a certain justice

Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team have been called upon to solve another murder, in this later book in P.D. James' series of mysteries featuring the detective. A Certain Justice was first published in 1997, a few years after James was created Baroness James of Holland Park. She died just about 10 years ago, well into her 90s.

The format follows that of some of her other Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, that is the story focuses on the people surrounding, involved in, or otherwise impacted by the murder. This sets the stage, allows us to get to know the people involved, and typically the murder victim, prior to the deed. The deed itself is not shown to us, so we must work alongside Dalgliesh and his team while they try and sort it out.

James does a good job, and its clear why she's so popular. Lots of her books have been made into movies and television shows, including one of this book, in the UK. There are a fair number of English terms that may hang up American English readers, but that's pretty typical I think and context clues certainly help in most cases, but there are some things that just don't come across; Is that a clue or lunch they're taking about?

Some of the more complicated words have to do with the law and the courts. We're all familiar with what a barrister is, and that they wear wigs in court, and what robes? A gown? Not sure what those terms are. That doesn't prevent a good read however. 

lying game

 

The Lying Game is by Ruth Ware, and English author who brought us The Woman in Cabin 10. I saw this book at my library's book sale and because I thought the Cabin book was good I picked this one up.

The book cover, which is similar to the illustration shown here,* also notes that this book was featured in a book club with Reese Witherspoon's name on it. I'm not sure what that means, I didn't know she had one, and this book is from 2017, although the paperback was probably printed a year or so later, and I'm not sure if Witherspoon still has a book club or not. Looks like she does and it looks like the club features books by women authors, so good on you Reece.

Not only is this book written by a woman, it focuses on the story of four women, that have know each other since their high school days at a boarding school near the coast, not too far from London. The story is about friendship, secrets, and lies, and how they shapes the young women in the story into the adults they become, and what it means when part of their youth, that they may have been hoping would stay in their past, catches up with them.

Its tightly written, with tension, mystery, and an interesting look at the things we share, and the things we don't. Ware did a pretty good job with this one too.

 

* Mine looks like this; the badging is different. 

 

 

murder room

The Murder Room is an Adam Dalgliesh mystery novel by P. D. James. This isn't the first of her mysteries I've read, and they've all been headed by Commander Adam Dalgliesh. This popular figure has apparently inspired a British TV series called "Dalgliesh", which appears to have begun at some point between the time of my last read of one of his stories, and the time previous. clear as mud

The Murder Room sounds like an archetype murder mystery where everyone is locked in a room, and someone gets killed, but that is not the case here. James takes her time with the first few chapters introducing the cast of characters, which gets a little dry, frankly. while I'm waiting to get to the fun, frigging, part of the game Once we got into the thick of it, the story moved right along for me. 

Altho the characters were saying to one another that it was all pretty clear to them, I only had some suspicions, but not enough for it to be clear to me, but then I'm not a big mystery reader, or a detective, so it was interesting to read the whodunit part.

This was another great installment in the Dalgliesh series and you can see why they've done a TV show, which may still be running in the UK. If you're a mystery fan, especially a British mystery fan--yep, they read differently--then look up P.D. James.

 

 

dark sacred night

I’m pretty sure this is a re-read... It’s possible I recognize the storyline from the TV show, but I’m not sure.* I haven’t been keeping up with my reviews or even recording which books I’ve read here on the blog, and preventing accidental purchases and re-reads is one of the main reasons I started keeping this blog.

Dark Sacred Night is a Harry Bosch novel is from 2018, and I may have read it in 2020 or '21, when I had some spotty record keeping on my reading, or even last year, when my record keeping bordered on nonexistent.

Michael Connelly has the Harry Bosch nailed down at this point, and this book may be our first introduction to Detective Renée Ballard, who teams up with Bosch to look at a cold case. There is a fair amount of Ballard own casework as well; a number of smaller cases that she works through at the same time the larger cold case arc is going on. This seems to me to help establish Ballard as a character readers (and Bosch) can relate to so that when she appears in future stories, we have a sense for who she is a little more quickly. Solving 2 or 3 other smaller cases builds her character’s résumé pretty quickly.**

Fans of Bosch books will probably like this one, although his overall personality story arc seems to be showing signs of stress in the form of a loosening of his moral code.

