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).

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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.

The Mitford Murders: Jessica Fellowes

The Mitford Murders was my first read for 20 Books of Summer. I have been looking forward to this book because I am interested in both the Mitford family and the time setting. I recently read two biographies of the Mitford sisters and I am currently reading a book of their letters. This story starts after the end of World War I, and includes a lot of references to the effects of the war on those who participated and their families. I found this book to a very good read and it lived up to my expectations.

Louisa Cannon, a very young woman living in poverty with her mother in London, wants to improve her life, but even more important she wants to escape her abusive uncle. A friend helps her get an interview for the job of nursemaid for the Mitford family; at the time they have five children, with one on the way. Louisa soon settles into her new position with the Mitfords under the guidance of Nanny Blor.

Later, Louisa learns that Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of the original Florence Nightingale, was killed on a train on the same night that Louisa was traveling to Asthall Manor. The murdered woman was a good friend of Nanny Blor's sister, and 16-year-old Nancy, the eldest Mitford daughter, takes a great interest in the case.

 

The story has a lot of characters from real life; I think the author did a good job of portraying those characters and creating a fictional story around them. On the other hand, it took me a while to warm up to the main characters, Louisa and Guy Sullivan. On her railroad trip to Asthall Manor, Louisa had met Guy Sullivan of the Brighton and South Coast Railway Police. He was involved with the initial investigation of Florence Shore's murder. Louisa learns more of Florence's background via friends of the Mitford family. The story goes back and forth between Louisa's experiences with the Mitford family and Guy's investigation of Florence Shore's death. Guy does not think her death is due to a robbery but his superiors give up on the case for lack of evidence. He continues to investigate, against his boss's wishes. Together Louisa and Guy discover more about the murdered woman and her friends and relatives, but their search for evidence goes on for over two years, which is unusual in a mystery novel. During that time we get to know them better and share their trials and tribulations. 

I enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end. The characters and the story were all good, and I thought the depiction of the time period was excellent. Towards the end there are big surprises and a good bit of tension.

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Publisher:   Minotaur Books, 2018 (orig. pub. 2017)
Length:      415 pages
Format:      Trade Paper
Series:       Mitford Murders #1
Setting:      UK
Genre:       Historical Mystery
Source:     Purchased in December 2022.

A Killer in King's Cove: Iona Whishaw

 

A Killer in King's Cove 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 of mostly older people. The only younger people in the area are a couple from New York who have recently moved there with their two young children. 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.

In addition to a historical mystery, the story had elements of espionage and romance mixed in. The espionage comes into it because Lane was a courier who took messages into France during War War II. The anxiety and stress of that assignment and the loss of a lover during the war motivated her to move to Canada in an effort to forget about the war. The romance is very low key, and doesn't get in the way of the mystery plot.

Lane has purchased a home with some land and has ambitions to be a writer; she concentrates on poetry during this book. Although the small town she lives in is somewhat isolated, and provides a limited number of suspects, I did get all the characters confused. Most of the townspeople had been in the town since before World War I and some of the men had gone overseas and fought in the war. Others did not return. For once, a character list at the front of the book would have been useful, although usually I don't find those very helpful.

I like that the main character is a strong woman who will stand up for herself. The two policemen who investigate the crime are from a nearby town, Nelson. Inspector Darling and Constable Ames have a great relationship and I especially enjoyed the parts of the story where they were featured.

The setting in British Columbia was also a plus, and this book illustrated the ways that Canada was affected by both World War I and World War II. 

A Killer in King's Cove was the first in a series. There are now nine books in the series and another book due in 2023, so it seems to be going well. I am interested in where the next book will take Lane Winslow.

About the author, from her website:

Iona Whishaw was born in Kimberley BC, but grew up in a number of different places, including a small community on Kootenay Lake, as well as Mexico and Central America, and the US because of her father’s geological work. She took a degree in history and education from Antioch College, and subsequent degrees in Writing at UBC and pedagogy at Simon Fraser University.  

She is married, has one son and two grandsons, and lives in Vancouver with her artist husband, Terry Miller.

See also these reviews at Staircase Wit and Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.

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Publisher:   Torchwood Books, 2016
Length:      432 pages
Format:      Trade Paper
Series:       Lane Winslow #1
Setting:      British Columbia, Canada
Genre:       Historical Mystery
Source:     Purchased in 2020.

