Challenge Complete: Classics Reading Challenge

I just realized that I completed the Classics Reading Challenge long ago and far away in July. But I never posted the completion.

Sincere there were no set levels for this challenge - the goal is to read at least one classic book--I set my personal goal for the six books that I had already committed to for another classics reading challenge.  Here's the list:

1. Sherlock Holmes: His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2/25/13)
2. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (3/6/13)
3. Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (3/11/13)
4. The African Queen by C. S. Forester (4/6/13)
5. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (7/8/13)
6. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (7/14/13)

Famous Ghost Stories: Review

Amusing (to me anyway) anecdote before I begin my review:  I recently went on a What's My Line (from the '50s and '60s) viewing binge and thoroughly enjoyed the regular panel members--including a certain Bennett Cerf, eminent editor of Random House.  I had no idea that I had a collection of stories edited by Mr. Cerf sitting on my TBR stack just waiting to be read.

Mr. Cerf has given us an excellent selection of his favorite ghost stories, including a section of dinner-table anecdotes that he has collected during his various dining-out excursions.  And the personable Bennett Cerf certainly had many of those.  There were a couple of stories that I had encountered before ("The Monkey's Paw" and "The Willows"), but primarily a fresh collection of spooky tales.  Four stars.

Run-down of stories: 

"The Haunted & The Haunters" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1865): A man hears about a genuinely haunted house....and is determined to spend the night there.  He's not afraid and neither is his servant.  Or so they say.

"The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce (1893): What if there are colors that the human eye can't see? And what if the most horrible things are colored in that shade?

"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs (1902):  A classic, often reprinted story.  At its heart, a warning to "be careful what you wish for....you just might get it." 

"The Phantom 'Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling (1888):  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned....and she makes a pretty determined ghost as well.

"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood (1907): Two friends are canoeing down the Danube.  They run into more than they bargained for on an island covered by "willows."

"The Rival Ghosts" by Brander Matthews (1921): All is fair in love and war...and ghosts.  What is a man in love to do with a couple of warring ghosts?

"The Man Who Went Too Far" by E. F. Benson (1904): A man searches for joy in nature and finds it and what seems to be eternal youth....and something more.

"The Mezzotint" by Montague Rhode (M. R.) James (1904): Mr. Williams is sent, on approval an engraving (the titular mezzotint) of a view of a manor-house.  It comes highly recommended from trusted dealer.  But it seems a very amateurish thing.  Williams is of a mind to send it back.  Then he realizes that scene is not static...it changes and a frightful story is acted out.

"The Open Window" by 'Saki' [H. H. Munro] (1930):  15 year-old Vera tells Mr. Framton Nuttel, in the country for a rest cure for his nerves, a tragic story while he waits to meet her aunt.  Her uncle and two members of her aunt's family went shooting one day three years ago and never came back.  Until today.

"The Beckoning Fair One" by Oliver Onions (1911): A classic haunted house story where an unsuccessful writer moves into rooms in an otherwise empty house, in the hope that isolation will help his failing creativity.  Things get creative all right--but not in the way he anticipates.

"On the Brighton Road" by Richard Middleton (1912): A tramp on the Brighton Road meets up with an 18 year old boy...who has been running away from home for six years.  The tramp tells him, "I dropped by the roadside last night and slept where I fell. It's a wonder I didn't die." The boy looks at him sharply.  "How do you know you didn't?"  How indeed?

"The Considerate Hosts" by Thorp McClusky (1939): Marvin is driving home on a beastly, stormy night.  When he's forced to take a detour, his car dies and he's forced to seek shelter with a couple of ghosts out for revenge.

"August Heat" by W. F. Harvey (1910): Two men meet, as if by chance, on a hot August day but each has had a vision of sorts about the other's future.  And the "heat is stifling.  It is enough to send a man mad."

