Monthly Archives: September 2011

Review: A Walk in the Dark by Gianrico Carofiglio

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In Bari in Southern Italy we meet Guido Guerrieri; a forty-something lawyer with a non live-in girlfriend and an introspective approach to life. A policeman friend of Guerrieri’s calls on him one day and brings with him a nun with a story to tell. The story is about Martina, a volunteer who works at the women’s shelter the nun runs. Martina wants to bring a civil case of assault and battery against her ex-boyfriend who has beaten her multiple times. Two other lawyers have turned down the case because the man accused is the son of a powerful local judge and anyone who takes on the case is risking an end to their own professional career. Partly because he is unable to say no in the presence of the strangely intriguing nun, Guido agrees to take on the case.

At only just over 200 pages (positively tiny in today’s environment) this unassuming little book packs an unexpectedly powerful punch. The author manages to bring something new to the all too frequent tale of an abused woman in a number of subtle ways. Firstly, although Martina’s case is at the centre of the story the woman herself is not. Readers see events through Guido’s eyes and those of Sister Claudia more than they do through Martina’s. This does not diminish her or the grimness of her situation but it does offer a less common perspective. The problems of achieving a positive result in this kind of “he said, she said” case, especially when there is an overarching potential for corruption due to the man’s connections, are starkly drawn and really highlight the difficulties that women in these situations must face. In a fraction of the length of lesser books we get a very real sense of the inner strength it took for Martina to take legal action and the practical difficulties involved in protecting her and obtaining justice. It is terribly moving though sad to be reminded that there is a need for places called women’s shelters the world over.

The other standout feature of the novel is the nicely developed characters, particularly of Guido and Sister Claudia. While not the tortured, loner, alcoholic endemic to crime fiction Guido does have his demons including a strong belief in his own cowardice. His intermittent insomnia, and the late night walks which are his treatment, provide for some touching introspection of the kind that only the wee small hours can bring. They counterbalance nicely Guido the non-corrupt lawyer who must use some creative manoeuvres to bring his cases to successful conclusion against a system in which there is a lot of corruption and nepotism. Sister Claudia, a martial-arts practising nun, has more than her fair share of troubles too and is an interesting character added to this mix.

Given that on several occasions I stopped to re-read sentences or passages just because I liked the way the language sounded I’m proposing that the translation by Howard Curtis is an excellent one though my own knowledge of Italian is far too rudimentary to really know. In fact the only down note to this review is my own annoyance at having been so long in discovering this terrific author. I loved the book’s combination of thoughtful legal procedural and journal of a man’s life and thoughts so much that I’m not even going to complain too much that it made me embarrass myself in public. The ending surprised and angered me (on behalf of the characters not due to any lack of quality in the storytelling) and the several loud sobs I tried (unsuccessfully I think) to pretend were the result of hay fever as I sat on a crowded bus generated furtive glances from my fellow passengers. I highly recommend this book (though perhaps one to be read in the privacy of one’s own home).

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A Walk in the Dark has been reviewed at Bookslut, Euro Crime, International Noir Fiction

I’m using this book as the book with travel or movement in the title for this year’s What’s in a Name challenge

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My rating 4.5/5
Author website
Translator Howard Curtis
Publisher Bitter Lemon Press [this translation 2006, original edition 2003]
ISBN 9781904738534
Length 214 pages
Format paperback
Book Series #2 in the Guido Guerrieri series
Source I bought it

This post is published at http://reactionstoreading.com if you are seeing it at another site then it has been stolen and/or used entirely without permission.

Review: Scream by Nigel McCrery

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DCI Mark Lapslie of the Essex Police is in Pakistan for a conference when he receives an email that sends him scurrying home. Attached to the message is a sound file of a woman screaming and because it has been sent directly to him Lapslie thinks something sinister is afoot. The fact it will allow him a reasonable excuse to get out of presenting at the conference is a bonus. At the same time the woman who is normally his Sergeant, Emma Bradbury, is being put in charge of a case of her own. The badly mutilated body of a young woman has been found on nearby Canvey Island and the investigation must be put into motion. When Lapslie returns it becomes evident there might be a link between the case and the sound file but the pair have to trawl through old cases to find a pattern of behaviour.

In my review of Still Waters, the first book in this series, I wrote

Rather than larger than life serial killers making suits out of human skin (Thomas Harris) or similarly fantastical yarns this was a story that one can imagine happening in the real world.

