Sherlock Holmes: The White Chapel Horrors

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna plays at "What If?" What if Sherlock Holmes were a real person? (Gasp! Who could doubt it?) And what if he had investigated the horrible murders committed by Jack the Ripper? For surely, the Great Detective would have been called in on such a notorious case.

There is no doubt that Hanna knew his Holmes. He was a long-time Holmes buff and a member of the Baker Street Irregulars. And he most definitely had done his research in Ripper lore. Though a work of fiction, the novel is meticulously footnoted. Those who are well-acquainted with the Holmes canon may say, too much footnoting--he chooses to footnote material that anyone who knows the least bit about Holmes and Watson should know--but better too much than not enough. Hanna has used the Holmes canon and the facts of the terrible murders in 1888 and blended them into a dandy little tale. And it is very interesting to follow Holmes on the track of one of the most notorious killers of all time.

Almost 500 pages long, the book flies by (I finished it in a little over the day) and I didn't want to put it down until I got to the end. Hanna gets almost everything right. Almost. I quibble with bits of his portrayal of Watson--I maintain that the doctor is too good-hearted to espouse some of the derogatory comments and prejudicial beliefs Hanna attributes to him. Yes, some of the comments about the poor and certain races living in London were true of the day--but surely Hanna could have presented those details without putting them in the mouth of the good doctor. Watson does in a lot of ways represent the stalwart British man of his time, but not in all ways.

My other quibble is the ending--or rather the lack thereof. It is very disquieting to follow Holmes throughout the story and be left hanging at the end. We aren't told who the Great Detective believes Jack the Ripper to be and we are supposed to believe that at the end of the day Holmes doesn't even know. That Holmes is no more enlightened than the police. That is not the Holmes we know.

Overall, a good tale. Hanna makes it very believable that Holmes could have investigated this case. And the blend of fact and fiction is very good. An enjoyable read worth three stars.

Quote:

For one thing, life's affairs all too often did not come to a conclusion, satisfactory or otherwise. They simply stopped--abruptly, artlessly, without a shrug of apology. All too often there was no proper finish, no clear resolution or sense of finality, no ending at all; merely a cessation of activity. All too often there lacked that indispensable element of drama, that sense of wonderment, discovery, and surprise--those essential twists and delightfully serpentine turns leading inescapably to the neat and tidy ending the reader of fiction had come to expect (p. 391)

I suppose you can say that he warned me....

Challenge Complete: European Reading Challenge

TAKE THE GRAND TOUR

For one of my many challenges this year, I decided to join Rose City Reader in the European Reading Challenge – where participants tour Europe through books. And win prizes.

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

There are various participation levels and prizes for the levels. Reviews are not required, but if you want to be eligible for prizes then you must post reviews for the books you read. And I commited to:

Five Star (Deluxe Entourage): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.

1. The Doctor Dines in Prague by Robin Hathaway (set in Czech Republic) [3/12/12]
2. Morgue Drawer Four by Jutta Profijt; trans. by Erik J. Macki (German author/set in Germany) [4/7/12]3. Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen (2/10/12)
4. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (Royale-les-Eaux, France) [3/3/12]
5. The Rose Window & Other Verse from New Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke (born in Prague; died in Switzerland; poems originally written in German) [3/22/12]

Commitment Complete 4/7/12--but still reading!


6. File No. 113 by Emile Gaboriau (French author/set in France) [7/11/12]
7. The Fire Engine that Disappeared by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Sweden) [4/9/12]
8. DeKok & Murder on the Menu by A. C. Baantjer  (Holland) [7/13/12]
9. Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart (Ireland) [10/14/12]
10. The Foods of North Italy by Luigi Veronelle (Italy) [10/27/12]

Morgue Drawer Four: Review

I found Morgue Drawer Four by Jutta Profijt just sitting there on the New Arrival Shelf at the Library begging me to take it home. Like the protagonist, Dr. Martin Gänsewein, I tried in vain to ignore the little voice calling my name, picked up the book, read the synopsis and was hooked. Not that I don't have oodles of books sitting in TBR piles in my backroom calling my name as well...but, you see, they were across town in my house so their voices were fainter. After reading the blurb on the back:

Most people would shiver at the thought of spending their days surrounded by the dead, but not Dr. Martin Gänsewein. Shy, but scrupulous, Martin appreciates his taciturn clients—until the day one of them starts talking to him. It seems the ghost of a recently deceased (and surprisingly chatty) small-time car thief named Pascha is lingering near his lifeless body in drawer number four of Martin’s morgue. He remains for one reason: his “accidental” death was, in fact, murder. Pascha is furious his case will go unsolved—to say nothing of his body’s dissection upon Martin’s autopsy table. But since Martin is the only person Pascha can communicate with, the ghost settles in with the good pathologist, determined to bring the truth of his death to light. Now Martin’s staid life is rudely upended as he finds himself navigating Cologne’s red-light district and the dark world of German car smuggling. Unless Pascha can come up with a plan—and fast—Martin will soon be joining him in the spirit world.

