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII event. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery and suspense.

The setting was appealing. The story takes place in post World War II Britain, with the attendant scarcity of goods and families trying to make do with what is available. Set in an English village, this is the typical cozy with quirky characters and a kindly policeman. The only atypical element is Flavia de Luce, our charming protagonist. She lives in a decrepit old mansion with her father, her two sisters, and an old friend of her father’s, Dogger, who is now the gardener. Dogger and her father were both soldiers during the war, and Dogger came back with severe psychological problems.

Although the main character is very young, this is very definitely not a children’s or young adult book. It does have the cozy elements of little violence, no graphic killings, no explicit sex, and (mostly) clean language. It even reminds me a bit of the Harry Potter books. No magic or sorcery, but the same feel. Those books were written as young adult novels, although read by many adults. But in this novel, Flavia is the only child that has much of a role at all, and she interacts mainly with adults. And although there is some introspection on her lot in life, that is not a primary focus at all.

It is a bit unrealistic to have a murder solved by an 11-year-old child, but the author pulled it off to my satisfaction. The person who is inevitably suspected of the crime is her father, and naturally she wants to prove that he did not do it. And, being very intelligent, resourceful, and apparently fearless, she endeavors to do just that. Her relationship with the police inspector is charming. He plays a supportive role without seeming to be shown up by Flavia. Inspector Hewitt and Dogger are my favorite characters, after Flavia, of course.

It remains to be seen if the series can maintain my interest. The reason for Flavia’s involvement in this crime investigation is clear. In future books, will it be realistic for her to play a part in crime solving? I am quite willing to suspend disbelief, if the author can keep me interested in the story. I have a copy of the next book in the series, but that is partly because it has a skeleton on the cover.

Some quotes from this book:

I remembered a piece of sisterly advice, which Feely once gave Daffy and me:
"If ever you're accosted by a man," she'd said, "kick him in the Casanovas and run like blue blazes!"
Although it had sounded at the time like a useful bit of intelligence, the only problem was that I didn't know where the Casanovas were located.
I'd have to think of something else.

If there is a thing I truly despise, it is being addressed as "dearie." When I write my magnum opus, A Treatise Upon All Poison, and come to "Cyanide," I am going to put under "Uses" the phrase "Particularly efficacious in the cure of those who call one "Dearie."

 There was no way out; not, at least, in this direction. I was like a hamster that had climbed to the top of the ladder in its cage and found there was nowhere to go but down. But surely hamsters knew in their hamster hearts that escape was futile; it was only we humans who were incapable of accepting our own helplessness.

The Suspect: L. R. Wright

From the description at Goodreads:

In this, L.R. Wright's first mystery novel, we are introduced to RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg; and so begins the highly-acclaimed series featuring Karl and librarian Cassandra Mitchell.

At eighty, George Wilcox hardly expected to crown his life by committing a murder. It had happened so quickly, so easily, so unexpectedly in the sleepy town on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia: a near-perfect crime that wraps Wilcox in a web of guilt, honor, and secrets of the past.

The Suspect won the 1986 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel of the year. It was the first Canadian novel to do so.

This book is unusual in that we know from the beginning who committed the murder. Since the reader knows whodunit, the reader is more concerned with how (or if?) the culprit is caught. And, in the case of this book, why did he do it? The novel is set in Sechelt, which is on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada.

Some quotes from the book describing the area:

The tempo of life on the Sunshine Coast is markedly slower than that of Vancouver, and its people, for the most part strung out along the shoreline, have a more direct and personal interest in the sea.

Also:

The resident police force is  the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with detachments in Gibsons and Sechelt. There are traffic incidents to deal with, and occasional vandalism, and petty theft, and some drunkenness now and then.

There is very seldom murder.

This review at Petrona provides a map to show where the Sunshine Coast is located.

I found this book to be a very enjoyable read. It is character-driven, and slowly develops the relationships of the main characters. Karl is middle-aged, divorced, and recently settled in a new town. Cassandra meets him through a personal ad in the newspaper. She knows George Wilcox through her work in the library. It gets complicated.

The book has a cozy feel, although I am not counting it as a cozy because it has a policeman as a main character. I have purchased the next two books in the series, and hope to find that they are as good as this one.

I joined the Canadian Book Challenge 6, which began in July of this year, and this was the perfect book to read as my first book for the challenge.

This book also counts as one of my books for the following challenges:
Mt. TBR Challenge,  
Read Your Own Books Challenge,  
Merely Mystery Reading Challenge, 
Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge,  
New Author Challenge,  
First in a Series Challenge

Canadian Book Challenge

First I saw the post at Mysteries in Paradise that summarized Kerrie's completion of the Canadian Book Challenge 5. I visited the blog hosting that challenge: The Book Mine Set. And decided this would be a good challenge.

Besides the fact that exploring books by Canadian authors will be interesting, I like this challenge because it begins in July 2012 and ends in June 2013. Since many challenges go through the normal calendar year, this will be a little different. I will probably stick to the mystery genre for my reading for this challenge. I know of several authors that I already read or have books by: Peter Robinson, Howard Engel, L. R. Wright, Allen Bradley, Louise Penny, Inger Ash Wolfe, Giles Blunt.

Then I saw a post at Peggy Ann's Post and she has decided to join the challenge too. This motivated me to actually write up a post committing to the challenge.

The challenge requires that you aim at reading 13 or more Canadian books in the year that the challenge runs. There are lots of rules but this is an overview:

What is a Canadian book?
Canadian books can include any genre or form (picture books, poetry, novels, non-fiction, plays, anthologies, graphic novels, cookbooks, etc), can be written by Canadian authors (by birth or immigration) or about Canadians.

Reviews are required to count toward the challenge. But there are lots of ways to post them. A blog is not necessary.

Go over to the Canadian Book Challenge 6 rules post to check it out.