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Wednesday May 31, 2023
Books in May
- The Detective by Ajay Chowdhury
Another excellent mystery plot from Ajay Chowdhury, investigated by Kamil with his diverse set of friends. Happily for me, Kamil is now where I feel he belongs... that is: in the police force, rather than operating as a talented hanger-on. Some other readers found his swift acceleration through the Met a bit implausible, but I found I could accept it better than the Famous Five type of investigations that preceded it.
The story line itself is very topical, involving a kind of advanced (and as written: fantasy - but who knows?) recognition software; however the twist is that this software is combined with what I will term "AI" giving it some rudimentary, but nonetheless sinister, deductive and predictive abilities - shades of "The Capture" combined with "Minority Report".
I am warming to Kamil and his friends, though the cast of suspects were pretty unappealing, such that it didn't really matter to me which of them dunnit! What held most appeal for me personally was the sub plot, where Anjoli takes it upon herself to find out the identity of three historical bodies found near the site of the modern day killing. I won't say how she does this (much luck and co-incidence of course - but that's what stories are all about, after all), but naturally the AI software has some part to play, and the result of her efforts has an unexpected link the live investigation.
Looking forward to Kamil's next outing...
- The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox, Treachery at Hursley Park House, and
A Conflict of Interests by Claire Gradidge [Read by Lucy Price-Lewis]
I stumbled across Treachery at Hursley Park House in the local library on the "hot to trot" shelves - and it was irresistible due only to the title. My erstwhile employer runs their research labs there, so I'm pretty familiar with the building, and found it amazing that someone had actually written a mystery series set there. I'd not heard of it before, and had expectations of its being pulp detective fiction. Well! how arrogant am I? It's an outstanding series, and definitely plays to my taste in the genre. I quickly moved on to read the third in the series then went back and listened to the first.- The action starts in 1941, when (illegitimate) Jo Fox returns to her home town of Romsey, searching for her father. She is disconcerted to re-encounter an old school friend, Bram, - now a local solicitor and coroner - because she had last seen him during a brief impetuous romantic interlude while sheltering from an air raid in London. They are drawn together to investigate the death of a young girl whose body was wrongly included with others killed in an explosion at the local pub.
- In 1942, Jo is is seconded to Hursley House with a code name and a mission to uncover the network responsible for information leaks to the enemy.
- By 1944, Jo is back working in the coroner's office in Romsey when Bram is hospitalised with an infection caused by his severe wounds from WW1. Added to this her estranged husband reappears in her life, and after her initial relief when he disappears again, she is distressed to find he is somehow involved when a burning car is discovered with a body inside.
- The Windsor Knot, A Three Dog Problem, and Murder Most Royal
by S J Bennett [Read by Samantha Bond]
Somewhat against my better judgement, I listened to the next two books in the "Queen Elizabeth Investigates" series. They are well-written and fun to listen to - but seem somehow disrespectful now that both Her Majesty and Prince Philip are no longer with us - not sure why - just a personal reaction.
I see there is now a fourth in the series A Death in Diamonds where the action is moved back in time to 1957 - which I imagine makes things somewhat easier for both writer and reader.
Posted by Christina at 2:56 PM. Category: Books of the Month