Short Story Wednesday: Book Sale purchases

 

Last Friday, September 16, was the first day of the Planned Parenthood book sale and it will continue through Sunday, September 25. We went to the book sale on both Friday and Saturday. (And we will go back again tomorrow, and Saturday and Sunday.) 

My goal this year was to cut back on short story book purchases, since I have so many, both in print editions and on the Kindle. Yet I went ahead and purchased these three books for various reasons. I have not sampled any of them yet. So, here they are.

MASH UP: Stories Inspired by Famous First Lines

Gardner Dozois  (Editor)

This is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories. The subtitle describes the theme. Each author picked a first line of a favorite classic and use it as a first line in a short story. There are thirteen stories in the 400 page book, and each one is around 30 pages in length. My son found this book for me, and I am glad he did.

Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction: Third Series

Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg (Editors)

This anthology is 633 pages, with 20 short stories and novellas by various authors from 1943-1944. Each story is preceded by short introduction by Asimov and Greenberg.

In this case the authors are not listed on the cover, so I will include a list of the stories, from the Goodreads summary:

• The Cave by P. Schuyler Miller
• The Halfling by Leigh Brackett
• Mimsy Were the Borogoves by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore [as Lewis Padgett]
• Q.U.R. by Anthony Boucher
• Clash by Night by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore [as Lawrence O'Donnell]
• Exile by Edmond Hamilton
• Daymare by Fredric Brown
• Doorway into Time by C. L. Moore
• The Storm by A.E. van Vogt
• The Proud Robot by Henry Kuttner [as Lewis Padgett]
• Symbiotica by Eric Frank Russell
• The Veil of Astellar by Leigh Brackett
• City by Clifford D. Simak
• Arena by Frederic Brown
• Huddling Place by Clifford D. Simak
• Kindness by Lester Del Rey
• Desertion by Clifford D. Simak
• When the Bough Breaks by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore [as Lewis Padgett]
• Killdozer! by Theodore Sturgeon
• No Woman Born by C.L. Moore

A Rare Benedictine

by Ellis Peters, Clifford Harper  (Illustrator)

This last book contains only three short stories, from the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. I already had a copy of this in paperback, but I jumped at the opportunity to get this hardback copy, mainly for greater ease of reading. It also is enhanced by lovely illustrations, so I am doubly happy to have it. My husband found this book for me; I am very grateful that he did.

Ellis Peters: Monk's Hood

From a summary at Goodreads:

Christmas 1138. Gervase Bonel is a guest of Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he suddenly takes ill. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the clever and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man’s bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: In Master Bonel’s wife, the good monk recognizes Richildis, whom he loved before he took his vows—and Master Bonel has been fatally poisoned by monk’s-hood oil from Cadfael’s stores.

The sheriff is convinced that the murderer is Richildis’s son, Edwin, who hated his stepfather. But Cadfael, guided in part by his concern for a woman to whom he was once betrothed, is certain of her son’s innocence. Using his knowledge of both herbs and the human heart, Cadfael deciphers a deadly recipe for murder.

Monk's Hood is the third book in the Brother Cadfael series, consisting of 20 books. I am enamored of this series and both this book and the previous book (One Corpse Too Many) were fantastic reads. 

Sometimes it is daunting to start a new series when it has a large number of books , but in this case I am excited. The books are a good length, easy to read and keep me turning the pages. Plus it is the first time I have read about this period of time. This one is set in 1138 and that time in history is totally new to me.

One of the reasons I think this series is so successful is the character of Brother Cadfael. He is very believable as an amateur sleuth; not only is he intelligent and clever, but he is able to work well with people, those in his order and the people of the town. He entered the cloister later in life, after being a soldier and a sailor. He is a herbalist and cares for the garden.  

I also love reading about details of life at that time and about the religious community and the politics within that group. A good portion of this book is set in Wales, and I am beginning to get a better picture of the geography of that part of Great Britain. The differences in the legal systems of England and Wales were very interesting and were important to this story and the solution of the crime.

In the editions I have read so far, each book begins with a map of the area. In this case the map shows details of the Shrewsbury Abbey and parts of the town of Shrewsbury, including the location the house that Master Bonel and his household are living in. 

