Season of Snows and Sins: Patricia Moyes

Patricia Moyes wrote a series of 19 mystery novels about Henry Tibbett, Scotland Yard Inspector, whose wife Emmy usually gets involved with an investigation in some way. I have always considered these to be police procedurals, considering that Tibbett is a policeman, but there is often very little police procedure involved. Her books are puzzle mysteries, and are usually fairly clued, but Tibbett does depend on intuition to get him headed in the right direction.

Even though this is a short book, only 217 pages, the plot covers a lot of ground. The story has several narrators, starting with Jane Weston, who has moved to a small chalet in the Swiss Alps. She is a sculptor and befriends a young woman who models for her. Her young friend, Anne-Marie, marries a local ski instructor, Robert Drivaz, and Jane helps them find a place to live. She invites Emmy and Henry Tibbett to visit at Christmas, since she knows how they love to ski.

Months later, Robert gets involved with a group of visitors who are either rich or famous and becomes infatuated with a film actress. He is murdered and everyone, including Jane, think that Anne-Marie killed her husband because she was jealous. In fact, it is Jane's evidence that convicts Anne-Marie of the crime. Emmy and Henry return for another vacation visit in September, and Henry begins to think that the conviction was a mistake.

This is a very simplified version of the setup for this book and it really tells more than I like to reveal about a book, but I could not come up with anything better that conveyed the story at all. Every summary of this book that I find uses the description that is on the back of my paperback edition, and it is full of errors.

I picked this book to read at this time because of its connection to the Christmas season, which is slim. As a confirmed fan of Henry and Emmy Tibbett, I found this to be an enjoyable read, but I would hesitate to recommend it to first time readers of the Henry Tibbett series. Henry and Emmy are less involved in this one and I would not consider it representative of the series. However, the structure of the plots varies from book to book in this series, and I consider this a plus.

For me, the best aspect of this book is the shift from one narrator to another throughout the story, from Jane Weston, to Emmy, to the rich wife of a government official, and back to Emmy. On the negative side, the characters seemed to be either very, very nice or very sleazy and self-centered. And the plot was overly complex and a bit slow.

The books in the Henry Tibbett series are often set in exotic and interesting locales. This one and the first in the series, Dead Men Don't Ski, are set in the Alps, and feature skiing. Others are set in Holland and the Caribbean.

Recent reviews of other novels by Patricia Moyes:

• Margot's Spotlight on Dead Men Don't Ski (1958) at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
• Moira of Clothes in Books: Death on the Agenda (1962) and Murder a la Mode (1963)
• My review of Johnny Under Ground (1965) 
• Sergio at Tipping My Fedora reviews Who is Simon Warwick? (1978)

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Publisher:  Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1983. Orig. pub. 1971.
Length:     217 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Henry Tibbett, #10
Setting:     Alpine village
Genre:      Mystery
Source:    Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, 2014.

The 2016 Sci-Fi Experience

                       (Art by Chris Goff, used with permission.)

For the fourth year I am joining in on the Sci-Fi Experience, hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. The 2016 Sci-Fi Experience begins December 1st and runs through January 31st, 2016.

Per Carl...

Events like these are all about taking the largely solitary act of reading and viewing and gaming and adding the element of “community” to it. 

The Sci-Fi Experience will hopefully give people an opportunity to:

a) Continue their love affair with science fiction
b) Return to science fiction after an absence, or
c) Experience for the first time just how exhilarating science fiction can be.

If you have ever wanted to give science fiction a try, or are already a fan of the genre and are looking for a group of kindred spirits, this is the event for you.

December isn't usually a good month for science fiction reading for me, as I like to focus on Christmas themes and have other goals to finish up. But this year I had a science fiction read going before the end of November: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dan Gibbons. Watchmen is a graphic novel published in 1987 which gathers together the 12-issue comic series published in 1986 and 1987. The story begins with the murder of a superhero; it is set in an alternate history where the US won the Vietnam War and Nixon is still president. I have read through 10 of the 12 parts and I am enjoying the experience.

In January I plan to read Pashazade by Jon Courtney Grimwood. The first book in the Arabesk Trilogy, it is described at SF Site as a "SF/mystery hybrid set in an alternate world in which Germany won the First World War, and the Ottoman Empire never collapsed." In 2014 I read Grimwood's novel 9tail Fox, reviewed HERE.

The Ice Harvest: Scott Phillips

From the Publisher's Weekly review:

Everywhere you look, trashy people are doing trashy things in this darkly delicious debut comic thriller. Set in the middle of a Christmas Eve blizzard in 1979 Wichita, the novel opens with lawyer-turned-petty-mobster Charlie Arglist marking time before an important meeting with his shady partner, Vic Cavanaugh.

Charlie Arglist is getting out of town. For the nine and a half hours he has to kill before he can leave, he visits various of his old haunts and has a very uncomfortable encounter with his ex-wife and children. We get a pretty pathetic picture of his life at this point. His apartment is mostly emply; the fridge has the remnants of some very old food. First he visits a bar...

