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Thursday 27 December 2012

2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge

This challenge is new to me and a bit complicated but will challenge me in new ways. My new Kobo Glo enabled me to download old mysteries for free which will be a great way to learn how to use the e-reader. I have chosen the following Vintage categories:

1. Colorful Crime - "The Red House Mystery" by A.A. Milne (yes, that A.A. Milne) (1922)

4. Leave it to the Professionals - "The Mystery of Orcival" by Emile Gaboriau, featuring Surete detective Monsieur LeCoq (1867)

6. Yankee Doodle Dandy - "The Works of Edgar Allan Poe" (1800s)

7. World Traveler - "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins (1868)

14. Scene of the Crime - "The Mystery of a Turkish Bath" by E.M. Gollan (1888)

16. Locked Rooms - "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" by Gaston Leroux

20. Murder is Academic - "Love Lies Bleeding" by Edmund Crispin (1948)

22. Repeat Offenders - "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1901)



Reading Challenges for 2013

Not quite sure how this happened but I've gone from my first reading challenge in 2012 to SIX in 2013! Fortunately, there is some overlap so other hobbies won't suffer and I will see the light of day from time to time.

The Global Reading Challenge http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.ca started me on this journey and really challenged me to find new readers in other countries. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will try it again in 2013. The Expert challenge is to read 3 books from each of the 7 continents (ideally, from a total of 21 different countries). Since the seventh continent is Antarctica, you get to choose a focus. I have set that one to be three books written at least 100 years ago. My additional goal is to try not to read from any countries picked in 2012.

This blog led me to several others and the world of reading challenges.

The Canadian Book Challenge http://www.bookmineset.com/2011/07/5th-annual-canadian-book-challenge-lets.html runs from July 1 (Canada Day) to June 30 so I have joined it in progress. The challenge is to read one book from each of the 13 provinces and territories. I hope to stick to the mystery genre and will be using the site http://crimewriterscanada.com
to find authors.

The Nordic Challenge is my favourite! Read any Nordic author, no requirements, challenge has no deadline. Perfect. http://readinginthenorth.blogspot.ca/p/nordic-challenge-2012.html

The Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge has a monthly draw for a $25 online bookstore gift certificate and a secret prize to the person who reads the most books. http://amythecraftybooknerd.blogspot.ca/2012/12/2013-mysterycrime-reading-challenge.html

The Vintage Mystery Challenge is the most complicated but sounds rather fun. There are 30 categories to choose from (such as Colorful Crime, Dangerous Beasts, Staging the Crime). The books must have been written pre-1960 and if you complete the 8 book minimum, you will be entered in a year end draw. If you read 16 or more, you automatically get a prize. http://myreadersblock.blogspot.ca/2012/11/vintage-mystery-reading-challenge-2013.html

And last but not least - I'm going to try for a bit of a stretch: the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/2013-historical-fiction-reading.html You are allowed to read any sub-genre of historical fiction but I am going to try and pick non-mystery historical fiction (maybe). My goal here is the 2 book 20th Century Reader.

I think my new Kobo Glo is going to get a good workout!

Sunday 23 December 2012

Review: Trust Your Eyes, Linwood Barclay (Canada: Ontario)

Title:                                 Trust Your Eyes
Author:                              Linwood Barclay
Date/Place of Publication:  2012, Doubleday Canada
ISBN #:                            978-0-385-66957-3
Number of Pages:             498
Also available in:               Kobo ebook, Kindle ebook
Discovered by a friend who recommended it

Thomas Kilbride visits cities throughout the world every day, taking in the sights, memorizing the streets but this visit - to New York City - is different. This time, he sees a murder. He's not sure what to do about it but he will think it over during dinner. The only person in whom he might confide is his brother Ray. However, even Ray has trouble believing him because Thomas is schizophrenic. Ray is also trying to sort out the estate of his recently deceased father so he is not inclined to indulge his brother's flights of fancy. But as Ray is about to find out, life is not always under our own control.

Just when you think there is a dangling plot thread or obviously incorrect statement by a character that the author has overlooked, there is yet another twist.The prologue is the first of many times when your preconceptions may trip you up and you find yourself  re-reading a section - including the ending.

Barclay does an excellent job of weaving several different plot lines together, with a quiet dose of humour tossed in from time to time, and he has you sitting on the edge of your seat throughout the book. The characters are very human: for instance, Ray's friend Julie feels he treats his adult brother Thomas like a child while Ray recalls the challenges of growing up with a brother like Thomas, who still can't look after his own basic needs.