Rick Robinson of Tip the Wink recently sent me a copy of The Cadfael Companion, a reference book about the series. It is very cool, has lots of information about important persons of the time, locations, historical background, characters in the books, and I am learning a lot. It also has various maps of the area – I love maps. 

I will end with a quote from the beginning of the book:

  On this particular morning at the beginning of December, in the year 1138, Brother Cadfael came to chapter in tranquillity of mind, prepared to be tolerant even towards the dull, pedestrian reading of Brother Francis, and long-winded legal haverings of Brother Benedict the sacristan. Men were variable, fallible, and to be humoured. And the year, so stormy in its earlier months, convulsed with siege and slaughter and disruptions, bade fair to end in calm and comparative plenty. The tide of civil war between King Stephen and the partisans of the Empress Maud had receded into the south-western borders, leaving Shrewsbury to recover cautiously from having backed the weaker side and paid a bloody price for it. And for all the hindrances to good husbandry, after a splendid summer the harvest had been successfully gathered in, the barns were full, the mills were busy, sheep and cattle thrived on pastures still green and lush, and the weather continued surprisingly mild, with only a hint of frost in the early mornings. No one was wilting with cold yet, no one yet was going hungry. It could not last much longer, but every day counted as blessing.

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Publisher:   Fawcett Crest, 1987 (first published 1980)
Length:       222 pages
Format:      Paperback

Series:       Brother Cadfael #3
Setting:      UK, Shrewsbury, Wales
Genre:       Historical Mystery
Source:      Purchased at the Planned Parenthood Book Sale, 2006.

Murder in the Place of Anubis: Lynda S. Robinson

This is the first book in a historical mystery series set in the ancient Egypt of the boy king Tutankhamun. The story begins with the discovery of the body of a murdered man in the sacred Place of Anubis, where the dead are embalmed and prepared for their journey to the afterlife. The dead man is Hormin, scribe of records and tithes in the office of the vizier. Hormin had many enemies, including members of his family. Due to the importance of the man and the desecration of a sacred place, the King requests that Lord Meren investigate and find the murderer.

The mystery part of the plot is fairly standard, but I found Lord Meren a believable investigator. He sends his adopted son Kysen to the village of the tombmakers to get more information; Kysen is very reluctant to go because his real father, who abused him and sold him into slavery, lives there with his other sons. 

I came to this book with little knowledge of ancient Egypt and the reign of Tutankhamun. My husband and I visited the “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1978, and we still have several books on Tutankhamun and the discovery of the tomb. This book added to my sense of what life may have been like back then, and emphasized the importance of religious beliefs and customs at that time.

One common complaint about historical fiction is that the author crams in too much information about life at the time in a way that it distracts from the story. This author did not do that at all. Many details are included (clothing, being dressed by servants, furniture, food) but they fit in with the story. 

For me, the draw of this book was the picture of life in ancient Egypt, plus I liked the main characters. Meren has his faults and a good bit of trauma in his early life, but he is a loving father (he also has three adult daughters) and grandfather. Based on reviews I have read, I think later books will be even more enjoyable (and I already have two of them). 

Also see:

• A review of the first three books in the series at The Incurable Bluestocking
• An interview with the author

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Publisher:   Walker and Company, 1994
Length:      190 pages
Format:      Hardcover
Series:       Lord Meren #1
Setting:      Ancient Egypt
Genre:        Historical Mystery
Source:      This was originally my husband's book.

A Morbid Taste for Bones: Ellis Peters

 This is the first book in the Brother Cadfael mystery series, set in Medieval times, and I think this is the earliest time period I have read about in a historical mystery. This particular book is set in 1137. 

A group of men from Brother Cadfael's religious order have been sent to Gwytherin, a small parish in Wales, to acquire the bones of a saint and bring them back to Shrewsbury Abbey in England.  Cadfael is included because he is Welsh and can translate for them. The people of Gwytherin must agree to let the bones of the saint be moved, but then a prominent man in the village is killed. The murder must be resolved before the parish will release the bones. 