At four-fifteen on a cold, dry Christmas Eve a nervous middle-aged man in an expensive overcoat walked bare-headed into the Midtown Tap Room and stood at the near end of the bar with his membership card in hand, waiting for the afternoon barmaid to get off the phone. She was about forty, heavy in a square way, with a shiny face and dishwater blond hair that looked like she'd got shitfaced and decided to cut it herself. 

... ... ... 

He couldn't remember ever seeing the Tap Room in daylight before, if the failing gray light filtering through the grime on the front windows qualified as such. It was a deep, narrow old building with a battered pressed-tin ceiling and a long oak bar. On the brick wall behind the bandstand hung a huge black-faced clock with fluorescent purple numbers, and running the length of the opposite wall was a row of red Naugahyde booths. All of this was festooned with cheap plastic holly and mistletoe. Around the walls seven feet or so from the floor ran a string of multicolored Christmas lights, unplugged at the moment. This is my last look at this place, he thought, mildly surprised at the idea. He hadn't been out of town for more than two or three days at a time in fifteen years.

I have a love / hate relationship with this book. It is unrelentingly grim and bleak. Yet, Scott Phillips tells a great story, and I enjoyed reading it, mostly. I don't mind reading about sleazy characters with little or no redeeming qualities when the writing is so good and I could handle the violence in this book. But in the end, I wanted something more. I wasn't looking for a happy ending; that obviously wasn't going to happen. I really don't know what I expected.

It may have had to do with having watched the movie first. We watched the movie three or four years ago, and I remembered it as more comic and lighter. Not a barrel of fun, but not as bleak. Many reviewers talk about how funny this book is... but I was not laughing. The scene of Charlie visiting his in-laws and seeing his young children for the first time in months was heart-breaking.

This was Scott Phillips' debut novel. It was nominated for the Best First Novel Edgar and short listed for the Gold Dagger award from the CWA for 2001. So if you are interested in noir fiction, I would definitely recommend this book.

Shortly after reading the book, we watched the movie again. I liked the movie even more this time, having read the source material. There were changes in the plot, but the movie sticks to the basic story. The ending of the movie is slightly less dark than the book, but it fits with the overall tone of the story. Scott Phillips has said that he is happy with the adaptation of his novel.

My husband liked the movie for the bad weather and the Christmas setting. I liked the choice of actors; John Cusack plays Charlie Arglist, Billy Bob Thornton is his partner in crime, and Connie Nielsen plays the gorgeous femme fatale. Oliver Platt plays a friend who is now married to Charlie's ex-wife. The film was directed by Harold Ramis.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Ballantine Books, 2001. Orig. pub. 2000.
Length:     217 pages
Format:     Trade paperback
Setting:     Wichita, Kansas, Christmas Eve
Genre:      Noir
Source:     I purchased this book.

Reading in October and November

I skipped a summary post for the books I read in October. Too busy, too many other posts due at the same time. But this is a practice that I have found fulfilling as long as I have had the blog, so I will make up for it by covering both October and November in this post. In both of those months I stuck to crime fiction.

In October I read:

The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest by Peter Dickinson
The Old English Peep Show by Peter Dickinson
Sugar Skull by Denise Hamilton
And Four To Go by Rex Stout
Murder at the Old Vicarage by Jill McGown
Chef Maurice and A Spot of Truffle by J. A. Lang

In November I read:

Season of Snows and Sin by Patricia Moyes
The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
Hour of the Cat by Peter Quinn
Trust Me on This by Donald E. Westlake
The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips
The Small World of Murder by Elizabeth Ferrars
The Last Good Place by Robin Burcell



In the past I have picked a favorite book from each month, but in either of these months I would have difficulty doing that. From October, there are too many favorites. In November, I found almost all of the books equally appealing and none stand out as favorites. All in all, I had two very good months of reading.

One point of interest, to me at least. The last review I wrote was for a very cozy mystery, Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J. A. Lang. Right now, I am working on a review for a book that is the exact opposite, at the other end of the spectrum. That book is The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips, and although it is set on Christmas Eve, it is the bleakest, darkest book I have ever read. Review coming soon.

Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle: J. A. Lang

Description from the author's website:

“They say one should never trust a thin chef. By this measure, Chef Maurice was very trustworthy indeed.” 

It’s autumn in the Cotswolds, and Chef Maurice is facing a problem of mushrooming proportion. 

Not only has his wild herb and mushroom supplier, Ollie Meadows, missed his weekly delivery—he’s missing vital signs too, when he turns up dead in the woods near Beakley village.

In general I don't want a book to be too cozy, and I don't look for humor in my mysteries, but somehow J. A. Lang put those two together and created a book that I found charming.

Why did I read this book? First, because I saw a very, very positive review at the Puzzle Doctor's blog, In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel. Second, because I like to try the occasional book outside of my comfort zone, on both ends of the spectrum. Third, because the author contacted me and asked me to read and review it (back in June of this year, I am very slow). I did, however, purchase my own paperback copy.