"The Return of Andrew Bentley" by August W. Derleth & Mark Schorer (1933): Uncle Amos calls on the narrator to guard his burial vault when he dies--for he is deathly afraid of the return of Andrew Bentley.  It will take a great deal to keep Bentley from haunting Uncle Amos.

"The Supper at Elsinore" by Isak Dinesen (1934): A ghost story that tells the tale of a lost brother and the two sisters who essentially died when he did. The meeting of the three siblings is a very interesting take on the standard visit from the departed.

 

Friday Memes

I'm reading a book of short stories, so we'll see what I can do for my two Friday snippets.

Book Beginnings on Friday is a bookish meme now sponsored by Rose City Reader (who originally inspired the meme). Here's what you do: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments section. Include the title and author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you are so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line and if you did or did not like that sentence. Link up each week at Gilion's place.

 

Here are the first few lines from "The Rival Ghosts" by Brander Matthews in Famous Ghost Stories edited by Bennett Cerf:

The good ship sped on her way across the calm Atlantic.  It was an outward passage, according to the little charts which the company had charily distributed, but most of the passengers were homeward bound, after a summer of rest and recreation.

[A rather mild beginning to a ghost story.....]

The Friday 56 is a bookish meme sponsored by Freda's Voice. It is really easy to participate. Just grab a book, any book, and turn to page 56. Find a sentence that grabs you and post it.


Here is a line on page 56  from "The Phantom Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling in Famous Ghost Stories edited by Bennett Cerf:

Speaking now as a condemned criminal might speak ere the drop-bolts are drawn, my story, wild and hideously improbable as it may appear, demands at least attention.

The End of the Alphabet: Review

The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson is a gorgeous gem of a book.  I originally read this back in 2009 and am glad that the 2013 Bingo Reading Challenge gave me a reason to reread.  It's a book that I find myself recommending over and over again--especially to those who I know are not much into mysteries (my first literary love).

The story is pretty straightforward.  At about the age of fifty Ambrose Zephyr is diagnosed with an unspecified, terminal disease.  His doctor gives him a month (or thereabouts) to live.  Ambrose has always had a fascination with alphabets and travel.  When he was growing up, he would write to embassies and consulates requesting brochures about various countries and cities that interested him.  After receiving the shocking news from his doctor, he and his wife, Zipper (Zappora Ashkenazi), decide to travel in the time remaining to him--a different city or country for every letter of the alphabet.  

What follows is a touching and heart-breaking tale of love and loss and the nature of life and death.  It beautifully illustrates how two people can make the most of their time and it reminds us that we should live life to the fullest every day.  It shouldn't matter if we know how many days we have left.  If we lived as if today might be the last would it change how much we enjoy even the smallest of pleasures?  Would we seek out friends and loved ones more avidly--to share more of life with them?  It all too easy to get caught up in the struggle to make a living and to make ends meet and miss out on all the opportunities for pleasure and happiness.

I'm afraid that this review is short--but so is the book (119 pages).  I don't want to say too much or you might not feel the need to read it.  And you definitely should.  It's really quite lovely.  Five stars on my first go round--and five stars now.

Quotes:
Those who knew him described Ambrose Zephyr as a better man than most. Wanting a few minor adjustments, they would admit, but didn't we all. His wife described him as the only man she had loved. Without adjustment. (p. 9)

[about paintings/art]
Ambrose went back to looking. What he saw didn't need his mother going on about symbols and meanings and madness and genius, he thought. She knew a lot, but she didn't know when to stop complicating things. (p. 26)

She opened her journal and thought of writing. E is for Eiffel's tower, standing in Paris. L is for London and home. Z is for Zipper. T is for terrified. H is for hopeless. (p. 51)

It is just a story. Life goes on. Death goes on. Love goes on. It is as simple as that. (p. 77)

Ambrose Zephyr would sometimes remark that a better man was one supplied with an intelligent woman, the ability to tango, and an able tailor. (p. 101)

The Yard: Review

London is still reeling from the reign of terror brought on by Jack the Ripper.  Scotland Yard has lost a great deal of the respect the populace had in its police force--all because it could not bring the Ripper to justice.  In the wake of this failure, Sir Edward Bradford, the new Commissioner of Police, creates the Murder Squad--an elite team of 12 detectives who will take on the most heinous crimes.  The Squad is immediately put to the test when one of their own is found brutally stabbed and disfigured, stuffed into a steamer trunk and left in the Euston Square Station.  

