May By the Numbers Reviews

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May Virtual Mount TBR Reivews

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May Mount TBR Reviews

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May Vintage Scattergories Reviews

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Raisins & Almonds

 Raisins & Almonds (1997) by Kerry Greenwood

When a young Jewish scholar is poisoned in her bookshop, Miss Sylvia Lee is immediately arrested for the murder. The young man owed her money and Detective Jack Robinson suspects there is something of the love gone wrong about the situation as well. But Benjamin Abrahams, an influential Jewish business man and Miss Lee's landlord, doesn't believe it, and he hires Phryne Fisher to get to the bottom of things. She soon learns that a group of young Zionists, including Abrahams's gorgeous son Simon, have been using the bookstore as drop site for secret messages...and it looks like someone left a booby-trapped book for the scholar (also named Simon). Now, all Phryne needs to find out is who and why. 

The Zionists come under suspicion, but Phryne's sure that there's something more going on than the need to furnish the militants with funds. Nearly everyone in Phryne's sphere gets an assignment to help unravel the mystery. Dot interviews the shopkeepers surrounding the bookshop, Bert and Cec get temporary jobs in the area so they can scout for clues, even Phryne's adopted daughters keep their ears to the ground when invited to tea at a home in the Jewish community. And, of course, Mr. and Mrs. Butler keep everyone fed and supplied with cocktails. 

I enjoyed returning to what I like to call the grown-up's Nancy Drew. Just like Nancy, Phryne can do it all--from drive splendid cars to fly air planes to take down bad guys--and has it all--from wealth to looks to an enviable wardrobe. And, of course, she loves a good mystery. I enjoyed learning new things about the Jewish community and watching Phryne navigate the unknown territory. And I always like the way she's willing to research any new topics that come along. The story finds her sitting up late reading up on Zionism and Jewish mysticism. The culprit isn't too hard to spot (we're not teeming with suspects), but it's still good fun to go along for the ride on another fast-paced adventure with Phryne. ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: The ranked books exhaled leather and dust, a comforting scent.

Last line: "So I just took them in the next room and asked them to sing me Raisins and Almonds," said Phryne.

*************

Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one stabbed)

The Case of the Sapphire Brooch

 The Case of the Sapphire Brooch (1961) by Christopher Bush

Ludovic Travers is called in by a previous client. In the first case Paul Farrell had asked Travers to trace a missing wife who had run out on him. At that time, the detective had passed the case on to a colleague who remembers that Farrell suddenly called a halt to the investigation after very little investigation had been done. Now Farrell has asked for help again. This time there are mysterious goings-on in his apartment. Farrell, a talented photographer, was lured out of his apartment by a phone call purporting to be from an agent of an American television company wanting Farrell to do some photographic work. He was invited to the man's hotel to discuss details, but when he asked for the room number he was told that there was no one by that name staying at the hotel. He arrived home to find that someone had been searching through his things and decided to aske Travers to check things out.

Travers makes a more detailed search and discovers what looks like blood mixed with water in the sink and pinkish stains on a towel. Did the searcher cut his/herself in their haste to find whatever they were looking for? He also finds a sapphire and diamond brooch--at first he and Farrell take it to be costume jewelry, but Travers has a hunch and takes it to a friendly jeweler to have it valued. It's not worth a fortune, but the stones are real enough. The next day a dead man is found in the vicinity--shot--and something tells Travers that this is the man who searched the apartment. Who is he? Did he find what he was looking for? And did somebody shoot him for it?

Travers joins forces with his old friends Matthews and Jewle of Scotland Yard and finds himself sorting out these questions as well as five women with likely motives, a crippled nightclub operator and his male nurse/bodyguard, four doctors, a band leader, and a couple of French confidence men. There are also impersonations, blackmail, robbery, and suicide to go along with murder. So, there's plenty to keep Travers busy and out of trouble. 