Sadly from my point of view the subsequent two books have strayed further and further into ‘suits of human skin territory’, to the point where this one will be the last I’ll read of the series. It’s not that the book is bad or poorly written; rather that it seems consumed with describing hideous violence and mutilations experienced by the killer’s victims, either as they happen or as reconstructed by the pathologist and various forensic experts and I simply have no interest in reading such descriptions.  In the first book of this series the few scenes of real violence (one of which I still remember vividly to this day) stood out because of their rarity

Leaving the gore aside for a moment there a positive elements of the novel. The Mark Lapslie character is developed nicely, especially for those who have been with him since the beginning. He has a condition called synaesthesia which in his case manifests itself by causing him to experience strong tastes whenever he hears something. In the past this has been very debilitating for him but here is getting treatment that is working and he is able to function far more normally than in the earlier books. It’s interesting to watch him enjoy his new experiences like eating a spicy meal or attending a concert. His depiction as being both excited and a little scared of all this felt very natural to me. His relationship with Emma, who has become romantically involved with a known (but never convicted) criminal, is well-drawn too.

Without adding any particular twist or nuance to the long line of novels featuring crazed serial killers on a quest only they understand I didn’t think the plot of Scream anything more than serviceable. On top of the gore factor I frankly didn’t find the killer (who I thought obvious early on) remotely credible (though to tell you why would be a jolly big spoiler) and there were several other plot points that were far too obvious as devices.

I listed the first book in this series among my top ten books of the year for 2008 because I thought it offered something unique to the genre and the crime at its heart was an all too believable one which involved real people I could care about. So it is a little sad for me to see the series head in the blood-soaked direction of a hundred similar tomes published each year, but knowing how my tastes are rarely in sync with those of the mainstream this probably means the Lapslie books will now sell by the tonne. I shan’t be reading any more though.

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Scream has been reviewed at Euro Crime.

I have previously reviewed Still Waters and Tooth and Claw

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My rating 2/5
Publisher Quercus [2010]
ISBN 9781849161176
Length 403 pages
Format paperback
Book Series #3 in the DCI Mark Lapslie series
Source I bought it

This post is published at http://reactionstoreading.com if you are seeing it at another site then it has been stolen and/or used entirely without permission.

Review: Sister by Rosamund Lupton

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Sister is narrated by Beatrice, a twenty-something woman who has flown home to London from her life in New York because her younger sister, twenty-one year old Tess, has gone missing. Beatrice, or Bee as Tess would call her, writes a letter to her sister which in part describes the events surrounding her disappearance and in part is a memoir of their sisterhood, warts and all.

The book is basically a love letter from one sister to another and in that context it is a superb piece of writing. It delves into all the nuances of the relationship; the shared memories (good and bad), the slights (real and imagined), the words that were said and those that would have been taken back should the universe allow. It is a marvellous portrait of both the bond between the two sisters and the grief one feels at the unexpected disappearance of the other.

Where Tess is fun-loving, gregarious and artistic, Beatrice is reserved, seeks security and does not normally stand up for herself but over the course of the story Beatrice goes through a fairly fundamental shift in her personality which is, again, credibly drawn out. We also see Beatrice develop a deeper understanding of her mother’s motivations for various actions and behaviour and this relationship too is an interesting one to watch as it develops into one of adult equals more than parent and child.

I must admit I found the whodunnit element of the book less successful. It was so clunky in a couple of places I actually wondered someone (author or publisher) had pushed to squeeze the manuscript more deeply into a genre (I thought the prominently positioned pull quote from Jeffrey Deaver on the edition I read was serving the same, somewhat misguided, purpose). I’m out of touch with what’s hot in publishing circles right now but I think this would have been just as good a book, perhaps an even better one, without this somewhat clumsy element.

Nevertheless I enjoyed the book as a whole because the relationship of the sisters is depicted with a finesse and thoughtfulness you rarely see, particularly from a début author. I also had the added bonus of an outstanding narration of the audio book by Juanita McMahon. I’d read the first chapter or so of the book in print form (on someone else’s kindle) before reaching the top of the library’s audio queue (long before I was ever going to get near the top of the print queue). McMahon’s depiction of Bee was just as I had imagined.

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Reviews of the book abound but I’d caution that many of them give away far more of the plot than is warranted (yes I’m talking to you NY Times). Naturally you’ll find a lovely and thoroughly un-spoilerish review at Petrona

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My rating 3.5/5
Author website http://www.rosamundlupton.com/
Narrator Juanita McMahon
Publisher W F Howes [2010]
ISBN 9781407469188
Length 12 hours 45 minutes
Format audio (CD)
Book Series standalone
Source borrowed from the library

This post is published at http://reactionstoreading.com if you are seeing it at another site then it has been stolen and/or used entirely without permission.

Review: Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten

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When wealthy Swedish businessman Richard von Knecht falls to his death from his apartment balcony everyone assumes it is suicide. Naturally enough for a mystery novel there is soon evidence that leads police to believe von Knecht was actually murdered and they begin the slow process of unravelling which secrets of his life might have led to his murder.