Detective Inspector Walter Day is about to get a baptism by fire.  Fresh from Devon, he is plunged into his first murder case--as the lead Inspector.  He can't afford to fail--not only are his fellow officers watching to see how the new man will work out, but how can the public feel safe if even police officers are being struck down?  Fortunately, Day has the backing of Sir Edward and the help of Inspector Blacker, a veteran detective, Constable Hammersmith, a dedicated young policeman whose sense of justice in the death of a young chimney sweep will help lead to the killer, and Dr. Bernard Kingsley, the doctor and coroner who examines the body.

This novel is a whirlwind of Victorian era murder and mayhem.  There is the main story--the horrific killings of police officers (yes, there will be more murders).  But there is also the "Beard Killer," a murderer who shaves and then kills his victims.  There are two prostitutes who are haunted by the shadow of the Ripper....and who take their own precautions against his return.  There is a kidnapped boy and the death of the 5-year-old chimney sweep's apprentice.  

And there is atmosphere--plenty of Victorian atmosphere.  From the hansom cabs waiting at the corner, to the early days of forensics, to the elderly doctor who still believes in bleeding his patients (yikes!).  Gas light and fog.  Alex Grecian does a good job setting the stage.  He is also very adept with his characters--I instantly like Day, Blacker, Hammersmith and Kinglsey.  I enjoy them individually and I enjoy seeing their early work together.  I think Grecian has the makings of a good series in his hands--and I hope the next book (which I need to order up at the library...) fulfills the promise.  

One thing you should know--this is an inverted mystery.  There is no secret about the killer's identity.  We know who it is and we get to see his thoughts and begin to understand his motives long before the police figure out who it is.  This sort of story doesn't always work for me--but it does here.  I'll be interested to see if Grecian uses the same formula for the next book.  In the meantime...this one is a good, solid three-star beginning to the series.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a bookish meme hosted by Book Journey. It's where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It's a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over via the link above and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.

 

Well, I managed to read in one week the number of books read in the previous two, but I'm still behind on GoodReads. Onward, Bev, Onward!:

 

Books Read (click on titles for review): 

This New & Poisonous Air by Adam McOmber  

Murder & Blueberry Pie by Frances & Richard Lockridge
The Croquet Player by H. G. Wells  

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie
Malcolm Sage, Detective by Herbert Jenkins

 

Currently Reading:

The Yard by Alex Grecian: Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives—known as “The Murder Squad”—to investigate countless murders every month. Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt. They have failed their citizens. But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own . . . one of the twelve . . .When Walter Day, the squad’s newest hire, is assigned the case of the murdered detective, he finds a strange ally in the Yard’s first forensic pathologist, Dr. Bernard Kingsley. Together they track the killer, who clearly is not finished with The Murder Squad . . . but why?

AND

 

The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson (a reread for a challenge): is a tender, intimate story of an ordinary life defined by an extraordinary love.  Just as Ambrose Zephyr is turning fifty, he is told by his doctor that he has one month to live. Reeling from the news, he and Zipper embark on a whirlwind expedition to the places he has most loved or has always longed to visit, from A to Z, Amsterdam to Zanzibar. As they travel to Italian piazzas, Turkish baths, and other romantic destinations, all beautifully evoked by the author, Zipper struggles to deal with the grand unfairness of their circumstances as she buoys Ambrose with her gentle affection and humor. Meanwhile, Ambrose reflects on his life, one well lived, and comes to understand that death, like life, will be made bearable by the strength and grace of their devotion.

