The Frozen Shroud: Review

DK: He was dying, and it mattered little to him whether the story came out in five years or fifty. He settled for leaving it to be dug up by a researcher who shared his academic interests and had the time and inclination to wade through his journals.
HS: It's taken a long time.
DK: Unravelling secrets of history often does.
~Daniel Kind, Hannah Scarlett (p. 257)

The Frozen Shroud is the sixth book in Martin Edwards' Lake District mystery series.  And it's good enough to me wonder what I was doing with myself when the other five came out.  Fortunately, although it might have been useful to have the back story on our leading characters--Daniel Kind and DCI Hannah Scarlett--it's not absolutely necessary to have read the previous five to enjoy this entry.

This time out, we're taken to Ravenbank, a secluded community in England's Lake District. Ravenbank, originally called Satan's Head, has been home to murder twice on Halloween.  Just before World War I, a young, beautiful housemaid said to have been involved with the master of Ravenbank Hall was found dead with her face battered and a cloth shroud frozen to her wounds.  Locals talk of her ghost, known as the Faceless Woman, walking restlessly through Ravenbank on the night of her death...searching for justice.  Just five years ago, another beautiful young woman, Shenagh Moss, was beaten to death and left with a cloth covering her injuries.  Her death was blamed on a jealous ex-lover who conveniently died before he can be questioned.

Daniel Kind and his sister Louise are invited to a Halloween party by the current owner of Ravenbank.  Kind is a former television celebrity and a specialist in the history murder.  He is told the story of the Faceless Woman and about the more recent murder and becomes interested--wondering whether the most obvious suspects, the unbalanced wife of the lord of the manor in the original and the jealous ex-lover in the most recent case, were truly to blame.  But on the night of the Halloween party a third beautiful young woman dies--once again beaten and shrouded--and this one falls close to home.  

The victim, Terri Poynton, was the best friend of DCI Hannah Scarlett, a police officer who has crossed Daniel's path on several occasions.  Although not officially allowed on the case because of her connections to the victim, Hannah and Daniel manage to follow up clues that will lead to the resolution of not one murder....but three.

This is a well-plotted mystery with lots of red herrings and plenty of suspects.  I've got to give Edwards credit--he had me changing my mind about the culprit with nearly every turn of the page.  I should have stuck with my first thought....but that my own fault.  The descriptions of the Lake District are lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions of all the characters.  I look forward to turning to the beginning of the the series and seeing how the relationship between Daniel and Hannah has come about.  In this novel they are just figuring out that what their friends have been saying to them just might be true--they're suited for each other.  But I can tell there's a lot of water under those bridges and I want to find out where it came from.  An excellent entry in what seems to be a very fine series.  Four stars.

The Ivy League Chronicles: 9 Squares (Review)

I picked up The Ivy League Chronicles: 9 Squares for two reasons. First, it is set at Yale University and features a former Scotland Yard detective now professor (academic mystery!).  Second, it fulfills the "Book Published in 2013" category for the Book Bingo Challenge.  The premise intrigued me and I was interested in the character of Richard Wikki, the former detective who is now teaching for Yale's law school.  The time period--the 1920s--was also a big draw. 

Wikki becomes friends with Maize Judson, daughter of a local newspaperman and a young woman preparing for her freshman year at Yale.  Maize dreams of becoming an investigative reporter and following in her father's footsteps.
Things get interesting when Maize and her friend Leslie have a picnic at the beach that results in the discovery of a long-buried skeleton with a strange amulet in its hand.  Her father consults Wikki in his efforts to report the news, but Maize is the one who works with Wikki to solve the mystery.  Their search takes them to various historical sites in Connecticut--site connected to witches and the occult.  It seems that there are mysterious forces at work--forces that may have been responsible for the death of the man whose skeleton was found on the beach as well as responsible for disrupting lives in the present.

Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my expectations. The writing varies from stilted to jumpy.  Prescott begins telling the reader about Richard Wikki's tragic background and then just stops--leaving the reader hanging.  She jumps from character to character, telling bits and pieces about them in a way that I imagine she thinks will keep the reader wanting more.  Well, kindof, but not in a "oh, this is so great; you must give me more" way.  More of a "could you please just get on with telling us about these people" kind of way....And then there are the historical bits and pieces that just get shoved in willy-nilly--the local Pastor gives a tidy little history of the church at dinner, a member of a secret society references his membership in the Elihu Society at Yale and, darn, if we don't have to give a full run-down of when it was founded and by whom and why he came to America and whatnot.   The novel tends to run in this pattern: introduce characters, historical info-dump, a bit of action, historical info-dump, a bit more action, oooh look another historical info-dump, and so on.  Good writers work their research into the story in a convincing way that actually moves the plot along....poor writers produce lectures that are awkwardly inserted throughout the novel.

The manuscript could definitely have used a lot more editorial attention than what it seems to have received.  Many, many unfortunate word choices sprinkled throughout-- instances of just plain not the right word.  One doesn't recline to another room--although one might recline once one got there; if one is speaking cheerfully and enthusiastically to a guest, then one most certainly is not lamenting to them;  and so on. [And, by the way, lamented is apparently Prescott's favorite word--it appears (sometimes used properly, sometimes not) repeatedly throughout the story.]  There is also the tiny little matter of a former British subject sounding WAY too American and possibly too American of the 1960s or later.  Would an Englishman really say "Cool....just like in the movies" (in the 1920s????).  And is it just me or does it seem a bit strange to have someone in the 1920s talking about a "database"?

If it's possible to write in a monotone, then Prescott has managed it.  The story is flat.  When the girls discover the skeleton there is no real emotion. Even though Prescott tells me that Leslie was startled, there isn't anything in the description that makes me believe it. I don't feel like Maize and Leslie are shocked or repulsed or, well, anything.  They just found it.  Eek.  Oh no.  What shall we do?  Despite the fact that someone is following the detective around throughout the second half of the book and someone actually gets killed while trying to warn the detective, there is no sense of urgency or emotion.  None of the events that should produce a response in the reader do.  Things just happen, and then we move on.  Then there's the habit of beating the reader over the head with a clue (for goodness sake, pay attention will you?  This right here is a CLUE with a capital "C" and blinky, neon lights and everything).  The reader isn't just presented with evidence--we're told in no certain terms that this piece of evidence is a BREAKTHROUGH.  By golly, the detective from Scotland Yard is so dazzled with it that he reacts more strongly than a girl finding a skeleton in the sand.  And yet...it still reads like it's written in monotone.

