Diamond Mask / Julian May

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Each time I read this series, I see entirely different things and I wonder how I missed them before. It's been 5 years since I last read this volume and it was almost like it was the first time, I had forgotten so much. This time through, I found myself much more impatient with May's psychobabble—all the jargon invented for her mentally talented main characters. I was painfully aware of how much of it there was. I was also a little wearied by all the geological detail in the final chapters.

The main story (at least to my mind) involves the maturation of both Jack and Dorothea, with the added bonus of their struggle against Fury and Hydra. There is an awful lot of political padding around it, though, something I was less inclined to tolerate this reading. I note my previous experience was in 2020, during the Covid lockdown—what else did I have to occupy my time? If I read this series again (which I suspect is a strong possibility), who knows how I will feel or what I will fixate on? May certainly writes a convoluted tale. And then drops a bomb in the last sentence.

I will attempt to keep up with my resolve to read Magnificat this month, to finish up this rereading cycle. It also seems to be largely purged from my memory banks, so I will go into it with a clean slate. As for this book, I would move my rating down to 3.5 stars for this run through.

Mindful of Murder / Susan Juby

 

4 out of 5 stars 

***2025 Summer: Murder Across Canada***

British Columbia

This book is an intriguing mixture of the serious and the hilarious. Susan Juby obviously has a well developed sense of humour, which she deploys just enough. Her characters are wonderful, very reminiscent of Thomas King's in The Back of the Turtle or Sufferance. To my way of thinking, that is a huge compliment.

Our Buddhist butler main character, Helen Thorpe, is trying not to be unhappy about her current task. Her friend and former employer, Edna, had asked her to oversee a kind of test for Edna's younger relatives to see which one would be best suited to take on the management of her rather eccentric lodge after Edna's death. Helen is comforted by two of her butler classmates who insist on helping her.

The characters who really stand out are the young man that Helen hires locally as an assistant (Nigel) and Edna's great nieces and nephews, who are all seemingly entitled assholes, each in their own obnoxious way. They are deliciously horrible, but we get to know them better along with Helen, as she guides them through the classes they must take: flower arranging, dance, and meditation.

Helen has questions about Edna's death. The police have ruled it suicide, which is completely unlike the Edna that Helen knew. But Helen would prefer to leave the investigation to the professionals, at least until she has accumulated enough doubts to truly concern her.

It's wonderful to watch the three close butler friends work supportively together, as Nigel says, “Butlering the shit out of everything.” I also enjoyed Nigel's evolution from a useless young man to a guy with aspirations. Of course I appreciated watching Helen's reluctant but thorough investigation. Juby chose a perfect perpetrator in my opinion. I will definitely read more of Helen Thorpe's adventure.

Deadly Appearances / Gail Bowen

 

4+ out of 5 stars 

***2025 Summer: Murder Across Canada***

Saskatchewan

I have to hand it to Gail Bowen, she writes a great mystery. I love her amateur investigator, Joanne Kilbourn, a widow who is still re-finding her footing in the world. Normally, I avoid books that centre on politics, but I was drawn into this one despite myself. The opening chapter plunged me into the circumstances surrounding the death of a newly selected party leader and the aftermath. I was hooked because the human relationships predominated, not the political ones. The author very carefully avoids naming the party that Joanne has worked for, although one comment about a past Prime Minister pretty much nailed her party affiliation for me. I wonder if I'm right?

When a politician is murdered, there are a plethora of suspects. This was a refreshing mystery in large part because it didn't follow the police investigation. Joanne has an interview with the detective in charge early in the novel, but doesn't hare off to conduct her own research, despite the fact that she is a suspect. Instead, she deals with the death of her friend, her daughter moving out to go to university, friends moving away, and finding a new focus for her energy and her life. I find this much more believable than running out to “find the murderer,“ as happens in so many mysteries. What Joanne does decide is to write a biography of her friend—she is researching his life, not his death.

Bowen gets the Prairie details just right, knowing that Saskatchewan residents are fondly/dismissively called “stubble jumpers,” the prevalence and influence of Bible colleges, and the prominence of Ukrainian-Canadians in Western Canada. She has lived and taught in Saskatchewan long enough to know. If her prose is any indication, she is an awesome teacher and a woman who would be fascinating to have coffee with.

This is a riveting mystery, extremely well written and it blew me away. There are many more books in the series and I wouldn't be surprised if book two finds its way into my reading queue soon. If you like mysteries, I highly recommend it.

And Then Is Heard No More / Raye Anderson

 

***2025 Summer: Murder Across Canada***

Manitoba

3.6 out of 5 stars

It's a bit odd to be reading a book about winter in cold, snowy Winnipeg while seeing a beautiful summer day outside my Calgary window. I may not live in Manitoba, but any Canadian prairie dweller will recognize the weather that RCMP officer Roxanne Calloway has to deal with: icy streets, low temperatures, blinding snow, and impassable roads.

