The Inheritance

I have just finished The Inheritance by Simon Tolkien. Overall, this was a great read. I really got pulled into the fight to save Stephen from the gallows. I find it interesting how quickly justice moved in Britain. If the story had happened in America, we would have had all the time in the world to try and find new evidence (what with the bazillion ways to appeal and bring the wheels of justice to a grinding halt). I felt the time slipping away as Trave fought against the clock to try and save an innocent man.

I did keep thinking of The Historian while reading this. After all, when it comes to history/mysteries, apparently all roads lead to France. If you've got a mysterious item from the past, you should hide it somewhere in France--preferably in a church. Of course, the addition of the courtroom drama did give this story a completely different feel. And it was nice to have a really human inspector on the case. He wasn't the super-policeman on the force, just your average copper, trying to do his best and going with what seemed to be the right answer given the evidence--and then trying to make things right when he becomes convinced that they've gotten the wrong man. I would suggest this to all my friends who enjoy mysteries with a bit of the past to them, courtroom dramas, or just an interesting look at how the past can drive what is done in the present.

Next up: Break It Down (short stories) by Lydia Davis. I saw a mention of one of the stories in this collection somewhere, but now it's taken the doggone library so long to track it down (it's been MIA for a while), that I can't remember which one. I'm interested to see if I'll remember it when I get to it.