November (and December so far) Stories
Given that I’ve spent the last week laid up with Corona, there has been a decent amount of reading happening. Sadly, I do not look anywhere near as glamorous as this painting. If only I had a rose to hold and a nightgown half as beautiful, perhaps Covid would have been less of an ordeal. Instead, I’ve made do with mismatched pajamas and old t-shirts. Still, I think this image is a lot nicer to set the tone, don’t you?
Here’s what I’ve read and share thoughts on below:
The Trust, M.H. Eccleston
The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman (reread)
The Lost Apothecary, Sarah Penner
A Fatal Crossing, Tom Hindle
Friends in High Places, Donna Leon
Dial A for Aunties, Jesse Q. Suntanto
The theme this month is “but is it a proper mystery?”
Last month, I was in the midst of reading The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections when I wrote this post, and it is a good place to begin with this topic.
I was definitely dragging in this first half of that book, feeling the main character was passive and annoyed by watching her get steamrolled by the other characters. Thankfully, she does ultimately grow a backbone, but I’m not sure I can ultimately call the book a mystery.
Does someone die? Yes. Does something valuable go missing? Yes as well. And while police get involved, there is lots of pressure to find the culprit and many other conventions of a mystery, this didn’t ultimately feel like one to me.
Why is this? Perhaps it’s the fact that I can’t call the main character a sleuth with confidence. While she does ultimately work out the chain of events, it doesn’t sit as a mystery. I can see why it was called “genre-bending” in some blurbs, as it is just as much a literary novel as anything mysterious. I suspect readers of literary fiction who want a bit of the mysterious will be more pleased with it than a die hard mystery fan.
Has anyone read it? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts, if so.
Now, on to the other books of the last month:
If you’re looking for a textbook cozy, complete with twee British setting, this might just be your book. Art restorer Astrid begins this book with her marriage in tatters, and when her uncle dies, leaving her his home in the will, it ends up being a boat rather than the manor of her memory.
She rustles up a temporary job restoring paintings for a historical home, and the hijinks unfold from there. This was a lovely sick bed read, as it had quirky characters and nice description to keep me entertained, but wasn’t so twisty and complicated that I was lost.
If you enjoy a bit of Midsomer Murders, and would like a historic re-enactment event to feature in a mystery, you will be pleased with this selection. It’s set in a contemporary time, but involves art history, details about art restoration which were competently included, and a satisfying ending. I look forward to future installments in the series - we’ll see if I like it as much when I’m clear-headed.
This is one of my favorites. I first read the sequel to Thursday Murder Club last November when it came out, and I devoured it in a single day. Osman has established the group, so we know the characters and the book reads like he was having an enormous amount of fun with the writing.
This was as enjoyable to re-read as a mystery writer, and I highly recommend doing so for this book or any other you love, since it allowed me to pay much more attention to how it was written. Osman is very clever in how he introduces plot lines gently and comes back later for the payoff. Whether or not you enjoy comedy in your mysteries, this one balances several plot lines capably and comes together for a very satisfying and well-executed ending. I wouldn’t be surprised if I read this one a few more times as I work through my own novel, as it represents what I’d love to achieve with a mystery: suspense and excellent character development.
If you haven’t gone on to this installment in the series, you are in for such a treat.
The Lost Apothecary is our next installment in the “Is it really a mystery?” topic. While it has a good amount of suspense, and it is described as “a work of mystery murder trust and betrayal” I’m not sure I’d shelve it in mystery. In fairness, I’m not sure I pulled it out of the mystery section when I bought it, as it was on the main table where sections aren’t totally clear.
However, it was an enjoyable read. That the apothecary provides poison to women in need of freedom from abusive spouses and family members is clear from the outset, but what isn’t entirely clear is whether she gets caught for this offense.
We shift back and forth from the historical timeline to the present, where another MC with a collapsing marriage leads us through her own treasure hunt to learn about the past. The police get involved and are suspicious about her copious notes about methods of poisoning, which was a nice touch, so our sleuth gets herself in a scrape trying to solve the puzzle, which makes this feel more like a mystery than Department of Rare Books did, at least in my opinion.
