A Kestrel for a Knave / Barry Hines

3.5 stars out of 5

Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can, discovering through her the passion missing from his life. 

I must confess that this was a somewhat depressing book to read. It’s the December selection for my real-life book club and it reminded me of an earlier selection we read this year, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx. At first glance, the circumstances of a poor Puerto Rican family in an American ghetto (RF) and a poor family in the North of England (KfaK) might seem to be entirely different. But many of their problems overlap.

Lack of opportunities, poor education, inadequate nutrition, and no role models of successful people for the younger people to emulate. Billy, in Kestrel, has a neglectful mother, an abusive brother, a job before school that is precarious, plus teachers that don’t care about their students, not to mention abusive teachers. He has to share not only a bedroom, but a bed with his drunken, irritable older brother Jud, then get up super early to deliver papers. There’s no money for extras like gym clothes and no energy for non-necessities. Billy doesn’t want to end up working in the mines, but he doesn’t have either the energy or a plan to change his destiny.

But our true interests will shine through--Billy claims a young kestrel from a nest, steals a book on falconry, and proceeds to train himself and the bird. Obviously, in multiple intelligence theory, Billy would have a Naturalistic intelligence. Being stuck in a classroom or forced to participate in sport is never going to be right for him. He had all of my sympathy, as I share his love of nature and particularly birds.

Blameless / Gail Carriger

4 out of 5 stars

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

I can’t believe that I neglected this series for so long! It is such fun! Gail Carriger has a sense of humour that I understand and appreciate. I love her steampunk Victorian world with its werewolves, vampires, and the Soulless, like her main character Alexia. It’s this addition of a new category of supernatural which really gives her an advantage--when you create something new, you can write something original and fresh.

I’m highly disappointed that my city library doesn’t have the remaining two volumes of this series. I’ve placed an interlibrary loan request for the next one, as I know for sure that I want to read it. I’m pleased to note that she has two more related series, Finishing School and The Custard Protocol, which I also look forward to reading.

When I originally began reading steampunk fantasies, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of them. However, as I encounter more of them that are well done, such as this series, I have been converted. Now they are among my favourites. I think the modern attitudes, juxtaposed with the Victorian sensibility, makes for excellent opportunities for humour.

I’m late to the party, Ms. Carriger, but I’m enjoying myself immensely now and I’ll be staying right until the end!

Penguins and Mortal Peril / Ruby Loren

3 out of 5 stars

When the penguin keeper is found dead at the bottom of the penguin pool, zookeeper Madigan Amos is determined to find out what happened to him… even if it means apprehending armed intruders, getting caught in the middle of a terrorist attack, and sparring with a machete wielding murderer.

The police struggle to conclude whether or not the death was accidental, but it’s not the only recent, unexplained happening at Avery Zoo. Since the tragic, avoidable death of a serval, animal rights activists have plagued the zoo. Activists with a reputation for extremism. Do they have something to do with the penguin keeper’s demise?

Madi also has her suspicions about two new zoo employees, but what exactly do they have to do with the goings on? Are they activist spies, or do they have their own scores to settle?

I read this book to fill the Amateur Sleuth square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

I couldn’t resist buying this book--it had too many things that were irresistible. Penguins, my favourite birds. A zoo setting, when I volunteered in the education department of my local zoo for 17 years. A mystery, and me a fan of that genre. I wasn’t expecting wondrous things, which is good, because this was a serviceable little cozy mystery, but nothing exceptional.

I lent it to a zoo friend, for whom it was a “meh” experience. He is a retired penguin keeper, so maybe he didn’t appreciate that this book’s penguin keeper ended up at the bottom of the pool during the first few pages of the novel. I thought that the author did a pretty fair job of showing the kind of politics and personal interactions that complicate the zoo workplace. She was probably a little kind though. It’s the people who are the vicious ones in the zoo world (but don’t go in with the bears or big cats anyway). The things she was realistic about? The people who put their children right into harm’s way, seemingly not realizing the dangers.

One thing I give full marks for is the beautiful cover. I love it.

Bringing Mulligan Home / Dale Maharidge

3 out of 5 stars

Sgt. Steve Maharidge, like many of his generation, hardly ever talked about the war. The only sign he'd served in it was a single black and white photograph of himself and another soldier tacked to the wall of his basement, where he would grind steel. After Steve Maharidge’s death, his son Dale, now an adult, began a twelve-year quest to understand his father’s preoccupation with the photo. What had happened during the battle for Okinawa, and why his father had remained silent about his experiences and the man in the picture, Herman Mulligan? In his search for answers, Maharidge sought out the survivors of Love Company, many of whom had never before spoken so openly and emotionally about what they saw and experienced on Okinawa.