Quote from the first paragraph of the book:

On the fine, bright morning in early May when the whole sensational affair of the Gwytherin relics may properly be considered to have begun, Brother Cadfael had been up long before Prime, pricking out cabbage seedlings before the day was aired, and his thoughts were all on birth, growth and fertility, not at all on graves and reliquaries and violent deaths, whether of saints, sinners or ordinary decent, fallible men like himself. Nothing troubled his peace but the necessity to take himself indoors for Mass, and the succeeding half-hour of chapter, which was always liable to stray over by an extra ten minutes. He grudged the time from his more congenial labours out here among the vegetables, but there was no evading his duty. He had, after all, chosen this cloistered life with his eyes open ...

I surprised myself by enjoying this book so much. For years I had avoided the series because of the period (1135 - 1145) and I could not picture a monk as a sleuth. You would think I would learn to ignore my prejudices, at least in the area of mystery novels. My enjoyment of a book more often depends on the skill of the author's writing and plotting rather than the subject matter.

Brother Cadfael is a wonderful character. He entered the cloister later in life, after being a soldier and a sailor. He is a herbalist and cares for the garden. I found him believable as an amateur sleuth due primarily to his intelligence and ingenuity. The book has a slow pace, but that worked well for me because I enjoyed reading about details of life at that time and about the religious community and the politics within that group. 

This was a very educational and fun read for me, and I will continue reading the series. 

See reviews at Read-warbler and Mysteries Ahoy!

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Publisher:   Fawcett Crest, 1985 (first published 1977)
Length:       256 pages
Format:      Paperback

Series:       Brother Cadfael #1
Setting:      UK, Shrewsbury, Wales
Genre:       Historical Mystery
Source:      Purchased at the Planned Parenthood Book Sale, 2006.

Fearless Jones: Walter Mosley

The star of this book (and the narrator) is Paris Minton, but there would not be much of a story without his friend Fearless Jones. They are a case of opposites attracting; Paris is the brains and Fearless is the brawn (and in some cases, the conscience). The story takes place in Watts in 1954.

Description from the back of my book:

Bookshop owner Paris Minton is minding his own business when a brief encounter with a beautiful stranger gets him beaten, shot at, robbed, and then burned out of the store and home. Paris needs help but his secret weapon–brave, reckless WWII hero Fearless Jones–is in jail. Vowing to dish out some heavy justice, Paris plots to get Jones back on the street. But when these two men come together, they'll find themselves trapped in a bewildering vortex of sex, money, and murder–and a dicey endgame that's littered with dangerous players...

I love Paris Minton. I admire him because he has worked hard (and creatively) to own a bookstore and support himself, but I love him because he loves books.

Business [in the bookstore] wasn't brisk, but it paid the rent and utilities. And all day long I could do the thing I loved best–reading. I read Up from Slavery, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Mein Kampf, and dozens of other titles in the first few months. Whole days I spent in my reclining swivel chair, turning pages and drinking Royal Crown colas.

Fearless Jones, his friend, is very big, a brawny guy, with anger management problems.

Fearless Jones. Tall and slender, darker than most Negroes in the American melting pot, he was stronger than tempered steel and an army-trained killing machine.

... and ...

Fearless was the kind of person who attracted trouble. He didn't know how to look away or back down. He couldn't even spell the word compromise. Whenever he called me, I didn't know if we were going to get drunk at a party or get jumped down some dark alley. 

In Fearless Jones, Paris Minton's life is disrupted by a beautiful woman in trouble. As a result of getting involved with her, his book store is burned down. Paris doesn't want to go looking for trouble, but he does want his store back. He needs Fearless Jones, so he gets him out of jail. There are a lot of characters, mostly bad guys. There is a crooked cop and there are good cops, but mostly it is up to Paris and Fearless to take care of themselves.

In my review of A Red Death, the second book in the Easy Rawlins series, I noted that I found the book dark, gritty, and violent, to an extent that it lessened my enjoyment of the book. This book also has those elements. But with all the crime and violence, I still enjoyed reading about Paris and Fearless. I think it is their friendship and loyalty to each other that I like.

As in A Red Death, there is an emphasis on the sympathy of blacks with Jewish people and vice versa, since both have suffered from prejudice and suppression. This book is set in 1954, so the effects and events of World War II are still on people's minds.