And so we meet the members Göteburg Violent Crimes squad as they start interviewing von Knecht’s family members, neighbours and friends to uncover who might have had the motive and opportunity to commit the crime. The team is a large one led by Detective Superintendent Sven Andersson who is shown, as the book progresses, to be intelligent and supportive of his own staff, though he struggles to know how to handle emotionally charged situations and can’t seem to quite fathom how to deal with the women on his team. At times I wanted to give him a good slap but I found him very believable and ultimately sympathetic.

Among the seven Detective Inspectors on the team is Irene Huss, a middle-aged married woman with twin teenage daughters and a refreshingly supportive husband. We see her struggle with a truly scary situation as a parent alongside both frustrating and frightening situations at work and in all instances her behaviour and reactions seem entirely credible. The rest of the team is an interesting mixture of new and old colleagues including Irene’s good friend Tommy whom she has obviously known for many years as he offers to help out when the problem with her daughter arises. There’s also a quiet but hardworking Finnish man on the team, the ubiquitous bloke with one eye on his retirement, a feisty young female Detective Inspector and a brash and often worrisome young man who has a repugnant attitude towards women. Tursten does a lot with the team dynamics over the course of the novel and all of it quite fascinating.

The case, and therefore the novel’s plot, is complicated but Tursten does a good job of keeping the reader on top of all the threads, some of which turn out to be dead ends (though none the less emotional and engaging in one instance in particular). At times I was a bit lost as to the significance of something everyone in the novel seemed fixated on but I felt like the team were learning what was important and what wasn’t along with me and it felt natural to be a little confused at times. This book did an outstanding job of drawing the reader in to the experience of being in on such a case and the myriad of useless information that has to be collected before it can be discarded as of no importance.

At the same time though Tursten does explore a range of interesting social issues in just the right way to keep me interested in the novel. There’s a really moving thread about the perils of forgetting historical events which might lead to repeating the mistakes of past generations and a gripping, if highly frustrating, storyline about the difficulties still faced by women in workplaces that have traditionally been dominated by men. These were incorporated into the story beautifully and gave the book a quite thought-provoking after taste.

I’ve had this book lying around for ages but was prompted to pluck it from Mount TBR when I realised its author was one of three listed at the Crimescraps Favourite Nordic Women Crime Writers poll whose books I had not yet read (the other two are on my ‘to read soon’ soon pile too). I’m very glad to have been introduced to this thoughtful and engaging series which really does set a high bench mark for novels in the police procedural sub-genre.

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Detective Inspector Huss has been reviewed at A Book a Week, Euro Crime, Letters from a Hill Farm (I so agree with Nan’s comment that this book really makes readers feel like they are part of the investigative team) and Mystery File (which shares the tip that the original translation for the book’s name would be The Broken Tang Horse which I think is a better name but what the heck do I know?

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My rating 4.5/5
Translator Stephen T Murray
Publisher Soho [this translation 2003, original edition 1989]
ISBN 9781569473702
Length 371 pages
Format paperback
Book Series #1 in the Detective Inspector Huss series
Source I bought it (exactly 3 years ago this week…and only just got around to reading it, shame on me)

A Year in eBooks

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In September last year I began the slow journey towards a personal holy grail: to do away forever with the problem of finding homes for read-once-and-not-likely-to ever-be-read-again books. I’ve chosen to tackle the problem primarily by using eBooks and this is a wrap up of my first year of being an eBook reader that isn’t a Kindle who lives in Australia (and there’s a bit of a rant at the end).

How do I eRead, let me count the ways?

Initially I bought a Sony touch-screen reader which can read ePub and PDF formats. I have since read 29 books on that device and really like it. It is light, sturdy (has survived being dropped several times), has a long battery life and the touch screen makes the reading experience very close to reading a traditional book.

About 3 months ago I also bought an iPad primarily for mobile computing instead of lugging a laptop around but with a deliberate secondary aim of expanding my eReading options. I can now read Kindle books, Apple books and cloud-based books such as those offered by booki.sh (an experience I described in some detail a couple of months ago).

I also use an iPod nano for audio books so now essentially have enough devices to accommodate every available format between them. After a lot of trial and error (and some shake-ups in the market) I now have a pretty strict hierarchy of options for acquiring a book:

  • Audible – only a small percentage of books that I’m interested in are available in this format so I check this source first
  • Booku – an Australian eBook store selling ePubs (which I can read on my Sony or the Overdrive app on my iPad)
  • Kobo – a Canadian eBook store selling ePubs but which stocks the widest range of Australian publications including books by Australian authors (which I can read on my Sony or the Kobo app on my iPad)
  • Catalogues of the two local libraries I belong to
  • Amazon’s Kindle store (to read via the Kindle app on my iPad)
  • Booki.sh (for a cloud-based book to read on my iPad)
  • My favourite purveyors of dead tree tomes (there are still some books that are not available in any e format so if I really want to read them I’ll buy a physical version)

What’s different between now and then?

