I know summer is just a distant memory at this point with the holidays just around the corner, but I’m finally getting around to posting what I read over the summer.
~Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death M.C.Beaton I had heard rumblings that people who had read this Agatha Raisin series were not happy with the screen version (see my review of that here). Curious, I decided to read the first book, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, and make a judgement call for myself. As a self-confessed lover of the so called “cosy” English mystery, I thought this was a fun read. Agatha Raisin retires from her high powered, stressful job in London to live in a cottage in the Cotswolds. Things don’t go so well though when she struggles to fit in and in an attempt to turn things around, she submits a quiche into a village competition. When somebody eats it and dies (it was store bought) Agatha must first defend herself before putting on her thinking cap and solving the mystery of whodunit. It’s a lively and well written book and all the requisite quirky characters are amusing and well drawn. But — drum roll please — I liked the TV version so much better. The biggest difference between the two is that all the characters on TV have had at least 10 years knocked off their age. Up the glamour and glitz quotient considerably and what you end up with is something that is a much hipper and modern version of the book and which sings louder for its campy edge.
~In The Woods Tana French There are actually two mysteries going on in this book, one contemporary involving the death of a twelve-year-old girl found in the woods of a small town near Dublin. The other took place 20 years earlier and involved three children who vanished in the very same woods, only one of whom came out alive. Rob Ryan, now a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad, is the child who survived and who connects the two mysteries so many years later. Ryan never recovered his memory of this trauma but the incident did inspire him to join the police force. But as Rob delves into the murder of twelve-year-old Katy Devlin he becomes tormented by the past. Only his partner Cassie knows of his true identity (Rob changed his last name) and so Rob becomes burdened by trying to hide it, knowing that he would be taken off the case. Fortunately, he and Cassie have a great relationship and she is prepared to put herself out on a limb for him. Their back and forth banter also adds a little bit of levity to the heavy police proceedings. It’s a complex story, rich and layered, dark and moody. The contemporary mystery is well plotted and keeps you guessing and it’s interesting how it all entwines with Rob’s past with panic and paranoia edging its way in and affecting everything for him. This is a story as much about Rob’s search for self as it is for a killer.
~Still Life Louise Penny When long time resident Jane Neal is found dead in the woods of the fictional town of Three Pines, just south of Montreal, everyone believes it was a dreadful hunting accident of some kind. Inspector Gamache, however, believes otherwise. What really drew me into this book in the beginning was the warmth and naturalness of the dialogue which emphasizes the relationship between the people of the town. It was also a nice change to have an Inspector who was kind and gentle and seemingly happily married, instead of the tortured souls who are frequently in charge. I would consider this book to be a “cosy”so you have the usual collection of quirky characters: a couple who run the inn, a rude and irascible poet, a retired psychologist who runs the local bookstore. They’re all unconventional or eccentric in their own way. Everything oozes with charm and crackling fires and the breaking of bread around large kitchen tables. Which makes it sound like this is a silly froth of a novel — but it’s not. It’s smart and entertaining and solidly written. It’s one of those books that makes you feel like you’re hanging out with old friends which is probably what has you grabbing for the next one.
~The Alice Network Kate Quinn Charlie St. Clair, a smart American college student studying mathematics, unwittingly derails her educational plans with an unexpected pregnancy. The year is 1947 and so her overbearing French mother hauls Charlie to Europe to take care of the “Little Problem” and they alight in Southampton before heading to Switzerland. Charlie, however, has other ideas. She wants to track down her beloved cousin Rose who disappeared in France during the war. She gives her mother the slip and hightails it to London with a piece of paper bearing the name and address of one Eve Gardiner, the only possible link she has to Rose. Eve turns out to be a gun toting, whiskey drenched foul mouthed woman — tall and gaunt with monstrously misshapen hands. From here the novel is written in parallel narratives. Eve’s story is told in the third person, going back to 1915, and Charlie’s is written in the first person and takes place in 1947. As with most books written in such a way, you have a favourite storyline and for me it was the incredibly powerful and moving story of Eve’s work as a spy in France during WWI. You know the story of her mangled hands will emerge eventually and when it does, it is horrifying. At first, Eve is unwilling to help Charlie but she finally relents (for reasons of her own, as it turns out) and so the two women, along with Eve’s driver Finn, set out to discover what happened to Rose. As they travel, Eve recounts her tale of spying during the war and her involvement with the Alice Network, a covert group of people who infiltrated German lines in rural France. It’s a book that crackles with suspense and emotion and heartbreak, but also with power and hope as these two women transform themselves through their journey. I also loved the fact that the spy network and its leader (Alice) are based on real life events and people. That always adds a nice little spark of authenticity.
