Right Ho, Jeeves / P.G.Wodehouse

 

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wodehouse is a masterful writer. You don't always notice it, as he writes Bertie Wooster as a bit of an idiot, but even B. Wooster has a way with the words! Obviously, playing with English vocabulary was great fun for the man.

I rarely laugh out loud when reading, but I confess that Gussie and his newt lore got me giggling on a couple of occasions. Of course, as usual, Bertie manages to mess up every situation that he gets involved in. During the course of this book, that would include two engagements, an academic prize presentation, the survival of a women's magazine, plus the retention of the fabulous French chef, Anatole.

If one had a small complaint, it would be that the general plot is somewhat repetitious—Jeeves solves all the problems, Bertie takes the blame/is the butt of the joke, but all is well because some fate worse than death, i.e. engagement, has been averted.



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The Skeleton in the Closet / Angie Fox

 

The Skeleton in the Closet by Angie Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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I really enjoyed this second installment of the Southern Ghost Hunter series. I really like the main character, Verity, and her ghostly partner in crime, Frankie. He's a gangster that she accidentally bound to her property when she dumped his ashes in her flower bed and watered them in. He wants to go wandering, looking for a good card game and maybe a ghostly dame or two, but he can't roam any farther than her driveway unless Verity hauls his urn to their destination.

Their adventures alternate between trying to set Frankie free and trying to solve mysteries of their small town of Sugarland. The investigative portion of these activities is often aided by Sheriff Ellis Wydell, Verity's maybe-boyfriend who is also brother to the man she almost married. The one who cheated on her and made a pass at her sister and who shafted her with the bills for the wedding that didn't happen.

Having sold everything she possibly can to hopefully hold onto her house, Verity hopes to regain her good standing in the small community, the social scene of which is lorded over by her almost mother-in-law. Verity must be careful not to reveal her ability to communicate with ghosts or nothing she can do will save her reputation.

Fox has built in a clever rivalry between Ellis and his brother, the charming cad Beau. The budding romance between Verity and Ellis is mirrored by a new relationship between two ghosts who play a large part in this adventure. They are, after all, still human although they are dead, just not gone.

I paid my own cash for this book and I think I'm willing to pay for book three as well.




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The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre

 

The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre by Robert Morrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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I have long wanted to read John Polidori's tale, The Vampyre, as it dates from very early in the literature of that creature and this year's Halloween Bingo was an excellent excuse. I am an enthusiastic consumer of vampire fiction and it was rather like wanting to visit the ancestral home. I hadn't realized that writers have been exploring this mythos since the 17th century and the trend shows little sign of giving up yet. Interestingly, the tale contains echoes of old fairy tales, with the main character, Aubrey, forbidden to speak what he knows for a year and a day. Of course disaster occurs on the last day before this restriction is finished.

The other tales were of less interest to me, although they had their moments. The horror in them derives from issues that all of us can recognize: illness, misfortune, getting mixed up with the wrong people, making an awful life changing mistake, or losing a cherished loved one. It was particularly interesting in these days of covid-19 to read Some Terrible Letters From Scotland by James Hogg about a cholera epidemic of the time. It seems there will always be those among us who refuse to believe that they can be laid low by disease. It seems to me they had more excuse then, without the knowledge of bacteria and viruses that we have now.

I also wonder if the Sheridan Le Fanu story, about an uncle oppressing his orphaned niece was a practice piece which eventually became the novel Uncle Silas.

If you have no patience for old-timey writing, I would advise you to give this short volume a miss. Especially The Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman, which was somewhat difficult to decipher in spots, but is apparently based on a true story. That fact upped the horror ante for me. If you are interested in the historical roots of the horror genre, this may be a book you are looking for. Sporting vampires, ghosts, curses, and gothic shenanigans, this is a perfect choice for Halloween Bingo.




