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Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts

Monday, June 21, 2021

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

 

Even if you’ve read this classic novel of mystery and suspense before, by re-reading it you will find new facets and nuances to admire. 

Ten people come to an island for different purposes but find themselves fighting for their lives. Among them is a murderer who wants his or her own type of justice. After each death, the adversary meticulously removes a porcelain figure from the dining room table.

A gramophone recording relates that each of these guests have committed an unpardonable sin and have been as of yet beyond the reaches of law. One of them has invited them all here, produced the recording, and eliminating them but who could it be? 

Could it be the young reckless Marston, the well-respected doctor, or the elderly Emily Brent? Could it be General McArthur, the reptilian judge Wargrave, the prim Vera Claythorne, or the callous Philip Lombard? 

This one of Christie's darkest and most intricate mystery. 

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean

This debut by Australian author, Felicity McClean, is a tantalizing page-turner. This exciting novel is a mystery and coming-of-age story in one. Tikka remembers her childhood--she grew up in a small Australian river valley.

One incident irrevocably changed the Tikka's life: the summer of 1992. Her neighbors, Corrie, Hannah, and Ruth, disappeared one fateful day. The police assume its a missing case but Tikka and her sister are withholding information. Tikka knows that the Van Apfel girls were planning to runaway, a fact she kept from police. Years later, as an adult, she wonders if she made the right choice.

She dwells on the Apfel girls' disappearance to the point where it begins to affect her mental health. As Corrie's memory consumes Tikka, she begins to see Corrie everywhere, or at least people who that look like Corrie.

McLean has a delightful sardonic wit. She frames the story with the Lindy Chamberlain case, a woman whose baby girl disappears while on a camping trip.

Tikka stages a skit based on the case for a school event the evening of the Van Apfel girls' disappearance. Just as it had in the Chamberlain case, the Van Apfel case causes many tongues to wag. Characters jump to conclusions about a male teacher.

Many novels focus on missing girls. Julia Phillips' Disappearing Earth focuses on how a Siberian community reacts to the disappearance of two of their own. 

Though it addresses the self-help industry and single motherhood,  Jaclyn Moriarty Gravity Is The Thing, is also about missing persons. 

Other titles about missing persons:
Lippman, Lauran. Lady in the Lake. 
Miranda, Megan. All the Missing Girls.
O'Nan, Stewart. Songs for the Missing

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Sharp Objects and its subtext

Sharp Objects' subtext suggests that everyone needs mentors to guide them. Without mentors, people end up hard-edged and damaged. They can even, in some cases, become monstrous.

Mothers are a child's natural and first mentor but as the novel makes clear some people are terrible at mothering. 

As Camille wryly points out, "I just think some women aren't meant to be mothers. And some women aren't meant to be daughters."

According to Adora, Camille wasn't "good." What Adora means is that Camille wasn't vulnerable or weak the way Marian was. 

Marian dies when Camille is thirteen--a circumstance that further estranges her from her mother. Camille says, "Its impossible to compete with the dead." 

Camille has always felt unloved by her mother. She engages in risky behavior and becomes a cutter--perhaps purposely putting herself in danger to find maternal love. 

Like her half-sister Amma will find out, Camille's hometown is oppressive.

Camille decides to write about pain; that is, become a crime reporter.

After she leaves her hometown, she vows to never look back. She revels in the role of "cubby" or that of cub reporter. With her editor, Camille has finally found the mentor she needs.

But then Curry sends her back to her hometown to report on a story that he thinks will "make" her career. 



Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer

DCI John Marvel wants to be promoted but he hates the new task his supervisor has given him. Marvel is given the unenviable task of finding his boss' wife's missing poodle. 

The humor of this scene contrasts with the grim details of two other missing cases--that of a male toddler, Daniel, and an twelve-year-old girl, Edie, who vanished in the same vicinity. 

Coincidentally, Anna Buck, the mother of the missing boy, and the supervisor's wife both consult the same "shut eye" or psychic. A natural skeptic, DCI John Marvel calls the "shut eye" a quack.

DCI Marvel is a stereotype who loves stereotypes yet he has a pure heart. He wants to find Edie more than anyone, even if it puts his career in jeopardy.

Ang, who works in a garage with Anna Buck's husband, is an illegal immigrant who tries yet fails to understand Western ways. Like the story cloth his mother made, Ang's tragic story is woven into the unusual events that occur in this novel. 


