Books Read in December 2024, Plus Stats for the Year

 

December was a good reading month and three of my reads were Christmas books. I included some notes on my reading in 2024 at the end of this post. 

Here is my list of books read:

Fiction

Tom Lake (2023) by Ann Patchett

This was a very good book and an enjoyable read. Basically it is the story of a woman telling her daughters about a summer love affair she had with a famous actor before she married their father. The daughters are in their twenties and all of them are living with their parents because of the pandemic. I like books about families and relationships. From beginning to end I was absorbed in this story.

A Redbird Christmas (2004) by Fannie Flagg

This book is set in Alabama, my home state, in a small town near Mobile. I could not quite figure out what time it is set in, sometime after World War II, but I don't think it really matters. Oswald T. Campbell lives in Chicago but he is very ill, has emphysema, and his doctor says he will have to move to a milder climate if he wants to live much longer. So he finds a place to live in a tiny town in Lost River, Alabama. I have never read anything by Fannie Flagg, but Kathy at Reading Matters recommended this book and December was a great time to read it. It is a Christmas book, but it is about so much more, and it was a wonderful read.

Gothic Horror

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) by Shirley Jackson

This is a classic gothic / mystery or horror story. I had put off reading this for years but the story was not nearly as scary or tense as I expected it to be. There was a sense of foreboding and waiting for something horrible to happen. The beauty of the story was in the way Jackson very slowly reveals small bits of the plot. My review here.

Fantasy

The Wood at Midwinter (2024) by Susanna Clarke

This is a fantasy story about a young woman, Merowdis, who loves animals and nature. She has many dogs and many cats, and a pig, plus other assorted animals. She prefers to spend her time in the woods alone, and she has a sister, Ysolde, who understands her and aids and abets her in her escapes to the woods. The rest of her family wants her to marry and be normal. My review here.

Crime Fiction

Elegy for April (2010) by Benjamin Black

Benjamin Black is a pseudonym used by John Banville. This is the third book in the Quirke series; I read the second book, The Silver Swan, earlier this year. The series is set in Ireland in the 1950s; Quirke is a pathologist in a hospital and gets involves with crimes or possible crimes often. I like the slow pace of the writing and the emphasis on the characters as much or more than the crime investigation. I will be reading the next book, A Death in Summer, in 2025.

The Unfortunate Englishman (2016) by John Lawton

I have been a fan of John Lawton's writing for years. His Inspector Frederick Troy series consists of eight novels published between 1995 and 2017. Those novels are a mix of police procedural and espionage, and are set between 1934 and 1963, with many of them covering multiple timelines. The Unfortunate Englishman is the second novel in the Joe Wilderness series. That series (so far) has focused on English / Russian / German relations in Berlin following World War II. The books in this series are really good spy fiction, but also complex and confusing. I love the focus on Berlin and the wall. You really have to read the first and second books in the series; this one doesn't stand well alone.

Mom Meets Her Maker (1990) by James Yaffe

Between 1988 and 1992, Yaffe wrote four mystery novels about Dave and his Mom. Mom Meets Her Maker is the 2nd of the four novels. Dave is an investigator for the Public Defender's office in a small town in Colorado. The book is set at Christmas, and it was the perfect read for me at this time of year. My review here.

A Bird in the Hand (1986) by Ann Cleeves 

As far as I can tell, A Bird in the Hand was Cleeves' first novel and the first book in the George and Molly Palmer-Jones series. Because I knew that it was focused on birdwatching and birders, I have been looking for a copy to read for years. George is the amateur sleuth. He has retired from the Home Office, which gives him some credibility and access to some records when he needs them. He is a "twitcher," a birder who travels to various parts of the English countryside, following reports of rare birds as they show up. His wife Molly is not that interested in birds but she enjoys the chase. Before retiring she worked as a social worker. The book is not as good as Cleeves' later books, but satisfied me in every way. I liked the characters, the setting, and the birdwatching.

