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Thursday August 31, 2023
Books in August
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You'd Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace
I was immediately grabbed this story from the first chapter, even though I am generally not so keen on the kind of psychological thriller where you know who dunnit at the outset. And initially it seemed clear that this was that kind of book. However, it soon developed into another kind of mystery altogether with a skillfully layered plot, and splendid characterisations.
Our heroine is Claire, (a deeply disturbed individual), whose murderous actions alongside her unfiltered critical observations of those around her provide the darkly comic elements of the book. We see many sides of Claire, including the poignantly awful memories of her mother, delivered in the form of "stories" she wrote as a child, and her fierce loyalty to her Father (who to be blunt should have had her sectioned at an early age but....). Claire directs her violence towards those she feels deserve it - those whom she "sees as ghosts" before they die; unfortunately, the shortcomings of her justice system are obvious when there seem to be a few extra corpses evident as collateral damage along the way. Despite all this, we are all rooting for Claire with her warped sense of morality; she is rather comparable to Highsmith's Ripley, or (as others have observed) Jennings' Villanelle. -
A Death in the Parish by Richard Coles [Read by Richard Coles]
Another solid offering from our favourite Reverend.
As I predicted he is already having trouble with one too many corpses "after all that dreadful business last year"; so again I wonder how he'll manage with the next book - unless Canon Clement moves parishes. Still, I'm getting ahead of myself.
In this story Daniel has acquired an assistant Chris, who is a born-again Evangelist who sees the world in black and white; he does not see it as his duty to, for example, visit the sick if they don't really accept Christ as their saviour - no point as they simply cannot then be saved, and will have to take the consequences. This is contrary to Daniel's take on his ministry where he is not only a committed Christian but also a kind and gentle social worker. This leads to interesting theological wrangles between the two, which I very much enjoyed reading, plus the dose of parish and Anglican politics, and church rituals, all described with the author's undeniable intelligence, wit, and good humour. I liked the mystery though I did pretty well guess the murderer immediately - maybe that was intentional - and the surprise deflating of Daniel's hopes in love brought a tear to the eye.
I've read a number of - mostly minor - criticisms from other readers which in the main do not apply for me. I think you get what you expect from these books - although I do agree with one reader who said that a subsequent book in a series should not reveal all about plot and murderer in previous books!
No - my only criticism - and it's a serious one in my opinion - relates to the audio book specifically. Coles chooses to read these books himself - I guess he feels as a broadcaster and entertainer that he's qualified to do so. However to put it bluntly he may read well but he does not read well enough. Sometimes I like an author reading their own work - they know how they wanted it to sound - but that is not the case here. An actor's delivery would be far preferable - narrating a book is a specialised skill - they do not act out every scene but almost imperceptibly (actually sometimes quite overtly) alter their voices according to who's speaking, and this is vital as Coles writes a lot of unattributed dialogue, which would be obvious on the page, but is not when read out. I enjoyed the heated discussions between Chris and Daniel, but they would have been much more comprehensible if I'd known which of them were speaking.
I've said before that I am often surprised at how much the narrator can make or break a book - and Richard does not break it, but he does not add to it. So.... for goodness sake, Richard, employ an actor. -
The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman [Read by Fiona Shaw]
There are several threads to this story: the Murder Club's usual cold case - the disappearance of a journalist investigating a fraud case; the death of a prison inmate imprisoned for said fraud case; and a blackmail attempt on Elizabeth who is required to kill a retired KGB agent. I would say that Richard has strayed into a rather less feasible plot line here - but that would be rather silly given the premise of a bunch of people in an old folks home creating a Thursday Murder Club. What I mean is that he is following in the (gigantic) footsteps of Agatha Christie, having staged murder plots that would be hard, or at best chancy, to succeed in carrying out in real life...
But it's all good clean gruesome fun.
I missed Lesley Manville as the narrator but Fiona Shaw did an excellent job. Not sure if the two do actually have similar speaking voices, but their choice of delivery in tone and cadence are comfortably similar in these books. - The Lover of the Grave, The Suffocating Night, and Where Roses Fade
by Andrew Taylor [Read by Philip Franks]
Another excellent set of mysteries, with the backdrop of the soap opera which is Richard and Jill's relationship.- A man is found at the "hanging tree" on a freezing winter night - an apparent suicide but with many obvious and unanswered questions. DI Richard Thornhill gets into difficulties while revisiting the area on the outskirts of a village near Lydmouth; he is rescued from potential hypothermia by Jill Francis who, luckily enough, is also investigating the scene as a journalist. Jill delivers Richard back to his wife Edith at home where she is able to properly revive him.
- An unscrupulous freelance reporter is found murdered at the Bathurst Arms. He was representing himself as sympathetic to a group of squatters being evicted from a nearby military camp when in fact he planned quite a different slant to his story, so initially his demise was linked to that. However, developments in the three-year old case of a missing girl make the picture altogether more complex. Meanwhile Richard and Jill finally acknowledge their feelings for one another.
- The double standards of attitudes to sexual activity during the 1950s is thoroughly scrutinized here. Violet is struggling to care for her new baby, Grace, while having to deal with the cruel attitude of her disapproving father. When Vi's "good time girl" best friend Mattie Harris is found dead floating the river, quite a number of Lydmouth's most prominent citizens seem anxious have it deemed an accident. ..... and Jill and Richard finally give in to their passion for each other.
Posted by Christina at 10:24 AM. Category: Books of the Month
