My Reading in September 2022

I had a nice month of reading in September. Only fiction and mostly crime fiction. I did read one cross-genre book, the first one on my list below.

I noted that most of the books I read were published after 1999; the same thing happened last month. I seem to be tending in that direction lately. Not sure why.

And these are the books I read:

Science Fiction / Mystery

Head On (2018) by John Scalzi

This book qualifies as both science fiction and mystery and in this case the mystery actually supersedes the science fiction, in my opinion. It is the second book in a two-book series set in the near future. The story begins about 20 years after the world-wide epidemic of a virus which causes Lock In syndrome. Technological breakthroughs have been developed to the point where the victims of the disease can use a robotic device to move around, talk, and function in society while their bodies are lying in a bed elsewhere. See my thoughts on the book here.

Crime Fiction

The Tenderness of Wolves (2006) by Stef Penney

I read this for my Canadian Reading Challenge. Set in 1867, primarily in a small settlement in the Northern Territory. There are treks into even more remote areas to search for a murderer. This is a historical mystery, but the crime and the investigation are not primary to the story.  The focus is even more on the setting, the prominence of the Hudson Bay Company, and the treatment of Native American trappers. There are a lot of characters to keep up with. I loved it and the ending worked well for me.

Crazybone (2000) by Bill Pronzini

I have been reading the Nameless Detective series by Pronzini since the mid-1970s. I introduced my husband to them in the early 80s after we got married, and he became a bigger fan than I am. He has read all 41 books in the series. I have only read the books up to and including Crazybone, and I still have 15 books left to read. They are short and quick reads; serious stories and sometimes dark. There is humor along the way and the main character ages and develops. Getting back to reading this series seems like meeting an old friend that I haven't seen for years.

The Sanctuary Sparrow (1983) by Ellis Peters

This is the fourth Brother Cadfael book that I have read, but it is the seventh book in the series. The setting for the books in the series is between 1135 and 1145 in England and Wales, primarily. Brother Cadfael takes care of the plants for the monastery and is an herbalist. If this book is typical of the series, it seems like they can be read in any order. However, I plan to get back to reading them in order when possible.  

A Killer in King's Cove (2016) by Iona Whishaw

This is a historical mystery set in British Columbia, Canada right after World War II. The heroine, Lane Winslow, has just moved to Canada from the UK, following World War II, and lives in a small town in a home she purchased. After Lane has settled down in King's Cove, a stranger is found dead in the creek that feeds water to her property. Eventually the death is determined to be murder and Lane Winslow appears to have a connection to this man. Another book which was read for the Canadian Reading Challenge. See my review here.

Spycatcher (2011) by Matthew Dunn

I purchased this book at the book sale in September, knowing nothing about it other than it was the first book in an espionage series. It was a fast-paced, action packed story, one you can imagine being turned into a film. A bit too much like the James Bond movies for me, but in the end I enjoyed it and plan to give the second book in the series a try. My main complaint was that the first two or three chapters introducing the protagonist and his handlers were awkward and unconvincing. But I am a sucker for any type of spy fiction, and the rest of the book was much better and held my interest. I have purchased the second book in the series.

Currently reading

Last night, I finished reading The Listening House by Mabel Seeley, a mystery published in 1938, set in a boarding house, one of my favorite settings in fiction, along with hotels and trains. I chose to read it in October because the eerie atmosphere would fit the mood of the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril event. I haven't picked my next read yet.

I am still reading Anna Karenina, and I doubt I will finish that book before the end of October. 

We have started walking in various areas around Santa Barbara a few days a week. This week we went to Stow House, a historic site in Goleta. My husband took the photos at the top and bottom of this post on our walk. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.

Head On: John Scalzi

This is the second book in a two book cross-genre series with elements of both science fiction and mystery genres. The first book, Lock In (2014), was a science fiction thriller set in the near future. The story begins about 20 years after the world-wide epidemic of a virus which causes Lock In syndrome. Technological breakthroughs have been developed to the point where the victims of the disease can use a robotic device to move around, talk, and function in society while their bodies are lying in a bed elsewhere. 

