Rennie Airth: The Blood-Dimmed Tide
I had read Airth's first novel featuring John Madden, River of Darkness. I enjoyed it very much, and it's probably the reason why I could side-tracked into reading Anne Perry, since I couldn't remember the author's name (this was before I started the blog), and had to search for WW1-themed books. I'm very bad with names.
In River of Darkness we were introduced to Madden, as he tried to solve a brutal series of murders and stop the serial killer from killing again. Madden realises that the murderer is drawing on his experience in the trenches of the war, and is motivated by nothing more than the wish to kill. In The Blood-Dimmed Tide Madden has left the police force and his happily tending his farm and his family, when a little girl is found dead and raped nearby. He naturally has to help the police track down the killer, as it is plain this is an exceptionally clever murderer who is likely to keep killing until he is forcibly stopped.
Like Caleb Carr, Airth writes about serial killers in an age before psychological profiling. Both writers manage this well. My only hesitation really is the fact that everyone is a little too open-minded and good. From my own experience I have to say that most people are eejits, and I don't think it was any different 100 years ago at all. But of course, we like the main characters more if they are lovable, and the cliché of the drunken, unpleasant PI or detective is overdone.
Deborah Crombie, Now May You Weep
Another Kincaid-James novel, once again with a supernatural twist. Deus ex machina, anyone? Gemma James goes on a cookery course to Scotland with her ex-neighbour and friend Hazel. Turns out Hazel has emotional ties to Scotland she never mentioned. The bits about whisky-making are quite interesting. On the whole not bad, but this isn't my favourite author. Too soft.
Jill McGown, Unlucky for Some
Now, this is an author I had forgotten. I have read one of her novels before (in the pre-blog era), and had gotten her confused with Crombie, as her main characters are also police-officers-who-are-lovers. These two are slightly more realistic in their human failings and emotions though.
In this one what appears to be serial killer murders, connected to gambling establishments and a successfull TV personality, baffle Hill and Lloyd. It's a very clever puzzle whodunnit with some twists. Plot is well crafted and keeps us all guessing. Must get some more of McGown's, I can see.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Jeffery Deaver: The Vanished Man
In this one an illusionist baffles Rhyme and Sachs (but not for long) by committing gruesome murders. A good plot, well paced on the whole, better than The Empty Chair I'd have to say. The magician theme was interesting since Carol O'Connell has done it too, also set in NY, in her series on Mallory the beautiful foundling cop. A series I kind of like, and then don't.
Not a book to waffle on about though.
Not a book to waffle on about though.
Amos Oz: A Tale of Love and Darkness
Ironically I was (belatedly) given this book for my birthday while I was reading Eggers' memoirs. So, although I usually never read memoirs/biographies I've now read two, one right after the other.
I've never read anything by Oz before - I'd never even heard of him until recently, when I read a review of this very book in the paper (the Swedish translation just came out). He does seem an interesting author though, so I might look for his novels at the library some time. Although then I have the dilemma of choosing which language to read him in - English, like the first one I read, or Swedish, which is more likely to be available...
Just like Eggers, Oz writes about the death of a parent/his parents. But where Eggers immediately throws us into the room where his mother is watching TV while dying of cancer, Oz doesn't even mention the tragedy of his mother's death (suicide) until a good bit in. He writes about his childhood and the history of his family, about being Ashkenazi in Israel's childhood, about the insular community they were then. These are this book's strenghts, how he explains the birth of the Israeli state and the mindset of the Diaspora Jews compared to the New Hebrew. All the dreams and ideals. Having been to Palestine and Israel this summer it's also extremely interesting to read about the different opinions different groups of Israelis/Jews have... I can't concentrate enough at the moment to be more analytic, suffice it to say that reading this book it helped to have been there, to have experienced the dust, the heat, the smallness of the country, the suspicions, the fear, the food.
If I have to choose which book is better, I'd have to say Eggers'. Possibly because I can relate to it more. Possibly because he bares everything, gives us all his feelings and shortcomings, and only rarely goes on and on about his professional acheivements and so on. In my opinion Oz deos this a little too often... I get the feeling he could have used a better editor, someone to better balance the personal with the historical. Also, I would swear that Oz repeats himself quite often and tells us the same anecdotes more than once. This is even more ironic as hehas related how his father would do the same, and I can't believe that no-one picked up on it? Am I imagining it? I don't think so.
Another editing issue: there are many cases where Polish names are misspelled and Russian words used by his relatives mis-transcribed and translated. I thought I was going slightly cracked when he referred to the Polish "3d of May Street" as "Ulica Czecziego Maya". I had to ask my husband to help me confirm that I wasn't mad, it should be Trzeciego Maja. This is just such a stupid mistake. Czecziego is a word you can't even pronounce in Polish. And then I was reminded that another Polish name had been mangled repeatedly in McCall Smith's 2½ Pillars of Wisdom - he meets a Polish boy called Tadeusz. For the whole chapter he's written (or some idiot has "corrected" his writing) Tadseuz. Why? Why do people not check these things before they send books off to the printers? *sigh*
Ranting aside, it's a good book and well worth the read. My favourite bits are when his Aunt Sonia talks about their growing up in Rovno, those chapters are well crafted and flow nicely. It's also very moving to read about his mother's illness, but he does seem afraid to delve too deeply into the pain, and the ending feels almost rushed.
I've never read anything by Oz before - I'd never even heard of him until recently, when I read a review of this very book in the paper (the Swedish translation just came out). He does seem an interesting author though, so I might look for his novels at the library some time. Although then I have the dilemma of choosing which language to read him in - English, like the first one I read, or Swedish, which is more likely to be available...
Just like Eggers, Oz writes about the death of a parent/his parents. But where Eggers immediately throws us into the room where his mother is watching TV while dying of cancer, Oz doesn't even mention the tragedy of his mother's death (suicide) until a good bit in. He writes about his childhood and the history of his family, about being Ashkenazi in Israel's childhood, about the insular community they were then. These are this book's strenghts, how he explains the birth of the Israeli state and the mindset of the Diaspora Jews compared to the New Hebrew. All the dreams and ideals. Having been to Palestine and Israel this summer it's also extremely interesting to read about the different opinions different groups of Israelis/Jews have... I can't concentrate enough at the moment to be more analytic, suffice it to say that reading this book it helped to have been there, to have experienced the dust, the heat, the smallness of the country, the suspicions, the fear, the food.
If I have to choose which book is better, I'd have to say Eggers'. Possibly because I can relate to it more. Possibly because he bares everything, gives us all his feelings and shortcomings, and only rarely goes on and on about his professional acheivements and so on. In my opinion Oz deos this a little too often... I get the feeling he could have used a better editor, someone to better balance the personal with the historical. Also, I would swear that Oz repeats himself quite often and tells us the same anecdotes more than once. This is even more ironic as hehas related how his father would do the same, and I can't believe that no-one picked up on it? Am I imagining it? I don't think so.
Another editing issue: there are many cases where Polish names are misspelled and Russian words used by his relatives mis-transcribed and translated. I thought I was going slightly cracked when he referred to the Polish "3d of May Street" as "Ulica Czecziego Maya". I had to ask my husband to help me confirm that I wasn't mad, it should be Trzeciego Maja. This is just such a stupid mistake. Czecziego is a word you can't even pronounce in Polish. And then I was reminded that another Polish name had been mangled repeatedly in McCall Smith's 2½ Pillars of Wisdom - he meets a Polish boy called Tadeusz. For the whole chapter he's written (or some idiot has "corrected" his writing) Tadseuz. Why? Why do people not check these things before they send books off to the printers? *sigh*
Ranting aside, it's a good book and well worth the read. My favourite bits are when his Aunt Sonia talks about their growing up in Rovno, those chapters are well crafted and flow nicely. It's also very moving to read about his mother's illness, but he does seem afraid to delve too deeply into the pain, and the ending feels almost rushed.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Jeffery Deaver: The Empty Chair
In this one Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs go to North Carolina, because Rhyme is booked in for some experimental surgery that may make him more mobile (or less). Once there they get asked for help from the local police. A local teen has kidnapped two girls, and nobody knows where he's keeping them.
