R.I.P. VIII Wrap Up Post

The R.I.P. event (a non-challenge) is done. Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings reports: 

"R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII had nearly 200 participants this year and we read and reviewed nearly 500 books, short stories and films/tv shows. I’m sure there were many more things read and viewed that were not reviewed."

I read a lot of books for the challenge. A few were outside of my comfort zone, but mostly my standard mystery fare:

1. Unholy Ground by John Brady
2. Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie
3. Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas
4. The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
5. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
6. The Infernal Detective by Kirsten Weiss
7. The Yard by Alex Grecian
8. Vendetta by Michael Dibdin
9. The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
10. Frantic by Katherine Howell
11. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
12. White Nights by Ann Cleeves
13. Dark Star by Alan Furst
14. The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill

Two of my favorite books for this event were by the same author: Raven Black and White Nights by  Ann Cleeves. They were moody and slow, and focused a lot on the location and the time of year.

The Shetland Islands is a very different setting from any I have read about before. Per Wikipedia, the Shetland Islands "is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north-east of mainland Britain." The largest island is known as "Mainland." The action in both these books takes place on that island, although in different parts of it.

Raven Black involves the murder of a teenage girl in an area where a much younger girl disappeared a few years earlier. This first book takes place in the cold winter when winter fire festivals take place. The Up Helly Aa festival plays a part in the plot.

The second book in the series, White Nights, centers around the death of an outsider, a visitor to the islands who no one appears to know. That book is set at the time of year (mid-summer) when it never really gets dark, a phenomena it is hard for me to imagine.

The Man in the Picture: Susan Hill

I read this novella specifically for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII challenge. I thought this would be a good time to challenge myself and try a ghost story.

I found this to be a nice story with atmosphere. But it wasn't scary. It is billed as a ghost story but it didn't really have ghosts, or not in the way I define them. And, not being a fan of ghost stories, I am not sure I can give this novella a fair evaluation. I don't know why I don't care for ghost stories; they don't scare me and I don't have a problem with suspending disbelief for other supernatural phenomena (although books with supernatural elements are not favorites either).

For me, the problems were that I did not get involved with the characters and I did not empathize with them and their problems. I read a fair number of reviews of the story, and the reactions were mixed. Some enjoyed it very much. Others, who are usually fans of Susan Hill's ghost stories, found the story disappointing. Some felt the story was good until the weak ending; others felt like the ending made up for the rest. So, readers appear to be divided on the quality of this story.

The copy I read belongs to my husband, who is a fan of ghost stories. He liked the story. He read it long enough ago that he does not remember exactly what he liked, but he would not have held onto the book if he did not like it.

Reviews for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings, are here.

Next year when I decide to stretch myself and try an area I don't usually read, it will be one of these: Gothic, Horror, or a tale of the supernatural.

Dark Star: Alan Furst

Dark Star (1991) by Alan Furst tells the story of a journalist who is forced into being a spy and turns into a very good one, although he doesn't really enjoy it. The journalist is a Russian Jew, and the year is 1937. The story moves slowly, but in the end several events and plot threads that seem disconnected and haphazard all come together.

That is my very simplistic summary of the book. This book is the second in the group of historical espionage novels that are often referred to as the Night Soldiers series. I read the first book, Night Soldiers, several years ago and liked it well enough to look for and buy all of the remaining books.

But yet I have a hard time describing why I really like this book. Partly it is just because I like reading about this period. Partly it is because I love espionage fiction. Espionage novels often tend to be slower than other mystery fiction and I don't find that a problem. And Furst tells the story so well, blending in historical background in an unobtrusive way. The story continues into late 1940, after Paris has fallen.

The main character, Andre Szara, is very well developed. He is a real person, capable but no hero. Szara is part of a large network of spies and works from Paris, France most of the time; the network is so complex Furst provides a chart, which was useful to me. The only secondary character I found memorable was Joseph de Montfried, an enormously wealthy and titled French Jew. The story of his involvement with Szara's work was my favorite part of the book.