There are so many things wrong with this novel....the plot jumps around and is unrealistic. The reader is dropped into scenes and various characters just sort of pop up out of nowhere and we're supposed to believe it all--apparently because the plot involves "Chaos Theory" and witches and amulets and such.  That would be fine if Prescott had managed to lay a reasonable foundation to get us to believe such things--but she doesn't.  What's worse, she makes her lead detective--Lord/Professor/Detective Wikki (pick which one you want, 'cause she can't make up her mind and sometimes uses them all at once herself) willing to believe such things.  And him a former Scotland Yard Detective.  [snort]  That said--at no point does Richard Wikki convince me that he was ever a Detective for Scotland Yard.  His investigative procedures leave a lot to be desired and he relies very heavily on a just-graduated high school girl for an awful lot of his information.  At its most unbelievable, the story has him go randomly driving out in the country and he just happens to stumble upon a huge house that he thinks of as the "Victorian Manor." And, by golly, there are people in that house who knew he was coming, impart mystical knowledge (sortof) to him, and what do you suppose they call the place?  Why, the "Victorian Manor," of course.

Last but not least, virtually none of the threads of this mystery are tied up.  We don't learn who the mysterious HE is (and don't even get me started about the annoying passages where HE is introduced); we only learn the truth of what happened to the skeleton through a convenient afterward; nobody seems to care who the young man was who was trying to warn Wikki and died for his efforts--and we don't learn if HE was responsible or if that was someone else.  We have a modern murder that Wikki just might be able to solve and that's just completely swept away and forgotten.  We are, I imagine, supposed to assume that the mysterious shadow group is responsible for the death and a fire and everything else--but Wikki doesn't really seem all that concerned.  The book ends with Richard Wikki musing that it was "crystal clear to [him] that his investigation was just beginning"--but given his investigative progress in this book, that's not really going to draw me into a sequel. Almost 300 pages and we haven't solved much of anything.

Overall--a very annoying and disappointing read.  There were many instances where I had to go back a few pages to see if I had missed something because all of a sudden the characters were talking about something OR to someone that/who wasn't in the conversation just a minute ago.  There's a lot to be said for transitions and the proper use thereof.  No rhythm to the narrative.  I kept reading mainly because I wanted to count this book for a couple of challenges and I was really hoping to have more answers at the end.  One star.


*************
I rarely write such a completely negative review, but I just can't help myself this time.    Even if you are writing about situations that would be unbelievable in the real world, it can work if you make it believable within your own story and can make the reader believe that the characters within the story should believe.  This novel fails on that count.  I don't believe it and I don't believe in a Scotland Yard Detective who apparently believes it.

The African Queen: Review

It seemed absurd that there was nothing two people with a boat full of explosives could do to an enemy in whose midst they found themselves, and yet so it appeared. (pp. 22-3)


 In 1935 C. S. Forester published his World War I adventure story, The African Queen.  It begins with missionaries, Samuel and Rose Sayer (brother & sister), deep in Central Africa (Tanzania).  They have been working diligently with the African people for ten years when WWI begins and the Germans come and conscript the villagers.  Samuel's spirit is broken and he dies--leaving Rose alone.  Charlie Allnut, a Cockney who runs the steam launch The African Queen for a Belgian mining company, arrives to check on the village. After burying Samuel, he and Rose go down-river to hide behind an island and determine their future course.

Rose is full of patriotic fervor and a desire to revenge her brother and decides that she and Charlie must head down river to Lake Wittelsbach where the German gunboat reigns supreme.  Allnutt initially agrees just to humor her--but after a drunken rebellion and a round of the silent treatment, the two set out in earnest.  They face thunderstorms, fire from a German-held outpost on the river, raging rapids, and near-death on the rocks.  They overcome buzzing hordes of flies and mosquitoes, blood-thirsty leeches, a twisted shaft and broken propeller.  They steer and paddle, prod and push....and eventually carry the steam launch down the river to the reedy edge of the lake.  There they prepare oxygen canisters to serve as torpedoes and make ready for a night-time assault on the Königin Luise.

Classic movie buffs should all know the basic story of The African Queen.  Set during WWI, Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart set out down the supposedly impassable Ulanga River on a mission, devised by Hepburn's character Rose, to blow up the Germans' gunboat Königin Luise (aka the Louisa) and allow the British to move into Central Africa. True to Hollywood form, Hepburn and Bogart conquer all odds and even when it looks like they have failed, the heroes come out on top.  It makes for an exciting classic adventure film--and it's one of my all-time favorites.  Hepburn is perfect as the proper British Missionary Rose Sayer thrown into contact with Bogart's pragmatic, down-to-earth mechanic-cum-riverman, Charlie Allnutt.  And both Rosie and Charlie go through transformations on their journey down the river that might seem rushed in the hands of lesser actors.  The book allows for more time and description of the events and interactions that bring about the transformations--the film, of course, has to keep the action moving.

And over all, the film follows the book pretty closely--except for the ending.  There are things to like about both versions ( I like the German Captain's sense of honor in the book)--but if I have to choose, I think Hollywood did it better. The book's ending is fairly anti-climactic.  And after following Rosie and Charlie all the way down the river and joining them in all their brave adventures, it hardly seems fair to the intrepid couple.

I thoroughly enjoyed Forester's adventure novel and appreciated the characters of Rosie and Charlie.  Their interactions and development are spot on and I thought their romance very believable given the circumstances.  It was definitely nice to see Rose blossom once she was out from under the overbearing influence of her brother. Watching the film again was just an added pleasure--I have watched it many times and always enjoy the characters as played by Hepburn and Bogart.  I do like the line in the movie by German Captain when he is asked by Charlie to marry them before he hangs them: "By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William II, I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution."

