Friday, April 29, 2016

Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse, Mycroft Holmes (2015)

Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse, Mycroft Holmes
Titan Books; 2015
ISBN 978-1783291533


Sherlock Holmes' older (and smarter?) brother gets his own book.  It's 1870, he's 23 (and Sherlock is in his first year at University), and newly engaged to Georgina Sutton.  Mycroft works at the Foreign Office, as a private secretary to the Minister of War (a testimony of the regard in which he is held); his one extravagance is smoking the Cuban cigars imported by his friend Cyrus Douglas (a native of Trinidad).  Holmes learns, through Douglas, that a startling number of children have died on the island, and not of natural causes.  Georgiana's family lives on Trinidad, where they own a sugar cane plantation, and she is shocked by the news, coming as it does just as she is planning a trip home to tell her parents of her engagement. 

Holmes tells her of his plan to go as well, to investigate this strange outbreak of death unofficially for the War Office.  Both getting there and being there are more dangerous than Holmes had expected, and Georgiana is (apparently) not on the ship on which she had planned to sail.  Even more complications ensue.  For about the first 2/3 of the book, the pace of the story is fairly leisurely, even if it does incorporate a fair amount of violence.  The last third moves more swiftly, and the conclusion has its satisfactory and unsatisfactory aspects for the protagonists. 

For a first book (for both authors), it is a creditable job.  But it is clearly a first book.  The pacing is an issue there are several scenes that could easily be shortened or omitted), and I often felt that it would have worked better as a first-person (Holmes) narration rather than as a third-person.  Mycroft's intellect is well-displayed, even if some of his conclusions (which are treated as real surprises by Douglas--and others--seem routine deductions.    If there is a sequel I will read it with interest.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

John Bude, Death on the Riviera

John Bude, Death on the Riviera
British Library Crime Classics
Poisoned Pen Press
ISBN 978-1-4642-0569-9
Also available as an ebook


Inspector Meredith and Sergeant Strang get sent to the Riviera to help break up a counterfeiting ring; the suspected "artist" is an Englishman with a history.  The book becomes complicated, with cigarette smuggling and with what appears to be a sub-plot involving the inhabitants of a villa owned by the wealthy Mrs. Hedderwick. 

One thing of interest is that in 1952 English tourists heading for France were apparently permitted to take only ₤5 in English currency to the Continent.  According to this source (http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/archive/Documents/historicpubs/qb/1967/qb67q3245260.pdf ), "The main object of exchange control in this country was to conserve and increase the gold and foreign currency reserves."  In the book, the allowable amount is given as ₤5, but in the source I noted above, it's given as ₤25 per year for an adult.  Even as late as 1969, we get this, from a debate in the Commons:  "I beg to move. ‘That the £50 travel limit is unworthy of Great Britain and should be abolished....' It is an obstruction to one of the dearest freedoms of the British people, namely, our ancient freedom to travel and to move amongst other peoples and in other countries where and when we want. It should never have been reimposed in 1966, 21 years after the end of the last war and seven years after it had been abolished. It is bad on every count, and should be removed forthwith."  Which suggests that the restrictions had continued until at least 1959 before being reimposed in 1966.  

But to revert to the book.  It's well-written (Bude was a popular author, who died quite young in 1957, at age 56), and mostly well-structured.  There is a sub-plot involving a painter (artist, not house), which sort of disappears without any resolution.  The death of the title, however, does not occur until at least 2/3 of the way through the book, and, somewhat to my dismay, seems to have been committed by  one of the more sympathetic characters in the book.  I suppose that's just the way it goes sometimes.

This is part of the British Library Crime Classics series, curated by Martin Edwards.  It's well worth seeking out.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Copycat photoblogging redux

Once again, I tag along with Chris Bertram; he has a lovely street scene in San Francisco; I have a street scene in Paris (from 2000.)

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Parnell Hall, Presumed Puzzled


Parnell Hall, Presumed Puzzled
St. Martin’s Press/A Minotaur Book, 2016
ISBN 9781259061232
Also available as an ebook

The 17th book featuring Clara Fenton. a/k/s The Puzzle Lady, famous for her syndicated series of crossword puzzles and, lately sudoku puzzles.  And frequently, she has found herself involved in murder, always involving either crossword puzzles or sudoku, or both.  And, of course, any mystery fan will immediately see the reference made in the title.

In this case, a participant  in Clara's occasional bridge foursome, Paula Martindale, becomes concerned because her husband (Roger) failed to come home (to a small Connecticut town) from work (in NYC),  She tries to file a missing persons report, which the chief of police won't accept because he hasn't been missing long enough.  He does, however, ask Clara to see if she can discover anything of interest.  The next day, following up, the chief and Clara go to the Martindale house, find the door open, and Clara enters while the chies is ringing the doorbell, to discover Roger on the living room rug, bleeding.  Paula stumbles in, clutching a bloody knife.  Not surprisingly, she is arrested for murder. 

Local lawyer Becky Baldwin, defending her, also Clara (who has a rep) to do some investigation.  One thing follows another before we get to a fairly convoluted conclusion.  Hall usually does courtroom scenes very well; here, I think he falls below his normal standard.  Also, for most of the book, I had the impression that the Martindales were considerably younger than Clara, which turns out to be incorrect, and important to the plot.  As we get to the denouement, there were a couple of developments that I thought were obvious points for investigation, or at least mention, which are ignored.  One of these does, in fact, feature in Clara’s solution of the crime.

Hall writes well, the book moves smoothly along, and is an easy afternoon or evening read.  Not, perhaps, one of his best books in what is not (for me) his best series, but worth the time.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Phil Ochs

40   years ago, on April 9, 1976, Phil Ochs committed suicide.  When I heard the news, one of his songs came immediately into my head.  This one.

*************************************

No More Songs
Phil Ochs

Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody home?
I've only called to say, I'm sorry
The drums are in the dawn and all the voices gone
And it seems that there are no more songs

Once I knew a girl, she was a flower in a flame
I loved her as the sea sings sadly
Now the ashes of the dream, can be found in the magazines
And it seems that there are no more songs

Once I knew a sage, who sang upon the stage
He told about the world, his lover
A ghost without a name, stands ragged in the rain
And it seems that there are no more songs

The rebels they were here, they came beside the door
They told me that the moon was bleeding
Then all to my surprise, they took away my eyes
And it seems that there are no more songs

A star is in the sky, it's time to say goodbye
A whale is on the beach, he's dying
A white flag in my hand and a white bone in the sand
And it seems that there are no more songs

Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody home?
I've only called to say, I'm sorry
The drums are in the dawn and all the voices gone
And it seems that there are no more songs

It seems that there are no more songs

It seems that there are no more songs
*****************************
I wish he were still with us.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Robert Harris, Enigma

Robert Harris, Enigma
 Ballantine Books. 1996 (originally published 1995
ISBN-10: 0804115486
ISBN-13: 978-0804115483

The first 3/4 of Enigma is a good, taut novel set in Bletchley Park during World War II.  The depiction of the deciphering process, and of the lives of the people there and in England generally, is solid and compelling.  Then, in the last 100 pages, it tears your heart out.  I can't, really say anything more than that.  It is the best book I have read so far this year.