In Bringing Mulligan Home, Maharidge delivers an affecting narrative of war and its aftermath, of fathers and sons, with lessons for the children whose parents are returning from war today.

I picked this book up at the library for my real-life book club, not sure if I was truly going to read it or not. The subject matter is certainly outside my normal areas of interest, since I’m not much interested in military history, despite the fact that I catalogued books for a Military Museum Library for a number of years. Actually maybe because I had that job!

I was pleasantly surprised by this combination biography/memoir/history. I’ve been experiencing insomnia lately and I started this book expecting it to put me to sleep. Imagine my surprise when I found myself much more interested and engaged than I expected! I think what won me over was the author’s exploration of his relationship with his father and his striving to understand his father’s life. Anyone who wishes they had asked their father more questions will identify with his quest, although not all of them will travel to Japan to pursue these questions.

I was also pleasantly surprised by his willingness to track down and record the remembrances of men who served in the US Marines alongside his father and to go to Okinawa, where they fought, to get the Japanese perspective on the story.

I have fond memories of my own trip to Okinawa in 2013, in pursuit of the Okinawa Rail, among other birds. I was charmed by the local people, the beautiful environment, and, of course, the bird life.

The guest house that we stayed in on Okinawa

My room in the guest house

The beautiful breakfast served by our landlady

We saw signs about the Okinawa Rail first

Success!  The Okinawa Rail

The Book of Speculation / Erika Swyler

3.5 stars out of 5

Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a cliff that is slowly crumbling into the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks.

One day, Simon receives a mysterious book from an antiquarian bookseller; it has been sent to him because it is inscribed with the name Verona Bonn, Simon's grandmother. Simon must unlock the mysteries of the book, and decode his family history, before fate deals its next deadly hand.

I read this book to fill the Relics & Curiosities square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

This reading experience definitely suffered from my own fit of ennui, a mini-reading-slump that marred my life during mid-October. I was half way through this book and really enjoying it when I suddenly just bumped to a halt and had an extremely difficult time getting rolling again. That said, this book should have been right up my alley--the main character is a librarian, the relic in question is a wonderful old handwritten book, and the exploration of the main character’s genealogy is a major part of the plot. All of those factors are usually like catnip to me, a retired special collections library cataloguer. I can’t explain the waning of interest, but I know that it was more about me than about the book.

If you’ve enjoyed this book, I would suggest that you also check out Robertson Davies’ Deptford Trilogy, including Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. This series also includes a relic (a stone which was originally wrapped in a snowball & thrown) and circus elements. I am inordinately fond of these three novels and in the spirit of fairness, I may try The Book of Speculations again in the future to see if I like it better when I’m in a more receptive mood.

Die on Your Feet / S.G. Wong

3 out of 5 stars

Lola Starke is a PI with a trust fund. Not that she gets everything she wants—or doesn't want. Like being rid of her Ghost, Aubrey O'Connell, for instance. But in Crescent City, Ghosts are commonplace and Hosts are supposed to be happy about it. So Lola's learned to bide her time. It's served her well as a gwai girl raised in a Chinese city.

When two disparate clients won't take 'no' for an answer, Lola reluctantly agrees to both. She and Aubrey are quickly entangled in a murky puzzle of government officials, drug addicts, angry cops, and the gossamer threads of a dangerous plot. Soon enough, the past comes calling with bad news and worse enemies.

This is the '30s and this is Crescent City, where mah-jongg parlours and film studios hold sway. Where the City's highest official is a Ghost with unimpeachable power and a history with Lola's mother. Where secrets last only as long as it takes money to change hands—or a gun to pry them loose.

I read this book to fill the Ghost Stories square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

I bought this book at the annual writers & readers conference that I attend because I heard the author speak in several sessions that I attended and I was intrigued by her description of her work. Unfortunately, the fit between my tastes and her writing isn’t the best, but it was still a decent read.

Wong has created an interesting world for her characters to inhabit--she doesn’t exactly specify where it is located, but with it’s mash-up of Asian culture, hard-boiled detective, and paranormal elements, we can assume that it is an alternate version of California. She works very hard to make Lola into a female version of Philip Marlowe. The problem is that it’s really difficult to write anywhere near as elegantly as Raymond Chandler, making the comparison of Lola and Marlowe quite unequal.