My edition of Dark Star had a reader's guide with questions. One point the guide made is that Furst's books often feature love affairs, and the effects of war upon them. I liked that aspect in this book, although it does not overwhelm the story at all.

At Alan Furst's author site, the series of books is described:

The novels—really one very long book with, to date, twelve chapters—are Night Soldiers (Houghton Mifflin, 1988); Dark Star (Houghton Mifflin, 1991); The Polish Officer (Random House,1995); The World At Night (Random House, 1996); Red Gold (Random House, 1999); Kingdom of Shadows (Random House, 2000); Blood of Victory (Random House, 2002); Dark Voyage (Random House, 2004); The Foreign Correspondent (Random House, 2006); The Spies of Warsaw (Random House, 2008); Spies of the Balkans (Random House, 2010); and Mission to Paris (Random House, 2012). Kingdom of Shadows was the first of these books to appear on the New York Times bestseller list; the subsequent books appeared there as well.

The books do not follow one character. There are two books that feature film producer Jean Casson, starting with The World at Night, and some characters show up in more than one book, but otherwise the connection between books appears to be the time (the years leading up to and including World War II), the setting (Europe), and espionage. I think each can be read as a stand-alone, but I plan to read them in order. I may read The Spies of Warsaw out of order if I decide I want to see the television adaptation of that series.

Please see this post at DerekCrowe.com, which has excerpts from several reviews that describe the strength of the book without revealing too much of the plot. That site has a lot of information about Polish history.

I am submitting this review for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery, suspense, and horror. The event continues through October 31, 2013. Reviews for that event are here.

Raven Black and White Nights: Ann Cleeves

Recently I read two books in the Shetland mystery series by Ann Cleeves: Raven Black (2006) and White Nights (2008). I enjoyed them immensely. I had only intended to read the first book, but as soon as I finished the first one I had to move onto the second.

Yet I am finding this a hard review to write. I liked the books, I want to read all of the series, but I cannot point to any one thing that make them so compelling.

Uppermost for me in these books is characterization and setting. The main character is DI Jimmy Perez and even before reading this series I wondered why a character with such a name is a policeman on the Shetland Islands. It turns out his ancestors came from Spain but have been living in the Shetland Islands for centuries. So he fits in very much with the culture of the islands, and deals well with the people on the islands. For the major crimes that are investigated in these books, a team from Inverness is brought in and DI Roy Taylor is the policeman in charge of the investigation. Taylor is a direct contrast to Perez, and finds the slow, methodical approach of Perez to be irritating at times.

In addition to the primary characters, we get to know several other people who are closely involved with the crime, and much of the story comes from their viewpoint. It allows a very full picture of the community and the relationships within it.

The pace of these books is very slow. The pace of the books seemed to mirror the pace of life in the islands, where people don't like to be hurried. This is completely different from the previous book I read (Frantic by Katherine Howell). Frantic was more focused on movement and action and less on characterization. But I enjoyed the books by both authors, and reading both close together emphasized for me how different books can be, yet still be compelling and a good mystery.

Raven Black involves the murder of a teenage girl in an area where a much younger girl disappeared a few years earlier. This first book takes place in the cold winter when winter fire festivals take place. The Up Helly Aa festival plays a part in the plot.

The second book in the series, White Nights, centers around the death of an outsider, a visitor to the islands who no one appears to know. That book is set at the time of year (mid-summer) when it never really gets dark, a phenomena it is hard for me to imagine.

The Shetland Islands is a very different setting from any I have read about before. Per Wikipedia, the Shetland Islands "is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north-east of mainland Britain." The largest island is known as "Mainland." The action in both these books takes place on that island, although in different parts of it. There are 15 other inhabited islands; one of them is Fair Isle, which is where Jimmy Perez was raised. I learned a great deal about the islands from reading the book (and doing research online afterwards).

