The Silent Blade / R.A. Salvatore

The Silent Blade by R.A. Salvatore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my favourite Drizzt book so far! It has taken until book 11, but the plot is finally one designed for adults. Yes, there are the usual plethora of well written fight scenes, which seem to be Salvatore's main skill and the major reason for this series, but we get some kissing in this book too. (It reminds me of days watching Star Trek TNG, yelling at the script writers, “You need more kissing!”)

First we get an unsuccessful encounter between Wulfgar and Cattie-Brie, then there are actually some halfling sex workers, plus when a pissed off & despairing Wulfgar sets off on his own, he ends up with a tavern wench, Delly, warming his bed. This is unusual in a series where everything has been pretty chaste up to this point. It is refreshing to see a basic human dimension finally getting acknowledged.

Wulfgar's being back from being considered dead hasn't done him any favours—his inner turmoil can only be tamed through alcohol, another human frailty that has never been explored in this series before. Mind you, a period of black, drunken despair seems to be standard for barbarian characters (see Milla Vane's The Beast of Blackamore) so Wulfgar may just be following the script for his kind of character.

It's like the characters are finally breaking out of the cardboard cutouts that they've been trapped in for so long. Not only do some of the good guys have weaknesses, but Jarlaxle is a remarkably honourable villain, playing against the stereotype of the drow elf. I guess that Drizzt isn't the only anomaly in that society now. It gives the story a much more realistic outlook, shades of gray rather than stark black & white morality.

With Wulfgar involved with another woman, is Cattie-Brie now available for a romance with Drizzt? The last few books have been building towards this possibility, so I hope that the author doesn't lose his nerve.

Book 11. I had decided to give this series one more chance. And I got what I wanted. It will never be one of my favourites, but I'm convinced that I want to press on to see where things go. Preferably with more kissing.

Book number 380 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Shroud for a Nightingale / P.D. James

Shroud For A Nightingale by P.D. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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James writes an excellent closed community mystery, just as Christie did. I do find, though, that James takes her time acquainting the reader with the victim, the other members of the medical school, and the environment. She needs more words to establish her footing, where Dame Agatha was masterful at economical description.

This novel turns to a medical setting, a school of nursing, an environment that James probably knew a thing or two about, having worked for a hospital board for almost 20 years. This school with the fortuitous name (named after the donor family, not Florence Nightingale) provides a suitable cast of characters, all living in the old manor house, in each other's hip pockets. I'm assuming that James wrote these books as contemporary rather than as historical novels. It's fascinating to see how British society has moved along from that depicted in Christie's early works. Young women are quite independent, use contraceptive pills, have sexual relationships, and don't seem to be judged too harshly for it.

Adam Dalgleish is acknowledged to be tall and elegant, a poet as well as a detective. I heard James interviewed where she admitted to writing a character in whom she would be personally interested. This is only the fourth book, so I'm unsure how he will continue to develop, but he certainly doesn't seem to have a Watson or Hastings type of sidekick yet. Masterson, who works with him on this case, seems rather truculent about it and demonstrates a proclivity to take advantage of his position of authority. Not a person with whom I would like to spend time, but he certainly makes an interesting foil for Dalgleish.

The nature of this mystery, being a limited community, meant that I knew that one of the members had to be the murderer, but I was unenlightened until the big reveal (a la Poirot, I thought). James had salted the story with enough potential motives that I couldn't get a focus on the killer. I do love being unsure, guessing too early is so disappointing.

I'll look forward to the next installment.




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The Merry Spinster / Mallory Ortberg

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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This author has a sense of humour that meshes quite well with mine. I may not have audibly laughed while reading Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters, but I know that I snorted! So I expected to enjoy this collection of fractured fairy tales and I was not disappointed.

Having just read H.G. Wells' reinterpretation of The Little Mermaid (his The Sea Lady), I was pleased that the first story was Ortberg's version. And she answered my question regarding the mermaid's motivations, not to acquire a soul of her own but to abscond with that of someone else. Because surely she can find a use for it!

I was also delighted by her very vampiric telling of The Velveteen Rabbit, a lagomorph who is keeping score, holding grudges, and looking forward to the day that he can kick butt! The actual story is sticky sweet and reduces me to tears, so this is a pleasant change.

Another honourable mention for the retelling of Genesis from the viewpoint of a very rules-based angel. I'm sure none of what went on was any of any of his fault.