This seems to be a California that has been dominated by Asian influence, with Christianity and European culture being minority elements. It gives the Caucasian reader of European background a small taste of what it is like to be a minority group, a salutary experience.

Ghosts feature as major characters, but I found them to be much more limited than what I expected. The majority of ghosts are tied to a human host, although the ghostly Mayor of this fictional city has seemingly found a way to stay vital in the world without such tethering. I guess it is realistic that each ghost would have different abilities, just as each person does.

I’m glad that I finally read this book, which I’ve owned for several years now. I like to support local writers and I’m glad that I liked the book.

Cold Moon / Alexandra Sokoloff

3.5 stars out of 5

The hunt for mass murderer Cara Lindstrom is over. FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke has been working for this moment: the capture of a killer who savagely hunts the worst of humanity. But Roarke remains traumatized by his own near-death at the hands of the serial killer who slaughtered Cara’s family…and haunted by the enigmatic woman who saved his life.

Then the sixteen-year-old prostitute who witnessed Cara’s most recent murder goes missing, and suddenly pimps are turning up dead on the streets of San Francisco, killed with an MO eerily similar to Cara’s handiwork.

Is a new killer on the loose with a mission even more deadly than hers? In the pulse-pounding third Huntress/FBI Thrillers book, Roarke will have to go on the hunt…and every woman he meets, even those closest to him, may prove deadly. 

I read this book to fill the Full Moon square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

It took me a couple of false starts to get going on this novel, but when I finally was able to engage, I remembered why I’ve been working my way through Sokoloff’s Huntress/FBI series. Once I gave in to the reading experience, I was gripped with the need to keep turning pages. I maybe wasn’t as thrilled with this third book as I was with the previous two, but it was still a page turner. I’ve been going through a mini-reading-slump this month, having a difficult time motivating myself to pick up a book. Highly unusual for me. This is the one that got me back on track, ready to fight the good fight again.

Sokoloff was definitely tapping into an issue that we’ve just recently begun to seriously deal with, namely the sexual abuse of women. Her main character, Matthew Roarke, expresses the disgust that most of us feel about the human traffickers, pimps, and johns who all participate in the sex trade and who don’t see themselves as doing anything wrong. Women are just conveniences and playthings to these low-lifes. Sokoloff taps into female anger as she sets up Cara Lindstrom as a vigilante killer of these abusive men and has Matthew and members of his FBI team come to identify with her and her mission.

I’ve come to realize what a sheltered, pampered life I have led and what a lucky woman I am. It therefore seems highly appropriate that I read this shortly after the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday and I am so thankful to live where I do and in the comfort that I do.

Passage to Dawn / R.A. Salvatore

2.5 stars out of 5

Drizzt and Catti-brie have been away from Mithral Hall for six long years, but the pain of a lost companion still weighs heavily on their strong shoulders. Chasing pirates aboard Captain Deudermont's Sea Sprite is enough to draw their attention away from their grief. Then a mysterious castaway on an uncharted island sends them back to the very source of their pain, and into the clutches of a demon with vengeance on his mind. 

Ah, Drizzt. A complete change of pace from the steady flow of mysteries that I’ve been consuming lately. Also very useful as a “sleeping pill” during a night of insomnia recently. No complicated plot to keep track of, no subtle details that I might lose sight of during my sleep-impaired state.

I know that a lot of folks love these books. I find them a bit simple for my taste. I like a few more grey areas, not such black-or-white morality. I can appreciate the value of friendship that Salvatore dramatizes in these adventures, and they are entertaining enough that I don’t hate reading them. This is a very good thing, as Salvatore has written a ton of them and I’ll be reading a fair few more if I continue on with my reading project!

Sometimes I find the cover art more entertaining than the actual story. I was disappointed that the six-armed snake lady didn’t appear until the final pages of the novel. What an uncluttered closet she must have--only requiring gauntlets, a multi-weapon sword belt, and various bras! (I trust she has more luck that I do getting the straps to stay up!)

Book number 328 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

Dark Road to Darjeeling / Deanna Raybourn

3.7 stars out of 5

After eight idyllic months in the Mediterranean, Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband are ready to put their investigative talents to work once more. At the urging of Julia's eccentric family, they hurry to India to aid an old friend, the newly widowed Jane Cavendish. Living on the Cavendish tea plantation with the remnants of her husband's family, Jane is consumed with the impending birth of her child—and with discovering the truth about her husband's death. Was he murdered for his estate? And if he was, could Jane and her unborn child be next?

