Alfred & Emily: Review

Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing is two stories in one. She combines a fictional tale of what the lives of her parents, Alfred and Emily, might have been if World War One had never happened--if her father had not come home wounded both physically and emotionally and if her mother had not be damaged as well through caring for a wounded man who suffered from shell shock and who took her from England to a farm in Zimbabwe. The novella which begins the book gives her parents their ideal life. Her father becomes the farmer in England he always dreamed he could be, successful with a wife who enjoyed living on the farm and with two brawny sons. Her mother still becomes a nurse, but after marriage to a doctor who dies in middle-age and leaves her well-off she is able to fund schools and then a refuge for women in trouble. Through her fiction, she allows her parents to become what she imagines might have been their best selves.

The second half of the book tells the real-life story of her parents' struggles with life after the Great War. It shows in detail just how devastating that war was not only for those who lost loved ones, but for those who came home and those who loved them. The despair and depression the parents fought deeply affected Doris and her brother. Doris grew up hating her mother--in part because she pitied her and didn't know how to deal with those emotions as a young girl. Processing her emotions and reactions to her parents' plight may have sent her into therapy later in life, but it also fueled her fiction. It's likely that Alfred and Emily may have been happier if the war had never happened, but would Doris Lessing have been the author she became had she grown up in England? Of course, we'll never know for sure--but it certainly seems like the struggles she experienced in dealing with her parents molded her in ways that shaped her writing.

Each section of the book is interesting in its own right. But I'm not entirely sold on the combination in one volume. The transition between the two sections is inadequate and doesn't quite make a smooth connection. There are hints in reality towards the fictional biography Lessing writes for Alfred and Emily, but she doesn't fully explain some of the choices she made for them. ★★★

Death Finds a Foothold: Review

Death Finds a Foothold (1961) is the 14th mystery in Glyn Carr's [Frank Stowell Styes] Sir Abercrombie Lewker series. Lewker is a former commando, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and accomplished mountain climber. He's sortof the Jessica Fletcher of the mountaineering crowd, though--where he goes death seems to follow. On this particular outing, Lewker heads to Snowdonia, Wales for the annual dinner meet of the Foothold Club at the Pen-y-Pass Hotel. The Club has over 400 hundred members--all of whom are welcome at the general annual dinner, but only the current president, past presidents, the original founding members of the club, and their invited guests are allowed at the dinner meet. Lewker extends his invitation to his old friend Detective Inspector George Grimmett, knowing that Grimmett has long been curious, as a student of human nature, to study the mountaineering fraternity (and sorority) in their natural habitat. He also plans to talk the Inspector into climbing a bit himself.

They have just settled in their room with plans to change for dinner, when the current president, Mark Stoner comes in to consult Lewker--known for his abilities as an amateur sleuth--and finds that he has the added bonus of a detective inspector. Stoner has received a threatening letter

You thought youd got away with it but its catching up with you you dirty skunk your not fit to live and wont if you persist in taking the job so watch out.

The president is baffled and yet frightened. He can't think what "job" the anonymous letter writer is referring to and he can't think of anyone who might have animus against him. But he feels the threat nonetheless.

But when tragedy strikes the next day, it's not the president who dies. Professor Julius Wiernick, who is a particularly odious man with few, if any, friends, but a brilliant climber falls to his death in what appears to be an accident. Wiernick was climbing with another seasoned mountaineer, Donald Ferguson, and Ferguson's niece Flora Massey. The Professor was lead on the team and had decided to take an alternate route on what should have been a fairly moderate climb--just to add a bit of challenge. The route took him out of sight of his fellow climbers and that's when he fell. Neither Lewker nor Inspector Grimmett are inclined to believe that this was an accident. And when a note just like the one Stoner received is found in Wiernick's pocket, it seems they are right. But tracking down who had a motive as well as the opportunity to kill a man on a fairly tricky bit of rock face will take some doing. And what did the man's cry of "Jack!" right before his fall mean?

At first, it seems that the detective duo has an impossible crime on their hands. Those with motive either have alibis or would have been hard pressed to get themselves into position to kill the professor in the time allowed. When another death occurs, it becomes apparent that the past event mentioned is at the heart of the mystery and they will have to unearth the details before they can catch their man...or woman.

Just a few thoughts on this one--possible spoiler in next paragraph. First, Sir Abercrombie makes it plain that those who know him well and whom he considers friends don't call him "Filthy" (although apparently someone, somewhere does--otherwise, why bring it up?). In fact, nobody in the whole book calls him by that name. So why on earth do we even bring that name up; why does the back of the book insist on calling him "Filthy" Lewker; and why is the series known under that name on various sites? I mean, sure, it's an obvious play on his name--but it'd work better if Carr had actually made something of the play on words.