This was a solid enough mystery--though I really think it took our detectives much too long to figure out the connection with the dropped sapphire brooch. The plot starts out very nicely with the mysterious search of Farrell's apartment, but drags a bit in the middle while we're sorting out the various women and figuring out who's who and how many names she might have gone by. I enjoyed Travers's interactions with Matthews and Jewle and wish that there had been a bit more of them. It would have helped to push this average mystery into a higher ranking. I thoroughly enjoyed an earlier Travers novel (1946) much more and I'm wondering if all of the later mysteries will lack the pizazz of the earlier stories. ★★★

First line: Neither Norris nor myself has any set hours at the Broad Street Detective Agency.

Last line: That's why I muttered something to Matthews went quietly out of the room.

***********************

Deaths = 6 (two natural; one shot; one drowned; two drug overdose)

The Black Hand

 The Black Hand (2008) by Will Thomas

Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn begin their fifth recorded case at the docks of London's East End. The bodies of an Italian assassin and his wife, who was just as deadly as her husband and never far from his side, are discovered floating in a barrel near the docks. Then Sir Alan Bledsoe, Director of the East and West India Docks, is found assassinated in a very Italian way. Soon Scotland Yard and the Home Office are asking Barker to take up the case, knowing his ability with out of the ordinary cases. More corpses appear around London--as well as notices from The Black Hand, the Sicilian mafia. No one wants the mafia to move into the British criminal classes and Barker must find a way to bring antagonistic parties--the tough dock workers, French Apaches, and the Italian (non-Sicilian, anti-mafia) Camorra together to fend off a common enemy. The job becomes very personal indeed when Barker's chef is attacked and even the home of his lady friend (Llewelyn isn't quite sure of her status in his boss's life) is invaded. Barker's ultimate goal is to bring the mafia mastermind behind all the killings out into the open. He has an idea who the man is, but unless he can flush him out it will be difficult to bring him to justice.

Thomas continues to expand on this new look at the Holmes and Watson/Wolfe and Goodwin detective team.  Lots more action than most of the Holmes stories and Barker is far more mobile and physically involved than Nero Wolfe generally is.  And I continue to enjoy the characters.  They are very  interesting and I particularly like the interaction between Barker and Llewelyn.  They have the chemistry necessary to create a duo to follow in such auspicious footsteps.  In the first book, we learned a lot about Llewelyn's background with more revealed in each installment, but we get just bits and pieces about Barker. Barker is a very private man and it's a good indication of their developing relationship that he finally introduces his assistant to the Widow (his mysterious lady friend). There is still plenty more to be revealed about Barker and I look forward to learning more in the next book.  The other members of Barker's staff from Mac the butler and general factotum to Etienne Dummolard, his French chef, are also well-drawn. We see quite a bit of Etienne this time, though the circumstances are unfortunate for the chef. He's stabbed twice and barely survives the attack, but recovers with full force (and plenty of vim and vinegar).

The book ends with a lovely scrap on the docks--Barker and company taking on the Sicilians. And Llewelyn gets to display his newly learned knife skills. Quite an action-packed final scene. Entertaining and very informative on the early years of the mafia.  ★★★ and a half.

First line: I stepped across the sill of the conservatory, glass crunching under the heels of my boots, and steadied my Webley pistol with both hands, reluctant to step inside.

Last line: And so it began again.

**********************

Deaths = 9 (seven shot; two stabbed) [more--unnamed]

Haunting of Horse Island

 Haunting of Horse Island (1990) by Carolyn Keene

Nancy, Bess, and George are headed to the Steadman Resort at Triple Tree Lake for a fun vacation. Right--anyone who knows the Nancy Drew stories knows that the vacation will be put on hold a bit while Nancy gets to the bottom of another mystery. 