Amid the lush foothills of the Himalayas, dark deeds are buried and malicious thoughts flourish. The Brisbanes uncover secrets and scandal, illicit affairs and twisted legacies. In this remote and exotic place, exploration is perilous and discovery, deadly. The danger is palpable and, if they are not careful, Julia and Nicholas will not live to celebrate their first anniversary.

Maybe 3.7 stars? I didn’t like this book quite as much as the first 3 volumes. Part of this, I’m sure is because Julia and Nicholas are a married couple now, so the romantic suspense dimension of the narrative is much more limited. We know that they are unlikely to part, that they care about each other a great deal, so the author must re-create that tension with differences of opinion regarding their matrimonial roles. Slightly less effective for me than the courtship question.

The mystery plot reminded me rather of M.M. Kaye’s mysteries, like Death in Kashmir. I can see why the author chose the place--it’s exotic to those of us in North America and Europe, plus it was part of the British Empire during the time period. She had sent Jane there in the previous book, so it made sense to have Portia and Julia follow her in this volume. However, I find I prefer Victorian plots set in England, so this may be another reason that I prefer the previous books.

However, the setting stirred up memories of the days I spent in Assam and Bhutan in 2010, seeing the dark green tea plantations, laden elephants on the edges of the roads, and the many prayer flags and prayer wheels along our route. Good memories of a beautiful place and encounters with many friendly people.

Elephants come to drink at a river in Assam

Prayer flags across a Bhutanese river

Many prayer flags at the Chele La Pass, Bhutan

To Darkness and to Death / Julia Spencer-Fleming

4 out of 5 stars

Millicent van der Hoeven has decided to sell her family's Adirondack estate to a nature conservancy. But on the day of the land transfer, her brother frantically calls the police. Millie has disappeared in the cold November forest…
 
Reverend Clare Fergusson gets an early morning phone call to join the Millers Kill search and rescue operation. As a former Army helicopter pilot trained in survival skills, she can't refuse the request—even though it's the day of the bishop's annual visit. Worse for Clare, the search operation will link her up with Russ Van Alstyne, the very married local police chief who is her greatest temptation. Now, as Clare and Russ race time to find Millie van der Hoeven, they soon discover the secrets of someone who is desperate to stop the sale...and a deadly madness waiting to destroy them all.

Let’s face it, those of us who are still reading this series at volume four are probably reading it more for the Claire/Russ relationship dynamics than for the mysteries. Not that the mysteries are bad, they just aren’t really the main point of this series to my way of thinking.

In fact, there are a couple of turns in this particular book that I didn’t find realistic. The villains are just too impulsive, one beating a young woman almost to death, then running in a panic and the other accidentally killing a man, then trying to bend events to benefit himself. The first situation is the most believable of the two--I can see that happening to someone with poor impulse control, which fits the author’s characterisation of him. I’d like to think that people are less cold blooded than the accidental killer, but perhaps I’m a hopeless optimist. However, if one is going to accept those actions as possible, the way the author linked them together was well done.

I’m definitely going to be reading the next book, because Claire and Russ either have to do something about their attraction or quit tormenting each other. Russ seems to have some idea of what he’s going to do by this book’s end, and Claire has found someone to talk to about the situation, so I’m sure that things are going to shift in the next volume. However, I have reading goals to meet before the end of 2019, so I’m not sure when I will get back to this series. Rest assured that I’ll be back to check on the situation in Miller’s Kill as soon as I can.

The Moonstone / Wilkie Collins

3.5 stars out of 5

The Moonstone, a yellow diamond looted from an Indian temple and believed to bring bad luck to its owner, is bequeathed to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night the priceless stone is stolen again and when Sergeant Cuff is brought in to investigate the crime, he soon realizes that no one in Rachel’s household is above suspicion. Hailed by T. S. Eliot as ‘the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels’, The Moonstone is a marvellously taut and intricate tale of mystery, in which facts and memory can prove treacherous and not everyone is as they first appear.