Belinda Bauer's debut novel Blacklands won a Gold Dagger award.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Pie by Sarah Weeks

When Alice's Aunt Polly dies suddenly, Alice's world crumbles. The two had always enjoyed a close relationship and spent hours baking pies in Aunt Polly's pie shop. 

To her surprise, Aunt Polly bequeaths her disagreeable cat, Lardo, to her. The secret pie crust that has made the town famous goes, incredibly, to Lardo! But who would leave a pie crust recipe to a cat!

In the meantime, someone breaks into Aunt Polly's pie shop that is appropriately named Pie. The whole pie shop is damaged. Alice and Charlie try to solve the mystery of the pie shop break-in as well as the strange recipe bequeathment.

While solving these mysteries, Alice also attempts to figure out who she is and why her mother acts the way she does.

This is a delightful story for young readers who enjoy humor and small town mysteries.  

www.sarahweeks.com

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Magician's Lie by Greer McAllister

One night in Waterloo, Iowa, the Amazing Arden, completes a magic trick she has done many times before. She is famous for her half man trick in which she saws a man in half. This time, however, she innovates and uses a fire ax. 

The man, presumably her husband, is later found under the stage--killed by an ax wound to the chest. Virgil Holt, a Deputy Sheriff, apprehends her but Arden claims to be innocent. 

Along with the Sheriff, readers must decide whether her story is believable. Parts of her story are difficult for the sheriff to believe. Ray a maniac that she meets while still a young girl living in Tennessee, has healing powers. He is a healer and a destroyer-in-one, yet its hard to believe no one detects his treachery.

Arden, then named Ava, teaches herself ballet via the Cecchetti method, in order to escape from Ray's abuse. This plan fails when Ray breaks her leg. Ava run away from home and becomes a servant in the Vanderbilt household. 

At Biltmore, Ava falls for Clyde who has considerable talents. He is a gardener who can also turn a profit scouting talent in New York. Ava, still running from Ray, takes off with Clyde where she takes a small part in the legendary Adelaide Hermann's magic act.

Magic and performing becomes Ava's new life. Her business manager, which by coincidence is Clyde, renames her The Amazing Arden. Her show is successful and she is happy for a time until tragedy strikes. 


Macallister includes many accurate details in this historical fiction, including the Iroquois Theater fire in 1903 and details from the life of Adelaide Hermann. 

Arden is a fascinating character as are Virgil and Ray. The one flaw in the novel is Clyde who is almost too versatile. He is a rake, a hero, a gardener, and a business manager. The ending is, thus. only partly satisfying. 

If you like The Magician's Lie, you may like Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus, Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants or Chrysler Szalan's The Hawley Book of the Dead.

Other books with circus acts, magic tricks, or performing arts as their main themes are Erika Swyler's The Book of Speculation and Leslie Parry's Church of Marvels. 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Horrifying on multiple levels, Child 44 is a standout thriller.

In the so-called perfect Stalinist state, crime doesn't exist. To admit that it exists is almost an act of treason. 

So when a member of the MGB claims that his child Arkady has been murdered, Leo Demidov is told to quiet the family. He does this and more, even threatening eye-witnesses. 

He never examines the body of Arkady as the family asks. None of this is unusual. MGB do not normally detect violent crime. That task belongs to a much lower class, the militia. 

Soon, however, new circumstances come to light. Leo Demidov's communist beliefs are shaken to the core when he sees an innocent man tortured. 

He also learns that wife, Raisa, is a stranger. She married him because she feared turning his marriage proposal down. 

He was an agent of the state and she was keen on surviving. Years ago she had watched the Soviets destroy her town and all of her relatives, including her parents, for political purposes.

In Stalinist Russia, agents could be promoted one afternoon and denounced the next. When someone denounces Leo and Raisa, they barely escape with their lives. Demoted to a mill town, Leo and Raisa must start life anew.


Leo is demoted to the lowest rank in the militia, the agency responsible for handling violent crime. Recently, two children have been murdered in the woods near the railroad tracks and there may be more. 

Smith has set up the perfect conundrum for his hero to face. A disgraced MGB officer can do little to investigate the murders without risking his life. Leo Demidov must decide if  justice is more important than survival.


Plenty of riveting twists and turns, betrayals, repressed memories, mind games, and nail-biting escapes make this a first-rate thriller. Unsurprisingly, this novel has been turned into a 2015 feature film. 


