What I read in August 2019

I had a good reading month in August. I read mostly mysteries, although I read one excellent classic novel. I completed my 20 Books of Summer reading list. I read books from three more countries for the European Reading Challenge.

Classic Fiction

Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons

This book is a parody of rural novels written in the early 1900s. I had heard so much about it I had to try it, but I was hesitant. Flora Poste moves in with her country relatives, the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. I loved it, from the first page. Introduction by Lynne Truss.

Crime Fiction

If The Dead Rise Not (2009) by Philip Kerr

The 6th book in the Bernard Gunther series. The series jumps all over the place in time. The first four novels are set  between 1936 and 1949, then the fifth book is set in Argentina in 1950. This book takes the reader back to 1934 Berlin. At the beginning of the story, Bernie has resigned from his job as a policeman, and is working as house detective at the Adlon. Berlin has been chosen as the site for the 1936 Olympics and there are illegal maneuverings by powerful men to make money out of that situation. Later, the novel hops to Cuba in 1954. Coincidence brings the same players from the first part of the book together but the story has an interesting ending.

Death Knocks Three Times (1949) by Anthony Gilbert

This is the second book I have read featuring Arthur Crook, criminal lawyer. I liked this one a lot, even with its complicated plot and plethora of characters. See my thoughts here.

Champagne for One (1958) by Rex Stout

I enjoy rereading the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Here Archie is invited to attend an annual dinner party and dance for unwed mothers, and one of the mothers ends up dead. This is one of my favorite books in the series.

City of Shadows (2006) by Ariana Franklin

A rich Russian emigré in 1922 Berlin believes he has discovered Anastasia, the last surviving heir to the murdered czar of Russia. (Or at least sometimes he does.) His secretary, a poor Russian emigré, helps him, unwillingly, as they prepare to announce her identity. Very complicated and interesting story. See my thoughts here.

Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street (1985) by Heda Margolius Kovály

Set in the 1950s in the early days of Communist Czechoslovakia, this novel portrays the paranoia and pain of that time when no one knew who to trust, and policemen and State Security agents were looking for traitors at the slightest excuse. See my thoughts here.

Death in Amsterdam (1962) Nicolas Freeling

This a police procedural where we see less of the detective than we do of the suspected murderer, who is being held in jail. The novel was originally published in 1962 in the UK with the title Love in Amsterdam. See my thoughts here.

The Axeman's Jazz (1991) by Julie Smith

Skip Langdon, a police detective in New Orleans, is new to her job, uncertain of her skills, and eager to prove herself, and she gets her opportunity when a serial killer names himself after the historical serial killer, the Axeman. The New Orleans setting is very well done. This is the second in the series, following New Orleans Mourning.

Death in Amsterdam: Nicolas Freeling

Death in Amsterdam is the first book of the Van der Valk series by Nicolas Freeling. The novel was originally published in 1962 in the UK with the title Love in Amsterdam and is better known under that title.

The story opens with Martin in custody in a jail cell in Amsterdam. His ex-mistress, Elsa de Charmoy, has been murdered and he is being held for questioning. He has been there two weeks. There is no real evidence to prove that Martin is the killer but there is plenty of circumstantial evidence and no other viable suspects.

This book was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be a fairly conventional police procedural but it was quite different. Martin is the focus of attention for much of the book. The detective, Inspector Van der Valk, is only shown in conversations with Martin, and all we know about the investigation is relayed to us during these conversations.

Since Martin is in jail for a good bit of the story, he spends a lot of time thinking about his past with Elsa, and his relationship with his wife. This introspective aspect of the story may not appeal to all crime fiction readers. But I liked this approach.

Per the Kirkus review:

The comparison to Simenon is inevitable. The pace, the investigatory technique, the relationship that builds up between investigator and suspect -- all are here.

I have not read any books by Simenon for years so I cannot say if that is true, but I thought it was an interesting comparison.

I also enjoyed learning about the judicial system in The Netherlands at the time the book was written.

The story seemed like it would make a good movie, and it was made into a British film titled Amsterdam Affair in 1968. Inspector Van der Valk is featured in twelve more novels and there was a British TV series titled Van der Valk that aired in the 1970s and the early 1990s, starring Barry Foster as Inspector Van der Valk.


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Publisher:  Ballantine Books, 1964. Orig. pub. 1962.
Length:     188 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Van der Valk, #1
Setting:     Amsterdam
Genre:      Police Procedural
Source:     Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, 2016.

Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street: Heda Margolius Kovaly

Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street is set in the 1950s. It is the early days of Communist Czechoslovakia, a time when no one knew who to trust, and policemen and State Security agents were looking for traitors at the slightest excuse.

This novel focuses on Helena Nováková, an usher at a cinema in Prague. Her husband is in prison, accused of espionage, based on a map he drew for friends coming to visit them. She hopes for his release, hates living alone, and is very depressed. She has lost her job working at a publishing house and has had to move to a smaller apartment. As the story starts she is going to her job as an usher at the cinema.

