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Levels:
Level 1: BABY GIRL - read 5 books written by a woman author
Level 2: GIRLS POWER - read 6 to 15 books written by a woman author
Level 3: SUPER GIRL - read 16 to 20 books written by a woman author
Level 4: WONDER WOMAN - read 20+ books written by a woman author
Once again I have read at least 20 books by women in 2017, and have completed the Wonder Woman level. Here are the books read. Thanks to Valentina for hosting this one again!
1. When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin (1/24/17)
2. All for the Love of a Lady by Leslie Ford (2/9/17)
3. Spice Island Mystery by Betty Cavanna (2/10/17)
4. Deception Island by M. K. Lorens (2/13/17)
5. The Thursday Turkey Murders by [Georgiana] Craig Rice (2/13/17)
6. Episode of the Wandering Knife by Mary Roberts Rinehart (2/26/17)
7. Zadok's Treasure by Margot Arnold (2/27/17)
8. Death in the Wrong Room by Anthony Gilbert [Lucy Beatrice Malleson] (3/2/17)
9. Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley (3/13/17)
10. Trixie Belden & the Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell (3/16/17)
11. I Could Murder Her by E. C. R. Lorac (4/7/17)
12. Stroke of Death by Josephine Bell (4/12/17)
13. Coffin's Dark Number by Gwendoline Butler (4/16/17)
14. Grounds for Murder by Kate Kingsbury (4/26/17)
15. The Fennister Affair by Josephine Bell (4/28/17)
16. The Vanishing Violinist by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (4/30/17)
17. The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith (5/2/17)
18. The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene (5/4/17)
19. The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt (5/6/17)
20. Murder at Teatime by Stefanie Matteson (5/9/17)
21. Deadly Nightshade by Elizabeth Daly (5/19/17)
Deadly Nightshade (1940) by Elizabeth Daly is the second in her Henry Gamadge series. Gamadge is a bibliophile and consultant on
old books, autographs, and inks. He lives on the East Side of New York,
but is willing to roam afield to investigate a suspicious
signature....or an untimely death. This second adventure finds him returning to Maine (site of his first recorded case) at the behest of Detective Mitchell. Three children have been poisoned with nightshade berries with two recoveries and one fatality--and one more little girl is missing. The locals want to blame it on the gypsies camping in the woods.They're willing to accept that the berries may have been given out by mistake, but they want a scapegoat and are hankering to run the gypsies out of town.
Mitchell isn't sold on the idea, but he also can't find any other explanation. So, he calls upon Gamadge who has proven able in the past to see solutions that others miss. He soon discovers that a mysterious woman visited the homes of the children before they took ill. Was she a gypsy in disguise? Was she a harmless representative of a magazine as she claimed? Or did her disguise hide someone more closely associated with one or more of the families? A state trooper also died during that time period in what was determined to be an accident. But Gamadge wonders if that death is part of the same puzzle. Mitchell takes him around to meet the various families involved and slowly the bibliophile begins to see the pattern behind the poisonings.
This is a rather intricate story that was, at times, a little hard to follow. I ascribe part of that to the fact this particular edition is abridged--not my preference for reading (especially mysteries), but thus far this is the only edition I've been able to find in my used bookstore/booksale ramblings. Fortunately, Gamadge is as engaging as ever and the supporting characters are interesting as well. The plot is a bit convoluted, but with a hint of belief suspension it does make sense in the end. I'd be interested to know if I'd figure it out when reading the unabridged version. Good solid fare and an enjoyable read. ★★★
[Finished on 5/19/17]
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This fulfills the "Mask" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
Murder at Teatime (1991) by Stefanie Matteson is a cozy mystery series starring Charlotte Graham, Oscar-award winning actress and belle of Broadway with a nose for clues. After more than forty years on stage and screen, Charlotte finds herself without a play and without a hint of a script. So, she decides to take a vacation at the Maine island home of her dear friends Stan and Kitty Saunders. Gilley Island is beautiful and restful...at least that's what she's been promised. But Charlotte feels like she's walked in to the middle of a melodrama.
The residents are all up in arms over a proposed development project that will bring an exclusive resort to the coastal island. Most are in favor of the project--with the promise of jobs to replace those that have been lost when factories and other industries have moved out of the area. But Dr. Franklin Thornhill, who owns a large parcel of land smack dab in the middle of the area the resort folk want to buy, is one of those steadfastly against the idea and refuses to sell. A harassment campaign has been in force--from letting the air out of Thornhill's tires to crude, child-like drawings with threatening notes--and then, on the day Charlotte arrives, Thornhill's dog is poisoned.