Tom Rob Smith followed Child 44 with two other novels, The Secret Speech and Agent 6.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

In Nesbo's first Harry Hole mystery, Hole, goes to New South Wales, Australia, to discover why a fellow Norwegian and gap-year student, Inger Holter, was murdered. 

The local police chief, Andrew Watkins, immediately tries to undermine Hole. Harry is told to take a vacation--enjoy the food and scenery--while the locals do the actual investigation. Naturally, Harry does the opposite, immersing himself in the case.

Readers are introduced to the flawed hero, Hole, who is a reformed drunk as well as many quirky characters. Andrew Kensington is an ex-hippie and ex-boxer while Otto Rechtnagel is a clown who discusses politics. 

Local detectives and Harry Hole, argue whether Holter's death is a random killing or the work of serial killer. 

Aboriginal myth pervade the story, including the "bat" of the title which is the aboriginal symbol of death.  In the aboriginal stories, the bat is called Narahdarn and plays an important part in their dreamtime myths.

Thoroughly enjoyable, The Bat has a fast-paced plot and a detective who makes intelligent observations and somewhat erratic decisions. I like the Norwegian title (Flaggermusmannen) better than the prosaic-sounding title in English (The Bat).

A BBC interview with Jo Nesbo below:
http://jonesbo.com/en/

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession



The Bookman's Tale is a literary mystery that spans centuries. As its core, the books explores the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Most concur that Shakespeare is the single author but anti-Stratfordists claim that Francis Bacon or that Christopher Marlowe authored the plays. 

To its credit, The Bookman's Tale unmasks several additional puzzles. In the present century, Peter who is still grieving for his late wife, discovers a watercolor portrait of her in a rare book. What puzzles him is the watercolor portrait was taken during the Victorian era and it bears the initials "B.B."

A second thread, interwoven with the contemporary story, involves seventeenth century London characters.  A particularly avaricious bookseller acquires a rare edition of Pandosto--a source for Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale.

Binding these two stories together is a Victorian mystery involving the proper ownership of the Pandosto and other rare documents, some of which are cleverly forged.

A divisive feud among the Aldersons and Gardners results in animosity and vengeance. Hanging in the balance, is the Victorian era portrait of a woman brushing her hair and her mysterious connection to Peter's deceased wife.

Verdict:
The novel is tailor made for bibliophiles and mystery fans. If you like The Bookman's Tale, try Possession by A.S. Byatt.






Related books:
Byatt, A.S. Possession.
Cook, Judith. Roaring Boys: Shakespeare's Rat Pack.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World.
Bryson, Bill. Shakespeare.


Friday, September 13, 2013

Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth

Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth. Cold Light is an amazing book that takes readers for a dark ride. Primarily a mystery, Cold Light is also a psychological exploration into the minds and psyches of three British school girls.

Lola is friends with a much more popular girl, Chloe, who often gets in trouble. Lola, also known as Laura, has to clean up all of Chloe's messes. Even though Lola knows she's being played, she thinks it beats the
alternative--being thrown down the stairs and bullied by the other teenagers in her form.

Meanwhile another girl, Emma, is rallying to take Lola's place as Chloe's best friend. Chloe has already been distancing herself from Lola by spending time with an older man, her boyfriend, Carl.

Lola does not like Carl or Emma's intrusions but what disturbs her most is what happens in the park on Boxing Day. Add to the mix, a flasher tormenting the community and a missing person who may or may not be the flasher. 

A novel about friendship, secrets, trust, betrayal, and misplaced loyalty. The novel surprises with many reversals. Those who appear guileless are actually crafty and those who seem sophisticated are actually naïve. The young girl at the center of the story, Lola, feels responsible for two deaths. In fact, she is not culpable for these deaths but is quite possibly responsible for the demise of two others.
 
When asked what she wants to do for a science project, Lola responds without thinking too much about it, "Ice." Ice will play an important part in this story as will light. Lola's father's who displays early signs of dementia is enthralled by bioluminescent sea animals. Lola's father suffers from the delusion that he is a scientific researcher and readies himself to go on a scientific expedition. 
 
This is in a sense what Ashworth puts readers on--a scientific expedition to discover the truth of how Chloe died. Ashworth has written a surprising, heart-breaking, and thought-provoking novel.

If you like this novel, you may also enjoy Alex Marwood's Wicked Girls. 
 

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