Death Comes to Pemberley

Attention, fans of all things Austen!  Do I have a book for you!!  Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James is the continuation of Elizabeth and Darcy's story. Who better to attempt such a grand task then one of England's grandest authors?

Six years after the marriage of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy life is good on on Darcy's beautiful Pemberley Estate.  They have 2 little boys, her beloved sister Jane lives nearby and Elizabeth is looking forward to Pemberley's annual autumn ball.  The only blight on this happy picture is sister Lydia, married to that cad Mr. Wickham, who will NEVER by welcome at Pemberley again.  Until the night before the ball when Lydia's carriage comes tearing up the drive, Lydia screaming to all that will listen, "Wickham's dead!  Denny has shot him! They're up there in the woodland.  Oh God, I know he's dead!" So instead of a ball, Pemberly has a mystery with many questions to be answered.  Why were Lydia and Wickham in Pemberley's woodland?  Who fired the shots heard by Lydia?  Is there a murderer loose on the estate?  Will Elizabeth's mother continue to embarrass her family?  Will Darcy's sister find true love? Many things besides death are yet to be resolved in this sequel to Pride and Prejudice, and P. D. James handles the task brilliantly.

Read Death Comes to Pemberley.  It will transport you back 200 years in time and place, but you will find much that seems familiar.  So enjoy your visit to the early 1800's and be glad that we live in 2013!

The Sherlockian

Sherlock Holmes is EVERYWHERE!  From the original stories to the movies with Robert Downey Jr., the English TV series Sherlock and the American Elementary, Sherlock Holmes is all the rage, and I'm SO glad. If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then you will love The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.

It is August of 1893 and Arthur Conan Doyle is sick to death of his creation.  His make-believe detective has brought him fame and fortune, but his fans are confusing fact with fiction.  Everyday Doyle receives letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes, asking him to solve all sorts of mysteries.  Even Doyle's mother refers to herself as the mother of Sherlock Holmes! This fictional character has literally taken on a life of his own.  But when the people of London turn to the latest installment of Sherlock in December of 1893 only to find Doyle's killed him off, shock, disbelief and anger all follow.  The people are not happy with Arthur Conan Doyle, but their reactions only serve to justify his actions.  His readers really need to get a life.

Meanwhile, it is January 2010 and Harold White has just been inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars, THE preeminent society for all things Holmes.  This is the happiest moment of his life, until one of the Irregulars is found dead in his hotel room, apparently strangled by his own shoelace.  And Arthur Conan Doyle's mysterious missing diary has again gone missing.  There is a mystery to be solved, and Harold is just the man for the job.

Graham Moore does an excellent job blending fact with fiction in this very entertaining mystery. The reader travels back and forth between 1893 and 2010, falling deeper into the enigma that was both Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, remembering once again that you can never really know anyone, no matter how strong your powers of deduction.  You really must read the Sherlockian!  It is...yes, I'm going to say it...ELEMENTARY!

Under a War-Torn Sky

While trying to help my recently returned-from-college son to organize his old room, I came across  Under a War-Torn Sky by L. M. Elliott.  It was published in 2001 by Hyperion Books for Children and is the story of an American flier shot down in France in 1944. This is why I loved this book:

1. My father, uncle, step-father and father-in-law were all in WWII.

2. We are quickly losing these brave men, but the story in this book will live indefinitely.

3. Many of these soldiers, fliers and sailors were extraordinarily young.  Imagine your 18 year-old going off to fight Hitler.

4. Most of what I know about the French Resistance comes from Hogan's Heroes.  Probably not the best source.

5. Under a War-Torn Sky was based on the first-hand experiences of the author's father, who was shot down over France and rescued by the Resistance.

6. Heroic deeds were performed by regular people, on a regular basis.

7. We need to remember this war so history doesn't repeat itself.

8. Like most books for children, it is not just for children.

Please give Under a War-torn Sky to yourself or your child.  It will be a reminder or an eye-opener.
TBC

Oh, Flavia, How I Love Thee!!

Huzzah!  Flavia de Luce has returned in Speaking from Among the Bones, and she does not disappoint.  Let me elaborate...

It is 1951. Flavia is the eleven-year-old daughter of Colonel de Luce, widower and owner of their beloved but beleaguered English country estate, Buckshaw.  Beleaguered because his wife and heir to the estate died intestate during a Himalayan climbing expedition ten years earlier. Despite her young age, Flavia is chemist and detective extraordinaire, and her skills are put to use once again when the organist at St. Tancred's is found dead in said Saint's tomb, apparently suffocated by a WWII gas mask.  Thus Flavia begins her latest investigation, much to the chagrin of the local police, her family and eventually, the culprits.

Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley is the fifth book in the Flavia de Luce series.  There is nothing I don't like about his books.  I love Flavia, her sometimes horrid older sisters, her haunted and distracted stamp-collecting father, his factotum Dogger, their cook/confidant Mrs. Mullett, and all the villagers in Bishop's Lacey. This is my only complaint:  I've finished the book, and now I have to wait for the next one!!

Goodbye until next time, Flavia.  I miss you already.  TBC

Kinsey and Me

One of my most favorite authors is Sue Grafton. She is the reason I love mysteries so much!  I've become an intimate of her character, P.I. Kinsey Millhone, through 23 amazing novels, but I knew little about her creator, the notoriously private Grafton.  That has now changed.

In Kinsey and Me, Sue Grafton has re-published nine short stories that appeared in magazines and other publications starting in 1986.  They all feature Kinsey in satisfying vignettes of crime designed to begin and end in only a few short pages.  That is quite an amazing feat when you really think about it.  In the preface Grafton describes the process required to successfully produce a short crime story.  It is very interesting!  I loved each and every one of these little mysteries.

I always knew that Sue Grafton was a great writer, but I only knew her through the vehicle of Kinsey and her cases.  The second part of the book proved to me just what an outstanding writer she really is.  The thirteen stories of part two feature Kit Blue, who is really just Sue Grafton as her younger self.  Sue grew up in a troubled home, with an alcoholic mother and a father who left Sue and her older sister to their own devices.  In reality, she grew up parentless, and through Kit Blue we find out how her experiences in childhood and beyond made her who she is today.  I know, you can say that about anyone, but not everyone has written 23 fantastic books over a period of 30 years.  I'm just saying!!  If you love Sue Grafton and Kinsey, you will love Kinsey and Me.  If you are from outer space you've never heard of her, read Kinsey and Me.  You'll love her, too!

Tigers in Red Weather

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann begins at the end of WWII.  It is the story of cousins Nick and Helena, their husbands Hughes and Avery, their children Daisy and Ed, and their summer home on Martha's Vineyard, Tiger House.  Each character is given a turn to tell their story, and we soon discover that all is not well in this post-war world.  Nick and Hughes are reunited in Florida, but this distant and silent Hughes is not the same man Nick married.  Desperate for love after the death of her first husband, Helena marries Avery who promises her a glamorous life in Hollywood. (Sorry, spoiler alert!) He's a creep and a liar.  Soon Daisy and Ed come along, and the next 20 plus years are filled with summers on the Island in tennis whites and dinner jackets, gin and tonics and lemonade.  It sounds idyllic, but nasty undercurrents lurk just beneath the calm waters.

From the title to the last page, Tigers in Red Weather is all about atmosphere.  Not just the physical atmosphere of each setting, but the emotional storms her characters survived, or did they?!  Part F. Scott, part Alfred Hitchcock, I felt an uneasy langour while reading this book. Considering that Liza Klaussmann is the great-great-great -granddaughter of Herman Melville, she had rather large shoes to fill.  With Tigers in Red Weather I think she has succeeded.

I'm back!

I have been remiss.  By that I mean lazy.  I've read 4 books and haven't written a word, but now I intend to rectify my bad behavior.  So get ready for a posting marathon!

I think I'll start with A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn.  YES!!  Chet and Bernie are back with a vengeance, working to right all the wrongs in their Arizona world and beyond.  In this latest adventure, Bernie agrees to keep watch over a troubled actor as he stars in an old western movie being made in the Valley.  In fact, he is working for the mayor who believes the film industry is the answer to all of the area's money woes, and keeping Thad Perry safe is crucial to his plan.  But Bernie soon discovers there is much more to this movie than is written in the script, and it is hard to keep someone out of trouble who has a death wish.  Chet and Bernie have their hands and paws full digging into Thad's past to discover the reasons for his behavior.  Is it all an act?  Will Chad make his next call?  Can Chet obey the command, "Quiet on the set!"?  All will be revealed in the final scene.

I simply adore Chet and Bernie.  They are the perfect crime-fighting team, and Chet is the ideal narrator.  This is quite an extraordinary skill, because, if you didn't already know, Chet is a dog.  The only problem with these books is waiting for the next one to come out.  Sit and stay at your computer, Mr. Quinn!  We're all waiting!!

TBC