Recommended reading--

"What's the best book you've read this year?" asked the librarian patron.  He was a one-time regular book club attendee and I was glad to see him so I took a few moments to contemplate on the question.   

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 I was certain he was asking about mystery novels and this question came earlier this month, roughly midyear through the monthly sessions of book club mysteries for the year.  The last title read was Jo Nesbø's The Snowman which stuck with me but the part of the ending left me cold (pun intended).  I liked the somewhat offbeat Killed by the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill but considered it might be closer to an acquired taste. 

I finally decided to suggest Elly Griffiths' The Janus Stone as a satisfying mystery and story to pass the mustard. And in part, the recommendation was for the reader's taste too--a nice English mystery with a likable amateur sleuth.  This situation also repeated itself so later with a former co-worker who likes mysteries and I suggested this same title to her.  Again, a good read but also likely to fit her reading tastes.

 

New modern-day "Sherlock Holmes" TV series is here

I listened to the National Public Radio last week and caught an interesting story about arguably the world's most famous fictional detective, "Sherlock Holmes" in a new series on the BBC. It is a modern take on the detective in a series just entitled "Sherlock" and it will air in the United States beginning this month.

The revision of Holmes sounds reasonable if the character was to be dropped in the present day but read (or listen) to the story and reach your own conclusions. I'm rather curious.

Book club discusses "Her Royal Spyness" [May]

The book club selection back in May was Rhys Bowen's debut series with a new character Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie. This young "minor royal"--as she refers to her spot on the line of royalty--is 21-years-old and determined to create fresh start for herself without relying on a preselected husband to support her. So, she quietly looks for a job, in London leaving Scotland without her previously steady allowance.

Here is a color version of the author photo that you would find in a copy of this title.

The results are basis for the book as "Georgie" (to her friends) oddly--and secretively--settles in employment as a maid only then to turn amateur detective as she becomes determined to investigate the murder of a man found in a family home and leading to her brother, Binky, as the suspected murder. And, in the meanwhile, Georgie is asked by the queen to spy on her son and his new romantic interest. This book also is the first of a series.

Observations from the book club included:

• the book title doesn't bear any genuine relation to the murder and mystery (though it does set the stage for this new series)
• the book focuses on the queen although the king (King George V) was alive then
• the story actually demonstrates the problems that "minor" royals might have encountered in their lives
• one commented that the book was well-edited
• one commented that she figured out the mystery before finishing the story
• it was suggested the book could become a good TV series.
  

Book club discusses "Cold in Hand" [November]

In November, the book club had the interesting project of reading and discussing a book that was identified as being the last book of a series featuring an English police detective. Writer John Harvey created Charlie Resnick a number of years ago and his first novel to be published in 1989 was Lonely Hearts. Here is a googled recent photo of Harvey.

In 2008, Cold in Hand was released with DI Resnick preparing to end his police career with retirement when a case with personal ties pulls him into a major investigation. A shooting and murder involving rival gangs takes place when DI Lynn Kellogg--Resnick's live-in girl-friend--plunges into the fray to settle things down without success. The murdered person, a young woman named Kelly Brent, has a vocal critic of the police in her father, Howard of the circumstances leading to that death. And yet, Howard, due to his shadowy activities draws the interest of the police in his daughter's death.

The high profile murder case for Resnick and Kellogg is only part of the professional issues they encounter as another murder case Kellogg has handled resurfaces with an interdepartmental investigation and tints of police corruption.

The book was well-received and here are a few observations:

• the novel caught some of us off guard with a sudden murder nearly midway in the story of an important character
• the murder investigation of Kelly focuses in one direction and--oddly--doesn't look at the gang fight for suspects
• the author plays with the reader's attitude towards Howard Brett as he is an angry parent after the death of a child but also pictured as an angry militant black man
• when a major character is introduced midway through the story, Harvey uses a telling example of personal judgment to represent her character early on
• the novel is well-written to share character background and scenes of threat and menace.

In closing, I looked to find a library music CD with singer Bessie Smith performing "Cold in Hand Blues" (hence, the book title) but I could not check it in time for the book club. So, I settled for the available Bessie Smith music CD I could check out and played it before the book club started.

Book Club discusses "An Incomplete Revenge" [October]

The book club discussed the fifth book of the "Maisie Dobbs" series by Jacqueline Winspear several weeks back during the October session. An Incomplete Revenge features psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs--a highly motivated woman who pursuits an education and opportunities to move to a professionally-recognized status from that of a house servant. This book series is set during and following the first World War.

Winspear's picture here comes courtesy of her website.

