The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries
I'm always on the lookout for good mysteries on film, so I decided to try my library's copy of "The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries," even though it was on VHS. Luckily I still have a VCR that works!
Diana Rigg stars as Mrs. Adela Bradley, a 1920s divorcee whose risque humor and amazing hats do not detract from her ability as a psychoanalyst and sleuth. She's accompanied by her chauffeur, George, who seems to get into the most awkward situations much to the delight of Adela -- and us (in the first one, he poses nude for an all-female art class in order to give Adela more time to search a room). The series is based on a book series by Gladys Mitchell; I'd never read them or even heard of them, so I really can't compare except to say that one of my Twitter friends believes the TV Adela is too wealthy and glamorous. Not surprising for television!
I watched "Death at the Opera," which takes place at the finishing school Mrs. Bradley once attended, and "The Rising of the Moon," in which a traveling circus comes to a small town, bringing murder with it. In both of these episodes, Mrs. Bradley was an outsider who comes into a closed community and manages to solve the mystery by observing people, sneaking around where she shouldn't be, and getting witnesses to tell her more than they really want to say.
I liked but didn't love the series, and according to Wikipedia there are only a couple of other episodes, so I probably won't bother to track them down. However, if you like Diana Rigg, '20s fashion or BBC mysteries, give it a try. Preferably not on VHS.
Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Canterbury Tale
A few years ago I stumbled onto Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mystery series. The first one, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, absolutely delighted me. I loved the way that it was set up: Jane's long-lost journal, complete with annotations from the editor, explaining both Jane's personal situation and elements of the culture of her time and place -- early 19th century England. I got so hooked that I read the whole series, 8 books, up to Jane and the Barque of Frailty.
Oddly enough, I am not a Janeite -- one of those fans who've read every book and watched every movie or TV miniseries, who can quote lines and remember which characters are from which book. So if you are a Janeite, I can't really tell you how faithful the series is to history or to the canon. But, if you aren't a Janeite, I can say that you shouldn't let that stop you from trying one of these books.
Anyway, reading them all so close together was a mistake. I got kind of bored with the series and thought it had lost a little of its charm. After a time Barron stopped using the "lost journal" device, and though footnotes still appeared they weren't attributed to anybody, and they lost their literary-insider appeal; and then an important character died. When the next book in the series appeared, Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron, that was just too much for me, so I took that as a sign to stop reading the series, and I skipped it.
When I noticed Jane and the Canterbury Tale (2011) in the new books section of my local library, I decided to give Jane another chance. In this book, Jane is visiting her brother's family in Kent. They all attend a neighbor's wedding, a festive occasion until the next morning, when a hunting party locates the dead body of the bride's first husband (thought to be dead already) -- making her a bigamist. Oops.
Jane's brother, Edward, is the magistrate, and he counts on her to help him investigate. Though, pushing 40, she's now the spinster aunt, she's sharp witted and nosy enough to ask questions that are indelicate, if not down right rude. She examines dead bodies, questions young dandies, pries among the servants and refuses to allow manners to deter her.
And let's not forget that this is all potential fodder for her next book... the one with Emma. But I forget what that one's called. Heehee!
Margaret Maron, Three-Day Town
Margaret Maron's latest Judge Deborah Knott mystery begins with a quote by James Cameron: "I love short trips to New York; to me it is the finest three-day town on earth." Even if I hadn't already read the whole series, that alone would've made me want to read the book, as I can honestly say that that's exactly how I feel about the Big Apple.
Deborah and her husband of a year, Dwight Bryant, finally get their opportunity to take a honeymoon in Maron's Three-Day Town when his sister-in-law offers them the use of her Manhattan apartment for a week in January. A huge snowstorm, a murder in their apartment, and Deborah's meeting with a distant relative combine to make their honeymoon a bit different than most. Let's just say there's more detecting than romance. And it doesn't seem the least bit odd that they decide to go home early.
This book is different from most in the series, in that Deborah's (huge) family plays pretty much no role in the mystery. Aside from a few phone calls and emails to nieces and nephews who need a little help with a Facebook problem, the family is notable only for its absence. Instead, we get to see Deborah and Dwight on their own in the big city, and though they aren't supposed to be working, they really can't avoid wondering about the body of the apartment building janitor, found dead during the next-door neighbor's party on their second night in town, or about the statue an elderly neighbor/distant relative sent via Deborah to her granddaughter, Sigrid Harald, who may turn out to be a friend as well as the NYPD lieutenant who heads up the investigation into Phil's murder.
