The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

I really liked The Sherlockian. Once again, my paperback book club recommended a good one.

In The Sherlockian, Graham Moore brings us a new Sherlock Holmes mystery, but instead of Holmes being the hero we have Arthur Conan Doyle and Harold White. Moore tells us two tales - one of the past and one of the present. In the past, Moore asks what really happened to bring Conan Doyle back to write about Sherlock Holmes after killing him off in "The Final Problem." What brought him back to writing about the detective he was all too happy to kill off? Was it a new mystery he decided to help Scotland Yard solve? In the present, Harold White is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, a Sherlock enthusiast society. At their yearly convention, one of their members has been murdered after he announces he has found the lost Arthur Conan Doyle diary that tells all - why Doyle resurrected Holmes in the first place. Harold takes it upon himself (with a little prodding from one of Doyle's living relatives) to discover why the member was killed and find the diary - the holy grail of sorts to his group. Who killed him? Was it one of his fellow Irregulars? Where did the diary go? What's in it?

Moore really does a nice job of leading the reader through both time lines, flipping back and forth between the two with ease. Doyle and his sidekick Bram Stoker parallel Harold and Sarah in the present day, both drawing on their knowledge of Holmes and how he would solve a mystery so that they can solve theirs. I love Sherlock Holmes, and this way I got one more story, sort of. I really liked Harold the amateur detective. Instead of asking "What would Jesus do?" Harold asks, "What would Sherlock do?" Sort of funny, but it works. I found myself much more interested in how he was going to solve the modern day mystery than Conan Doyle & Stoker in their suffrage/multiple female homicide mystery. It's just cute to imagine this scruffy, nerdy guy pining after his sidekick Sarah and seeking out clues like Sherlock Holmes does. (Even though I will confess to imagining Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock more often than not...)

The Sherlockian is a quick, easy read, one that kept me turning the pages up until the somewhat bittersweet ending. I found it really enjoyable. If you like Sherlock Holmes mysteries, you might give The Sherlockian a whirl.

Rating: 4 1/2 purrs for a very enjoyable just this side of a beach read mystery

Death at Pemberly by P.D. James

I really love P.D. James. I love British mystery writers and she's my favorite right after the good old reliable Agatha Christie. Every time this woman writes a book I scoop it up and devour it, and frankly I am going to be very, very sad when she is no longer a part of this world to keep putting out these devilish, complex mystery stories.

In Death at Pemberly, James decided to bring a murder mystery to the grounds of Mr. & Mrs. Darcy and brings along all of your favorite characters from Pride & Prejudice. Elizabeth and Darcy and happily married with children, Bingley and sister Jane live nearby. Lydia & Wickam are still causing havoc. Even more so as the big Lady Anne's ball in coming up at Pemberly and the Lydia shows up in a panic saying someone's been killed in the woods on the Pemberly grounds. Was it Darcy's worst nightmare - Wickam? Or was Wickam killed? What will Elizabeth & Darcy do now that Lydia is at Pemberly in hysterics? Will Darcy finally have to face Wickham and what he tried to do with Georgina? I won't say because I don't want to spoil the fun.

I'm not really sure she needed to write this. I mean I am just fine with Mr. Dagliesh in her usual works, but Death at Pemberly was an enjoyable little mystery nonetheless. Not quite up to her normal caliber, but I still couldn't put it down. Ms. James incorporates some of the history of the law and legal mores in that time period along with more of the usual etiquette and social expectations you find in an Austen book. Pride & Prejudice is one of my favorite Jane Austen stories, so I enjoyed visiting those characters again, even though this is very much a P. D. James book not a Jane Austen book. There none of the wit of an Austen novel, but there is some of the plotting from a James novel. It's a nice mix all in all, but not one of my favorite P. D. James books. I'd say if you like Austen or you like a good historical mystery, you might enjoy this book. If you are looking for a place to start in the P. D. James canon, I wouldn't start here. I'd start with Cover Her Face or An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