~The Jane Austen Project Kathleen A. Flynn As much as I love Jane Austen, I’m always wary of a modern day novel that involves her world, but this one has a pretty intriguing premise. It’s set in the future in a world where Earth’s atmosphere has been destroyed and natural light no longer exists. But it’s also a world that has discovered how to time travel and still has a deep fascination and love of Jane Austen. Combine the two and what you get is Doctor Rachel Katzman and actor Liam Finucane travelling to 1815 tasked with the job of saving a Jane Austen manuscript from destruction. Before they leave the two go through intense training to fit into the 1800’s but it’s still entertaining to hear about the dilemmas and inconveniences of 19th century England and the issues of trying to pull off their own fabricated back story. As the two time travellers become entwined in the lives of Jane and Henry Austen, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to not only fulfill their mission but to not get drawn into the course of events and ultimately lend a helping hand. Indeed their biggest problem becomes trying to leave history intact, knowing that everything they do can leave ripple effects and change the course of the future. This is a dodgy issue to navigate and to be honest it felt like it played out a little differently depending on the need. An issue I decided to overlook for the enjoyment of the book. There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong in this book, which didn’t. The Regency details felt authentic and the conundrums of time travel were interesting. To be honest I could have done without the romance that develops between the two main characters and occasionally things feel a little flat but overall this was a fun read. It may not be literature but it was certainly entertaining.
~I Found You Lisa Jewell I seem to be rather perversely drawn to the psychological thriller these days, despite its power to disappoint. This book had a very different feel to it than some in its genre though. It felt like a “cosy” version, for want of a better word, which I know sounds quite silly. It had a much more down to earth feel…not contrived or with a frenetic energy and because of that I really enjoyed it. Alice Lake lives in the seaside town of Ridinghouse Bay. She has three kids by three different fathers, two parents with dementia and three dogs, only one of which she deliberately chose for herself. In short, Alice’s life is a bit chaotic and she is prone “to making terrible decisions and letting life run away with her.” This aside, she is a warm caring person struggling to stay on top of the demands of her life. One day she discovers a man sitting on the beach in front of her house. He sits there all day in the rain and when she finally approaches him she discovers that he doesn’t know who he is. Meanwhile, 21 year old Lily, who lives in a suburb of London happens to be missing her own husband. He left for work in the morning and didn’t come home. Later, the police inform her that the man she married never actually existed. The third leg of the book is set 23 years earlier in the same Ridinghouse Bay where Alice lives and involves Gray and Kirsty Ross as teenagers on holiday with their parents. All three narratives play out in their own chapters, back and forth, weaving a tale that as it progresses, gets closer to bringing the threads together until they all collapse in on one another. The story is complex, the characters have lots of depth and just so my description of it being cosy doesn’t make you think it’s overly sweet, along with the usual twists and turns and underlying sense of menace, there are some pretty gruesome bits. All in all I was pretty impressed with this one.
~I See You Clare Mackintosh Forty-something mother of two Zoe Walker lives in London and takes the tube everyday to and from work. One day she sees a photo of herself in the newspaper advertising a mysterious website. She is initially perturbed, but when she discovers that other women who’s photos have been printed in the website’s previous ads have become victims of crimes, she is completely set on edge. The book chapters alternate focus between Zoe and Kelly, a cop, who is investigating the case. The story starts off reasonably well, even though it lacked some depth and the characters weren’t anything special but there is an incident with Zoe’s boss about halfway through that left me a little puzzled and I probably should have just stopped reading right there. After this things go downhill pretty fast and I found myself doing an awful lot of skimming to get to the end. When the ending does arrive it’s a doozy. It comes out of left field and feels awkward and contrived. The cherry on top is a “twist” that has no business being there.