I'm still waiting for the day that I can take my daughter for a long weekend in New York, although I hope our trip is a bit less eventful. In the meantime, reading a Deborah Knott mystery is enough for me.
Amara Lakhous, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (translated from the Italian in 2008) is the title of Amara Lakhous' book, but it's also the title of a young Dutchman's proposed documentary about life in a particular apartment building in the Piazza where, indeed, civilizations clash and the biggest problem seems to be the elevator.
This is not in any way a traditional mystery, but it revolves around the murder -- in the elevator -- of one of the tenants, Lorenzo Manfredini, a.k.a. the Gladiator, an unpopular resident of the building who, among other things, frequently pees in said elevator much to the chagrin of the others who have to use it. Worse than the murder, at least in the eyes of most of the residents and friends who figure in the story, is that their friend Amedeo stands accused, primarily because he disappeared on the day of the murder. Amedeo is, in short, the only person whom everyone else likes -- and the one that no one, not even his wife, really knows.
The story is told in chapters that alternate between someone's opinion as shared with the police, (titled, "The Truth According to...") and a series of short commentaries from Amedeo's journal (he calls them "wails"), which provide his perspective on the events discussed in the previous chapter. Through these glimpses into Amedeo's relationships with others, we begin to understand how each person relates to the others. Or, more correctly, doesn't relate, for in and around this building in Rome are people from Iran, Bangladesh, Naples, Peru, Milan, the Netherlands... you get the idea. Not only do they not understand each other's language, they also do little to understand each other's ideas, beliefs, or cultures.
Here's an example, one that unwinds in two different chapters of the book. When the apartment concierge, Benedetta, keeps shouting guaglio' ("in Naples that's what we say") at "the Albanian," who's actually Parviz the Iranian, he thinks it's Neapolitan for a four-letter word; nonetheless, he politely replies, "merci," every single time, which she in turn takes to be a four-letter word. Neither can understand why the other is so rude. And perhaps we can see why Benedetta would accuse Parviz of being the murderer, as this ongoing misunderstanding only feeds her ethnocentrism.
In the end, a police detective reveals the perpetrator, relying on information we've already been given but forgot to pay attention to because the characters are so interesting in and of themselves.
According to the author biography, Amara Lakhous is an Algerian who completed his Ph.D. on "Living Islam as a Minority" at a university in Rome. You have to admire his ability to get into everyone's heads, as Amedeo does, with both humor and unblinking honesty.
My friend Colleen recommended Clash of Civilizations on the How Mysterious! Facebook fan page, and it's a true delight. I'm counting it as my first book in the 2012 Global Reading Challenge, and I can recommend it for that or to anyone who enjoys reading translated fiction to get an inside view of other "civilizations."
Sara Paretsky, Body Work
I am very embarrassed to be reviewing Sara Paretsky's Body Work (2010) almost a year and a half after the publisher sent me the copy I won from the Rap Sheet blog.
On the other hand, I'm thrilled to be working my way through a stack of books that I've been meaning to read and that have been making me feel bad for a while now. And it doesn't hurt that I liked the book!
In the 14th book in this series, female private investigator V.I. Warshawski tackles what appears to be an open-and-shut case, the murder of a woman Vic herself tried to save when she was shot outside a nightclub where Vic's cousin Petra works. It seems obvious to everyone, including the police, that Iraq war veteran Chad Vishneski shot the woman in a moment of PTSD-induced rage. Yet his parents refuse to believe he's capable of it and hire V.I. to find out what actually happened.
The mystery actually turns out to be quite complicated. The club owner and the performance artist who drew both Chad and the murder victim to Club Gouge are somehow involved with Ukrainian thugs and a Halliburton-ish contractor who works in Iraq, and the Body Artist once had an affair with the sister of the murder victim, who may or may not have crossed paths with Chad in Iraq. V.I. has a hard time sorting out what's relevant and who's connected, so she just keeps knocking on doors and asking questions until she begins to figure it all out.