The book blurbs compare "Trust Your Eyes" with Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Rear Window". Since this is one of my favourite movies, I was prepared to be disappointed...but I wasn't.

Saturday 15 December 2012

Review: A Room Full of Bones, Elly Griffiths (England)

Title:                                  A Room Full of Bones
Author:                              Elly Griffiths
Place/Date of Publication:   2012, McClelland & Stewart, Toronto
ISBN #:                             978-0-7710-3603-3
Number of Pages:              346
Discovered by:                   previously reading this series
Also Available in:               Kobo ebook, Kindle ebook
Link to author's website:     www.ellygriffiths.co.uk

A newly unearthed coffin is delivered by two police officers to the Local History Room of the small family-owned Smith Museum. Neil Topham, the curator, is excited it has arrived and can hardly wait until Doctor Ruth Galloway, head of Forensic Archaeology at the University of North Norfolk, arrives to confirm the contents. Is this the body of  fourteenth century Bishop Augustine Smith, the most well-known member in the Smith family lineage? But by the time Ruth arrives, she has two bodies to examine: Neil is lying dead on the floor beside the coffin.

This is the fourth in the Ruth Galloway series and the usual support cast is back: DCI Harry Nelson, his team DS Clough and DS Johnson, and the Druid Cathbad, among others. Unfortunately, the story is again narrated in the present tense, which has always felt rather jarring to read. There are too many incomplete references to past books in the series, most of which are not necessary for this story. The reader is either aware of the past and requires only a subtle passing comment to be reminded, or they are unaware and will remain mystified by the references. Ruth seems to have little to do with the mystery and much of her time in the book is focused on her complicated personal situation.The various diverse story lines did not hold together well and the latter chapters seem to be used to catch up the various characters on what they missed.

Although I enjoyed the first two books of this series, Ruth's personal life is starting to dominate the latter books, with little connection to the underlying mysteries.

The series:
The Crossing Places
The Janus Stone
The House at Sea's End



Sunday 9 December 2012

Review: The Secret in Their Eyes, Eduardo Sacheri (Argentina)

Title:                        The Secret in Their Eyes (La pregunta de sus ojos)
Author:                     Eduardo Sacheri
Translator:                John Cullen
Publication:              2011, HarperCollins, Canada
Original Publication:  2005, ?
ISBN #:                    978-1-44340-682-6
Pages:                     380
Read as:                  Paper book
Also Available as:     Kobo ebook, Kindle ebook, audio book, DVD (movie)
Discovered by a Google search for Argentina murder mysteries

Benjamín Miguel Chaparro is retiring at the age of 60 after a long career in Argentina's investigative courts. He is a bit nervous about retirement but has decided he will write a book about his most memorable case, one that took place over 30 years ago during the country's Guerra Sucia or Dirty War. He borrows a typewriter from the office and begins.

The case: Ricardo Morales, recently married, suffers a great loss when his young wife is raped and murdered in their home in Buenos Aires. Over time, he shares his thoughts with Chaparro who begins to recognize some of his own thinking. Chaparro decides he must do everything he can to help Morales and bring the murderer to justice.

There are actually two books here: the one we are reading - about Chaparro's early days in retirement, his struggles as a writer, and his unrequited love - and the one Chaparro is writing. The author takes an interesting approach to make it easy for the reader to know which is which. He uses three methods: the typefaces are different in "our book" and Chaparro's, the chapter headings have names in "our book" but only numbers in Chaparro's, and "our book" is written in the third person while Chaparro's is written in the first person. As a result, you move seamlessly through the chapters.

Halfway through, both the reader and Chaparro wonder where to next: "Would that be the best conclusion for the story he's telling?...(he) suspects that if he pushes ahead, everything will go to hell, his story will overflow its banks, and his characters will wind up acting at their own whim..." He does continue and everything does go to hell...but the story does not overflow and the characters behave themselves.

The author creates and outlines wonderful characters such as Sandoval his alcoholic friend and colleague, and Irene the judge he loves, and he provides enough character background to make them interesting and real without their stories interfering with the main story lines. The translator's brief note at the beginning helps to clarify how the judicial system is set up and to explain the era in which Chaparro's book is set. The translation is well done and very readable.

The mystery is very good and the portrayal of a man grieving a great loss is realistic and emotional. It is unnerving to see how life goes on, how people still go to work every day, even when horrific events are taking place in your country.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book, with lots of mystery and atmosphere.

(Side note: the book was made into a movie in 2009 and won the 2010 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as numerous other awards in South America and Europe.)