Of course not everything can be a hit, for me there were a few misses, where I obviously missed the point, but that didn't reduce my enjoyment of the others. I think the Grimm Brothers would be intrigued.




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Nobody Walks / Mick Herron

Nobody Walks by Mick Herron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Damn, can Mick Herron ever write convoluted espionage novels! This one is not part of his Slough House series, but uses some of the same characters. If you've read the novella The Catch, you'll recognize Herron reusing a device, that of a “retired" agent being put into play by a devious member of Regents Park.

I think that John Le Carre is one of the acknowledged masters of the spy novel, but his specialty was the Cold War era. For 21st century spies and politicians, I think the torch has been handed to Herron, who has run with it. His spy masters are admirable in their ability to think like the paranoid and uber-careful joes under their authority. The wheels within wheels of double-think seem obvious in retrospect, but would never be serious thoughts for me, a general member of the public. I admit to a bit of paranoia and some willingness to use social lies to get events to work out to my liking, but I am a rank amateur compared to these folk. It reminded me a lot of The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, with its complex motivations and use of an agent perhaps past his best-before date.

I am also a fan of the ambiguous ending, so despised by so many people. I think we can all agree that Tom Bettany isn't going to like whatever is coming. We don't need to “witness" the result to know that.

It is official for me now, I must read ALL of Herron's fiction.


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The Sea Lady / H.G. Wells

The Sea Lady by H.G. Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is Wells' updated version of H.C. Andersen's The Little Mermaid. But it is obvious from the beginning that this Sea Lady has ulterior motives. She has set her hat, as they say, for Mr. Chatteris, despite his engagement to Miss Glendower (who from the very beginning expresses distrust of this sudden rival). But then, the little mermaid hoped to win the prince away from his betrothed too, as I recall.

Wells certainly makes use of the “mermaid searching for a soul" theme from Andersen's tale (and earlier folklore). It makes the perfect cover for her insertion of herself into the Bunting household. As an immortal being and an outsider to human culture, she provides an excellent viewpoint for Wells to use to critique his society. No being struck mute for this interloper, she talks everyone into treating her as a disabled gentlewoman. She has not struck any deals with a witch, just covers her tail with long dresses and blankets and fakes humanity masterfully.

She points out absurdities in polite behaviour to cousin Melville, sometimes revealing her absolute alien status through her ability to mesmerize him. You can also infer that she is a comment on the clandestine nature of women's campaigns to marry men of their choice. She has potentially had hundreds of years to become a master manipulator and Wells also gives her the draw of the siren to help her to bewitch men. And this story, while superficially about the Sea Lady and her rivalry with Adeline Glendower, is about the men. Chatteris is having to choose between duty and freedom. Melville watches this, they confer, but he understands the dilemma. Whether to be a good person and have a boring life of dutiful service, or to throw caution to the wind and have an exciting (if short) existence following one's heart. It's a choice we all have to make—can we support ourselves in a way that doesn't kill our soul?

What I have never understood in the mermaid mythology is the reason that they seek to bewitch and take men away to undersea. What use to them is a drowned man? Maybe its just that old dog in a manger thing—if they can't have him, no one can.

If you like this book, you might also be interested in The Pisces, a novel which uses a merman to examine the exaggerated significance that romantic relationships are given in women's lives.


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Taaqtumi : an Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories

Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories by Aviaq Johnston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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As with any short story collection, there will be some stories that work better than others for each reader. When I chose this volume, I was remembering a previous collection that I read in 2014, Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction. In that book, it was the stories by indigenous authors that really scared the socks off me. Possibly that experience inflated my expectations for this book.

All the stories were very readable and entertaining, but it was the last four that I enjoyed the most. The most horrifying (to me) was The Wildest Game by Jay Bulckaert. In a word (and I'm not giving away anything that the author doesn't in the first paragraphs) cannibalism. Eek! I was also impressed with Sila by K.C. Carthew, a zombie tale with governmental complications, and Strays by Repo Kempt in which a vet is haunted by her lack of success.

Many of the tales seem to show that true horror is being irrevocably separated from family and community, something that indigenous peoples know too much about.

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The Last September / Elizabeth Bowen

The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let's call it 3.5 stars?