From the author's website, a description of the Shetland mystery series:

Raven Black was initially intended as a standalone novel - after all, how many murders could there be in Shetland? But the book was so successful, winning the first Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award for the best crime novel of the year, as well as numerous fans, that Ann wrote another Shetland mystery, and then another - until she had completed a quartet covering all four seasons and a tour of the archipelago.

The turning of the year's circle and the dramatic changes it has brought for Jimmy Perez don't mean the end of the story - Ann's latest book, Dead Water, brings new beginnings - and the start of a new quartet based on the four elements: earth, water, fire and air.

On that same page, there is information about the TV series based on the books and links to maps of Shetland.

The Mystery of the Blue Train: Agatha Christie

The daughter of an American millionaire is unhappy in her marriage. She wants a divorce and embarks on a trip to the south of France. Traveling on the same train are her estranged husband, his former mistress, and a young woman who has recently inherited a large amount of money. Someone will die before the journey's end. And Hercule Poirot will be engaged to solve the murder.

I have read that this was not one of Christie's favorites of her novels. Robert Barnard, in A Talent to Deceive, thinks it is not so bad, but cites "some deleterious influences from the thrillers." He does not care for her thrillers, which are mostly among her early novels. I have liked all the thrillers by Christie that I have read so far, and I like this novel quite a bit.

First of all, it features a train and many scenes on a train. That right there would push it to the top for me. I also like the variety of characters; the rich, the not so rich. Thieves and those who prey on the wealth of others. I will admit many of them are stereotypes, but I still enjoyed them.

I especially liked Katherine Grey, a woman in her thirties who has the opportunity to see more of the world after inheriting a substantial sum of money. She is traveling to visit distant relatives who live on the Riviera. They hope to share in some of her wealth, and she is willing to take them up on their offer to launch her into society.

Poirot and Katherine meet on the train and have a conversation about the mystery novel she is reading, or as he calls it, a "Roman Policier."

    "Some day, who knows, you might be in the thick of things," he went on. "It is all chance."
    "I don't think it is likely," said Katherine, "Nothing of that kind ever happens to me."
    He leaned forward.
    "Would you like it to?"
    The question startled her, and she drew in her breath sharply.
    "It is my fancy, perhaps," said the little man, as he dexterously polished one of the forks, "but I think that you have a yearning in you for interesting happenings. Eh bien, Mademoiselle, all through my life I have observed one thing - 'All one wants one gets!' Who knows?" His face screwed itself up comically. "You may get more than you bargain for."
    "Is that a prophecy?" asked Katherine, smiling as she rose from the table.
    The little man shook his head.
    "I never prophesy," he declared pompously. "It is true that I have the habit of being always right - but I do not boast of it. Good-night, Mademoiselle, and may you sleep well."
    Katherine went back along the train amused and entertained by her little neighbour.

And, of course, there is some romance, without being too intrusive. One element of Christie's books that I had forgotten was the romance. And I have been surprised to enjoy it so much.

Poirot is much less annoying in this book than I found him to be in the last Poirot novel I read (Murder on the Links). Egotistical as always, but much more likeable.

So, all in all, a very enjoyable read for me.

I  read this book for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, hosted by  Mysteries In Paradise. If you are interested in joining in, here are instructions on how to do that. Links to other reviews for this month will be found here.

Also submitted for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery, suspense, and horror. The event continues through October 31, 2013. Reviews for that event are here.

Z is for Aurelio Zen

Aurelio Zen is the main character in a crime fiction series by Michael Dibdin (1947-2007). He is an Italian policeman, and at various times is posted to different cities in Italy. Dibdin was born in England and lived at times in Northern Ireland and Canada. He lived for four years in Italy, prior to writing the Aurelio Zen series. At the time of his death, he was living in Seattle, Washington with his wife, the author K. K. Beck.