The main character of the series is Chris Shane. The virus is called Haden’s Syndrome, so the people who have it are referred to as Hadens. The robot body they used to interact in is called a "threep". Chris is from a rich family, with a trust fund, and has multiple threeps. Most people with Haden's Syndrome cannot afford that. 

Head On continues the story of Chris Shane, who developed the syndrome at a very young age, and has never known a different way of life. In this story, Chris is an FBI agent, partnered with Leslie Vann, who is not a Haden. They have been assigned to investigate the death of a male Haden who was killed while playing a professional sport called Hilketa (sounds like a combination of football and soccer, with swords, hammers, and other weapons). The cause of death is unclear. 

The cool part is that Chris is not defined as male or female in the book. I knew that but I had forgotten by the time I read this second book. When I was reading both the first and second books I always thought of the character as a woman. Many other reviewers had viewed Chris as a male character. The story is told in Chris's voice. I think it was amazing that Scalzi was able to write a book without indicating the sex of the character, but telling it from the point of view of that character does help.

I enjoyed this book as much or more than the first book in the series. The first book was strong on the world building of a culture which has adapted to a significant portion of its population having a debilitating disease and given them a way to continue participating meaningfully in society. It also focuses more on how this had affected the main character's family and how families adapt to having a family member with the syndrome. Head On concentrated more on the crime, and the aspects which would make the death of a Haden more difficult to investigate. 

In a sense, this second book stands alone. I read it six years after reading the first book and I settled into it immediately. There was just enough background included to get back into the near future world and I suspect it would also be easy to read for a reader entirely new to the series. 

I think every book that John Scalzi has written, and certainly the ones I have read, have elements that comment on problems in society. He does this in such a way that this commentary does not interfere with the telling of the story or the enjoyment of the story. 

I loved reading Head On. It was a great mystery, although on the thrillerish side, and John Scalzi tells a story well. Now I want to go back and read Lock In again. I just have to dig it out a box somewhere.

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Publisher:    Tor Books, 2018
Length:        335 pages
Format:        Hardcover
Setting:        USA

Series:         Lock In #2
Genre:         Sci fi thriller
Source:        I purchased this book.

The Manual of Detection: Jedediah Berry

My son bought this book at the book sale last year. We both read it recently, and we both enjoyed it. But it is very hard to describe. It is very, very odd.

Charles Unwin works in a large organization, each department having one function (detecting, clerking, watching, archives, etc.). Unwin is a clerk to a detective, Travis Sivart, that he has never met. He reads the detective's reports on cases, researches them, and edits them before filing them away. Two of the well-known cases are titled "The Oldest Murdered Man" and "The Man Who Stole November Twelfth." One day, out of the blue, Unwin is promoted and he discovers that Sivart is missing. He begins pursuing the case of the missing detective, and finds out more about the huge detective agency he works for than he ever wanted to know.

In many ways this book was perfect for me. It mixes both mystery and fantasy, the story is dark but with a good bit of humor, and I liked the ending. I also liked the plethora of female characters. Some were evil, some were good, and some were a mix, and I never was sure which was which and what their motivations were. At times it seemed like an espionage story, where you never know who to trust.

There were a few detractions. At times I was frustrated with this book, at times I had trouble keeping track of the characters, and most if the time I had no idea where the book was going, but at all times I enjoyed reading it. So it was a winner for me.

Other resources:

• An essay at Postmodern Mystery
• John Grant's thoughts at Goodreads
• An interview with the author at Bookslut

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Publisher:  Penguin Books, 2010 (orig. pub. 2009). 
Length:     278 pages
Format:     Trade Paperback
Setting:     An unnamed city
Genre:      Mystery / Fantasy
Source:     Borrowed from my son.