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The Red Heron / Karen Dudley

 

The Red Heron by Karen Dudley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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First things first: this author is my friend. We volunteered together many years ago. However, if I didn't honestly enjoy her books I would read them surreptitiously and slink off without leaving a review. Here's the thing, I really do enjoy her writing.

This was another re-read for me—I first read it back when it was first published. I remember those good old days when Calgary had a huge bookstore downtown and I went to hear Karen do a reading from this novel. Her inscription on the title page brought it all back to me. But if possible, I remembered even fewer plot details of this second book than I did of the first.

You know, I got thinking about Steve Burrows' Birder Murder mysteries while I was wending my way through this book. How Burrows went for a policeman as a main character where Karen chose an amateur sleuth. But both main characters spend a fair amount of time outdoors to do their investigations and both would rather be birding. The joy of both series for me is the solid bird knowledge exhibited by the authors. (Quite a contrast to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, which most often leaves me muttering and spluttering about the inaccuracies.)

If you didn't share a volunteer workplace with the author, many of the character names in this volume wouldn't mean anything to you, but I got a lot of warm fuzzies reading friends' names in substantial roles. Plus I was reminded of several people who hadn't crossed my mind for decades! (George, I wonder where you are?) I seem to recall Karen revealing at one point that she used the names of those who ticked her off as the names of the murder victims. I wonder which Richard and Melanie won that honour here?

A very enjoyable stroll down memory lane.




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Hoot to Kill / Karen Dudley

 

Hoot to Kill by Karen Dudley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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First things first: this author is my friend. We volunteered together many years ago. However, if I didn't honestly enjoy her books I would read them surreptitiously and slink off without leaving a review. Here's the thing, I really do enjoy her writing.

I like Robyn Devara as a main character, her environmental awareness and her lack of luck in love. We also get a glimpse into her family dynamics, which have some troubles. I often struggle with humour in books, but I get Karen's sense of humour, possibly because I know her and can hear her voice in my head as I read. For example, Robyn has a cat named Guido, named after an unfaithful ex-boyfriend and subsequently neutered. She's not above some symbolic revenge!

By taking this mystery to a small B.C. town, Dudley is following the example of Dame Agatha Christie in using a small community as a setting. It's so much easier to write a good mystery in a small group of known quantities. She also sets up the character of Jaime Cardinal as the equivalent of Miss Marple, the villager who knows everyone and who can fill in the blanks for Robin and her coworker (and love interest) Kelt. (This interest in romance is in good gothic mystery/romance form.)

I've read this book before, back when it was first published (1998) and I remembered only bits and pieces, so it was once again a good read. I'm glad I bought all four books featuring Robin. I'm going to enjoy this re-read cycle.




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Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men / Molly Harper

 

Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2020 RE-READ

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I’m upgrading my evaluation of this book to a full, happy four stars. It has helped me regain my joy in reading this month. When I've turned reading into a job instead of a joy, it's time to break out the urban fantasy!

I adore Molly Harper's sense of humour. I love a snarky, smart-ass main character and with Jane Jameson I get that in spades. Jane is just too intrinsically good to make a scary vampire. She's still mostly a neurotic, well read children's librarian with a cadre of fun friends. Zeb, the kindergarten teacher who is marrying Jolene, a werewolf with a large, overbearing family. Jane's boyfriend, Gabriel, who I like much more during this second reading. His vampire frenemy, Dick, who earns a dodgy living but loves the ladies. Andrea, human blood donor, who is being pursued by tricky Dick. Aunt Jettie, ghost in Jane's old Southern home. Mr. Wainwright, Jane's boss at the occult bookstore.

Jane may be a trifle more obsessive about relationships than I would like her to be, but I really wouldn't change her. After all her obsessiveness is one of her charms. She has made me into a happy reader once again. Thank you, Jane, and thank you Molly Harper. 💜



ORIGINAL REVIEW

I would actually rate book two of the Jane Jameson series as a 3.5 star, rather than four star, if I had the choice. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as book 1. Still a very enjoyable read and came very close to being as much fun as the first book.