Four stars for the book and five stars for the movie.

Hammett Unwritten: Review

What if the Maltese Falcon were real?  What if Dashiell Hammett, who said that all of the characters
he wrote about were based on people he'd actually known or knew about and who was himself a Pinkerton operative before becoming an author, really had an adventure similar to the events he made so famous in The Maltese Falcon?

According to "Owen Fitzstephen" (Gordon McAlpine) in Hammett Unwritten, that's precisely what happened.  Following in the footsteps of many an author who has unearthed various Holmes stories in a "battered tin dispatch box," McAlpine found a type-written manuscript buried in the Lillian Hellman collection of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.  What he had found was a manuscript with the byline "Owen Fitzstephen."  The name sounded familiar and when he did a search, he discovered that Fitzstephen was the name of a mystery writer in Hammett's The Dain Curse.  The description of the writer in the story is very Hammett-like and it would seem that McAlpine had found a long-lost Hammett novel written under a pseudonym.

And in a nutshell, what the story tells us is that in Hammett's last case as a Pinkerton man he ran into a crowd of treasure-hunters that would eventually give him the idea for one of his most famous books.  Only the story wasn't over when Moira, the girl upon which Brigid O'Shaughessy was based, was taken away to jail.  Hammett winds up keeping the worthless "Black Falcon" as a reminder of the case and the bird sits on his desk as he starts turning out story after story. Years later, when Moira is released from her imprisonment at an insane asylum, she comes back into Hammett's life and asks him for the fake Falcon.  She spins a story so fantastic that his pride forces him to tell her to take it.  she claims that the bird holds mystical powers and the only reason he's been a successful writer is because it has been in his possession.  To prove her wrong, he hands it over.  That will be the last year he publishes a novel.  Throughout the rest of his life, various characters from his own real-life Falcon adventure keep popping up--and all seem intent on finding the "fake" Falcon.  And each has a slightly different tale of the origins of the bird.  But wherever it came from; whatever story is true--and they say one of them must be; they all reaffirm that the bird is powerful and carries good fortune to whomever possesses it. Was Hammett "a sap" (to quote from his famous novel) to have given it up?  The story follows Hammett from 1930s San Francisco to Hollywood and from New York to a federal penitentiary where he's imprisoned during the Red Scare.  It all leads to a fateful meeting on New Year's Eve where Hammett will find the bird once more and finally learn the truth.  Or will he?

This is a fun book.  Fun for those of us who love The Maltese Falcon, for Hammett fans and hard-boiled fans alike.  It is an incredibly good pastiche of Falcon and Fitzstephen/McAlpine manages to get the characters playing characters exactly right.  It is also the most elaborate explanation of writer's block I've ever heard and it explores the superstitious nature that many writers (and other) have (needing a certain routine, having to wear a certain sweater, etc) in order to be successful in their field.  Is the power in the object itself--or does it only become powerful if we believe in it.  Excellent take on a beloved story.  Four stars.

84, Charing Cross Road: Review

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is an absolutely delightful book.  It is one of those rare things--a book that is not a vintage mystery that, having now read it from the library, I simply MUST get my hands on and own as soon as possible.  Yes, it's that good. It speaks directly to the soul of every book lover.

It begins in October of 1949 when Hanff, a poor proofreader and budding scriptwriter, first writes a letter to Marks & Company in London.  She is in search of inexpensive antiquarian books of good quality--something she can't find in her native New York. What begins as a search to quench her literary thirst turns into a twenty-year correspondence with Frank Doel (and other staff members at the British bookshop).  Although Helene writes often about her dream of visiting London one day, the two never meet and their correspondence becomes a lovely friendship based on their common love for the written word.  

This is a charming book that immediately won over this long-time bibliophile.  I can certainly understand Helene's raptures over receiving a perfect copy of a book long sought after.  I share her horror at finding that Marks & Co. wraps its shipments in pages from dismantled books (although I am dismayed to discover she had no problem tossing some of her lesser valued books in the trash to make room for more beloved books).  At just 100 pages, it seems hard to believe that two personalities could take such a firm hold on the imagination.  It is wonderful to read these letters from an era when one could get three antiquarian volumes (yes, THREE) for about $5.00 (and it doesn't make me too envious....).  Once I get my hands on my very own copy I will most definitely be rereading to discover any gems that were overlooked on this go-round.  Five stars--absolutely.  Filmed version is next on the docket.  Review to be added soon.

3/21/13: The film

Oh my.  How often does a film version of a book live up to expectations?  Not very.  But, oh my goodness, this does. Anne Bancroft is marvelous as the brash American looking for rare books in all the wrong places....until she discovers that ad for Marks & Co in London.  And Anthony Hopkins is perfect as the reserved British bookman who can't help smiling over the outrageous notes he receives from overseas.  The movie perfectly captures the time period as well as the camaraderie that develops between the two book lovers who never have the chance to meet.  I don't tear up often over movies, but I did when Helene had to cancel her plans for a trip to London in favor of necessary dental work and then again when she finally makes it "across the pond" after Marks & Co is closed and Frank Doel has passed away.  A touching, charming, delightful movie that breathes life into the letters that passed between these two.  A five-star movie as well as a five-star book.