Rating: 4 Purrrs because I can't rate a P. D. James novel any lower. She's just too clever.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is one of my very favorite writers. She writes stories of broken, imperfect people who just don't care that they are broken. They accept that they will never be super models, never find Prince Charming, and probably never be anything but that crazy mix of imperfection that they are. Most of the time, they aren't even what you would call "likable." Even so, she takes all of that and creates a set of characters that you get wrapped up in, despite the fact that you may not like them all that much. To me, that's talent. These aren't lovable Dexter-type characters that make you like them with their hidden hearts of gold. These are people you have a hard time even seeing a glint of shine anywhere, even in their decent moments. Gone Girl is the third book I have read by Ms. Flynn. From page one I was riveted. I could not read it before bed because if I did there was no way I was sleeping before I finished it. I loved the story so much I wanted to drag it out some, chapter at a time. Otherwise it would be too long a wait until her next one and the story would end too soon.

Gone Girl is about Amy and Nick. It's their 5th wedding anniversary, and Nick comes home to find Amy missing and the house a mess. Did someone take her? Did he kill her? The story is broken up into the two viewpoints and time lines, separate books and sections that take you though the first moments of Nick & Amy's relationship all the way to the end. My advice is to not read ahead on those, let the story unfold on its own without any clues. Hear Nick's voice as he discovers Amy gone and hear her voice in her diary pages. Slowly uncover who these two people are to each other, who they were, and where they go. Seriously, it's like peeling an onion,and each layer is full of things you are happy to learn but also wish you didn't know. You start off in the first section with all of these doubts, and every page after that just  brings more doubt, darkness, and twists so that you really don't know where you will end up. I've never been so manipulated when reading a book, well, since Will Lavender's books (his books are what made me add the "mindf*ck" tag to this blog), and I loved every freaking second of it. I want to say more, but I don't want to give anything away. Just know that the Nick & Amy you meet at the beginning are not who you end up with at the end. And seriously, I didn't see it coming. Not by a long shot. But I do think it's one of those imperfect, perfect tales that show no matter how well you think you know someone, or know some one's relationship, you can never truly know what's in their hearts & minds.

I love Gillian Flynn. I love what her amazing brain comes up so much I almost don't want to read her books just so I can read them for the first time. I only wish she could write faster so I could read something new from her every month. 

Rating: 5 Purrrrrs. More Please!!

Taroko Gorge by Daniel Ritari

Taroko Gorge is another one of those books I was lucky enough to get via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers group. There are good things and bad things about this group, and Taroko Gorge is definitely one of those good things. When I read the write up, I thought this sounds like Picnic at Hanging Rock. I love that movie. While Taroko Gorge didn't end up being a retread of Picnic after all, it still ended up being a very worthwhile read. I was surprised that this was a first novel. In fact, when I saw that it was, I lowered my expectations a bit. I shouldn't have. It was quite good.

Taroko Gorge has many narrators, all telling their version of events leading up to and after the disappearance of three Japanese schoolgirls at the Taiwanese state park Taroko Gorge. Did they fall into the gorge, down a hole, were they murdered? You have the two Americans, one a reporter and his photographer who seem to be the last to have seen the girls, the Japanese class rep who had a crush on one of the girls, a girl who lived in their shadow, and the Taiwanese detective who leads the search for the missing girls all telling the story from their perspectives. Where did the girls go? Are they alive or is all hope lost?

I really liked the different voices, the multiple nationalities all dealing with various prejudices and traditions in hopes of doing what is right. It felt very true, well researched, and the mystery kept me interested until the very end. In the end, found or not, everyone will be changed just from being there,waiting to see. It was a nice mix of traditions, how they can lead to prejudice and misunderstanding, and a mystery. The setting was interesting but not quite enough of a character to be the mysterious Hanging Rock. The characters were developed but not overly so. I knew enough in minimal discussion enough to care about them and their actions.

Overall, I liked this book quite a bit. I read it quickly, not because it was overly simple, but because I wanted to find out what was happening next. I wanted to find out about those girls, because in those short few chapters, I cared.

Rating: 4 Purrs for drawing me in and keeping me guessing. For showing the turmoil of teenage life and the human existence. For giving a very good first novel when expected far less.