When I first started this novel, it reminded me of Troubles by J.G. Farrell. Largely because of the time period and location, I think. But that story was seen through the eyes of an English war veteran and this one is largely told about a young Irish woman.

One of the biggest realizations for me was how little these folks had to occupy themselves, basically tennis, long walks, gossiping, gardening, and eating. No one goes off to a job and there are maids and stable boys to do most of the actual work of running a household. No wonder they have time to examine their relationships and doubt their choices so extravagantly.

Although set in Post-WWI, mores have only loosened a little and women are still very much expected to marry. Lois and Laurence are both living with their aunt and uncle, presumably because jobs are scarce and, as Laurence tells someone, he likes eating. The Irish endured a heavy death toll during the Great War, so I presume that is why both Lois and the neighbour girl Livvie spend a great deal of time with the young English soldiers who are stationed in Ireland to deal with the Republican movement.
It is this unsettled situation behind all of the characters which causes the seeming paralysis of the young people. How can you plan a life when your environment has so much potential for change? This household is torn between England and Ireland, not knowing which way to lean or whether to commit themselves. Lois knows which local men are in hiding, while she plays tennis with the English soldiers, cognitive dissonance that contributes to her lack of decisiveness.

It is an unhappy time to be Anglo-Irish, not trusted by either side. The ending, though sad, is hardly surprising.

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Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet / Darynda Jones

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet by Darynda Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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These Charley Davidson books are always both fun and annoying for me. However, I have to say that I like this one the most of the series so far. The fun part is that there usually is a mystery of some sort to be solved or bad guys to dispense with. The annoying part is Jones struggling too hard to be funny at all times. Urban fantasy has to have its serious moments so that the reader can appreciate the humour later.

I like that Charley is finally realizing that she is actually more than human-with-a-talent. Like all good urban fantasy heroines, she is learning that her antecedents are not what she expected and that being a grim reaper comes with extra skills. I also liked that she & Reyes finally got beyond smouldering glances and actually heated the sheets! Finally! Now there's something to work with, now that neither of them is denying their chemistry and I will be interested to see where Jones takes their relationship from here.

Charley is so much of a smart aleck that she rarely treats any relationship or injury seriously, which I find frustrating. I love the long suffering Cookie, Uncle Bob, Angel, even Artemis the ghost hound. What I'd really love to see is them becoming more fully rounded characters, able to get a bit more respect for Ms. Davidson. I’d also like to know who Mr. Wong is. Well, one can't have everything!





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The Rise of Endymion / Dan Simmons

The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Choose again.

A wonderful conclusion to a universe-wide saga, dealing with vast themes. The nature of mortality/immortality, the nature of religion, the necessity of freedom of choice, the joy of evolution. Really big stuff that it's difficult to talk about.

I read a lot and I don't often cry, but I cried often during the closing chapters of this novel. After four books, I've become attached to these characters, this universe. But I preferred that to all the panic induced by time spent in the Temple of Hanging Air or in paragliders over the mountains of that planet. I have just enough fear of heights that I nightmare about such things and I got way too involved in those descriptions, causing me to set the book aside frequently to let my heart rate & breathing subside.

I think the biggest idea that I come away from this novel with is that life requires change. We need our finite lifespans in order to appreciate what we have. Just like we need unhappiness to let us enjoy happiness or contentment when we experience them. People need choices to feel fulfilled, choice about religion (or the lack thereof), choice about work, choice about who we spend our time with.

Once again, I am impressed with Simmons' range of knowledge, this time including climbing technique, hang gliding, Buddhism, and poetry, among other things. I know that other Simmons books are going to find their way onto my TBR in the future. In the meantime, let's learn the languages of the living and the dead and hear the music of the spheres.

Book number 379 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Touch the Dark / Karen Chance

Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Just my thing, a good old urban fantasy, with ghosts, vampires, and strange psychic powers. Like all good UF heroines, Cassie is an orphan with unusual powers. Raised in a vampire “court" by a gangster, she has a much different view of the world than most young women, call it extreme pragmatism. Her talent to see ghosts, communicate with them, and obtain their co-operation, gives her a chance to escape her situation, but she is unsurprised when she receives a warning that her life is in danger.

This author belongs to the “vampires are gorgeous & desirable" camp, and Cassie is tempted by Mircea, who is a relative of Dracula's. If I have one complaint, it is that too many of the vampires are well known historical figures. It smacks of past life regression, where everyone seems to think that they were Cleopatra or Henry VIII, not a lady’s maid or a swineherd. At least her ghostly sidekick, Billy Joe, is a stereotypical gambler, but not a famous one.