Thornhill's death from a poisoned cup of tea follows after his niece, a white witch who lives with him a Ledge House, holds a Midsummer's Night (Summer Solstice) celebration with plenty of odd...and sometimes poisonous...herbs and concoctions. Did someone mistake monkshood for a bit of tea leaves or was the doctor deliberately done away with? His rivals in the land project aren't the only suspects for hustling the doctor off this mortal coil. His daughter and son-in-law stand to inherit, his niece may have wanted to stop an impending marriage that would have left her homeless, and a book seller may have needed the commission from an estate sale sooner than a natural death would have allowed. Howard Tracey, the local chief of police who has never dealt with a murder before, has heard of Graham's penchant for solving mysteries and asks her help him with his investigation. She'll have to sift the good herbs from the bad to find the right potion to reveal a callous murderer.
A fairly solid cozy mystery. Several motives to work through and a decent attempt at fair play. The characters are mildly interesting but could have been given a bit more depth to spice things up a bit. Enjoyable enough for a quick read, but not necessarily a series that I will deliberately seek out. ★★★
*******
Fulfills "Holiday" category for the Cruisin' Thru the Cozies Challenge. The murder takes place after a Midsummer's Night (Summer Solstice) celebration and the villain is caught by the light of the fireworks on Independence Day.
I got my first taste of mystery/romantic suspense when my grandma sent me Hunter's Green by Phyllis A. Whitney in a box full of books (what treasure trove also included favorites such as The Mystery of Hunting's End and Laddie: A True Blue Story). I'm not sure that Grandma intended to launch me on a reading journey that would take me through most of Whitney's books and lead me to her contemporary, Victoria Holt as well as other Gothic mystery/romance novels. Once started on a genre, I would often devour what books our local Carnegie Library had on the shelf....including The Shivering Sands (1969) by Victoria Holt. Years later I picked up a copy of my own and now the Birth Year Challenge gives me a chance to read my own copy.
The Shivering Sands finds Caroline Verlaine, young widow of the musical genius Pietro Verlaine, looking for a means of support. Pietro may have been magical with the piano, but he was no financial wizard and Caroline's small income needs a bit of bolstering. She was once a promising young pianist as well, but gave up her ambition in her love for Pietro. Now she teaches piano. Her sister Roma, an archaeologist following in their parents' footsteps, disappeared while on a dig for Roman remains on the Stacy estate along the coast of Kent. When the opportunity opens up for Caroline to teach piano to four girls connected with the estate, she grabs it--both for the needed income and for the chance to investigate her sister's disappearance.
Of course, Roma's disappearance isn't the only mystery surrounding the Stacy home. Years ago, Napier Stacy killed his handsome and popular brother Beaumont in what has been called an "accident." But there are those who think Napier was too envious of the near-perfect Beau and may have wanted him out of the way. His father did want Napier out of the way--to the extent of sending him away because he didn't want to be reminded of the tragedy. That is...until Sir William wants Napier to come home, marry his ward Edith, and produce an heir. Then lights are seen flitting about in the memorial built for Beau and there are those who say that Beau has come back to haunt the brother who murdered him. There's also Sir William's sister Sybil who pops in and out unexpectedly and says the most unnerving things to Caroline and others. Sybil also seems to be far more informed about Caroline's movements than anyone ought to be.
Suspense builds as Edith also disappears--shortly after announcing that the long-awaited heir is on its way--and Caroline is nearly killed in a fire. She doesn't know who to trust--the girls she has been teaching all seem to be keeping secrets and, though Caroline finds herself intrigued by and attracted to Napier, he is after all the black sheep of the family. What if he really is destroying his family one by one? And what if Roma stumbled onto a secret that made her death a necessity as well? It looks like Caroline might be next if she continues to ask too many questions.
It is interesting that this appears to be a historical novel, set at a guess during the late Victorian period when travel is by train and horse and trap and the girls talk of wearing their hair up when they reach a certain age. There is also a lot made of Caroline and Roma's education--being more like that of boys than is normal for their sex. But there are no overt references to time period and it doesn't seem that Holt spent a great deal of time researching the period. Much more is made of the setting and descriptions of the estate than of the time in which this all takes place.
It is easy to see why this appealed to my pre-teen self. Lots of atmosphere and Gothic elements to investigate with hints of romance that are quite as heavily infused as some mystery/romantic suspense novels. Caroline isn't quite the investigator that she imagines herself--stumbling on things rather more than deducing (and playing the Gothic suspense heroine who keeps going about alone and getting herself into trouble way more than necessary). Still, a great deal of fun and the culprit proves to be unexpected. ★★★
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This fulfills the "Spooky House/Mansion" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
The Invisible Intruder (Nancy Drew #46; 1969) was one of my favorite Nancy Drew books when I was a young reader. It ranks up there with The Clue of the Broken Locket, The Clue in the Crumbling Wall, The Hidden Staircase, and Mystery of the Glowing Eye in the top five. I first read it from the school library, but naturally I had to get a copy for my very own. When the Birth Year Reading Challenge was revived this year, I decided I needed to read my copy of the Nancy book that is as old as I am.