- Posted using BlogPress from Bruce

The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril by Paul Malmont

A good friend handed this book over to me because he thought with my love of old 40's noir, old time radio programs, and James Ellroy that I would love a book that stars the authors of two of the most popular pulp stories - The Shadow and Doc Savage. He was right.

In The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril, William Gibson writes The Shadow. He's buddies with H.P. Lovecraft, whose strange death spurs the writer to meet the real-life Shadow and it scares him. Gibson and Lester Dent (author of Doc Savage) are in a race to uncover the answer to one of the greatest mysteries and best pulp stories ever told. All sorts of writers appear in the tale, including L. Ron Hubbard and Louis L'Amour. The two authors are rivals and partners as they dig deep into the secrets surrounding Lovecraft's death and the secrets hidden in Chinatown, all culminating in the biggest pulp of all.

It's fun, it's pulpy, it's a fast read with plenty of all that a good pulp fun with quips, crazy characters, and impossible adventures. It was funny without being too campy, when it could have gone over the edge.

Rating: 5 Purrs for something I probably never would have found myself but loved every page of it.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

I have had this book on my shelf for a long while, kept looking at it, picking it up, and then putting it back. I wish I had read it earlier because it was a very fun, witty, surprising read. You really don't know who is telling the truth or who is lying right up until the end, when it throws you for a complete loop.

In Bad Monkeys, Jane Charlotte has been arrested for murder. During her interview, she tells the police she is a member of a secret organization that fights evil. Not crime, but evil. Her job is to get rid of "bad monkeys" AKA irredeemable persons.

The whole book is Jane Charlotte being interviewed by the psych ward doctor, and she walks through her childhood, her first contact with the group, and way the group works. The whole time you don't know if she is lying or telling the truth or if she is just down-right crazy.

The book is one that really didn't give anything away. It kept me guessing the entire time. It made me laugh at the wit (the Catering department sets up ops for Jane). If you like the style of Jasper Fforde but with a little darker twist, you would like this one.

Rating: 5 Purrs for a book I am going to recommend over & over

Sweetheart & Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

Mmmm, mmm. I love me some serial killer fiction. I read Chelsea Cain's debut novel, Heartsick, pretty much right after it came out but then left Sweetheart on the shelf for forever until the 3rd in the series, Evil at Heart, showed up. Then I tore through the 2nd and 3rd books pretty quickly (but honestly, that's partly because of enjoying the story so much and partially because they were pretty easy reads).

In Sweetheart, Archie is back to investigate the murder or accidental death of a state senator and a newspaper man, all the while trying but not really trying to keep Gretchen Lowell out of his head and at bay. At the end, Gretchen escapes, and no one is safe.

In Evil at Heart, Gretchen is free and Archie is in a mental institution. Someone starts killing in Gretchen Lowell's style, and the police are on Archie to investigate. (He's sort of a hero, and Gretchen is a media darling at this point.) Is it Gretchen or is it a copycat? How does Archie's past play into it? Will they catch Gretchen Lowell and will it kill Archie to do so?

If you can't tell, I really liked the third book better than the second, although I liked them both quite a bit. The second felt like it went a little fast and felt a little thin on plot, while the third was better because Gretchen was there, but there was this interesting connection between Archie and the new murders that kept my interest. The speech the writer gives in the newspaper room is just perfect. I wanted to fist pump. The end was one I couldn't put down.

If you like serial killer fiction, then you should check out The Beauty Killer series. It's like the Clarice and Lecter relationship but with a female serial killer and male cop.

Rating: 4 Purrs - I can't wait for the next one.

Perfume: The Story of a Murder by Patrick Suskind

I bought this book because I heard about the movie and it sounded very interesting. I ended up reading it very quickly, as it was very, very engrossing. Of course, it is a story about a serial killer, which if you know me makes complete sense as to why I would really enjoy it .

Perfume is about Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a child born in the filth of 18th-century Paris. He has no scent of his own, but he has an amazing nose and files every scent away in his head. He decides to apprentice to a perfumer so he can learn to capture scent. Specifically, the scents of certain young girls. Funny how those young girls mostly have red hair, are beautiful, and are virgins.