This book is just too much. Starts off fine, plot tootles along no problem. It's quite exciting, well-paced, not badly written. But then 2/3 through it's becoming time to tie the bag together, and then it all just starts happening. Conspiracies galore, the usual Southern clichés seem to abound, everybody who's "kin" is in on it together. There are about five "false endings" - and it's not even a film! Yet. They might not get Denzel and Angelina for this one, but I'm sure that won't be for want of trying.
If these conspiracies and plot twists were properly hinted at throughout the book, thus giving us the readers a fair chance of working it out - actually, even as I'm typing this I'm starting to think that maybe they are, and I have myself to blame for not seeing them, so maybe the problem is rather that there are too many instances of Rhyme pulling a conclusion out of his hat in a Deus ex machina way.
Anyway - it was good enough and not a complete waste of time. I'm going to borrow some more of Deaver's.
This book is just too much. Starts off fine, plot tootles along no problem. It's quite exciting, well-paced, not badly written. But then 2/3 through it's becoming time to tie the bag together, and then it all just starts happening. Conspiracies galore, the usual Southern clichés seem to abound, everybody who's "kin" is in on it together. There are about five "false endings" - and it's not even a film! Yet. They might not get Denzel and Angelina for this one, but I'm sure that won't be for want of trying.
If these conspiracies and plot twists were properly hinted at throughout the book, thus giving us the readers a fair chance of working it out - actually, even as I'm typing this I'm starting to think that maybe they are, and I have myself to blame for not seeing them, so maybe the problem is rather that there are too many instances of Rhyme pulling a conclusion out of his hat in a Deus ex machina way.
Anyway - it was good enough and not a complete waste of time. I'm going to borrow some more of Deaver's.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and Booked for Murder
Two very different books today.
Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: We've had this book at home for quite a while. My husband started reading it, and went on and on about how good it was, but then he put it aside and never finished it, and I never "took over". But at long last I did, and finished it too, which is more than he did - and it's fantastic. You get thrown straight in, into the pain of watching a parent die. No time to get used to what's going to happen, to distance yourself. I can completely relate to so many of Eggers' feelings, and even to the experience of being responsible for a younger sibling (although I never did as well as he seems to have done). It is heartbreaking. (I keep typing heartbraking, which is funny and I wonder if it's a Freudian slip of some kind.) It's rare to read books where you can feel such affinity with the author. This is funny, tragic and never dull. What more could I want. I cried buckets, and laughed a lot. If my blog had actual readers I'd quote the funniest passages but as it is I can't be arsed - just trust me, zero readers, when I say this is a must-read.
About Dave Eggers from the McSweeney's website: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/authorpages/eggers/eggers.html
Val McDermid, Booked for Murder: Yay! A Lindsay Gordon mystery! I loves me some Lindsay. An American writer friend of Lindsay's is murdered in a manner she just described in her latest manuscript. Lindsay returns to the UK to investigate.
I have such a soft spot for the LG books, even though I suppose they're her weakest. A little too boxily written and focused on the gay aspect really, but hey, remember what Amanda Cross wrote? About how important it is to love the main characters? Well, I'm with Lindsay all the way. She's feminist, she's Scottish, she's a pain in the arse.
This book also features some nice digs at Sara Paretsky's mistake of selling the Warshawski film rights. It's even funnier when Paretsky praising McDermid is quoted on the cover, and when we know that Val's later books, the more serial killery/profily/gory Hill_Jordan series has been sold and televised. But Val McDermid deserves every penny she makes. Cheers to ya, Val.
Her website: http://www.valmcdermid.com/
Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: We've had this book at home for quite a while. My husband started reading it, and went on and on about how good it was, but then he put it aside and never finished it, and I never "took over". But at long last I did, and finished it too, which is more than he did - and it's fantastic. You get thrown straight in, into the pain of watching a parent die. No time to get used to what's going to happen, to distance yourself. I can completely relate to so many of Eggers' feelings, and even to the experience of being responsible for a younger sibling (although I never did as well as he seems to have done). It is heartbreaking. (I keep typing heartbraking, which is funny and I wonder if it's a Freudian slip of some kind.) It's rare to read books where you can feel such affinity with the author. This is funny, tragic and never dull. What more could I want. I cried buckets, and laughed a lot. If my blog had actual readers I'd quote the funniest passages but as it is I can't be arsed - just trust me, zero readers, when I say this is a must-read.
About Dave Eggers from the McSweeney's website: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/authorpages/eggers/eggers.html
Val McDermid, Booked for Murder: Yay! A Lindsay Gordon mystery! I loves me some Lindsay. An American writer friend of Lindsay's is murdered in a manner she just described in her latest manuscript. Lindsay returns to the UK to investigate.
I have such a soft spot for the LG books, even though I suppose they're her weakest. A little too boxily written and focused on the gay aspect really, but hey, remember what Amanda Cross wrote? About how important it is to love the main characters? Well, I'm with Lindsay all the way. She's feminist, she's Scottish, she's a pain in the arse.
This book also features some nice digs at Sara Paretsky's mistake of selling the Warshawski film rights. It's even funnier when Paretsky praising McDermid is quoted on the cover, and when we know that Val's later books, the more serial killery/profily/gory Hill_Jordan series has been sold and televised. But Val McDermid deserves every penny she makes. Cheers to ya, Val.
Her website: http://www.valmcdermid.com/
Friday, December 30, 2005
Jeffery Deaver: I samlarens spår/The Bone Collector AND Alexander McCall Smith: The 2½ Pillars of Wisdom
Read this (in Swedish) while at my inlaws over Christmas. Quite good - heaps better than the film, a lot more complicated relationships and all. Translation not bad either. Must pick up some more sometime.
The 2½ Pillars of Wisdom is a collection of the three Professor Igelfeld novels. They are absolutely charming, although Mma Ramotswe is still my fave. My husband got me this for Christmas, because he is lovely and he knows what I like.... This is one to read and reread.
The 2½ Pillars of Wisdom is a collection of the three Professor Igelfeld novels. They are absolutely charming, although Mma Ramotswe is still my fave. My husband got me this for Christmas, because he is lovely and he knows what I like.... This is one to read and reread.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Right, what Amanda Cross wrote, and more
Amanda Cross, The Collected Short Stories: Allow me to quote from her introduction: "I am not a particular devotee of the detective short story [ ... ] I have noticed that I tend to read stories when an author's longer works have captured my attention, when I find I like a certain author's style of writing, and, most compellingly, when my interest in her or his detective urges me to search out more adventures in that fictional life. Thus, for example, I have read Dorothy Sayers's short stories about Peter Wimsey, and even those about her wine salesman, Montague Egg, but her stories without either detective appeal less to me."
I can totally relate to this. Would also like to add that Amanda Cross (real name Carolyn G. Heilburn, former (?) professor of literature at some university or other (we can tell Amanda Cross is a pseudonym because it lacks that for an American crucial middle initial)) is a huge favourite of mine. Pity the library has so few of hers. I just love her writing style and the literary inclination. This collection of short stories is very good, recommended.
I've also read Mary Higgins Clark, The Second Time Around. Apparently she is the author of 22 world-wide bestsellers. How on earth? If this book is typical I don't see how. According to the jacket sleeve she's "telling a story that intertwines fiction with the stuff of real-life headlines in a novel of breathtaking suspense and surprises." Um, no. I had to plod my way through this one. I only finished it because I was at work and had nothing else to read. I'm going to have to read me another one to see if they are all this boring - dammit.
