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Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Canterbury Tale

Jan 252012

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!

A Killer’s Christmas in Wales

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Dec 052011

December is a decidedly cozy time of year for me — I do up all the Christmas decorations and bake dozens of cookies and sit by the tree to read, none of which is conducive to suspense thrillers, serial killers or forensic mysteries. A good cozy, though, is just about perfect.

Enter Elizabeth J. Duncan’s Penny Brannigan series. Duncan won a Malice Domestic award for the first book and has been nominated for Agatha and Arthur Ellis awards for her series, in which the main character, Penny, is a Canadian expat living in Llanelen, Wales. She’s an artist and runs a nail salon, which after she inherited some money is now going to be a fancy new spa. The third entry in the series, A Killer’s Christmas in Wales, is set at holiday time with lots of snow and ice in addition to holiday food and drink, as well as a thief and an American guy who romances women to defraud them of their money. And then violence comes to the quaint little town.

Lesa Holstine of Lesa’s Book Critiques concluded her recent review of A Killer’s Christmas in Wales with this:

Readers of traditional mysteries often finish books with a sigh of satisfaction. In this case, the murderer is caught, life has changed for some of the residents of the town, and Christmas was celebrated with church services, a performance of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales, and sharing of meals. If that’s your cup of cocoa (check out the book cover), settle in for Elizabeth J. Duncan’s A Killer’s Christmas in Wales.

I absolutely agree — if you’re looking for a holiday-themed mystery to read during the holiday season, this is my pick.

Peril at Somner House

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Nov 182011

Rounding out my week of mysteries set in England (didn’t plan it that way) is Joanna Challis’ second Daphne du Maurier mystery, Peril at Somner House (2010). It was an entertaining read, but I found it far less enchanting than the first book in the series. Murder on the Cliffs offered a decent mystery and just the right touch of hints about du Maurier’s future novel, Rebecca. This time the Rebecca references felt forced, and the mystery didn’t do much for me, either.

In this book, Daphne travels to a remote island with her sister, not realizing that they’ll be stuck there for weeks, to visit Angela’s friend, Lady Trevalyan. But soon Daphne catches the lady in her artist friend’s arms, and the wild, war-scarred Lord Trevalyan is found dead. The whole thing read like a soap opera, or a comedy of manners gone awry, with nothing of the restraint or slowly building tension that characterizes the real du Maurier’s writing.

As for the Rebecca parts, this time rather than gesturing toward characters like Mrs. Danvers, Daphne actively imagines scenes from the book, but without any context or awareness of what the larger plot will be. It just didn’t work for me.

Peril at Somner House is a light, quick read, and if it’s romance and fluff you’re looking for, it will fit the bill. I notice that the third book in the series is due out next month — maybe it’s the kind of light fare that will suit your holiday season.

Book #10 in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

A Completely Forgotten Book: A Most Contagious Game

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Nov 042011

I know some people participate in the “Friday Forgotten Book” meme, so they should appreciate this story:

I keep a list of books that other people have recommended and every once in a while look back at it to find my next read. This time it was Peggy’s suggestion of Catherine Aird’s A Most Contagious Game (1967), which she said was a forgotten book — and she’s right, it’s not even listed on Aird’s own website!.

A Most Contagious Game is not an Inspector Sloan but a standalone about the discovery of a skeleton in a secret room in a manor house. The home’s new owner, Thomas Harding, is recuperating from a heart attack, and the mystery gives him something to be interested in for the first time since he left his city job and moved to the country. Thomas figures out who was living at the house at the time and begins to track down the murderer.

In the meantime, the police are caught up in a present-day mystery, the murder of a young woman and the disappearance of her husband. Thomas and his wife, Dora, are not of the community yet, so they can’t really help solve this crime. Or can they?

Thanks for the recommendation, Peggy. This was a quick and fun read, lacking perhaps the sly humor that Aird structured into A Stately Home Murder, but still told with wit and intelligence. If I could quit my day job, I’d read through the whole Aird catalogue!

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

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Nov 012011

Hmmm. I’m not really sure what to say about Alexander McCall Smith’s Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, except that I didn’t really dig this book. The mystery involves a local football team, Mma Makutsi is fretting over Phuti’s new bed salesperson, and Mma Ramotswe reveals a way-too-deep attachment to her tiny white van. I mean, way too deep.

Unfortunately, none of these things interest me. It’s not that this was a bad book, only that it never delighted me in the way Mma Ramotswe’s stories usually do.

There were a couple of things I really did like: 1. we finally get to know the younger apprentice’s name and 2. we finally learn something about him (beyond his girl crazy, mediocre mechanic ways).

Since I’m almost caught up on the series, I’m going to take a break from it and hope that it’s just that I read too many, too fast … and not that, like the tiny white van, the series is finally losing its charm.

The Body in the Gazebo

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Oct 142011

I’m not a hardcore Faith Fairchild mystery fan, but this one seemed a bit different from the rest… in a good way.