Nancy's friend Helen invites her, Ned Nickerson, Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Burt Eddleton, and Dave Evans to join her and her husband Jim as well as three other couples on a ghost-hunting trip. They've pinpointed five places with mysterious reputations: Pine Grove Camp with a haunted canoe that propels itself across Lake Sevanee; Madame Tarantella's prophecy hut which is plague by ghostly thunderstorms; the Red Barn Guesthouse with its phantom horse and unseated ghost rider; a mountaintop inn which was an old fort and has the ghosts of prisoners flitting about; and a private home with an invisible intruder. Most of the young people are prepared to play ghost-busters, but Rita Rodriguez is hoping for a real ghost or two. It isn't long before Nancy realizes that there are some common factors in all the "hauntings" and that some very real humans have ulterior motive for scaring the owners.
Intruder is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it brings back Helen (Corning) Archer. Helen featured several of the early volumes (before the series was rewritten in 1959), but rarely had much of an active role in the investigations. This book gives her--and her husband and married friends--a somewhat larger part, though it is still Nancy and company who do most of the clue-finding. As Helen says when the group draws lots for sentry duty in their investigation of the phantom horse:
We didn't see a thing....I'd like to bet that if there is going to be any excitement it will come during the time Nancy Drew is here!
I did enjoy that she and Jim were able to assist Nancy and Ned in the grand finale--capturing the crooks and handing them over to the police.
The other interesting feature of this book is that Nancy and her friends set out to investigate five mysteries instead of just one. In the other books Nancy is interested in mysterious happenings at one location or surrounding one particular person. This time she and her friends move from place to place checking out incidents affecting a number of people. Of course, they find clues that indicate there may connections but this is the first mystery to cover so much ground.
I had just as much fun reading this now as I did when I was young. More of an adventure story than a mystery--it's pretty clear fairly early who is responsible for the hauntings, but it is interesting to watch Nancy and company figure out how each of the hauntings is really worked. ★★★★
*******
This counts for the "Flashlight" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
The Polka Dot Nude (1989) by Joan Smith features Audrey Dane, biographer and ghostwriter, who has been selected by the great actress Rosalie Hart to write her memoirs. She visits Hartland, Rosalie's estate, and is given exclusive access to diaries and other material. Rosalie also makes her a gift of a beautiful self-portrait titled "The Polka Dot Nude."Audrey takes all of the materials with her to a cabin in the Thousand Islands area where she plans to write in seclusion.
Those plans go by the wayside when a handsome stranger takes the cabin next to her. Brad O'Malley claims that he is a professor on sabbatical, but how many professors pack a Mercedes with Vuitton luggage stuffed with designer clothes, cases of fine wine, and a full hi-fi for a little sabbatical get-away? Is he really who he says he is and why is he so interested in her research on Rosalie Hart? Then Audrey's research disappears and so does the painting. Who took them? What secrets are they trying to hide? Has anything illegal really happened?
....and why should I care? That thought came up periodically until I decided to toss in the towel and skim my way to the last couple chapters just so I could say read enough and had a firm enough grip on the plot that I could claim the thing for challenges. Audrey is such an insecure person. I find it hard to believe that she exudes enough self-confidence in her work that the rich and famous trust their memoir-writing to her. And she's the protagonist who's supposed to be figuring out all the mysterious goings-on in this book. Instead of picking up all the clues dangling in front of her eyes (with darn-near neon signs pointing the way), she is SO mystified. She can't imagine who's doing things. She can't figure out who Rosalie's secret child is. She can't figure out Brad O'Malley's secret. She can't see the romance just waiting for her to respond in the least little way (instead she keeps running like a scared little rabbit and having conversations in her head about how stupid she is to keep ruining things. She's right.).
The mystery wasn't very mysterious. There was very little suspense. And the characters weren't all that interesting or engaging. Brad is the best of the bunch. Since I didn't actually read this straight through--no rating.
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This counts for the "Book" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
Things are heating up in Joan Spencer's life. The amateur viola player and oftentimes amateur detective's third outing in The Vanishing Violinist (1999) by Sara Hoskinson Frommer finds her finally planning a wedding to Lieutenant Fred Lindquist, being told that she's soon to be a mother-in-law, and landing in the middle of a mystery at the International Violin Competition in Indianapolis, Indiana. Joan lives in the small college town of Oliver but when she calls her daughter to tell Rebecca that she's planning a wedding, Rebecca has news of her own. She is engaged to a violin virtuoso who will be performing at the International Violin Competition. Rebecca wants her mom to meet up with Bruce in Indianapolis and give him some moral support during the competition. Joan winds up providing support for much more than just that....
