Bookshelf Traveling for Insane Times — from my Son's shelves

Judith at Reader in the Wilderness has started a new meme: Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times. The idea is to look through a bookshelf or a bookcase or stacks of books and share some thoughts on the books. You can find more details here and here at Judith's blog.

When I started writing this post it was my son's birthday, so I decided to share some books I have borrowed from my son to read.

First is Westside by W. M. Akers:

This one came out in 2019 and my son read it before publication.

The Kirkus review says of Westside: "Akers’ debut novel is an addictively readable fusion of mystery, dark fantasy, alternate history, and existential horror." It is set in an alternate 1920s Manhattan.

Description on the back of the book:

Blending the vivid atmosphere of Caleb Carr with the imaginative power of Neil Gaiman, Westside is a mystery steeped in the supernatural and shot through with gunfights, rotgut whiskey, and sizzling Dixieland jazz. Full of dazzling color, delightful twists, and truly thrilling action...

Sounds interesting. I should be reading it in April.

And then...
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams

In March 2019, I read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by the same author.  The story starts out seeming like an ordinary detective story with strange characters, but also has ghosts and time travel. It was weird and confusing, and I loved it. I did not even try to review it.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, first published in 1988, is the 2nd book in the Dirk Gently series, and I assume it will similar and just as much fun.

One book review at 1001 Book Reviews said that both books need to be read twice to understand them, and I am sure I will be doing that.

Also ...
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

This is what I know about this book:  It is a young adult novel first published in 1962 and deals with time travel. It is the first book in the Time Quintet.

Kelli Stanley, author of the Miranda Corbie series set in San Francisco in the 1940s, says:

A Wrinkle in Time is essentially science fiction. But it uses questions about science to delve into metaphysics, spirituality, and the human condition.

I think that is all I need to know going into it, and I am looking forward to reading it.

October Men: Anthony Price

This is the fourth book in the David Audley series, a cold war espionage series set in the UK (and other countries, depending on the book) and usually featuring some historical element. David Audley is the central character throughout the series, but each book is different, focusing on other characters within the team. The fifth book in the series, Other Paths to Glory, was the winner of the 1974 Gold Dagger Award.

Audley, an agent in the Research and Development Section of the Britain's Intelligence Services, goes off to Rome unexpectedly—with his wife and child—and without telling his bosses. These actions fit a defection, and Peter Richardson is dispatched to Rome to find him. General Montuori, head of Italian security, has discovered that Audley is in Rome and that there is some connection to an old enemy of his, who has also turned up in Rome. Thus Richardson arrives just when two men in Italian security have been shot, one killed and one in critical condition, while trying to apprehend Audley and his wife at the ruins at Ostia Antica. As usual, the plot is very complex, but the action, intrigue, and denouement are compelling.

This book has two point of view characters: Peter Richardson and Pietro Boselli, personal assistant to General Montuori. Boselli is a wonderful character, not at all eager to be in the field but somehow forced into a more active role. Both characters know only part of the story.

Of the four books I have read, Audley is only fully present in the first one. In this book he has a significant role but does not show up in person for more than half of the book. He is not a lovable hero. I get the impression that no one really likes Audley, but he gets things done and he is respected and admired.

The David Audley series has become one of my favorite spy series. I love this kind of spy fiction, which TV Tropes describes as the Stale Beer flavor: more realistic, not romanticizing the subject, grittier. The focus in these books is on characterization and intellect, not action, although there is some of that present.

Other resources:

• I first read about Anthony Price and this series of espionage novels at Nick Jones' blog, Existential Ennui. See his review of October Men. 
• Also see an overview post at Existential Ennui with links to reviews and other posts on his blog.
• And an article at Mystery Scene by H.R.F. Keating: Anthony Price: A Writer to Remember

As noted, this book is set in Italy and features the archaeological site Ostia Antica. There is also reference to World War II activities in Italy.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Futura, 1982. Orig. pub. 1973.
Length:      256 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      David Audley / Jack Butler #4
Setting:     UK, Italy
Genre:      Spy fiction
Source:     Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale in 2019. 

Snow Angels: James Thompson

This is the first novel in the Inspector Vaara series by James Thompson. With so much violence, it probably wasn't the book I should have chosen to read this month, but I was interested in the setting.

Description from the back of my book:

It is called kaamos: two weeks of unrelenting darkness and soul-numbing cold that falls upon Finnish Lapland, a hundred miles into the Arctic Circle, just before Christmas. Some get through it with the help of cheap Russian alcohol; some sink into depression.