In this novel, Maisie Dobbs is employed by an old friend to check out the feasibility of a land purchase. The land is in a village outside London in Kent and peculiar news stories from the area raise concern for Dobbs employer--incidents of fires. She arrives during a harvest season and works to gain the trust of the locals, including a gypsy community with which she finds an affinity.

The truth of the mysteries lie in a community's hidden secrets and try as she might, Maisie is the outsider--the woman driving around the village in her MG car.

Some quick observations (shared here) included:

• Maisie attempts to fit a community setting by picking up on the language or terms used by the residents or setting
• Maisie has a young assistant who's also a working stiff type and family man, Billy, and she offers him some work with investigations but hasn't reached out to help him as a mentor
• Maisie has personal troubles that stop her from leading a cheerful life
• however, she has a warm relationship with her father
• incidents of community secrets (or shame?) include nearly the whole community.

Book Club discusses "A Beautiful Blue Death"

Last month the book club discussed a title set during the infancy of the Scotland Yard with Charles Finch's A Beautiful Blue Death. This mystery is the first of a series to feature a well-to-do, freelance detective of the 1860s named Charles Lenox. The book was published in 2007 and here's a pix of Finch from his website.

The book jacket dubs this book as "equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Gosford Park, and P. G. Wodenhouse" and it appears to have its aims well placed.

In the story, Charles takes an assignment from his close friend, Lady Jane, to investigate the death of servant Prudence Smith--a former employee of Lady Jane--when it appears she has committed suicide. His investigation, though, leads him another direction to suspect that Smith was murdered by a unique poison. As Charles continues, he enlists the help of resourceful allies while bypassing Scotland Yard (mostly) and endearing himself to Lady Jane.

Now, as I recall, the group as a whole liked the book. Responses to the book included:

• the story was the type of mystery one attendee really enjoyed reading


• Charles and Lady Jane's relationship although close, it could be the same as if between a gay man and straight woman (one take)


• Charles led a very relaxed, pampered life as a Victorian gentleman and would be very ill-suited to work as a detective on a full-time basis


• Charles enlists his valet Graham to assist with the investigation and the two men share a relationship which occasionally crosses class lines--very unlikely it was suggested


• a filmed version of this novel could be a good period piece but would drag along otherwise


• how Charles managed to be independently wealthy without an apparent livelihood was curious


• the story almost takes a long tangent of political discourse during the period when the novel veers back to the central story (the author does have a background in politics)

One attendee also had a copy of the next book in the series The September Society that night.

Book Club discusses "Death of a Cozy Writer"

This month, the book club read and discussed the first of new series Death of a Cozy Writer: a St. Just mystery.

Writer G.M. Malliet, a former journalist, won the Malice Domestic Grant for this title. The grant is awarded to unpublished writers for traditional mysteries following in the tradition of a Agatha Christie novel--that is the setting is within a confined setting of people who know each other in a novel without explicit sex or excessive gore or violence. Here's a pix of Malliet from her website.

Death of a Cozy Writer is set in Cambridgeshire, England (where Malliet also lives) with the unsettling activities of a wealth writer's planned remarriage and the negative reaction by his adult children. The writer, Sir Adrian Beauclerk Fisk, has build a successful book series with an Agatha Christie-type character. As a result, he may offer his children Ruthven, Sarah, Albert or George a wealthy inheritance upon his death. Instead, he toys with that possibility and changes his written will at whim--showing contempt to all his children. Tragically, during a major family gathering for the engagement announcement, one in the party is found dead.

With almost a third of the story told, Detective Chief Inspector St. Just enters the novel.

Here are some takes on the novel:

• DCI St. Just has an amazing gift of deduction to solve the case--he appears to shortcut the investigation process...


• the novel has its share of humor but not the sort of British humour some readers would expect (except for the laughable American character who tries too hard to fit in) and it struck me as being "catty" too often


• the "Cast of Characters" in the front of the book was nice for the reader


• the book was nicely written


• as a murder occurs in a eighteenth-century Cambridgeshire manor to bring the police to the location, the family and others remain there during the investigation and--unfortunately--another death occurs there so it was suggested the people should have been moved


• the most shadowy and seldom seem character,Violet Mildenhall was judged the most interesting because of her unique background


• the favoritism which Adrian displays to some of his children at times, and disapproval more often, raised a long discussion about favoritism in real families and how the issue is handled in fair and biased manners.

Overall, the book was judged as a OK but not noteworthy.

Book Club discusses "The Blood Detective"

Last month the book club discussed the first novel by writer Dan Waddell,
The Blood Detective. In this novel, a surprising alliance is formed to solve a murder case between the two London police officials in charge and a local genealogist. Nigel Barnes is the family historian brought into the police case headed by Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster and Detective Superintendent Heather Jenkins. And Barnes' sharp eye and familiarity with the subject matter--genealogy information--keep him around as a consultant (and employed) for the immediate future.

