Review: Devil-Devil, Graeme Kent (Solomon Islands)

Title: Devil-Devil
Author: Graeme Kent
Publication: New York/Soho Press, Inc.
ISBN #: 978-1-616-95-060-6
# of pages: 281
Discovered while discussing global authors with a bookstore owner
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format
 

Ben Kella is a very talented sergeant in the Solomon Islands Police Force but he often runs afoul of his British colonial bosses as he tries to balance his police duties with those of his role as aofia, hereditary spiritual peacekeeper of his people, the Lau. It doesn’t help to have Sister Conchita underfoot. The young American nun is on her first overseas posting and she too is trying to balance what her bosses expect with what she believes is right, while proving to the locals that she has what it takes to live there. When they meet over a half buried skeleton, the sparks start flying.

 Set in the Solomon Islands in 1960’s, a mere 15 years after World War II, the local people are still feeling the effects of that war and occupation by the Japanese, as well as itching for independence from British rule. The author does an excellent job of setting up the mystery while sharing the culture, history, and challenges of this remote part of the world. Kella is reminiscent of Tony Hillerman’s Navajo detective and traditional healer Jim Chee. The characters are well developed and realistic, and the conclusion is achieved in an effective and believable manner. I particularly enjoyed the personal aspects of Kella’s life, building his home in a unique manner that is in fact typical for his people….fascinating!

 

Rating: (^_°)    Intriguing

Notable sentence: “Later, when he owned too much land for one woman to maintain, he had taken a second wife.”

I had taken some time off from blogging but I enjoyed this book so much, I just had to write a review! And thanks again to Kerrie’s Global Reading Challenge!!! I would not have been asking about authors from unusual parts of the world without her challenge. In doing the challenge, I prefer to have the author to be from the country about which they are writing, versus just having researched or visited the country. Although Graeme Kent is British, he was head of BBC Schools broadcasting in the Solomon Islands for 8 years. This book is the first in the Kella and Conchita series, followed by “One Blood” and “Killman”. I look forward to reading the rest.

 

Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley (Canada: British Columbia)

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Author: Alan Bradley
Publication: 2009/Canada: Doubleday Canada
ISBN #: 978-0-385-66582-7
# of pages: 292
Discovered at mysteries in paradise
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book and audio formats
Link to author’s website: http://www.flaviadeluce.com/
 

A girl is tied up, gagged, and locked in a closet….by her older sisters. Such is our introduction to precocious eleven year old Flavia de Luce. She, Ophelia and Daphne wage a never-ending war of revenge and counter-revenge. The ace up Flavia’s sleeve is her in-depth knowledge of poisons and her well-equipped home chemistry lab and she sets to work with Ophelia’s lipstick to get even for the closet.

 Once done, Flavia heads for the kitchen where the housekeeper Mrs. Mullet is about to leave, after assuring Flavia’s father that lunch is ready.  As Mrs. Mullet opens the door, she shrieks on discovering a dead bird with a postage stamp impaled on its beak. But the reaction of Colonel de Luce is even stronger: he gasps, clutches at his throat and turns deadly pale.

This shakes Flavia profoundly; she has never seen her father so upset. She has difficulty falling asleep that evening and overhears angry voices in the middle of the night. She sneaks downstairs and spys her father arguing with a tall red haired man. Creeping back to bed before she gets caught, Flavia briefly falls asleep, only to wake up at dawn and find the red haired man dead in the vegetable patch. Could her father really be guilty of murder? Flavia sets out to discover the truth.

I had avoided this book for some time just because I didn’t like the title (still don’t). That was a mistake because this was a delightful book with a very different heroine. Flavia reminds me of Anne of Green Gables…with a twist: like Anne, precocious and curious to a fault, and (unlike Anne) vengeful, at least towards her sisters. It was great fun picturing her upstairs in her lab, rubbing her hands together and plotting poisonous plans. Her intrepid detecting gets her into some tight spots and although she seems quite grownup at times, her solutions for getting out of these spots come from a young girl’s mind. For once, the police officer is not incompetent, although perhaps at times, he is more tolerant of Flavia than many officers might be. I liked that the family is down on their luck, despite the big manor home, so Flavia isn’t just the rich little girl who everyone feels they have to help. And is there more to what happened to her mother Harriet? Can’t wait to read more of this series.                Rating: (^_°)       Intriguing

Although the story is set in 1950s England, the author was born in Ontario, worked in Saskatchewan and retired to British Columbia. Since he wrote the book in B.C., that is the province to which I have assigned it for the Canadian Book Challenge.  Bradley worked in media for many years, including a stint teaching Script Writing and Television Production. In addition to the (so far) six book Flavia series, he has written two other non-series books, one of which proposes that Sherlock Holmes was a woman (co-written with  Dr. William Sarjeant)…now added to my “To Be Read” pile!

Review: The Red House Mystery, A.A. Milne (England)

Title: The Red House Mystery
Author: A.A. Milne
Publication: 1922/UK: Methune
ISBN #: 978-0-09-952127-3
# of pages: ???
Discovered as a free book on my Kobo
Read in e-book format
Also available in paper format, audio CD, illustrated paperback, large print paperback
 

Pretty parlour-maid Audrey Stevens is having a bit of a gossip with her aunt, the cook-housekeeper, about their employer Mark Ablett and his black sheep brother Robert Ablett. None of the household had heard of this brother and now he was due any minute, back from Australia after more than 15 years’ absence. Robert soon arrives and Audrey shows him to the office. A few minutes later, she hears shots which she and the other staff quickly realize came from inside the house. They lock themselves together in a room just as someone starts banging on their door.