It's also a violent story, with V.I. getting injured on three separate occasions -- once surviving probably only because a couple of Chad's veteran friends turn up -- much to the chagrin of her elderly neighbor, Mr. Contreras, and her young cousin, Petra, who is appalled that Vic seems not the least affected by the chaos around her. In fact, Vic is deeply upset by the events, as well as the frequent references other people make about her age and appearance; at the end of the book she despairs about all the misery she's seen and wonders if she's helped or only made matters worse. But it ends on a surprisingly sentimental note that makes me wonder if Vic's going to be making some changes in her life.
For those who aren't as far behind on their reading as I am, here's the first chapter of Breakdown, V.I.'s latest adventure.
The Oxford Murders (DVD)
It's Friday the 13th, and though I don't watch horror films, even those based on today's date, I can recommend a good murder mystery for you to watch.
Guillermo Martinez's book The Oxford Murders doesn't seem like a likely candidate for movie making. It's the story of a serial killer who leaves behind a series of mathematical symbols and the Oxford professor and grad student who try to stop him. Let's face it: philosophy and mathematics aren't exactly visual, or dramatic. But as soon as I realized it had been made into a film, I put my hands on a copy and watched it as soon as I could.
And it works pretty well. The lead roles in "The Oxford Murders" (2008) are played by John Hurt as Arthur Seldom (definitely well cast) and Elijah Wood as Martin -- I was sorry that the filmmakers changed Martin from an Argentine to an American graduate student, but Wood was believable in the role.
The movie lacks the charm of the book's South American storytelling style (the director is Spaniard Alex de la Iglesia -- who holds a degree in philosophy from a Spanish university), but it's a pretty good mystery and another chance for mystery lovers to look at the always lovely Oxford.
Simon Beckett, Whispers of the Dead
Simon Beckett's third Dr. David Hunter mystery, Whispers of the Dead (2009), is a bit like a Kay Scarpetta mystery, only better.
I quit reading Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books not because the forensics (or the murders) were too gruesome but because I got tired of both the doctor and the killer being so good at what they do -- superheroes and dastardly villains, neither of whom can apparently die, work well in comic books, but please. Show your readers a little respect.
Simon Beckett does just that. Hunter, recovering from what happened in the second book, goes back to Tennessee to work with his mentor, Tom Lieberman, who runs the university's famed body farm. Hunter's regaining his strength, but not his mojo, and only a catastrophic event involving his friend gets him really interested in the case of a serial killer. Both the serial killer and the people tracking him are real, flawed, and human.
I would be disappointed if I thought this series would stay at the Tennessee body farm permanently, but it made a nice change of setting for Dr. Hunter, who can't stay in one place for very long. It made sense that he'd want to get away for a while, and would return to his mentor at a time when he's struggling.
I do like this series and will continue to read it as long as Beckett keeps come up with good scenarios involving people who could be real, not superhuman.
S.J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep
Last summer when "everyone" was talking about S.J. Watson's Before I Go to Sleep, I checked it out from the library but returned it unread, because I somehow never got around to it. Then, when "everyone" listed it on their favorites for 2011 lists, I decided to give it another go.
Good call.
I read the whole book in one day, leaving my daughter to fend for herself (luckily all those new Christmas toys came into play, pun intended) while I devoured page after page. It really is as good as "everyone" says.
If you haven't heard about Before I Go to Sleep yet, it's S.J. Watson's debut thriller about a woman with an unusual form of amnesia. Christine suffered a terrible accident, and for years now she has woken up each day thinking she's a child or young woman, only to realize that she's in her 40s, married to a man she can't remember, and that all of the intervening years are lost. Her husband, Ben, keeps her at home with him, and patiently explains each morning who she is, who he is, what happened to her, and how she should manage her day.
But Dr. Ed Nash changes all of that. He helps Christine start a journal so that she can record what she learns all day, reread it the next day and build upon her knowledge instead of starting over every morning. He prods her memory with pictures and visits to places she had once known, and reminds her to write down what she remembers so that she can access it the next day. And he calls her every morning to tell her that she keeps a journal in her closet so she can read it to remember who she is. Gradually, she begins to remember more and retain it longer, and this leads her to see that her long-suffering husband Ben may not be all that he appears to be. In fact, he's lying to her. Soon she's also wondering if she can trust Dr. Nash, or even herself.