When the Stradivarius violin belonging to one of Bruce's rivals disappears, he becomes a prime suspect. He had gone to Camila Pereira's host family's house to wish her luck before her first performance. As chance would have it, he was left alone (while she dressed for the competition) for a time period long enough to have snatched the violin from its case and stashed it somewhere. Then when the Brazilian beauty herself disappears the Indianapolis police are once again sizing him as a kidnapper. After an Oliver police officer is killed in a fatal hit-and-run accident, clues provided by local schoolchildren surface that make Joan believe answers may lie closer to her home than she'd like. She and Fred untangle the remaining threads that allow the Indy police to make a dramatic arrest on the night of the Competition's awards.
This is the first of the Joan Spencer series that I've read. I'm sure reading the first two would provide some backstory, but I didn't really feel like I had missed anything vital to the plot of novel number three. Frommer introduces the characters in such a way that readers can settle right in and feel like they already know these people. Joan is an engaging protagonist and her family and friends round out the recurring characters nicely. If the rest of the books are as interesting, then this definitely seems like a cozy series worth reading in its entirety. Not quite fair play in its cluing, but modern mysteries don't always follow such niceties. However, there are strong indications which the clever reader may pick up on. Good solid cozy mystery fare. ★★★
[finished on 4/30/17]
The Fennister Affair (1969) by Josephine Bell takes her readers on a mysterious Caribbean cruise.
Sally Combes has just finished a temporary job for her Uncle Oswald in Bermuda. He rewards her with a Caribbean cruise with stops at various nearby islands before she must head home to England. The night before the Selena arrives in Bermuda to pick up Sally and other new passengers a woman disappears from the ship. It is presumed that she fell overboard and has been lost at sea. Her bereaved husband leaves the ship and Sally finds herself upgraded from a small single-occupancy cabin to the spacious double previously occupied by the unfortunate couple. She's determined not to let the tragedy influence her vacation but she has little control over future events.
Her first night at sea, she discovers a portion of a letter hidden in a book in the dressing table. It has every appearance of a suicide note
I cannot bear it any longer. If you love her more than me you must want to be rid of me. I won't stand in your way my darling. I will simply disappear. Felicity.
and it's signed Felicity. Felicity Fennister--the woman who had, indeed, disappeared. Sally soon joins forces with Tim Rogers, an appealing newspaperman hot on the trail of several stories onboard, and Mrs. Fairbrother, an elderly woman who seems to have her fingers on the gossipy pulse of the ship.
There are many questions that need answering before Sally, Tim, and Mrs. Fairbrother will unravel the mystery. Why are certain passengers behaving so strangely? Who was on deck the night Felicity disappeared? Why are the ship's officers so secretive and why aren't they more interested in investigating the disappearance? Why does Conchita, Felicity's stewardess, keep leaving the ship (at various ports) and then returning? Who was the shadowy figure on the bridge with the captain? Can the ship's captain be trusted? And who put the poison in Tim's drink? Somebody doesn't want the inquisitive journalist asking any more questions. But not even a near-fatal poisoning can keep our heroines and hero from getting at the truth.
Josephine Bell provides a decent closed circle mystery. Cruise ships provide a similar setting to the country house which becomes isolated due to inclement weather. There are a limited number of suspects and there's only so many places to hide on board a ship. If she had stuck with her first-line plot (the missing Felicity Fennister) and devoted her mystery-making skills to developing it fully, this might have been a first-rate detective novel. However, there is a sinister sub-plot that takes up more time than necessary and which pushes the book towards the adventure/thriller end of the spectrum. Still--a solid offering and while the solution to the primary mystery is dangled rather obviously before the reader one might not (as I did not) figure out all the details. Entertaining. ★★★
[finished on 4/28/17]
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This fulfills the "Blonde" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
Grounds for Murder (1995) by Kate Kingsbury is the sixth book in the Pennyfoot Hotel series which features Cecily Sinclair, innkeeper and sometime amateur detective, and is set in the Edwardian era. This particular episode finds the hotel full of rumors of gypsies living in the woods near Badgers End (home of the Pennyfoot). Cecily is pretty busy--organizing the annual Guy Fawkes Ball held in the ballroom of the hotel and preparing for an influx of new guests. Belowstairs is pretty hectic as well. Gertie, one of the maids, is expecting a child any day now and is trying with intermittent success to train a new tweeny to help out. Doris is an odd girl--shy, clumsy and frail one minute and mouthy and strong the next. No one knows what to maker of her. And as soon as Doris assigned the job of chopping sticks, the Pennyfoot's shiny axe starts disappearing and reappearing like a regular jack-in-the-box.