I read the first Aurelio Zen book, Ratking, in late 2004. Nearly nine years ago. That book was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for 1988. Regardless, when I read the book, I was not overly impressed. Which I suppose it why it took me so long to try the series again, even though I have several books in the series in my TBR pile.

This week, I read Vendetta, the second book in the series. In that novel, Zen is stationed in Rome but is sent to Sardinia to investigate the murder of a rich and eccentric businessman, Oscar Burolo, and his wife and visitors to his vacation home in Sardinia.

At the beginning of this book, Zen has been promoted to the Ministry's prestigious Criminalpol division. He had mistakenly thought this would be an interesting and challenging job, but he has found that the division is filled with cynical bureaucrats and rife with corruption. After providing an overview of the crime, he is sent to follow up on the case, and essentially to find (or manufacture) evidence to convict a suspect, regardless of the suspect's culpability for the crime.

This book has several outstanding elements. The prose is beautiful, and that alone makes it pleasant reading. The picture of Aurelio Zen's mundane life and his lusts and fears is very well done. He is no heroic figure, although he really does want to do the job honestly and well. He has a relationship with his elderly mother who lives with him that is well-drawn and turns in a different direction that you would expect. There is a flirtation with a secretary in his division that spices up the story.

Some excerpts:

What would happen when he no longer had this ready-made way of filling his days? The government had recently been making noises about the need to reduce the size of the bloated public sector. Early retirement for senior staff was one obvious option. Fortunately it was unlikely that anything more than talk would come of it. A government consisting of a coalition of five parties, each with an axe to grind and clients to keep happy, found it almost impossible to pass legislation that was likely to prove mildly unpopular with anyone, never mind tackle the bureaucratic hydra which kept almost a third of the working population in guaranteed employment. Nevertheless, he would have to retire one day. The thought of it continued to haunt him like the prospect of some chronic illness. How would he get through the day? What would he do? His life had turned into a dead end.
...
The streets were steeped in mild November sunlight and ringing with sounds. Gangs of noisy schoolchildren passed by, flaunting the personalities that would be buried alive for the next five hours. The metallic roars of shutters announced that the shops in the area were opening for business. A staccato hammering and the swishing of a paint sprayer issued from the open windows of the basement workshops where craftsmen performed mysterious operations on lengths of moulded wood. But the traffic dominated: the uniform hum of new cars, the idiosyncratic racket of the old, the throaty gurgle of diesels, the angry buzzing of scooters and three-wheeled vans, the buses' hollow roar, the chainsaw sound of an unsilenced trail bike, the squeal of brakes, the strident discord of horns in conflict.

Unfortunately I did not find the mystery element that intriguing, although I did like that there were multiple threads that are followed throughout. And I enjoyed the intrigues within his division.

All in all, I would say that I found much more good than bad in this novel, and it was definitely a good experience to read it. Dibdin just doesn't fall into my list of must read authors. I welcome other views and suggestions and information about other novels in the series.

From reading other reviews, it appears that there is a lot of diversity in the Aurelio Zen novels. They each have different formats or approaches. They have a very polished literary quality and may appeal to readers who are not so fond of crime novels. Thus I am sure I will continue to sample this series from time to time.

The books in the series are:

1. Ratking (1988)
2. Vendetta (1990)
3. Cabal (1992)
4. Dead Lagoon (1994)
5. Cosi Fan Tutti (1996)
6. A Long Finish (1998)
7. Blood Rain (1999)
8. And Then You Die (2002)
9. Medusa (2003)
10. Back to Bologna (2005)
11. End Games (2007)

Submitted for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction for the letter Z. This community meme is hosted by Mysteries In Paradise. We are now at the end of the alphabet. Since I committed to a theme (police procedurals), it has been demanding to fit books I wanted to read into the alphabet scheme. On the other hand, concentrating on police procedurals in a 26-week period gave me an overview of the variations in how this sub-genre is approached by various authors. I will miss seeing other posts in the meme.

Also for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. Reviews for that event are here.