It’s only been a year (or one fifth of the time I allowed myself) and in some ways my behaviour is slow to change but I have started to notice some trends. The most obvious one is that I’m acquiring less physical books

Format of books acquired 2009-10 and 2010-11

Sadly the number of books acquired in each year was about the same but over the past 3 or 4 months the trend has moved downwards. Having so many options available now seems to have reduced the impulse to buy more than I can read (now if only I could get through my backlog TBR mountain instead of being attracted by shiny new stories).

A couple of other trends are less directly related to my new preference for eBooks though they are a side-effect:

Virtually all of the few print books I still buy are now bought in an Australian store. It costs me double (or triple) the price of ordering via Book Depository (as I have detailed before) but is a deliberate choice. If I want bookstores to still be available for my browsing pleasure (and I do) then I need to support them. The component of this that is related to eBooks is that only 6 of the 30 books I bought in the last 3 months were print books so buying books in Australian book stores is not as damaging to my bank balance as it once was. Buying all 150+ books that I read each year at the $33 a pop they mostly sell for is simply out of reach, but a couple of books a month is do-able. I doubt it’ll save the local book industry but it’s the best I can do.

I’m borrowing more from the library. To be honest I could move the library up my hierarchy of options a little and borrow even more but I generally like to choose when I read a book which is not always possible with library queues. But making a conscious choice to not acquire huge piles of print books anymore did make me start be more systematic about at least checking the catalogues. Belonging to two (one near work, one near home) gives me a fairly wide selection and they do have a good track record of stocking Australian crime fiction.

What do I like about eReading?

I love reading on either of my devices and can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to worry about physical books much at all. I love being able to take notes or highlight things I want to mention in my reviews without having to carry anything extra, I love being able to carry several books at a time in case I don’t feel like reading one of them. I love not having to worry about what I’ll do with a book once I’ve finished with it…no more boxes of books in my garage.

The Sony is my device of choice being small, light and having a long battery life. The iPad is too heavy to hold for long periods (but fits nicely on one’s lap and/or book seat) and I wouldn’t want to read it while standing up on the bus (as I do my Sony) but surprisingly the backlit screen doesn’t bother me at all (most of the reading apps I’ve tried have settings allowing control of brightness).

Sadly, a month after I bought the Sony all UK stores stopped selling eBooks to people outside the UK (though they still ship print books to us by the container load which, in my humble opinion, makes a mockery of publishers’ expressed outrage at consumers’ wanton disregard for geographical restrictions) and the Australian Borders chain collapsed into bankruptcy. These events significantly reduced my options for obtaining books for my Sony. The Kobo store is based in Canada but has the widest range of Australian publications I’ve found. I don’t have any firm numbers but estimate that only about half the books I want to buy are available to me for the Sony. Geographic restrictions still play a significant role in me not being able to buy what I want but I am ever hopeful this will improve.

The downside (or if you made it this far you deserve a full-on rant)

I have a new enemy. Well two of them really: Sony and Adobe. Two companies which I despise with a vehemence that probably isn’t healthy. The process of getting books onto my Sony device is managed via Adobe’s software and it is the most useless application of technology I have ever encountered. My day job involves configuring information management systems and teaching people how to use them. I am (to blow my own horn momentarily) pretty good at it and if I were to produce the kind of half-baked crap that these two companies have devised I would be sacked and spat at and I would deserve both.

When I bought a new computer earlier this year and had to get my eReader (and the many un-read books on it) re-authorised I considered throwing the device away. Manoeuvring my way through the labyrinthine mess that is Adobe’s Digital Rights Management was a headf*** matched only by having one’s tax returns audited by someone trained at the Spanish Inquisition. I was essentially treated like a criminal by both companies which is infuriating as the only time I have ever even considered pirating a book was when I lost access to all the ones I had already bought. Neither company (including Sony’s physical office here in town) was remotely interested in assisting with the problems I encountered.

The only bright spot of this entire exercise was the few happy moments I spent fantasizing about performing some of the cruel torture I’ve read about in crime fiction over the years to the people at the Sony store. The place is staffed by people I can only assume were selected for their ability to fit into uniforms found hanging in a closet somewhere because their idea of assistance was to mumble to each other (not even to me directly) about there being ‘something on the website’ and then staring at me blankly when I asked them to show me the exact page where re-issuing of authorisations was even mentioned let alone described in any useful detail. I managed to get my problem sorted out on my own (thanks for absolutely nothing you useless bastards at Sony, may you all rot in an eternal hell where the only way out is guarded by staff as utterly incompetent and brain dead as each and every one of you) (yes I do realise I need to get over this).

While I am now happily reading again I do not envisage retaining this device when I next upgrade my computer in a few years time. And hell will have to freeze over before I buy another Sony product. When I compare this experience with the simplicity of synchronising and authorising Apple devices (which I have done multiple times over the past few years) or Amazon’s kindles I am not surprised that Sony is not a major player in this market and that it is busy getting itself hacked by all and sundry. The company is clearly run by morons.