It's a creepy subject, but the character is just as good as Hannibal Lecter, except instead of cannibalism, this guy just wants to keep your smell around, which you know actually seems a wee bit creepier.

The book was beautifully written, with some very vivid imagery. The movie totally did the book justice, and honestly I wasn't sure if it would be able to do so. I liked them both, quite a bit.

Rating: 4 1/2 Purrs

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

“Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs.”

This review should probably start with if you haven’t read Gillian Flynn, then shame on you. Now after saying that, I must put in a caveat. If dark, moody, borderline icky plots disturb you, maybe you should avoid reading her. Because Dark Places is pretty much what this book is. It’s a dark place, alright.

Libby Day was 7 when her brother murdered her entire family with an axe and a shot gun. She ran from the killer and survived. Now, after 25 years, a group called The Kill Club wants to pay her for her memories, her family heirlooms, and her help in proving that the testimony she gave when she was 7 years old was wrong. They believe her brother did not kill her family, and they want her help proving it. Libby agrees, especially since they will pay her, and her trust fund is running out. She can’t get a job and she doesn’t want one, so why not? Did her brother kill her family? Was it her alcoholic father? Was it someone else?

Libby is a broken, hurting woman, even if she doesn’t want to truly admit it to herself. Gillian Flynn seems to specialize in these types of characters, and she does a good job creating them. Libby grows, and I enjoyed watching her grow without losing who she was in the beginning.
The story flows from present day, following Libby as she uncovers the truth about her family, piece by piece, and into various chapters narrated by Libby’s mother and brother in the days leading up to the murders. You learn the truth as Libby does, and see it from both sides: Libby as she uncovers it and from the involved actors as well. It’s a very effective way to narrate the story. It’s not new, but I liked it.

Like I said before, Gillian Flynn is one of my new favorite authors. Sharp Objects blew me away. Dark Places definitely did not disappoint. This woman cannot write fast enough for me.

Rating: 5 Purrs for writing the best novel I have read in a while. It kept me engrossed and turning the pages for hours.

The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay

My friend Matt recommended I read this book because he knows I love a good mystery. What could make a better mystery than a main character that can’t even remember what he is supposed to be investigating or who asked him to investigate?

In The Little Sleep, main character Mark Genevich is a PI. A narcoleptic PI. One who falls asleep mid-conversation. One who can’t tell reality from the hallucinations he suffers. He’s a guy who is pretty certain he’s been hired to investigate these nudie pictures that ended up on his desk, but for the life of him can’t remember who asked him to investigate or really even why. He thinks at first that the pictures were brought to him by a prominent DA’s daughter, Jennifer Times, because the photos look a bit like her, but he soon finds out that investigating something “real,” something not a divorce case is going to be more difficult than he imagined, especially when you can’t tell for sure if what you are seeing is real or not. Who really asked him to investigate? Who is actually in the pictures? Is there even a case at all or is it just Mark’s imagination?

I really liked this book. It did feel uneven in parts, but it is a first novel so it didn’t bother me that much. I liked how the plot kept you guessing, mostly because like Mark you aren’t sure what you are reading is real or hallucination. Some of the solution I had figured out by the end, but some of the bigger points I hadn’t. This I like: a mystery that keeps you guessing, quirky characters (but not so quirky they feel ridiculous), and homage to hard-boiled detective noir. If this sounds interesting to you give The Little Sleep a read. I can’t wait to see what else Paul Tremblay comes up with in his next novel. I will definitely pick it up and give it a try.

Rating: 4 Purrs for a sympathetic character who despite the odds stacked against him, finds out the truth without losing his snarky edge

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

I will admit to finding Patricia Highsmith only after The Talented Mr. Ripley became a movie, but I have been slowly but steadily buying her books used very since. Strangers on a Train is her first novel, and it is a remarkable one. Most first novels you read end up being iffy, with promise but that certain tinge of not quite polished prose. Strangers on a Train had so little of that feel that I struggle to even remember it. Mr. Hitchcock liked it so much he felt compelled to make a movie out of it and we know Hitch knows his suspense.

