Short Story Wednesday: The Allingham Casebook

I saw The Allingham Casebook offered as an ebook, and decided to read the sample to see if I was interested. The sample consisted of one and a half stories, so once I got halfway through the second story I decided I had to purchase the book (it was a reasonable price) to finish the story. 

So here are my thoughts on the first three stories in the book.

"Tall Story"

This was a brief story, seven or eight pages. It stars Charlie Luke, Divisional Detective Chief Inspector of the London Metropolitan Police. He tells the story of how he joined the CID years before. Albert Campion was involved but only as part of the audience. 

"Three is a Lucky Number"

This is the story of a man planning the murder of his third wife. This one was very clever, and amusing, and I loved the ending.

"The Villa Marie Celeste"

Both Charlie Luke and Albert Campion feature in this story. It was my favorite of the three. 

Luke brings in Albert Campion when he cannot solve the mystery of a missing couple. The couple has been missing for days and the police are no closer to a solution than when they were first notified. Apparently the couple just walked out of the house with breakfast and warm tea on the table. The newspapers had been comparing the incident to the mystery of the Marie Celeste, a ship found deserted at sea. 

I hope I like the rest of the stories as well as these, they certainly were quick and entertaining reads.

A list of stories in the book follows. I think some of them have also been published under other names.

 

1. Tall Story

2. Three is a Lucky Number

3. The Villa Marie Celeste

4. The Psychologist

5. Little Miss Know-All

6. One Morning They'll Hang Him

7. The Lieabout

8. Face Value

9. Evidence in Camera

10. Joke Over

11. The Lying-in-State

12. The Pro and the Con

13. Is There a Doctor in the House?

14. The Border-Line Case

15. They Never Get Caught

16. The Mind's Eye Mystery

17. Mum Knows Best

18. The Snapdragon and the CID

The Mitford Murders: Jessica Fellowes

The Mitford Murders was my first read for 20 Books of Summer. I have been looking forward to this book because I am interested in both the Mitford family and the time setting. I recently read two biographies of the Mitford sisters and I am currently reading a book of their letters. This story starts after the end of World War I, and includes a lot of references to the effects of the war on those who participated and their families. I found this book to a very good read and it lived up to my expectations.

Louisa Cannon, a very young woman living in poverty with her mother in London, wants to improve her life, but even more important she wants to escape her abusive uncle. A friend helps her get an interview for the job of nursemaid for the Mitford family; at the time they have five children, with one on the way. Louisa soon settles into her new position with the Mitfords under the guidance of Nanny Blor.

Later, Louisa learns that Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of the original Florence Nightingale, was killed on a train on the same night that Louisa was traveling to Asthall Manor. The murdered woman was a good friend of Nanny Blor's sister, and 16-year-old Nancy, the eldest Mitford daughter, takes a great interest in the case.

 

The story has a lot of characters from real life; I think the author did a good job of portraying those characters and creating a fictional story around them. On the other hand, it took me a while to warm up to the main characters, Louisa and Guy Sullivan. On her railroad trip to Asthall Manor, Louisa had met Guy Sullivan of the Brighton and South Coast Railway Police. He was involved with the initial investigation of Florence Shore's murder. Louisa learns more of Florence's background via friends of the Mitford family. The story goes back and forth between Louisa's experiences with the Mitford family and Guy's investigation of Florence Shore's death. Guy does not think her death is due to a robbery but his superiors give up on the case for lack of evidence. He continues to investigate, against his boss's wishes. Together Louisa and Guy discover more about the murdered woman and her friends and relatives, but their search for evidence goes on for over two years, which is unusual in a mystery novel. During that time we get to know them better and share their trials and tribulations. 

I enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end. The characters and the story were all good, and I thought the depiction of the time period was excellent. Towards the end there are big surprises and a good bit of tension.

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Publisher:   Minotaur Books, 2018 (orig. pub. 2017)
Length:      415 pages
Format:      Trade Paper
Series:       Mitford Murders #1
Setting:      UK
Genre:       Historical Mystery
Source:     Purchased in December 2022.