Quotes:
I don't add too well in plain American. I haven't a prayer of ever mastering bilingual arithmetic. (p. 3)

Savage Landor arrived safely and promptly opened to a Roman dialogue where two cities had just been destroyed by war and everybody was being crucified and begging passing Roman soldiers to run them through and the agony. It'll be a relief to turn to Aesop and Rhodope where all you have to worry about is famine. (p. 7)

I do love secondhand books that open to the page some previous owner read oftenest. The day Hazlitt came he opened to "I hate to read new books," and I hollered, "Comrade!" to whoever owned it before me. (p. 7)

I require a book of love poems with spring coming on. No Keats or Shelley, send me poets who can make love without slobbering-- (p. 10)

WELL!!! All I have to say to YOU, Frank Doel, is we live in depraved, destructive and degenerate times when a bookshop--a BOOKSHOP--starts tearing up beautiful old books to use as wrapping paper. (p. 17)

WHAT KIND OF PEPYS' DIARY DO YOU CALL THIS?  this is not pepys' diary, this is some busybody editor's miserable collection of EXCERPTS from pepys' diary may he rot...i enclose two limp singles, i will make do with this thing until you find me a real Pepys. THEN i will rip up this ersatz book, page by page, AND WRAP THINGS IN IT. (p. 31)

you better watch out. i'm coming over there in 53 if ellery is renewed. i'm gonna climb up that victorian book-ladder and disturb the dust on the top shelves and everybody's decorum. Or didn't I ever tell you that I write arty murders for Ellery Queen on television? All my scripts have artistic backgrounds--ballet, concert hall, opera--and all the suspects and corpses are cultured. Maybe I'll do one about the rare book business in your honor, you want to be the murderer or the corpse? (p. 47)

First, enclosed find $3, P-and-P [Pride & Prejudice] arrived looking exactly as Jane ought to look, soft leather, slim and impeccable. (p. 58)

Don't remember which restoration playwright called everyone a Varlet, i always wanted to use it in a sentence. (p. 61)

Why is it that people who wouldn't dream of stealing anything else think it's perfectly all right to steal books? (p. 61)

I'd love to have the Macdonald edition--or any nice edition. If it's Reasonable, of course. Nothing's cheap any more, it's "reasonable." Or "sensibly priced." There's a building going up across the street, the sign over it says:
     "One & Two Bedroom Apartments
     At Rents That Make Sense"
Rents do NOT make sense. And prices do not sit around being reasonable about anything, no matter what it ways in the ad--which isn't an ad anymore, it's a Commercial. (p. 69)


Challenges: 150 Plus Reading Challenge, Outdo Yourself, Library Books Challenge, Book to Movie Challenge, Book Bingo, A-Z Reading Challenge, Book Blogger Recommendation, 150 Plus Reading Challenge, Monthly Mix-Up Mania

Down the Rabbit Hole: Review

Let me just confess up front...Young Adult literature is not my thing.  It wasn't really my thing back when I was in the appropriate age group.  And I certainly never sought books out because they were geared for me as a young adult.  The main thing I think about when choosing books to read is whether the story interests me...and the stories that have interested me most since I graduated from Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Chronicles of Narnia and the like (all read pretty much pre-fifth grade) have been stories about adults.  I'm sure there are all sorts of reasons for this...but I attribute it to the fact that for the longest time I was the youngest in our extended family and I spent a huge portion of my time with cousins, aunts, uncles and second cousins who were all much older than me.  Sunday afternoons were spent at Grandma's where all the adults would sit in the living room, around the card table, and at the dinner table sharing adult "stories."  These made up the narrative of my life.

So...when I pick up a Young Adult novel, there has to be a compelling reason. Sometimes it's because a title/cover just happens to catch my eye when browsing; sometimes one of my beloved fellow bloggers brings up a book that just sounds too good to miss; and sometimes my weakness for challenges makes me go out of my comfort zone and find a YA novel for one reason or another.  This time it's the Criminal Plots III Challenge sponsored by Jen.  Jen has asked us to read 6 crime/mystery novels from different categories....one of which is a YA crime novel.  Which brings me (the long way 'round) to Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams.

This is the first novel in his Echo Falls mystery series and features Ingrid Levin-Hill as a Sherlock Holmes lover who finds herself smack in the middle of her very own murder mystery.  Ingrid is thirteen, a whiz a soccer, miserable at math, and an aspiring young actress.  When her mother doesn't show up on time to take her from an orthodontist appointment to soccer practice, Ingrid attempts to walk to the soccer field.  That little detour from her usual routine brings Ingrid to the wrong side of the tracks in Echo Falls and sets up a meeting with Cracked-Up Kate, one of the town's unconventional residents.  Within twenty-four hours Kate has been murdered and Ingrid will realize that she has lost her lucky red soccer shoes at the scene of the crime.  An attempt to retrieve the shoes without running into the police (or anyone else who might be watching the crime scene) leads from one thing to another....and before she knows it, Ingrid is trying to emulate her favorite fictional detective and discover the murderer on her own.  But her snooping attracts attention and if she's not careful there just might be another murder that needs solving...her own!

This was a fairly enjoyable book.  It had a lot of action and it swept me right along.  I did spot the culprit early on, but that didn't bother me too much.  I liked Ingrid and I think Abrahams did a good job making her a fairly realistic teenager--although I do think the chief of police (father to Ingrid's soon-to-be first boyfriend--if I'm not misreading the signs) is a bit slow on the uptake in several scenes where he finds her out wandering about (looking for clues) when she obviously should have been either home in bed or off at school.  I also think it odd that a girl who loves the logical Holmes and his methods should be so dismal at math.  Not looking for a math genius here--but I'd expect a better showing.

I'm sure the rest of the series will be quite delightful and, although I probably won't be reading any more myself, I would definitely recommend the books to anyone who enjoys Young Adult novels and mysteries.  Three stars for a good solid read.

The Perfect Landscape: Review

The Perfect Landscape brings Hanna, an art theorist who has been working in the galleries and museums of Amsterdam, back home to Iceland.  She has hopes of a cushy job at a small Reykjavik museum with a solid reputation. The museum has just acquired a valuable donation from a very wealthy patron--a landscape painted by one of the country's most beloved 20th C artists.  But all is not as it seems.  One of the museum's conservator's believes that it is a fake and he and Hanna begin looking for clues to where this painting came from and what lies underneath the idyllic scene painted on the canvas's top layer. Hanna is taken into the dark world of art forgery...but does anyone else really want her to discover the truth?  And will the truth cost her the job she's just acquired?
 