Aside from this unpleasantness I’m happy with my eReading progress so far and look forward to another year of being responsible for less dead trees.

What about you? Have you taken the eBook/eReader plunge yet? Do you plan to? If not, why not? Have you noticed any changes in your reading behaviour as a result of eReading?

 

Review: The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn

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Frank Allcroft is a presenter on a regional English news program based in Birmingham and this novel is, in a roundabout way, his story. He is married to Andrea, has a 12 year-old daughter, Mo, whom he adores, has recently lost his best friend in a hit and run accident and struggles to let go of the past. This manifests itself in little ways, such as his inability to throw away even the most unfashionable clothing items lurking in his wardrobe, and bigger ways too as he campaigns to save the buildings his architect father built in the city’s post-war boom which are now being pulled down for a new era’s landmarks. Frank is also becoming interested in (or obsessed with depending on your point of view) the people he reports on who die alone and even attends some of their funerals. This habit leads Frank to become an investigator of sorts as he attempts to unearth some family or friends of a particular man who died alone who has a connection, albeit vague, to Frank himself.

I loved this book (almost as much as O’Flynn’s first novel What Was Lost which I read earlier this year). It somehow manages to be sad without being unrelentingly depressing and so was a delight to read, unlike some other books I’ve read recently which just seem to wallow in a single tone of unending misery. Like most lives I suppose Frank’s has its ups and downs and we are exposed to both. His relationship with his father was distant due to his father’s obsession with his work and his enduring legacy for the city but to counterbalance this we also see that he had a good relationship with his mother, especially on her good days when they would have absurd tea parties and other fun. His mother is still alive and is in an assisted living centre as this book opens, which also offers scope for a mixture of sadness and humour. In the end I thought I had a terrifically well-rounded picture of Frank and his foibles and if he does not inspire love I think most readers will like and identify with some aspects of his life. The other characterisations, though not as fully-formed, are equally engaging and thoughtful. Frank’s friend Phil is one of the most beautifully drawn but saddest people I have ever met in fiction.

The story seems like it will be a simple one at the outset but there is a complexity in the way that it tackles a range of contemporary issues. One of these is society’s (or at least media’s) obsession with appearances over substance. This is beautifully observed via the inclusion of a reality television show called Tough Love which is hosted by Frank’s friend’s widow and which his daughter adores. Some of the saddest moments of the book take place as a manipulative episode is dissected before us, but O’Flynn offsets this by incorporating a warm humour into the thread with Mo’s innocent misinterpretation of some aspects of reality television. The dumbing-down of televised news is also explored,  offering a couple of genuinely laugh-out-loud moments in addition to the overall bitterness that viewers (and even presenters) are treated like simpletons in these unenlightened times. The nature of ageing and the constant tension between remembering the past while looking forward at both a personal and social level are other subjects drawn out as part of this gentle but quite powerful story.

I’m not sure what the rules are for deciding a writer is a ‘favourite’ but if it’s permissible to do so based on only two books then Catherine O’Flynn is definitely a new favourite author of mine. Having adored her first book, What Was Lost , only a few months ago I wanted to wait longer before jumping into this second novel but a few days ago I found myself in something of a melancholy frame of mind and seemingly irresistibly drawn to the book. I am now equally thrilled to have read it and sad that I don’t still have it to look forward to. It has a strong sense of its place and time, very natural-feeling characters who leap off the page and a very accessible but intelligent writing style and I highly recommend it. If you happen to be a fan of audio books you will enjoy Michael Tudor Barnes’ excellent narration which matches the warmth and sadness of the novel in exactly the right way.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The News Where You Are has been reviewed at Petrona and The Black Sheep Dances

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My rating 4.5/5
Narrator Michael Tudor Barnes
Publisher ISIS Audio books [2010]
ISBN 9781445006499
Length8 hours 20 minutes
Format audio (CD)
Book Series standalone
Source I borrowed it from the library

Sisters in Crime Challenge Post #2: Historical Women

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To me at least the phenomenon of historical fiction which features somewhat feisty females is easily understandable. If you read much actual history, including contemporary primary sources from just about any time before the 20th Century (and a good deal of the stuff written after 1900 too) women don’t appear all that often. When we do we’re generally in the background being demure (if we’re lucky) or being traded like chattel and abused in every way imaginable (when fortune does not smile so kindly upon us). So it doesn’t surprise me that female crime writers enjoy creating imaginary worlds of times gone by in which women participate more equitably in world affairs than reality might have allowed.