Second, once the reader knows that the professor's death was murder, it becomes obvious who did it. Might not know exactly how, might not know the details on why--but definitely who. And speaking of how--I'm not sure exactly how that trick was worked. There's no way on earth I can see that you, as murderer, could have been sure that the rope would catch in the way it had to and would leave Wiernick's body dangling (sorry for the image) in the way it was found. 

But, those two quibbles aside, this is very interesting mystery. I'm quite taken with Sir Abercrombie (who, admittedly, is a bit taken with himself) even though he does lecture Inspector Grimmett a bit much on his own job. Carr manages to deliver necessary mountain-climbing details to the uninitiated in a manner that is absorbing rather than overwhelming or boring and his descriptions of the area in Wales is delightful. Once the denouement arrives, the readers also finds that Carr has played fair--displaying his clues and even allowing Sir Abercrombie to recite most of them to us. I still didn't pick up on the meaning of a couple of them. An entertaining read...earning ★★★ and a half.

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This fulfills the "Snow/Snowy Scene" category on the Silver Scavenger Hunt card.

Deal Me In: #22 & #23

I'm still working my way through Jay's Deal Me In Challenge . In a nutshell--we line up 52 short stories for the year, we match those stories up to a card in a regular deck of card, and each week we shuffle our deck (of real cards) and draw a card from whatever remains in the deck. I'm playing catch-up for the last two weeks. During the week of  May 31, I drew the Eight of Diamonds which gave me "Hot House Flowers" by Miker Resnick followed the next week (June 10) by the Seven of Diamonds and "Everywhere" by Geoff Ryman, both stories from The Year's Best Science Fiction 17th Annual Collection by Gardner Dozois, ed.

Up first, Resnick's story "Hot House Flowers" gives readers a different look at what the immortal life might look like. What if science found a way to keep the human body alive for just about forever, but there was no guarantee what shape it would be in? What if men and women became little more than "hot house flowers" with every need but one--a meaningful life--tended to by human gardeners? And what if the weed of discontent invaded the garden?

image source

"Everywhere" by Geoff Ryman is another science fiction selection. This one portrays a purportedly utopian society and asks the question: Do those who live in utopia really recognize it as such? And do we, the readers, recognize the world described in here as a perfect society? I'm not sure I do....

 

Christmas in June! Mystery in White: Review

Mystery in White (1937) by J. Jefferson Farjeon finds a train full of people stuck in an unexpectedly heavy winter storm as they are on their way to various Christmas destinations.. It's a situation very familiar to fans of the Golden Age mystery story. But Farjeon gives the scenario a deft twist from that of Christie's Orient Express. Instead of keeping everyone snugly in place on the trapped train, he sends them out into the wintry whiteness. After they've been stuck for what seems an eternity, the passengers—David Carrington and his sister, Lydia; clerk Robert Thomson; chorus girl Jessie Noyes; Edward Maltby, of the Royal Psychical Society; and an old bore named Hopkins —all decide to leave their carriage in search of another (hopefully snow-free) train at the nearby the Hemmersby station.

But the weather is worse than expected and they become hopelessly lost in the swirling white landscape. When Jessie twists her ankle on a particularly tricky bit of ground, the adventurers are lucky enough to find a house where they can ask for refuge. Except no one's at home. The door is unlocked and, desperate for shelter, they go on in and find an unusual sight--there are fires blazing in the fireplaces, the table is set for tea, and the kettle is on the boil. No one in their right mind would get tea all ready only to leave the house in the middle of a snow storm. So where is their host? That's not the only question facing the stranded travelers. Why is there a knife in the middle of the floor? Who killed the man on the train? {What man, you say? Hold on...} And who is "Smith," the little Cockney who suddenly appeared at the door as well? He says that he wasn't on the train--so where did he come from?

Back to the man on the train. Hopkins was the last to leave the compartment. He had fully expected to remain on the train, unlike the "lunatics" (as he referred to his fellow passengers). That was before he noticed one of the train's guards staring into the next compartment....at a dead man. While the guard and other passengers all stood around gaping at the body, Hopkins decided to try and get to Hemmersby and find a policeman. Or so he said. Then Maltby reveals that he tripped over another dead body as he was making his way to Valley House (as their shelter is known). Maltby and David Carrington take the lead in investigating the mysterious happenings--both those that occurred on the train they left behind and those that involve the house. Fortunately, they are able to unravel it all and bring about a conclusion that is satisfactory to almost everybody...except the killer, of course.