In this one the inventor of a cancer vaccine (see, she's lost me already) dies and appears to have swindled his company of money. A journalist starts researching his background and life for a story and discovers it's not that simple after all. The only thing that rings true about the book is the journalist's grief over her son who died at infancy. That's very moving. Other than that this is a negligable work of fiction.
I can totally relate to this. Would also like to add that Amanda Cross (real name Carolyn G. Heilburn, former (?) professor of literature at some university or other (we can tell Amanda Cross is a pseudonym because it lacks that for an American crucial middle initial)) is a huge favourite of mine. Pity the library has so few of hers. I just love her writing style and the literary inclination. This collection of short stories is very good, recommended.
I've also read Mary Higgins Clark, The Second Time Around. Apparently she is the author of 22 world-wide bestsellers. How on earth? If this book is typical I don't see how. According to the jacket sleeve she's "telling a story that intertwines fiction with the stuff of real-life headlines in a novel of breathtaking suspense and surprises." Um, no. I had to plod my way through this one. I only finished it because I was at work and had nothing else to read. I'm going to have to read me another one to see if they are all this boring - dammit.
In this one the inventor of a cancer vaccine (see, she's lost me already) dies and appears to have swindled his company of money. A journalist starts researching his background and life for a story and discovers it's not that simple after all. The only thing that rings true about the book is the journalist's grief over her son who died at infancy. That's very moving. Other than that this is a negligable work of fiction.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Summary and opinion on a whole load of books...
... I'm so way behind on my blogging.
Lindsey Davis, Scandal Takes A Holiday: I have a soft spot for Davis' books on the Roman informer (PI) Marcus Didius Falco - even though I'm not all that fond of her writing style, if I'm to be completely honest. It's a bit choppy. But the historical learning to be had, the lovable characters and the humour have me coming back for more. It's like Asterix that way. And in another more worrying way - one tends to believe her version of things a bit too much, and it's never a good idea to derive one's knowledge of history from fiction. Almost all the history I (thought I'd) learnt from Asterix turned out to be false, after all...
In STAH Falco goes to Ostia, the port town that forms a sort of entrance to Rome, to look for a gossip-writer named Diocles. Falco's whole family makes an appearance in Ostia, of course, including a long-lost uncle. In his search for the scribe Falco uncovers a kidnapping scheme involving pirates from areas that are now Albania and part of Turkey.
Here's Davis' website (she seems like right craic, she does): http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/
Maria Lang, Mördaren ljuger inte ensam: Lånade en samlingsvolym med Langs tre första deckare på biblioteket. I MLIE introduceras vi till Puck och Einar Bure, samt vår polishjälte Christer Wijk. På ett sommarställe på en ö i Bergsslagen samlar en grupp människor, och en del oinbjudna gäster orsakar slitningar och spänningar under ytan. Först ett mord, sedan ett till. Det intressantaste med den här boken är "det lesbiska problemet", som Lang försöker vara öppen och fördomsfri inför - åtminstone med tidens mått mätt. Det roligaste, för mig, var en passus där middagsgästerna diskuterar och avfärdar de svenska fyrtiotalisterna (i betydelsen poeter). Detta eftersom en av dessas barnbarn gick på gymnasiet med mig. Annars var det belysande att se hur lite kriget nämns överhuvudtaget, trots att boken skrevs -49. I en samtida engelsk deckare hade det ju fortfarande varit ransonering (väl?)...
Farligt att förtära: Pucks Einar fixar ett vikariat åt henne, som lärare på en gymnasieskola. Under repetition av en skolpjäs kommer spänningar i dagen som kulminerar i ett giftmord på scen under uruppförandet. Ytterligare ett giftmord hinns med senare, samt en dödsskjutning. Folk dör som flugor i en Lang-bok, det är väldigt tröttsamt och orealistiskt. I den här är det mycket prat om "en erotiskt unken atmosfär", vilket känns rätt charmigt - jag menar, det ger en bra bild av tidsandan. Ytterligare plus är skildringen av en gymnasieskola på 50-talet, med examensstress och allt. Onekligen verkar studenterna haft vuxenkrav på sig, på ett helt annat sätt än nu.
Inte flera mord!: Ett yttrande jag helhjärtat instämmer i efter de två första. Men likväl så hittas en död man på gräsmattan när Puck, hennes far samt Einar är på semester i Skoga. Tack och lov mördas inte fler i alla fall. Däremot begår mördaren självmord, men det må vara hänt. Det här var nog den tråkigaste av de tre böckerna, faktiskt.
Som sagt, när Lang är som bäst är hon en bra samtidsskildrare, väl insatt i den akademiska världen. Men på det stora hela saknas djup. Jag kanske läser fler någon gång, men jag vet inte om jag aktivt kommer att söka upp hennes verk.
Deborah Crombie, All Shall Be Well: No. 2 in the Kincaid-James series. I think I've read one of Crombie's before some time, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I like her style. I like her characters. 'Tis all nice, with normal angst-levels. Crombie is American, but seems to have a better grasp on everyday Britons and their society that some other American writers who have taken upon themselves to write detective stories set in The Old World (like, for example, Martha Grimes). There is a bit of place-name-dropping, which is always a give-away that the author is writing for tourists, but not to the point where I'd notice. Not ever having been to London I need those references. I don't think it's overdone. In ASBW Kincaid's terminally ill neighbour Jasmine is found dead. Did she kill herself, as she had previously planned, or was she murdered? Quite good, on the whole.
Leave The Grave Green: No. 3 in the series. Starts off with a young boy drowning, then cuts to the future and another drowning victim, the husband of the boy's sister, now a well-known artist. What I liked best in this one was when one of the suspects talks to Gemma James about the Golden Age detective novel, how it represented order after the chaos of WW1. The detective always got the murderer.
A Finer End: Kincaid's cousin Jack asks for his help after his priest girlfriend is knocked over and almost killed in a hit-and-run. Most of the book takes place without Kincaid and James, and is all about and all over the mysticism supposedly pervasive throughout Glastonbury. IMO this is the worst of the lot I've read so far, too New Age.
Then I accidentally borrowed an Amanda Cross short story collection that I'd already read, but I must still comment on it. But tomorrow, I think.
Lindsey Davis, Scandal Takes A Holiday: I have a soft spot for Davis' books on the Roman informer (PI) Marcus Didius Falco - even though I'm not all that fond of her writing style, if I'm to be completely honest. It's a bit choppy. But the historical learning to be had, the lovable characters and the humour have me coming back for more. It's like Asterix that way. And in another more worrying way - one tends to believe her version of things a bit too much, and it's never a good idea to derive one's knowledge of history from fiction. Almost all the history I (thought I'd) learnt from Asterix turned out to be false, after all...
In STAH Falco goes to Ostia, the port town that forms a sort of entrance to Rome, to look for a gossip-writer named Diocles. Falco's whole family makes an appearance in Ostia, of course, including a long-lost uncle. In his search for the scribe Falco uncovers a kidnapping scheme involving pirates from areas that are now Albania and part of Turkey.
Here's Davis' website (she seems like right craic, she does): http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/
Maria Lang, Mördaren ljuger inte ensam: Lånade en samlingsvolym med Langs tre första deckare på biblioteket. I MLIE introduceras vi till Puck och Einar Bure, samt vår polishjälte Christer Wijk. På ett sommarställe på en ö i Bergsslagen samlar en grupp människor, och en del oinbjudna gäster orsakar slitningar och spänningar under ytan. Först ett mord, sedan ett till. Det intressantaste med den här boken är "det lesbiska problemet", som Lang försöker vara öppen och fördomsfri inför - åtminstone med tidens mått mätt. Det roligaste, för mig, var en passus där middagsgästerna diskuterar och avfärdar de svenska fyrtiotalisterna (i betydelsen poeter). Detta eftersom en av dessas barnbarn gick på gymnasiet med mig. Annars var det belysande att se hur lite kriget nämns överhuvudtaget, trots att boken skrevs -49. I en samtida engelsk deckare hade det ju fortfarande varit ransonering (väl?)...