 

Help soon arrives in the form of Antony Gillingham. Gillingham got off the train here on a whim and when he learned his friend Bill Beverley was a guest at the Red House, he decided to visit him. He arrives to find a man pounding on a door. The man, Mark’s cousin and secretary-cum-companion, Matthew Cayley, is in a panic because he heard the shots too and can’t get into the office. He is worried about Mark’s safety so the two of them run outside to find another way to access the office. When they finally get into the room, they find Robert dead on the floor and Mark missing.

Shortly afterwards, the house guests – Bill Beverley (young man-around-town), Major Rumbold,  actress Ruth Norris, a painter’s widow Mrs. Calladine, and her daughter Betty – return from their golf game, closely followed by the police. Being curious and between jobs, Gillingham decides to investigate, with Bill acting as his “Dr. Watson”.

This is a classical British manor house mystery! Well-paced with good twists and turns, the book seems written with a light hand: by that, I mean, it has a humorous undertone, as if laughing at itself. The author specifically sets Gillingham and Beverley up as mirrors of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. At first, you wonder if Gillingham has the ability to detect; his jobs have consisted of a bit of this and that but not much of anything. He turns out to an excellent observer of both people and situations. The final scenes, especially Bill’s description, are quite suspenseful and the solution is very creative (although Raymond Chandler apparently felt it was implausible). It was a compelling book to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book ends with an inviting sentence that suggests a sequel but this is the only mystery book the author wrote.     Rating: (^_°)       Intriguing

This is written by THE A.A. Milne, the author more famously known for his Winnie the Pooh books. Why a mystery book? In his dedication, he explained: “To John Vine Milne My Dear Father, Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories, and feel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you have done for me, the least that I can do for you is to write you one. Here it is: with more gratitude and affection than I can well put down here.” A.A. M.    I wonder if his father enjoyed it – I certainly did!

Review: Once Upon a Time, Barbara Fradkin (Canada: Ontario)

Title: Once Upon a Time
Author: Barbara Fradkin
Publication: 2002/Toronto: RendezVous Press
ISBN #: 0-929141-84-9
# of pages: 254
Discovered at Crime Writers of Canada
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format
Link to author’s website: www.barbarafradkin.com

 Despite the cold Ottawa winter, an old man waits in the car while his wife attends her hospital appointment. By the time she returns, he is face down in the snow, dead.

The autopsy states the death was from natural causes, an elderly person in poor health with nothing but a small gash on his forehead. Staff Sergeant Sullivan of the Major Crimes department attended the scene and agrees with this result.  But his friend and boss Inspector Green is bored, despite the stack of paper on his desk and this small gash bothers him. Or maybe it just distracts him from bureaucratic paperwork that he doesn’t want to do.

Green decides to take a small break and make a few inquiries. In doing so, he manages to upset the pathologist, the deceased man’s family and his staff sergeant. He can’t find a logical explanation for the gash and combined with a witness to a possible second person in the car, Green decides he must continue to pick away at these few threads.

He is also supposed to be helping his wife Sharon organize their son’s first birthday party but as the investigation heats up, his work time quickly eats into his personal life. Green knows he needs to better balance the two as he has already been through one divorce as a result of his singular focus on his job but the case starts to become personal and he is soon caught up in events that occurred many years before, in Poland during World War II.

The author starts each chapter with a tantalizing poem, dating back to WWII. This is part of her strong character development. All the characters seem real, people who could be your next door neighbours. The book weaves the past and the present together well, leaving the motive in doubt until the end. Green’s struggles with both his work and family roles ring true, and you like him, despite his flaws.

Several interesting aspects of WWII are explored, particularly the life altering decisions ordinary citizens had to make, choices that sometimes are only horrific with the (apparent) clarity of hindsight. As one character says “No one is a saint who survived the ghettos. All the saints died."

This book caught my attention from the beginning and challenged me to the end. I can`t wait to read more of this series.     Rating: (^_°)       Intriguing

Author Fradkin was a child psychologist for many years before retiring to write full time, a pastime she had started at the tender age of six. The Inspector Green series totals nine books so far, two of which have won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis award for Best Novel. ("Once Upon a Time" was shortlisted for the award.) She has also written numerous short stories, started the Cedric O`Toole mystery series for reluctant or emerging adult readers, and is a member of the Ladies’ Killing Circle which edits short story anthologies.

 

 

Review: Last to Die, Tess Gerritsen (USA)

Title: Last to Die

Author: Tess Gerritsen
Publication: 2013/New York: Ballantine Books
ISBN #: 978-0-345-51552-0
# of pages: 423
Discovered by my brother who let me and my mother fight over who got it next!
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format
Link to author’s website: Tess Gerristsen
 

Some teenagers have it rougher than others. Claire Ward just wanted to hang out with her friends but her foster parents tracked her down late one night…and almost got her killed. Teddy Clock lived in a wealthy neighbourhood with all the material benefits….and barely survived his foster family’s slaughter. Once Detective Jane Rizzoli hears about both cases, she is sure they are linked, even though they occurred in different cities. Her friend, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, has a safe place for Teddy to stay while the two of them try to work out what is happening and determine if the events can possibly be connected.

