What did I read in April 2020?

Did the first full month of the stay at home orders affect my reading? I think my reading was about the same but reviewing has been much harder. The concentration it requires is often just not there.

Although my main goal this month was to read what I wanted to, I did manage to read some books for challenges: two historical fiction books, a book for the European Challenge, a book for a USA state that I had not covered previously, and seven books from my TBR piles.

And here are the books I read in April, by category.

Mystery reference

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2017) by Mike Ripley

The author describes his book as "a reader's history of one specific category, or genre, of popular fiction—the thriller—over a particular period when British writers dominated the best seller lists at home and abroad." The book covers only British thrillers published between 1953 and 1975. This includes both adventure thrillers and spy thrillers. Of course, I am most interested in the spy thrillers but I enjoyed learning more about the authors of adventure novels also. With a very nice foreword by Lee Child.

Cross-genre Fiction (Mystery & Fantasy)

Westside (2019) by W. M. Akers

This book is a  mashup of several genres: historical fiction, mystery, alternate history, private detective novel, and urban fantasy. Set in an alternative version of New York in the 1920's. My review here.

Historical Fiction

The Light Years (1990) by Elizabeth Jane Howard

The Cazalet Chronicles is a series of five books that follow the members of one family from 1937 just prior to World War II through 1957. The first book, The Light Years, covers 1937 - 1938. There is large cast; the parents plus four children (three brothers, one unmarried sister) and the grandchildren, who range from 5 or 6 to teenage. Plus other relations, and servants. This is a lovely book, although not upbeat, with the threat of war coming on.

General Fiction 

The Provincial Lady in London (1932) by E.M. Delafield

This continues the story, written in diary form, of a married woman with two children (and a cook, a French governess/nanny, and a maid or two), living in an English village in the early 1930s. The Provincial Lady is now a published author and has received enough money for this effort to improve the family's financial status. She endeavors to find a flat in London to take more time to write. The tone is light and humorous and fun.

Crime Fiction

Boundary Waters (1999) by William Kent Krueger

This is the 2nd book in the Cork O'Connor series. Set in the Quetico-Superior Wilderness on the Canadian/American border. My review here.

The Brutal Telling (2009) and
Bury Your Dead (2010) by Louise Penny

I read these two books as a pair, based on Bill's recommendation at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan. My review here.

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1992)
by Sharyn McCrumb

This is the 2nd book in Sharyn McCrumb's Appalachian Ballad series. I enjoyed it but I found it to be different from most mysteries I have read. It is a dark story and has been described as gothic. Both this story and the first one in the series featured Sheriff Spencer Arrowood, but he doesn't do a lot of investigating, and the story centers around the wife of the church pastor, Laura Bruce, whose husband is serving as a chaplain in the Gulf War. She volunteers to be the guardian for two teenagers whose entire family was murdered. Set in Tennessee.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie's first mystery novel and the first in the Hercule Poirot series. My review here.

A Colder War (2014) by Charles Cumming

Cumming is a Scottish author, and his character in this series, Thomas Kell, is an MI6 agent who is on extended leave with pay until an incident still under investigation is resolved. In this 2nd book in the series, he is given a special assignment by the MI6 Chief, to investigate the death, probably accidental, of a high-ranked agent in Turkey. 

Instruments of Darkness (2009) by Imogen Robertson

This was a very enjoyable historical mystery. It was set in Sussex, England in 1780, a period I haven't read about before. The main characters are the mistress of a country manor in Sussex and an anatomist, Gabriel Crowther, an introvert who just wants to study dead bodies. Harriet Westerman discovers a dead man on the grounds of her estate, and pulls Crowther into an investigation of the crime. It is the first in the series and I will be moving on to the second book in the series.

Mr. Campion's Farewell: Mike Ripley

A new novel has been published in the Albert Campion series. Margery Allingham created the character; the last novel authored by Allingham was The Mind Readers (1965). Phillip Youngman Carter, her husband, completed the novel that Allingham was working on at her death, A Cargo of Eagles, and published two more books in the series in 1969 and 1970. Mike Ripley has now completed a partial manuscript started by Youngman Carter. Mr. Campion's Farewell was published first in the UK, and will be available in the US in July.

If you are not familiar with the original works of Margery Allingham, or if you would like a refresher course, this article at The Telegraph, Margery Allingham: the Dickens of detective writing, gives a good overview of her crime writing career and the diversity of style and subject found in the books.

When a writer continues a series begun by another author, I have two questions: Does the book stand on it own merits? And has the author successfully conveyed the characters and the style of the previous books? In my opinion, Mike Ripley has succeeded quite well at both. Not only that, but it is clear that he has been a devotee of the series for years and cares about the characters.

Margery Allingham's books about Albert Campion were written between 1929 and 1965, and within the books, Albert Campion does age. This is somewhat unusual for series written at this time. This book by Mike Ripley is set in 1969. Campion is getting on in years, and hampered by the vicissitudes of old age. So it is a different type of story, but keeping the same spirit of the earlier books. He is still sharp mentally, and keeps the inhabitants of the village of  Lindsay Carfax on their toes.

Campion comes to the village of Lindsay Carfax at the suggestion of Superintendent Charles Luke, an old friend who is concerned about several questionable incidents in that area which have not been solved, or even investigated to any extent. Coincidentally, Campion's niece is living in the village, and ends up being hurt in an event that is treated as a prank or an accident.

Campion's investigations into the disappearance of one of the residents for nine days, the incident leading up to his niece's injuries, and other strange goings-on in the village are entertaining. The story is complex; there are characters that are quirky; others that are menacing. The plot moves at a brisk pace, never boring the reader.

I enjoyed revisiting the world of Albert Campion and his family and friends. I appreciated the segments which feature Rupert, Campion's son, and his wife, carrying on some of the investigation in Monte Carlo. All of the sleuths in this story are way more adventurous than I am, which is as it should be. I had forgotten that the series was ending in the late 1960's. One of the characters talks about watching the moon landing on television; this took me back to my experiences on that day.

Mike Ripley is both an author and a critic. He is well known for the Fitzroy Maclean Angel series, which I plan to try soon. I have read many of his columns on crime writing, both at Shots Crime & Thriller Ezine and in the pages of the Deadly Pleasures magazine. They are informative and entertaining. An interesting fact about Mr. Ripley is that he has worked as an archaeologist. And this book features an archaeological dig.

Resources:

• Interviews at Crime Thriller Fella and Past Offences.
• Mike Ripley's comments on continuing the series at Crimetime.
• Reviews at Past Offences, chasing bawa, Clothes in Books, It is purely my opinion, and Tipping My Fedora.

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Publisher:  Severn House, July 2014 (US release).
Source: Review copy supplied by the publisher via NetGalley
Length:  300 pages (print release)
Format: e-book
Series:  Albert Campion
Setting: small village in the UK
Genre:  Mystery