The story is set in England, but honestly it could take place anywhere. Because Christine's disability leaves her at home all day, it's mostly about relationships with family and friends. All of the clues are inside Christine's head, trapped in her memories, which are still there but which she can't seem to access. The mysteries of what happened to her in the past and what's happening to her now unwind in her journal, which we get to read as she writes it.
I think what held me back from reading Before I Go to Sleep in the first place was the "Cause and Effect" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (yeah, I'm that geeky), in which the Enterprise gets caught in a time loop and you have to watch the same day repeat almost exactly, oh, three or four times before the crew figures out what's happening. It gets old. Watson avoids this problem, however, through the journal, which Christine can read rather than making us sit through the same explanations over and over again. So if boring repetition is your concern about this book, don't give that a second thought (heh).
I thought I had this one figured out, but the ending was not what I expected. Given that Christine hardly ever goes anywhere or does anything, you know there must be something special about this book to make it so un-put-downable. Sum total: Good mystery, compelling character and situation, good writing. My advice is that you shouldn't start this during a work week or you'll never get anything done!
Jill Edmondson, Dead Light District
Jill Edmondson's second Sasha Jackson mystery, Dead Light District (2011), sets Sasha in the seamier side of life. When her client, Candace, asks for her to search for a missing (upscale) prostitute, a young and beautiful Mexican woman named Mary Carmen, Sasha finds herself trawling the Toronto hooker's stroll, searching through pawn shops, and renting a really low-rent room.
If you don't know her yet, Sasha is a private investigator, 30ish and trying to build a new career after giving up on fronting a rock band. She still lives at home with her dad and brother, and she spends a great deal of her time with her two best friends, Jessica and Lindsey.
It struck me, reading this second book in the series, that Sasha confides in these friends and relatives a lot, sharing information about her cases to help herself think them through. If you say "female private eyes in crime fiction," loners like Kinsey Millhone or V. I. Warshawski come to my mind. Sasha's a nice counterpoint -- although I like both of them, too! It's just easier to relate to Sasha from my perspective. Except maybe that part about her running topless down the street of a nice neighborhood to chase a murderer... but you'll have to read about that yourself.
I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, The Lies Have It, and once again send my thanks to author Jill Edmondson for sending me an autographed copy of Dead Light District.
Susan Hill, The Betrayal of Trust
I can highly recommend Susan Hill's The Betrayal of Trust to fans of the Simon Serrailler series or to anyone who likes crime fiction that goes beyond being "just" a mystery.
This is the sixth book in the series, and I skipped over the fifth (but will review it eventually). The good thing about that is that I can assure you that the book stands alone, while also assuring you that the series reads better if you read it in order.
The Betrayal of Trust (2012) begins with the discovery of a young woman's bones, uncovered when Lafferton is flooded; the skeleton soon proves to be that of Harriet Lowther -- the tennis playing, musically talented, self-possessed teenage daughter of a pharmaceuticals magnate and his wife, who never stopped hoping to find their missing daughter. Chief Superintendent Serrailler is faced with solving a case now 16 years old, older in fact, than Harriet ever lived.
In the meantime, several other plot lines explore the right for the sick and elderly to take their own lives. Jocelyn, a patient of Cat Deerbon, is diagnosed with a dreadful disease and wants her daughter to accompany her to a suicide clinic in Switzerland; Lenny tries to find a suitable home for her longtime partner Olive, who seems to be either sedated or angrily lashing out and physically attacking her carers; Cat and Judith, Simon's new stepmother, learn the truth about something their mother did; Simon's new love interest is caught up in her husband's terminal illness; and Lafferton's medical community tries to figure out how to save the hospice that serves the community's terminally ill. You know that somehow all of these storylines will converge, but they add another dimension to the story which would otherwise be a basic cold case investigation.
Simon's new love, Rachel Wyatt, is a bit of a surprise, and is the part you'd least appreciate if you read this as a standalone. In the past, Serrailler has been a loner who likes women but loves only his sister and his mother. In The Betrayal of Trust, Simon falls in love at first sight and will do just about anything to see Rachel, who's fallen for him, too -- something completely new for the man was previously best characterized by his cold indifference to Diana and interest in only women he can't have. And then there's the suggestion that another bad guy has moved to the cathedral town....
Can't wait for #7.
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