Farjeon loads his mysterious Christmas tale with all sorts of unlikely things--from psychic tremors that tell of past misdeeds in the house to unlikely connections among the cast to the police's ability to swallow the tale that Maltby ultimately spins them (to protect the innocent--you know). But--the tale is such great fun and is such a wild bobsled of a ride through Farjeon's winter wonderland that one can suspend one's disbelief in psychic happenings. And the psychic episodes are brief enough that they don't detract from the mystery. A thoroughly enjoyable romp through the 1930s countryside.

Added bonus: the spiffy introduction by Martin Edwards. So glad he and The British Library are bringing these forgotten vintage mysteries back to us. ★★★★

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This counts for the "Snow/Snowy Scene" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

The Little Red Guard: Review

The Little Red Guard (2012) by Wenguang Huang recounts the the author's life in Communist China from 1973 on. The story is held together by his grandmother's obsession with death and her burial. She is a product of the old ways--having had her feet bound and growing up with the rituals and superstitions of the past. Even though the Party has outlawed extravagant burials and now requires everyone to be cremated, Grandma makes Wenguang's father promise that he will not burn her up when she dies--that he will take her from the city of Xi'an, where they live now, back to her home in the Henan Province to bury her beside her husband. And she doesn't just want him to sneak her body back home; she wants the traditional funeral ceremony. 

This causes great tension between her son and his wife and also puts the entire family on pins and needles for years. Wenguang's father spends a great deal of time and money making friends and doing favors for people who will be able to help him when his mother dies--from finding a the wood and the carpenter to build the coffin to securing a truck and driver to transport Grandma to Henan to making sure that members of Grandma's family will be prepared to help get her into the right grave. Meanwhile, Wenguang's father is doing all the right things within the Party to make sure his family's fortunes will prosper while he keeps his mother's wishes secret and Wenguang and his siblings are studying to be proper little Communists who will bring glory to the Party and honor to their family.

Wenguang is very close to his Grandma and at first he sides with her and his father in the struggle to fulfill his grandmother's wishes and protect her (and the family) from Party displeasure. But as he grows older, attends college, and becomes exposed to more Western thinking, he becomes disdainful of his father's kowtowing--both to tradition and to the Communist way of life. He behaves disrespectfully at his father's funeral (who winds up preceding the grandmother in death) and it isn't until Wenguang moves to the United States and reaches middle age that he realizes how arrogant he was and how unappreciative he was of his father's struggle to be a dutiful son, and devoted husband & father all while maintaining the position that would allow him to support his family. It was quite a juggling act--and sometimes he couldn't keep all the balls in the air.

This was a touching family memoir which revealed a great deal about Chinese traditions and the struggles under Chairman Mao's rule. It was very interesting to compare Wenguang's childhood to my own growing up in the 1970s and early 80s. There was a lot--from the variety of food on the table to the freedom of thought in the classroom to the entertainment available--that I took for granted which Wenguang never experienced as a child in China. There were also a number of things that were the same--particularly the devotion to family. Growing up close to my dad's family--I knew that family always came first. His mom exemplified that and Dad (and his siblings) followed her example. A compelling story of a family trying to reconcile the old ways with the new and which tells of the failures as well as the successes. ★★★★

Where There's Smoke: Review

Where There's Smoke (1946) by Stewart Sterling starts off with Fire Marshall Ben Pedley "[rocketing] up Broadway at a screaming seventy with the siren wide open" and the pace never lets up until the final page. Pedley is on his way to fire that has set the Brockhurst Theater ablaze and trapped the luscious Leila Lownes--beautiful songbird and idol of thousands--in the building. Pedley arrives just in time to play hero by rescuing the fair Leila and to direct the firefighters to the source of the blaze. Leila had rushed into the building to save her brother Ned--but he was doomed even before the fire reached him. Someone had spiked his drink with denatured alcohol and even if he hadn't been toasted like a marshmallow he would have died anyway. But somebody wanted to make doubly-sure. Or maybe they hoped the fire would destroy the evidence of murder and his death would be written off as an accident.

Since the death is fire-related, Pedley claims jurisdiction to investigate and begins questioning everyone connected with Ned and Leila. One of the suspects doesn't take kindly to Pedley's direct questions and tries to pull strings to get the fire marshal removed from the case. Pedley's superior can't flat-out buck the orders from on high--but he can play the system to give Pedley time to investigate further. The marshal discovers that there are no tears being shed over Ned's untimely demise. It seems that Leila's brother cum manager was an over-bearing louse to everyone he came in contact with. Leila's friend and song arranger gives every appearance of being full to the brim with details but before Pedley convinces her to pour them out into his ear she becomes the victim of the firebug as well. The suspects are rapidly being disqualified (via the morgue) and Pedley suffers several near-escapes from death himself before this wild ride is over and he brings the murder charge home to the killer. 