One of my recent, and newly favourite, discoveries in this genre is Ariana Franklin who was introduced to me by Norman from Crime Scraps Review (who single-handedly reignited my interest in historical fiction after I’d abandoned the genre many years ago). Franklin is a pseudonym for journalist and writer Diana Norman who sadly passed away earlier this year.  So far I’ve read three of the four adventures set in medieval England in which a woman, the rather magnificent Adelia Aguilar, shines. She is part of a team sought out by King Henry II to investigate a gruesome death which is being blamed on the Jewish population whom Henry is sick of offering protection because while he is doing so they’re not out earning money with which to pay him taxes. Adelia is said to be able to ‘read bodies’ which is the skill she brings to the table.

The basic facts of Adelia’s character, including her being trained as a doctor in Italy, are allowed for by historical record according to the Ariana Franklin website. And who knows…the other aspects of her unconventional character such her forwardness, eschewing of romance and disdain for organised religion might well have appeared in real women of the 12th century though we’ll probably never know because they do not make copious appearances in the few contemporary sources remaining. But it’s pretty difficult to imagine that there haven’t always been at least a few women wanting something more than a life of slavery and playing second-fiddle to men.

But the books do not only offer a marvellous protagonist, they are first and foremost tales of adventure and derring-do, with intricate plots and of loads of period detail to become absorbed in. In order the series books are

Franklin also wrote a standalone novel called City of Shadows which purports to tell the tale of the last living granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. I do own this one but haven’t read it yet either.

There are a plethora of historical fiction series written by women and many are similarly packed with strong female protagonists, though I have to admit I don’t like them all equally (and one or two have been the subject of a rant). Three I do enjoy and think share Franklin’s attention to period detail, ability to create warm and intelligent characters and willingness to have a little fun and display a sense of humour are

Elizabeth Peters whose novels featuring wealthy heiress Amelia Peabody and her implausible but delightful adventures in the archaeological digs of 1880′s Egypt are a treat I still enjoy. The first book, Crocodile on the Sandbank, was released in 1975 and the 19th book in the series was released last year. Of course Amelia is just a little over the top but I can’t help but get swept up in her various escapades, helped along by the exotic locations and Peters’ attention to detail.

Imogen Robertson whose novel Instruments of Darkness I read last year and thoroughly enjoyed. It’s set in England in 1780 and features as one of two investigators Mrs Harriet Westerman who runs her family estate while her husband is off at sea with the Navy. She does what has to be done and stands up for those less able, even when it gets dangerous for her to do so.

Victoria Thompson whose first mystery set at the very end of the 19th Century and featuring a New York midwife, Sarah Brandt, was called Murder on Astor Place. Sarah, who has been widowed before the book begins, is estranged from her wealthy family and so has to stand on her own two feet from the outset when she alone tackles an investigation into the murder of a young girl (after trying and failing to get either the police or the girl’s parents interested). I somehow lost track of this series but realise there are now 14 books to try, all seemingly named after famous New York streets.

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To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sisters in Crime (US) author, blogger and current Sisters in Crime board member Barbara Fister issued book bloggers the challenge of writing about women’s contribution to crime fiction. There are three levels of the challenge and I’m aiming for the expert level which requires me to write ten blog posts about works of crime fiction by a woman author and, for each, mention three similar women authors whose works I would recommend.  Though I am taking Barbara at her word and using the “whenever” deadline as a concrete goal, so it may take me a while to do all ten posts. And it turns out I might find it hard to stick to recommending just 4 authors per post. Even if you only occasionally blog about crime fiction why not join in the challenge and help celebrate the women who write it? So far for this challenge I have written about:

Review: Fool’s Republic by Gordon W. Dale

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As Fool’s Republic opens Simon Wylie is in an institution which is never named but is depicted as some variation on a military prison of the Guantanamo Bay variety. His senses are deprived via the use of an all white environment (clothes, walls, floors, ceiling etc) and constant light. His endless monotony is only interrupted by occasional instances of interrogation or torture. We’re not told why he has been incarcerated and Wylie’s constant request is to know what he is charged with and to be provided legal representation and a trial. We learn, via a non-linear series of flashbacks, about Wylie’s life and, eventually, what led to his incarceration.

The premise of this book intrigued me and on reading it did live up to most of that promise, offering a more insightful thriller than average. I was particularly impressed that Dale did not sensationalise the torture aspects of the narrative nor offer unrealistically simplistic solutions to Wylie’s situation or the broader issues being explored. It was all the more powerful for understating these elements and even ignoring the temptation for a flashy, Hollywood-style ending.

I must admit though I struggled with the choice of a first person narrative for the story. When an entire tale has to be carried by a single character (we only get the smallest glimpses of people from Wylie’s life) that character has to be something pretty special and, for me anyway, Simon Wylie grew less interesting as the book progressed. He is depicted as a misunderstood genius of the type who can’t (or won’t) fit into the rigid social structures that other people want him to and so ends up in some bad places: reform school, homeless etc. The people he encounters are, according to him, either horrible or in need of his peculiar brand of benevolence (there really didn’t seem to be any middle ground). In the end I don’t know that he was an unreliable narrator though I spent a good 99% of the novel believing him to be one and consequently grew sceptical of his interpretation of the events of his life. I’d like to have read some kind of input (letters perhaps) from other characters directly rather than receiving all the information about their motivations and behaviour via Simon’s somewhat self-serving filter.