The Mask of Memory: Victor Canning

I read The Mask of Memory by Victor Canning in March of this year. Published in 1974, it is the 3rd book in a loose series called the Birdcage books. They all revolve around a covert security group in the UK, a branch of the Ministry of Defense. The agents are generally amoral, although they believe that their mission is important to the welfare of the country. 

In this book, there are two plotlines. One deals with an effort to expose nefarious activities of a left wing trade union movement before an election; the most experienced operative in the security group, Bernard Tucker, investigates this situation. 

The second narrative revolves around Bernard's wife, Margaret, who has been neglected by her husband and is growing more and more unhappy in the marriage. Margaret walks on the beach near her home frequently; she meets Maxie Dougall on one of her walks. Maxie had engineered the meeting, and has plans to ensnare her in a relationship. The reader discovers that Bernard has kept his wife and his home in North Devon from his boss and coworkers in the security group, and will probably lose his job if this is discovered. 

My Thoughts:

The story is very complex and there are twists and revelations throughout the book. Canning does a beautiful job of developing interesting characters. Margaret was the most sympathetic character, but all were interesting and I wanted the best ending for all of them. Thus the book was much more upbeat than the first two books in the series.

Another plus for me is that this novel had beautiful descriptions of the countryside and the birds in North Devon. Maxie is an artist, although not very good, and he supports himself selling his drawings of birds. 

I enjoyed the first two books in the series, Firecrest and The Rainbird Pattern,  but this one was my favorite so far. I will be moving on to the fourth book in the series, The Doomsday Carrier, soon. It is on my 20 Books of Summer list.

The blogger (Nick Jones at Existential Ennui) who introduced me to this series questioned whether the books were really a series after reading the first three books and not recognizing any connecting characters in the books. I had the same experience. The description of the series at the Spy Guys and Gals web site notes that there are some characters that occur in multiple books, and some of those show up in this book. Nevertheless, I think these books can be read as standalone books. 

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Publisher:   Collier Books, 1990 (orig. pub. 1974)
Length:       260 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Birdcage books #3
Setting:      UK
Genre:        Espionage fiction
Source:      Purchased at Planned Parenthood book sale, 2019.

Short Story Wednesday: More Stories from Mick Herron

 

Dolphin Junction by Mick Herron was published in 2021 and features 11 short stories previously published between 2006 and 2019.

The  book includes four stories about the Oxford wife-and-husband detective team of Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann, characters from Herron's Oxford Investigations series, plus a story about Jackson Lamb, top agent in the Slow Horses series, which goes back to a time in the past when he had an assignment in Berlin. There are also six short stories with no connection to any of his novels.

Back in April of this year, I read the first six short stories from Dolphin Junction. My review of the six stories is here.

This week I read the remaining five stories. Here are my descriptions and thoughts on those stories.

"The Other Half" 

The third Joe Silvermann / Zoë Boehm story in the book. This one focuses primarily on Joe, who is approached by an acquaintance whose apartment was recently trashed by his ex-girlfriend after he broke up with her. He wants Joe to help him get revenge.

“All the Livelong Day” 

A man and his wife are on a five-day break from work, which is mostly a walking holiday. The couple appears to be having marital problems, with lots of resentments brewing on both sides. On the third day they take a long hike off the beaten track, and get lost. There is a flock of birds swirling above a farmhouse that causes anxiety for the wife as she goes in search of help for her husband, who has injured his leg badly. This was one of the longer stories in the book at 45 pages. A lot of reviewers liked this story, but it was not my type of story. Too full of dread.

“The Last Dead Letter” 

This is the story that features Jackson Lamb and Molly Doran, the MI5 archivist, both from the Slow Horses series. Molly relates a story about a Berlin operative during the cold war who falls in love, and hopes that Jackson Lamb will tell her how it ends. I always welcome any additional stories about Slough House and its operatives, and this one gives another view of Jackson Lamb.