Katherine Hall Page‘s series focuses on Faith Fairchild, whose father was a minister and who married, despite her plans not to do so, another minister. She’s held onto her catering business, Have Faith, which allows her to buy the occasional designer dress and which is often the springboard for her involvement in mysteries.

In The Body in the Gazebo, though, there are two mysteries — who stole money from Faith’s husband’s church account, and who is tormenting her best friend’s mother with messages about her past? — and neither is about the catering business.

Faith’s closest friend is her neighbor, Pix, whose mother, Ursula, is ill. But Pix and her husband Sam have to go to Hilton Head for a vacation/meet the in-laws week in preparation for her son’s wedding. Faith spends as much time with Ursula as she can, while Ursula tells the story of a murder that took place during her childhood and was never really solved. Meanwhile, a new and not particularly likable new board member uncovers what looks like some financial misdeeds involving Tom’s account, and Faith knows she’ll have to help her trusting and financially disinterested husband figure out where the money went.

Both mysteries were engaging, but more than that, I enjoyed the larger theme: the book is really about secrets. Ursula’s family secrets, Faith’s employee’s secret from her husband, even Faith’s little white secrets from Tom. Their reasons for keeping these secrets vary, but in every instance Page leads us to question the wisdom of keeping them.

The mystery is still a cozy, and the book still ends with a few of Faith’s recipes, but I found this entry in the series to be a bit more thought-provoking than usual. I like that.

Book #12 in the Strong Heroine Reading Challenge

Book Tour: Naughty in Nice

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Sep 022011

I’ve always liked Rhys Bowen’s Lady Georgiana Rannoch series, so when I saw a chance to participate in the book launch for her newest Royal Spyness mystery, Naughty in Nice, I was worried that I couldn’t type fast enough to get my name on the list. Fortunately the fingers came through, so I’m one of the lucky ones who got to read it before its release on Sept. 6 (next Tuesday).

If you aren’t familiar with the series, Lady Georgiana is number 30-something in line for the British crown, but after her father blew through the family fortune and then killed himself, she’s more than a bit down at the heel. Her brother, Binky, and his wife, Fig (those names should tell you something about the gently satiric touch to the series), still have Castle Rannoch, but seeing as it’s 1933, not much else. So Georgie’s going to be left behind when everyone who’s anyone goes to Nice for the winter.

But then her royal relative sends Lady Georgiana on a mission: to retrieve the queen’s stolen snuffbox, which she has reason to believe is at the Mediterranean home of a wealthy subject, Sir Toby Groper. Georgie and her completely hopeless maid, Queenie, head to the French Riviera.

This book reveals a bit more of Lady Georgiana’s royal side than in earlier books, when among other things she worked as a maid opening and closing houses for other wealthy families who didn’t realize exactly whom they were hiring. Georgie gets mad when the French police refuse to call her “milady,” for example, and when she gets in trouble with the law deep down she knows the family won’t leave her to rot in a Riviera jail.

Naughty in Nice also portrays Georgie’s lighter side, when she’s thrilled at the chance to wear Chanel (designed for her by Coco herself) and be courted by a marquis, as well as allowing Georgie to resolve her relationship with her mother, the glamorous and wealthy former actress who left her with the Rannochs years before. And then there’s Darcy. Yes, even he manages to turn up in the French Riviera, despite the fact that he’s a Irish nobleman with even less money than the Rannochs. There’s no telling what he’ll think about the marquis.

But don’t be fooled into thinking this book is all charm and fashion. There are hints of the clouds gathering over Europe: Georgie’s mother Claire has money because her latest conquest is a German arms manufacturer, and the depression is so bad that Europe’s wealthy come from far and wide to enjoy the free food and drink at her party. The beautiful gowns and jewels and people stand doomed, as we but not they know what lies ahead.

Death of a Chimney Sweep

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Jul 212011

For the first time I listened to one of M. C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series on audio. Death of a Chimney Sweep (2011) does feature a dead chimney sweep, but the mystery revolves around the murder of Captain Henry Davenport, a most unpleasant character who bullies his wife and commits fraud on his closest friends. It’s difficult to rue his death, but nonetheless Lochdubh’s finest is determined to solve the mystery.

As always, there are a number of other twists to the story. Hamish sees both Priscilla and Elspeth, both of whom he’s always thinking about marrying — but not really, and his good friend Angela Brodie has written a book about a doctor’s wife who has a torrid fling with the village bobby, which everyone, even the national press, assumes is autobiographical. Sonsie and Lugs, his wild cat and dog, play an important role as well.

Although there are quite a few murders before the book ends, and some other unpleasantness, this story is about as cozy as a mystery can get. It’s much less about the various obnoxious characters who populate the mystery, in this case in the nearby town of Drim, and much more about the eccentric ones who populate Lochdubh (if you’re a longtime fan, you’ll be surprised by what the Currie sisters do in this one). It seems that Hamish is always straightening out other people’s lives while avoiding both promotion and his nemesis, DI Blair, who’s always sabotaging Hamish rather than solving crimes.