The Yard: Alex Grecian

From a summary at the author's website:

Victorian London is a cesspool of crime and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives – known as “The Murder Squad” – to investigate countless murders every month.  Created after the Metropolitan police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt.  They have failed their citizens.  But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own…one of twelve…

This book is about a serial killer, but at this point of time in England, the idea of serial killers was not an accepted one, and many did not want to believe that such a thing could be happening. As often happens in serial killer novels, we do know from early in the book who the killer is, but there are still mysteries enough to keep us in suspense.


I enjoyed reading about this period in time. I found the picture the author draws of Victorian London to be very well done. If in some ways he is heavy-handed in his descriptions and scene-setting, I was intrigued and barely noticed.

One theme is the plight of children in this society. One body that is discovered is that of a very young boy who was stuck in a chimney. A detective tries to convince the constable that found the body that this is not a crime worth pursuing.

"You must stop thinking of this body as a boy. This is a laborer. A chimney climber, in the employ of a sweep, whose job it was to climb the inside walls of this chimney and clean it out. This person was doing his job, and he had that job because of his small size, not because of his age. His age is irrelevant here."

"Surely not, sir." Hammersmith was unable to rein in his temper any longer. "His size is directly related to his age. This is completely illegal. Small children are stolen from their parents by sweeps for this very purpose. They're used and cast aside when they grow too large to do the job properly. This is not some instrument of service, as you say; this is a little boy."

"No, this is a dead end. His employer didn't care enough about him to pull him from the fireplace, nor did his family step forward to ask for help. Nobody cares about this body, and it is not our job to take up lost causes."

I liked the development of the main characters, the primary policeman who is investigating the crime and the constables who work with the detectives. Based on the author's depiction of Scotland Yard, before the Ripper murders there had not been detectives whose primary focus was murder. This group is just starting to work together on this common goal, and they are working out the strategies that work.

Sir Edward Bradford, the Commissioner of Police, was a real person who did bring changes and improvements to Scotland Yard. The new detective in the Murder Squad is Detective Inspector Walter Day, who has recently moved from Devon. He is inexperienced but determined to do a good job.

If I have any complaints at all, they are minor. There were many threads to the story, and at times the story felt scattered. I felt that the various threads worked in the service of delivering a fuller picture of the times and the classes.

Submitted for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction for the letter Y. This community meme is hosted by Mysteries In Paradise.

Also for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. Reviews for that event are here.

The Infernal Detective: Kirsten Weiss

Book description from the author's website:

When Riga Hayworth finds a dead body in her bedroom a week before her wedding, it’s par for the course. When the corpse drives off with her fiancée… That’s a problem.

Riga knows dead. More intimately than she’d like. So when a murdered photographer gets up and walks away, she’s believes there’s necromancy afoot. And when she discovers that several of her wedding guests are under the influence of dark magic, she’s certain. But how can she catch a killer and stop a necromancer when even her nearest and dearest are lying to her?

Murder. The undead. Irritating relatives. The Infernal Detective is a fast-paced, paranormal mystery, based in Lake Tahoe.

This is a humorous, light mystery, laced with paranormal elements. Riga Hayworth looks a lot like Rita Hayworth and people are always telling her this. So from that point, you know this is not a totally serious, hard hitting mystery. Some of the characters are a little bit over the top. There are two ditsy aunts and a mobster who is stalking her. Riga has a niece who is pretty normal; a teenager who wants to learn to use her powers.

I don't really want to tell much more about the plot than the overview above... so as not to spoil the fun of reading the book. I will say that Riga is 44 and thus has some maturity. She has a Private Investigator's license, but it is for California and she is living in Nevada. Thus I did find that it was believable for her to investigate a crime on her own.

I did not read the first three books in this series, and this is a departure for me. I am usually rigid about reading in order. Luckily, in this case, I was able to enter into the spirit of the book with the background that is provided. The author did a pretty good job of providing just enough information without spending a lot of exposition on her past.  I did have questions about how Riga got to her present situation, and that will send me back to the earlier books to see.