Farligt att förtära: Pucks Einar fixar ett vikariat åt henne, som lärare på en gymnasieskola. Under repetition av en skolpjäs kommer spänningar i dagen som kulminerar i ett giftmord på scen under uruppförandet. Ytterligare ett giftmord hinns med senare, samt en dödsskjutning. Folk dör som flugor i en Lang-bok, det är väldigt tröttsamt och orealistiskt. I den här är det mycket prat om "en erotiskt unken atmosfär", vilket känns rätt charmigt - jag menar, det ger en bra bild av tidsandan. Ytterligare plus är skildringen av en gymnasieskola på 50-talet, med examensstress och allt. Onekligen verkar studenterna haft vuxenkrav på sig, på ett helt annat sätt än nu.
Inte flera mord!: Ett yttrande jag helhjärtat instämmer i efter de två första. Men likväl så hittas en död man på gräsmattan när Puck, hennes far samt Einar är på semester i Skoga. Tack och lov mördas inte fler i alla fall. Däremot begår mördaren självmord, men det må vara hänt. Det här var nog den tråkigaste av de tre böckerna, faktiskt.
Som sagt, när Lang är som bäst är hon en bra samtidsskildrare, väl insatt i den akademiska världen. Men på det stora hela saknas djup. Jag kanske läser fler någon gång, men jag vet inte om jag aktivt kommer att söka upp hennes verk.
Deborah Crombie, All Shall Be Well: No. 2 in the Kincaid-James series. I think I've read one of Crombie's before some time, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I like her style. I like her characters. 'Tis all nice, with normal angst-levels. Crombie is American, but seems to have a better grasp on everyday Britons and their society that some other American writers who have taken upon themselves to write detective stories set in The Old World (like, for example, Martha Grimes). There is a bit of place-name-dropping, which is always a give-away that the author is writing for tourists, but not to the point where I'd notice. Not ever having been to London I need those references. I don't think it's overdone. In ASBW Kincaid's terminally ill neighbour Jasmine is found dead. Did she kill herself, as she had previously planned, or was she murdered? Quite good, on the whole.
Leave The Grave Green: No. 3 in the series. Starts off with a young boy drowning, then cuts to the future and another drowning victim, the husband of the boy's sister, now a well-known artist. What I liked best in this one was when one of the suspects talks to Gemma James about the Golden Age detective novel, how it represented order after the chaos of WW1. The detective always got the murderer.
A Finer End: Kincaid's cousin Jack asks for his help after his priest girlfriend is knocked over and almost killed in a hit-and-run. Most of the book takes place without Kincaid and James, and is all about and all over the mysticism supposedly pervasive throughout Glastonbury. IMO this is the worst of the lot I've read so far, too New Age.
Then I accidentally borrowed an Amanda Cross short story collection that I'd already read, but I must still comment on it. But tomorrow, I think.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Marian Keyes: Rachel's Holiday
Aaahhh, chicklit.
This one is very moralistic. It's a 1.01 guide to rehab. Rachel does drugs, and goes home to Ireland to detox after a suicide attempt. This is one in the series about the Walsh sisters. I've already read Watermelon (about sister Claire who has a baby and is dumped by eejit husband at hospital) and Angels (about Margaret who goes to LA when her husband has an affair). I've also read Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for beginners and The Other Side of the Story.
Marian Keyes strong point is her description of the Irish. Growing up I could have used some books like this. They're not literary masterpieces, but fun. Everyone gets a bit of sex and learns about themselves.
Best episode in Rachel's Holiday: when the inmates of rehab centre Cloisters are discussing what chocolate bars to buy.
This one is very moralistic. It's a 1.01 guide to rehab. Rachel does drugs, and goes home to Ireland to detox after a suicide attempt. This is one in the series about the Walsh sisters. I've already read Watermelon (about sister Claire who has a baby and is dumped by eejit husband at hospital) and Angels (about Margaret who goes to LA when her husband has an affair). I've also read Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for beginners and The Other Side of the Story.
Marian Keyes strong point is her description of the Irish. Growing up I could have used some books like this. They're not literary masterpieces, but fun. Everyone gets a bit of sex and learns about themselves.
Best episode in Rachel's Holiday: when the inmates of rehab centre Cloisters are discussing what chocolate bars to buy.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Faye Kellerman: Moon Music - Maria Lang: Arvet efter Alberta
I have previously read Prayers for the Dead, which is a Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker novel. I loved them as a couple, and am very sad that this is the ONLY Faye Kellerman novel the library has in English. Although, now when I tried to verify that by searching the library catalogue online they appeared to have NONE, but I know I got PFTD there. Weird. It's a crap search function anyway.
Anyway, Moon Music is not a novel in a series, but she has squeezed in a kosher-eating couple anyway, in the form of Romulus Poe's lieutenant and his deli-running wife. They are however side characters. The main character is Romulus Poe, the possibly oddest crime fiction cop I've read about. The whole novel is odd. Not odd in a bad way, but it's fascinating what weird relationships people have with each other in this book. Unfortunately the book veers off in an overly mystical direction, with shape-shifting and stuff. I don't really like this, because it's Been Done. But Ms Kellerman does it well. She is as good as her husband, and it's highly unfair that there are not more F. Kellerman books available at the library. Maybe I'll donate my copy of Moon Music. Or not.
That's it, I'm not able for more blogging on this today.
Arvet efter Alberta är den andra Maria Lang-bok jag läst. Den första var den med mordet på studentbiblioteket. Minns inte titeln. Ska nog läsa mer Lang, för tidsandan är skojig, och det är ju det jag uppskattar nästan mest med deckare. Har lånat en tjock bok med hennes tre första i en på bibblan. Hon verkar väldigt ojämn dock, men det är så snabbläst så det kan jag ta... Arvet efter Alberta är den om faster Alberta som dör och efterlämnar ett rörigt dödsbo. Innehåller mycket name-dropping, vilket är lustigt - Håkan Hagegård är tydligen en hyvens kille.
Anyway, Moon Music is not a novel in a series, but she has squeezed in a kosher-eating couple anyway, in the form of Romulus Poe's lieutenant and his deli-running wife. They are however side characters. The main character is Romulus Poe, the possibly oddest crime fiction cop I've read about. The whole novel is odd. Not odd in a bad way, but it's fascinating what weird relationships people have with each other in this book. Unfortunately the book veers off in an overly mystical direction, with shape-shifting and stuff. I don't really like this, because it's Been Done. But Ms Kellerman does it well. She is as good as her husband, and it's highly unfair that there are not more F. Kellerman books available at the library. Maybe I'll donate my copy of Moon Music. Or not.
That's it, I'm not able for more blogging on this today.
Arvet efter Alberta är den andra Maria Lang-bok jag läst. Den första var den med mordet på studentbiblioteket. Minns inte titeln. Ska nog läsa mer Lang, för tidsandan är skojig, och det är ju det jag uppskattar nästan mest med deckare. Har lånat en tjock bok med hennes tre första i en på bibblan. Hon verkar väldigt ojämn dock, men det är så snabbläst så det kan jag ta... Arvet efter Alberta är den om faster Alberta som dör och efterlämnar ett rörigt dödsbo. Innehåller mycket name-dropping, vilket är lustigt - Håkan Hagegård är tydligen en hyvens kille.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Dorothy Gilman: The unexpected Mrs Pollifax
After reading Locked Rooms I read this book (TUMP), the first in the Mrs Pollifax series. I had previously read Mrs Pollifax Pursued (MPP), which is the eleventh book in the series, and now I decided to try the first one.
