I have been starting to work my way through the Adam Dagliesh series by P.D. James and decided to start this one as well.  I really enjoyed this book.  The main character Cordelia Gray is intelligent, brave, and resourceful without seeming over the top superpowerish.  The mystery was well plotted and the clues were very subtlely placed.  I am sad to discover that there are only two of these Cordelia Gray books but I will definitely read the second one as I liked this one so much.  The scene in which Corelia meets Dagliesh is superb, it highlights the difference in their character and yet the mutual respect for their skills.  It also highlights P.D. James ability with character crafting two such different characters within the same genre.

Participating in Hooked On Books readathon today but with the grey rainy weather I’ll admit that I’ve slept and snacked more than read this time.

So far I finished PD James Unnatural Causes, Colonel Wyvern’s Notes from Madras, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  

Edited to add further reading:

 And final book of the Readathon 

Total read= 901 pages in 5 books

My favorite read was Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  Stunning dialog and I can so picture in my head Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton from the movie, absolutely perfect casting.  The tragedy and ugliness of the characters lives and the foreshadowing for the younger couple was absorbing, in a “can’t look away from a train wreck” kind of way.  Highly recommend this quick read.

I also really enjoyed PD James’ Unnatural Causes, an intriguing mystery, not quite an isolated country manor but rather an isolated community murder mystery.  Dagliesh finds himself drawn into a local murder (or was it) mystery while taking  a break and visiting his aunt.  Interesting location and lots of twists, I suspected the culprit from the out set but not for any reason other than a “gut feeling”.  Another good read inthe Adam Dagliesh mystery series.

My only non-fiction book of the readathon was Colonel Wyvern’s Notes from Madras.  This book is part of the Penguin Great Food series, a set my daughter bought me for Christmas.  I love British style Indian food and that is what this is all about, the development of this style of Indian cooking from the British Colonial Days.  Many recipes interspersed with anecdotes and discussion about foods.  Colonel Wyvern seemed to be ahead of his time with his advocacy for “shopping local”, he urges readers to forsake tinned foods for the local produce and ingredients.  I have so far enjoyed this entire series and Colonel Wyvern’s selection was no exception, an intriguing glimpse into the history of British colonialism inspired cooking that continues to today with books like  which is an excellent resource for this style of cooking.

The final two books were both spiritual or religious novels, of which I am neither really, The Alchemist and Siddhartha.  It was interesting reading these two books so close together because the similarities stood out quite clearly even though they were seperated in space (India for Siddhartha and Spain and Africa for The Alchemist) and time (Siddhartha published  in 1951 and The Alchemist in 1993)  Both are about young men on a quest, following a dream or desire.  Both reflect on the nature of time as a human construct.  Both have a circular effect in the storyline.  Both feature the redeeming power of love.  Naturally there are dissimilar features as well, but I found it interesting to read them and them reflect on them together.  The Alchemist does seem to me to be more fatalistic in world view, whilst Siddhartha is more religious in nature.  People interested in spirituality would enjoy either or both of these books.

These are my last two reads before this weekend’s readathon at Hooked on Books.  Fables Vol. 7 is a continuation in the series I have been reading, based on classic tales.  This volume focuses on the Arabian Nights tales and features an evil Genie and a nefarious counselor to the Prince. It  includes a tale based on the tin soldier featuring Geppetto. There is also a visit to the Farm to see what happens to Boy Blue and glimpse at how the other characters are getting on, including Snow and her “pups”.  I like that even though there are many different characters introduced, the older characters are still important and you have the sense that the stories will intertwine at some point.  I  would  definitely recommend this series.

The Song Remains The Same by Allison Winn Scotch is a women’s fiction novel.  The premise is that a woman survives a plane crash with only one other passenger, however she wakes up in the hospital with no memory.  The story unfolds as she tries to remember her life and reinvent herself at the same time.  She encounters obstacles and blockades in the form of half truths and deliberate deceptions from the people she is supposed to be able to trust and rely on.  She has to learn to trust her instincts to discover the truth.

This was a well written and engaging story.  I felt Nell’s frustration and impotent anger at her situation. I couldn’t stand her mother’s half truths and evasiveness.  I found her husband’s character just a stereotypical figure, he was probably the shallowest drawn of  all the main charcters, but that was okay because quite frankly he just wasn’t that important.  I would recommend this to reader’s of women’s fiction.