Rizzoli also has to contend with her newly engaged mother’s wedding plans and her father (but not quite ex-husband) who is bent on derailing them. And if that wasn’t enough, the senior detective, Crowe, completely disagrees with Rizzoli’s assessment of the Clock case and will not assign her the resources she needs to explore her theory. Then a third case pops up that increases the urgency of solving the case…or more people will die.

As a keen follower of the “Rizzoli & Isles” TV series, I was curious to read one of the books in the series. It was a bit confusing at first as some of the characters are different (for instance, the mother’s fiancé in the book is Rizzoli’s ex-partner in the TV series).  This story had more substance than the TV shows; as much as I like them, they really are entertainment fluff. It was challenging trying to work out how the cases might be connected and who was behind the murders. The scenes at the special school were also interesting: even children with a major challenge in common still find a way to divide up into the “cool kids” and the “nerds”.  However, the plot was rather over the top and  the support Rizzoli gets from a senior officer is unlikely to happen in the real world. That said, I enjoyed the story, great bedtime reading.            

Rating: (°_°)      Worth reading

Author Gerritsen is a retired physician who began writing romantic thrillers while on maternity leave. Ten years later, she switched to medical thrillers, one historical thriller and finally to the Rizzoli and Isles series in 2001, of which there are currently 10 books. She is now writing full time.

 

Review: Black Star Nairobi, Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya)

Title: Black Star Nairobi
Author: Mukoma wa Ngugi
Publication: 2013/Brooklyn, New York: Melville House Publishing
ISBN #: 978-1-61219-210-9
# of pages: 267
Discovered by scanning all the shelves at a bookstore, looking for new authors
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format
Link to author’s website: Mukoma wa Ngugi

For the past three years, Ishmael and Odhiambo, known simply as O, have operated the Black Star detective agency. Fortunately O is still a police officer and his boss Hassan tosses them the odd case, which is keeping them in business. This latest case is very odd, the decomposing body of an African-American killed execution style and left to rot in Ngong Forest near Nairobi. As a displaced African-American, this hits close to home for Ishmael. Their investigation has barely begun when their world is rocked...literally...by an explosion at the Norfolk Hotel. Ishmael strongly believes the incidents are connected so they set out to see what is happening at the hotel.

Ethnic tension bubbles just below the surface in Kenya as the 2007 elections are about to be held. Some Americans...and many Kenyans...were killed at the hotel so fears of Al-Qaeda involvement are running rampant, bringing the CIA into the picture. Ishmael and O are told to back off, which only makes them more curious.

Their investigation quickly takes an ugly turn and they no longer know whom to trust. Muddy, Rwandan genocide survivor and Ishmael’s girlfriend, soon joins their quest for the truth.

This turned out to be more thriller than murder mystery. The Kenyan election backdrop was very interesting, a taste of how quickly a country can disintegrate into violence. The three main characters are strong ones and you soon want to know more about each of their backgrounds. I would like to read the first book in the series to learn how Ishmael ended up in Kenya. The book does go bit astray about halfway through and the plot becomes more convoluted than necessary. However, the story and the lead characters carry the reader through to the end.

Rating: (°_°)             Worth reading

Notable sentence:  “Pulled in to this vortex of violence and more violence, my principles of justice were becoming rudimentary – us against them.”

Author wa Ngugi was born in the USA but grew up in Kenya. In addition to the first mystery in this series “Nairobi Heat”, he has also written poetry, fiction and non-fiction books, political columns and essays. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University and his father is a renowned African author.  

 

Review: Who Killed Palomino Molero?, Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

Title: Who Killed Palomino Molero?
Author: Mario Vargas Llosa
Translator: Alfred MacAdam
Publication: 1987/New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Original Publication: 1986/Spain?: Seix Barral (“ƾQuién mató a Palomino Molero?”)

ISBN #: 0374289786

# of pages: 151

Discovered at mysteries in paradise

Read in paper format
Also available in e-book, Spanish

It's northern Peru in the 1950s. A goat herder has called police officer Lituma out to view a body, a horribly mutilated and tortured body of a young man. Lituma quickly determines the young man is Palomino Molero, a beautiful singer who had unaccountably signed up for the army even though he was exempt from military service. He questions Molero's mother who could only say it was a matter of life and death for her son to enlist but she didn't know why. Questions to a few locals reveal that Molero was madly in love and used to serenade a girl near the air base before he joined up. Did he enlist to follow her?

Lituma’s boss Lieutenant Silva, also madly in love - with the chubby and very married Doña Adriana - works the case with him, teaching him interviewing techniques and the facts of life along the way. They work out of a rundown police station with little equipment and the local cabdriver acts as their chauffeur. They quickly run into roadblocks from the military, mixed with elitism and ethnic discrimination. Silva may suspect who is responsible but can he prove it and bring the culprit to justice?

This book came highly recommended and most of the reviews rate it very well. However, I found it a rough book: horrific murder, rough language, disparaging to women. This may well have been indicative of the times and the setting the author was portraying; I just don't enjoy reading this type of story. Hopefully Lituma is a fairly new police officer as he seems quite inexperienced and naive. Silva - despite his chauvinistic attitude towards his purported love - is a talented police officer, with creative approaches and a willingness to push against the establishment. His investigation is interesting but his treatment of Adriana borders on harassment. A number of topics were raised (power politics, lower class versus upper class, injustice) but they were touched on, not delved into. I reluctantly pushed myself to finish the book yet I have obviously missed what others saw since the majority of ratings were 4 and 5 stars. I was quite surprised to learn the author is a Nobel Prize winner in Literature. So I did miss something!!!    

