Archive for mystery

Stone’s Fall

June 1, 2009 at 21:52 · Filed under books, historical, mystery ·Tagged ,

Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

stoneI’ve enjoyed Iain Pears’ art mystery series, but haven’t read his standalone works. Financier John Stone fell to his death from a window of his London home. This is presented in three parts, all with different narrators. It has an interesting structure – it’s told in a backwards fashion; starting in London 1909 it then jumps to 1890 Paris and then to 1867 Venice. I did skim quite a bit of the financial parts and was lagging by the time part three came around, despite the Venice setting. But if you can stick with it until the end, you’ll be rewarded with a whaaat? At least, that was my reaction. Cannot say I saw that coming, but everything falls into place.

3.5/5

Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2009, 978-0676979848

jacket blurb:

A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, Stone’s Fall is a quest, a love story, and a tale of murder. It centres on the career of a very wealthy financier and the mysterious circumstances of his death, cast against the backdrop of WWI and Europe’s first great age of espionage, the evolution of high-stakes international finance and the beginning of the twentieth century’s arms race.

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Very brief roundup

May 3, 2009 at 14:20 · Filed under books, historical, mystery, various, young adult ·Tagged , , ,

merrybegot

The Minister’s Daughter, Atheneum Books / The Merrybegot (UK title) by Julie Hearn, 2005
17th century England, young adult book. Nell is a merrybegot, a child conceived on the first of May. She and her grandmother are the village healers. Among the fairies and piskies, Nell gets tangled up in a pregnancy coverup carried out by the minister’s daughter Grace and her sister Patience. I liked the use of olde language without being too distracting and the dual narrative worked for me. 4/5


secretcountessThe Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson, Young Picador, 2007 (also called A Countess Below Stairs, 1981)
1919 England, young adult book. Anna, a young Russian countess, decides to take up a servant position in the Westerholme house to earn much needed money for her newly arrived and impoverished family. She falls for the new Earl in the process.  3/5


silentsanc2Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn, Mira, 2008
Second book of the Lady Julia Grey series. I didn’t think this had the page-turning quality of Silent in the Grave, but I enjoyed the mystery of this one more. I liked getting to know more of Julia’s siblings and family; it’s still two steps forward, two steps back with Julia and Nicholas Brisbane. 4/5

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Silent in the grave

March 8, 2009 at 13:42 · Filed under books, historical, mystery ·Tagged , ,

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

silentgraveFirst book of a series, a Victorian mystery with a dash of romance. Lady Julia’s husband Sir Edward Grey has passed away seemingly of natural causes. But Edward had hired private investigator Nicholas Brisbane due to some threatening notes he received. Brisbane thinks murder is possible; Lady Julia doesn’t believe it though.

One year later and coming out of mourning, she finds evidence of the threatening notes in her house, and concedes it may have been murder as Brisbane suggested. Despite the one year-old cold trail, Lady Julia wants to know the truth of the matter and we begin our mystery. So Mr. Brisbane is back on the case, this time with Lady Julia’s help.

Mystery books can be hit or miss for me but I found the chapter pacing and unravelling of the mystery pretty riveting, and easily finished this in two sittings. Nicholas Brisbane is so interesting – half gypsy, half Irish, well travelled, mysterious, and rather sneaky when it suits (for instance, telling Julia he’s going to Paris, but then not going and secretly following her around instead). The relationship between Nicholas and Julia is complicated but it shines. The March family – Julia’s father and her many siblings, and Aquinas, her former circus performer butler were also great characters in the mix.

4.5/5

Mira, 2007, 978-0778325246
Deanna Raybourn’s site with excerpt

series reading order – Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Silent on the Moor (just released this month)

cover blurb:

“Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent in the grave.”

These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Prepared to accept that Edward’s death was due to a longstanding physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.

Determined to bring her husband’s murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward’s demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

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A short roundup

February 24, 2009 at 19:37 · Filed under books, mystery, romance, various ·Tagged , , , ,

Call these reviewlets – books I didn’t get around to writing much on compiled here. Something like those tiny 100 calorie sized snacks that seem to be popular these days?

theagencyThe Agency by Ally O’Brien, St. Martin’s Press, 2009
Liked the insider’s look at agency life, but I didn’t really connect with protagonist Tess. Things at the end were wrapped up rather quickly. There are many London/British references, which I didn’t mind because I got some of them. Ally O’Brien is actually writing duo Brian Freeman and entertainment agent Ali Gunn. 3/5

If you live in the US or Canada there’s still time to enter Bookshipper’s contest to win a copy – ends February 27.

 

artthiefThe Art Thief by Noah Charney, Atria, 2007

Entertaining look into the high art world. I skimmed over a lot of the symbolism/iconography explanations, but Professor Barrow’s lectures were so entertaining and they were my favourite parts. It felt like I needed to draw a diagram to keep the twists straight though. 3.5/5

dateothersideA Date With the Other Side by Erin McCarthy, Berkley Sensation, 2005

Cuttersville, Ohio’s haunted house tour operator Shelby and Chicago city boy Boston – their first meeting involves Boston’s nakedness. Not sure I’ll view eyelet quite the same way again and the momentum from that opening fizzled out. 2.5/5

 

moongazerMoongazer by Marianne Mancusi, Love Spell/Shomi, 2007
Matrix-like plot. Manhattan video game designer Skye has dreams of a postapocalyptic world where the people, particularly a man named Dawn, think she’s some resistance leader named Mariah who betrayed them. Dawn and Mariah have history, but Skye can’t be Mariah, even though they look alike, right? The pacing seemed a bit slow at the beginning, but I enjoyed Skye’s journey and the reveal at the end. 3.5/5

 

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