I read One Plus One last night in one sitting because it was so good.  The characters were interesting and well drawn.  The hopelessness of Jess and her little family’s situation was well balanced out by the good so it was not overwhelmingly depressing.  The situation with the bullying family on the her block was unfortunately very realistic and well done.

Jess has two children, a daughter who is a math genius and has a chance for a place at an exclusive school, and a stepson who is having issues with fitting in with people in his school and community, making him a target for increasingly violent attacks.  On the other side of the tracks is Ed, a computer geek who hit it big and then made some stupid mistakes.  Almost without a conscious decision Ed becomes the family’s only hope of getting to the Math Olympiad and they all learn things about each other and themselves along the way.  Very engaging and emotional , I would recommend to any readers of women’s fiction.

Out is set in Japan and is an interesting read, if for no other reason than to get a glimpse into the treatment of working women in Japan. Of course, there is much more to the story than the social issues, gangsters, criminals, prostitution, gambling, family loyalty, poverty, violence, psychology, and murder all intertwine with an engaging cast of characters.  The story begins with an introduction to the group of women who work nights packing lunchboxes in a factory and in another storyline, a gangster/pimp as he plays chauffer to his top girl.  A husband dies, friends band together and a new business is born all with a sheen of black humor over it.  Raises questions about a flexible morality and how significant events in your past shape you or take over your life if you let them.  Excellent read.

This mystery appears on many lists as one of the “must read” books for mystery fans.  This is considered the first of the Golden age of Detective fiction books.  Despite the title this is actually the first in the Trent books.  Trent is an artist, who upon request does some investigating and solves mysteries.  He is asked by a newspaper man to investigate the death of a wealthy financier.  Philip Trent accepts and the fun begins … for the reader.

As a reader you need to keep in mind that this was the first of its kind of fiction, so when you are reading it today and think “I’ve seen this before” remember it is not a tired derivative but instead the original.  There are many twists and turns commonly used in mysteries today, red herrings, innocents being set up to take a fall, infidelity, jealousy and revenge. Well written and fast paced, a great read for lovers of classic detective fiction.

This is a meme hosted here at AngryGreyCatReads.com.  If you’d like to particpate, just grab the image above and link to your post in the comments.

I thought today I would highlight a particular mystery author, Margery Allingham.  She was an English “Golden Age” writer of detective fiction.  There is a society with a webpage dedicated to keeping her books and memory alive, www.margeryallingham.org.uk   Her most well known books feature the gentleman sleuth Albert Campion.  I have just read the first in the series, the book that introduces Campion as a supporting character, The Crime at Black Dudley and found it completely charming and engaging.

Margery Allingham,the child of two writers, wrote numerous novels, novellas, short stories and reviews.  In addition, several of her works have been adapted to TV and film.  Her contributions as one of the female writers of detective fiction is discussed in PD James’ book, Talking about Detective Fiction.  There have also been articles and biographies written about her life and her work.  Letters she wrote also provide insight into her feelings about her work and crime writing in general.  One quote of hers is:

“Crime writers are a kind of reflection of society’s conscience. We observe, report and show what everyone really wants – that violence ought to be stopped and crime doesn’t pay. That seems perfectly moral to me.”

Source – Wikipedia page Margery Allingham https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Margery_Allingham

So, do you have a mystery writer you would like to highlight?  Golden age or otherwise…

I picked up Volume 6 of Fables and was happy to see the story on track with plot lines that follow Jack and Boy Blue, one on his adventures in the mundane world and the other on a journey back to the homeland.  Both storylines were engaging and held some surprising elements, although the identity of the adversary was not one of them, there had already been many hints that pointed to his identity.  There are hints to future storylines that I can’t wait to read.  I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t say anything more, but definitely a recommended read.

The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham is the first Albert Campion novel and like in MC Beaton’s first Hamish MacBeth novel,  Albert Campion is not  the central character, he is just being introduced.  The book begins as a classic isolated country manor murder mystery.  The guests are trapped with no way to leave, a murder has occurred and a gangster and his minions are among the guests.  The guests do manage to flee and the mystery is resolved after the guests have returned to London.