Rating: (-_°)   Nodded off a few times but finished

Peruvian by birth, Llosa lived abroad for many years, especially after the Peruvian military burned 1,000 copies of one of his books. He returned in 1980, just as democratic rule was being reinstituted, and actually ran for the presidency in 1990. He was president of PEN International for three years and has written critical studies of authors as well as numerous books of fiction. He has received numerous literary honours.

Review: Some Kind of Peace, Camilla Grebe & Åsa Träff (Sweden)

Title: Some Kind of Peace
Author: Camilla Grebe & Åsa Träff
Translator: Paul Norlen
Publication: 2012/New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Original Publication: 2009/Sweden: Wahlstöm & Widstrand
ISBN #: 978-1-4516-5459-2
# of pages: 315
Discovered at an airport bookstore
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book and audio formats

The book opens on a young girl dead under an apple tree outside her home. The scene quickly moves to psychologist Siri Bergman’s office where another young girl is discussing her struggles with cutting. Through different patients’ sessions, we come to learn more about Siri, professional therapist by day and wine-loving darkness-fearing widow by night. The sudden death of her beloved husband Stefan a few years ago has profoundly affected Siri and in her grief, she clings to the isolation of her seaside home.

The reader soon learns there is a dark presence stalking Siri. Brief pages share the stalker’s thoughts and plans. Siri begins to feel as if someone is watching her, perhaps following her. She doubts her feelings though and does not even share her concerns with her best friend and fellow therapist Aina. When a body is found outside her home, Siri is forced to confront the fact that someone is after her. The stalker seems to know too much about her to be a stranger. Could they be a patient or someone even closer to Siri, one of her colleagues? The police meet with her regularly to try and advance their investigation but it is up to Siri to search her files and her memories to discover who is behind the escalating acts.

At first, this book seemed a bit disjointed. The chapters weave between the background of Siri’s life with Stefan, her personal struggles and her sessions with patients. The details of the sessions and the mundaneness of some of their concerns were not initially engaging. Siri herself was somewhat annoying at first, a therapist not willing to address her own unresolved issues. Some of her discussions with patients seemed to make their situations worse. At times, she seems quite naïve about situations at work and in her personal life.  Can she really be a competent therapist? However, as the story proceeds, you get caught up in the building suspense and the eerie remoteness of her home. You start reviewing the possible suspects and seeing how they fit into the clues. Definitely worth reading to the end.          
Rating: (°_°)  Worth reading

The authors Grebe and Träff are sisters, Träff putting her psychologist background to good use. They grew up on Swedish mystery books, especially author team Sjöwall and Wahlöö (my favourites as well). This book is the first in the Bergman series, followed by “Strangers” and “More Bitter than Death”.

Review: The Healer, Antti Tuomainen (Finland)

Title: The Healer
Author: Antti Tuomainen
Translator: Lola Rogers
Publication: 2013/New York, Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Original Publication: 2010/Helsinki, Helsinki-Kirirat, “Parantaja”
ISBN #: 978-0-8050-9554-8
# of pages: 211
Discovered on a blog earlier this year that I neglected to write down
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book and audio book formats
Link to author’s website: http://anttituomainen.com/

Johanna Lehtinen, investigative reporter, had been working on a serial killer story when she goes missing two days before Christmas. Her poet husband Tapani is immediately concerned because they keep in touch throughout each day via text and email and he has not heard anything from her for some time. He begins his search at her newspaper’s office and is soon put off by her managing editor’s blasé attitude.

But how can anyone be too concerned about one missing woman in the midst of the torrential rain that has been lashing Helsinki for weeks, the rain that is only one sign of the effects of climate change? Climate change has become a truly apocalyptic event, resulting in wars in the EU, never-ending forest fires in the Amazon and hundreds of millions of climate refugees worldwide, fleeing their homelands and heading north. Civil society has collapsed in Finland, anarchy rules and chief inspector Harri Jaatinen of the violent crimes unit, an officer who still cares, struggles to stay ahead of the dozens of daily incoming reports of violence and missing people, leaving him no time to investigate any of them.  He offers little hope to Tapani that they will get to his wife’s case in the near future.

Tapani decides to find his wife on his own, with some tips from Jaatinen and the support of taxi driver Hamid. Johanna’s character and her strong connection with Tapani are revealed through his flashbacks to happier times.

This was a very intriguing book. Tapani’s search leads him to unexpected places and revelations but for me, it was also the background of climate change that was fascinating. How does one man stay focused on finding his wife when society as we know it is collapsing around him? Never before had I considered the societal effect of climate change and this book creates one possible new world. What makes it scary is that this is a very believable new world.  The climate change theme is an integral part of the story line and yet does not turn the mystery into science fiction. “…fear, building up moment by moment…” keeps you reading to the very end.    

Rating: (°o°)!         Stayed awake all night to find out what happened!

Notable sentence: “Helsinki had finally become an international city. But this wasn’t how we had imagined it.”