Meanwhile, a gypsy girl is found murdered...beheaded with an axe. And another murder soon follows. Doris may be behaving strangely, but at least she hasn't expressed any prejudices against gypsies...unlike most of the current Pennyfoot guests. Cecily vows to stay out of this particular murder mystery--to the relief of her manager and right-hand man Baxter. But such vows are meant to be broken, especially when the innkeeper begins receiving anonymous notes begging her to stop "George" from killing any more gypsies. The only problem...nobody knows who George is. Cecily convinces a reluctant Baxter to help and then gathers enough clues to spot the killer's next target. But will they be in time to save a life?
Definitely not meant to be a fair-play, intricate mystery, this book (and the series) is firmly in the cozy camp. The recurring characters are, for the most part, likeable and the on-going story lines could certainly make for compulsive reading. Good reading for a rainy afternoon (which we've had plenty of lately) with a mystery that is solvable and not too taxing for armchair detectives. ★★★
[Finished on 4/26/17]
Coffin's Dark Number (1969), the fourteenth book in the John Coffin series by Gwendoline Butler, is my second squalid, depressing little mystery in row. Generally speaking, I find books that feature murdered children or children in danger to be WAY out of my comfort zone. That became especially true once I was a mother. It doesn't matter that my son is now 24; I can't bear the thought of children, real or fictitious, suffering.
Three little girls--average age eleven--have disappeared from Superintendent John Coffin's district in South London. One minute they were there and the next they were gone. The district is full of unsavory types and cranks. Including Tony Young's UFO Watchers who investigate sightings and just maybe believe that the girls have been abducted by beings from another world. Or maybe they just walked into another dimension. It is an odd coincidence that the watchers were out investigating a sighting every time the girls have disappeared. Is one of the club members responsible--or someone connected to a club member? Coffin investigates through the usual channels and throws his own spotlight on the UFO club. Meanwhile, Tony investigates on his own and dictates his thoughts and findings to a tape recorder. The two methods converge and we expect Coffin to find the answers.
SPOILERS ahead. Read on at your own risk.
This book is jarring on a number of counts. First, as previously mentioned, there is my discomfort with the little girls as murder victims. Then there are the various points of view. We begin with Tony Young as our narrator. He is speaking into a tape recorder and gives us the background on the UFO Watchers, his own history, and his views on the disappearance of the children. This shifts to Superintendent Coffin who tells us that "there's a danger to it [the tape recorder]. I can see you might get to trust it too much...." Which definitely clues the reader in that Tony may not be the most reliable of narrators. Coffin gives us the official viewpoint. Then, there is the omniscient narrator who takes over quite frequently just so we can see everything (or maybe not).
And speaking of unreliable narrators...having our unreliable narrator wind up being so very involved in the murders didn't create quite the surprise one might expect at the end of a mystery novel. Butler perhaps tries to make up for that by making Tony's involvement a little ambiguous. Should you believe that your unreliable narrator is reliable up to a point (ie he didn't actually do the killing) and we should believe him and not his confederate? Or is it the confederate who is reliable on this final point? It's a bit too ambiguous for me.
These earlier novels in the Coffin series aren't nearly as engaging as those I've read in the latter half of the mysteries. The characters and relationships in Dine & Be Dead (the other early novel I've read) were much more interesting and the academic setting helped. The characters here really aren't appealing at all and the relationships aren't very interesting either. ★ and 3/4.
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With the red beaded necklace, this fulfills the "Red Object" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
Stroke of Death (aka Such a Nice Client, 1977) by Josephine Bell is a rather squalid tale of the death of
an elderly gentleman. It's far more an examination of the evil that men
(and women) do than a real whodunit. In fact, there isn't much question
at all whodunit or when or why. The real question is--Is anybody going
to catch up to this villain? Because as one social worker puts it.
"[S/He] was such a nice client" (thus giving us the original title) and nobody official seems to be seeing this person as a real villain.
Old Mr. Lawrence is visited regularly at his home by various medical professionals to check on his progress after a stroke leaves him paralyzed on his right side and without the power of speech. His daughter-in-law is his primary caregiver--with his son Jim all-too-absent. When Lucy Summers is assigned to him for physiotherapy and first observes her patient (before he sees her), she becomes convinced that the old gentleman is being starved to death.
Just then a blackbird appeared on the hedge. In its beak, held insecurely because of its size, there hung a large crust of bread....Mr Lawrence watched, the trembling left hand moving very slowly upward and out towards the table....The blackbird, hovering uncertainly over the hedge, could hold its heavy burden no longer. It dropped its prize on the centre of the table. Mr. Lawrence's hand swept across and across....The shaking hand closed on the bread, was drawn back and with eager clumsy speed crammed the prize into the lop-sized mouth, already open to receive it.