Some of the story is told in first person from Helena's point of view. Other chapters give the reader glimpses of the lives of the other ushers at the cinema. The cinema and its employees are being watched because the authorities know that some information is getting out of the country through someone there. This sounds like a very depressing story and certainly it is not upbeat at any time. But there are surprises at the end and I found it well worth the time spent on it.

The story is semi-autobiographical. The events in Helena's life were close to those in the author's past. Heda Margolius Kovály first published this book in 1985 in Germany. There is a very illuminating Introduction by Ivan Margolius, son of Heda Margolius Kovály.

I was very glad I read this book. It gave me more insight into that time in Czechoslovakia. I would recommend it to those interested in the setting, and those who like a blend of espionage and crime fiction, although this is not your normal rendition of those genres. I found it a brief and engaging read, and wished I could have finished it in one read.

For more detail and further insights, see these reviews:

• John Grant's review at Goodreads
• Yvonne Klein's review at Reviewing the Evidence
• Erica Ruth Neubauer's review at Crimespree Magazine
• May Whipple's review at SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH BOOKS

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Publisher:   Soho Crime, 2015 (orig. pub. 1985)

Translator:  Alex Zucker
Length:       231 pages
Format:       Trade Paperback
Setting:       Prague, Czechoslovakia
Genre:        Mystery / Espionage
Source:       Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, 2017.

Behind That Curtain: Earl Derr Biggers

Although there were many Charlie Chan movies released in the 1930's and 40's, there were only six novels in the series, published between 1925 and 1932. This one is set in San Francisco, and Charlie meets a retired Inspector from Scotland Yard, Sir Frederic Bruce, who has come to the US to continue the investigation of a case he was never able to solve. Unfortunately, Sir Frederic is killed at a dinner party and Charlie Chan must find his murderer.

I found San Francisco to be a more engaging environment than the California desert, the setting for the previous book in the series, The Chinese Parrot. Throughout this book, Charlie is eager to return to his home in Hawaii where his eleventh child, a son, has been born. Yet he feels a responsibility to see the case through before he leaves. And it is a complicated case, with many suspects.

This is the third book in the series, and the fourth that I have read. Earl Derr Biggers is a wonderful story teller and he always keeps me entertained. I find his characters engaging and enjoyed the romance in this one, which does not overshadow the plot.

My reviews of other books in the series:

• The House Without a Key
• The Chinese Parrot
• Keeper of the Keys

Other reviews of this book at Vintage Pop Fictions, The Broken Bullhorn, Classic Mysteries, and Mystery*File.


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Publisher:    Academy Chicago Publishers, 2009 (orig. pub. 1928)
Length:        279 pages
Format:       Trade Paperback
Series:        Charlie Chan, #3
Setting:       San Francisco, CA
Genre:        Mystery
Source:       Borrowed from my husband.

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.

Death Knocks Three Times: Anthony Gilbert

This is the second book I have read featuring Arthur Crook, criminal lawyer. The author of the series is Anthony Gilbert, a pseudonym of Lucy Beatrice Malleson.

As the story  begins, Crook is driving home to London, over an isolated moor in a pelting rain, and the road is becoming impassable. When he sees a light he turns off the road down a drive to a large old house, inhabited by Colonel Sherren and his retainer, Bligh, both very old men. Colonel Sherren allows Crook to stay overnight, and Crook leaves the next morning. Colonel Sherren's nephew, John Sherren, is coming to visit that same morning, but he doesn't stay long either. A day or two later, Crook learns that the Colonel has died and both he and John Sherren are required to attend the inquest. Only Bligh was around when the Colonel died, and he does inherit all his money. The inquest returns a verdict of death by misadventure, with no evidence of anyone being responsible.

The rest of the story focuses on John Sherren and his other older relatives, who seem to have a habit of dying shortly after he has visited.  And everywhere John goes, he runs into Arthur Crook in the same place. John is an author, and although he doesn't make much money at it, he does love to write. He hopes to eventually inherit money to supplement his small income so he can continue writing.

What did I like about this story? Just about everything.

• There were lots of quirky characters. And all of them were very-well developed. Some of them were not so likable, but still interesting to read about. So many good characters: Bligh, Miss Pettigrew. Arthur Crook doesn't show up that much, just here and there. But I liked him in this book and he and John Sherren held the story together.
• The story was paced well and kept me interested. I was always wondering where the book was going and what the solution was. I was surprised at the end but it did make perfect sense. 

I did not go into lots of detail here, but here are lots of other blogger's thoughts on this book...

See reviews at A Hot Cup of Pleasure, My Reader's Block, Beneath the Stains of Time, Pretty Sinister Books, Do You Write Under Your Own Name?, Clothes in Books, crossexaminingcrime, and Mysteries Ahoy!

I have also reviewed two other books by Lucy Beatrice Malleson:
Portrait of a Murderer  (writing as Anne Meredith)
A Case for Mr. Crook  (writing as Anthony Gilbert)


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Publisher:  Random House, 1950 (orig. publ. 1949)
Length:     244 pages
Format:    Hardcover
Series:     Arthur Crook series
Setting:    UK
Genre:     Mystery
Source:    I purchased my copy