The resort is owned by friends of George Fayne's dad, Henry and Ruth Steadman. The place is beautiful with a large lake for swimming, fishing, and boating, a pool, and superior cooking in the lodge's dining hall. And the resort has thrived for years--until now. Rumors are dredging up old stories of the ghost who haunts Horse Island (in the middle of the beautiful lake) and there have been an outbreak of pranks--from a harmless snake found in a tackle box to ransacking of cottages. When vacationers begin to pack up and go home, George suggests that the Steadmans allow Nancy to investigate: "You won't find a better detective anywhere." 

The Steadmans agree and Nancy has barely begun to search for clues when the pranks turn more serious--the girls' canoe is spirited away while they investigate the "haunted island" (because Nancy is certain that the renewed haunting rumors occurring just when the pranks started can't be a coincidence) and then a fire is set in their cottage--destroying Nancy's camera and the pictures she took on the island. But Nancy refuses to be driven away and it isn't long before she's gathered enough clues to point out the guilty party.

This is a decent Nancy Drew mystery--the culprit was rather obvious and even the effort to make another character seem suspicious didn't distract me. But it was a fun afternoon's read and I enjoyed visiting with Nancy and friends. ★★★

First line: "Just think," said Bess Marvin from the back seat of the car Nancy Drew was driving.

Last line: "I never want to hear the word ghost again!" Everyone laughed while the Burkle sisters sang on into the summer night.

Dead Little Rich Girl

 Dead Little Rich Girl (aka The Mouse in the Mountain; 1943)

The first of the Doan and Carstairs mysteries--Doan is a private investigator and Carstairs is his partner. Carstairs is also a very larger Great Dane. Doan has been sent to Mexico to track down a corrupt ex-policeman by the name of Eldridge. Eldridge is threatening to return to America and rat out the equally corrupt officials who have been getting along quite nicely in his absence. Our private investigator says he's been hired to make sure Eldridge stays put. So he and Carstairs plan to hop on a tourist bus headed to Los Altos. 

Luckily for him, a wealthy young woman by the name of Patricia Van Osdel also wanted to go to Los Altos. For you see, the bus is the only way for tourists to get there and the bus service was going to be cancelled--but American dollars in large quantities can change plans. The only question is, why was Patricia so set on visiting the out-of-the-way village in the mountains? Along for the ride is Patricia's maid and her "companion" Greg, the Henshaw family--harassed father, loud and overly coting mother, and bratty son, and Janet Martin, a teacher playing hooky on her first real vacation adventure. 

The group runs straight into murder and mayhem. There are dangerous banditos running about the town. There are hidden caches of weapons. There is an earthquake that shakes more than the ground. There are rattlesnakes. And Patricia Van Osdel manages to get herself murdered. Doan must try to complete his mission, avoid being put in jail by secret policeman who doesn't trust him, keep Janet from getting into difficulties, and solve several murders before he and Carstairs may return safely to the United States.

This is a wacky, sortof hard-boiled crime novel. Though Doan seems a little too short and round to be a hard-boiled private eye. A screwball private eye tale with lots of action and plenty of fast-talking on the part of Doan.  Norbert Davis paired up his private eye with an animal long before it was cool and pulls it off without making Carstairs too cutesy (as if a Great Dane the size of a Shetland pony could be cutesy).  The interactions between the two are funny and realistic....I can just see Carstairs harrumphing over some of Doan's shenanigans.  The dialogue is funny and witty and it's worth the price of admission just to take the bus tour with Bartolome the tour guide. Bartolome will tell you exactly when something is magnificent--"please admire this bit now" and "do not waste the astonishment" on those trivial fantastic scenes over there. And Davis takes you from one loony character to another and it all fits so nice and snugly in this lovely vintage mystery.  ★★★★

First line: When Doan and Carstairs came down the wide stairway and walked across the pink-tiled floor that was the pride and joy of the Hotel Azteca, the guests in the lobby stopped doing whatever they were doing to pass the time away and stared open-mouthed.

Last line: "Timpkins sold me his damned old hotel!"