There is one long, drawn out sex scene that doesn't resolve anything, during which Cassie negotiates like a pro. You have to admire a woman who can drive a hard bargain while naked. In the end, she learns certain truths about her parentage, her talents, and her destiny. She is the Chosen One and can't wiggle out of it.

This volume doesn't end on a true cliffhanger, but there are many unresolved issues. I hand it to this author, she wrote a tale that I enjoyed and if I can find the next book in the series, I'll definitely read it.




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Cerulean Sins / Laurell K. Hamilton

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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Another book moved off my shelves! Yay!

I'm kind of unsure why I'm still reading this series, as it has become rather ridiculously complex (except because the books are sitting on my shelves and I feel a strange obligation to read them). There doesn't seem to a supernatural community that Anita Blake doesn't seem to have significant ties to and she seems to be everyone's housemother. One of the things that keeps me going is Anita's admission that she isn't comfortable with her situation and that she's concerned that she might get to that point. Quite a change from the first book when she her biggest worry seemed to be that someone might see her underwear.

Hamilton gives her vampires interesting powers and limitations. The villain of this story is Belle Morte, an extremely old, powerful vampire with a taste for sex and torture. She's determined to show Anita who is boss, exactly the wrong approach to our Vampire Executioner heroine. We also become aware of the source of vampirism, the Gentle Mother, regaining some consciousness and looming in the future as something to be dealt with. Maybe its just me, but I think Belle will meet her comeuppance thinking that she will be able to manipulate the Mother. (Shades of Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned).

I think the author is also pointing out how prudish & straight-laced North American culture is and that it is possible to love multiple people. Anita started out with those standards and has changed a lot in 11 books, although she still has her hang-ups. At least she recognizes her issues for what they are and is reconsidering her position.

Despite Hamilton's interest in sexual politics, I feel she writes best when pursuing Anita's work life. One of the best aspects of this installment is that Anita has returned to work, once again raising zombies and consulting for the police on supernatural crime scenes. Those are the more interesting aspects of her life in my opinion, so I'm glad to see Dolph & Zerbrowski again, even if Dolph seems to have gone off the deep end. I would definitely prefer more zombies and murder investigations, things that make Anita use her brains & talents plus show her as a competent professional.

Etiquette and Espionage / Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Well, you couldn't get much different from Jane Eyre if you tried. Yes, Mademoiselle Geraldine's finishing school is a boarding school, its denizens are young women, and some of them (i.e. our heroine, Sophronia) have been sent by despairing mothers, but this is like no other finishing school. Yes, they learn table manners, but also how to fight with knives (and sew hiding spots for those knives in their skirts). The proper technique for the courtesy and how to somersault without mussing one's hair or disrupting one's dress. How to budget for a meal, including necessary poisons, and how to only poison particular people at your table.

Sophronia has never before been interested in etiquette or clothes, until they are presented as tools of espionage. She is unsure how her mother picked this school, as she is sure her mother is ignorant of how eminently suitable it is for her daughter. For Sophronia is a covert recruit, chosen by the school rather than deliberately sent by her family.

A wonderful first book in this series, I can hardly wait to continue with it. If you have read Carriger's previous Soulless series, you may be pleased to know that you will meet a very young Genevieve here, already cross-dressing, inventing, and dimpling delightfully. There are other links to the earlier series which also made me smile.

If you enjoy this book, I think you might also like Grave Mercy (and vice versa)



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Borrower of the Night / Elizabeth Peters

Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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I chose this book for the International Woman of Mystery tile of my Halloween Bingo card. I had a memory lapse, thinking that she was a British author, but of course she is American. However, I'm Canadian and require a passport to enter the USA, which to me is the definition of international. I also chose it because it was sitting on my home shelves and it's one of my goals to move many of these books back to the used book store asap.

This series has almost as much potential as Peters' Amelia Peacock series which is delightful and humorous. I confess a somewhat greater fondness for Amelia and her Victorian setting, but this one could grow on me. Truly, it was a great choice for the Halloween event this year. It had ghostly appearances, séances, hidden passage ways, poisons, dark crypts, cemeteries at midnight, and don't forget the murderer!