It's always difficult to rate books that I'm reading in translation--particularly when they don't strike me as particularly awesome.  I never know if it's really the story and the way it was originally written or if something funky has happened in translation.  The Perfect Landscape by Ragna Sigurdardottir (translated by Sarah Bowen) provides such a dilemma.  My first-ever mystery set in Iceland--I'm afraid I'm very under-whelmed.  It moves very slowly.  The mystery plot just really doesn't flow.  Others on Goodreads have said that the book is more character-driven, but I can't say that the characters particularly grabbed me either.  The story has a very choppy feel to it--again, I don't know if something was lost in the translation.  Then there's Hanna's running theme of fencing--which just, quite honestly serves no purpose.  Perhaps if the author had worked in some scenes of her fencing, had shown how much she loved the sport and why the metaphors were so valid for her (instead of telling us--repeatedly), then maybe it would have made sense to tell us that Hanna was mentally en garde or raising or sheathing an imaginary foil.  Without the groundwork being laid, the imagery just falls flat.  And, finally, I just don't really get into present tense tales and the present tense in this particular story just adds to the already odd feel of the book.  

The best part of the story is Hanna's interactions with Stein.  Their friendship builds through looks and unspoken agreements.  It is the most believable interaction in the novel--the quick recognition of two kindred souls who share the same passion for art and justice.  I would have really enjoyed more focus on the two of them.  Keeping them as friends would have been fine--no need to add to the attempt at romantic tension.  Two stars--almost entirely for Hanna and Stein.

A Cold & Lonely Place: Review

Sometimes letting the truth out lets people heal, and sometimes it makes things worse. And you couldn't really know which, until you did it, and sometimes only later. (p. 229)

When freelance writer Troy Chance decides to track the progress of the construction of the
Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace from start to finish, she finds herself in the middle of a bigger story than she could have imagined. Preparations for the ice palace have just begun--and she is out on the lake getting details for a story on the homemade ice-cutting machine and planning an interview with one of the ice cutters when it becomes apparent that the men have cut something more than a chunk of ice out of the frozen waters. The men have found a body and it's the body of a man Troy knows--Tobin Winslow. 

One of Troy's roommates had been dating Tobin and soon Jessamyn falls under suspicion.  Tobin was the son of a wealthy family who had made a place in the Adirondack village and the media come running at the least hint of scandal.  Many of his friends turn against the young woman in an effort to place blame.  The editor of the local paper asks Troy to do a series of in-depth articles on Tobin--both on his death and on his life. As Troy begins to dig into Tobin's past, she comes across secrets that have long been buried and she isn't sure what is relevant to the story she needs to tell or how much of it relates to Tobin's death.  

Tobin's sister Win arrives and urges Troy to write about whatever she finds out--good and bad.  But the cabin where Tobin had been living is searched and trashed and both women receive harassing notes and phone calls. It seems that someone has a lot to hide and thinks that Win or Troy may have something of value that Tobin left behind.  Troy will have to decide which secrets must be told and which need to be kept hidden--and no matter what she decides it looks like somebody is going to suffer.

This a quiet and powerful book. More than a mystery, it's a story about secrets and how they affect people.  And it's a story about how we all affect each other.  It's a "what really happened" and "how did it happen" kind of book instead of a whodunnit. While the focus may be on Tobin and what happened to him out on the ice that night, we are really concerned with the people who have been left behind.  Tobin's death brings to light a lot of secrets regarding his family--secrets that his friend David Zimmer needs to talk about and his sister Win needs to hear.  Through his death and Troy's investigations following it, friends will be made, a father will be found, and lives will be touched.  And so will the reader.  Sara J. Henry has written a powerful story that brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. With memorable characters and an interesting storyline, she's definitely given me a series that I want to read more of--I'll be going back to read the first book (Learning to Swim) and I'll be looking forward to new entries in the Troy Chance collection. Four stars.

**Oh...and cheers for her homage to Ngaio Marsh's heroine Agatha Troy! It's nice to see the hat tip to one of my vintage mystery authors.




Quotes
Some people you love while they're there, and some people you love forever, whether they're there or not. ~David Zimmer (p. 198)

This, I realized suddenly, was friendship. You didn't always agree, and you both might do things the other person wished you didn't, but it didn't mean things came to a grinding halt. It didn't mean you stopped being friends. You got over it, and you moved on. (p. 228)

Trying to figure out what dead people intended could drive you mad, especially when many people didn't really know what they wanted even when they were alive. (p. 262)

...sometimes you can tell what someone is like by the space they leave. ~Troy Chance (p. 265)

Ready Player One: Review

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is the ultimate 70s/80s pop culture, video-game-loving, geek overload of a book.  There are references to everything from Pac Man to Max Headroom, from Star Trek to Star Wars, from War Games to School House Rock. If it doesn't make your nerdy self explode in a Dungeon & Dragons frenzy, then I don't know what will. Oh....and it works for those of us who aren't quite so into video games and pop culture too.

The story takes place in a rather bleak future. Fossil fuels have finally run out and the entire world is in a pretty depressed state economically speaking. There are few jobs and little hope and most people spend as much of their time as possible in the virtual world...a place called OASIS.  The OASIS was developed by super-geek James Halliday and his partner Ogden Morrow.  This virtual world/gaming paradise places all sorts of worlds at the player's fingertips.  Via one's avatar, Vulcan and Endor and probably even Arrakis of Dune are all possible destinations.  And every game a gamer can imagine is ready for playing. And access to the OASIS world is free--well, virtually.  A one-time fee of twenty-five cents gets you in.

But Halliday's passion was the 80s (and 70s)--he was obsessed with the decade and when he died he left behind a will that said that whoever could find the easter egg hidden in the OASIS would be his heir--an heir to all of the OASIS stock and billions of dollars. The easter egg could only be found by playing "Halliday's Game"--the ultimate treasure hunt with an initial clue given in the will. Every gamer out there has been working for years to try and figure out what that original clue meant--there are Halliday scholars and books and online resources detailing every moment of Halliday's life.  Notebooks and journals that tell about all of his obsessions--from early video games to his favorite 80s movies and TV shows to the science fiction novels he loved. No self-respecting gamer (or "gunter" as they're known in the book) would dare enter the game without being able to recite whole movies from Halliday's list of must-see films.