In SoaT, Guy is just a guy (heh) who would really like to get a divorce from his poorly chosen first marriage so he can marry the sweet, rich girl of his dreams. (He really loves her; it's not a money thing.) He is taking the train back to his hometown to finally file the papers, and on this trip he meets Buddy, a spoiled rich kid who has it all but thinks his father is in between him and happiness. Buddy invites Guy back to his train compartment to have dinner and a drink, and Guy reluctantly accepts. It's probably the worst decision he ever made. You see, Buddy is a sociopath who feels he has hatched the fool-proof plan for murder. He tells Guy you kill my dad, and I will kill your medlesome wife. No one will ever know. It'll be great. Guy is horrified, and what follows is one of the tautest thrillers I have read.

Highsmith really knows how to show a man completely dissolve all of himself. She shows him lose everything that is pure and hopeful, and makes it so real you know it could happen to you. That's why I love her work. The heroes in her stories aren't perfect; they are everyman. You could be there; you could be that person, clinging desperately to sanity and hope but all the while knowing it is over. She starts that path in Strangers on a Train. It is an excellent one.

Rating: 5 Purrs for a brilliant first novel

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski (besides having the hardest name ever in the world to type) is another one of those Quality Paperback Book club books that I bought on a whim, and after losing my job a couple of months ago, found even funnier and more full of black comedy than maybe if I were still working. It was truly an enjoyable book - dark, bloody, funny, and so, so satirical it almost burns like razor burn.

One hot Saturday in August, the boss has called in his key personnel into the office for a 9 AM meeting. No one knows why, least of all Jamie Debroux, who has been out the last month on paternity leave. After all, he's not really part of the inner circle; he's just a press writer. When he shows up, the conference room is stocked full of cookies, orange juice, and champagne, and the Knox, the boss, announces something very unexpected. It seems the business is a front for the intelligence community, and they are being shut down. In intelligence-speak, that means everybody has to die. They can choose to drink the mimosas and die quietly, or get a bullet in the head. Naturally, all hell breaks lose, because well, Jamie was in the dark, but not everyone else was. It's a fight to the death, with the clique making more alliances than a season of Prison Break, and no one knowing who to trust. Will Jamie survive to see his family again? You have to read to find out.

Like I said, it's very fun. Think film noir crossed with The Bourne Identity and Quentin Tarantino. It's bloody, characters are simply drawn but end up not being who you thought they were when you first meet them, and it's fairly tightly written. Overall, I would recommend it. It's not brilliant piece of literature, but it's higher on the scale than a worthwhile beach read.

Rating: 4 Purrs for a fast, page turning read. I read this puppy in maybe 8 hours.

Obedience by Will Lavender

As the case usually goes, I found this book via my paperback book club. Good old Quality Paperback Books. You are the reason I have over 1000 books in my library. QPB, you and I are soul mates. Truly, deeply, madly, forever. Obedience by Will Lavender is one of those books that seal the deal. It’s one of those that bind us together forever, QPB. Yes, it does.

When you start Obedience, you are introduced to a cast of very intriguing characters (and the characterization is just one of the reasons why I love this book. It's subtle, but Mary is a great character.). You have Mary, the insecure girl who feels compelled to be the one who answers everyone’s questions, who is only made more nervous by seeing that her ex-boyfriend, Dennis is in her new philosophy class. Dennis is the self-confident one, the star, the one who usually gets what he wants. There’s Brian, the boy who has a troubled past and is hiding some secrets, including a possible affection for Mary. Then there's good old Professor Williams. His classes are rumored to be much more entertaining than your normal philosophy courses. He opens the Logic and Reasoning class with this: there's this girl; her name is Polly. She's been kidnapped and you have until the end of the course to save her (six weeks). Otherwise she's dead, murdered by her kidnapper. As the professor introduces more and more clues (including real photographs of real people and places that the trio know), they get more and more involved, and all begin to wonder if the story is true. Is Polly really alive? Who took her? What is Dr. Williams' real purpose? Is it really just a game or is Polly dying day by day?