When I was about halfway through this book, I was thinking that I preferred the Easy Rawlings series more (I have only read two of those).  Then when I finished Fearless Jones, I decided I liked this one better. I guess that both series have their strong points and it is good that they are different.

I don't want to go too overboard in praising this book, because I think the plot is too fragmented. Like real life. The type of plot that has no happy ending. But I was focused on characters, not plot, and all I wanted was for Paris to get his book store back so it all worked for me.


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Publisher:   Vision, 2002 (orig. pub. 2001)
Length:       337 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Fearless Jones #1
Setting:      Los Angeles, CA
Genre:       Historical fiction / Mystery
Source:      On my TBR pile since 2013.

Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times No. 9

I am participating in the Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times meme, hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness. Again I am looking at one of the shelves containing my books, in this case mostly mysteries. If you click on the image of the shelf, you will be able to read more of the titles.

Near the top of the stacked books, there is Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer, first published in 2001.

Why do I have this book? My husband bought it at the Planned Parenthood sale, over ten years ago at least. He passed it on to me to read and it is still sitting on the shelf.

Setting and characters:
1907, in the Storyville district of New Orleans, an area where prostitution was tolerated and kept under control. This is at the beginning of the jazz age, and real-life characters are included, such as Jelly Roll Morton and Buddy Bolden. Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr is the protagonist, working for Tom Anderson, a political boss.

I don't know much about this book. It is the beginning of a seven book series, and it has gotten good reviews. If anyone knows more, let me know.

Right below that is Nemesis by Jo Nesbo, originally published in Norwegian in 2002, translated to English in 2008.

Setting and characters:
Oslo, Norway. Harry Hole is the main character, a police detective. He has many of the typical problems of policemen in contemporary mysteries; he struggles with alcohol and smoking, depression, and has difficulty taking orders and dealing with co-workers.

It has been eight years since I read The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo. The Redbreast was the third book in the series and I have not read books 1 and 2, which have now been translated into English. I still plan to move on to Nemesis and hope I remember enough to enjoy the book (or that it works well as a standalone).

I hope to read this book this year for the European Reading Challenge.


Towards the left of the photo is The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, the first book in a science fiction trilogy, published in 2017, about an empire of worlds connected by travel via The Flow.

From the book description on the hardcover dust jacket...

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars. 

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

This book is first in a trilogy, and Richard Robinson at Tip the Wink has read all of the books. See his posts here and here.

I am currently reading this book, just started it today.

My Reading: January 2020

I read 14 books in January. One book of mystery reference, one nonfiction book, three books in the historical fiction genre, and the rest crime fiction. Of the fiction books, five were published after 2000, four in the 1990s, and three between 1953 and 1977.

And all twelve of the fiction books were from my TBR piles.

Mystery reference

Hatchards Crime Companion: 100 Top Crime Novels of All Time Selected By The Crime Writers' Association (1990)
edited by Susan Moody

I enjoy reading most mystery reference books. This was a reread. The book lists 100 favorite crime novels, as chosen by members of the British Crime Writers Association. Susan Moody provides commentary on each book on the list and there are interesting essays on various crime genres.

Rich Westwood of the Past Offences blog read and reviewed all 100 of the crime novels listed in this book. You can see the list here and links to his reviews.

Nonfiction

Life Below Stairs: in the Victorian and Edwardian Country House (2011) by Siân Evans

An entertaining social history of the life of servants in Victorian and Edwardian times, with photographs of rooms used by servants, items of clothing, etc. This was the perfect mix of information and anecdotes about the subject and very readable.

Historical Fiction

Wolf Hall (2009) by Hilary Mantel

This story follows Thomas Cromwell from his youth to his role as an important adviser to King Henry VIII. The main emphasis is on the period when the king wanted to marry Anne Boleyn and annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, a solution that the Roman Catholic Church would not condone. A wonderful, compelling book, with some problems in writing style, but well worth the read. Even at 600 pages.

A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) by Amor Towles

Another long read, over 450 pages. In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropole Hotel in Moscow because his aristocratic attitudes threaten the ideals of the Russian Revolution. The alternative, if he leaves the hotel, is to be shot to death. He lives the next three decades within the confines of the hotel. This is a very fascinating look at Russia in that time, but sometimes reads more like a fantasy than historical fiction. 