Mr. Lawrence eats the crust of bread so greedily that Lucy is sure he hasn't had anything to eat all day. Possibly for days. She enlists the aid of Dr. Geoff Harris to investigate but all sorts of official miscues and dropped balls happen. And before any decisions can be made, the daughter-in-law takes Mr. Lawrence to the seaside "for a change in air." He dies in a drowning "accident" when his wheelchair slides off a pier. Things get very interesting when Jim Lawrence, the only son, arrives from Canada to find his father dead and the woman who was in reality Mr. Lawrence's second, much younger wife trying to claim inheritance rights. Jim is convinced that Dorothy Lawrence killed his father for what she thought she would inherit from him--at least the old gentleman still had enough of his senses left to will everything to his son--and he is determined to prove it. Detective Chief Inspector Bartlett is also convinced that murder has been committed, but he's more concerned with the unidentified body which is discovered in the Lawrence's basement.
Generally speaking I enjoy Josephine Bell mysteries--when they really are mysteries. This one I just found to be terribly depressing. I find it hard to believe that a social worker would allow "such a nice client" to so thoroughly pull the wool over her eyes that even when presented with evidence at the end she still can't believe that "poor suffering little woman" killed for personal gain. And I would like to believe that health professionals would be a little more observant and realize that Mr. Lawrence was starving a heck of a lot sooner. That a doctor and a nurse could miss the signs and a physical therapist didn't is staggering.
Without a true mystery to solve, this just isn't up to Bell's usual standards. The reader feels very sorry for Mr. Lawrence and wants his son Jim to get justice for his father, but there really aren't any characters that one makes a connection with. The sub-plot romance between Lucy Summers and Dr. Geoff Harris, who do a bit of sleuthing on the side as well, doesn't even add much in the way of character interest. If, however, you are interested in the character study of a truly self-absorbed woman who doesn't mind who she sweeps out of her way (permanently), then this might be a book for you. ★★
[finished on 4/12/17]
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This fulfills the "Death by Drowning" category on the Mystery Reporter Challenge as well as serving as my first entry for Rich's 1977 edition of the Crimes of the Century meme.
Muriel Farrington is an updated, 1951 version of Cinderella's nasty stepmother. Except she doesn't limit her nasty behavior to her stepdaughter, Madge. While she does expect Madge to toil in true Cinderella fashion--cooking, cleaning, and general housekeeping drudgery, she also dominates her own children and behaves in a thoroughly selfish manner. In fact, her behavior has practically the whole household muttering I Could Murder Her. The only person in E. C. R. Lorac's mystery novel (originally published as Murder of a Martinet in Britain) who doesn't seem to want her dead is her mild-mannered, thoroughly devoted husband. And only one person actually makes the action suit the muttering.
After a particularly tiring morning of exerting her will over Madge, Muriel takes to her bed with "heart palpitations," demands attention from the elderly doctor who dances attendance whenever she has a "turn," and winds up under the influence of a sleeping pill. The next morning finds her dead. It's a bit of shock--no one but her husband actually believed she actually had trouble with her heart--but everyone is now prepared to accept that she did and succumbed to it.
Unfortunately for the murderer, Dr. Baring had a motoring accident on the way home from the Farrington's and is in no condition to examine the deceased and provide the anticipated no-questions-asked death certificate. Baring's young colleague, Dr. Scott, who had examined Muriel once, also did not believe there was a thing wrong with her heart. He doesn't accept that as a cause of death--particularly when he spots a fresh hypodermic puncture in the dead woman's arm. He refuses to sign the certificate and that calls for a postmortem which reveals that the deceased fell victim to a dose of insulin (and she wasn't diabetic).
Enter Inspector MacDonald of the Yard. MacDonald is a quiet, normal detective who sets to work smoothly and efficiently. None of the eccentricities of some Golden Age detectives and none of the angst and personal issues of many modern policemen. Just an intelligent man doing his job. He quickly discovers that everyone had a motive--from the overworked Madge to Muriel's own children who all resented their mother's interference in and domination over their own lives to Mrs. Pinks, the daily help. Madge, who has been employed as a nurse in the past, is an obvious suspect since she would know the effects of insulin upon a non-diabetic. But most of the suspects seem to be just as well-informed. Even Mrs. Pinks--whose husband is a diabetic.
This is a very interesting study of post-War Britain. It focuses on the reduced circumstances that followed and shows how families who formerly would have had several servants were forced to make do with daily women and sometimes had to do for themselves (or guilted their less fortunate relations into slaving away...). It also spotlights the tensions found when family members who don't care for one another are forced to live in close proximity due to those reduced circumstances. Life would have been much healthier for the Farringtons if all of the adult children (and spouses) could have afforded homes of their own. But then we wouldn't have a murder to solve, would we?