Like I said before, the characters were interesting, and the plot moves pretty rapidly once the game is afoot. The title of this book is pretty much what the whole story is all about. It’s the heart of the matter, so to speak, but you might not get that until the very end. Read until the end, find out the solution. It’s worth it, even if it does feel a bit like a let down. I know some have felt that way. I, however, laughed. It was perfect.

Rating: 4 1/2 Purrs. Loved it. Loved it right down to the fact that Mary thinks Poirot is just a little bit sexy. I even loved the end. Well, the end, but not the *end.* I wasn't happy with what happened to a couple of characters, but I can't say more or I'll give it away. 

Recent Acquisitions to the Library

My latest haul from Quality Paperback Books:

• An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear - I love these mysteries. 
• Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Rachel Fershleiser - This sounded so intriguing.
• Monster, 1959 by David Maine - A monster from the 50's comes to life. 
• Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield - I hear this one is a tear-jerker. 
• Obedience: A Novel by Will Lavender - A prof tells his students that their assignment is to save the girl he's got trapped somewhere by the end of the semester.
• The Vicious Circle: Mystery and Crime Stories by Members of the Algonquin Round Table by Otto Penzler - An anthology of mysteries from those sharp-tongued members of the Round Table.
• Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told You About Famous Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights by Robert Schnakenberg - I love this series of books. 
• The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin - The second in the series of medieval CSI. 
  

Killer on the Road by James Ellroy

I love James Ellroy. The man has such a twisted brain and such a way with words. His books always bring out the dirtiness in the places the sun shines the brightest, and this book, Killer on the Road is no exception.

The Killer on the Road is Martin Plunkett. He’s a super smart guy with no soul, a guy who discovers his true vocation as a murderer in the occasionally sunny town of San Francisco. He relishes his ability to commit the perfect murders, and spends the next decade traveling across the states wrecking havoc until he finds a true soul mate, which proves to be his undoing.

Ellroy uses first person narrator here and uses it to show you just how twisted this Martin Plunkett is. It’s very effective. Plunkett grows up, refining his technique to the tune of the Manson murders and sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. His mind is terrible, and it’s even more eerie if you have read Ellroy’s autobiography of sorts, My Dark Places. Plunkett’s beginnings remind me much of Ellroy’s own. (Not that I think Ellroy is a serial killer or anything, just that he obviously knows a thing or two about breaking and entering.)

I think Killer on the Road is second in my list of favorite Ellroy books, following closely behind The Black Dahlia. It’s just so evil.

Rating: 4 ½ Purrs for just being you, Mr. Ellroy. No one writes quite like you do.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marissa Pessl

I heard so much about Special Topics in Calamity Physics before I bought it that I had very high expectations. There was so much buzz about this book that it could have been disastrous, but really it was a pretty good book. It had its moments of feeling a little too gimmicky, but overall it was a good story with entertaining characters and a nice mystery to boot.

In Special Topics in Calamity Physics, you meet Blue Van Meer, very studious and very smart daughter of a self-absorbed scholar. Blue and her dad travel from college town to college town, her father working his way through girlfriends and Blue working her way through schools. Eventually they end up in Stockton, North Carolina at the very preppy St. Gallway school where Blue becomes entangled in a mystery, in a small group of the “elite” students, and in her first true romance. Blue’s experiences with this group of kids, the “Blue Bloods,” and their mentor, Hannah Schneider, the electric and odd film teacher, change her forever. Blue’s relationships with these new people divert her from fawning over her father, but also bring her deep into a mystery – why do they even involve her at all, why is Hannah so interested in her, and who is the man who drowns in Hannah’s pool? Blue and to some degree, the BlueBloods, try to decipher the truth behind Hannah, and eventually behind Hannah’s death.