Because I’ve haven’t read the Bosch books in chronological order, it is harder to comment intelligently on the development of the Bosch character, but there it is!

 

* After some looking, this site says that Bosch season 6, is based on this book. Who would have thought that a site called Comic Book Resources, would be the site that has this info, altho I will say you need to dig for that name, as they seem to just go by CBR, and maybe that's why.

** Fans of Ballard may be pleased to hear that she has her own TV show, presumably a spinoff of the Bosch franchise. 

 

 

unwanted guest

I picked up the paperback version of An Unwanted Guest at my library's book sale. I'll admit that I was in a hurry, but I'm not sure that a few more minutes with this book before taking it home would have helped. I'm not a big reader of mystery stories, but I've read a few. I'm thinking of The Best of Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories, by R. Austin Freeman--which you can see in the column on the right of this page under the 'good' books heading--and of course, Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, which I've written about in 4 separate reviews here on the blog. You won't find a bunch of Dame Agatha Christie books on this blog for instance, and if you use the word cloud on the right hand column to sort for 'mystery' you'd find a few, but most of those are detective stories or police procedurals, or more likely, have some mysterious happenings that aren't revealed until the end. An Unwanted Guest, by contrast, is more of a traditional whodunit, more like the Freeman, Conan-Doyle, or Christie examples I've given.

Shari Lapena* has written her mystery using a classic whodunit scenario, or trope, if you prefer: Bunch of people thrown together in an isolated place, with no contact with the world beyond. When the crap hits the fan, everyone starts to wonder whodunit, quickly followed by, am I next? Whats different here, is that Lapena tells a complex, woven story, with lots of different viewpoints from the various character, and in many cases describes both what they are doing, as well as what they are feeling and thinking, when they are together, but also when they are alone. 

By the time we're getting toward then end, we know quite a bit about each of them, from both their personal thoughts as well as their conversations, and I was pretty impressed that I hadn't yet figured out who, in fact, dunit. 

The reason for that was a surprise! And yes, I guess you could say that this is a spoiler, which I don't normally do, but I'm not sure I could spoil this book any worse. The reason is because Lapena never tells us how or why the guilty person did what they did. Or, in fact, gave us any clues at all, until the final chapters where the guilty party graces us with a complete exposé of their history, their motives, and how they did it. Again, ALL invisible to us as readers until this very point. AND no one figured that out, or was ever privy to the guilty person's thoughts, just us readers. They got nabbed based on one piece of evidence found two pages before, which may or may not be enough to get them convicted. Its circumstantial, at best.

So I'm left feeling like: why did you make me read all this if there was nothing in there that would help me understand or solve any of it, and you were just going to tell me about it in 4 pages at the end. did she just mansplain that to me? i feel kind of dirty It was like watching Dateline. That show is aggravating: They already know who did it, they're just making me watch this drama play out for an hour before they tell me who did it. The only benefit Dateline has over this book, is that at least they share some of the evidence with you as they go along.

Don't bother. 

 

* When looking up the link to Lapena's website, I went there and another of her books is featured on the front page, with the title: She Didn't See It Coming, which is followed by the tagline; "and neither will you..." Hilarious! If its anything like this one, I can guarantee you won't see it coming, because Lapena won't show you!**

** That title and tagline--from a completely different book!--is almost enough to get me to add this title to my 'stinks' list on the right hand column. don't act when you're aggravated, phil

 

 

 

the thirst

Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø has penned another Harry Hole novel in the series, called The Thirst. Harry Hole (pronounced HO-leh, apparently; and Harry is pretty much pronounced like Harry) is a detective working for the police department in Oslo, and this is number 11 in the Harry Hole series. I've read a few others, but only one is listed here on the blog. When I wrote about that one, I commented that I was sure I read another but didn't write about it here. This one, like the other I've linked above, was translated into English by Neil Smith.