****************

Deaths =  8 (three shot; one hung; one killed by falling debris; one hit with stone; two stabbed)

Lieutenant Pascal's Tastes in Homicides

 Lieutenant Pascal's Tastes in Homicides(1954) by Hugh Pentecost

This collection features three short stories/novellas with cases handled by Lieutenant Dave Pascal. Overall, a strong selection of stories--though "Eager Victim" is not quite up to the caliber of the other two. Had it been of equal strength, the collection would have rated a full four stars. As it is--★★★ and 1/2. 

"The Murder Machine": Lt. Pascal is spending his vacation at his Uncle Ben's home. Uncle Ben is the local sheriff and, in this re-election year, isn't shy about taking advantage of his big-city police connection. He asks Pascal to give a lecture at one of the local societies about crime and such. When Pascal obliges and ends his talk with comments on how he wished they all were better at crime prevention, a few of the locals ask him if he'd like to take a shot at doing just that. There has been a series of vandalism at the local stone quarry and Marshall Hewitt, the new owner, is preparing to do the spring blasting. Most folks in town believe that Tom Anderson, former owner of the quarry--as well as jilted fiancé of Hewitt's wife, is behind the vandalism. Now they are afraid that something deadly might happen at the blasting. When the blast goes off prematurely and Hewitt is killed, it looks like they were right. But Pascal believes that Anderson's been framed and he and Uncle Ben start investigating. When another death occurs things get personal and Pascal is even more determined to bring the guilty party to justice.

"Eager Victim": Lt. Pascal investigates the death (by ice pick) of a newspaper "editor" whose sole job seemed to be to drink martinis and wait around for someone to kill him. Probably the lightest-weight of the three stories. There's little observable investigation in the beginning--Pascal does a great deal off-stage--and a pretty heavy dose of office romance as our narrator (the man who discovered the body) tries to make up his mind between his high school romance/fiancée, who is nice and sweet and comfortable, and the lady who minds the newspaper's morgue, who gives him such a jolt of excitement. Things do get more interesting after the second death--but I have to say I wasn't enamored of the narrator's viewpoint on the story. Maybe if he hadn't been so distracted by girl-trouble...Also, the culprit seemed a bit obvious to me.

"Murder in the Dark": This one takes its name from the unusual diamond-buying procedure described in the story. Buying "in the dark" involves a diamond broker obtaining an allotment of rough diamonds with a set amount of carats and agreed upon types [there are various types of rough diamonds] but without seeing the actual stones. The sealed packet is then sold to a customer who is gambling on whether the stones will cut properly and be worth what she or he paid for them...or, hopefully, worth even more. A recently wealthy man comes to New York City to buy diamonds and, being a gambler by nature, decides to buy them in the dark--but before the night is over the man is dead and the diamonds have disappeared. The story turns into a Maltese Falconish tale--with people crawling out of the woodwork looking to find those diamonds. It's up to Lieutenant Pascal to figure out who thought the stones worth killing for and where those gems might be. Fairly good story albeit with one of the main suspects running in and out of the police investigation in a rather improbable way.

First line (1st story): The woods were peculiarly still.

Last line (last story): Kelly glanced at Carla, and he saw in her eyes that that was the way she felt about it, too.

******************

Deaths = 7 (two blown up; one stabbed with ice pick; two fell from height; one hit on head; one shot)

The Black Mountain

 The Black Mountain (1954) by Rex Stout

Nero Wolfe's oldest friend, Marko Vukcic is gunned down outside his apartment building and Wolfe immediately plunges into the case. It looks very much like a professional hit job. While Inspector Crames has his team rifling through Vukcic business contacts and love life (Vukcic, unlike Wolfe, enjoyed the ladies), Wolfe and his team are looking for Montenegran connections. He gets word through connections in Europe that "The man you seek is within sight of the mountain." For Wolfe, this means only one mountain: Lovchen--The Black Mountain--from which Montenegro gets its name.