There is also the role of our heroine, Vicky Bliss, an academic with both brains and mad research skills. Having worked on a university campus for my entire career, I have a soft spot for this kind of character. Especially since I was a history major and have a bit of a penchant for research myself.

I have the second book of this series teed up and ready to go, as my choice for the Full Moon square. I'm looking forward to it.




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13 Bullets / David Wellington

13 Bullets by David Wellington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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This book filled the 13 square of my Halloween Bingo card, but it could have counted just as well for the Vampires square. These are not the elegant, wealthy vampires of Anne Rice, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, or Charlaine Harris. No one in their right mind would want to be one of these creatures: translucently white, bald, toothy, with red eyes and misshapen ears. Living in squalor, hiding from humanity until they need to feed. And contrary to other mythos, these vamps need more blood, not less as they age.

Laura Caxton is an unlikely main character. In fact, she can't figure out why the Special Deputy from the Marshal’s office has chosen a lowly highway patrol officer as his assistant. She's been beaten down by the misogyny of the male officers in her department and longs to spend more time at home with her girlfriend and her rescue greyhounds. The reason that she's involved won't come clear until the book's end.

A lot of the action takes place at night, of course, due to the nocturnal habits of the vampires. But little of it takes place in towns or cities. The author instead gives us remote rural locations where help is not to be found and back-up is a long time coming. The feeling of being abandoned to your own devices against overwhelming odds gave me the cold chills. Not to mention that it is set in the fall, when temperatures are dropping and daylight is decreasing. Brrr!

I am only a recent convert to horror literature and my tendency still is to peek through my fingers during the parts that I find scary. And I'm a chicken, so I find my imagination gets away on me frequently and I probably cringe where seasoned horror aficionados would be gleeful. This was definitely one of my “read only during daylight" books.




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A Murderous Relation / Deanna Raybourn

A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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I do love Veronica Speedwell and her Victorian adventures! Raybourn has a way of playing with the facts (which she has obviously researched well) that makes some Victorian restrictions seem merely charming and some of them rather sexy, while not deviating from reality. It's a case of needing to know the rules in order to break them effectively.

The author has also learned the important lesson that anticipation is at least half the fun of a romantic relationship. Although Veronica and Stoker had agreed at the end of the last book to become lovers, Raybourn has set out immediately to put impediments in place to prolong the agony. Well done!

A note at book's end indicates that Raybourn has also read The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper and she has used this knowledge to good effect in this volume. The Ripper story is peripheral to this story, but deftly used.

I suppose that this could be described as urban fantasy if one stretched that category a bit uncomfortably. Veronica is a smart, brave young woman of unusual ancestry. She uses her wits and bravado to get out of the difficulties that she finds herself in. Plus, she is accumulating a circle of friends like any good UF heroine to support her in her adventures. This gives her qualms from time to time, wondering if she has lost her independence. All in all, I adore this series just as much as my favourite urban fantasy series and I dread it coming to an end.

I paused several times during reading this novel to keep it from passing too quickly, but I am still left now with a year to wait for An Unexpected Peril. I must see if I can fit in a reread of the series right before the next book comes out.





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The Path of Daggers / Robert Jordan

The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Robert Jordan really believed in drawing out a story! Here I am, just finished book 8 of this series, just past the halfway mark through the tale. It makes me a bit weary, honestly, knowing that I still have six thick volumes ahead of me before things are resolved.

In this fantasy world, men & women believe that clear communication is impossible. Everyone seems to completely lose the ability to think when they fall in love. And people do fall in love, despite the hostility between the sexes. It makes me wonder what Jordan's marriage was like!

I'm used to backstabbing and double crossing in fantasy fiction, but usually the perpetrators have better reasons than these folks seem to. Its unclear what many of them seek to achieve. It's fascinating (like a car accident at the side of the road) to watch Egwene assert herself as the Amerlyn Seat, to wonder what will become of Elaida the pretender to that office, the state of various factions of Aes Sedai, Elayne's arrival in Camelin to claim her throne, and the alliance with the Windfinder women (and the team which used the Bowl of Winds). And that's not even mentioning what's happening with the men in the book!

This was a very female-centric book, staying largely focused on the many, many women involved in this tale, with short diversions to look in on Perrin and Rand. You would never guess Rand's central role from this installment! Over 600 pages, and we didn't get a sniff of what Mat is doing either.