Tuomainen was an award-winning ad copywriter in Helsinki until 2007 when he realized his long-time dream to become a writer.  With this book, he wanted to paint a picture of what Helinski would be like under the predictions of the negative results of climate change. He chose a poet as narrator so he could use lyrical and precise language where every word counts. His previous two books are “A Killer, I Wish” and “My Brother’s Keeper”. His fourth book is due out in Finland this year.

Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle (England)

Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Publication: ---
Original Publication: 1901/UK: George Newnes
ISBN #: ---
# of pages: 359
Rediscovered as a free download on my Kobo
Read in e-book format
Also available in paper format, audio CD

A fine silver banded walking stick is left in Sherlock Holmes’ office and when the owner, Dr. James Mortimer, returns to claim it, Holmes and his ever-present sidekick Dr. Watson learn about the curse of the Baskerville family. In the 1640’s, the evil Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a local young woman. She escaped, only to have Hugo chase her through the dangerous moors. When his drunken friends caught up, they found them both dead, and a huge black dog, with blazing eyes and dripping jaws, standing over them.  An account of the event was written down in 1742 by a later heir, also named Hugo, and passed down through the centuries. Now the current heir, Sir Charles Baskerville, has died suddenly and with no apparent foul play, however the paw print of a huge dog is found near the body. The next heir, nephew Henry, is returning from Canada and Mortimer fears he will be the next to die.

Although Holmes becomes intrigued by the mystery, he is not available to go to Devon and sends Watson on his own. Watson has a lot to consider. The Barrymores, long-time family servants, seem in a hurry to leave. Jack Stapleton and his sister Beryl have a complicated relationship, especially apparent when Sir Henry falls in love with Beryl. Could Selden, a dangerous escaped convict hunted by the police, be involved? And who is the mysterious L.L.? With reference to his diary and his recollections, Watson recounts the suspenseful events that lead to the unravelling of the mystery of the Hound.

Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie were among my earliest murder mystery readings and it was wonderful to re-experience this early entry in the genre.  Despite being written more than one hundred years’ ago, it is still a very readable tale. It was a bit disappointing that Holmes was absent in the first half of the story. Holmes’ and Watson’s discussion about what the walking stick tells them about the owner is one of the few times Holmes’ powers of deduction are demonstrated. He does show his usual flare in uncovering the culprit in the latter part though. Unlike “The Moonstone” written some 30 years earlier (see my review ), the writing here is crisp and to the point. There are not many twists in the storyline but the suspense builds steadily, with the foggy brooding moors always on the horizon, and as the end draws near, you do want to keep reading.     Rating: (^_°)   Intriguing

Notable sentence: Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson just before telling him how wrong Watson’s deductions are:  “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”

Doyle was a Scottish physician best known for the 60 stories he wrote about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. He also wrote other short stories, three largely autobiographical novels, and several historical novels. His medical school mentor, Professor Dr. Joseph Bell, was renowned for his powers of observation and became the model for Holmes. Doyle had actually killed off Holmes in an earlier book so that he could concentrate on his spiritualism writings. Sir Henry’s pondering of whether the supernatural interfere in the affairs of mankind reflects Doyle’s own fascination with spiritualism. Doyle's séances to connect with dead relatives is difficult to equate with the creator of a very rational and logical Sherlock Holmes.

Review: The Professionals, Owen Laukkanen (Canada: British Columbia)

Title: The Professionals
Author: Owen Laukkanen
Publication: 2012/New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
ISBN #: 978-0-399-15789-9
# of pages: 370
Discovered at Stop You're Killing Me

Read in paper format

Also available in e-book format, Dutch translation
Link to author’s website: owenlaukkanen.com 

Professionals are experts in their vocation. The best aren’t greedy, they have a long term plan and they do their research before starting a new project. Even, apparently, if they are professional kidnappers. Four unemployed university graduates, Pender, his girlfriend Marie, and his two close friends Sawyer and Mouse are disenchanted with life and blame the traders and stockbrokers who got rich while ruining the US economy, leaving them and others like them without work or hope. So why not make them pay for what they did? Kidnap them, ask for a manageable ransom, terrify them into not reporting it to the police – do this carefully and in a mere five years, the group will soon be able to retire to the Maldives. One less than cooperative victim finally reports the incident to the police. Then one research slipup results in them kidnapping the wrong man and they suddenly have more than the police to worry about.

Agent Kirk Stevens of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is used to paperwork and everyday crimes, easily solved murders from robberies, drug deals and marital issues. A kidnapping that is not drug related sounds like a true investigative challenge. When the case crosses state lines, he now has to share the excitement with a driven FBI agent Carla Windermere. Will they get to the kidnappers first?

Can you empathize with bad guys? After all, they are kidnapping people who have questionable ethics and no apparent concern for the ordinary person. This was an interesting aspect of the book, a grudging regard for the kidnappers, at least before things went off the rails. Would any one of these four have become a criminal on their own? When do group dynamics take things to an unexpected level? Would you stay true to your friends, no matter what? These are just some of the questions this novel explores. It was engaging and (mostly) believable although some of the group’s escapes required a healthy dose of good luck. I particularly enjoyed how the lead detectives found the reality of the chase became more exciting than the actual resolution. Having been involved in some interesting fraud investigations, I have a sense of this feeling and can only imagine what it’s like in this level of case. Not quite a stay up all night book but I certainly wanted to see how it would end.                   Rating: (^_°)  Intriguing

After graduation, author Laukkanen struggled to find work and finally answered a Craiglist ad which led him  to covering international poker tournaments for a poker website. After three years, he turned back to the creative writing he had studied at the University of British Columbia. This is the first in a series for detectives Stevens and Windermere. The second book, “Criminal Enterprise”, was released this year and two more instalments are in the works.

