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Monday December 31, 2012
Books in December
- The Complaints by Ian Rankin [read by Peter Forbes]
Hopefully this is the start of a new "series" with a new hero
Malcolm Fox. Our hero works in the Complaints and Conduct Department;
nonetheless we are soon involved in a murder investigation, and quite
a traditional chalk and cheese buddy scenario bordering on Mills and
Boon (at first they don't get on but then discover a mutual respect,
joining forces against adversity).
It's great - read it. The only thing I can muster up against it is the
hero's name "Malcolm" - and that's just me - it's a nice traditional
Scottish name.
I understood that Rankin had written the final Rebus book and rather
like the final Morse and Wallander, I was not inclined to read it. I
can go along with an author's or actor's desire to definitively put
an end to a character once he has decided to finish with them, even
though rather definitive ends (Holmes) have resulted in future reincarnations
once the author was strapped for cash! Anyway, I imagined that Rebus,
like the others, had met an unpleasant end - so I was very pleased to
learn not only that he had simply retired, but that Rankin has now brought
him back (and not because he is strapped for cash). Thus I now have 2
Rebus books to catch up on.
- That (or the) Affair Next Door by Anna
Katherine Green
I downloaded two "free" vintage - presumably out of copyright - books
from the internet. This one interested me for two reasons. Firstly I
thought it was quite a good story and plot; I think I am quite patronising
or dismissive of old detective fiction - unless it is "iconic" of course
- so simple snobbery lowered my expectations. However, Green is credited
with inventing the amateur spinster sleuth, (Miss Marple apparently
being inspired by Miss Amelia Butterworth), and she is also said to
be the first to write about the use of an icicle as murder weapon -
so she probably is "iconic" and it is I who am simply ignorant.
Secondly: the author is American and was more or less contemporary with
(preceded in fact) Conan Doyle - this novel was written in 1897 - and
the language and style are very similar to that used by Elizabeth Peters
in her "Amelia
Peabody" novels. The latter are set in the 1880s but written
in the 1970s, and although they are tongue in cheek parodies, I never
liked them very much as I thought the writing style was unrealistic
ie what a modern author thinks old fashioned writing is like. However,
it seems I am completely wrong..... so there.
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Posted by Christina at 1:42 PM. Category: Books of the Month