This one kept me up late reading, and the switching between plot lines was done well. I sympathized with the main character and enjoyed following her along through London on her first trip away from the US in a very long time. I’d recommend it for a flight or any travel this holiday, if you want to speed up the time.
But is it a proper mystery? I could make a case either way. Cast your vote in the comments.
You know I love a boat mystery, given that I’m working on one. This was a tricky customer. Through the majority of the book, I was engaged and eager to follow the ship officer and the Scotland Yard passenger who gets involved when a man is found dead on the deck one morning.
I enjoyed the characters, the 1920s setting, the details of the ship and all the motives everyone seemed to have. What I didn’t enjoy was the ending. It came absolutely out of nowhere and was subsequently barely believable to me. I finished reading at night before going to sleep and found myself wondering if I had imagined the ending, but when I went back I hadn’t.
Reading through other reviews, I was not alone in being surprised. Many others expressed that they found the setting repetitive and the series of interviews in cabins boring as the book progressed, but this didn’t bother me. It was more the “wait, WHAT?” feeling I was left with when I closed the cover that left me frustrated.
This will be the next edition of Spoiler Alert, so if you’ve read it, let’s get into the construction of a hasty ending.
Oh, Donna, you know what you’re doing. There is nothing like some time spent with Commissario Brunetti to soothe the disappointment of an abrupt ending.
I find I turn to Donna Leon regularly because I can count on her books to present a compelling crime, multiple odd characters who could have done it, and political intrigue around solving the murder or murders.
However, if you prefer your mysteries to end with the culprit being led off in chains, Donna Leon will often disappoint you. I enjoy the fact that we always learn what happened in these books, even though justice is rarely done in the way we might hope. The byline for the series could easily be: here’s a bunch of crimes and how people got away with them in Venice.
This installment is no different, and brings in money laundering, construction, drug addicts, and other elements into the mystery as we try to determine whether an accident was just an accident or a murder.
Along with the crime, the slice of life we get with Brunetti’s wife, his children, the contacts he has made around the city, and the proto hacker department secretary were all in good form in this book. If you love the series, this will be a favorite.
And so we come to our final read of the month, which is the trickiest entry in the “But is it a mystery?” contest.
This one looks and acts much more like a mystery than Apothecary or Department of Rare Books, but it twists the genre quite a bit along the way.
Is someone killed? Yes. But is it murder? Not really. The book proceeds as if a murder has taken place, delivering on all the conventions with a lot of clever humor, but I found myself pausing periodically and shaking my head.
“But there was no murder!” I said to myself. Are the police on the case? Is there a theft even? Yes, absolutely. There is lots of tension, secrets to keep, romance, and decent stakes. If you don’t much care if there is a proper murder or not, then as a mystery reader, you may enjoy this book as a fun play on the genre, which is how I ultimately felt.
The strength in this one is more in the characters: the extended family our main character is ensconced in, the veritable army of aunties who seem to appear around every corner in her life, and therefore throughout the mystery. When you live with family, work with family, and have given up the love of your life because you can’t bear to disappoint your family, tension builds. Sutanto does an admirable job capturing the tension of the first generation child who wants some space to grow, but also loves her family and believes in respecting tradition.
I recommend this one, and am happy to see there’s a new book in the series coming. We’ll see if someone gets properly bumped off there, but even if not, I am certain the story will more than make up for breaking a few rules.
So that does it for this month’s reads. Phew! That was a long list this round. Given that I’ve been sick in bed the last week, I’ve been reading much more than writing. Stay tuned for a new update on the writing process and a new podcast episode at the end of this week once I have something to report other than napping.
I’ll be visiting with family over Christmas, returning to the podcast in January, but will share posts on here as well to keep things exciting.
Happy reading!
*image: Sick Girl, Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov, Gorky Museum, Moscow