As I noted, this is a light mystery and it is clearly in the fantasy genre. So not a typical read for me. I would call this a cozy, also not typical for me. But I was entertained by the story and Riga's predicaments. She is a take-charge person and not timid at all. My prejudice in the past has been that paranormal gifts give the detective an unfair advantage, thus taking the tension out of the story. Not in this case, however.

I would recommend this for readers of paranormal mysteries or urban fantasy. Although this is not a Young Adult novel, I think it would work well for young adults.

This book was provided for review by the author.

This book is submitted for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery, suspense, and horror. The event continues through October 31, 2013. Reviews for that event are here.

The Devotion of Suspect X: Keigo Higashino

This book is an inverted mystery; the reader knows from the beginning who committed the murder. Thus the mystery is more involved in how the murderer is discovered. And in this case, there is so much more, with twists and turns you do not expect.

Yasuko Hanaoka is surprised when her abusive ex-husband Togashi shows up at her apartment. He wants money from her and threatens both her and her teenaged daughter Misato.Togashi ends up dead, strangled. Yasuko’s next door neighbor, Mr. Ishigami, offers to help them dispose of the body. Of course, once the body is discovered, the police consider Yasuko one of the suspects and life becomes very tense for Yasuko, her daughter, and her neighbor.

I will start out by saying I enjoyed the book very much. I only rate books on Goodreads, and there I only gave it 4 stars, not 5. But in reality, I would make it 4.5 out of 5, very close to the top.

On the back cover of the edition I read, Jan Burke compares this book to a Golden Age mystery and I would agree. It has a similar setup to The Tattoo Murder Mystery (reviewed here), which was published in Japan in 1948 and features a very intelligent man (genius) helping the policeman with his case.

The Devotion of Suspect X has all the brilliant intricacy of the best Golden Age mysteries - puzzle within puzzle, twist after twist - with a modern sensibility.  It is a wonderful, fresh take on the classic mystery's intellectual struggle between protagonist and antagonist, adds to it all the right amounts of tension and pacing, places it in a fascinating setting, and gives to all of this plenty of heart.
-- Jan Burke

This book is part of a series known as the Detective Galileo series. Manabu Yukawa, a physicist, known affectionately as "Detective Galileo," has been friends with police detective Kusanagi since attending college together and they often talk about Kusanagi's cases. Per Wikipedia, the first two books in the series were short story collections, so this would be the first novel in the series. This book  is set in Tokyo, Japan. However, the setting is not a strong part of the novel, although we do learn about social interactions and relationships in Japan.

The author kept me involved in the story, as I tried to figure why and how the neighbor was involved with the coverup. I actually felt myself rooting for Yasuko Hanaoka and her daughter, hoping that they would not be found at as murderers. Yet I was pretty sure that with a genius helping the police, there was going to be a solution. All of the characters were either appealing or interesting.

The review by Naomi Hirahama at Criminal Elements is very positive but does point out some quibbles with the book. One I agree with is that the author does not reveal as much about the daughter's thoughts or state of mind as the other characters. This may have been intentional, but I agree that it could have improved the story to give her more depth.

At Chasing Bawa, Sakura draws the same comparison to The Tattoo Murder Mystery as I did, and she also discusses the Galileo TV series.

My husband did give this book 5 stars and has a brief review at Goodreads:

This might not be a perfect "inverted" mystery but it is very, very clever and held me from first chapter to last.

The numerous characters are all sharply drawn and the plotting is - no other word for it - elegant.

Other reviews which provide more information on the book and the author are here:

• At Book Reporter.
• At Yet Another Crime Fiction Blog.

Submitted for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction for the letter X. This community meme is hosted by Mysteries In Paradise.

Also for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. Reviews for that event are here.