Hole is a murder detective, and at this point in his life he's actually retired from the police department and is teaching at the police college, but he is called back to work a case that appears to be perpetrated by a serial killer that got away from Hole years ago, and seems to gone to ground, at least until now. Hole reluctantly returns to police work to catch this deranged killer as the victims fall by the day.

Nesbø writes a good story, and the differences between Norwegian crime fiction and American crime fiction is not all that is different, altho that is a treat. Nesbø weaves a complex tale, and when you think the twists and turns are all uncovered, there are more to come. This was a good one, and I'll keep my eye out for more of Nesbø's writing, whether its a Harry Hole story or something else Nesbø has written.

metropolis

Metropolis by Philip Kerr.

I'm trying to play catch up, so I'm working in reverse to gets some notes down, or a review, I guess you could say, of the recent books I've read. I tried to list them all in 'the books' tab above, and I did my best to put them in rough order. I fell down on the job of keeping track for most of this year, but I was able to cobble the list together based on the stack of books I have here, quick lists of books I jotted down in a draft posts here on the blog, and some photos I took of the book covers to help me remember, whenever it occurred to me that I wasn't getting the job done.

At some point, the books I've read will have been completed far enough in the past that I may not remember enough about them to be worth it to actually write about them. My guess is that it may depend on whether I still have the book and can flip through it, how much I liked it when I read it, etc. Metropolis is just a few books back, and while I don't recall the names of the characters, I do recall them, and the story.

As you can see in the Amazon link for the paperback version, linked above, Metropolis is a Bernie Gunther novel. Gunther is a recurring character in Kerr's books, altho I think this is the first one I've read. There is one other Kerr book included here on the blog,* but its not a crime story. Gunther is a detective (newly minted in this book) on the Berlin police force, between world wars I and II. Its the late 20s I think, and Nazism is on the rise. The murders Gunter is looking into appear to be hate related, and targeted at specific groups of people--prostitutes and disabled WWI veterans. Gunther is following leads, that no one else he works with thinks are worth his time, but he's young, and once he gets an idea in his head...

The story follows Gunther's rise into the Berlin Murder Squad, or whatever that group is called, and his investigation into these two groups of murders. His investigations take him to some of the seedier parts of Berlin, and his adventures (or misadventures) in that secret layer of Berlin society is what provides the colorful backdrop to this story, which was at times horrifying, disgusting, and sad, but was also, in some cases, sensual, and occasionally sexy.

Kerr has woven quite a tapestry upon which he has set these Bernie Gunther novels it seems, so I can see why folks keep reading. I'll keep my eyes out for more, but I won't be jumping in the car to get them today.

 

* in the link to the other Kerr story on the blog, you find a link to a third Philip Kerr book I read, called Dark Matter, which was pretty good.

body in the fjord

The Body in the Fjord is an installment in the Faith Fairchild mystery series, by Katherine Hall Page. Number 8 of 26, according to the Amazon description. I haven't read any of the others, I picked this book up, along with a handful of others I've read recently, at a library book sale in Dracut, Massachusetts. I haven't written about my reading recently as I've been absorbed in other things that have eaten up some of my spare time.

This mystery doesn't feature Faith Fairchild much, but rather, her employee, Pix Miller, who works with her at the catering business Faith Fairchild runs in the fictional town of Aleford, Massachusetts. Pix's mother, Ursala Rowe, who emigrated to America from Norway, is contacted by an old fried who is missing her granddaughter, Kari. Pix promptly flies off with her mother to Norway, and books passage on the tour of Norway's fjords by cruise ship, where Ursula's friends granddaughter was working when she disappeared, and which is apparently still underway, notwithstanding  a death of one employee and a missing second.

They quickly learn that Kari's fiance was killed in a tragic accident--he fell into a waterfall and was drowned in the fjord below--and Kari hasn't been seen since. 

Pix and her mother Ursula discover all kinds of interesting facts, altho its unclear if any have anything to do with the missing woman. Other people die, swastikas are lit on lawns, the other tour passengers are an odd group, and each of the mother and daughter team attempt to learn more about each of their fellow travelers in order to uncover the mystery of the woman's disappearance.