Review: Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (USA)

Title: Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publication: 2012/New York: Crown Publishers

ISBN #: 978-0-307-58836-4

# of pages: 415

Discovered by my niece

Read in paper format

Also available in e-book format, audio format, Spanish

Link to author’s website: http://gillian-flynn.com 

There are two sides to every story. Usually two very different sides and that is what Nick Dunne and Amy Elliot Dunne share with the reader, the two very different perspectives of their life together. Nick is telling us in real time but Amy is talking to us via several years of diary entries. This is because Amy is missing and Nick seems very nervous about that. He’s nervous when he looks at the nearby Mississippi River, when his cell phone keeps ringing, when he keeps lying to the police.

It quickly becomes clear that Nick is a self-absorbed, spoiled, bitter thirty-something, a man you just want to grab by the lapels and shake and shake. Amy has her weaknesses too and has made mistakes in their marriage but she recognizes them and tries to improve. She is patient with Nick and tries to see his point of view. When they both lost their upscale New York City careers, Amy agreed to move back to his small Missouri hometown and even used her inheritance to set him up in a new business, a bar. It doesn’t help that his twin sister and business partner Margo is not overly enamoured with Amy.

Nick’s account begins the day of Amy’s disappearance, which also happens to be the day of their fifth wedding anniversary. Amy has set up her annual anniversary treasure hunt. Nick hates these hunts at the best of times but this year’s just seems to increase his nervousness. His neighbour calls him at the bar, concerned that Nick’s front door is wide open. He heads home to find a burning tea kettle, a plugged in iron and signs of a struggle, and calls the police. Detective Rhonda Boney and her partner Jim Gilpin are suspicious of the scene and of Nick, and they begin to dog his every move. What has he done? Will he get away with it? Will his sister stand by him, no matter what?

This was a book I could not put down. I am often suspicious of very popular books and I expected this one might be light and perhaps a bit too modern for my tastes but when my niece said she couldn’t put it down, I thought I should try it. I was quickly absorbed in the varying versions of Nick and Amy’s life. The twists and turns – even when you think you see them coming – were excellent. The characters of Nick and Amy are so well drawn, I could picture them in my mind’s eye. The background was particularly poignant, a sad depiction of the last few years in the USA: high flyers brought sharply to earth with the economic crash, new but mostly empty housing developments sitting like ghost towns, individuals left embittered by larger forces. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending though, perhaps because one true innocent will have a future too horrible to consider. Rating: (°o°)! Up all night to find out what happened!

Notable sentence: “I just wanted to make sure I got the last word.”

 Author Gillian Flynn has written two other books to date, “Sharp Objects” and “Dark Places”. She, like Nick, lost her New York job as a pop culture writer during the downturn and recently celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary. Her lawyer husband, Brett Nolan, crops up in each of her books, this time as an anagram, lawyer Tanner Bolt.  One can only hope that is where the similarities with this story end!

For an alternative review, check out The Book Smugglers   Note: it does have several plot spoilers in it, so it is best to read it after you have read the book.

Review: Gold Digger: A Klondike Mystery, Vicki Delany (Canada: Yukon)

Title: Gold Digger: A Klondike Mystery
Author: Vicki Delany
Publication: 2009/Rendezvous Crime, Toronto
ISBN #: 978-1-894-91780-3
# of pages: 293
Discovered at Crime Writers of Canada
Read in library e-book format
Also available in paper format
Link to author’s website: Vicki Delany 

Fiona MacGillivray was raised in Scotland and lived in London, entertaining wealthy men who kept her in the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed. Then things went sour and she moved her talents and her young son Angus to Canada, first to Toronto and ultimately to Dawson, in Yukon Territory. Being independent, self-assured and feisty will be character traits that any woman would need to survive the middle of the gold rush in 1898, in the far wilderness of Canada. Fiona is thriving: part owner of the Savoy saloon and dance hall with her partner and head bartender Ray Walker, she has the best dancers in town.

A weekend visit to the saloon to look at the books changes everything. She and Angus practically trip over the body of Jack Ireland. Constable Richard Sterling of the North-West Mounted Police is quickly brought in to investigate but will any of the townspeople cooperate? Ireland, an American reporter, had been in town for only a few days yet had managed to alienate just about anyone he came across.

Graham Donohue, another more likeable American reporter, seems to know more than he is saying. Fiona’s headline dancer Irene was beaten up by Ireland and since Ray is sweet on Irene, he was not happy about it. Fiona has to fend off suitors while trying to figure out who the murderer is in order to protect her business. Meanwhile, Angus has decided he can help his hero Constable Sterling solve the mystery.

As an historical novel, this book was quite interesting. It paints a human picture of Dawson and living on the frontier: the many bars open virtually all day, the street of prostitutes, the tired dusty miners who will pay for a dance just to bring some cheer to their lives. There are many nice background touches, such as the horse whining in fear in the street while Fiona converses with someone upstairs, and the bartenders leaving their fingernails long so they could catch some of the gold dust which was used as payment. As a mystery though, it is rather lightweight. The murder is discovered on page one and it is almost 100 pages of scene setting before the investigation gains momentum. The suspects are predictable however the final scenes are exciting.