These books are by no means great, but quite enjoyable. TUMP is quite fascinating, steeped as it is in cold war terminology and ideas. Mrs Pollifax is widowed and slightly depressed. She gets the idea that offering her services as a spy would be a good idea, as she's not afraid of dying and might as well serve her country. Surprisingly enough she arrives at the CIA headquartes at an opportune moment and is chosen for a simple courier mission to Mexico. Naturally it goes wrong and Mrs Pollifax is abducted. Etc.
It is quite ludicrous to read all the praise the CIA gets for it's foreign policy in this novel, knowing as we do all about the terrible loss of human life that has followed the CIA's support of one regime over another (Pinochet anyone? Saddam?). As Mrs P tries to flee to Yugoslavia she thinks "Bless Tito and foreign aid". But I can't hate this novel, superficial though it may be. It hints at real pain and suffering in a way that makes me wonder why Gilman decided to keep it so bland and cheery. When Mrs Pollifax is abducted she is at first afraid to be killed, then she realises that she is most afraid to lose her dignity. If that isn't an excellent summing up of what torture does to a person, I don't know what is. She is then placed in a cell with a younger man, with no toilet facilities apart from night chambers under the beds. This is such a loss of privacy and dignity as she fears, but not much more is made of it. It's all very unsatisfactory.
At least there are no made-up countries, unlike in MPP, which features that obligatory small African nation so popular in novels. I don't know why they can't just use a real one.
These books are by no means great, but quite enjoyable. TUMP is quite fascinating, steeped as it is in cold war terminology and ideas. Mrs Pollifax is widowed and slightly depressed. She gets the idea that offering her services as a spy would be a good idea, as she's not afraid of dying and might as well serve her country. Surprisingly enough she arrives at the CIA headquartes at an opportune moment and is chosen for a simple courier mission to Mexico. Naturally it goes wrong and Mrs Pollifax is abducted. Etc.
It is quite ludicrous to read all the praise the CIA gets for it's foreign policy in this novel, knowing as we do all about the terrible loss of human life that has followed the CIA's support of one regime over another (Pinochet anyone? Saddam?). As Mrs P tries to flee to Yugoslavia she thinks "Bless Tito and foreign aid". But I can't hate this novel, superficial though it may be. It hints at real pain and suffering in a way that makes me wonder why Gilman decided to keep it so bland and cheery. When Mrs Pollifax is abducted she is at first afraid to be killed, then she realises that she is most afraid to lose her dignity. If that isn't an excellent summing up of what torture does to a person, I don't know what is. She is then placed in a cell with a younger man, with no toilet facilities apart from night chambers under the beds. This is such a loss of privacy and dignity as she fears, but not much more is made of it. It's all very unsatisfactory.
At least there are no made-up countries, unlike in MPP, which features that obligatory small African nation so popular in novels. I don't know why they can't just use a real one.
Laurie R. King: Locked Rooms
Well, it was worth the wait! I remember feeling faintly disappointed after reading The Game, because it left off on a slightly unfinished note. In this novel some of those loose ends (the balcony that almost killed Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes is explained for example) are tied up, which is good. I was beginning to wonder if Laurie had gotten so popular her editor had stopped doing his/her job - always a danger.
The beauty of King's "Russell and Holmes" novels is that you, as reader, can completely buy into the underlying fiction that Sherlock Holmes was not a fictional character. The idea is, for those of my (probably less than five) readers who haven't read the books, that Ms King has had these manuscripts sent to her by an anonymous source, and that she's just putting them together for printing. I find myself sometimes having to shake myself into remembering that there is absolutely zero evidence that Holmes was ever real. I love that. It works especially well in this novel, because of the way she continues the storyline from the previous one, tying up loose ends. She has completely avoided the trap of writing in Arthur Conan Doyles' style. Instead she uses the best parts of the well-known characters and creates her own universe. It's lovely.
A.C. Doyle also finds his way into this story, and is labeled a lunatic by an enraged and exasperated Holmes. I like that. It's only a paragraph, but it's a nice touch.
In this novel Russell and Holmes, after the Indian adventures of The Game (where we, incidentally, discover that Kipling's Kim is also a real person), go to San Francisco. This is Russell's original home town, that she left at the age of 14 after her family was killed in a car accident. Russell is plagued with nightmares during the trip, and Holmes worries about her health. Once there, he forms the opinion that there is something odd in the Russell family history, something connected to the great earthquake in 1906. Russell is to wrapped up in the trauma of her past to want to hear it, and Holmes has to enlist the help of a tubercular detective/writer by the name of Dashiel Hammett (and how great is that? What a stroke of genius!) .
Using Hammett in the story makes for some good quotes.
"Hammett sat for a minute drumming the finger-tips of his right hand on the table while he studied the man across from him, weighing the fancy accent and clothes against the man's undeniable competence and the vein of toughness Hammett could feel in him. Toughness was a quality Hammett respected."
" 'Mr Hammett, you have a way with the American vernacular that bodes well for your future as a writer of popular fiction.' "
San Francisco is Ms King's home town, and this shows. She knows the history, has done her research. We get a good feel for the residual trauma left after the 1906 earthquake, we are introduced to different people of the time - the Chinese minority, the street urchins, the jazz flappers who smuggle Joyce's Ulysses and revel in Fitzgerald. My one problem might be that in general Holmes and Russell are always a bit too unbelievably open to everybody without prejudice. They never seem to feel out of place and uncomfortable talking to someone. This is not, IMO, 100% believable, but I don't really care, actually. I still love these books and harbour secret fantasies about being part of the stories.
Oh, and I have one more "wtf" moment, to be honest: there is a car chase. A car chase in San Francisco. No no no no no! Laurie, say it ain't so!? I can't endorse the filming of these books now (which I heartily did before, picturing perhaps Alan Rickman as Holmes). The car chase scene might work in a book, but in a film... Done To Death. I'm very preoccupied with how that can be done originally now.
However, all in all a great read. I can't believe these books are not shatteringly popular. We should be hearing about them all the time.
The beauty of King's "Russell and Holmes" novels is that you, as reader, can completely buy into the underlying fiction that Sherlock Holmes was not a fictional character. The idea is, for those of my (probably less than five) readers who haven't read the books, that Ms King has had these manuscripts sent to her by an anonymous source, and that she's just putting them together for printing. I find myself sometimes having to shake myself into remembering that there is absolutely zero evidence that Holmes was ever real. I love that. It works especially well in this novel, because of the way she continues the storyline from the previous one, tying up loose ends. She has completely avoided the trap of writing in Arthur Conan Doyles' style. Instead she uses the best parts of the well-known characters and creates her own universe. It's lovely.
A.C. Doyle also finds his way into this story, and is labeled a lunatic by an enraged and exasperated Holmes. I like that. It's only a paragraph, but it's a nice touch.
In this novel Russell and Holmes, after the Indian adventures of The Game (where we, incidentally, discover that Kipling's Kim is also a real person), go to San Francisco. This is Russell's original home town, that she left at the age of 14 after her family was killed in a car accident. Russell is plagued with nightmares during the trip, and Holmes worries about her health. Once there, he forms the opinion that there is something odd in the Russell family history, something connected to the great earthquake in 1906. Russell is to wrapped up in the trauma of her past to want to hear it, and Holmes has to enlist the help of a tubercular detective/writer by the name of Dashiel Hammett (and how great is that? What a stroke of genius!) .
Using Hammett in the story makes for some good quotes.