After a very set of adventures, and meals of interesting, traditional Norwegian food (recipes included) they eventually solve the mystery, altho I'm not sure exactly how. They seems to just stumble upon it, along with a another criminal enterprise, which they also help to put an end to.

This was a funny little story, but I can see how the quaintness of the travel, and the food, including recipes at the back of the book, can be fun for the right audience, and someone clearly buying Katherine Hall Page's books. I just think I will be one of those, based on this read.

on-the-fringe

Sweeney On-the-Fringe is a short, sweet little novel by Dave Robinson, which states on the cover that it is "Based on the notes of Owen Kivlin" <--you can see it right there * who is the narrator of the book, and the 'compiler' of the various stories about Sweeney, and poems written by Sweeney, which were either either left around, or more often mailed to the narrator by Sweeney, from some exotic local where Sweeney was invariably surfing and relaxing. The motivation behind the telling, is that no one has seen or heard from Sweeney at the time Owen Kivlin begins to try and figure out both where Sweeney may have gone, and why he left. He attempts to figure out the mystery of Sweeney by trying to discover more about him; a folk tale of their fictional Massachusetts, seaside town of Seawell, located at the mouth of the Merrimack River. 

The small town, we soon find out, is actually a small city, and the name, its location--and the author's home town--all point to Seawell being inspired by Lowell, Massachusetts, combined with some other small, New Englandy towns. The Merrimack River actually meets the Atlantic between Newburyport and Salisbury, Massachusetts. Neither of which is a city, nor has a university, and I don't think either has an airport [nope, hold it, looks like Plum Island has a small airport.] Plum Island is a pretty big island that runs north-south along the coast of Newburyport, and apparently, you can surf there, as well as north of the river's mouth, at Salisbury Beach.

Sweeney is the story of a local legend. That guy from a few years ago, who always seemed to be able to do whatever he wanted, and no one could figure out how, and most couldn't figure out why. The story is told through a series of transcribed interviews with, and letters from, people who knew Sweeney; interspersed with Sweeney's own poems. The interesting part is that Sweeney knew a lot of people, from different generations and walks of life, and they all knew different parts of his story, but none knew his whole story. And even by the end of the novel, Owen Kivlin still doesn't know all there is to know about this enigmatic man who touched all of their lives, in profound and subtle ways.

In the 'About the Author' blurb in the backmatter, the author indicates that this 2007 novel is the first in a trilogy. A quick look around the interwebs turns up only this: Sweeney In Effable, which is a single volume containing five books, one of which is Sweeney On-the-Fringe. The description of Effable on it's Amazon page includes this line:

"This contemporary protagonist is based on the ancient Irish legend from Trevor Joyce's translation, Sweeny Peregrine, with a nod to Seamus Heaney's Sweeney Astray." 

So there is a tradition for this slippery, Loki-esque or Pan-like character. This one was a fun ride.

Read this Book.

* Another thing you can see on the cover, is the horrible font they used for the title, which unfortunately, follows us throughout the book. I was thinking, what does on-the-Frince even mean?

original sin

I've read a few books by PD James now, and this one ranks up there with the others. there may be only two others yep, that's what I found* PD James is again writing here about her favorite detective, Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh was also the man of choice in both of the other books I read as well. Dalgliesh is a solid character, and he does tend to get his man, but there wasn't so much dectectiving in this one as much as there was an unraveling of the plot by the murderer. Don't get me wrong, Dalgliesh and his team did plenty of good detective work, they just didn't really need it in the end. Unless you consider that perhaps all their hard work is what caused the failure of the murderer to conceal their tracks in the end.

James spins a tight yarn. Original Sin was written in 1994. The other two I read, The Black Tower is 1975, and Devices and Desires, is 1989. So this one is more recent; is this book, near the end of her career, less captivating than her early work, or does it show the polish of decades of writing? I don't know, I haven't read enough of her work to be able to answer that question. I can tell you that, like the other two, this was a slower read, but still fun and entertaining. I didn't read it instead of other things, as I sometimes do with great books.

