« No Man's Land | Main | Small person gansey »
Monday October 31, 2016
Books in October
- London's Glory by Christopher Fowler [read by Tim Goodman]
So having "ended" the Bryant and May series quite definitively,
the author has done the only sensible thing and returned to adventures
from a previous era with a book of "11 missing cases".
He has moved right into real "short story" writing for the detectives and the result is excellent. Small mysteries rather in the vein of Sherlock Holmes.In addition he provides an excellent "introduction" which is an essay about murder mysteries through the ages.
[I am relieved though that he has not followed Steven Saylor's path of introducing a youthful and lusty sexual dimension - luckily our heroes are still pretty ancient even in the 1940s. Not - I hasten to add - that I have any repressed objections to sex for the over 60s - just not sure I want it expressed in any graphic detail - the vision of Bryant and pillow talk would have been too boggling to contemplate.]
So - enjoy - Bryant and May..:- ...and the Secret Santa
- ...in the Field
- ...on the Beat
- ...in the Soup
- ...and the Nameless Woman
- ...and the Seven Points
- ...on the Cards
- ...Ahoy!
- ...and the Blind Spot
- ...and the Bells of Westminster
- ...Mystery Tour
- Sign of Fear by Robert Ryan
It seems the ending if the last book was the "real" ending
and I just have to live with it. Far from a Holmes-like regeneration,
we see an unlikely alliance between Watson and his nemesis - which the
author has some skill to both pull off as plausible and also take his
reader (me) with him. Watson might be able to pragmatically deal with the
situation but the rest of us have some difficulty. Actually we want
to see evil genii redeemed - a la Star Wars .... but that doesn't happen
either!
An excellent adventure - and long may Watson be able to continue in this "modern era". - Brush Back by Sara Paretsky
This is the latest published VI novel - and apparently the 17th in the
series. Although the plot is about a past injustice (or maybe not) it
heavily centres on VI's cousin Boom Boom. This famous ball-playing cousin
- and his death - is the subject of a much earlier novel, and it is
always clear that VI has a bit of hero worship going on. Hence his name
associated with wrong-doing leaves VI insecure and doubting herself.
This provides all that is needed to keep her on track looking into a
situation that gives her more grief than it's worth, and that she would
probably prefer not to be dragged into - especially as it's all pro
bono with a stack of personal abuse thrown in!
Posted by Christina at 5:47 PM. Category: Books of the Month