I read this book to fill the Gothic square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

Well, finally, I have managed to read this Wilkie Collins classic, and I’m glad that I did. It is remarkable for the way it got detective fiction started. I could certainly see the roots of the genre in it and it reminded me strongly of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four. Sergeant Cuff, with his eye for detail and absorption in rose cultivation, seems like a clear predecessor of Sherlock Holmes, with his predilection for violin playing and smelly chemistry experiments. Both novels result from treasures stolen from the Indian subcontinent and Indian people appear in England in both cases to retrieve the ill-gotten valuables. Also appreciated was one of the earliest crime scene re-enactments in literature.

The Moonstone doesn’t rush it’s way to the finish line. Instead, it meanders and circles a bit, as the literature of the time period does. I thought that Collins must have had great fun writing the first two narrators--both Gabriel Betteredge and Drusilla Clack are entertaining for their eccentricities. Both have placed their faith in a particular book: Gabriel relies on Robinson Crusoe, while Drusilla trusts more to the Bible, or rather interpretations thereof by her favourite religious people. Each of them regards people who don’t pay attention to their book as heathens. Probably most of us have encountered a Drusilla at some point or may even count them as family members--we hope we see them before they see us, allowing us time to hide or flee!

Collins certainly reveals his excellent understanding of people with his characters. I found his depiction of Godfrey Ablewhite especially interesting, as it related to Collins’ own personal life. Godfrey proposes to Miss Rachel Verinder, but seems to be rather easily made to back away from their engagement, though it makes his father apoplectic. We learn later that he has been keeping a woman in grand style and had he succeeded in marrying Rachel, this woman would have been sure to ruin his reputation! Perhaps this is why Collins maintained two households without ever marrying either woman--they could tolerate being equal, but his marrying one would have automatically made the unmarried woman into the Other Woman, with the concomitant social censure.

Collins certainly set a pattern in literature with valuable gems being the centre pieces of mysterious goings on. I think even of modern urban fantasy such as Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews with it’s pillaged Indian crown, featuring a beautiful stone, which is used for nefarious purposes and eventually returned to India where it belongs, with the knowledge that nothing good comes from stealing from other cultures.

Sorcery of Thorns / Margaret Rogerson

3.5 stars out of 5

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

I was really looking forward to this second YA novel from Rogerson, having fallen hard for her first book, An Enchantment of Ravens. Perhaps I was expecting too much, because I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much.

There were obviously romantic aspects to both books and I knew early on in each which couple was destined to wind up together. However, I thought that Rogerson managed the relationship’s development with more skill in the first book. In this one, Elisabeth and Nathaniel get set up much more obviously, detracting from the romantic suspense, at least for me.

However, there were definitely elements that I loved: the Great Libraries, the sentient Grimoires, the secret passages that Elisabeth has rediscovered, her aspirations to become a Warden of the Library. Undoubtedly there were some Harry Potter elements to the story, what with all the evil adults that Elisabeth (and eventually Nathaniel) must defeat so that the Library can remain true to its purpose.

This is listed currently as a stand-alone book. But with this ending, a delightfully ambiguous final page, there is definitely a possibility of a second volume. I will be interested to see what this author produces next!

A Mind to Murder / P.D. James

4 out of 5 stars

When the administrative head of the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is found dead with a chisel in her heart, Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. Dalgliesh must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts resulted in murder.

Very reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s work. P.D. James really does demonstrate the same mystery writing skills that Christie did. She lays out the crime and all the various suspects and then sets Dalgleish and Martin among them to sort things out. Two police cats amongst the psychiatric pigeons. Just like Poirot, Dalgleish is able to see through the clutter to the heart of things. Unlike Poirot, he is able to do so without being annoyingly self-satisfied.

Perhaps because I just recently read Christie’s They Do It with Mirrors, set in a juvenile reform school, this novel seemed similar. In fact, they were written within a few years of each other and share the institutional settings and “closed room” aspects to the stories. James throws plenty of details of the psychiatric setting at the reader, using them as distractions from the usual motivations for murder.

As I said when I reviewed the first Dalgleish novel, I see this detective as one of the sources of one of my favourite policemen, Armand Gamache, Louise Penny’s main character. Which reminds me, I need to track down the next book in that series too.

Chase Darkness With Me / Billy Jensen

3 to 3.5 stars out of 5 

Journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common―they didn't have an ending. The killer was still out there.

But after the sudden death of a friend, crime writer and author of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara, Billy became fed up. Following a dark night, he came up with a plan. A plan to investigate past the point when the cops had given up. A plan to solve the murders himself.