PD James died in 2014 at 94. According to her website, there are 13 Adam Dalgliesh novels, and a bunch of other stuff she's written. Her website seems to be missing the last one in the series The Private Patient (making it 14 Dalgliesh** books.)

* That's two others that I have read. Now, is it possible that I read another P.D. James book before I started this blog? Sure, but I doubt it. I heard about James on a summer reading piece on the local public radio station a number of years ago, and I thought she might be something my wife would like. 

She didn't.

**  The Adam Dalgliesh character has appeared on television in the UK a fair amount it seems. Baroness. James was, and continues to be it seems, a very well known writer in the UK, and folks seem to enjoy the Dalgliesh character; there was a number of episodes of Masterpiece Mystery, featuring Dalgliesh, which began in the 80s and ran for years, a number of television movies , and there is currently a new TV show, on since last season.

liar's dictionary

This book was weeded from my local library, I assume because they had multiple copies when it first came out. This is the second book/first novel from British author Eley Williams, if I'm understanding the book jacket information correctly. 

'Dictionary' in the title gave me my first clue that this was going to be a book by a word nerd author, and I was right; Williams is definitely a word hound and this book is just busting with them. Obscure, archaic, quirky, and just plain made up words.

The Liar's Dictionary is a story told in parallel, both now and in the past, * and centers on the little known Swansby's New Encyclopaedic Dictionary; which has lexicographers chipping away at words and their varied meanings, and somewhat more importantly, what the words mean to them. But that's not all, there is a little of everything here: love, romance, obsession, intrigue, terrorism, tragedy, mystery, censorship... yeah, everything.

Williams even lets her characters run off with the narrative, spinning away into streams of consciousness, and free associative thought processes, laid bare. That tactic is (thankfully) rare, but it lends a sense of realism that almost echos one's own thoughts while reading. And its funny! In many places, I got a kick out how these characters dealt with the stresses of their complicated, and interwoven lives. This book isn't very big, but there is lot in here. I'll be looking for Eley Williams' next venture.

Read this book.

 

On an unrelated note, invasion of your neighbor, Ukraine, seems like a crummy way to celebrate Defender of the Fatherland Day, or Red Army Day, this February 23rd, Vlad.

* the parallel stories, told now and in the past, and tied together with mystery and modern sleuthing reminded me of my recent reading of The Lost Apothecary, and reading them so close was an interesting contrast. It makes me think that some kind kind of thematic reading series might be fun to work on at some point. Ideas? Leave a comment!

lost apothecary

I started reading a book by Nick Tosches called In the Hand of Dante, but I put it down when I was given a recommendation to read this book; The Lost Apothecary . I'll get back to Tosches at some point,* but when I put the current book on hold at the library, I also asked for another one and its just come up so I'll read that first.

The Apothecary is the debut novel by Susan Penner. Its labeled as mystery at my library, but I'd say intrigue-historical may be a better classification, and its almost light enough to be teen, as it also has some of those elements often seen in teen fiction, altho it does have some more adult themes that teens may be bored by. The story is two fold, or maybe threefold, part taking place in late 1700s London, while some of it takes place in modern day London. The stories are woven together in that the modern day protagonist is trying to understand the story of which she has discovered some clues.

There is a great little 1700s map of the section of London where the action takes place, and it appears that some things have stayed the same, but others have changed drastically. I have no doubt that the mysterious places mentioned in the book no longer exist, if they ever did, in London, but who knows. Its fun to check back on the map and see where these things are relative to one another, and some other larger elements such as the river, and some of the major streets that still are there.

At the root of it, this book is a celebration of the solidarity of women, and how they have to look after and support one another or they'll be forgotten. some of that 'support' is a little grim tho Penner does her part to point out forgotten women in history, who are forgotten simply because the history was written by men. She also reminds us that women long preserved the old ways and old medicines long after the medicine of men became the norm. This was a fun one, and a welcome break from the hard, strange writing of Nick Tosches.