   

Books that spark my interest:

The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake  

A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado 

The Haunted Doll's House by M. R. James
Famous Ghost Stories by Bennett Cerf (ed)
The Temple of Death by A. C. & R. H. Benson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

 

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-Thon!

Ooooh, look!  Another Read-a-Thon to motivate me to read all those books on my TBR stack (especially the ones that have to be read this year for all those challenges I signed up for)....

Laura and Tressa from  Colorimetry and Tressa's Wishful Endings respectively ask: Does your TBR pile just keep growing? Well, so do theirs! And they think that now is a great time to host a Read-a-Thon and to try and do something about it.  I'm going to join in--how about you?  Jump on the links to see what's up. There are promises of give-aways and mini-challenges!

My goal is to knock out at least ten books in the next few weeks.  Let's see how that goes.  Possible reads: 
The Haunted Doll's House by M. R. James
Famous Ghost Stories by Bennett Cerf (ed)
The Temple of Death by A. C. & R. H. Benson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson 

The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake  

A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado 

A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict by John Baxter

Death Knocks Three Times by Anthony Gilbert

The Bamboo Blonde by Dorothy B. Hughes

Whatever Goes Up by Bertram Millhouse  

 Books Read:
1. The Yard by Alex Grecian (9/9/13)
2. The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson (9/10/13)
3. Famous Ghost Stories by Bennett Cerf (ed) [9/13/13]
4. The Temple of Death by A. C. & R. H. Benson (9/16/13)
5. The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake (9/17/13)
6. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (current read)
7.
8.
9.
10.

Malcolm Sage, Detective: Review

What's up with the give-away cover?

Malcolm Sage, Detective (1921) is a collection of short stories by Herbert Jenkins.  Sage had been involved in intelligence for Britain's Z Division during World War I and when the war ended Sir John Dene (who owed much to Sage) helped set him up in the Malcolm Sage Detective Bureau--meant to be a British Pinkerton's.  This volume details the first years of the agency's cases.  Sage has a staff of devoted and able men and women--James Thompson, his principle assistant; Gladys Norman, confidential secretary; William Johnson, junior staff member; and Arthur Tims, chauffeur. What follows is a set of seven cases.  The stories are broken up into more than one named chapter--which makes it look like there are seventeen mysteries.

Sage's style owes much to the Sherlock Holmes school.  He examines everything and keeps some of the clues in reserve.  But, unlike Holmes, he reveals just enough that the astute reader can get a hint of the proper solution.  In fact, in a couple of the stories, there are questions asked that should immediately flag the culprit.  But Sage also offers a preview of the Hercule Poirot style--using psychology and a keen eye for detail when interviewing witnesses.  Two of the stories have a bit of a speculative fiction feel to them--involving, resepectively--race memory as a motive and a youth serum--but it is straight detective work that solves the cases--no hocus-pocus.  These stories are short and feature a clever and likeable detective--as well as likeable supporting characters.  There are two early "locked room" murders and SPOILER a "the butler did it" story that precedes Mary Roberts Rinehart (highlight previous to view possible spoiler).  A very enjoyable collection from the early 20th Century.  Three and a half stars.

Here is a brief run-down of the cases:

"Sir John Dene Receives His Orders": details the beginnings of the Malcolm Sage Detective Bureau and gives background details on Sage and his staff.

"The Strange Case of Mr. Challoner" and "Malcolm Sage's Mysterious Movements": Mr. Challoner is found, an apparent suicide, dead of a gunshot wound.  The door is locked with the key in it and all the windows are locked as well.  But Sage finds little indications that it must be murder and suspicion begins to rest on Challoner's nephew who had quarreled with his uncle earlier in the evening.  But is he the only one with motive?