I was hooked. I told myself that it was okay that I bring home another library book--after all, this one is set in Germany and written by a German author and I could use it for my European Reading Challenge! (Shhh, let's not talk about the other European settings and authors that are sitting in the TBR piles...)

This was a fun read. I loved the unique set-up and hearing/seeing things form Pascha's point of view was quite interesting. Now, I have to admit, Pascha isn't the most likeable fellow. It's not clear why we should care who bumped him off (other than we ought to care when anyone is killed)--I mean, after all, he's rather egotistical and opinionated and well....not sympathetic at all. But that doesn't matter. It was a great concept and I did want to know. And the translator has done a wonderful job with the story. I think he got the tone just right. And, I didn't guess who did it--which is a big plus. Three stars for a decent debut mystery and interesting concept. I liked it enough that I'm interested to see where the next installment takes Martin and his ghost.

Venetia: Review

From the back of the book:

She wasn't looking for love..Her beauty rivaled only by her sensibility, Venetia Lanyon is nearly resigned to spinsterhood, thanks to the enormous amount of responsibility she inherited with a Yorkshire estate, an invalid brother and the lackluster efforts of two wearisomely persistent suitors. Then she meets her neighbor, the infamous lord Damerel, a charming rake shunned by polite society--exactly the type of man that a woman of quality should stay away from.

He wasn't looking for redemption...Though his scandalous past and deepest secrets give Venetia every reason to mistrust him, a rogue always gets what he wants....

Georgette Heyer writes really fine Regency Romances. Her books have it all: witty dialogue, the life and doings of the ton, creditable characters that are some sometimes a bit larger-than-life (but not too, too much larger), a great concern with social standing which always, always puts a twist on the romance in question. Venetia has all that and more....a frank sexuality that runs through every encounter between Venetia and her rake. Note the word frank, which is entirely different from blatant. For blatant, Heyer is not. There is nothing beyond kissing going on here and the scenes between Venetia and Lord Damerel fairly smoulder with the unspoken. And she does represent the mores of the time quite openly--and makes clear what kind of position a young woman who has made herself appear fast or, dare we say it, wonton may find herself in. Reputation is the coin of the realm when it comes to being marriageable--which of course is a girl's primary concern.

Venetia Lanyon is viewed as an innocent by her acquaintances (I can't really call them friends, because none of them seem to know her very well). She is a young woman of twenty-five who has been kept secluded in the country, never brought out into society, and only the company of a scholarly, invalid brother and two very dull suitors and various martronly women to "brighten" her days. Everything she knows about life she had learned from the books she has read and one would think her very naive and unworldy as a consequence. But, when meeting Lord Damerel, her family's neighbor and a notorious rake, for the first time she seems well aware of what and with whom she is dealing. In fact, Venetia is the most self-possessed and assured character in the book.

Venetia is a very complex character and may seem to be a bit too self-possessed for the time period. But Heyer gives us a very plausible back-story to give truth to her situation. She has, it is true, been buried in the country by a father who apparently wanted to be alone with his grief after her mother's death. But, once her father died and her elder brother took off with the army, Venetia is left to manage the estate and oversee the care of her younger brother. This allows her to be far more independent than most young women of the time. What is astonishing is not so much that she is independent and independently-minded, but that those who have supposedly known her from birth don't really understand her character.

Naturally, the course of true love cannot run straight (lest we not have a story) and everyone, including the rake himself, throws stumbling blocks of conventionality in the path. But Venetia is having none of that. When plans go awry, she simply comes up with better ones. Because, contrary to what the back of the book says...an intelligent and determined woman always gets what she wants.

Heyer, as always, has done her research well and writes the period like she was born then. Her characterizations are superb--you love Venetia and her rake as well as her touchy younger brother and her devoted Nurse. You will also love to hate Conway's (Venetia's elder brother) horrible mother-in-law and will be just as exasperated with Venetia's lackluster suitor's as she is. And that's because Heyer makes her characters real. A very enjoyable Regency Romance--picked up primarily for the Getting Lost in a Comfortable Book Challenge, but fulfilling several others as well. Four stars.

