Tag: mystery

Galton Case

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MacDonald, Ross. The Galton Case. Read by Grover Gardner. New York: Blackstone Audio, 2010.

I’ll see if I can sum this up without giving anything away or confusing myself. Lew Archer, private investigator, has been hired by an old friend (and lawyer) to find the missing son of a wealthy widow. The investigation appears to be pretty pointless. Son Anthony Galton ran away twenty years earlier when he married a woman not to his parents’ liking. They were so upset they ordered him to “never darken their doorstep again” which he hasn’t. Now, twenty years later mum wants to make amends and give her prodigal son his share of the inheritance…only no one can find him. Here’s what is found: Anthony took on the assumed name of John Brown and he presumably had a son of the same name, John Brown Jr. Now the real mystery is does John Brown Jr. deserve his share of the pie? Of course there are many, many more twists and turns to this mystery!

Reason read: Ross MacDonald was born in December.

Author fact: Ross MacDonald’s real name was Kenneth Millar (which makes me think of Kevin Millar).

Book trivia: I heard somewhere that someone wants to make this into a movie. I haven’t looked for evidence to support this rumor.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (buried on page 122).

Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas

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Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas. New York: Minotaur Books, 2010.

Every time I read a Chris Ewan book I like his style more and more. Yes, his Good Thief books follow a certain formula. Writer/thief Charlie Howard gets himself into trouble time and time again and lives to write about it. Ewan can make Charlie visit every major city in the world and then some. And if Charlie ever settles down and has a kid who takes after pops…well, sky’s the limit. The trick is to make every story stand alone and Ewan does that. You won’t be missing out if you read just one (but you won’t want to). It’s definitely more fun to read them all in order.
When we catch up to Charlie Howard and his editor sidekick Victoria they are in Vegas, trying to enjoy a little holiday after being kicked out of Paris. Charlie gets himself into a little bit of trouble when he decides he wants to rob an obnoxious magician who rubbed him the wrong way. Finding a dead woman in the magician’s hotel room is only the beginning. There weren’t as many laugh-out-loud moments in this one, but it was still a pleasure to read.

No favorite lines in this one.

Reason read: To “finish” the series I started in September but truth be known, I would have read this in October, in honor of my cousin who lived on the mean streets of Vegas.

Author fact: According to the back flap Chris Ewan lives on the Isle of Man but spent his honeymoon trying his luck in Vegas. Funny how he doesn’t tell us how that turned out!

Book trivia: This is the third Good Thief book in the series.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Las Vegas” (p 128).

Brush with Death

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Duncan, Elizabeth. A Brush With Death.

A Brush with Death picks up where Cold Light of Mourning left off. We rejoin Penny Brannigan right after she has moved into her dear friend Emma’s cottage (Emma died in the earlier book). While cleaning and clearing out some of Emma’s belongings Penny comes across a secret Emma has kept for more than thirty years, a lesbian romance with an artist named Alys from Liverpool, England. The relationship was cut short when Emma’s beloved was killed by a hit and run driver. For years the death was ruled an accident until Penny uncovers clues indicating wicked foul play. Thus begins the mystery. Most of the same characters in Cold Light of Mourning return to help Penny solve the crime. I have to admit I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Cold Light of Mourning. I think it’s because Duncan’s main character Penny seemed to be a bit more of a busybody in this one. This one had more of a “Murder, She Wrote” feel than the other. What I appreciated the most was the continuation of a lot of details from the first book. Penny’s relationships with individuals as well as her standing in the community as the place to get a manicure. Her relationship with a boyfriend grows as does her business.

Favorite line, “We could never figure out if he leaned to the lavender” (p 237).

Reason read: to finish the “series” by Elizabeth Duncan.

Author fact: Do a Google search for Elizabeth Duncan and you get search results for a murderer. This is not that Elizabeth Duncan.

Book trivia: I wasn’t the only one who felt this “Brannigan tale” was a little predictable but I still liked it.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Wales Welcomes You” (p 250).

December 12 is…

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December is a mixed bag. Kisa and I aren’t traveling anywhere (I think we did enough of that over the summer). We’ll get the tree today. I’ll spend the weekend humming Christmas tunes and decorating the crap out of the house. Not much else is planned except a lot of books, books, books. For starters I am reading a lot of continuations:

  • Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan ~ a final book in the continuation of the series I started last month.
  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan ~ this finishing the Good Thief series I started in October.
  • Lives of the Painters… by Giorgio Vasari ~ this is the third (and penultimate) book in the series started in October
  • Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers ~ this continues the series started with The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club…

Confession: a bunch of these books aren’t “series” per se. But, because they continue a story (same characters, continuation of plot) I wanted to read them in order, especially Chris Ewan.

For the honor of all things December:

  • The Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer ~ in honor of Hanukkah
  • Women of the Raj by Margaret Macmillan ~ in honor of December being a really good time to visit India
  • The Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova ~ in honor of the coldest day in Russia (12/31/76)
  • Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegman ~ in honor of Iowa becoming a state in December

For the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I’m back to nonfiction: Drinking with Men by Rosie Schaap (I remembered her last name by thinking Schnapps). This looks really interesting because it isn’t someone’s sob story memoir about being an trapped and pathetic alcoholic.

And, lastly audio – I am planning to drive to work to the tune of Ross Macdonald’s The Galton Case.

So, there is it. Ten books. Ambitious of me, I know. The way I look at it I have ten days of vacation coming up with barely anything to do. I want to spend a great deal of time reading if nothing else.

November ’12 was…

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I don’t know what makes me feel this way, but November arrived and left before I knew it.  It felt like it was one of those elusive party-goers who pops in for a quick hello and is gone before anyone else knows. Something I would do. We had a fit of snow to add insult to New Jersey/New York injury. My neighborhood survived just fine but mother nature had it in for my old stomping grounds in the worst way.