"The Usual Santas"

An unusual Christmas story. This is the story of a giant shopping mall that has hired a group of eight Santas that rotate assignments during the Christmas season. The eight Santas work at the mall in this position every year and at the end of each Christmas season there is a party. They go in their Santa costumes and never introduce themselves to each other. (A rather unusual and somewhat unbelievable premise.) This year a ninth Santa shows up and they cannot determine who is the fake Santa, which leads to some philosophical discussions. The story is cynical but also cheerful with an upbeat ending.

"What We Do"

This is the last Joe Silvermann / Zoë Boehm story in the book. This time the story is primarily about Zoë, who is in a 50-minute session with a therapist. She has to fill 50 minutes, so she tells him about a recent case. The story had a good twist, which I did not expect.

Reading the four stories in Dolphin Junction featuring Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann makes me want to return to the Oxford Investigations novels soon. I have read the first two books in that series, and the next two are on my TBR. That series focuses on Zoë Boehm and Sarah Tucker.

You can find another review of this book and a full list of the stories at George Kelley's blog.

Short Story Wednesday: Robert Olen Butler

 

This week I read three stories from Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards by Robert Olen Butler. My husband purchased this book recently and read all the stories and liked the book very much. 

Butler collects postcards from the early 1900s and he used some of these postcards as the basis for the stories in this book. Thus all of the stories are set in that time period. 

Each story is preceded by an image of the front and back of the postcard, and the message on the postcard is reproduced. 

I read the first three stories. Each was written in first person narrative, and they all were between 10-20 pages in length. I enjoyed all of them. 

"Hotel Touraine" is about a bellboy working at the hotel, and his reaction to the very rich guests, in particular one very young man who is heir to millions. 

"Mother in the Trenches" is a bit different, based on a photo of a woman in the trenches with those words written at the bottom. The narrator of the story is a woman who has journeyed from the US to France to visit her son in the infantry. A very moving story.

"The Ironworkers' Hayride" is more humorous than the first two stories, and a bit longer. The narrator is an introverted young man who works as an accountant for the ironworks in Sunnyvale, California. Another man has asked him to take his sister-in-law on a hayride and he has told him that the sister-in-law has a wooden leg. I am not sure if the narrator is too shy or worried about the wooden leg, but he eventually gives in and escorts her on the hayride. This was Glen's favorite story in the book, although he liked them all. This story was made into a one-act opera with libretto by Robert Olen Butler. 

When I first read these stories I thought "Mother in the Trenches" was my favorite of the three. But in the days since I read them, parts of all three of them have returned to my mind often, so I guess I just like them all.

I have never read anything else by Robert Olen Butler, but I will be reading the remaining stories in this book and look for other short stories by him.

A Summer Challenge: 20 Books of Summer 2023

 

This is my eighth year of participating in the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge. The event is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. 

This year, 20 Books of Summer starts June 1st and ends September 1st. I completed my list of 20 books in 2018 and 2019, but in other years I had mixed results. 

I always have a problem with reviewing all the books, but this year I am putting my priority on reviewing the books rather than finishing the list. We will see how that goes.

The event is very flexible. You can go for 15 Books of Summer or 10 Books of Summer if 20 is more than you want to commit to. Books can be substituted along the way. And that is fine. See this link for a description of the event. 

Coming up with the list is the best part. Here is my list of books.

Mysteries

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby

A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

A Man's Head by Georges Simenon

Murder Most Fowl by Bill Crider

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny 

Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill

Sleep and His Brother by Peter Dickinson

The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes

Spy Fiction

Our Man in Camelot by Anthony Price

SS-GB by Len Deighton (alternative history)

The Mulberry Bush by Charles McCarry

The Doomsday Carrier by Victor Canning

Science Fiction 

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Fiction

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and Frank Doel

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullars

Nonfiction

Jane Austen Cover to Cover by Margaret Sullivan

Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions by Steve Martin, illus. by Harry Bliss (graphic novel)

A Fire Story by Brian Fies (graphic novel)