« Cluedo 2 | Main | Dune 2 »
Thursday February 29, 2024
Books in February
- Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
The fifth in the perfectly splendid DI Hawthorne series. In this book, as promised in an interview I heard in 2022, Horowitz (Anthony) varies the style in his role as "Watson" recording the cases of Hawthorne, the "consulting detective".
It seems Anthony has a contractual obligation to the publishers for another book, and since, as he explains to Hawthorne, they can't just wait for another case to turn up, Anthony persuades Hawthorne that he will write about an old case which took place in Richmond in Surrey 5 years previously. However, when it comes to it, they've agreed on a case that proves somewhat unsatisfactory in many respects, not least because Hawthorne seems unwilling to reveal all the relevant information to Anthony. Consequently - despite being warned off by a number of people - Anthony goes off on his own, investigating and re-interviewing witnesses...
Again we are treated to a fictionalised but plausibly real version of Anthony's life with anecdotes and insights into an the art of writing a novel. [Plus an opportunity for him to play with the fiction he has created: "A lot of writers say that their characters talk to them but very few of them mean it literally."].
A sheer delight.
Can't wait for more.
[Again lucky enough to be given a review copy of this novel due to be published in April.] - The Night House by Jo Nesbo
This Jo Nesbo novel was quite a surprise for me (not an unpleasant one). Having only ever read his Harry Hole detective fiction previously, I was expecting a dose of conventional Scandi Noir. I suppose, to be fair it is pretty noir, and given that Jo is Norwegian, it is also Scandi; it is, however, far from conventional.
I remained unsure for most of the novel if the genre were science fiction/fantasy/horror or if we had a case of the unreliable narrator, but whatever I settled on, I was undoubtedly gripped from the opening chapter, and found it hard to put the book down thereafter. With two (or more...) major twists to the plot, and - all important for me - a most satisfactory ending, this is an excellent book. Recommended if you can cope with weird. - The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [Read by Stephen Fry]
I have read most of the short story collections but notice, from where I left a bookmark in this last volume, I did not read all of them. So I chose to listen to ones that were new to me, and found - a surprise to me - that Doyle varied the form a little, for example, having Holmes write and narrate a story himself without Watson.
Once again Stephen Fry is an excellent narrator.
[Again I downloaded The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes from my local library, as opposed to buying the whole collection from Audible.]
Posted by Christina at 9:15 AM. Category: Books of the Month