There is another personal connection, Wolfe's adopted daughter, Carla Britten, was in the same political groups as Vukcic--supporting action in Montenegro. She doesn't get along well with her adopted father, but had asked him to look into Vukcic death as well. But she didn't trust him entirely and took herself off to Europe to look into matters. Now she's been killed as well. So Wolfe and Archie head to Europe to hunt down a killer in dangerous terrain. And Archie gets a bit of a shock--in these foreign lands, Wolfe becomes the man of action and his leg-man has to take a back seat. 

I've never been a very big fan of the stories that take Wolfe out of his element. When he leaves the brownstone it's a momentous occasion, but rarely an extraordinarily good one. His character isn't made to travel. So, it's no major surprise that I found this novel--which takes Wolfe's traveling to extremes--to be a major disappointment. My notes from the pre-blogging days say I read this and, apparently, enjoyed it way more than I did this time. But I've forgotten everything I enjoyed about it. 

The beginning is very good--Wolfe's close friend is shot and killed and he feels personally obligated to track down the murderer. He's going to take on a case with no hope of a fee (and he really doesn't want one since this is a personal matter). But it goes downhill from there--we get a travelogue of Wolfe and Archie going to Europe to take on Communist or Fascist or what-have-you bad guys. We get a stilted story--ostensibly because Archie isn't telling it verbatim as he normally would. You see, Wolfe speaks eight languages and Archie speaks one, so everything we get once we reach Montenegro (Yugoslavia) is translated through Wolfe to Archie. I'm not a big fan of Cold War politics/espionage/secret organization books and they need to be done well to keep me engaged. I just don't think Stout did that sort of thing well. Let's go back to the brownstone and solve some old-fashioned murders. ★

[Full confession--I did not read every word. I skimmed a great deal because I just was not enjoying myself but wanted to count the thing for challenges.]

First line: That was the one and only time Nero Wolfe has ever seen the inside of the morgue.

Last lines: He flattened out and closed his eyes. The ham.

****************

Deaths = one shot (if we're told how Carla Britten died--other than "quite violently"--I missed it in my skimming)

Only Yesterday

 Only Yesterday (1931) by Frederick Lewis Allen

Frederick Allen was the editor of Harper's Magazine and a writer of recent (to him) and popular history. Here he provides an interesting look at the Roaring Twenties and adds personal, man-on-the-spot insight on most of the events that should have shown up in our school history books. 

Allen's book covers everything from Prohibition to Lindbergh's flight, from flappers and rum running to the Scopes trial, from the Teapot Dome scandal to prosperity under Coolidge, and from booming business to the stock market crash in 1929. He reports history from the vantage point of a mere ten years (at most), giving readers of today a contemporary view of the times. It is rather disturbing in a way to realize how much our own present reflects the history of 100 years ago. We still endure presidents who place cronies in positions--who rather than "draining the swamp," just added to the swampiness. We still have unions struggling to be relevant in the face of the rich owners who don't want to share prosperity with the little guy. We see the rise of book-burning and fear that schools are indoctrinating the children in some nasty ideology--whether that be the Red Scare of the past or the dreaded "CRT" of today. The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

An interesting history lesson from someone who lived through the First World War and the years that followed. ★★★★

First line: If time were suddenly to turn back to the earliest days of the Post-war Decade, and you were to look about you, what would seem strange to you?

In Mrs. Smith's mind, as in that of the manager of the Palm Garden, short-haired women, like long-haired men, are associated with radicalism, if not with free love. (p. 17)

Last line: The stream of time often doubles on its course, but always it makes for itself a new channel.

Have His Carcase

 Have His Carcase (1932) by Dorothy L. Sayer; read by Ian Carmichael 

As I have mentioned many times, the Lord Peter mysteries are comfort reads for me. I have read them numerous times and enjoy them thoroughly each time. I not only enjoy reading them, I thoroughly enjoy listening to them (when they are well read) and I love listening to Ian Carmichael read them. When I've had a long day at work, it's delightful to just listen to Lord Peter and Bunter and all the assorted characters unravel a mystery. 