"Hammett sat for a minute drumming the finger-tips of his right hand on the table while he studied the man across from him, weighing the fancy accent and clothes against the man's undeniable competence and the vein of toughness Hammett could feel in him. Toughness was a quality Hammett respected."
" 'Mr Hammett, you have a way with the American vernacular that bodes well for your future as a writer of popular fiction.' "
San Francisco is Ms King's home town, and this shows. She knows the history, has done her research. We get a good feel for the residual trauma left after the 1906 earthquake, we are introduced to different people of the time - the Chinese minority, the street urchins, the jazz flappers who smuggle Joyce's Ulysses and revel in Fitzgerald. My one problem might be that in general Holmes and Russell are always a bit too unbelievably open to everybody without prejudice. They never seem to feel out of place and uncomfortable talking to someone. This is not, IMO, 100% believable, but I don't really care, actually. I still love these books and harbour secret fantasies about being part of the stories.
Oh, and I have one more "wtf" moment, to be honest: there is a car chase. A car chase in San Francisco. No no no no no! Laurie, say it ain't so!? I can't endorse the filming of these books now (which I heartily did before, picturing perhaps Alan Rickman as Holmes). The car chase scene might work in a book, but in a film... Done To Death. I'm very preoccupied with how that can be done originally now.
However, all in all a great read. I can't believe these books are not shatteringly popular. We should be hearing about them all the time.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Sue Grafton: L is for Lawless
Sue Grafton is another favourite of mine. Her heroine, P.I. Kinsey Millhone, is so damn cool. Oneliners abound - Kinsey doesn't take crap from anybody. The kind of person one would like to know, even though she seems abrasive as hell. Grafton's alphabet series has also taught me that California is a lot bigger than we think here in Sweden, and a lot more varied. I like that, when you by-the-by get to know a place through reading a detective story.
Often (almost always) when I read I try to imagine what the book would be like as a film or tv series. I do this especially with crime fiction, for obvious treasons (a lot of it has been filmed). The L book is a novel that sometimes seems like it's been written with film rights in mind. Since Kinsey works alone there is often not a lot of dialogue in the books - or rather, we might have a bit of dialogue, and then Kinsey's thoughts on the conversation and what she's learnt from it. It's stuff that can be quite hard to translate to screenplay, I suspect. A lot of driving and looking tough and eating cheeseburgers while thinking. In this book however Kinsey teams up with an ex-con and his daughter, which gives plenty of opportunity for conversation - always a good way to explain the plot in a film. And we also get these clues: Kinsey hitches a ride with a limo driver who claims to have come up with the original story for Terms of Endearment, only to have it stolen from him. "That's the way Hollywood works. Real incestuous." He later parts with Kinsey saying: "You have any ideas for a female-type Sam Spade film, we could maybe collaborate. Chicks kickin' shit and stff like that."
Hello? Does it sound like Grafton is dropping hints or what? *giggles* And later, there is a fantastic scene which honestly made me laugh out loud (I then had to try to explain it to my youngest daughter, who didn't have a clue what I was on about), featuring a stubborn grandmother wielding a gun. Sounds "done" and trite, but it was actually quite surprising and well executed. Kudos, Ms. Grafton! In the hands of the right director this could, indeed, make a very enjoyable film. It is a very enjoyable book.
My biggest problem with Grafton's Millhone series is usually that they are so difficult to get a good grasp on, time-wise. She started writing them in the 80s, and they are still set in that era, even though time has moved on IRL (L is for Lawless was published in -95). However, not being American I think I don't always pick up on the subtle clues as to the decade we're in, because I often find myself going "whoa, how can he have been in WW2 and still be alive and kicking?" etc. Thanks to some definite information in LIFL it can be dated to 1985. I don't think it's just me being dense though, because I often have the same problem in figuring out what time of day it is and so on during the actual story.
Okay, so I'm being dense. But I could use a few more sentences that help me remember whether it's morning or night, especially since Kinsey keeps napping at all hours.
My second biggest problem is that sometimes the conclusion is a bit of a reach, IMO. People suddenly are exposed as bad guys, and I really wasn't following the argument, and there might be an unexpected shootout. These really aren't violent crime stories you see, so it's always a bit of an "oh?" moment when shots get fired. On the other hand, maybe this is a lot like real life - what do I know? Grafton does her research, and has based her stories on real cases sometimes. I definitely wasn't disappointed this time - I remember feeling a little cheated in the one where she meets a guy who turns out to be psycho, together with his brother. (Can't remember which letter - again, this is why I started this blog. It was long overdue.)
Anyway, I love this series. If people are wondering what to get me for Christmas, the library doesn't have all the books, so I haven't read A, B, C, D and E. In the same vein, you can also check which books my Marcia Muller the library has, and get me the other ones. Sharon McCone's another cool Sam Spade-type detective, that I'm fond of. Except Sharon has friends. Oh, and don't forget Alexander McCall Smith, while you're shopping.
Righty-oh, then. Below is the link to Sue Grafton's website, and also Marcia Muller's, since I mentioned her.
http://www.suegrafton.com/
http://www.marciamuller.com/
Often (almost always) when I read I try to imagine what the book would be like as a film or tv series. I do this especially with crime fiction, for obvious treasons (a lot of it has been filmed). The L book is a novel that sometimes seems like it's been written with film rights in mind. Since Kinsey works alone there is often not a lot of dialogue in the books - or rather, we might have a bit of dialogue, and then Kinsey's thoughts on the conversation and what she's learnt from it. It's stuff that can be quite hard to translate to screenplay, I suspect. A lot of driving and looking tough and eating cheeseburgers while thinking. In this book however Kinsey teams up with an ex-con and his daughter, which gives plenty of opportunity for conversation - always a good way to explain the plot in a film. And we also get these clues: Kinsey hitches a ride with a limo driver who claims to have come up with the original story for Terms of Endearment, only to have it stolen from him. "That's the way Hollywood works. Real incestuous." He later parts with Kinsey saying: "You have any ideas for a female-type Sam Spade film, we could maybe collaborate. Chicks kickin' shit and stff like that."
Hello? Does it sound like Grafton is dropping hints or what? *giggles* And later, there is a fantastic scene which honestly made me laugh out loud (I then had to try to explain it to my youngest daughter, who didn't have a clue what I was on about), featuring a stubborn grandmother wielding a gun. Sounds "done" and trite, but it was actually quite surprising and well executed. Kudos, Ms. Grafton! In the hands of the right director this could, indeed, make a very enjoyable film. It is a very enjoyable book.
My biggest problem with Grafton's Millhone series is usually that they are so difficult to get a good grasp on, time-wise. She started writing them in the 80s, and they are still set in that era, even though time has moved on IRL (L is for Lawless was published in -95). However, not being American I think I don't always pick up on the subtle clues as to the decade we're in, because I often find myself going "whoa, how can he have been in WW2 and still be alive and kicking?" etc. Thanks to some definite information in LIFL it can be dated to 1985. I don't think it's just me being dense though, because I often have the same problem in figuring out what time of day it is and so on during the actual story.
Okay, so I'm being dense. But I could use a few more sentences that help me remember whether it's morning or night, especially since Kinsey keeps napping at all hours.
My second biggest problem is that sometimes the conclusion is a bit of a reach, IMO. People suddenly are exposed as bad guys, and I really wasn't following the argument, and there might be an unexpected shootout. These really aren't violent crime stories you see, so it's always a bit of an "oh?" moment when shots get fired. On the other hand, maybe this is a lot like real life - what do I know? Grafton does her research, and has based her stories on real cases sometimes. I definitely wasn't disappointed this time - I remember feeling a little cheated in the one where she meets a guy who turns out to be psycho, together with his brother. (Can't remember which letter - again, this is why I started this blog. It was long overdue.)