End of Year notes

I read 89 books in 2024. That is very close to the number I read last year. The longest book I read was 834 pages:  The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters. The average number of pages for the books I read was 302, which was about the same as last year. 

• Of the 89 books I read, 68 books were from my TBR pile, which surpassed my goal of 48 books. I will continue to aim at 48 books from my TBR in 2024. 
• I read less mysteries than last year, 48 as compared to 65 in 2023. Seven of the mysteries were espionage novels, and I enjoyed all of those. Eight of the mysteries were published before 1960.
• I read eight nonfiction books. Two were books about books, two were memoirs, and one was a travel/adventure book.
• I read eight books in the science fiction or fantasy genres, so I did better in that area than I thought I would. Three of those books were about time travel.
• I read 15 novels that I categorize as general fiction. And four short story books. 

The photos above and at the top of the post are from a couple of photo excursions. The bird was at the Santa Barbara Zoo, but we don't know the location of the other two photos. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.

Mom Meets Her Maker: James Yaffe

 

I read My Mother, the Detective, a collection of the Dave and Mom stories by James Yaffe in 2019. The stories were first published in the 1950s and 60s in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In each story, Dave, a detective in the New York Homicide Squad, and his wife Shirley visit his mother and they discuss one of his cases over dinner. Mom asks some pertinent questions and solves the case; Dave is afraid that his coworkers are going to find out that his success rate with cases is due to his mother's help. 

Between 1988 and 1992, Yaffe wrote four mystery novels about Dave and his Mom. Mom Meets Her Maker is the 2nd of the four novels. The book is set at Christmas, and it was the perfect read for me at this time of year. 

Dave is now a widower, and he has moved to the small town of Mesa Grande, Colorado. Dave is no longer a police office; he is now an investigator for the Public Defender's office. The current case that he is working on relates to a serious dispute between neighbors. An older Jewish couple, the Meyers, have retired to Mesa Grande. Their son, Roger, has a dispute with the next door neighbor, Reverend Chuck Candy, who has put up a massive display of Christmas decorations, including lights and music which stay on until 2:00 a.m. in the morning. When he and the Reverend are tussling over a gun that the Reverend pulls out, the gun is fired, and Roger ends up charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Of course, as the case is investigated, the situation escalates and there is a death, which is also blamed on Roger.

In this novel, Dave does a lot of the legwork, following up on clues and interviewing witnesses. His mother functions more as an armchair detective, as she asks him to find out the answers to questions she has, and helps solve the crime. 

My thoughts:

• So, how did I like Dave and Mom in a full length novel? I found the novel very entertaining, and the characters a lot of fun. Some of the characters (good and bad and in-between) are over the top, but they worked for me.
• Like the short stories, Dave narrates most of the novel. I enjoy the way he tells the story, with subtle humor.
• Many mystery novels that are set at Christmas are only tangentially involved with Christmas. This one is immersed in Christmas. 
• The mystery puzzle is good and there are surprises at the end. I also enjoyed a chapter at the end, "After Christmas," where Dave tells us what happened after the crime is solved and where various characters ended up.

A post at the blog, Beneath the Stains of Time, reminded me of this book. The post is also worth a read because it recommends other good Christmas mysteries. Also see TomCat's review of the book. He says: "A better Ellery Queen-style Christmas mystery than Ellery Queen's The Finishing Stroke (1958)."  (I haven't read that one yet, but I do have a copy.) And I just ordered copies of the other three Dave and Mom mysteries. 

My Mother, the Detective: The Complete Mom Short Stories: James Yaffe

I had surgery yesterday; it wasn't very serious and went well. However, my chair in front of my laptop is the only place I can sit comfortably without pain, so I am taking advantage of that to write this short post.

The eight short stories in My Mother, the Detective were originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, between 1952 and 1968. In each story, Dave, a detective in the New York Homicide Squad, and his wife Shirley visit his mother and they discuss one of his cases over dinner. She asks some pertinent questions and solves the case, and he is afraid that his coworkers are going to find out that his success rate with cases is due to his mother's help.