The World at Night (1996) by Alan Furst

Alan Furst has said that he writes "historical spy novels." He is writing more about a time than about the actual espionage. This is the story of Jean Casson, a film producer living in Paris when Germany invades in 1940. He is approached by both the British secret service and the Germans to spy for them. The story continues in Furst's next novel, Red Gold.

Crime Fiction

A Kiss Before Dying (1953) by Ira Levin

The debut novel of the author of The Boys from Brazil, Rosemary's Baby, and The Stepford Wives. My review here.

The Lewis Man (2011) by Peter May

The second book in the Lewis Trilogy, set on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. Fin MacLeod was a Detective Inspector in Edinburgh, but has resigned from that post and returned to the Isle of Lewis to restore his parents' croft and to try to establish relationships with people he left behind when he moved to Edinburgh. This is my favorite of all the Peter May books I have read.

The Thief (2009) by Fuminori Nakamura

This was a short book about a pickpocket in Tokyo. Very intense, very bleak, sometimes confusing, and even so I enjoyed it. My first read for the Japanese Literature Challenge 13.

The Last Defector (1991) by Tony Cape

This is the second book in a short series about Derek Smailes, who starts out as a Detective Sergeant in Cambridge, England and in this book is an MI5 agent stationed in New York at the UN. My review here.

Death Lives Next Door (1960) by Gwendoline Butler

This is book #6 in the John Coffin Mystery series of 34 books, published from 1956 to 2002. Dr. Marion Manning is a well-known and respected professor at Oxford University. There is a stranger who follows her around and watches her house, yet she is reluctant to complain to the police about it. It is an unusual story, but I enjoyed it and liked the writing style.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good (2018) by Helene Tursten

This is a book of 5 short stories that are connected. The protagonist is an 88-year-old woman, living in a lovely apartment in Gothenburg, Sweden, rent free. Some people try to take advantage of her due to her age and seeming infirmities; she is not easy to fool. This small book is full of dark humor.

Midwinter of the Spirit (1999) by Phil Rickman

This is book #2 in the Merrily Watkins series. The main character is a single mother of a teenage daughter and a Church of England vicar in a small town in Herefordshire. She is also in training to be a Diocesan Exorcist, or Deliverance Consultant. This book had maybe a little too much of the supernatural for me. But I really enjoyed reading about a female vicar in the Church of England and I like the writing.

A Drink of Deadly Wine (1991) by Kate Charles

This is the author's debut novel and the first book in Book of Psalms Mystery series. The vicar of St. Anne's church in London is being blackmailed and asks his old friend, David Middleton-Brown, to come help with the situation. The plot is very complex; I thought I had it figured but was totally surprised at the end.

A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) by Ellis Peters

The first book in the Brother Cadfael mystery series, set in Medieval times. A group of men from Brother Cadfael's religious order have been sent to Gwytherin, a small parish in Wales, to acquire the bones of a saint and bring them back to Shrewsbury Abbey in England.  Cadfael goes along because he is Welsh and can translate for them. The people of Gwytherin must agree to let the bones of the saint be moved, but then a prominent man in the village is killed, which complicates things. This was a very educational read, but also enjoyable. I am ready to move on to the next book soon.

City of Shadows: Ariana Franklin

City of Shadows is set mostly in Berlin, starting in 1922 and then picks up the story again in 1932. I find Germany in the years between World War I and World War II  a depressing place to read about, and this book doesn't gloss over any of the horrors of that time, but I learned a lot and the story was told beautifully.

From the book description on my trade paperback editon:

A cultured city scarred by war. . . . An eastern émigré with scars and secrets of her own. . . . A young woman claiming to be a Russian grand duchess. . . . A brazen killer, as vicious as he is clever. . . . A detective driven by decency and the desire for justice.

. . . A nightmare political movement steadily gaining power. . . .

This is 1922 Berlin.

One of the troubled city's growing number of refugees, Esther Solomonova survives by working as secretary to the charming, unscrupulous cabaret owner "Prince" Nick, and she's being drawn against her will into his scheme to pass a young asylum patient off as Anastasia, the last surviving heir to the murdered czar of all Russia.