There is so much wit and humor throughout that it really is a comfortable sort of book to sink into. Especially since this is the umpteenth reread and I really didn't have to use up brain power trying to follow all that "decipher the code" business. That would be one of my quibbles with this particular story--way too much time spent on the intricate methods of deciphering this particular cipher. I just let Carmichael's voice wash over me and ignored all the little details. I think the filmed version with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter does an excellent job of condensing this scene down--although, it may make it seem a little too easy.

My favorite bits are when Peter finally gets to dance with Harriet, their stroll along the beach looking for clues, and when she thinks she may have been kissed by a murderer. I also like the wrap-up at the end when Harriet begins offering up various other fictional detectives (Roger Sheringham, Dr. Thorndyke, etc) and their methods as possible ways to find the solution. Exciting stuff all around and an excellent read. Four stars.

First Lines: The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people think, repose upon a manly bosom. Much more efficacious are honest work, physical activity, and the sudden acquisition of wealth. 

Last line: I always did hate watering places! 

*************

Deaths = one throat cut 

Take Two at Bedtime

 Take Two at Bedtime (aka Deadly Duo; 1950) by Margery Allingham contains two post-war short stories.

"Wanted: Someone Innocent": Gillian Brayton is struggling to make ends meet. Raised to be a lady, schooled in the art of figuring up a dress budget and making conversation but not how to make a living, she's working at millinery shop when she decides to attend a reunion at her old school. Imagine her surprise when Rita Raven--now Fayre latches onto her. She and Rita were never the bosom pals that the woman is now claiming. But Rita makes a point of saying so to anyone who comes near while they're together. And at the end of the day, Gillian finds that she's agreed to come home with Rita to be a companion at 300 pounds a year. But Gillian hasn't been there long before she feels that she's made a big mistake. The servants seem to think she's there for some devious purpose and there's a strong sense of foreboding. She makes up her mind to leave, but too late. Rita Fayre is found dead and everyone thinks Gillian killed her....

"Last Act": A nasty, manipulative French actress dies under mysterious circumstances. Our heroine and her boyfriend, the actress's heir, become the prime suspects though there are many options (given actress's nasty nature). The actress left clues behind to point to her killer...but do they mean what we think they do?

It's been a while since I've read any Allingham, but these short stories (which do not feature Albert Campion) come across as damsel in danger stories more than mysteries. If the menaces Gillian and Margot faced had seemed (more forcefully) to have come from their love interests, the stories would have had an even more gothic romance/thriller vibe. In all honesty, neither of these represent Allingham at her best, but of the the two "Wanted: Someone Innocent" is the stronger story. It has a much better twisty plot and the denouement is very good. There is a common theme here that ties the two stories together (which I can't mention because--spoiler!) that is used much more effectively in the first. ★★★

First line (1st story): I didn't blame my uncle.

Last line (last story): If it's any comport to you, there are no stipulations.

********************

Deaths = 4 (two drowned; two poisoned)

Brand Spanking New Day

Brand Spanking New Day (2017) by Berkeley Breathed

Bloom County was one of my favorite places to visit back in the 1980s. Berkeley Breathed's world had fantastic humor, memorable characters, and a way of skewering the politics, trends, and celebrities of the day that was fresh and on-point. When he decided to bring back Opus and company with new comics on his Facebook page in order to take on the madness that was the world in the campaign and election of 2016, I was delighted. He mixed the usual Bloomian commentary on all the weirdness with a touching story about Sam the Lion--and he gave Steve Dallas a heart in the process.

Brand Spanking New Day is the second printed collection to come out of Breathed's return to Bloom County and it was a delight to read. The return of Bloom County was one of the few bright spots in the long, dark night that was the era of the Orange Menace.  ★★★★★

First line (panel): Steve alert! Vodka-fueled existential crisis heading our way!

Last line (panel): Best nannies EVER.