Our hero is Wade Watts--a teenager who is on the low-end of the social strata.  He has spent his life in the "stacks"--trailer parks where (since real estate is such a premium) the trailers are stacked on top of one another like apartment complexes.  He is the first to break the code in the first clue and soon he and the High Five (four other individuals) are off and running on the treasure hunt of their lives.  And it just might cost them their lives--because individual gamers aren't the only ones with their eye on the prize.  Also in the mix is the Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a mega-corporation that intends to win the game, take over OASIS, and start charging regular fees and cluttering up the virtual world with advertising. To this end, IOI has hired gunters to work for them--regular paychecks, benefits, gaming supplies all provided and all you have to do is sign away your right to the prize. Wade and the rest of High Five become the target of the Sixers (those in IOI's employ) and it becomes a race to claim the final prize before the Sixers can eliminate the competition--permanently.

This was a very fun book. I'm grateful to all the fellow bloggers who have read this over the last two years and put it on my radar.  With so many folks mentioning it, I figured the book would qualify for the "Everybody But Me" category in Book Blogger Bingo.  Lots of action and great ride all along the way.  I am deducting one star, however, for the rather tedious game explanations (info dumps) that occur periodically along the way.  I finally started skimming and can't see that my lack of knowledge about how some of the old video games worked really hurt my understanding of the novel.  I also really enjoyed the characters and the way the High Five group interacted.  There was just the right mix of friendship and friendly competition.  Four stars for a really good read.

Parlor Games: Review

Parlor Games by Maryka Biaggio is a sweeping piece of historical fiction based on real-life adventuress, May Dugas aka the Baroness May de Vries (and various aliases). The story opens with May settling in for a trial accusing her of extortion--bilking her friend Miss Frank Gray Shaver out of her inheritance. Sandwiched in between scenes from the courtroom drama, May tells us the story of her life--all the adventures that led up to her appearance in court in January 1917.

May's father dies fairly early in her life and she decides to set out for Chicago in the hopes of earning enough money to support her family. But Chicago in the late 1800s is not welcoming to a young woman with no skills and she soon finds herself a courtesan in the city's most infamous bordello. Taking what she learns there, she uses her great beauty and feminine charms to encourage her gentlemen to bestow gifts upon her.  It looks like her dreams are coming true when she makes friends with two young women from Chicago's high society and is introduced to a financially secure young man. She can already hear the wedding bells ringing when Reed Dougherty, a Pinkerton detective, spoils her nuptial plans. It won't be the last time that Dougherty pops up at the most inopportune moment.

From Chicago May works her way around the world to Portland and San Francisco to Shanghai and Holland to London and Hong Kong. She goes from the top of the world and the riches of her dreams while married to the Baron to moments of despair when Dougherty foils her plans. She goes through money like water and winds up mixed up in politics, insurance fraud, scandalous affairs, wartime speculations, and various legal proceedings.  The Pinkerton Agency eventually dubs her the "most dangerous woman in the world"--accusing her of being a blackmailer and a heartless seducer of the wealthiest of men.  

This is May's story--told in the first person as she goes on trial for extortion--and she asks the reader to be her judge. She asks us to believe that she is completely honest in her narration and for us to deliver judgment on what we read. Is she the cold hearted swindler who breaks hearts even as she empties bank accounts or have her actions been justified?

On the one hand, this is a fascinating look at the late 19th/early 20th centuries in America.  Showing the reader what life was like for young women without money and without decent job prospects--not that I believe for a moment that May would have wanted to stick to a regular job if it had been available to her.  I just can't see her working at the same job for years on end.  That girl was born wanting money--and lots of it.  Biaggo's writing style is spot on--May's voice is distinctive and draws the reader right in.  I easily finished the book in two days (less when you consider that there was sleeping and chores and work that had to be attended to).  But....I can't say that liked May.  If the goal was to convince me that May's actions were justified over the course of her tale, then I'm afraid the mission failed. May strikes me as unscrupulous and out for herself with the final chapter forcefully driving that home.  The only point where I really felt for her was when she lost her Johnny, but I'm still not convinced that her heart was nearly as broken as she would have us believe.  Three stars for a solid tale, interesting historical detail, and terrific narration.

Man in the Empty Suit: Review

Sean Ferrell's Man in the Empty Suit takes the idea of time travel and possible paradoxes to a whole new level. His Time Traveler has a major dilemma.  Every year he travels to an abandoned hotel in the New York City of 2071 to celebrate his birthday.  It's an exclusive party--just for him....and his past and future time-traveling selves.  Nothing really extraordinary ever happens until the year he turns 39.  He's on his way to the grand ballroom to get a celebratory drink when he encounters his 40-year-old-self--after an odd interlude and a brief detour to the upper levels (somewhere he'd never ventured before), the 40-year-old rushes into the elevator, leaving the Time Traveler to the stairs.  When he reaches the proper floor, he finds a bunch of the Elders gather round a dead body.  His 40-year-old self has been shot and no one knows who did it.  The Elders look to him to get to the bottom of the mystery.  After all, if he can't stop the death from happening, then all his future selves will disappear.  Things get steadily more crazy as the evening goes on--much younger selves (who have never attended the party before) start showing up and soon there seems to be threats from all sides.  Then there's the unknown factor--a woman named Lily who comes the party....the first person besides himself who ever has.  The Time Traveler finds himself working to save not only his own lives, but hers as well.  It would help if he knew exactly what he should or shouldn't do over the course of the next year.....

This is a very interesting take on time travel and the paradoxes that are often associated with it.  Ferrell doesn't just address the paradoxes--he gleefully produces them and inundates the story with them.  There have been all kinds of theories about time travel paradox....including those that say that you can't go back in time (or I suppose forward) and meet your self.  That you can't accidentally kill your grandfather or you'll blink out of existence.  Ferrell takes on both of those premises....the Time Traveler doesn't just meet himself.  He meets A LOT of himself.  It's not his grandfather who gets killed...it's one year's version of himself.  Ferrell uses the varying timelines created by these events to get the reader to think about our actions--how they affect us and how those actions affect others.  