"The Surrey Cattle-Maiming Mystery" and "Inspector Wensdale Is Surprised": Over 30 incidents involving the mutilation and deaths of cattle have occurred over the last two years.  The police have already been on the case--with no results.  And the local men have organized a village watch to no avail.  So, when General John Hackblock's mare is attacked he decides to consult Sage--who despite asking all sorts of questions and looking up various things in the almanac seems reluctant to get involved.  But it's all a blind to keep the culprit from knowing he's on the case (a la Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles).

"The Stolen Admiralty Memorandum" and "The Ourtrage at the Garage": Sage is summoned to a country mansion where the Prime Minister, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Secretary of War are all in a panic.  A very sensitive memorandum has gone missing and a great deal of damage could be done if it finds its way into the wrong hands.  There is a houseful of weekend guests and servants.  Who is the guilty party?

"Gladys Norman dines with Thompson": A non-mystery intermission in which Gladys muses on the whys and wherefores of the staff devotion to their "Chief."  A fun little send-up of the expectations for romance in the mystery/thrillers of the time.

"The Holding Up of Lady Glanedale" and "A Lesson in Deduction": A jewelry-loving cat burglar seems to be on the loose.  Five weeks ago, Mrs. Comminge was the victim of a burglar who crept into her bedroom and threatened to shoot her if she didn't hand over her jewel case and keep quiet until he could make his escape.  Now, it appears that he has struck again at the home of Lady Glanedale.  The Twentieth Century Insurance Corporation Limited calls in Sage to verify the particulars--and he reveals the surprising identity of the Glanedale cat burglar.

"The McMurray Mystery" and "The Marmalade Clue": Professor James McMurray has been hard at work--trying to perfect a "youth serum," or at least one that will lengthen the average life span.  He is discovered dead in a locked laboratory....with a blow to the head from a poker and a strangely youthful appearance to his features.  Sage must discover how the murderer got in and out....and decipher the clue of uneaten marmalade (every bit as significant as the depth that parsley sinks into butter).

"The Glyston Slander" and "Malcolm Sage Plays Patience": It's a case of poison pen notes in the village of Glyston.  Sage must find out who hates the vicar's daughter and/or the curate enough to write such vicious notes about them and spread lies throughout the community.

"The Missing Heavyweight" and "The Great Fight at the Olympia": Charley Burns, the British champion is set to fight Bob Jefferson (whose name changes to "Joe" towards the end of the story) for the heavyweight championship of the world.  But then he disappears two days before the match.  It's up to Sage to find the clues that will produce the fighter in time for the bout.

"Lady Dene Calls on Malcolm Sage": is a non-mystery closer in which Lady Dene stops by to festoon Sage's office with roses--in honor of the first anniversary of the Malcolm Sage Bureau.  She also presents him with an antique ring to "adorn his lovely hand."  [He regularly studies his hands when interviewing clients, witnesses, and suspects.]

Detective Wisdom:
An empty stomach neither sees nor thinks. ~Malcolm Sage (p. 264)

Elephants Can Remember: Review

This is one of Dame Agatha's weakest mysteries.  At least I think so now (I don't have a record of how I rated it the first time I read it).  And I say that because Christie is one of the few mystery writers who can fool me almost every time.  It doesn't matter how many times I've read her stories--there's usually a plot twist that get me.  Or I may have a vague feeling who did it....but I'm never sure.  Not this time.  I had it all figured out long before the ending on the cliff.  And it's been at least 30 years since I read this one--so we can't say it's stuck in my memory.  I also find it weak because everything is so vague--all the interviews with those involved in the mystery are just vague.  Each one remembers things a little bit differently and there seem to be no real facts.  Nothing one can really get hold of.