This year, it may have driven someone mad enough to commit murder. The brutalized body of a beautiful Somali woman has been found in the snow, and Inspector Kari Vaara must find her killer. It will be a challenge in a place where ugly things lurk under frozen surfaces, and silence is a way of life.

This book was first published in 2009 and was reissued in trade paperback format in the US in 2011. My copy says this on the cover: "If you liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you'll love this."  I don't see the comparison myself, except for the setting in a Scandinavian country and a lot of violence.

I cannot say I enjoyed this book overall, even though it has some good points. The crime was very brutal and there was extensive detailed graphic discussion of the brutality of the crime throughout the book.

Sometimes I can handle books dealing with brutal and violent crime, if the characters are well developed and/or the plot is very interesting. However, in this novel, there were very few sympathetic characters. The only interesting characters with any depth were the inspector and his wife. Inspector Kari Vaara has always lived in Lapland, but his wife is an American woman who is the general manager of a large ski resort. They have not been married long, and they face the challenges that two people from different cultures would have, plus both have demanding jobs.

The story is written in first person, present tense, which sometimes added to my confusion. Except for the present tense, I found Thompson's writing very readable and he pulled me into the story, but the plot seemed overly complex, unrealistic, and confusing.

I learned a lot about Finland from this book, although not much of it positive. The story discusses social problems in Finland—violence, mental illness, alcoholism, and racism. This book was published in Finland first, in the Finnish language, even though the author was an American. At the time the book was published, James Thompson had lived in Finland for 12 years. He died in 2014 at the age of 50.

There are a total of five books in the Inspector Vaara series, published between 2009 and 2015. I believe that the rest of the novels are set in Helsinki. I have not given up on this author, although I am not in a rush to try anymore of his books right now.

Many reviews of this book are much more positive. Thus I am including links to reviews at Material Witness, Petrona, Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan, and Kittling Books.

This is a good interview with the author at Scene of the Crime, with more about the setting and a short excerpt from this book.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Berkley Books, 2011. Orig. pub. 2009.
Length:     292 pages
Format:     Trade Paperback
Series:      Inspector Vaara, #1
Setting:     Kattila, Lapland, Finland
Genre:      Police Procedural
Source:    On my TBR pile since 2012.

Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times

Judith at Reader in the Wilderness has started a new meme and she's calling it 'Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times'. More details are here and here at Judith's blog. The idea is to do this every Friday (but anytime in the weekend is fine). For these times when we are (mostly) confined to our homes, the suggestion is to look through a bookshelf or a bookcase or stacks of books and share some thoughts on the books. Or in general: "Talking about books and reading experiences from the past, present, or future."

My first thought was to go through my stacks and boxes of uncatalogued books choose a few to talk about (and then actually catalog them). For two years now, I have neglected to catalog most of the books I have bought, and that is a large number, because I always buy at least 100 books at the annual Planned Parenthood Book Sale (most of them are $1 each).

So I will start with:
Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains. This is book 5 in the Dandy Gilver series, written by Catriona McPherson. I had forgotten I had purchased it online over a year ago.

I have read two previous books in the series. I was lukewarm on the first book, After the Armistice Ball, but I liked the 4th book in the series, The Winter Ground, a lot. And The Winter Ground is set around Christmas.

Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains is set in 1926 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Dandy, a wealthy amateur sleuth, has taken an undercover job as a maid to investigate a possible crime. This sounds like a really interesting premise, so I am glad I uncovered this book.


Next is...
Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger

This one I knew I had, but wasn't sure where it had ended up. Now that I have relocated it, I will read it in the next few months. Boundary Waters is the second book in the Cork O'Connor series, which now numbers 17 books. In December 2018, I read the first book in this series, Iron Lake, after a recommendation by Rick Robinson at Tip the Wink. That one had been on my TBR a long, long time.

This description of the series is from Krueger's web site:

Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe.

Boundary Waters takes place in the Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border.

... and also...
Mistakenly in Mallorca by Roderic Jeffries

Now this is a book and a series I don't know much about. I learned about this from two sources: Margot Kinberg, when she was blogging at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist, and Mathew Paust at Crime Time.  I purchased a copy in November 2018.

This was the first book in the Inspector Alvarez series and was published in 1974. There are a total of 37 books in the series, and the last was published in 2013. He wrote several other series, under various pseudonyms.