This book is about 230 pages long, and about 22 chapters. I think it took me about 3 chapters to settle in. From that point I enjoyed it to the end. Some of the characters are over the top, especially the main character, Chef Maurice. Yet I found the characters to be the most attractive part of the book. Even the sleazy ones. I had a hard time believing I would like Maurice's pet pig, who was adopted from The Helping Paws Pet Sanctuary in Cowton to aid in the hunt for truffles. But I did enjoy Hamilton, the micro-breed pig, and his presence did not dominate the story.

Basically, Chef Maurice is interested in food and cooking and his restaurant. All of his motivations are ruled by his search for good foods, supplies for his restaurant, and ... truffles. This is how he sees the policewoman working on the case...

It was PC Lucy Gavistone, of the Cowton and Beakley Constabulary, and the only member of the force who lived in Beakley itself. She ate at Le Cochon Rouge every Sunday lunch and always tipped well.

Other favorite characters are Maurice's friend Arthur Wordington-Smythe, a food and restaurant critic and Patrick, the sous-chef. Here they have a conversation about Patrick's dinner date with PC Lucy...

“What if she's an awful cook? Should I lie?”

“Never,” said Chef Maurice, who lied all the time.

“Absolutely,” said Arthur, the happily married man. “Make sure to have second helpings too. The way to a woman's heart is through your stomach.”

Patrick looked pained. “Can I at least offer constructive criticism?" 

“Not if you don't want her to retaliate,” said Arthur, patting him on the shoulder. “Especially at a point in the evening when you least expect it.” 

I thought about adding a bit more description of the plot but decided just to point you to other reviews which do cover that in more detail:

At the Scene of the Crime
Euro Crime (by Rich Westwood)
A Crime is Afoot
My Reader's Block

The real test of how much I like a book is whether I am motivated to buy the next book. I am definitely putting #2 in this series on my Christmas list.
 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Purple Panda Press, 2015
Length:   229 pages
Format:   trade paperback
Series:    Chef Maurice #1
Setting:   UK (Cotswolds)
Genre:    humorous cozy mystery

Funeral in Berlin: Len Deighton

Funeral in Berlin (1964) is the third novel in the Nameless Spy series by Len Deighton. I will confess to being confused about plot points and characters and relationships when reading books in this series. In fact, I was very disappointed in The Ipcress File because I was lost a good deal of the time. In this particular book, there were only a few chapters where Deighton lost me temporarily and later it all began to make sense. This is my favorite so far of that series. (I will be going back to reread The Ipcress File, and probably the rest of the books in the series, once I have finished all the books.)

In this story, the nameless spy is sent to East Berlin to facilitate the defection of an East German scientist. He must work with the Russian security-chief Colonel Stok and Hallam of the British Home Office. An elaborate plan is set up to get the scientist out of East Berlin. This book was published only three years after the Berlin Wall was constructed; in the introduction, Deighton speaks of the time he spent in East Berlin shortly after the wall went up. The setting feels very authentic.

This book in the series had some interesting differences from the first two. There are over 50 chapters and  almost all of them start with a brief tidbit about a move or strategy in chess. For example: "Players who relish violence, aggression and movement often depend upon the Spanish Game." With no knowledge of chess, this meant nothing to me, but it was a nice touch anyway.

This story was not entirely told in first person. From what I remember, the first two books were told only from the nameless spy's point of view and in first person. In this book, there where chapters here and there that were in third person and focused on the story from various character's points of view. I liked that change, although the narration of the nameless spy is one of the best elements of the story.

There are lots of great characters in this story. The aforementioned Stok in East Berlin and Hallam in London are both memorable. Johnny Vulkan is a double agent that has helped the agency before. There is a discussion with the head of the agency regarding using Vulkan on this case:

'The point I'm making is, that the moment Vulkan feels we are putting him on ice he'll shop around for another job. Ross at the War Office or O'Brien at the P.O. will whip him into the Olympia Stadion and that's the last we will see of him...'

Dawlish touched his finger-tips together and looked at me sardonically. 

'You think I am too old for this job, don't you?'

I said nothing.

 'If we decide not to continue with Vulkan's contract there is no question of leaving him available for the highest bidder.' 

I didn't think old Dawlish could make me shiver.

Another element I like in these stories is the addition of footnotes. They are not extensive enough to break the flow of reading but do add bits of information which would not fit in the flow of conversation.

This book was made into a film, as was The Ipcress File. Michael Caine starred in both films. I had seen The Ipcress File film for the first time in May of this year. I enjoyed it; Caine was just wonderful in the role (called Harry Palmer in the films). However, it was only a bit less confusing than the book. I watched the film adaptation of Funeral in Berlin very shortly after finishing the book and I liked this film even better than the first one. Probably because I understood what was going on, plus my increased familiarity with the characters.

Martin Edwards has posted a film review of Funeral in Berlin at his blog Do You Write Under Your Own Name?

I have reviewed Horse Under Water and also all the books in the Bernard Samson series. My review of the last book in the series, Charity, is here.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Reissued 2011 by Sterling (first published 1964)
Length:   270 pages
Format:   trade paperback
Series:    Nameless Spy #3
Setting:   UK, East and West Berlin
Genre:    espionage fiction