The shtick here is that Blue Van Meer is writing this story as a report in one of her college classes, and thus annotates it madly with references to books real and imagined, includes drawings, and even has a final exam at the end. Blue writes this way, mostly due to her father telling her once to “exquisitely” annotate her works. It can be fun to follow along with the literary and pop culture references she includes, but if you don’t like footnotes and that sort of thing, just stay away.  Occasionally, Pessl uses these affectations to hide the fact that some of her secondary characters are thinly written as well. It occasionally leaves you wanting more meat and less fluff.

Overall, I can see why the book got such good reviews – the idea, the gimmick are fresh and those literary types love to be able to laugh and think – ha I got that lit geek reference (I’ll admit it, I did it once or twice myself. ) It’s a fun read, and Blue Van Meer is a character that sticks with you for a while.  It’s a very good first novel, and I hope Pessl continues to grow and write even more.

Rating: 4 Purrs for some truly creative and bittersweet moments and some fairly memorable train wrecks as the Blue Bloods.  

Capote in Kansas by Ande Parks, Chris Samnee

I picked up Capote in Kansas at APE (Alternative Press Expo) in San Francisco last year, mostly because I judged a book by its cover and because I really enjoyed In Cold Blood. I thought it was an extremely well written and engrossing true crime story. Plus, who doesn’t like that crazy Truman Capote? I was really pleased with what I ended up with.

Ande Parks infuses a lot of truth in his fictionalized tale, Capote in Kansas. Here he tells the story of how Truman Capote came to write In Cold Blood, the struggles he had fitting in with the local folks in Kansas, the emotional struggle he had trying to get a grasp on the tale, and how writing that book changed him. It’s a high-level view of course, but hey, it IS a graphic novel. I mean, I don’t expect a whole ton of depth here. There is even the ghost of Nancy Cutter, who helps Capote get that sense of humanity to infuse into his story and shows him the heart, so to speak.

Samnee’s bleak, angled black & white drawings do a nice job showcasing the town, the time period, the emotional struggle of Capote, even the confusion and despair in the atmosphere of the town.  It does get a bit difficult to keep track of who is who though.

I would never say Capote in Kansas would be a replacement for reading In Cold Blood, or even a deeper look into Capote and the desires that drove him to write his masterpiece, but if Capote or the Clutter family murders interest you, you’d probably find this graphic novel of interest.

Rating: 3 ½ Purrs for a nicely meshed piece of art and story that is able to include a “ghost girl” without seeming trite

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

I am a huge murder mystery buff. I love mysteries, highbrow mysteries by Grand Dames like Agatha Christie or Anne Perry, silly serial mysteries like The Jane Austen series by Stephanie Barron, or even, sometimes, begrudgingly the whole time, mystery thrillers like James Patterson or Dean Koontz. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld belongs in the first category. While I am sure he would rather not be called a “Grand Dame,” Rubenfled’s book is not just a mystery; it is literature.

Rubenfeld bases his book on Sigmund Freud’s first and only visit to America in 1909 and his comment that Americans were “savages." Despite his success while in America, he always talked of his visit as being an unhappy or traumatic one. From this kernel of an idea, Rubenfeld builds the story of a murder and the attempted murder of two socialites. While on their tour of New York, Freud and his apprentice Jung are called in to help diagnose why the young girl who escaped (but heavily beaten while being tied up in a very S&M fashion) is suddenly unable to talk. Our main character, Stratham Younger, is a disciple of Freud and is called in to help diagnose Nora, the fortunate (or unfortunate as her parents believe) girl. The police want to know what happened, and when Nora recovers her voice, Younger must put it all together to help catch the man who attacked Nora. He becomes his own detective, digging deeply into the high society relationships of Nora and her family to discover a twisted tale of sexual perversion, family relationships, and of course, blue-blooded intrigue.

While there are several subplots that do distract a bit from the meat of the story, I found them to be interesting and unexpected commentary on the New York or New England area of the US in the early 1900’s. The young society doctor is earnest enough and troubled when he feels his affection for Nora could get in the way of his treatment of her. Nora is a deeply convoluted and troubled girl who is wrapped up so much in her own lies it gets difficult to understand her motives after awhile, but when you see what is really going on in the story, you can understand why she is so confused and confusing. It is heavily mired in the interpretation of sex and sexual relationships of Freud, all of which seem very masculine to me. Of course, I have never studied that much psychology to really get into Freud, so maybe that is just my interpretation.