Anyway, I love this series. If people are wondering what to get me for Christmas, the library doesn't have all the books, so I haven't read A, B, C, D and E. In the same vein, you can also check which books my Marcia Muller the library has, and get me the other ones. Sharon McCone's another cool Sam Spade-type detective, that I'm fond of. Except Sharon has friends. Oh, and don't forget Alexander McCall Smith, while you're shopping.
Righty-oh, then. Below is the link to Sue Grafton's website, and also Marcia Muller's, since I mentioned her.
http://www.suegrafton.com/
http://www.marciamuller.com/
Sunday, November 20, 2005
B.M. Gill: Dying To Meet You
A pianist has been forced to abandon his career after getting arthritis. He inherits a relatively isolated cottage from a distant relation, and despite his wife's hatred of the place he becomes obsessed with it, and with the photograph of a Victorian girl he finds behind the damaged piano. Turns out the girl had a violent history and has a contemporary doppelganger.
Not too enamoured with this one: is it a ghost story, is it not... doesn't seem quite sure of which leg it should stand on. Not badly written really. I think it could make a good film. If you play up the ghost/psychology bit a bit more - like in The Shining.
ETA: just remembered - the library CA/PR has been all over this one too... One has to laugh. Fondly.
Not too enamoured with this one: is it a ghost story, is it not... doesn't seem quite sure of which leg it should stand on. Not badly written really. I think it could make a good film. If you play up the ghost/psychology bit a bit more - like in The Shining.
ETA: just remembered - the library CA/PR has been all over this one too... One has to laugh. Fondly.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Ngaoi Marsh: Black As He's Painted
I wanted to write a longer entry about this novel, but I'm finding it hard to concentrate. :-/ So I'll just write something then, because I'm already half-way through the next book and I have to remember to blog, or I can't keep track of what I read...
This is a novel from -74, and full of drug references, hippiesque characters, racial tension and loss of empire. Interesting to note is that the censorship must have lightened up, since Marsh can state openly that someone is a homosexual. I'm confused as to her attitude against homosexuals - the character in BAHP is evil and ridiculous, the steward in SITS was camp and sort of pathetic, in previous books I've noted that they are often theatrical and OTT... being, as she was, involved in the theatrical world (a recurring theme) she must have met many gay men. It seems as though she accepts their existence quite matter-of-factly, but they are still Not Normal. Like I said, it would be interesting to read a study on gay characters in her novels.
Storyline - Alleyn's old school chum is now President of his home country, Ng'ombwana. Yes, yes, Marsh commits the terrible sin of making up a country for the story. *sigh* She pulls it off quite well and has obviously done some research, but nevertheless... Me no likee. Anyway, he's coming to London, and his Ambassador and the Secret Service are all a-fluster over security, as the President has many enemies, tends not to respect security advice and has already survived two murder attempts.
The novel centres around racism, I'd say. Troy and Alleyn are "black-friendly". Remember, Troy made a black friend in Clutch of Constables (q.v., I'd link to it if I understood how to do so...). Nevertheless, they don't seem to be outraged at the blatant racism they encounter from other people. Stiff upper lip and all that, the black people simply have to accept that they are disliked by some. At one point in the novel a man says that he knows his assailant was black, even though it was pitch dark, because of the smell. Alleyn replies, or rebukes him, saying that apparently black people feel the same about us white people. However, Alleyn cheerily refers to black people as "woolly-headed" for example, and wonders how much resentment his old chum still nurses in his "sooty bosom". And Marsh writes that "nobody can look as bored as a Negro" - although the other n-word is banned and only used by blatant racists.
I guess times have changed... This is another area for academic study, probably.
Favourite witticism: Alleyn's and Fox' way of referring to the secret society that use a pottery fish as their symbol - they are the "Ku-Klux-Fish".
This is a novel from -74, and full of drug references, hippiesque characters, racial tension and loss of empire. Interesting to note is that the censorship must have lightened up, since Marsh can state openly that someone is a homosexual. I'm confused as to her attitude against homosexuals - the character in BAHP is evil and ridiculous, the steward in SITS was camp and sort of pathetic, in previous books I've noted that they are often theatrical and OTT... being, as she was, involved in the theatrical world (a recurring theme) she must have met many gay men. It seems as though she accepts their existence quite matter-of-factly, but they are still Not Normal. Like I said, it would be interesting to read a study on gay characters in her novels.
Storyline - Alleyn's old school chum is now President of his home country, Ng'ombwana. Yes, yes, Marsh commits the terrible sin of making up a country for the story. *sigh* She pulls it off quite well and has obviously done some research, but nevertheless... Me no likee. Anyway, he's coming to London, and his Ambassador and the Secret Service are all a-fluster over security, as the President has many enemies, tends not to respect security advice and has already survived two murder attempts.
The novel centres around racism, I'd say. Troy and Alleyn are "black-friendly". Remember, Troy made a black friend in Clutch of Constables (q.v., I'd link to it if I understood how to do so...). Nevertheless, they don't seem to be outraged at the blatant racism they encounter from other people. Stiff upper lip and all that, the black people simply have to accept that they are disliked by some. At one point in the novel a man says that he knows his assailant was black, even though it was pitch dark, because of the smell. Alleyn replies, or rebukes him, saying that apparently black people feel the same about us white people. However, Alleyn cheerily refers to black people as "woolly-headed" for example, and wonders how much resentment his old chum still nurses in his "sooty bosom". And Marsh writes that "nobody can look as bored as a Negro" - although the other n-word is banned and only used by blatant racists.
I guess times have changed... This is another area for academic study, probably.
Favourite witticism: Alleyn's and Fox' way of referring to the secret society that use a pottery fish as their symbol - they are the "Ku-Klux-Fish".
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Ngaio Marsh: Singing In The Shrouds
Footnote for starters: I got a first edition of this novel, printed in 1958, and unfortunately there are a number of printing errors in it. Big ones, like substituting January with February. However, the book has been read by Uppsala Town Library's own private crime aficionado/proofreader, who's handwriting can be spotted in as good as every crime novel I've borrowed - making corrections, questioning deductions, commenting on storyline etc. Sometimes the PCA/PR makes mistakes in her (most likely it's her. I deduce this from the handwriting, my dear Watson) proofing, and, for example, misunderstands a colloquialism for a spelling error. I wonder if the PCA/PR is still alive. The remarks are, come to think of it, probably only found in the older books. Hm. RIP if you're dead, anonymous crime fiction fan!
This is the one in which a serial killer, moments after his third murder, sails off on a ship bound for South Africa. Roderick Alleyn joins the ship incognito and attempts to prevent a fourth victim. Features the usual Marsh stuff - letters from Alleyn home to Troy, a young couple falling in love, a theatrical character (this time someone who works in television! Must be the first TV celebrity she featured?) and a gay, flamboyant drama queen (a ship steward wannabe dancer). Marsh's homosexual characters are a subject wholly unto themselves, and I'd love to see someone do an academic study of it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in those days there were "decency laws" in Britain that would prevent her from being too open about the matter. All she could therefore do was drop a hint that every reader would understand, such as:
" 'To make a vulgar practical joke out of what may have been the wretched little creature's tragedy - his own private, inexorable weakness - his devil!' " (Spoken by the conservative spinster.)
" Why the hell did the D-B have to dress up a queer steward [ ... ] " (Alleyn.)
Like I said, an academic study would be interesting. How widespread was the use of "queer" for "homosexual" in 1958? It does come across as ambigious.
Right, some typical Marsh quotes to finish off:
"They settled down to talk Anglo-Catholic shop.
Mrs. Cuddy, overhearing them, smelt Popery."
"She looked so dazzling that she sounded brilliant."
The woman's ace I tell you, ace.