That sounds like a silly premise, but it certainly worked for me. The stories are light and fun. Dave's mother is like a Jewish Miss Marple, using her experiences with people in her neighborhood to draw connections that solve the crimes. She is a very entertaining armchair detective. My favorite stories in the book are the last two: "Mom and the Haunted Mink" and "Mom Remembers."

James Yaffe is a new author to me. He recently came to my attention at Clothes in Books, where Moira focused on the story titled "Mom Sings an Aria."

Yaffe was a very interesting man, who wrote both non-fiction and fiction. Between 1988 and 1992 he wrote four novels about Dave's Mom. I look forward to trying one of those. See these posts to learn more about James Yaffe:

• James Yaffe (1927-2017) at The Passing Tramp
• “A Tribute to James Yaffe” (by Jeffrey Marks) at Something is Going to Happen

My copy of My Mother, the Detective was published by Crippen and Landru in 1997. Twenty years later, they published an enlarged edition with one extra story, “Mom Lights a Candle,” written in 2002.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Crippen and Landru, 1997
Length:      174 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Setting:      New York City
Genre:       Short stories
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Reading Summary, June 2019

This has been a pretty good reading month for me. I was concentrating on reading from my 20 Books of Summer List. I also read mostly more contemporary fiction, unusual for me, because my 20 Books list was slanted that way.

Mystery reference

Historical Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to Fiction, Film & TV (2018) by Barry Forshaw

I know that historial crime fiction is a popular sub-genre now. I enjoy reading that type of novel. But I was surprised at how many authors write that sort of mystery. And the book does not cover every author in that area, of course. My favorite sections cover the early 20th century through the 1950s. There is a good overview of this book at Crime Fiction Lover, if you are interested. And a very interesting post at the Rap Sheet, with lots of details and an interview with the author.

Historical Fiction

Crooked Heart (2014) by Lissa Evan

This is a dark comedy, beautifully told, very moving. Noel Bostock, aged 10, is evacuated from London to escape the Nazi bombardment, shortly after the death of his godmother, with whom he had been living. He is assigned to Vera Sedge, a small time con artist, mostly unsuccessful. 

Transcription (2018) by Kate Atkinson

I wasn't quite sure what category this fits in. I consider it spy fiction; the New Yorker refers to it as a "spy novel." But on Goodreads it is overwhelmingly shelved as Historical Fiction. It doesn't matter. I loved the book, I am sure it will be one of my top reads this year. The story is set in 1940 and 1950, with a brief framing story in 1981.

Post-apocalyptic Fiction

Station Eleven (2014) by Emily St. John Mandel

The apocalyptic event in this story is the Georgia Flu, a strain of the swine flu that wipes out 99% of the world's population. The story is set primarily in Toronto, Canada and northern Michigan. My thoughts on the book are here. 

Crime Fiction

My Mother, the Detective: The Complete Mom Short Stories (1997)
by James Yaffe

The eight short stories in this book were originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, between 1952 and 1968. They are a lot of fun. Dave, a policeman, visits his mother every week and over dinner they discuss one of his cases. 

Friends and Traitors (2017) by John Lawton

This is the 8th book in the Inspector Troy series, one of my favorite series. The novels are a mix of police procedural and espionage, and are set between 1934 and 1963, with many of them covering multiple timelines. This one is set in 1958, but does have flashbacks to earlier times.

London Rules (2018) by Mick Herron

This is the 5th book in Herron's Slough House series about spies who have been demoted due to some disgrace or screw up in their jobs, and are now working under Jackson Lamb. I have liked each book in the series more than the last.

Out of the Deep I Cry (2004) by Julia Spencer-Fleming

This is the 3rd book in a series featuring Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, the police chief of Miller's Kill, New York. This time the story features two timelines, one in the present and one that starts in the 1920's during Prohibition. This is another series that gets better with each book I read.

Perfect Gallows (1988) by Peter Dickinson

A story about a murder that occurs in 1944 on an estate in the UK; the estate is occupied by US forces preparing for the invasion of France. See my thoughts here.