Esther Solomonova and Nicholai Potrovskov are both Russian émigrés in Berlin. The difference is Prince Nick is rich and Esther is very poor and a Jew. Thus Esther does not want to give up her secretarial job working for Nick, even if his dealings are illegal and immoral.  Their connection to Anna Anderson, who says she is Anastasia, brings them to the attention of a murderer who has been hunting her for years. Enter Inspector Schmidt when the murderer makes a violent attack on one of Nick's clubs. Esther and Schmidt are immediately attracted to each other but they are from two different worlds, and the Inspector is married.

I liked so many things about this book:

• The author's writing is very good, convincing. She writes about serious subjects, but with humor.
• The characters are vividly portrayed and feel real, including secondary characters who recur throughout the story. And we see how each of them is affected as Hitler gains more and more power.
• Along with an interesting story, we get a picture of what it was like to live in Germany in the years after World War I, with inflation getting worse and worse. Even Inspector Schmidt and his wife cannot afford adequate food.
• There is an unexpected twist at the end of the book which makes you go back and rethink much of what happened. 
• I liked the use of real people as characters in the book. None of them have large roles, but it put some of the story in context for me.

Ariana Franklin was the pen name of British writer Diana Norman.  In addition to writing historical novels under her real name, she also wrote the Mistress of the Art of Death series, featuring Adelia Aguilar, a forensic specialist in the twelfth century.


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Publisher:   Harper, 2007 (orig. pub. 2006)
Length:       419 pages
Format:      Trade Paperback
Setting:      Berlin, Germany
Genre:        Historical Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Turncoat: Aaron Elkins

I have a shelf of books that I call the "three year" shelf. A book can sit on the shelf for three years and if I don't read it before then it goes (to the donation stack). I figure that for most of the books, I can give them the 50 page test before deciding to continue reading them or giving up on them. And in a few cases it has only taken a page or three to realize that I can pass the book on to someone else. This has been moderately successful.

Turncoat by Aaron Elkins was on this shelf, but as soon as I read a couple of pages from the book, I knew I was going to keep reading.  The story, the premise, and the writing grabbed me immediately. It is set in November 1963 and begins on the day John F. Kennedy died.

The book begins with this sentence:

"For everybody else in America it was the day JFK was killed in Dallas. For me it would always be the day Lily's father turned up on our doorstep."

The narrator is Peter Simon, currently a professor of history at Brooklyn college, formerly a waist gunner in a B-17 towards the end of World War II. Lily is his wife of 17 years, a counselor in a local high school. The unusual thing about his father-in-law turning up on his doorstep is that Peter had always thought that he had died during the war. Thus, Lily's father's sudden appearance and her refusal to talk to her father confuses him. Days later her father is dead, his savagely beaten body found in southern Brooklyn.

Both Peter and Lily have roots in France. Peter was born there but moved to the US at a young age with his parents. Lily lived in France until 1945, when she was 17 and met Peter in London towards the end of the war. They married and moved to the US. So when Lily disappears after the discovery of her father's body, Peter starts the search for her in Europe, first in Spain where her father had been living, then moving on to France and the town where Lily grew up.

For me the joy of reading this book was taking Peter's journey of discovery with him, thus I don't want to reveal more of the plot. I will say that the focus is on the French who collaborated with the Germans in World War II and the lasting effects that the German occupation had in France after the war.

This is a suspenseful story, cleverly told, and a page turner. New pieces of information about Lily and her father and their past are gradually revealed, in a realistic way. Peter Simon is resourceful and determined, although he finds it difficult to move outside of his comfort zone while hunting down the truth and his wife.

The story is very believable, partly because Peter knows enough French to get along well in France. We get to know him very well, and there are some great secondary characters. Two policemen are favorites of mine, one in New York (Detective Sergeant Ivan Kovalski of the 61st Precinct), one in Veaudry, France (Alphonse Juneaux of the Police Nationale's Provincial Department of Criminal Investigation).

In 2014 I read Loot (my review here), another book by Aaron Elkins about events related to World War II and its aftermath. That one is on a different subject, the looting of art treasures during the war. Elkins is better known for his series about Gideon Oliver, a forensic anthropologist whose nickname is "The Skeleton Detective".

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Publisher:  William Morrow, 2002.
Length:     298 pages
Format:     Hardcover
Setting:     New York, Spain, France
Genre:      Historical mystery
Source:     I purchased my copy.