This was absolutely charming, witty and full of  engaging characters, a strong sense of place, and just the right element of danger.  Albert Campion appears part con man, part aristocrat, part fool and part sleuth.  You definitely get the sense that what you see is NOT what you get with Albert Campion. There is much more to him than meets the eye.  I look forward to watchng his character develop as the series progresses.

These are my latest two reads.  I have been reading the Fables series for the last couple of weeks and this is Volume 5.  This is not the strongest outing in this series. There are just a couple story lines, Snow White’s babies and the WWII history that just dragged for me.  I am assuming that these stories are building background for things to come. I have greatly enjoyed this series up to now and will definitely continue reading it. I actually have the next one waiting for me.

A Clubbable Woman is the first book in the Dalziel and Pascoe series by Reginald Hill.  I hadn’t read anything else in this series so I was interested to read this.  Also, this series has apparently been made into a TV series which sounds intriguing.  A Clubbable Woman introduces us to the detectives, Dalziel, older, rather stodgy, less politically correct, but experienced and knowledgeable and then Pascoe, younger, apparently a higher class and better educated as far as formal schooling, intelligent but not yet with the years of experience analyzing human nature.  The mystery was fine, a solid three stars.  The victim was particularly unsympathetic as were a few of the other characters.  Fun fact:  The title is quite punny 🙂

I very rarely ever do not finish, but the opportunity costs of continuing this pretentious piece of ……… with its little boy humor…The year of the adult depend undergarments…wink, wink, snicker, snicker… are just too great. No point, rapidly becoming dated, self indulgent…I’ll stop here..The fact the book makes a list entitled Hipster Life Recommendations says it all.

This book is a Mann Booker Award winner and weighs in at a hefty 800+ pages.  It is shelved in most locales as “literary fiction”, however at the heart it is a mystery.  I could spend some time railing at the hypocrisy of literary fiction “types” swooping in and grabbing up books that are mysteries, while at the same time pooh-poohing genre fiction and its readers, but that has been done and by much better writers than me.

I was intrigued by this because of several reasons, it won a prestigious literary award while being a mystery, it was appearing on blogs and bookshelves everywhere, and it genuinely sounded  like an interesting story.  I found a copy at my library book sale for $1 so I picked it up gratefully.

The premise is Walter Moody arrives in a small isolated mining town in 1866.  He finds himself in a room with 12 men where the tension is evident.  It was a dark and stormy night… and a man walks into a bar… all rolled into one.   One by one, the men tell him their stories and the events unfold. (Why would they even do this, is my first question?)  The main plot surrounds an isolated hermit, Crosbie Wells, who is murdered and a whore found beaten and drugged on the roadside.  From these simple ideas a twisting tale evolves that includes stolen identities, theft, murder, prostitutes and pimps, smuggling, and astrology, lots and lots of astrology.  Sounds exciting, right?…

Not so much, I really feel that I will be in a small minority here but I didn’t find this book extraordinary or even engaging. I really had to push my way through it.  The 12 men are based on their astrological signs for their characters, there really is not an incredible difference between them and when you find one that engages you, it is time to move on to the next one and start again.  There is a huge amount of “telling” and then eventually some showing about each character.

The author presupposes that everyone has a knowledge of astrology rather more than the occasional reading your horoscope in the newspaper.  There is a “mystical” element of characters being linked by their accidents of birth, which is explicitly told to you but then makes huge leaps. There is also no development of a sense of place, I would think that such an interesting setting would be fully developed so that the reader could immerse themselves.  Think about a gold rush town in New Zealand in 1866, as a reader I would expect to be able to feel the rush of the water, sense the desperation in the miners, experience the “gold fever” of the prospectors as they arrive, the heat, the dirt, the beauty of the pristine (unmined) Maori lands…but no, we get none of that.  I had other really specific issues but it would be telling the book over again so I will stop here.

Color me significantly underwhelmed.  My biggest issue is the opportunity cost of reading this book.  I am a relatively fast reader (unless I am not engaged) and in the time it took me to read this, I could have read several other books from the teetering tower by my bed.  This book seems to contribute to the “big book” theme that is floating around.   I am concerned that young authors like Ms. Catton are feeling that for their book to be “important” it needs to be big and that is such a false idea.  At around 300 or so pages in length, this would have been a better book.

I’d welcome any thoughts!