Saturday August 31, 2013
Books in August
- Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum
My first venture into an Inspector Sejer book, and it delighted me from the first - having not so much a surprise ending as a surprise beginning. And I can't say more without spoiling the surprise (beginning).
The end was pretty good as well - one of those simple solutions where there was all the evidence given to you but still a "whodunnit" nonetheless.
I have seen mixed reviews about lack of characterisation, which may be true, but I felt it was a good detective story. - Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon
I'm a great fan of Donna Leon and I enjoyed this book - but the ending really surprised me. Not in terms of the plot but in terms of abruptness. I thought the last chapter must have been missing. Having said that - it was more "arty" to end as she does but I felt I needed some cosy rounding off - after all that hard work investigating and so on. - which makes me feel rather dull-witted! - Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly [read by John
Chancer]
What can I say? Another great read.
Maybe a bit heavy on the courtroom detail - the whole plot turning on courtroom tactics, but .... can't stop myself using banal prose like "really good".
There is also a wonderful twist at the end - again all the evidence there before you, but not seen until the author chooses.
- Busy Body by M C Beaton [read by Penelope Keith]
Another cheerful book with all our old friends present and correct.
We start and end with the Carsley Ladies (joint meeting); like the village itself, it's a real caricature - but - as is often the case - utterly recognisable for anyone living in a village or belonging to any kind of club or society.
Hating to admit it but I do empathise with Agatha's complicated relationships with her male friends, and her constant search for the perfect man. However, unlike Agatha, I am convinced that when you meet an appealing and yet unattached man of mature years that it is no accident that he is unattached. Not implying a sinister reason - but there will be a reason. - Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell
I'm all Scapetta-ed out.
Well - not really of course.
We are back into more conventional mad serial killer territory here and back in my comfort zone. Well "not really" to that one as well - but I prefer the politics, anti-Scarpetta conspiracies, and military involvement to be incidental to the plot and not fundamental to it.
So this offering much more to my taste.
I found it most interesting to see an interview with Cornwell on ITV's "Crime Thriller Club". The latter is little more than a publicity blurb for the awards of the same name but lots of fun with Mark Billingham in full support for the "this prestigeous" (!) event. - From BBC Radio 4 Extra I enjoyed recordings of a dramatisation of
Terry
Pratchett's Night Watch with Philip Jackson*
as Sam Vimes, and an original dramatisation of Laurie
King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice with James Fox as a very
appropriate Sherlock - still sharp but perhaps a little weary.
* ...Philip Jackson who will always be Inspector Japp to me - and yet what a really skilled actor he is. I have seen him in many roles outside Poirot, (in which he was brilliant - aided by a delightful script "swipe me!"), and he is always utterly convincing with no distracting shades of Japp peeping through.
Posted by Christina at 2:48 PM. Category: Books of the Month