You'll ride shotgun as Billy identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You'll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle McNamara's pursuit of the Golden State Killer and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown Four. And Billy gives you the tools―and the rules―to help solve murders yourself.

I’m very conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I read it cover to cover as quickly as I could. On the other hand, there were a bunch of things that bothered me about it. The author was one of the people responsible for getting Michelle McNamara’s book I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer finished and ready for publication. And I appreciate that, because I loved that book. Jensen admits that he’s not the writer that McNamara was and I’d agree with him on that assessment.

Here’s one of my issues--he tries to keep so many balls in the air, juggling a variety of crimes, like some ADD true crime addict. I can’t help but speculate that he would do more conspicuous good if he’d limit himself a bit and concentrate on one or two cases at a time.

Another thing that bugs me: what his wife and family have to put up with, i.e. what seems like a lot of absence and neglect. They must be very forgiving people, because I don’t think I’d put up with it. I don’t think that this is someone to be taking life advice from, not if you value your relationships anyway.

There’s absolutely no doubt that there are a plethora of true crime podcasts, radio shows, and books in the market right now and that more and more people are attempting to make their mark by solving cold cases. What I truly did appreciate was the chapter on how to conduct yourself should you choose to follow in their footsteps. Advice to be professional, not using people’s names in public forums like Facebook and Twitter when they are leads or suspects, not doxxing your competitors, and in general being polite and staying as neutral as possible. If you are going to do this, do it the right way and don’t be an internet troll. Think carefully about it, as this isn’t just a hobby, it has the potential to ruin people’s lives if you come to the wrong conclusions.

Although I can’t say that I’m not intrigued by this phenomenon, I do recognize that I don’t have the obsessive nature required to do a good job of these tasks. I think I will stick to family genealogy research and leave crime to those better suited to that pursuit.

In the meanwhile, I’m enjoying the modern take on the true crime book. If you enjoyed this book, I would highly recommend I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer and True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray.

Days of Air and Darkness / Katharine Kerr

3 out of 5 stars

The city of Cengarn is under siege. Armies both astral and physical are massing for and against the goddess Alshandra, who seeks to prevent the birth of one fate-bound child. It falls to the dweomermaster Jill and her allies to protect the child's human mother, Princess Carra--and Deverry's already foretold future--by magic and by might. But as the warrior Rhodry wings toward the battle on dragonback, he cannot know that soon he will face his ancient enemy, Alshandra's high priestess Raena, who will use any means to destroy him. Their confrontation could turn the tide of the siege--and change the fate of Deverry forever.

This is a very odd series, just for the combination of features that the author uses. Celtic history and language used in a rather realistic way, but liberally salted with Magic, the ethereal plain and it’s otherworldly beings, and now Dragons. I have a difficult time knowing what to write about because of this scattering of elements.

I find some of the dialog tiring because of the way that Kerr phrases it. I realize that she has chosen her form of “Bygone-ese” and is sticking with it, but I find it gets in my way while I’m reading. Your mileage may vary.

I must admit, however, that I find Rhodry’s strategy when partnered with his dragon in battle was ingenious (and as realistic as possible regarding dragons). This despite admitting that I don’t really like Rhodry much as a character, which is a bit dismaying since he’ll be continuing on in the next book and Jill won’t be. Not that I was entirely sold on her either, mind you.

I’m not sure why this series makes me a bit cranky, but it does. I’ve already purchased the next two volumes from my used book store, so I’m pretty sure that I’ll read them, but prepare yourself for more whining when I actually do.

Book number 327 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

The Last Hours / Minette Walters

4 out of 5 stars

When the Black Death enters England through the port in Dorsetshire in June 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is—or how it spreads and kills so quickly. The Church cites God as the cause, and fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness.

But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. Educated by nuns, Anne is a rarity among women, being both literate and knowledgeable. With her brutal husband absent from the manor when news of this pestilence reaches her, she looks for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. She decides to bring her serfs inside the safety of the moat that surrounds her manor house, then refuses entry to anyone else, even her husband.

Lady Anne makes an enemy of her daughter and her husband’s steward by doing so, but her resolve is strengthened by the support of her leading serfs...until food stocks run low. The nerves of all are tested by continued confinement and ignorance of what is happening in the world outside. The people of Develish are alive. But for how long? And what will they discover when the time comes for them to cross the moat again?