So...here's the scoop: Hercule Poirot's friend Ariadne Oliver, a mystery writer, attends a literary luncheon.  It's the first she's ever attended because she always dreads the standard questions: "Where do you get your plot ideas from?"  "Are your characters base on real people?" and she doesn't know how to respond to the gushing "Oh, I just loved your last book!  How do you do it?"  But she is pleasantly surprised at how much she enjoys herself....until a Mrs. Burton-Cox corners her and insists that Ariadne (who must know all about murders and whatnot since she writes about) find out whether her (Ariadne's) god-daughter's mother shot her father--and then herself--or if her father shot her mother--and then himself.  It's ultra-important, you know, because Mrs. Burton-Cox's son Desmond is thinking about marrying the god-daughter, Celia Ravenscroft, and we want to know what's what with these murderous tendencies.  And if Mrs. Oliver doesn't know the answer, then she should ask the god-daughter.

Which Ariadne says she absolutely will not do. And she won't try to figure anything out. No way, no how.  But then she has a good think about it and decides to visit Poirot and tell him all about it.  Needless to say, she ignores his advice to leave it all alone, and soon she and Poirot are digging up all sorts of ancient history (well...13 years ago, anyway).  She goes off to find the "elephants" who will remember--because there are always people who remember things.  And Poirot makes contact with the officials who were involved at the time.  Everyone they talk to seems to believe that it was a sort of suicide pact.  But the more they investigate the more hints the find that there may be more to it.  There are stories of children who died or were hurt, identical twins, madness or illness in the family, and a dog whose attitude changed.  It all leads Poirot to one conclusion--and he reveals all on the very cliff where Celia's parents were found.

I generally like the stories with Mrs. Oliver--but this one, at least this time, has not impressed me as much as, say, Hallowe'en Party or Dead Man's Folly. It seemed obvious and not nearly as mystifying as Dame Agatha's usual efforts.  Two stars.

Quote:

It is easier to hate where you have loved than it is to be indifferent where you have loved. ~Poirot (p. 178) 

9/7/13 Update!: Just watched the David Suchet production of this story--and I have to say that it is an improvement on the story.  A whole (connected) subplot has been added that fills out the story in a very nice way.  David Suchet and Zoe Wannamaker are excellent as Poirot and Mrs. Oliver.  It is nice that they were able to take a sub-par book and make it into a pleasurable viewing experience.

Friday Memes

Book Beginnings on Friday is a bookish meme now sponsored by Rose City Reader (who originally inspired the meme). Here's what you do: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments section. Include the title and author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you are so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line and if you did or did not like that sentence. Link up each week at Gilion's place.

Here are the first few lines from Malcolm Sage Detective by Herbert Jenkins:

"John!"

"Yeh!"

"Don't say 'yeh, say 'yes,' Dorothy dear."

"Yes, Dorothy de---"

Sir John Dene was interrupted in his apology by a napkin-ring whizzing past his ear.

The Friday 56 is a bookish meme sponsored by Freda's Voice. It is really easy to participate. Just grab a book, any book, and turn to page 56. Find a sentence that grabs you and post it.


Here's mine from Malcolm Sage Detective by Herbert Jenkins:

He made a blunder in not replacing the pass-book with something else. That was the last link in the chair.

The Croquet Player: Review

It is a sort of ghost story they unfolded. But it is not an ordinary ghost story. It is much more realistic and haunting and disturbing than any ordinary ghost story. (pp. 1-2)

After all-- It is in just such a flat, still atmosphere perhaps--translucent, gentle coloured, that things lying below the surface, things altogether hidden in more eventful and colourful surroundings, creep on our perceptions....(p. 19)

The Croquet Player is, as the quote above states, no ordinary ghost story.  There are no horrible specters haunting our main characters, no otherworldly demons or goblins or any other tangible things which go bump in the night.  The atmosphere in this Wells novel relies entirely on the infectious nature of fear.  The croquet player, our narrator, is staying at Les Noupets (evidently a health-spa area with springs for a "water cure) and encounters a doctor who is in the area for a rest.  The doctor perceives our man to be a "reasonably balanced" and fairly unworried individual and begins to tell him of the source of his own distress--the countryside of Cairnmarsh.  He relates how he was slowly driven mad by the haunted nature of Cairnmarsh--how all of the inhabitants are fearful and seem almost possessed.  He tells of a vicar driven to beat his wife and of the brutal treatment of a dog...and how the atmosphere of the place finally drove him to seek the help of a nerve specialist.