Enrique Alvarez is a police inspector on Mallorca, the largest island in the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean. Although it is a part of Spain, the native language is Catalan, with Spanish also an official language. This setting in the early 1970s sounds interesting, and I like police procedurals, so I was willing to give it a try. I should do that soon.

Miss Silver Deals with Death: Patricia Wentworth

Miss Silver Deals with Death has one of my favorite  settings for a mystery... London during World War II. Actually I like stories of any type taking place on the homefront in any part of England. But stories actually written at that time are the most interesting.

Meade Underwood is living with her aunt in a flat in Valendeur House in London during the war. She was on a ship that was torpedoed while travelling back to the UK from America; she survived, her fiancé did not. Then she runs into Giles, her fiancé, on the street and finds that he was rescued and has lost his memory. Coincidentally, a woman, Carola Roland, who lives in another flat in the same building also knows Giles, and claims that they were once married. And then Carola is killed and of course Giles is a suspect. In addition, someone is blackmailing the residents of Valendeur House and Miss Silver is called in to sort it all out.

That short synopsis sounds complicated enough, but there are five more occupied flats in the building and each has occupants with their own interesting story. As often happens in this series, Miss Silver does not show up very much until there is a murder and that doesn't happen until almost halfway through the book. So, for readers who want the crime and the investigation to start fairly early in the book, this might not appeal. I usually like that kind of story, where there is a good bit of set up of the characters and the situation before the crime takes place.

Another recurring element in Miss Silver books is a romance. In this case we have not just one but two romances. In addition to Meade's reunion with her lover that was thought to be dead, two other tenants at Vandeleur House are attracted to each other. I used to find this irritating in mysteries, now it really depends on the author and the book; in this case, I liked it fine.

The policemen who deal with the crime are Chief Inspector Lamb and Sergeant Abbott. Sergeant Abbott is more accepting of Miss Silver's help in the investigation than the inspector. These policemen often feature in Miss Silver mysteries.

I did enjoy this book very much. In addition to the setting, I liked the way Wentworth introduces all the characters and we eventually learn about their personalities in more depth, and how the war has changed their lives. And I always enjoy Miss Silver and her methods of detection. The book was recommended to me by Moira at Clothes in Books (under the title Miss Silver Intervenes); her post is here.

The illustration on the cover of the paperback is by John Jinks, whose art also was on covers of mysteries by Walter Mosley and Stuart Palmer.

 -----------------------------

Publisher: HarperPerennial, 1991 (first publ. 1944)
Length:    231 pages
Format:    Trade Paperback
Series:     Miss Silver Mysteries #6
Setting:    UK 
Genre:     Mystery

Source:    I purchased my copy at the Planned Parenthood book sale in 2017.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good: Helene Tursten

The five stories in this slim volume were written by Helene Tursten, the author of the Inspector Irene Huss series. But the stories bear no resemblance to the Irene Huss novels. Irene Huss and some of her colleagues do show up in the last story.

All the stories focus on eighty-eight-year-old Maud, who lives in a lovely apartment in Gothenburg, Sweden, rent free. Being very old, some people try to take advantage of her but she is not easy to fool. And she can take care of herself.

One theme throughout the stories is how elderly people are treated and overlooked in society. Maud uses this perception of older people to her advantage.

The five stories are:

• “An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems”
• “An Elderly Lady on Her Travels"
• “An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime”
• “The Antique Dealer’s Death”  
• “An Elderly Lady Is Faced with a Difficult Dilemma”

I liked the last two stories best; the last story tells the previous story from a different point of view. Even if short stories are not your thing you might enjoy this set of connected stories because it reads something like a short novel. This small book is full of dark humor.

“An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime” was published in The Usual Santas: A Collection of Soho Crime Christmas Capers, if you already have that collection of stories.

If you can read this book without having read a review or any of the book cover text, I recommend that. Most reviews, and even some blurbs within the book, tell more than I wanted to know in advance. For that reason, I have given an overview of the stories with no details. If you do want more detail about the stories, check these posts at

• Kingdom Books, Mysteries - Reviews, 
• Kittling Books, and 
• Washington Independent Review of Books.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Soho Crime, 2018 

Translated by Marlaine Delargy 
Length:       171 pages in a small format book
Format:       Hardcover
Setting:       Sweden
Genre:        Crime fiction, short stories
Source:       Purchased in November 2019.