Rating: (°_°) worth reading

Notable sentence: “Her teeth were good for a woman of her age and class…”

Vicki Delany is an Ontario writer who started writing only on Sundays and after publishing three books, was able to retire from her bank system analyst job and write full time.  This book is part of the Klondike Mystery series: Gold Fever, Gold Mountain and Gold Web (due out 2014). Delany has also written the Constable Molly Smith series and several standalone mysteries.

Review: Ashes, Sergios Gakas (Greece)

Title: Ashes
Author: Sergios Gakas
Translator: Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife
Publication: 2011/MacLehose Press (Quercus), Great Britain
Original Publication: 2007/ Kastaniotis Editions S.A., Athens (“ Στάχτες”)
ISBN #: 978-0-85705-016-8
# of pages: 309
Discovered via a blog review….but my notes on which one are incomplete!
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format

Chronis Halkidis is a joint-smoking, cocaine-snorting alcoholic police colonel in Athens who somehow manages to effectively head up the Internal Affairs department of the national Hellenic Police. His devoted team follows his lead when he takes on an arson investigation which is well outside his mandate.

An African refugee, her young daughter and an old actor died in the fire and a famous Greek actress was severely burned. Chronis was drawn to the case when he learned the actress is a former lover, Sonia Varika. The first complication in the case is another of the actress’s lovers, Simeon Piertzovanis, the landlord and early suspect.  Soon, Halkidis and Piertzonvanis are rather reluctantly working together to shift through the web of corruption and discover the truth. The action heats up when even Halkidis’s normally supportive boss tells him to drop the case.

The story is told alternately by Halkidis and Piertzonvanis, with some commentary from Sonia, a writing method that works surprisingly well. Both men are interesting characters, with major weaknesses they keep rising above. It is fascinating to watch the growing rapport between the rivals, one that doesn’t quite become a friendship. Hearing Sonia’s voice, remembered by the men and in her current state, reveals a siren who easily draws lovers to her and just as easily sheds them. Halkidis’s torment at being continually thwarted is mirrored by his growing reliance on cocaine.

The story is dark, revealing the seediest side of powerful people and the lengths to which one must go to have any chance of beating them at their own game. At a time when Greece is in crisis, this book sets the atmosphere of a struggling city and country, set adrift by self-interested power brokers. Despite the shortcomings of Halkidis and Piertzonvanis, you can’t help but admire their determination to continue to the bitter end.                     Rating: (^_°)  Intriguing

Notable sentence:  by Halkidis: “I stopped him, apologizing meekly, explaining away my outburst as a consequence of exhaustion. I did not think it wise to explain that coke sometimes made me oversensitive.”

The author is a Greek playwright and director. It was difficult to find any further information about him and there do not seem to be any other English translations of his books.

Review: The Walker on the Cape, Mike Martin (Canada, Newfoundland)

Title: The Walker on the Cape
Author: Mike Martin
Publication: 2012/Baico Publishing Inc, Ottawa Canada
ISBN #: 978-1-926945-97-2
# of pages: 252
Discovered by Crime Writers of Canada
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format
Link to author’s website: http://walkeronthecape.com/

Old Elias Martin walks the nearby stretch of Newfoundland cape regularly every morning, so regularly the local Grand Bank residents set their clocks by him. So when Mavis Emberly’s soup pot boils dry, she knows something is wrong. Elias has been found dead on the path, an apparent heart attack victim.

RCMP Sergeant Winston Windflower and his Constable Eddie Tizzard hope the doctor will help them to wrap this up quickly but when it turns out Elias was poisoned, Windflower starts to wonder if he is in over his head. Usually, his police work involves getting drunken teenagers home without upsetting the Mayor and his friends. Soon he is uncovering long simmering disputes in this normally quiet little rural outpost while dodging his interfering Inspector.

This is a simply written book, more filled with descriptions of small village living than with high crime drama. Windflower’s work day is nicely offset with his personal life and budding romance with Sheila, owner of the local coffee shop. There are a few good twists and turns along the way. Windflower is an entertaining character and the author does not make him into a super hero but just a regular cop who calls in help when he needs it.    Rating: (°_°)  worth reading.

The author was born in St John’s, Newfoundland and although he now lives in Ottawa, he visits Grand Bank and other parts of Newfoundland every summer. He is a freelance writer and workplace wellness consultant. His second book in the Windflower series, “The Body on the T”, will be published May 2013.

Review: Murder in a Cold Climate, Scott Young (Canada, Northwest Terrorities)

Title: Murder in a Cold Climate
Author: Scott Young
Publication: 1988/Random House of Canada, Toronto
ISBN #: 0-449-21746-9
# of pages: 238
Discovered when cleaning out my bookshelves
Read in paper format

Canadian Mountie Matteesie “Matthew” Kitologitak is suddenly very busy. Seconded to the Department of Northern Affairs and currently in Inuvik, he is preparing for an exciting trip to Leningrad for a meeting of northern countries. The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) commissioner is on the phone though, asking a favour. Before he leaves, would he please look into a missing plane piloted by the son of the finance minister? As an Inuk who has lived most of his life in the Northwest Territories, he knows the region well and figures this will only take him a few days.
He boards the next plane to Norman Wells. One of the other passengers is Morton Cavendish, notable local power broker, who has suffered a stroke and is being transported to Edmonton for treatment. The plane’s first stop an hour later is Norman Wells and before Kitologitak can disembark, a gunman has boarded and shot Cavendish three times before escaping on a waiting snowmobile. Kitologitak is more interested in solving this murder than finding the missing plane, and he just has to figure out how to do both while ignoring his boss’s order to leave the murder to the local detachment.