Once again, I am left at the end of this novel with enough unresolved story lines that continuing is unquestionable. Despite the feeling that reading it was like wading through molasses! On to book 9 next year!

Book number 378 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Miss Marple / Agatha Christie

Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

People always ask, “Poirot or Marple?” I wonder why I have to choose. I like them both very much, but I may have just a teensy bit more love for Miss Jane Marple. She may be a bit fusty & musty in her very proper habits, but she's sharp as a tack (as some forget just before she administers a corrective). In fact, she very carefully camouflages herself through talking in somewhat circular patterns and declaring that she's “not clever.” Perhaps not, but she is certainly shrewd. And as she observes regularly, human nature is consistent. People get themselves into the same peccadilloes in big cities and tiny villages. As someone pronounced to me once, you can change companies, but you'll find the same people in the new office, just with different names.

Christie writes decent short stories, but I have to say that I prefer her novels. They just give more room to maneuver, allowing the reader to enjoy her characters more effectively.



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Bone Black / Carol Rose GoldenEagle

Bone Black by Carol Rose GoldenEagle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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I'm awarding this book three pumpkins for the time being, but I'll be thinking about it for a while and that rating may go up. I have to say that I have never read a book like it ever before. The chapters were very short, which was what kept me moving. I would check ahead and see that it was only 4 or 5 pages to the next break, and think “Oh, I can manage that" and on I'd go.

The subject matter reflects one of the real concerns in modern Canadian society: Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women. There are so many of them and their families have very little luck getting white male police forces to pay attention to the issue. Wren is surprised that the disappearances of white men in her community causes so little disturbance, almost as little as her sister's abduction.

It's also helpful to know that bone black is a pottery glazing technique, using bone ash to create a black glaze. Wren has a very unique way of obtaining the bones for her glazes! The disappearance of her sister, Raven, plus some past violence in Wren's own life, combine to set her on the path of vengeance.

This author has a unique voice in her writing, too. Somehow it was both removed and intimate. I had the feeling that I was listening to a story told in the oral tradition that just happened to be transcribed into print. The supernatural elements are treated very matter-of-factly, nothing to see here folks, move along. The least believable part of the novel for me was the relationship between Wren and her husband, Lord. Somehow it was just too perfect, too unblemished, to be real.

For me, the psychological aspect was waiting to see if Wren's deeds would be discovered. Or was this all revenge fantasy that only happened in her imagination? Was she really an Aboriginal female version of Dexter? As I said at the beginning, this book will be on my mind for some time to come.




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The Sign of Four / Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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Lucky Sherlock Holmes, with Watson as a roommate he has his own supervised consumption site! And how much more I appreciated the story this time around.

I just finished reading The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, from which I learned so much about the lives of the working class and the poor in Victorian society. It gave me a new perspective on the Holmes & Watson relationship. Watson is just home from Afghanistan, wounded, probably watching his money carefully and being able to share lodging with Holmes is keeping him from far worse situations. When Mary Marston comes to them, she is also living in a rooming house and she is fortunate enough to afford a decent one with a landlady who is a friend as well. When Holmes disguises himself as an old sailor, Jones compliments him on his “workhouse cough.” Illness was almost ubiquitous among the folk who had to accept a place in the workhouses, where people had a roof over their heads but were fed barely edible food, had to deal with verminous beds, had no privacy to speak of, and then had to perform hard labour for the privilege. I was blind to all these details when I first read this tale.

The bargain between Small and the three Sikhs reminded me in some ways of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, despite the fact that it is Indians who come to England in that book in order to recover the moonstone of the title. Doyle strangely gives his characters Muslim first names and generally seems to muddle Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu details (and Holmes recognizes an Andaman Islander but doesn't blink at these inconsistencies, so they must have been common at the time).

It also made me smile that many of us gripe about “instalove" in modern books, but here we have John Watson professing his undying love to Mary Marston within a few days of meeting her, having held her hand briefly. I guess Doyle had no idea how many adventures that he would write for these two men, so why delay in marrying Watson off. Mind you, as a Victorian man, being married wouldn't have curtailed his freedom in any way, so the marriage wouldn't interfere with plot tension.

At least Mary got a few pearls out of the deal before the vindictive Small cast the remaining treasure into the Thames! The iron box remained as the representative of the sought after relic.



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