Seeking Whom He May Devour: Fred Vargas

I have read two books in the Commissaire Adamsberg series by Fred Vargas, and I had two vastly different reactions.  When I read The Chalk Circle Man (the first book in the series), I was disappointed. The book did not seem to be about much, and Adamsberg seemed to spend all of his time ignoring his coworkers findings and waiting to have his intuition proved correct. [Keep in mind that I read this two years ago and my memory of events in the book may be prejudiced by time.] Adamsberg did prove that his intuition was right and he did solve the crime, but I did not enjoy the book.

Now I have read the second book in the series, Seeking Whom He May Devour, and I have a very different reaction to that one. There are differences. The first book was set in Paris; this book is set in the French Alps. In the first two thirds of the book, the story centers on a group of people residing in the French Alps who are on a quest to stop a murderer, and we only get glimpses of Adamsberg now and then. Adamsberg is functioning as a policeman in this book, but his involvement is also personal.

Excerpts from the plot summary at Goodreads:

A small mountain community in the French Alps is roused to terror when they awaken each morning to find yet another of their sheep with its throat torn out. One of the villagers thinks it might be a werewolf, and when she's found killed in the same manner, people begin to wonder if she might have been right. Suspicion falls on Massart, a loner living on the edge of town.

The murdered woman's adopted son, one of her shepherds, and her new friend Camille decide to pursue Massart, who has conveniently disappeared.

The local authorities have ignored suggestions that Massart is either a werewolf or a man with a wolf who is killing sheep and humans. As Camille and her motley crew pursue Massart through the Alps, the killings continue. Eventually Camille decides she must call on Commissaire Adamsberg of Paris. They have a history and she does not want to see him, but she feels she must ask for his help.

For most of this book, the story seems more fantasy than real. But in the end, there is a real solution that makes sense. Reading the book and accepting the story takes some suspension of disbelief. However, for me, the writing style and the story were compelling, and I read this less for the mystery, more for the story of the unusual band traveling together with a common goal.

Other positive aspects of this book are the two maps at the beginning. I love books with maps. And I learned a little more about France and the French Alps.

There were hints of Camille's past relationship with Adamsberg in The Chalk Circle, but in neither book do we get much of their history. It is clear that they both feel strongly for each other, and it is left at that.

I will continue this series, if only to determine if this was a fluke for me, and the rest of the books will be more like the first book. On the other hand, I suspect that if I had read other books in the series first, I would have approached The Chalk Circle with a different mindset. The books were translated into English out of order, so many readers probably read The Chalk Circle after reading other books in the series.

These are words that are often used to describe this series and Commissaire Adamsberg: quirky, eccentric, unorthodox, bizarre, grotesque. Whether or not that type of mystery normally appeals to you, I would recommend trying this series just to give it a taste and see if it is for you. The problem is, I am not sure which book is a good place to start. And it may depend on the reader. I saw many comments on Goodreads indicating that readers loved the first book and hated Seeking Whom He May Devour. And vice versa.

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audouin-Rouzeau. In addition to writing, she is a historian and archaeologist. The books in this series have been translated by Sian Reynolds. Author and translator have won four International Daggers awarded by the CWA.

Other reviews:
A very positive review of Seeking Whom He May Devour at Mysteries in Paradise.

A review of The Ghost Riders of Ordebec (the most recent book) with a list of the books in order of publication at Crime Scraps Review.

More reviews of The Ghost Riders of Ordebec at Crimepieces and Ms. Wordopolis Reads.

Submitted for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction for the letter V. This community meme is hosted by Mysteries In Paradise.

Also for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. Reviews for that event are here.

Murder at Hazelmoor: Agatha Christie

Murder at Hazelmoor, published in 1931, is one of Christie's non-series books. The original title in the UK was The Sittaford Mystery.