 

* I'll try and remember to come back here and put a link when i write a review, you for those of you using this blog to do research or whatever.

october list

Jeffrey Deaver is probably best known for his Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs crime procedural novels. Of course, that's not all he writes. He seems to have another returning character named Colter Shaw, whom I haven't read about, and another one called Kathryn Dance, who I may have read about, but I'm not sure. a quick check of the blog seems to indicate: no And a few years ago he was tapped to write a James Bond novel.

This story seems like a one off, although I guess its possible that we may see Gabriella in another story. Or perhaps the Kepler and Surani duo of police detectives? I guess we'll wait and see. In any case, this is an interesting take on a novel; The October List is sub-titled, A Novel in Reverse (with photographs by the author.) And when you open up, it begins with chapter 36. I don't think I'm giving too much away there, but as you can imagine, the story unfolds backwards, and we learn what we need to know to explain the things we've read, buy the time we get to the beginning.

This is not the first time we've ever encountered something like this, the movie Memento comes to mind right away, and there have been others--Deaver mentions a few more examples in the Foreword, at the back of the book, or course. It seems like a trick to plot out a story that works in reverse, and when successful, as this seems to be, I'm not sure it would work if read chronologically. Oh, I'm sure the story would hang together, it just wouldn't have any suspense, and I'm not sure it would actually go anywhere.

This one took a little while to read, so I wasn't on the edge of my seat, dying to find out what happened, and it was only at the end that the pieces started to drop into place and the pace picked up. The pace is a strange term here, in that speed is distance times time, and in this case, time is a negative number, so the product of that equation is negative speed. So does that mean it sped up, or actually slowed down, at the end?

Beginning?

Math.

devices and desires

Devices and Desires was written by PD James in 1989; I read the first Vintage Books edition, printed in May 2004. The front matter includes information about PD James, indicating that she authored 20 other books, many about Commander Adam Dalgliesh who appears in this one. James won a number of awards including being named Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. James died in 2014. I think I’ve read something else by James, and after a quick look I find that I read The Black Tower in 2011.

Adam Dalgliesh is visiting the (imaginary) Headlands on the north-east coast of Norfolk. In an authors note PD James adds that “Lovers of this remote and fascinating part of East Anglia will place it between Cromer and Great Yarmouth.”

D & D has a pretty big cast of characters, and James does her job giving us a reason that just about anyone of these characters could have done the deed, leaving us guessing until the end. Now, if you were an avid reader, and were really motivated to figure out whodunit before the end, I guess there may be enough information given for you to figure it out, but I' not that guy. I'm the guy that lets the author do their thing and tell me a story. Trying to figure it out, like a puzzle, is someone else's job, I'm here to be entertained. I was.

This was a slow read, which tells me I wasn't on the edge of my seat, dying to know what happens next. That doesn't mean I didn't have a good time. I'll keep my eye out for other PD James books, I just won't run out and buy everything she's ever written tomorrow.

road to mercy

My wife likes the action novels of the detective and spy variety, and she can read a book in a day, so someone that can crank them out is a plus. So we have a lot of books around the house by writers like Danial Silva, Lee Childs, Brad Thor, and today's writer; David Baldacci. The Long Road to Mercy is the entrance novel for a new character, which I assume we'll be seeing again, Atlee Pine. Pine is an FBI agent, who likes to work alone rather than in a big office somewhere like New York or Los Angeles. She would also prefer her territory to be less populated as well, so she works in a remote FBI office, not far from the Grand Canyon, and has a significantly larger physical area under her jurisdiction.

Atlee Pine's resources are limited, her office furniture is worn out, and possibly second had, and her office assistant is a hot ticket. We'll be seeing more of Carol Blum too, I'm sure. Pine has made friends with the local law enforcement folks as well, and where she is, that includes the sheriff's department, Navajo Nation Police, US Park Rangers, and some ICE agents that also rent space in the same building as her office. These local friends act as a kind of emergency back-up system Lee can turn to in a pinch, and they can turn to her as well.

Pine is described as a 6-foot-plus, beer drinking, competitive weightlifter that almost made the US Olympic team, who has some pain in her past. Blum is an older, smaller woman, with six adult children, no husband, a selection of skirt-suits and pantyhose she wears to work, and has no problem making and/or delivering the coffee.