I thoroughly enjoy Lorac's character studies and descriptions of the post-War era. MacDonald may not be a charismatic detective, but he is a thorough one who misses nothing and keeps no clues to himself. The reader can easily follow the thread that leads to culprit (and may, in fact, spot the killer before all is revealed). It is more interesting to watch MacDonald gather up all the loose ends and explain them all. Quite good vintage mystery. ★★★★
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Fulfills the "Broken Object" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card. For the record...I don't recall any broken object in the story line that ought to be appearing on the cover.
Trixie Belden is one of the many young detectives who adventures I followed when I was young. My first taste of "girl detectives" was Nancy Drew and I read as many of those I could get my hands. When a new Nancy Drew mystery wasn't available, I cast about for others.Trixie, whose first book was published in 1948, was in many ways a more
realistic character for a middle-class girl to relate to. I might have
wanted to be Nancy with her roadster and the ability to travel just
about anywhere at the drop of a hat, but it was far easier to see myself
as Trixie--the tomboyish girl with a quick temper. Nancy is well-to-do
and has a wealthy father to support her in all the travels she
does--from ski lodges to Hawaii to Scotland to the jungles of Africa.
Trixie has to work hard at her chores to earn spending money and is
often struggling with her schoolwork and spends most of her time in her fictional hometown of Sleepyside-on-Hudson. Her trips are usually to visit her own
family or friends or those of members of the Bobwhites (a club consisting of her brothers and friends). She seems to face more of the ups and downs of teenage life than
Nancy does--everything from squabbles with her brothers to dealing with
her own insecurities. But the one thing she does share with Nancy is
her knack for solving mysteries.
In our many trips to Route 66, my husband & like to stop and the various flea markets and antique malls along the way. In just such a one last spring, I found the pictured 1951 edition of Trixie Belden & the Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell and decided I needed to revisit the series. When I needed a book involving a building for a couple of my reading challenges, I decided I needed to read it this year.
The Gatehouse Mystery is the third in the Trixie Belden series. She has made friends with Honey Wheeler and she and her new friend have helped Jim Frayne solve a few mysteries regarding his heritage and inheritance and Honey acquired a new brother when her parents adopt Jim. It is now the end of summer vacation and while waiting for Trixie's brothers, Brian and Mart, to come home from their summer of serving as counselors at camp she and Honey decide to investigate the run-down gatehouse hidden on a corner of the Wheelers' property. They've barely entered the building before Trixie's six-year-old brother Bobby trips and skins his knee on something in the hard dirt floor. Upon closer inspection, what she thinks is just a pebble turns out to be a diamond. How did a shiny diamond wind up in the cobwebby abandoned building?
Trixie begins to imagine jewel thieves fighting over their loot--with a diamond being lost in the shuffle. Is it possible that jewel thieves have chosen the small New York town as the perfect hiding place from authorities? There are clues to be found in the gatehouse including two sets of footprints--rubber soles and leather toes--as well as the question of a certain man's letter of recommendation. When a prowler sneaks into Honey's bedroom while she and Trixie are having a sleepover, Trixie is sure it's the jewel thief looking for the diamond which is now hidden a secret compartment of Honey's jewel box. When the boys come home from camp, they, along with Jim, help Trixie and Honey solve the mystery of the diamond in the gatehouse.
This was just as much fun to read as when I was young. It's really a pretty sophisticated mystery for young people--there's real danger for both Trixie and Jim and, although Trixie does jump to a few conclusions here and there, on the whole she makes deductions based on her observations and the clues at hand. A quite enjoyable walk down memory lane.
★★★★
[Finished on 3/16/17--still catching up on reviews.]
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This fulfills the "Blonde" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
Murder at Government House (1937) by Elspeth Huxley is the first of her Inspector Vachell stories set in the fictional colony of Chania (corresponding to Kenya, Africa). Vachell has come to Africa from Canada and has a much more forthright, almost brash manner than many of the colonials are used to. The inspector is called to investigate when Sir Malcolm MacLeod, Chania's Governor, is found strangled to death in his office in the late hours after a dinner party. It first looks like a locked room murder--guards at the doors, the connecting office door was locked, and Olivia Brandeis, a young anthropologist, was outside the Governor's window smoking and talking with another guest during the crucial time. And Vachell must discover how the murderer got in and out of the office without being seen. There are many among the guests who had a motive to kill the Governor--from those opposed to a proposed merger with a neighboring colony to ambitious government officials who could benefit from the Governor's removal.There are also many clues and red herrings for the inspector to sift through. Olivia Brandeis, having an alibi for the time of the murder, provides much-needed insight on her fellow dinner guests and brings Vachell an obscure, but important clue from a local witch doctor. An official-napping by plane and a high-speed chase--complete with an armed suspect and narrow escapes for our hero and heroine provide an exciting wrap-up.