The haunting is very ambiguous some of the locals fear that it is the spirit of Cain--the father of all murderers--that is haunting them and causing them to behave so irrationally towards each other.  To mistrust and even hate one another.  Others think that the ancient emotions and primitive drives of the Neanderthals (such as belonged to the bodies recently dug up in the marsh) are infecting those who live in the area.  But the fear and irrational behavior is spreading beyond the marshlands....

The most compelling part of the "ghost story" is when the doctor is telling his tale.  Even though we know that there is no real ghost, we are sure that doctor really believes that something tangible is responsible for his fear and the irrational behavior of the inhabitants of Cairnmarsh.  Wells's story really serves as an allegory for the fear and tensions that were building just before World War II.  Just as Cain was driven to kill his brother Abel; just as primitive man had to fight tooth and nail to survive--man's more primitive nature would be coming out in the conflict to come.  Mankind is--in a way--haunted by a nature that seems to compel us to conflict with one another.

As both a ghost story and an allegory, The Croquet Player rates a solid three stars.
 

Murder & Blueberry Pie

Murder and Blueberry Pie is one of the lightest of the "light and breezy" mysteries by Frances and Richard Lockridge.  Usually items mentioned in the titles have a great deal of relevance to the mystery--given that track record, one might expect the corpse in question to have died by poisoning courtesy of the titular pie.  Not this time.  The only way the pie really figures at all is that it allows the protagonist to take her mind off the odd little tidbits that are nagging at her.  And it serves as a dessert for her to share with her love interest.  But I get ahead of myself.

Lois Williams is a  recent widow--getting over the loss of her airline pilot husband.  She's been trying to distract herself with involvement in the community and is helping to organize a tour of historic houses on the occasion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Glenville, her home town.  When she stops in to ask Mrs. Abigail Montfret, 84 year old descendant of a leading Glenville family, for permission to place her home on the tour list, she is asked to serve as a witness to the elderly woman's will.  Not a half hour after Lois leaves, the woman dies.

Then the odd things begin to happen.  Lois will hear the woman's voice again....but this time from the mouth of a much younger woman.  The attorney who drew up the will seems to have taken extreme precautions to be sure that the signature is accepted as genuine.  When Lois shares her doubts with Bob Oliver, owner and editor of the town paper, his reporter's instincts kick in and they begin an investigation.  Soon Lois is the recipient of phone calls with no one on the line and someone is lurking outside her patio doors.  One of the tires on Bob's car is cut--by the villain in the case or by a gang of hoodlums in Greenwich Village?  

When a woman Bob knows who just happens to be an actress who excels at portraying older women just happens to die in a "mugging"--and coincidentally just happens to die the same night Bob and Lois pay her visit, Bob winds up taking their theories to Detective Nathan Shapiro.  Shapiro's superior, Bill Weigand, sends Shapiro to Glendale to nose around "just in case."  Between Shapiro's apparently purposeless questioning and Bob's nose for news, it isn't long before the culprit is revealed.

This story is probably the least detection-oriented of the Lockridge books I've read.  Not a lot of clue-finding, not a lot of suspect interviews.  And Nate Shapiro comes on the scene rather late in the game.  For detective story purists, this isn't going to be your cup of tea--there are no Golden Age, fair-play rules being followed here.  But for character and fun, it a good read--and it's a quick read.  I knocked this one out in a single day.  No heavy (mental) lifting involved--just a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.  Three stars.

September Mount TBR Reviews

Link up all reviews for this month below.