The fact I didn’t find Simon particularly credible or likeable also meant I had to work a little harder to care about his particular predicament, though I am entirely in agreement with the notion that such institutions and the processes that send people to them are an abhorrent development of contemporary society. But there were times when I’d have cheerfully locked Simon away myself purely for being a whining, ungrateful SOB.

That aside though this is a very readable book and it is always refreshing to see important subjects being tackled by fiction (especially those subjects which the mainstream media seems to ignore entirely).  Fool’s Republic provides a plausible and disturbing depiction of what is undoubtedly going on behind closed doors, with the full consent of our governments, to some unknown individual somewhere in the world right now.

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My rating 3/5
Author website http://www.gordonwdale.com/
Publisher North Atlantic Books [2011]
ISBN 9781556439728
Length 239 pages
Format paperback
Book Series standalone
Source Provided by the publisher for honest review

This post is published at http://reactionstoreading.com if you are seeing it at another site then it has been stolen and/or used entirely without permission.

Thoughts on reading history, 1776 by David McCullough

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I downloaded this audio book on a whim after having watched and enjoyed the TV series John Adams on DVD a little while ago. Another of McCullough’s books was the basis for that show and it made me curious enough to hear the author read his own words about this tumultuous period in America’s history. I thought it might also help do something about my woeful ignorance of the history of America.

As it turns out I don’t think 1776 was the best book for someone with an extremely rudimentary knowledge of this period. It felt more like the sort of book that would have fleshed out the things I’d learned in high school (if my Australian high school had shown the slightest interest in American history) (which, not all that surprisingly I suppose, it did not) as there was a fairly high level of prior knowledge assumed. I spent a good deal of time pausing the book so I could research (ok, google) some name or place mentioned and did wonder if the printed version of the book has some footnotes and maps that might have made my frequent googling unnecessary. In the end I don’t feel much more informed than I was a month ago (when I already knew there’d been a war which the Americans won, just).

The bigger problem (and it is mine not McCullough’s) is that even as a University history student it was never dates and other facts that grabbed my attention. It’s always been the little details of life in different times that fascinate me; the food people ate, the homes they lived in, the jobs they had, the beliefs they shared and so on. I am also, irrevocably and completely, disinterested in military history of any sort. In the beginning of 1776, which unfurled chronologically and actually starts half-way through 1775 with King George’s address to the English Parliament imploring them to do something about those quarrelsome settlers across the ocean, there is some insight into the beliefs that prompted the war but well before the half-way point it had turned into a chronicle of battles, tactics and weapons. I did enjoy the occasional glimpses of my kind of ‘everyman’ history such as descriptions of the conditions the soldiers experienced and the heartache and fear that must have been experienced by Bostonian loyalists who became refugees overnight. For me though there was not enough of this to really hold on to my attention. I can acknowledge though that for those who are interested in different aspects of history than I am the book offers an undoubtedly an informative and well-structured narrative, using a good mixture of primary sources and sitting comfortably in the popular (but intelligent) history category.

McCullough narrates the book himself and I’m afraid here I do part company with the many accolades the narration has won (including nomination in the 2005 Audie Awards). I don’t think McCullough’s tone changed more than twice across the 11 and a half hours of the book which, when combined with a relatively soft voice and slow reading pace, is more a cure for insomnia than an engaging narrative. I could not listen to this while driving for example (which is when I do listen to other audio books) as I’m sure I’d have fallen asleep at the wheel. I acknowledge that audio is not an ideal medium for non-fiction but I have, for example, listened to Simon Winchester narrate his own book detailing the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (The Professor and the Madman) which is immeasurably superior in terms of the style of narration.

In the end I learned a little about the American Revolutionary War, though not as much as I’d have liked about what prompted it in the first place and what reserves of strength kept people fighting when they were experiencing such losses nor anything at all really about what was happening outside the battlefields while the war was being fought. The last half of the book offers something of a potted biography of George Washington which I did quite enjoy though.

But now it’s over to you. Can you recommend some American history that I might like? It doesn’t have to be about this period but I’d prefer books that don’t focus on wars (it is amazingly difficult to be a history lover who is fed up to the back teeth with reading about war) and those which are at the popular rather than academic end of the spectrum.

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My rating 3/5
Narrator David McCullough
Publisher Simon & Schuster [1995]
ISBN N/A (downloaded from audible.com)
Length 11 hours 32 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Source I bought it

This post is published at http://reactionstoreading.com if you are seeing it at another site then it has been stolen and/or used entirely without permission.