This is the one in which a serial killer, moments after his third murder, sails off on a ship bound for South Africa. Roderick Alleyn joins the ship incognito and attempts to prevent a fourth victim. Features the usual Marsh stuff - letters from Alleyn home to Troy, a young couple falling in love, a theatrical character (this time someone who works in television! Must be the first TV celebrity she featured?) and a gay, flamboyant drama queen (a ship steward wannabe dancer). Marsh's homosexual characters are a subject wholly unto themselves, and I'd love to see someone do an academic study of it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in those days there were "decency laws" in Britain that would prevent her from being too open about the matter. All she could therefore do was drop a hint that every reader would understand, such as:
" 'To make a vulgar practical joke out of what may have been the wretched little creature's tragedy - his own private, inexorable weakness - his devil!' " (Spoken by the conservative spinster.)
" Why the hell did the D-B have to dress up a queer steward [ ... ] " (Alleyn.)
Like I said, an academic study would be interesting. How widespread was the use of "queer" for "homosexual" in 1958? It does come across as ambigious.
Right, some typical Marsh quotes to finish off:
"They settled down to talk Anglo-Catholic shop.
Mrs. Cuddy, overhearing them, smelt Popery."
"She looked so dazzling that she sounded brilliant."
The woman's ace I tell you, ace.
Monday, November 14, 2005
*squeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaallllllllll*
I just got a newsletter from Laurie R. King's (what's with Americans and their middle initials anyway?) website, and she's got a new Kate Martinelli novel coming out in June, that is going to tie together the Russell/Holmes series with the Martinelli one. Am very excited about this.
Also noticed (I haven't been on the website much) thatLaurie has a blog . http://laurierking.blogspot.com/ I hope it's boring, so I don't get hooked. :-P Hey, it's a blogspot too! Great minds think alike, it would seem.
Also noticed (I haven't been on the website much) that
Friday, November 11, 2005
Laurie R. King
God, she's great. I just put in a reservation for Locked Rooms at the library. I hope whoever has borrowed it reads it quickly.
And discovered that they have two Ngaio Marsh in the cellar, so am going in today to get them. Fingers crossed!
And discovered that they have two Ngaio Marsh in the cellar, so am going in today to get them. Fingers crossed!
Thursday, November 10, 2005
just remembered
By the way: that Rankin novel is almost worth reading only for the joke contained therein: "I feel like Gulliver on a Lilliputian toilet. I don't have a lot to go on."
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Lagging so so far behind
I made this blog to keep up with my reading. I'm already forgetting. Stupid stupid stupid.
Anyway, in brief then:
Dead Souls, by Ian Rankin. My first Rankin novel, I think. Not completely my cup of tea - I have an aversion to morose over-drinking grumpy male detectives. Might try a few more though (Rankin novels, not detectives, obviously, ha ha). Wasn't too keen on the story either - this is the one where a police friend of the hero (Rebus) commits suicide, the son of Rebus' first girlfriend goes missing, a serial killer come home to Edinburgh from the US. On the whole a bit meh.
Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr. This novel is written from the perspective of Stevie, Dr. Kreizler's young ward. I found "his way" of relating the events more interesting to read than the first book, The Alienist, and that in itself is amusing. That I should find the story-telling skills of the fictional Stevie character more entertaining than those of the equally fictional John Moore is a writing accomplishment in itself - I hope Carr keeps this up! The basket-case of this novel is a woman, cue much discussion of the sanctity of motherhood - real or imagined? Etc. Very enjoyable, although the ending is a tad too much. It appears to be written with the screenplay in mind - never a good idea. Shootouts on rooftops? Please, no. Although those were violent times...
The Fifth Rapunzel, by B.M. Gill. A serial killer has murdered four long-haired prostitutes, and Britain's best forensic pathologist has pinned a fifth murder on him, despite his protestations. Now the pathologist and his wife are dead, and their 18-year-old son is left alone in the world. Turns out that his father may have had his own reasons to lie about his findings in the 5th Rapunzel case.
Not a half bad book at all. No whodunnit, the ending is slightly unexpected as it features the sudden transformation of a minor character into a major one. Name of police hero: Maybridge - but he isn't a dominant part of the story, IMO. I'll try to find some more of Gill's work.
Marjaneh Bakthari: Kalla det vad fan du vill. Den här boken ska läsas om så bara för de lysande dialekt- och brytningsbeskrivningarna. Har man bara hört iranier prata kan man läsa mamma och pappa Irandousts repliker högt för sig själv och vips - man låter som en iranier! Råkul. Och malmöitiskan också - hur bra som helst. Som bok är den väl egentligen lite fragmenterad och hoppig att läsa. Däremot skulle det här kunna bli en riktigt bra film tror jag, om manuset lyfte fram historien om pappa Irandousts kompis, vars syster flytt, fastnat i Turkiet och tvingats prostituera sig. Den berättelsen, som jag gärna sett vara mer framträdande, ger hela boken en melankolisk klang.
Am currently reading a Dorothy Gilman book I bought for 5 kr at Myrornas. This is one of those rather no-name detective writers that exist in abundance and are never heard of. Not so bad though, so far. Better than Dan Brown... may his money turn to ashes. Although HUGE minus points for inventing an African nation. HUGE.
Anyway, in brief then:
Dead Souls, by Ian Rankin. My first Rankin novel, I think. Not completely my cup of tea - I have an aversion to morose over-drinking grumpy male detectives. Might try a few more though (Rankin novels, not detectives, obviously, ha ha). Wasn't too keen on the story either - this is the one where a police friend of the hero (Rebus) commits suicide, the son of Rebus' first girlfriend goes missing, a serial killer come home to Edinburgh from the US. On the whole a bit meh.
Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr. This novel is written from the perspective of Stevie, Dr. Kreizler's young ward. I found "his way" of relating the events more interesting to read than the first book, The Alienist, and that in itself is amusing. That I should find the story-telling skills of the fictional Stevie character more entertaining than those of the equally fictional John Moore is a writing accomplishment in itself - I hope Carr keeps this up! The basket-case of this novel is a woman, cue much discussion of the sanctity of motherhood - real or imagined? Etc. Very enjoyable, although the ending is a tad too much. It appears to be written with the screenplay in mind - never a good idea. Shootouts on rooftops? Please, no. Although those were violent times...
The Fifth Rapunzel, by B.M. Gill. A serial killer has murdered four long-haired prostitutes, and Britain's best forensic pathologist has pinned a fifth murder on him, despite his protestations. Now the pathologist and his wife are dead, and their 18-year-old son is left alone in the world. Turns out that his father may have had his own reasons to lie about his findings in the 5th Rapunzel case.
Not a half bad book at all. No whodunnit, the ending is slightly unexpected as it features the sudden transformation of a minor character into a major one. Name of police hero: Maybridge - but he isn't a dominant part of the story, IMO. I'll try to find some more of Gill's work.
Marjaneh Bakthari: Kalla det vad fan du vill. Den här boken ska läsas om så bara för de lysande dialekt- och brytningsbeskrivningarna. Har man bara hört iranier prata kan man läsa mamma och pappa Irandousts repliker högt för sig själv och vips - man låter som en iranier! Råkul. Och malmöitiskan också - hur bra som helst. Som bok är den väl egentligen lite fragmenterad och hoppig att läsa. Däremot skulle det här kunna bli en riktigt bra film tror jag, om manuset lyfte fram historien om pappa Irandousts kompis, vars syster flytt, fastnat i Turkiet och tvingats prostituera sig. Den berättelsen, som jag gärna sett vara mer framträdande, ger hela boken en melankolisk klang.
Am currently reading a Dorothy Gilman book I bought for 5 kr at Myrornas. This is one of those rather no-name detective writers that exist in abundance and are never heard of. Not so bad though, so far. Better than Dan Brown... may his money turn to ashes. Although HUGE minus points for inventing an African nation. HUGE.
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