Overall, The Interpretation of Murder is a good first outing. It’s much better than some first novels I have read, and the mystery keeps you guessing quite a bit until the end. There are sufficient red herrings and twists and turns to keep you turning pages, and when you are finished with the book, you do feel like you picked up a bit of the flavor of what life might have been like in New York then. I have read better, but not often enough for me to lower this one to the second rung of the mystery ladder.

Rating: 4 Purrs for an engrossing and complex mystery with a bit of unexpected but a little disturbing kink.

Cover Her Face by P. D. James

I hear of P.D. James a while ago because of a BBC TV adaptation of her Adam Dalgliesh story The Murder Room. I really enjoyed the adaptation, and Dalgliesh seemed like a pretty interesting character, so P.D. James was added to my list of used books to buy. What an excellent author, what an excellent story, and what an excellent character.

In Cover Her Face, Sally Jupp has come to Martingale to serve as a housemaid. She is an unwed mother, so many frown upon this appointment, but Sally works hard and seems to catch the eye of the young Dr. Epps. This wouldn’t be a problem if he weren’t the son of the lady of the house, so expects him to marry someone else. Soon after announcing their engagement, Sally is murdered in her bed, behind a locked door. Adam Dalgliesh must solve the crime by choosing which person in house thought their reason to kill Sally was important enough to go to prison.

Adam Dalgliesh is everything that I want in a British detective. He is thoughtful, observant, and quick-witted. The setting was just right, with the small country manor, the town fete, and the locked room whodunit. All in all, Cover Her Face was like a perfect, long lost but way more mature Agatha Christie mystery. (Don’t get me wrong; Dame Agatha is my favorite mystery writer ever. Dalgliesh is not a caricature, like Poirot or Marple can sometimes come off as being.) If you like British mysteries like Christie's, you should definitely check out P.D. James. Even if you just like mysteries that aren’t the funny, Carl Haissen kind, but more of the locked-room country estate kind, check P.D. James out.

Rating: 5 Purrs for a truly exciting, tightly written mystery

Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

The book Arthur and George tells the story of the real-life meeting between the very famous Arthur Conan Doyle and small town lawyer George Edalji. Julian Barnes paints a very vivid picture of what life was like for Doyle and Edalji in Late-Victorian Britain. It’s a real life mystery, where Doyle gets to use the skills he builds up in his Sherlock Holmes stories, which is why I bought the book in the first place. It was a good read, once I got several chapters in to the story.

The novel is written chronicling the two men’s lives from birth onward, slowly bringing them together, with Doyle eventually becoming George’s savior. George is a near-sighted, shy half-Indian living in Great Wyrley, a small country town whose residents aren’t very accepting of George and his family. He is victimized for years, from childhood where he is accused of theft and sent harassing letters, to later, where Doyle comes in, when he is accused of mutilating the animals of Great Wyrley. Arthur Conan Doyle began studying medicine where he meets Dr. Bell, the man who inspired his character Sherlock Holmes. He later becomes quite famous, marries and has children, and later falls in love with the love of his life, Jean (despite being married). The two men meet when George is finally set free after serving time for the animal mutilations (found guilty on shady circumstantial evidence), and Doyle decides to take up the case and investigate, mostly because he has sunk into a depression after his wife dies. He wants to bring justice to George, and you hope along with him that he can find it. In doing so, he hopes to find peace within himself.

I almost put this book down at the beginning. The first few chapters were very long-winded, but I kept plowing along and in the end, I was glad I did. The book is such an interesting tale of two men who would never have met, but when they did, they made such a difference in each other’s lives that it changed where they went from there. It is a good mystery, but even more it’s a character study and a story of love, loss, and family. It’s wonderful to think of it being a true story (fictionalized accounting of course), that Doyle became his famous detective for a short while and found new purpose to his life, and that George found happiness in the end.

Rating: 4 Purrs. I’d give it five but I can’t because of the very slow start to the book.