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's mine from Venetia by Georgette Heyer:

"A fox got in amongst the hens last night, and ravished our best layer," remarked Miss Lanyon. "A great-grandmother, too! You'd think he would be ashamed!"

{You gotta watch out for those foxes who go around ravishing in romances. Ravishers are never ashamed.... Lol. ;-) }


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 Venetia by Georgette Heyer:

"No, but she is being strongly moved by the spirit, and the chances are it would have moved her to say something impolite to you, which would have covered me with mortification."

Star Trek Vol 1: Mini-Review

So, I got caught up in a little graphic novel whirlwind there for a moment. Finished off The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in a morning....and read Star Trek, Vol 1 by Mike Johnson last night. Hadn't planned on reading the Star Trek, but my husband just got in the mail yesterday, left it out on the desk near the computer, and before I knew it I had it all read. No big plans for reviewing this--so I'll just give you a quickie.

The graphic novel is based in the new re-booted Star Trek universe and occurs post-Star Trek movie 2009. But no new stories--just a retelling of two episodes--"Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "The Galileo Seven"--from the new universe view-point. Decently done (and kudos to the Star Trek graphic novelist/illustrator for not sexing it up like League). I think Johnson has written the "new" characters just right in these episodes. However, I must say that if I were into graphic novels (which I'm not really), I'd be hoping for new stories in the future and not a steady diet of re-hashed TV episodes. Let's go somewhere new...somewhere "where no trek has gone before." Okay? Three stars--for Trek love, good story re-telling, and good graphics.

The Westing Game: Review

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is actually a re-read for me. But I didn't read it when I was young--although I wish I had. I know I would have enjoyed it. Our public library hosts a children's reading challenge every summer and during one of the campaigns my son, Kyle, won The Westing Game as his reading challenge prize. It was a little advanced for him at the time (he's not his mother's child when it came to reading)--but he loved the cover and wanted it and we decided that it was a book we could read together. So we did. And I thought at the time, "What a great book! Why didn't I find it when I was growing up?"

This year, I joined the Back to the Classics Challenge and one of the categories is to read an award-winning classic. So, I decided to go back to this Newbery Medal winner, refresh myself on the details, and write up a proper review for my blog. Here goes--

Sixteen people are chosen (apparently at random) to be allowed to rent apartments in the luxurious Sunset Towers apartment building. The assorted tenants come from all walks of life--a secretary and a judge, a doctor and an inventor, a dressmaker and two restaurant owners. And a bookie, a burglar, and a bomber....and one mistake. After living in the apartments for a while, they receive a notice that they are also all heirs of Samuel W. Westing--a man whose fortunes have been built on the Westing Paper Products Industry. But--in order to claim their inheritance, they will have to play Westing's game....a contest to find and name Westing's murderer! The heirs are divided into pairs and each pair is given a set of clues. Each set of clues is different. But two people hold all the clues--one will be named the Westing heir and the other is the reader. Can you solve the mystery before the heir does?

This is a well-written children's mystery. Lots of twists and turns and surprises. Pretty fairly clued too. I enjoyed it very much and only wish I had discovered it when I was younger--I probably would have given it four stars then. Three stars now--a very nice mystery.

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman: Review

First off, let me say...the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? I loved it. Absolutely loved it. That was one of the main draws for me for taking part in the challenge of the same name. That and the desire to read some of the classic novels on the list of books that serve as back-stories for the graphic novel and the movie. Now, the graphic novel...I did not love. Perhaps it's that graphic novels really aren't my thing. But mostly, I think it's the incredibly violent, overly-sexualized drawings that turn me off. I may be from the prehistoric age when it comes to comic books (and, let's face it, that's what I think of when we talk graphic novels)--but I don't expect to see more-than-half-naked women (and a few men), with grossly over-sized bosoms heaving all over the place. And I'm not terribly keen on seeing bloody bits of human beings flying across the page. Seriously. Oh...and Mina Murray is drawn (when we're not emphasizing her feminine attributes) to look as if she's sucked on a pound of lemons AND has a poker shoved where the sun don't shine. That's marvelous as well. And, of course, there are the sexist and racist bits.

Once I turned on my visual filter and skimmed the pictures for the written word only, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1) and I got on a lot better. It's a pretty good story--and the plot-line is well-written. I like the action and twist and double-twist at the end. I liked that the graphic novel gives a bit more explanation of how the league came together. I just think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been a straight novel rather than a graphic novel.