This is Waddell's first novel after working a journalist and writer of 10 nonfiction books. The concept for the Barnes character came to Waddell following his book adaptation of a popular BBC TV series about genealolgy called Who Do You Think You Are? That is shared with other information by Waddell in a queston and answer session in an audio interview which Waddell discusses The Blood Detective and more. Here's a photo of Waddell from Google.

The novel treated the reader to interesting surprises as Barnes and Foster both
have background issues which they'd rather keep quiet. And the killer does murder more than one with gruesome methods as a message to the police.

Our discussion targeted several issues:
* a clever title for a book about an amateur sleuth working in the genealogy field
* the detail involved in genealogy study and the appeal for Barnes
* Foster and Jenkin's dilemma when handling the murder case of vagrant
* Foster's quiet background situation of possibly assisting in the death
of his ill father (he is acquitted of wrongdoing in the novel and that
is a fair decision--ultimately)
* Barnes leaves a university job after an affair with a student (a situation much less sordid than it seems)
* the messages left by the murders and the surprising reason for the murders
* English slang (this is a London story)

We have a good discussion about the book and there was interest in reading the next book of the series Blood Atonement due next year.

A little gift to start the week--

I received a little gift to start the week in the form of a paperback mystery by Elizabeth Ironside. A new writer to me, Ironside is the pen name for Lady Catherine Manning who's written psychological thrillers for more than 20 years according to the Washington Post. Here's an old (1978, I suspect from a tag on the pix) but solo photo of Lady Manning from Google.

She is also the wife of Sir David Manning, a recent British Ambassador to the U.S.

The book I received today Death in the Garden features a mysterious death which spans 60 years involving the attention of family members both of whom turn 30 years old. Set in Britain during 1925, Diana Pollexfen celebrates her birthday when her husband dies from a poison cocktail. This cocktail includes photographic chemicals which Diana owns. Fast forward to Diana's grand-niece, Helena, in 1985, and she obsesses over the old story while reviewing Diana's old papers to look anew into George Pollexfen's death.

Death in the Garden is a gift from a library regular who said his wife is mystery lover and enjoys this writer. So, I appreciate the thoughtfulness and I'll share about this writer now. It definitely sounds like a good, classic-styled mystery. The paperback also touts critical praise from the Denver Post, the New York Times and National Public Radio.

This book was originally published in the UK in 1995 with the U.S. edition to follow ten years later. The book is 294 pages and published by Felony & Mayhem.

A recommended English series for book club--

Our book club received a recommendation for an English detective series recently ("you [the club] don't like English mysteries do you" I was asked and I replied "no" but we had read only two other English mysteries that I readily remembered--[gulp]) and we gave it a shot. And to catch an early story of this series I went with the second book of the series since the library system had only a few copies of the first. The book selected was The Dedicated Man: an Inspector Banks Mystery. The author is Peter Robinson who has a long-running series with his hard-charging detective chief inspector. The Dedicated Man was first published in 1988. Here's a pix of Peter from www.inspectorbanks.com.



"The Dedicated Man" was aptly noted in the discussion group to identify the murder victim, a former professor consumed with local archaeological ruins and now Banks who has catch his killer. Mindful that the more time lingers in a murder case, the harder the case, Banks bounces from Steadman's small circle of friends and associates to find who is the murder. It is one of the those situations where repeated trips are needed to the likely suspects to build or establish a case in court (CBS-TV's "Cold Case" comes to mind). And as Banks finds out, a few who are involved are very tight-lipped.

The book club found the mystery to have a satisfying conclusion and one person--who went on to read other books in the series--said the other stories carry plausible reasons for committing murder (well, in as much as it a sound reason to murder another...).

One person noted how the book title is apt for the murder victim and for Banks who pursues his killer. Robinson says as much about the character through others and gives him a somewhat cloudy past as he's relocated to the smaller Eastvale from London. What job-related incident made Banks want to leave? Robinson says in an interview on "Bookreporter.com" that Banks "becomes more introspective and melancholy [throughout the series]. He is strongly affected by things that happen in his personal life and on the job. In that sense, he's more like a real person, an everyman, not a superhuman thinking machine or one-man vengeance society, and I often see the series as books just about a man and things that happen to him at home and at work."

Banks is by all measures a level-headed fellow with a family and interests in reading literature in "Dedicated Man." However, I later discovered via Wikipedia search that Banks is now divorced and his ex-wife remarried (initially, I did a search for Peter Robinson but found a "Banks" entry too).

Robinson certainly has staying power with his writing--he's up to at least 16 books about Inspector Banks. The newest title, released this year, is Piece of my Heart.