The old adage says to write what you know and Anderson knows Manitoba and theatre, so a mystery set in a professional theatre company in Winnipeg was a natural fit. My library didn't have the first book featuring Roxanne, so I can only judge by its description—the first murder victim in that novel is part of the local music scene. Obviously the arts are a subject of expertise for the author.

Anderson also makes use of issues that we all know plague our law enforcement agencies, like rampant sexism, among other biases, and the general belief of some officers that they are somehow exempt from the law that they are supposed to enforce. When a second murder occurs within Winnipeg city limits, Roxanne gets saddled with Cooper Jenkins, a city cop, who calls her Foxy Roxy, contradicts her at every turn, assumes he's in charge of the investigation, and eventually gets brained by a woman that he has been interrogating a little too aggressively. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

All in all, I felt the writing was solid. Anderson didn't waste words, she got right to it. She didn't over explain, just let the reader see what Roxanne saw. She planted believable red herrings, gave us a complicated plot, and wrapped things up while still leaving some questions in my mind. I love that—I don't want everything tied up neatly with a bow on top. Life isn't like that. I can't say that I'm desperate to read further in the series, which is just as well, since this is the only book that my library has.

Written on the Dark / Guy Gavriel Kay

 

4.5 out of 5 stars 

Guy Gavriel Kay never disappoints me. I love his alternate history almost as much as his beautiful writing. He has a gift for creating characters that I care passionately about, plus he that unicorn among male authors who can write female characters with depth, emotions and motivations that I recognize. They are certainly not inferior beings, they are powerful in their own ways and realms. They matter and they make their presence felt.

Kay is a poet, so maybe it is natural that the central character, Thierry Villar, is a tavern poet with a quick wit and a sharp tongue. In fact, there are a plethora of poets, some more talented than others. It would be difficult to dislike Thierry, who sometimes speaks when he should be silent, but is generally a humble guy, who doesn't expect to be drawn into the politics of royalty. He is surprised to find that he rather likes several of the city watch, whom he has previously avoided (with good reason).

It becomes obvious why Kay writes alternate history rather than straight historical fiction. He steeps himself in historical research, then changes and bends events in his version of medieval Europe to suit his own purposes. This is a far different version of the Battle of Agincourt—you will barely recognize that event or King Henry V. However, there is a young woman with a sword and a mission that you will identify immediately.

So, why 4.5 instead of 5 stars? Although I was glued to the pages until I reached the conclusion, it didn't quite charm me like previous novels. That is most likely my own mindset right now. A reread in the future may change my mind. The ending, I felt, was a little too neat and tidy, a little too sweet for me. But this novel still ranks in the upper echelon of my regard.

Third Girl / Agatha Christie

 

4 out of 5 stars 

M. Poirot spends a great deal of this book worrying that he is too old. A young woman barges into his house one morning, seeking his help, until she actually meets him. Once she has laid eyes on him, she pronounces him too old to assist her. Thank goodness Poirot has Ariadne Oliver to boost his confidence and get him on the trail of this unidentified young woman, who may have committed a murder.

I had to wonder—Christie was in her mid-seventies when this was published, and I wonder if someone had suggested to her that she was too old to still be writing? Or was she in full self-doubt mode? It has been suggested that her last novels were adversely affected by the onset of dementia and I wonder if decline was on her mind as she penned this novel.

However, I found this book quite up to snuff. I had just begun to catch on to what was going on when all was revealed. I must confess to quite liking the psychiatrist, although I did wonder why he wanted to move to Australia. At any rate, if Christie was fighting with self doubt, I assume that she, like Poirot, came out of this book with self-esteem intact.

June Bug / Mira Grant

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Mira is well on the way now to being the gal I met in November Hunt. Jed is in the scene now, poised to become her friend. Mrs. Berns has weaseled her way into a library assistant job with Mira and is saying and doing the inappropriate things that I love her for. Kennie Rogers is coming up with goofy schemes to try to make money. Plus Mira has met Johnny, although under less than ideal circumstances.

The mystery in this volume wasn't my favourite, but that could be because Mira doesn't have true partners in crime yet. She certainly has her reporter hat that she puts on to justify her curiosity, but she really doesn't have backup. Her dealings with Jason's violence prove that she could use some help, and unlike some main characters of cozy mysteries, Mira realizes it and is appropriately scared. At this point in the series, she's honestly on the edge of propriety herself, wielding a skeleton key, sneaking into hotel rooms, and generally slinking around.

It's interesting to see Mira's relationships and her place in the Battle Lake community evolving. I'm glad that I backtracked to read these early volumes of the series.