The story itself is a bit different from the movie. The League is gathered together by a certain Campion Bond, who is in the employ of "Mr. M." "M" is supposedly the head of intelligence in Britain and he wants Bond to put together a group of agents who can help the Empire in a time of great need. A certain Asian "Doctor"--kingpin of crime in London's East End--has stolen cavorite, a substance which will enable flight and allow the Doctor to attack Britain from the air. Mina Murray works at Bond's behest to gather Allan Quartermaine, Captain Nemo, Hawley Griffin (The Invisible Man), and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde together to track down the Doctor and save the Empire. Little do they know what evil adventures await....and who they're really working for.

Two stars--all for story. There are other volumes in this graphic novel series. I can't say that I'll be seeking them out.

Booking Through Thursday: Recommendation

Booking Through Thursday says:

A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.

Bookish Sarah asks:

If someone asked you for a book recommendation, what is the FIRST book you’d think to recommend (without extra thought)?

My Response: The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson. It's very short novel, but cram-packed with good writing and a very poignant story.

Theme Thursday: Foolish/Stupidity

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

Rules
*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from your current book that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

March is going to be all about making life easy. This month we will do ‘Pick what you see first‘ themes. So open the book you are reading, continue reading; pick the first mention of any name in it and post the snippet. The only condition is ‘No Ebooks’.. lets go traditional. Easy-peasy!!

And this week's theme is Foolish/Stupidity.

Here is mine from The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart:

As Dale approached, unseen, the climax came. The revolver steadied, pointed ferociously at an inoffensive grass-blade some 10 yards from Miss Van Gorder and went off. Lizzie promptly gave vent to a shrill Irish scream. Miss Van Gorder dropped the revolver like a hot potato and opened her mouth to tell Lizzie not to be such a fool.

The Maltese Falcon: Review

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not a hard-boiled, private eye, noir-ish kind of girl. Philip Marlow, Mickey Spillane, Mike Hammer, Michael Shayne, Sam Spade and their fellows just don't really do it for me. At least not in print. The Maltese Falcon film with Humphrey Bogart? Love it. In fact, if I'm gonna do hard-boiled, private eye then I generally prefer them on screen....and in black and white, please. But I gotta give Dashiell Hammett credit. That man could write. And I now know why (beyond Bogey) I loved the movie....because so much of the dialogue was lifted right off the page. And Hammett's dialogue is absolutely right for this story. There are other reviewers that said that one annoyance with having seen the movie before reading the book is that you have Bogart's and Lorre's and Greenstreet's (etc) voice in your head when you read the dialog. I would say that one of the great things about having seen the movie before reading the book is that I have Bogart's voice in my head. He was absolutely perfect as Spade and I think it really helped me get over any lurking qualms I had about hard-boiled noir to have had the visual experience first. One of the rare instances when the movie got things right.

So...for those of you who have never seen the movie or read the book...here it is in nutshell. Sam Spade is a well-worn, world-weary private eye in San Francisco. He's approached by a woman who says she wants a man named Thursby tailed because he's run off with her younger sister. Spade's partner, Archer, agrees to do the job and gets himself killed for his good deed. Thursby winds up dead as well and Spade finds himself knee-deep in plot and counter-plot as the woman changes her name three times, various shady characters show up--all thinking he's got the goods on a mysterious black statue of a bird, and the police seem to think Spade's more deeply involved in the killings than is healthy for him. Spade has to fast-talk his way around suspicious cops, wily criminals, and gorgeous dames in order get out of this one with his skin whole. He also has to figure out who's side he's on...and who, if anybody, is on his. And just what is the limit of things people will do to get their hands on this fabled falcon?

Fast-talking, high-drama, action-packed mystery. A strong, flawed detective. A mysterious woman with more curves than a mountain road (and that's just in the stories she's feeds to our hero). A terrific read...and that comes from someone who doesn't enjoy the genre. If you've seen the movie, but haven't read the book--you should. If you've read the book, but haven't seen the movie--you should. Great stuff in both formats. Four stars.

Challenge Complete: What an Animal V

I had already planned to read eight books for the Dangerous Beasts portion of my very own Vintage Mystery Challenge. So...I'm signed up for the

What an Animal V

Mar 1, 2012- Feb 28, 2013
hosted by Yvonne at its own blog
sign up here

You can still join: Check out the sign up page for complete information but the basics are:

Read six books that have an animal....on the cover, in the title, plays a major role, Main character is an animal or shifts.