This story begins with an incident down in the canyon, that seems more odd than anything else, but soon appears to be much more than it appeared to be. The Park Rangers call on Pine to help with some of those oddities, and Pine soon discovers that things just don't add up. Overall, I thought this was pretty good, and I'd read another of Atlee Pine's adventures without hesitation. I'm sure my wife will bring one home at some point.

magician's tale

I borrowed this book from the collection of books tucked away in a cabinet in the house we stayed in on the beach. I assume the collection of books is assembled from both the owners of the house, and those left behind by other visitors over the years. The front cover was torn away, so I'm guessing that the cover image I've posted is the correct one based on the color scheme which carried onto the rear cover of the copy I read.

The Magician's Tale is from the mid-1990s, written by David Hunt. A quick look online tells me it was pretty popular when it came out and spent some time on the best sellers list.

The Tale is told in first person by a strong female character, Kay Farrow, who is an independent photographer working in the streets of San Francisco, documenting the people living on the wrong side of the law, and one of the less savory neighborhoods of the city.

Our hero has come to know many of the characters who live in the neighborhood, and has become quite friendly with some of them, spending time photographing them, documenting their lives, and the way they live. Farrow captures the lives of the street hustlers, and the johns that pay for their services, with eye toward producing a photo journal of the neighborhood. What sets Farrow apart, aside from her retired cop father, is her colorblindness. Not just red-green confusion, but a total lack of color sensitivity. Hunt's character is a professional photographer who can only see in shade of gray. Guess what kind of film she shoots with.

This story is edgy, smart, progressive, thoughtful, dense, intricate, exciting, and satisfying. If you have a chance, find this book in your library, keep an eye out in used book sales, or stay where I did this summer. Its in the cabinet at the end of the table.

Read this book.

friends of the dusk

Phil Rickman is an English author described as a writer of 'supernatural and mystery novels.' He's pretty deep into it at this point, and because this book had the feel of a recurring character, I took a look-see and sure enough: the Merrily Watkins series has 16 books, and I happened upon a recent one, from 2015, is number 14 in the series. Merrily Watkins is his most written about character by far. All of his writings, in the order they were written is on BookSeriesInOrder.com, as is the quote about his penchant noted above.

Merrily is a vicar in the Church of England, and an exorcist, which the church apparently refers to as deliverance, rather than exorcism. I don't recall seeing it in the text, but perhaps that makes Merrily a deliverist? She lives in a small town in England close to the border with Wales, which may have even been part of Wales at some point. Anyhow, maybe Wales is just spookier than England proper, who knows, but I don't think Americans are Rickman's target audience, too many Englishisms in the text. I get the feeling that Merrily maybe a little bit like that lady in our TV show, Murder She Wrote. I've talked about Dame Angela Lansbury's character before in similar situations. There's something weird about mysteries and homicides popping up around some sweet lady, episode after episode. is it me, or is it weird that British born Dame Angela, recently knighted by the queen, plays a homegrown detective in Maine? Anyhoo...

Rickman sets the tone early, its creepy and slightly eerie very early on, and tension slowly builds throughout the story. I don't think its a spoiler to say that the tension Rickman built up was squandered in my opinion. I was expecting some kind of ass-kicking, pits-of-hell-unroofed finale, but maybe that's the ugly American talking. The story was resolved just fine, but with more whimper and less bang. I guess that's appropriate for a vicar. Maybe the target audience is similar to Murder She Wrote, and Rickman and his publishers don't want to give anyone a heart attack, but don't let me dissuade you, I've only read one of these books, and otherwise it was very good. Spooky, as I said, tightly written; Merrily Watkins is a well developed character, and her personal story is engaging as well.

If I see another one, I'll probably pick it up. Hopefully earlier in the series. I enjoyed it overall, just a little let down at the end.

havana room

I'm pretty sure this is the first I've read of Colin Harrison; I'm going to have to keep an eye on this guy.