As a story about the Canadian Arctic, this is a very interesting book. The characters of the north, the outdoor survival tactics, the scenes of travelling by dog team and snowmobile all bring the North to life. However, for me, the voice of Kitologitak the Inuk did not ring true. It sounded more like what a white person would expect an Inuk to think.  I also did not find the mystery particularly engaging. If you are interested in the Canadian Arctic, add it to your reading pile.            Rating:    (-_°)  

Notable sentence: George No Legs discussing what animals he’s trapped: “You get out here with no legs and a 150-pound wolf stuck in a trap, you might just wish you was back in town, drawin’ welfare.”

Author Scott Young was a Canadian journalist and sportswriter for many years. He wrote a number of short stories, books of fiction (including a second book about Kitologitak, “The Shaman’s Knife”) and nonfiction. One of the latter was “Neil and Me”, about his famous musician son Neil Young. Scott Young died in 2005 at the age of 87.

For an alternate review, read Bill Selnes' at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan

Review: Outcast, Jose Latour (Cuba)

Title: Outcast
Author: José Latour
Publication: 2007/Toronto: McClelland& Stewart
Original Publication: 1999/USA: Akashic Books
eISBN #: 978-1-55199-198-6
# of pages: 246
Discovered at Mysteries in a Foreign Land Mysteries in a Foreign Land
Read in e-book format from the library

Also available in paper format

Link to author’s website:http://www.joselatourauthor.com/

 

In 1994, Elliot Steil - Elio to his friends - is a relatively satisfied 44 year old English teacher at the Polytechnic Institute in Havana. Having a Cuban mother and an American father has meant that life has not always been easy and in many ways, this has made him an outcast. So far though, he really hasn’t wanted to leave Cuba, he just wants his blacklisting to stop. He likes his homeland, he has friends like Sobeida who gets him cakes on the black market, an ex-wife with whom he is on satisfactory terms, and a girlfriend whose company he enjoys.

Everything changes the day an Americano called Dan Gastler comes looking for him. He says he is a private investigator and friend of Bob, his long departed father. Bob recently died and in his last days, begged his friend to find his wife and son and smuggle them out of Cuba.

Elio is about to become an outcast yet again and the events leading up to this will start him off on a year long search for answers and revenge.

This is a rather unusual mystery because it is not really about missing persons or dead bodies but about unanswered questions. The more Elio pursues the answers, the more questions arise. This approach was quite intriguing. The story also provides interesting insight into everyday Cuban life: city blackout timetables, using Coke cans as water glasses because the stores don’t have any, watching American television on a Russian TV set via pirated Cuban signals. Here is a 1990s adult who has never held a credit card in his hands. It also provides an interesting insight into the lives of Cuban rafters in Florida. Worth reading both for the mystery and the glimpse at Cuba.     (°_°)

The author has also led an interesting life. Originally a supporter of the Cuban Revolution, Latour began writing novels in the ‘80s, while working in the Ministry of Finance. He quit and became a full time writer in 1990 however, his 1994 book “The Fool”, based on a true corruption case, was branded counterrevolutionary, leading to his being classified as an enemy of the people. Believing his books would not be published in Cuba, he decided to write a book in English and “Outcast” was the result. Five more books have followed. He and his family finally decided to leave the repression in Cuba, moving first to Spain and finally settling in Canada.

Review: Crooked Lake, Nelson Brunanski (Canada: Saskatchewan)

Title: Crooked Lake
Author: Nelson Brunanski
Publication: 2006/Caronel Publishing, Canada
ISBN #: 0-9739121-0-3
# of pages: 254
Discovered at http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2011/02/crooked-lake-by-nelson-brunanski.html
Read in paper format
Link to author’s website: nelsonbrunanski.com

 

What could possibly happen in the quiet little prairie town of Crooked Lake, population 1,000? Big enough to have a post office, and a regional park and golf course…and now a murder. When his lifelong friend Nick Taylor is accused of the murder and no other suspects are even considered, John “Bart” Bartowski figures he’ll nose around a bit. His wife Rosie figures he has enough to worry about at home, what with their fly-in fishing lodge at risk of losing its government lease. Bart quietly persists, even when events start to spin out of control, threatening the safety of Bart and his family.

 Although this is a first book, it did not run into too many obvious first book issues. The setting is nicely drawn, with a good portrayal of Saskatchewan, including the decades-old ethnic mix, the lifestyles. You feel the quiet rural life, with the gossiping and longstanding feuds, but without sinking to an unrealistic nasty undercurrent.  This story could happen anywhere. Bart’s life goes on, while he’s doing his snooping. He’s still weeding his garden, worrying about his children, getting his summer bookings lined up. Even the bad guys could be your own neighbours. This was an enjoyable book.        Rating: (°_°)

The author grew up in Wakaw, Saskatchewan, the inspiration for the town of Crooked Lake. He has also written two more in the Bartowski series: “Frost Bite” and “Burnt Out”, as well as two non-series mysteries, “Southern Exposure” and “Victoria Day”. I look forward to reading these.