Huxley gives her readers an interesting look at colonial life in Africa during the 1930s with an excellent look at the tensions experienced by the indigenous people trying to adapt to the ways of the British while experiencing the pull of their African heritage. There is also hints of the tensions breaking in the world with discussions of how the Japanese would love to get a foothold through a concession of some farmland. There is no overt references to the storms of war which are brewing, but the reader's historical hindsight can read between the lines.
Vachell is a competent investigator (much more so than in Murder on Safari--my previous experience with Huxley's work), but still not a captivating character. I've been most remiss in my review-writing and, having finished six days ago, I find that he has left very little impression on me. Perhaps that is why Huxley's novels are not nearly as well-know as some of her contemporaries. This was an interesting look at colonial Africa and the mystery itself is fairly good--lots of suspects and clues to sift through. What keeps this from being top-shelf is Vachell's lack of, shall we say, flair and the fact that the solution depends on a rather obscure bit of knowledge that is not introduced to the reader until the inspector explains all. One might put the finger on the correct suspect with the available clues, but one would be hard-pressed to see how s/he could have done it without that key bit of knowledge. Not quite fair play. ★★★ for a solid, entertaining read.
[Finished on 3/14/17]
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This fulfills the "Telephone" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card and is my first entry in Rich's 1937 edition of the Crimes of the Century over at Past Offences. If you've got a 1937 mystery on tap, come join us!
Whitney at First Impressions Reviews has been sponsoring the Georgette Heyer Blog Tour for those interested in Heyer's Regency Romances. I love both Heyer's Romances and Golden Age Mysteries and just happened to have Powder & Patch sitting on my TBR stack waiting for a reason for me to move it to the top. Powder & Patch was originally titled The Transformation of Philip Jettan as by Stella Martin (a pseydonym) when first published in 1923. And quite a transformation it is, too. Philip Jettan, son of Maurice Jettan who was once a standing member of the beau monde, has been buried in the country most of his life. He knows nothing of fashion, cares nothing for the cut of a coat or the color of a stocking. He (gasp!) goes around in public with his own brown hair tied back with a simple ribbon--no ostentatious wigs for him, no thank you.
But...Philip is deeply in love with the beautiful Miss Cleone Charteris and Mistress Cleone cares much for fashion. She wants a man who can turn a pretty phrase, pay a lady a charming compliment, and who dresses as something more than country bumpkin. To make Philip come up to scratch, she flirts with Mr. Henry Bancroft--who has just returned from London and who is the epitome of fashion. When Philip tries to woo her with the honest love of a plain man, she spurns him and says she could not possibly marry him as he is now. Maurice also despairs of his son's retiring, countrified ways and between the two of them, they drive Philip away from home into the tutelage of his still fashion-conscious Uncle Tom. Tom whisks the young man off to Paris to begin a "marvelous cunning" work of transformation and leaves him the hands of his good friend le Marquis de Chateau-Banvau.
In less than six months time Philip (or Philippe as he is known in France) has become the darling of French society. He is the most sought-after gentleman for parties and balls. He host card games and writes poetry for the ladies. He has become fastidious in his attire. He even fights a duel or two just to show his mettle...and to practice for a suitable revenge upon the foppish Bancroft who bested him back in England. When he finally returns to England, he is ready to take London society by storm and finally win the hand of his lady-love. But...will Cleone like the man she has forced him to become? Philip begins to wonder...and to despair of ever making her his wife.
"Oh, I have been rebuffed! Do I conceal it so admirably?"
"No, you do not," said her ladyship. "You must have played your cards monstrously badly. Trust a man."
Cleone's aunt knows full well that the girl loves him. But she despairs of the two ever coming to a satisfactory agreement when they insist on misunderstanding one another and, apparently, deliberately muddying the waters. 'Tis very true that the course of true love did never run smooth.
This early Heyer historical novel is very light-hearted and a very quick read. Even in this early effort, Heyer manages to transport the reader to the time and place of the romantic adventures--from the courts of Louis XV to the ballrooms of London, we are transported to a world of extravagant manner, sword-play, and coquetry where the men wear hose and heels and painted faces and the ladies wear fine gowns and flirt from behind their fans. It is all good romantic historical fun and not to be taken seriously.
I must admit that I did get a bit tired of Cleone's manner--after all Philip went off and did what she said she wanted and then she had the effrontery to tell him she still didn't like it? It would have been her just desserts if he'd turned on his pretty, high heels and left her flat. But it wouldn't be a romance novel if the boy didn't get the girl...would it? ★★★ and a half.