It's always interesting to read alternate reality stories.  But those usually just show one version of what might have happened if certain events had taken place in an entirely different way (what if JFK or Lincoln hadn't been killed; what if Hitler had won the war; etc).  This novel doesn't show what happens in one alternate reality...it manages to show what happens in multiple alternate realities all at the same time.  This made the story just a little bit dense and hard to follow at times and even labeling different versions of the Traveler with identifying names ("Nose," "Suit," "Yellow," "Seventy," etc.) didn't always help.  It's an extraordinarily interesting and ambitious storyline that needs just a little more clarity for this reader.  Readers who like intricate puzzles will delight in trying to follow all the storylines and trying to determine which versions the Traveler should trust and which he shouldn't.  

My other small quibble relates to various blurbs which made such a point of the humor in this story.  I was hoping for a bit of the Douglas Adams touch to go along with the intricate time travel maze...and was disappointed.  I didn't find the story particularly funny at all.  It's intriguing and engaging.  It makes you think.  But I don't think it will make you laugh.  Three and 3/4 stars for a pretty darn good read--almost four.

Unnatural Habits: Review

I do love Miss Phryne Fisher of the Kerry Greenwood mysteries.  There are some series that become stale or too formulaic as they go on, but Greenwood manages to keep the surprises coming and the interest piqued....even at entry #19: Unnatural Habits.  This particular outing puts a little bit darker spin on the adventures of the grownup's Nancy Drew.

Phryne finds herself drawn into the world of "bad girls" and white slaving when a spate of disappearances occurs that involves everyone from fallen women who are pregnant out of wedlock to young blonde daughters of some of Australia's middle class to a reckless, self-important girl reporter who hasn't the sense to smell danger even when it reeks like Limburger cheese. After rescuing said reporter from being beaten by the minions of certain people unhappy about her nosiness, Phryne discovers that Polly Kettle (reporter) is looking for a scoop on the missing girls.  When Polly herself goes missing, Phryne and her household are on the job--going from horrid "laying-in" homes for the unfortunate pregnant to behind the scenes at a convent laundry to an exclusive "gentleman's club."  By the time it is all over, Phryne has to restrain herself from permanently removing a few priests from the church and indulges in a little high-seas piracy to save the girls from a fate worst than death.  And she does it all with her usual elegance, sharp wit, and courage--even when outnumbered twenty to one.

The Phryne Fisher stories are always good for a quick, adventurous read.  Full of details of 1920s Australia and lots of interesting action.  The mystery plots may not be terribly intricate, but that's really not what I'm looking for when I pick up a Miss Fisher mystery.  I want Miss Fisher doing some on the ground detective work, putting the bad guys in their place, being brave and feisty, using her wits and leaving the awestruck in her path.  She may be larger than life and a tad too perfect at everything--but what is an escape novel for, if not for that?  Kerry Greenwood has struck a wonderful balance with her 1920s super-heroine and I, for one, hope that Phryne goes on for another 19 adventures or more.  Four stars.

Zima Blue & Other Stories: Review

Alastair Reynolds is apparently a fairly big deal in recent science fiction.  The fact that I didn't know this and, in fact, didn't even know his name before picking up his Zima Blue & Other Stories for the A-Z Reading Challenge (X, and Z are always such devilish letters to find interesting books for...), well, that just goes to show how out of touch I've been from the SF world.

Reynolds is a British science fiction writer.  I have to admit that my SF reading has been very heavily American--with Douglas Adams, Arthur C Clarke and H. G. Wells being my primary authors from across the pond.  According to the interwebs, he specializes in dark hard science fiction and space opera and has won the BSFA award for best novel as well as being nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Hugo Award for Best Novella, Locus Award for Best First Novel, Locus Award for Best Collection.  This collection most definitely represents his affinity for dark hard science fiction.

There is a lot of war here...war dependent on all sorts of scientific weaponry that I don't even pretend to understand.  War between various offshoots of the human race as well as war against mysterious "others" who may or may not be evil aliens.  These are the darkest of the stories as we try to figure out who the bad guys really are.  The best stories of the collection--"Signal to Noise," "Angels of Ashes," "Understanding Space & Time" and "Zima Blue" --manage to mix that dedication to hard science with interesting human stories without allowing the scientific details to overshadow the human.  Among them, my favorite is "Understanding Space & Time"--I love the infusion of Elton John and "Rocket Man" into the story.  I am also interested in the main character's search for enlightenment and how Reynolds ties that into quantum physics.  

While the two related stories "Hideaway" and "Merlin's Gun" also have a good story to tell, I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what the heck all these terms meant.  I was distracted to the point that the denouement in each case lost much of its punch.  I also think it would have helped if the stories had appeared in the order they were written--"Merlin's Gun" first, followed by its prequel, "Hideaway."  Many of the confusing details in "Hideaway" would have been much clearer.

I'm not adverse to hard science fiction.  I do think, however, that stories that depend on it and which employ author-generated terms to explain such science should succinctly explain the terms.  No long, drawn-out lectures--just enough to let the average reader understand what's going on.  That's a difficult task for a short story, and that may explain why most of the world-building hard science fiction stories that I really appreciate are novel-length rather than short stories. 

All that said, Reynolds is a good story-teller.  I've enjoyed my venture into more recent British science fiction and am very glad that the A-Z Reading Challenge led me to his book.  There are some very ambitious creations here involving alternate timelines, the augmentation of the human memory, and reality itself.  Three and a half stars.

Murder at Markham: Review

Murder at Markham is Patricia Sprinkle's debut mystery novel.  It features Sheila Travis, the recently widowed wife of a diplomat.  Sheila has just returned to the States from Japan and is looking for a job--not out of financial necessity, but as a way of keeping occupied while she sorts out her life.  She lands a job as administrative assistant to John Dehaviland, the extremely pompous president of the Markham Institute. Markham is a very old and respected training ground for up-and-coming graduate students in the world of diplomatic affairs.  Sheila barely has time to settle into her new job before a young woman is found dead in one of the icy cold storage rooms in the Institute's basement.  The freezer-like conditions have kept the body from being discovered even though the murder happened nearly a month ago at the beginning of the Christmas break.