This New & Poisonous Air: Review

Adam McOmber's This New & Poisonous Air is my first installment in the R.I.P. Reading "Challenge" and he starts me out with a strong four-star outing.  McOmber's stories are not strictly scary, but they do have a very unsettling, Gothic feel.  The atmosphere ranges from the dark and unusual to the enigmatic and uncomfortable.  McOmber takes us from the beginnings of Madame Toussauds wax museum to the days of the Black Plague.  He also uses everyday settings--from a movie theater to the threshing floor of an old barn--to give us a case of shivers.  The variety of these stories is delightful--and it is easy to see influences by Poe, Shirley Jackson, and Isak Dinesen in many of the tales.This is a thoroughly enjoyable collection--more atmospheric and psychological than down-right scary--and even the weakest stories are quite, quite good.  My favorites are "The Automatic Garden," "Fall Orpheum," and "Beneath Us."

"The Automatic Garden" is about a man who creates a mechanical garden full of "automatic" animals, plants, and even people.  Ostensibly, it has been designed to delight the public--but there behind this creation there is the love story between Francini, the creator, and a dancer named Cornazzano.  The love affair is long over, but Francini invites his old love to see the tribute he has created--with unexpected results.

In "Fall Orpheum" we have a normal small town--normal except for the occasional missing person.  When David and Kitty (brother & sister) visit the Orpheum movie theater, Kitty disappears through a door in the theater and David realizes that the Orpheum has been the source of all the disappearances.

"Beneath Us" follows the researches of a British woman who has been employed to map the forgotten graveyards of Britain--graveyards that have through fires or other means become disconnected from their sponsoring churches.  The effect these researches have on her is quite....disturbing.


Often readers share the first lines of stories and novels, but the final lines in each of McOmber's tales are so compelling (and yet not really spoiler-ish) that I'm going to give you the endings.

And even as I sit composing these lines at my own wooden table in my home where I can hear the sound of my good wife speaking to my children in the upper rooms, I wonder if I am still in that garden, lying on the cane floor, broken into my separate parts.
~"The Automatic Garden"

For if there are saints, Madame knows they are few, and none of them are remembered long.
~"There Are No Bodies Such As This"

Common Woolbrink gave us a final warning glance before turning on his heel and pulling shut the tall wooden gate of the city, leaving us to darkness. Knowing that this, after all, was what we'd wanted.
~"Fall, Orpheum"

I burned the letter I wrote to Amon Garrik on the hill among the yellow tulips where he first stepped into the air, and as the smoke of my words rose into the clear sky above, I imagined the bright animals with their tremendous faces, somehow reaching down and finding a way to accept those ashes as offering.
~"A Memory of His Rising"

I could hear singing. And yes, I was surprised to realize it issued from my own astonished throat.
~"A Man of History"

I lay my head against one velvet wing  of my chair.  I feel myself diving beneath the cold waves--so perfectly submerged.  Fantastically alive.
~"Beneath Us"

She understood there were solutions to problems like this and a real traveler would  find a solution, so she took Herr Adle's cold hands and started to pull with all her strength, slowly at first, dragging him down the road behind.
~"This New & Poisonous Air"

Cal knew that the right kind of music made the invisible become visible.  And now that Bill was finally ready to see--it was too late. The thresher's song was nearly through.
~"Gardens of the Moon"

Aubrey watched as his grandmother turned inside the rug, rolling herself, becoming humped and indistinct.  Finally, she rested, lying utterly still.
~"Of Wool" 

What have their predilections drawn? She with her silver face, hard and bright as a funeral mask, and her hair, a silent ivory dome.
~"Egyptomania"

Teaser Tuesdays

MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesdays. Anyone can play along. Just do the following:

*Grab your current read.*Open to a random page.
*Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.

*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! You don't want to ruin the book for others.

*Share the title and author too, so other TT participants can add it to their TBR lists if they like your teaser.

Here's mine from This New & Poisonous Air by Adam McOmber:

And even as I sit composing these lines at my own wooden table in my home where I can hear the sound of my good wife speaking to my children in the upper rooms, I wonder if I am still in that garden, lying on the cane floor, broken into my separate parts.
~"The Automatic Garden" (last line of the short story)