Here's the list of books which I read to complete the six book commitment:

1. Swan Song by Edmund Crispin (4/3/12)
2. The Case of the Grinning Gorilla by Erle Stanley Gardner (3/30/12)
3. Hare Sitting Up by Michael Innes (3/9/12)
4. The Murder in the Stork Club by Vera Caspary (3/10/12)
5. The Golden Scorpion by Sax Rohmer (4/2/12)
6. Dead as a Dinosaur by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3/8/12)

I still have more books on the docket that have animals in the title, so I'll be adding more to my tally. But--officially--my commitment to the challenge is complete.

Swan Song: Review

I do love me an academic mystery. And Edmund Crispin's delightful series starring Gervase Fen--the Oxford don and quirky amateur detective--is a marvelous example of academic mysteries done right. There is witty, sparkling dialogue. There is intellectual name-dropping--"There goes C. S. Lewis," said Fen suddenly. "It must be Tuesday." There is unashamed references to fellow Golden Age sleuths (H.M., Mrs. Bradley and Albert Campion). There is the entertainingly mad brother of the deceased. There is brilliant humor--it's worth the price of admission just for the description of Fen driving his sporty little red car, "Lily Christine." Oh...and, incidentally, a cleverly constructed "impossible" crime. Impossible, that is, if it's murder and not suicide.

Swan Song gives us murder at the opera. An Oxford opera house is putting on a production of Die Meistersinger and while the star of the show, Edwin Shorthouse, may sing like an angel most everyone who knew him thought his origins were from a much warmer climate. His drunken advances to every available (or even unavailable female) doesn't do anything for his popularity with the ladies...or their male friends and spouses. And his insistence on misunderstanding direction hasn't won him any points with the conductor. So, it's no surprise that few tears are shed when Shorthouse is found swinging at the end of a hangman's noose in his dressing room late one night. The trouble is that while there are plenty people with motive, there just doesn't seem to be any way that someone could have murdered him. The police are prepared to accept a case of suicide. But a stubborn coroner's jury will have it as murder. And then there are attacks on the wife of one of the other singers. A second member of the cast will die and a third will be attacked before Fen will reveal how a man can be murdered by hanging with no one else in the room--and how revenge can extend beyond the grave.

This is great fun and Crispin's writing is a delight. Very reminiscent of Dorothy L. Sayers--which probably explains why I like it so much. Four stars.

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 Swan Song by Edmund Crispin (p. 75):

It was not until they were properly under way that Adam recognised the force of that "with any luck." They would require a great deal of luck, he thought, sitting petrified in the front seat, if they were to get back at all. To realise that any one is not a very good driver takes a little time; the mind is not eager, in the face of a long journey, to embrace this particular verity; and it was not until Fen emerged into the High Street, with the velocity of a benighted traveller pursued by spectres, that Adam became really alarmed.

The Golden Scorpion: Review

The Golden Scorpion by Sax Rohmer is one of many "Yellow Peril"-type adventure/mystery stories from the early 20th Century. Trading heavily on Western fears and the "mysteries of the Orient," super-villains from the East like Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu and the titular Scorpion of this story were presented as evil Chinese master criminals out to destroy Western Civilization. If you want your mysteries politically correct or sanitzed, then these stories are not for you. If you want a peek at the mind-set of the time period, then this will show you Western prejudices in full flower. It is obvious that Scotland Yard and the master detective from France (who have joined forces in this story) should look for the villain among the inhabitants of the Chinatown area of London. There is evil abroad--therefore it must be of Chinese origins. Any hint of the exotic is bad...and those hints point directly at China.

In this story, Dr. Koeppel Stuart first encounters The Scorpion many years ago in the East. He is crossing a bridge by rickshaw when suddenly the man pulling him along drops face down on the ground, exclaiming, "Hide your eyes! The Scorpion comes." Bewildered and indignant, Stuart refuses to avert his gaze and watches a forbidding figure with piercing eyes and a face covered by a green veil pass by. Now, back in England, events force him back in contact with the mysterious figure. Prominent scientific men are suddenly dying--apparently of natural causes--and Scotland Yard asks Stuart, an expert on little known poisons, to become involved and try to detect foul play. There is also a famous French detective on the trail--but before long it looks as though he too has fallen victim to the villain and his henchmen. Throw in a mysterious, beautiful woman who crosses Stuart's path--is she friend or foe? Will she reveal her secrets to him or betray him to The Scorpion? It all ends in a slam-bang finish in a mansion full of secret entrances and a death device never before seen by Western eyes.

This is a decent example of the genre. Exciting action, lots of secrets...very little character development, but with all that adventure you might not notice much. As long as you're prepared for the obvious racism inherent to the genre, then the story itself can be a nice escape. I enjoyed it for what it is and actually look forward to The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu by Rohmer (due up for another challenge or two). Three stars.