Aussie Authors Update #3

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My reviews of Aussie crime fiction are published exclusively at my other blog, Fair Dinkum Crime, which I co-host with fellow Australian blogger and crime fiction fan Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise. But I like to do an occasional wrap-up of my recent Aussie crime fiction reads here at Reactions to Reading

PRIME CUT by Alan Carter

Synopsis: Philip ‘Cato’ Kwong was once, literally, the poster boy for Western Australia’s police force. Of Chinese descent he represented a new kind of recruit and, for a while, he could do no wrong. But as this book opens he is disgraced, having been involved in a frame-up that was discovered. He has been assigned to one of the worst jobs in the force in hopes he will resign. But when a body, or part of one, washes up on shore in a small mining town six hundred kilometres south east of Perth, Cato has a second chance to prove that he is, or can be, a good cop after all. At the same a cold case that had its origins in northern England more than 30 years ago rears its very ugly head.

Review summary: Prime Cut has an outstanding sense of both its geographical and social setting, taking place in rural Australia amidst the latest mining boom with all that implies. Carter has also created some compelling characters and provided some thoughtful, delicate insight into some topical issues. A brilliant and highly recommended read.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime, My rating 4.5/5 Since I posted this review Prime Cut was awarded the 2011 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction

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KISS OF DEATH by P D Martin

Synopsis: The book opens with Los Angeles based FBI profiler Sophie Anderson being called in on a case involving the death of a young woman in a state park. Normally Sophie’s team would not be called in so early on in an investigation but the woman’s body has two puncture wounds on the neck and appears to have been drained of blood so the lead detective on the case engages the FBI to cover her bases. They soon learn that the woman, an acting student called Sherry Taylor, had recently become interested in the local vampire sub culture which, given the nature of her death, opens up an avenue of investigation that takes the team into a possible cult-like group in the midst of the city.

Review Summary: I really liked the way the book delved into the subject of cults/new religious movements without being sensationalist or judgemental and enjoyed the balance of investigative procedure and personal life. I did think the ‘woo woo’ element was a little more over the top than usual in this series though.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime 3/5 stars.

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BEREFT by Chris Womersley (audio)

Synopsis: One stormy day in 1909 in the (fictional) former gold-rush town of Flint, New South Wales, Quinn Walker is found by his father and uncle standing beside the body of his 12 year-old sister; a bloody knife in his hand. Quinn runs away and is not seen or heard from again until his mother receives a telegram seven years later reporting that he has died, on the battlefields of WWI. However after the war is over Quinn, now 26, is de-mobbed in Sydney and makes his way back to Flint, having been compelled by a spooky encounter while in London. He arrives to find the town in the grip of a world-wide flu epidemic, his own mother among those dying, and everyone so convinced he is guilty his sister’s murder that he will be killed on sight if he is recognised. He hides out in the hills surrounding his old home where he is befriended by a young orphan girl named Sadie while he struggles to find a course of action to prove his claim of innocence.

Review Summary: I found this a difficult read. On the one had there is the writing which is nothing short of brilliant In stark, sparse prose and using superb imagery Womersley has depicted the state of being bereft with such nuance and depth that even a reader who has never experienced such an all-consuming loss will feel like they have by the end of this novel. But is unrelentingly bleak, having only a single tone and was a struggle to keep reading for that reason.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime and I never did give this one a rating.

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DEAD MAN’S CHEST by Kerry Greenwood (audio)

Synopsis: In the 18th instalment of the Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee) Fisher series set in 1920′s Australia, Phryne and her entourage have left Melbourne for a summer holiday in the seaside town of Queenscliff. They are to occupy the home of an anthropologist acquaintance of Phryne’s but when they arrive they find the Johnstons, a servant couple who were to look after the holidaymakers, appear to have left in a hurry and taken all the supplies with them. Once their household management is under control Phryne and company soon turn to considerations of the Johnston’s disappearance and the alarming matter that has occupied the town’s gossips: who is cutting of the plaits of all the young ladies?

Review summary: This is an intelligent cosy mystery with a sense of humour and the well-depicted atmosphere of the roaring 20′s. The audio book is delightfully narrated too

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime 3.5/5 stars

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THE HALF-CHILD by Angela Savage

Synopsis: In the mid 1990′s Australian Jayne Keeney has been living in Thailand for a number of years and works as a private detective. As this book opens she is hired by an Australian man Jim Delbeck to investigate the death of his daughter Maryanne. The girl was volunteering at an orphanage run by a Christian group in Pattaya, a seedy coastal town south of Bangkok, when she apparently committed suicide some months earlier. Her father fervently believes that she would not have killed herself and he wants Jayne to find out the truth.

Review Summary: A real treat of a novel offering engaging and believable characters, a thoughtful and intelligent plot and a subtle, complex insight into the culture in which it is set. There is also some delightful humour.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime 4/5 stars

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Aussie Authors Update #1
Aussie Authors Update #2