So, the book is much what you’d expect if you’re a fan. What of the audio? It’s read by Graeme Malcolm, whose voice I enjoyed, particularly when he played up what Chesney often calls Hamish’s “sibilant” accent that comes out most when he’s upset. I was glad that Malcolm played it straight; I had kind of avoided the audiobooks because I was afraid they might sound silly, as opposed to quirky and funny. Do you like Malcolm’s voice? Listen to this brief clip (after the intro):

Counts toward the Audio Book Challenge.

Dandy Gilver & the Proper Treatment of Blood Stains

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Jun 192011

Here’s another book from my glorious trip to Foyle’s in London: Catriona McPherson’s Dandy Gilver & the Proper Treatment of Blood Stains (2009). I chose it, of all the many choices, because it was set in Edinburgh (which I love) and because I’d never heard of the series (although after I got home I found that my library has a couple of the books, but not this one).

In this mystery, Dandy receives a letter from a young wife who believes her husband is going to kill her. The only way the aristocratic Dandy can investigate is to sneak into the house by pretending to be Lollie Balfour’s new ladies’ maid. The premise is a good one; Dandy has to take a few lessons from her own maid and is proud when she knows “the proper treatment of blood stains” well enough to teach another maid what to do. The backdrop of Edinburgh’s participation in the 1926 General Strike, and the other servants’ discussion about labor relations, grounded the mystery with a sense of time and place while letting Dandy see the issue from an entirely new point of view.

This is the fifth book in the series, and I did feel that I was missing a bit by not being familiar with the earlier books — I had to spend a little time sorting out who some of the characters were, including some never met but mentioned — but the mystery stands alone. Dandy’s mission quickly changes when the accused man is killed in his own bed. She tries to identify the killer by process of elimination, figuring who was where when, but she’s frequently led off track by servants who don’t regret their master’s demise.

I don’t know about the rest of the series, but this book was a cut above the typical cozy because of the social commentary provided by the discussion of the strike. I not only enjoyed the resolution of the mystery, I also learned something.

Counts toward the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

A Red Herring Without Mustard

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Jun 172011

A Red Herring Without Mustard (2011) is Alan Bradley’s third Flavia de Luce book, but that first one I’ve listened to on audio. Although I continue to enjoy the series, it’s my least favorite of the three so far.

Flavia’s third story begins in a gypsy’s tent; she’s having her fortune told when the gypsy’s startling statements lead Flavia to (accidentally) start the tent on fire, plunging her into a new investigation. The gypsy, as it happens, blames Flavia’s father for her husband’s death, but Flavia allows her to park her caravan on de Luce land — where the gypsy woman is attacked and almost killed. Flavia, of course, manages to save her, while also stumbling upon a theft ring, a fishy smell, and another dead body, battling with her older sisters, and hiding the gypsy’s granddaughter in her bedroom.

This book, like the rest of the series, requires more than a little suspension of disbelief. How on earth Flavia could know who and what to investigate — and why people answer her questions, for that matter — isn’t really clear (in one scene, for instance, she conducts a chemistry experiment, which somehow leads her to her next step in the investigation, though I couldn’t see why). If that’s the price to pay for being allowed to enter Flavia’s world, on balance that’s okay with me.

There’s just one thing that starting to bother me about this series. Despite her track record in having solved other mysteries, people still treat Flavia as a nuisance (“run along”) or fail to take her seriously as an investigator. I suppose this is what makes it possible for people to keep answering her questions — she’s just a kid, so why not talk to her? — but at some point I think the good people of Bishop’s Lacey are going to have to acknowledge her as a sleuth, rather than treating her in exactly the same way as they did in the first book. There are some hints at the end of the story that this could be happening, particularly in an invitation for tea, so I hope the next book will take that turn.

As for the audiobook, narrator Jayne Entwhistle has a good sound, versatile enough to voice an 11-year-old and the adults around her, but she played Flavia too humorously for my taste. She seemed to be speaking with a smile in her voice a great deal of the time, even when Flavia wasn’t trying to be funny (for example, once when she fears being in trouble with her father) — and it struck me that she, too, was treating Flavia too much like a kid, when in fact Flavia’s confronting a host of adult-sized problems with virtually no family or adult support.

Counts toward the Seventh Continent in the 2011 Global Reading Challenge

Older Entries

How Mysterious!

Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Canterbury Tale

A Killer’s Christmas in Wales

Peril at Somner House

A Completely Forgotten Book: A Most Contagious Game

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

The Body in the Gazebo

Book Tour: Naughty in Nice

Death of a Chimney Sweep

Dandy Gilver & the Proper Treatment of Blood Stains

A Red Herring Without Mustard

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