Rumors of Sheila's involvement in a few similar incidents in Japan reach Mike Flanagan, the investigating officer, and he gives her strict instructions to keep her nose out of his case.  But Sheila's Aunt Mary arrives and uses her Southern charm to win over Flanagan so he will keep the ladies informed on the progress of the investigation.  Nick Capeletti, Markham's business manager, is shoved down the stairs and the former administrative secretary is murdered as well.  Flanagan's investigation makes him single out Quint Barringer, the former lover of the first victim, as the killer.  But Sheila and her aunt are convinced that Flanagan has blinders on and isn't seeing the whole picture.  They start asking questions on their own and soon Sheila's life is in danger too.  A final showdown in Markham's lounge is needed to bring the culprit out in the open.

This is a decent story for a first novel.  There are characters with some flair and some very good descriptions of the Markham Institute and Chicago.  I like the Chicago setting very much--which goes a long way considering I'm more of a British mystery kind of girl.  The mystery is fairly clued--perhaps too much so because I spotted the important ones right away.  I didn't get quite all the right answers in the right order, but near enough to spot the killer long before the denouement.  I am grateful to Erin at The Paperback Stash--she mentions a Patricia Sprinkle mystery (from a later series) on her blog.  As part of the 2013 Book Bingo Challenge we're supposed to take a suggestion from another participant to read for our Free Space.  I wasn't able to find Who Invited the Dead Man? at my library, but it did lead me to Murder at Markham--a new academic setting to fit into my love for academic mysteries.  Three stars for a decent read.

The Evil That Men Do: Review

The Evil That Men Do is the next installment of the Dorothy Martin mystery series by Jeanne M. Dams (I'm reading her most recent three to get caught up in the series and to fulfill a square on the Book Bingo challenge).  In this outing, Dorothy and her husband, Alan Nesbitt, are on a walking holiday in the Cotswalds.  They take a break from their tour to stay at a lovely little bed and breakfast in the beautiful little town of Broadway--making short day-trip walks from their "home base."  On one of their day trips, Alan spots the body of a man who has apparently fallen over the edge of an abandoned quarry.  Shortly after calling the authorities and making their way back to town, Dorothy is nearly run over by a distracted young man who has been staying at the same b&b.  Once explanations and apologies are made, the couple take an instant liking to him.  They are dismayed when the police reveal that the man in the quarry was pushed, the young man disappears, and suspicion immediately falls on their new friend.  Dorothy can't resist getting involved and soon she and Alan discover that there is far more to the story than anyone could imagine.  It all ends with an exciting rescue from an abandoned farm involving an intrepid taxi driver and a heroic spaniel.

While I still like the characters of Dorothy and her husband very much and Dams introduce some very likeable supporting characters, this mystery isn't quite up to the standard of her previous work.  Dorothy supposedly has the charm to get people to talk to her, but there is a great deal of time spent in which people do NOT talk to her and she learns very little.  There is also the difficulty in believing her involvement in the ending.  She's not the most athletic senior citizen in the world (and is still breaking in her newly-replaced knees) and yet she can perform the feats detailed in the the grand finale?  (Sorry to be so vague, but I don't want to give the ending away.)  I'm not buying.

The mystery itself isn't quite as satisfying, although Dams does set the clues fairly well--and like Dorothy I felt like I should have realized who the villain really was a lot sooner.  I think the story would have worked just as well (if not better) if we'd lost the rock musician story line.  Over all, a fair read with good characters.  Two and a half stars.

A Dark & Stormy Night: Review

I started off my 2013 reading with a fun, little cozy mystery by Jeanne M. Dams.  Jeanne is from Indiana, just like me.  And, like me, she has read British mysteries all her life and has an affinity for all things British.  As she says in her bio on her web page:   

I knew it was unlikely I could ever afford to live in a lovely little seventeenth-century cottage somewhere in Kent or Sussex—but if I created a character who did just that, I could live her life vicariously, and instead of costing me a fortune, that life would actually make me some money. Such a deal! Thus was born Dorothy Martin, who is essentially my alter-ago, though she’s named after my favorite cousin. She appeared first in a short story I wrote many, many years ago. It has never been published, but Dorothy waited patiently in the wings, and when the idea for her first book came into my head, there she was, ready to take center stage.

A Dark and Stormy Night is the tenth book in the Dorothy Martin series.  Dorothy, an American living in England, and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, are invited to the typical country house weekend at an isolated spot in rural Kent.  There will be a mixture of guests and a Guy Fawkes celebration with fireworks.  It sounds like a lovely weekend get-away.  But Dorothy's long acquaintance with every Agatha Christie novel ever written should have prepared her....

A violent storm cuts off their only road to outside world--as well as destroying power and telephone lines.  As the house party tries to clear trees that have come down and blocked their exit, Dorothy discovers a skeleton lodged in the roots of one of the trees.  Another old body will be found, one of their number will be murdered, and two others will disappear before Dorothy and Alan can discover what ancient secrets are affecting the guests of Branston Abbey.  

This is a fun and light read.  No heavy lifting in the mystery department and lots of references to Agatha Christie can be found.  The clues are all there and a sharp-eyed reader should be able to get to the bottom of the mystery about the same time that Dorothy and Alan do.  I really enjoy the character of Dorothy.  She may be part of the older generation, but she's definitely an independent woman and doesn't let Alan wrap her in cotton wool. Perhaps she gets into more adventures than your average senior citizen might--but it's all in good fun and her body count is still less than Jessica Fletcher's.  Three stars for a nice cozy mystery.

I'd left this series alone for quite a while and I'm glad that the 2013 Book Bingo Challenge has encouraged me read this series again.  I plan on reading the next two books as well to fulfill the "Read 3 Books That Are Part of a Series" square.