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Friday August 31, 2018
Books in August
- A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear
[read by Julie Teal]
Well, the author has resolved her, along with Maisie's personal, issues from the previous book, and Maisie has been traveling - through America and India. Thus in 1937, after the happiest period of her life, she finds herself in Gibraltar, basically, experiencing a nervous breakdown. The Rock is indeed "a dangerous place" at this time. It's a key British stronghold and a centre of clandestine activity, full of intelligence operatives, double agents, and refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War. Maisie is drawn into the intrigues, looking into a murder, and also crossing the border with other nurses to help in a hospital in Spain. Through all this, ("good works"), she gradually begins a sort of recovery.
Again, fans have mixed reviews, but a lot of them seem to think Maisie should be a rags-to-riches story where love conquers, with nothing but happy endings - more like Barbara Taylor Bradford (no disrespect to this best-selling author). Any review of the actual mystery stories should make it plain that these are sad and poignant tales, told alongside, and balanced against, Maisie's rise through the ranks. Having said that - others complain that life works out "too perfect" for her. Either way an author needs some substance about which to write any story* - and here I found it very refreshing with a move of the action to Europe describing a wholly different backdrop, and just the seedlings of WW2.
[* I have always had this issue with soap operas - not one set of problems solved and another begins - if it were left to me everyone would settle down nicely in couples and live happy satisfying lives.
No-one has yet approached me for a script...]
- The Headhunters by Peter Lovesey
[read by Maggie Ollerenshaw ]
I really liked this novel - just a fantasy conversation between a few friends, but a blueprint for an action plan for the psychopath among them. Discovering which one leads to a tense and thrilling ending.
This book is the second to feature Hen Mallin as the detective - the first being The Circle, although she played minor parts in the The House Sitter and The Secret Hangman, all of which I have read.
Not so easy to find an audio version for this book in the UK - I found it in the eBook offerings from the local library.
Posted by Christina at 7:53 PM. Category: Books of the Month