As historical fantasy goes, this is very much to my taste. How can I resist a tale about a noblewoman resisting the patriarchy of her time, both socially and religiously? Since I’m a firm believer in the worth of education, the importance of literacy, and in the ability to reason well and plan accordingly, this book was perfect for a cold, snowy day where I prefered to hunker indoors rather than venture out into the snow storm.

This is a departure from Walters’ usual genre, that of the mystery, and I found it to be well done. How difficult it must have been to live through the Black Death, wondering how in the world the disease was spread and being given apocalyptic reasons by the all-dominating Catholic Church. How brave must have been the people who dared to dissent, claiming that God was kinder than the Church was willing to acknowledge? Those who decided that God could not have anything to do with the pandemic.

Some readers may find that the attitudes displayed by Lady Anne and Thaddeus Thurkell to be too modern for the tale. I struggled with that briefly, but got caught up in the story and abandoned my reservations early on. If we are going to enjoy historical fantasy, why not give the characters motivations that modern readers can identify with?

If you enjoy this book, may I also recommend to you Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book and C.C. Humphrey’s Plague.

The Janus Stone / Elly Griffiths

4 out of 5 stars

It’s been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand?

Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson would like to find out—and fast. When they realize the house was once a children’s home, they track down the Catholic priest who served as its operator. Father Hennessey reports that two children did go missing from the home forty years before—a boy and a girl. They were never found. When carbon dating proves that the child’s bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was privately owned, Ruth is drawn ever more deeply into the case. But as spring turns into summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the trail by frightening her, and her unborn child, half to death.

Okay, I have definitely become invested in this series. I really like the main character, Ruth Galloway, probably because I can see a fair number of my own beliefs and qualities reflected in her. Ruth is a professional woman, working for a university, building a life for herself as a single woman, pretty immune to religion of any flavour but willing to contemplate the faith of her friendly neighbourhood Druid, and reserving the right to tell everyone else to bugger off.

I must confess that I don’t know how I would have responded to finding myself pregnant after a one night stand, but I think I would have waded into the situation just as Ruth has done. I find myself both fascinated by her situation and glad that I never had to face it myself (although I’m aware that it could easily have happened).

I found it amusing that this self-sufficient woman, who never really expects to have a stable relationship with any of the men in her life, ends up in hospital with no fewer than three of them in tow. When I’ve ended up in hospital, its always been my female friends and relatives who have surrounded me!

I’m so tempted to just barrel along through this series, but I also find myself wanting to draw out the reading experience and not finish it up too quickly. I do enjoy the anticipation of waiting to read the next installment! I guess that’s my way of saying that I’ll definitely read The House at Sea’s End, but I’ll save it for a special occasion or when I need a pick-me-up.

The Apothecary Rose / Candace Robb

3 to 3.5 stars out of 5

Once the king's captain of archers, now he must penetrate a poisoner's secrets...

Christmastide, 1363-and, at an abbey in York, two pilgrims die mysteriously dead of an herbal remedy. Suspicious, the Archbishop sends for Owen Archer, a Welshman with the charm of the devil, who's lost one eye to the wars in France and must make a new career as an honest spy.

Masquerading as an apprentice to Apothecary Nicholas Wilton, whose shop dispensed the fatal potion, Owen's dark curls, leather eyepatch and gold earring intrigue Wilton's wife. But is this lovely woman a murderess? and what links the Wiltons to bumbling Brother Wulfstan, ascetic Archdeacon Anselm and his weaselly agent Potter Digby, and the ragged midwife Magda the Riverwoman? Answers as slippery as the frozen cobblestones draw Owen into a dangerous drama of old scandals and tragedies, obsession and unholy love...

I read this book to fill the Read by Candlelight square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

What an excellent way to spend a cold, snowy evening. And yes, we had snow in late September, quite a bit of it and I was happy to hide at home.

I can’t give this novel marks as high as the Brother Cadfael mysteries. I certainly enjoyed it, but would have to rate it from 3 to 3.5 stars. For me, the last chapter just whipped together too quickly, with too little effort on the part of the main characters. I would have found it more to my taste if Owen & Lucie were to remain in limbo until some point in the next book. But I am not a fan of the neatly tied up ending, I much prefer something more ambiguous.

Nevertheless, I have picked up books 2 and 3 of the series at my favourite used book store and I will likely read them before returning them for credit. Although I don’t love Owen Archer as much as I am obviously supposed to, he isn’t the worst mystery character on the market and I’ll give him another chance or two before I abandon the series.