Death Warmed Over: Kevin J. Anderson

From the description at Goodreads:

Ever since the Big Uneasy unleashed vampires, werewolves, and other undead denizens on the world, it's been hell being a detective—especially for zombie P.I. Dan Chambeaux. Taking on the creepiest of cases in the Unnatural Quarter with a human lawyer for a partner and a ghost for a girlfriend, Chambeaux redefines "dead on arrival." But just because he was murdered doesn't mean he'd leave his clients in the lurch. Besides, zombies are so good at lurching.  

Now he's back from the dead and back in business—with a caseload that's downright unnatural. A resurrected mummy is suing the museum that put him on display. Two witches, victims of a curse gone terribly wrong, seek restitution from a publisher for not using "spell check" on its magical tomes. And he's got to figure out a very personal question—Who killed him?

Praise from other authors:

"The Dan Shamble books are great fun. The dead detective is an ex-sleuth, but he has not ceased to be, or ceased to care. In a world full of monsters, an honorable man is still important, dead or alive or in between. Dan Shamble: dead fun and deadly serious."
— Simon R. Green 

“Down these mean streets a man must lurch. . . . With his Big Sleep interrupted, Chambeaux the zombie private eye goes back to sleuthing, in Death Warmed Over, Kevin J. Anderson’s wry and inventive take on the Noir paradigm.  The bad guys are werewolves, the clients are already deceased, and the readers are in for a funny, action-packed adventure, following that dead man walking. . . ”
— Sharyn McCrumb

Lest you get confused, I need to point out that the hero and narrator of this book (and series) is named Dan Chambeaux, but the books as a group are called the Dan Shamble series. Since this novel focuses on the humorous aspects of Dan's situation, it is inevitable that his name is  often bastardized by many of the characters. Dan even has a Best Human Friend, conveniently a cop working in the Unnatural Quarter, who spends a great deal of his time telling Dan insensitive zombie jokes.

In some ways this story is a hodgepodge of cases. That is not all bad, because sometimes when a mystery gets bogged down in one case that goes on and on, the story feels never-ending. But, the hero and zombie Dan Chambeaux has a primary goal of finding the person who killed him, which has a unifying effect. Thus there is an overarching story line with a lot of smaller cases going at the same time, which is fairly realistic for a private eye in the real world.

Death Warmed Over is a fun read, a chance to relax. In general, I don't like humor in mystery fiction, but maybe the humor in this novel made it more palatable to read about zombies, ghouls, and vampires as victims of crimes. This is a satire, not intended to be believable, but of course you do have to get into the world and accept it to have any involvement at all in the story.

Anderson is praised by many reviewers for his world building and I would agree. He has created a world where monsters and "normal" humans have to get along, and they have actually found a way that works, for the most part. The way that society has adapted and is continuing to adapt with new laws to handle the big change in society is interesting and handled very well.

I liked the social commentary in the story, and appreciated that it is delivered as an organic part of the story. The Unnaturals are hated by some people in society, and accepted by others. They have naturally drifted to their own area of the city, where they can find restaurants and other places of business that cater to their needs.

My only complaint would be that the writing is repetitive. This is a personal source of irritation for me; I get impatient with writers that keep reminding you of the main goal of the protagonist, etc. Some characters are introduced more than once with explanations of who they are, but in this case that may be good, because we have a huge number of characters and it is hard to keep track.

I was introduced to this series by my son, who purchased some novels in the series at the 2014 Planned Parenthood Book Sale. He has the four novels in the series, and I will continue reading the series. This book is my first submission for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI event. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery, suspense, dark fantasy, and horror.

Some other resources:

Dan "Shamble" Chambeaux at The Thrilling Detective Web Site

A great overview at RA for All: Horror

Positive review at Kirkus

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Publisher:  Kensington, 2012.
Length:      309 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Series:       Dan Shamble #1
Genre:       Urban Fantasy
Source:      Borrowed from my son.