Stewart had his origins in the pulps and it shows. Pedley is a flashy, smart-mouthed investigator who doesn't always play by the rules and sometimes downright breaks them when "interviewing" a few of the more reluctant suspects. Action, excitement, and danger is

far more important than plotting and clues, but the adventure is a fun ride and there are enough clues to satisfy most mystery buffs (as long as you remember that Stewart is no Christie when it comes to tight plotting). One thing that is surprising in a writer with his feet planted firmly in the pulps is the moments of exceptional description--take that beginning, for instance. Stewart deftly puts the reader right in Pedley's fire marshal car and we feel as though we're zooming along the streets right with him--at breakneck speed. And the descriptions of the fire, the men working feverishly to bring it under control, and the victim are graphic--but not gratuitously so--and so competently done that we can almost feel the heat of the blaze. Descriptive moments like these aren't as abundant as one might like, but they go a long way towards compensating for the loose plot. An enjoyable, fast-paced read. ★★★

[Finished on 6/4/17]

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With the map on the back, this fulfills the "Body of Water" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

May Wrap-Up & P.O.M. Award

Here we are continuing another year of tracking reading progress and statistics for all things bookish on the Block. I will also be contributing to Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month and handing out the coveted P.O.M. Award for the best mystery. So, here's what happened here on the Block in May....

Total Books Read: 17
Total Pages:  3,306

Average Rating: 2.97 stars  
Top Rating: 4 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 41%
Percentage by US Authors: 71%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  12%
Percentage Mystery:  82% 
Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 12%
Percentage of Rereads: 18%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for as many as I do.}    
Number of Challenges fulfilled so far: 12 (39%)

AND, as mentioned above, Kerrie had us all set up for another year of Crime Fiction Favorites. What she was looking for is our Top Mystery Read for each month. May was another big month for mysteries with all but three coming from that field--for a total of 14 out of 17--plus one non-fiction book related to the mystery field. Here are the books read:

 

Storm Center by Douglas Clark (3 stars) 

The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith (DNF) 

The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene (4 stars) 

The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt (3 stars) 

Murder at Teatime by Stefanie Matteson (3 stars) 

Blind Man With a Pistol by Chester Himes (3 stars) 

Death Cracks a Bottle by Kenneth Giles (3 stars) 

The Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur (3 stars) 

Murder in Mount Holly by Paul Theroux (3 stars)

Deadly Nightshade by Elizabeth Daly (3 stars) 

The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (4 stars) 

Decision at Delphi by Helen MacInnes (4 stars) 

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb (3 stars) 

The Case of the Seven Sneezes by Anthony Boucher (3 stars)

 

May was a pretty middle-of-the-road kind of month as far as reading went. Nearly everything came in with an average, three-star rating--except for The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith which turned out to be bad enough that I couldn't read the whole thing and only skimmed to be able and count it for a few challenges. I did have three 4-star winners: Carolyn Keene with The Invisible Intruder, The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton, and Helen MacInnes with Decision at Delphi. Nancy Drew is always a winner with me--after all, she was my introduction to mysteries 40 years ago or so (has it really been that long?!). And The Invisible Intruder was always a favorite, mostly, I think, because it has a slightly different format than the others in the original stories. Nancy and her friends travel from place to place seeking to debunk various ghostly legends. But Nancy is a reread for me and she has won before, so that puts her out of the running for a P.O.M. The Constantine Affliction is a rollicking good novel that could definitely be a fine steampunk mystery series if Payton/Pratt decides to continue with the characters. Pimm and Ellie work well together and make an excellent team as well as an interesting couple. Winifred/Freddy is charming as well--stealing every scene she's in and adding color to the detective efforts. She could have her own book--life after the change and where it takes her after she and Pimm & Ellie sort out their relationship/s. However, the mystery plot isn't the strongest point--not much of a mystery really and those who want clues to discover on their own may be a bit disappointed.  It's well worth it for the overall story and adventure, but the weaker mystery plot just keeps it from the coveted award. Which leaves us with this month's P.O.M. Award Winner.... 

Decision at Delphi (1960) is a gripping espionage thriller with believable characters. Strang served in WWII, so it isn't unexpected that he can handle himself in tight situations. Every character we meet has an interesting backstory that works into the present and MacInnes provides the motives and philosophies of the different factions without making the reader feel like they've sat through a Cold War lecture. There are many historical details necessary to understand the setting and events in late-1950s Greece and MacInnes provides them in a way that keeps the story moving. Good historical background, beautiful descriptions of the countryside in Greece and the area surrounding Delphi in particular, and compelling characters all combine in an exciting adventure.