This book introduced me to a term that I am not familiar with: table turning. At Bartleby.com, this is defined as:  "The presumed art of turning tables without the application of mechanical force. Said by some to be the work of departed spirits, and by others to be due to a force akin to mesmerism." The rocking table indicates letters and spell out messages. I have, of course, read books and seen movies where this activity takes place, but I was never familiar with the term. Table turning plays a significant part in this book.

A group of neighbors in the very small village of Sittaford get together for tea on a very cold and snowy night. They have been invited by Mrs. Willet and her grown daughter, Viola, who are visiting England after living in South Africa for many years. Captain Trevelyan has rented his large house in Sittaford to the Willets because of the money he will make on the transaction and has moved to the nearby town of Hazelmoor for a few months. The guests are residents of the smaller houses that have been built in the same area as Trevelyan's home. These guests include Major Burnaby, a friend of the Captain's for many years; Mr. Rycroft, interested in psychic phenomena and criminology; Ronnie Garfield, who is visiting his elderly aunt.

After tea, table turning is suggested as a diversion. As it progresses, a message is spelled out saying that Captain Trevelyan has been murdered. Up to that point, the activity has all been in fun. Immediately, everyone loses their taste for table turning and several of the participants are quite upset.

Major Burnaby decides he must immediately walk to Hazelmoor and confirm that the Captain is safe. Everyone protests, due to the impossibility of the trip on foot (or by car) in the snow, but he insists. He sets off immediately. And, two and a half hours later, he arrives at the house and discovers the dead body of Captain Trevelyan. It turns out the approximate time of death is about the same time as the incident of the table turning.

That is the setup of the story. The unusual part of this story is that there are two investigators. One is Inspector Narracott, summoned from Exeter to lead the investigation. The second is a young lady, Emily Trefusis, who is the fiancee of Captain Trevelyan's nephew, who has become the prime suspect.  Emily knows that her fiancee has some flaws, but she is sure he is not capable of murder.

This is another Christie mystery featuring a strong, confident female character. Emily adds spice to the investigation as she and Inspector Narracott run into each other as they follow leads. Emily is aided by a newspaperman, also from Exeter, who opens some doors for her that would otherwise have been closed. But she is so enterprising and determined, we know she would have found a way no matter what.

The mystery is quite good and kept me guessing for most of the book. Even in the end, although I considered the solution as one of many possible solutions, I was quite surprised at how it was done. Yet it all makes sense. Christie is so good at diverting the reader, and that is one of the reasons I am enjoying her books so much.

This post is my second submission for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery, suspense, and horror. The event continues through October 31, 2013. Reviews for that event are here.

It is also submitted for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, hosted by Mysteries In Paradise.

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII

Last year about this time, I stumbled upon the announcement of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII. That was the first year that I participated in this fun event that started seven years ago.

This event is hosted by Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings. The event starts in September and goes through October and celebrates "all things ghastly and ghostly" as we move into Fall.

A description of the event:

The purpose of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII is to enjoy books and movies/television that could be classified (by you) as:

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.
Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

There are two simple goals for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII
1. Have fun reading.
2. Share that fun with others.

See this post for ways that you can participate. In addition to books, movies, and television, you can post about short stories or join in a group read. There is a R.I.P. Review Site where participants may post links to any book or screen posts related to this event.

I am committing to only one peril this year... Peril the First. Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature.

I will most certainly read more than four mysterious books, and I may view (and review?) a movie or two.

These are the mystery / suspense novels I definitely plan to read in the next two months:

Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas  (just finished this one)
A White Arrest by Ken Bruen
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
The Yard by Alex Grecian
Vengeance by Michael Dibdin

Those are all police procedurals... or at least focus on a policeman protagonist. I am on a police procedural binge right now.

These books are some of the books that I considered reading last time and it would be nice to read one or two of them this time:

Ghost Hero by S. J. Rozan

The Coffin Dancer by Jeffery Deaver

Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver

The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

Other books I may include are:

Murder In Belleville by Cara Black
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill

And, of course, a couple of mysteries by Agatha Christie.