The Havana Room is a story about a lawyer in New York, and the things that happen to him as he tries to lead his simple, normal, boring life. Things that definitely aren't simple, normal, or boring.

This is a story John Grisham would write if he could. Now, if you're a big fan of John Grisham, that's great. I'm not saying he's a bad writer, what I AM saying is that this is a book that John Grisham would probably like, but its more gritty, honest, dark,--and two steps outside the mainstream--than what Grisham is writing; which I think is a good thing.

That all being said, this story doesn't hinge on our boy Bill Wyeth being a lawyer, but his expertise does help with the plot lines. The Havana Room doesn't take long to get rolling either. We meet our guy, living that normal life, which then gets unnormal pretty quickly. By page 20 its all gone to shit. Then as Wyeth blows around New York like a ghost of himself, he stumbles upon the Havana Room, and life promptly goes to Shinola.

Harrison has put together a well paced, thoughtful, mysterious and modern noir. Its a look at how far a guy will go when he feels like he may have lost everything anyway, all the while hoping that he hasn't and that there may be a way back. Or perhaps forward and through, which is maybe better anyway. Harrison's characters do and say things you assume some folks do and say, but you've never witnessed. Or at least, not to this degree. It adds a sharpness to the story that pulled me in and along for the ride in much shorter order than I usually finish a book.

Read this book.

And you keep an eye out for Colin Harrison too. And if he writes something, drop me a note in the comments below. In the meantime, I'll be checking out some of his earlier stuff. you know, at some point

night squad

Before Corey Bradford was kicked off the police force, he had his way with some of the folks in the slummy part of town where he grew up, affectionately known as the Swamp--a bribe here, a shake down there. Now that Bradford is off the force, he's lost his wife, and has ramped up his drinking.

Now, being in the wrong place at the wrong time has put Bradford right between the crime organization that runs the Swamp and the police department he used to work for.

Then the Night Squad came looking for him.

This is 1961, hard core crime noir. The honky-tonk lingo, the cruel reality of the ghetto, the .38 specials, and the platinum blondes are all here. I haven't read a hard boiled crime novel in a while, and there really is something to these pulpy crime fiction novels from this era. David Goodis doesn't waste words, and he doesn't spare feelings. The inner dialog is a little over wrought, but it really gets to the core of Bradford's feelings as he moves his way through this story, trying to find the best way forward for number one.

Goodis writes the Swamp as an integral part, or even a character in the story. The teaser line on the original book jacket calls the Swamp: "...the brutal throbbing heart of the slums." There are plenty of sad, sorry stories in the Swamp, and Bradford just wades through them as gets on with his life there. There are glimmers of what life could be, buts its never clear if those glimmers hold any hope for Bradford, or anyone else who lives there.

spiders web

After the death of Stieg Larsson in 2004 of a heart attack, I assumed we'd seen the last of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist.* 

Nope. 

I guess there was just too much juice in these stories to give up on them. According to Eva Gabrielsson, Larsson's long time girlfriend (who apparently also helped with his story development) Larsson had plans for seven more books in the Millennium Series. The Girl in the Spider's Web is the latest installment, penned by Swedish author and journalist, David Lagercrantz, and translated in to English by George Goulding. Goulding is also a switch from the original translator of Larsson's efforts in the series, which were done by Reg Keeland.

I will admit that its fun to Have Lisbeth Salander back, but I'm sorry its not really her. Lagercrantz does a pretty good job, but this story just didn't have the depth of the Larsson stories. This story moved quicker perhaps, but that may be because not as much was happening. Lagercrantz has also introduced some new backstory elements, that I believe he will use to further the overall story arc as he writes more of these stories. Whether these new elements are based on discussions with Larsson, research in his notes, or speaking to someone who may know, such as Gabrielsson, I don't know.

What I do know is that I'll probably read the next one, if and when it shows up in my house, or perhaps at the library book sale, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. Here's hoping Lagercrantz just needs to warm up a bit.


* We have, unfortunately, seen the last of Mikael Nyqvist who played Mikael Blomkvist in the 2009 movie adaptations of the Millennium Series.