I have to laugh at Jane’s mother and grandmother who both seem to believe that marriage and children are the only worthwhile things in a woman’s life. I’ve had to put up with a fair bit of that attitude myself and I love that Jane’s not taking it sitting down. On this note, I loved the Titanic themed wedding planned by Jolene, Zeb’s fiancée. I only hope that the marriage doesn’t suffer the same fate as the ship.

I also appreciate the circle of friends that Jane is building (view spoiler)[but did her bookstore boss really have to die so soon? (hide spoiler)] I get a kick of out of her vampire buddy Dick Cheney (much less scary that the politician) and I have a hunch that there are more werewolves in Jane’s future. Looking forward to some more information on Gabriel, who is acting entirely too much like human males do with his disappearing and refusal to talk about certain subjects, like where he’s been. Frankly, Dick may be the one on the sketchy side of the law, but he is seeming like the more honest guy.

Unfortunately, the “mystery” of what is wrong with her BFF Zeb is overly transparent and Jane’s brainy-girl status is threatened by not putting the pieces together quicker. I’m still enjoying the snarky dialog, but it will get tiring in the third book if the plot doesn’t move along a little quicker.

Still, a very cute series. My problem may be that I’ve read books 1 & 2 too close together. I’ve got a little late summer urban fantasy extravaganza planned, but I’ll leave Harper’s books out of that mix for the time being. I really want to keep on enjoying them.

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Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs / Molly Harper

 

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2020 UPDATE:

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It's a sign of how much I enjoyed the Jane Jameson books that I purchased my own copies during these pandemic times. My public library has proven unreliable at maintaining holdings of my favourite books, so I ordered them through a local independent bookstore to help them through a difficult time.

And you know, I still loved Jane this time through. I liked Gabriel a little better this time around and Richard (Dick) Cheney still cracked me up. He and Jane doing their “Dick and Jane" routine. This was just what I needed to save me from reading slump hell. It was better than an antidepressant.

Harper knows how to make me smile.




ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Many of you who read my reviews regularly know that I am a devotee of urban fantasy and that I work in a library. The result of these two facts? When I read that there was an urban fantasy series that featured an unemployed children’s librarian who becomes a vampire, I absolutely had to give it a try! And I found it quite entertaining, too.

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs owes quite a debt to the Sookie Stackhouse series, I think. Like Harris’ series, this one is set in a small town in the Southern States. As in the Sookie books, vampires have recently come out of the coffin (now that there is a source of artificial blood available) and they have a rather hazy and somewhat threatening hierarchy that they are not over-fond of sharing. Quite quickly, we also have a werewolf showing up, so other supernatural people are obviously going to feature in this series too. Also, Jane, the heroine of this series, begins as a relatively sexually inexperienced woman, similar to the virginal Ms. Stackhouse. Several bad experiences have persuaded Jane to just focus on her career and put relationships on hold.

This is where she parts from the Sookie mold, however, because Jane is a well-educated, well-read, feisty and sassy heroine. Her smart cracks remind me much more of Seanan McGuire’s writing (both Toby in the October Day series and Verity Price in the InCryptid series). Once she becomes a vampire, Jane acquires the ability to see ghosts, à la Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson. And her Aunt Jettie’s ghost has a number of wise and hilarious things to say.

I like that the author doesn’t take the whole thing too seriously, but I still completely comprehend her sense of humour. Perhaps because Jane has a tendency to quote Dr. Seuss and obsesses over organizing book shelves, I like her a great deal. It will also be interesting to see Jane continue to deal with her overbearing Southern mama. So far, Harper is following the "no female friends" pattern that most urban fantasy seems to adhere to--I'd be thrilled if Jane acquired a woman friend in the next installment.

So, yeah, I’ve found another series that I’ll be working my way through as I have time. Yay?

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