My routine of reading during my lunch break hasn’t changed. I’ve come to look forward to camping out in the stacks, listening to students pass my study carrel. It gives me perspective. This month I seemed to read nothing but really short, easy to read books.

  • Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan ~ a continuation of the series I started last month. I think I read this over a weekend.
  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Vol 2 by Giorgio Vasari ~ a continuation of the series I started last month.
  • Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing ~ in honor of national adoption month. This was cute. I was able to read it in one day.
  • Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes ~ in honor of Camus being born in the month of November. I took my time with this but still managed to finish it in two weeks.
  • Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff ~ in honor of national Alzheimer’s month. Read over a weekend, I was glued to the words because almost a year ago I lost my uncle to dementia. This really hit home.
  • Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood by Carolyn Slaughter ~ in honor of November being a good time to visit Africa. Or so they say. Another quick, weekend read.
  • Edward Lear in Albania: Journals of a landscape Painter in the Balkansby Edward Lear ~ in honor of November being the best time to get to Albania (which I never thought of doing). This took me three weeks to get through.
  • The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth Duncan ~ in honor of Dylan Thomas living in Wales. Don’t ask. It’s a long story. Read in four days.
  • The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin ~ in honor of November being a good time to visit Africa (yeah, yeah I read two books for the same reason). This was really short. I was  able to read it over four lunch breaks.
  • Corregidora by Gayl Jones ~ in honor of Jones’s birth month. Another short (but difficult) read. Read this in one day.
  • The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr ~ in honor of November being Fantasy convention month. Read this over two lunch breaks. Really cute.

For audio books I listened to:

  • Churchill, a Life by Martin Gilbert ~ in honor of Churchill being born in the month of November. A few trips to the eastern part of the state allowed me to finish this sooner than I thought.
  • The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers ~ for the fun of it. This was hard to listen to simply because of the heavy dialogue.
  • Complications: a Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande ~ in honor of National Health Month. This was only six cds long so it was a great way to finish out the month.

What else was November about? I got to see a pretty exciting Patriots game thanks to my husband. I also got to stay home alone and read for an entire Sunday thanks to another Patriots game. Staying local for Thanksgiving definitely allowed for more reading time, too.

Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

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Sayers, Dorothy L. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Read by Ian Carmichael. Chivers Audio Books, 1989.

Confession: I have been listening to this while working out. I can admit it’s not very inspirational for getting into shape! As a matter of fact I had a terrible time listening to this and might have to actually read it for real. Reason being: Ian Carmichael. There is a great deal of dialogue and Mr. Carmichael doesn’t really differentiate between the voices all that well. Since every character sounds nearly the same it is difficult to figure out who was saying what.

Premise of the story: Old so and so (90 year old General Fentiman) has keeled over in the Bellona Club. Because the old codger had a heart condition and was so old people assume he died of natural causes until his estranged sister’s will is discovered. If he dies before Lady Dormer a distant relative would get her inheritance. If he dies after Lady Dormer he would get the inheritance. Since they both die on the same day suddenly it matters very much exactly when General Fentiman passed. Down to the minute. Did he die before or after Lady Dormer? When it is discovered that General Fentiman was murdered aristocrat and amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey (don’t you just love that name?) is called in to solve the mystery. The best part about this book is that it is really, really funny whether you read it or listen to it.

Reason read: In honor of Armistice Day or Poppy Day. General Fentiman dies on Remembrance Day (November 11th).

Author fact: Dorothy Sayers kept Lord Peter Wimsey very busy, publishing over 18 different stories involving his detections. I’ll be reading five of them.

Book trivia: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club was made into a television series in 1972, starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey. Hmmm…

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Tickle Your Funny Bone” (p 200).

Cold Light of Mourning

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Duncan, Elizabeth J. The Cold Light of Mourning. New york: Minotaur Books, 2009.

If you ignore the cliche title…
Cold Light of Mourning is one of those books where you are introduced to a slew of people right off the bat and, being a murder mystery, you want to remember every single one of them because you aren’t sure who is important to the plot and who isn’t. There is exceptional detail given to every single character as well and again, you want to remember it all in case there is a clue in there somewhere. Here are the first bunch of characters: Morwyn, niece of Mrs. Lloyd; Mrs. Evelyn Lloyd, regular customer of Peggy Brannigan, town manicurist; Emma Teasdale, deceased friend of Peggy, Meg Wynne Thompson, bride-to-be of Emyr Gruffydd; David Williams is best man to Emyr Gruffydd; Jennifer Sayles is maid of honor; Anne Davidson is a bridesmaid; Robbie Llewllyn is an usher; Philip Wightman is the funeral director; Reverend Thomas Evans is responsible for the Teasdale funeral and the Gruffydd wedding; Bronwyne is his wife. These are the people you meet in the first 25 pages of the book. By the end of the book you have met no less than 26 different characters (some important, others not so much).
So. You want to remember all these people (and more) because Meg Wynne goes missing on her wedding day, right after she gets a manicure. When she turns up murdered Peggy (remember her?) realizes the woman who came in to her have her nails done was not Meg Wynne. Thus begins the mystery. Who was the woman who had her nails done and what happened to Meg? Duncan takes us on a crazy ride. Her attempts to mislead us by introducing plausible murderers are feeble. I don’t think I am ruining the plot if I say neither the nurse nor hairdresser did it, but aside from that, it is definitely a fun read.

Reason read: Okay. So, this is a stretch. Let’s see if this makes sense: Cold Light of Mourning takes place in North Wales. Dylan Thomas was from Wales. Dylan Thomas died in November so I’m honoring Dylan Thomas by reading a book that takes place where he was from.

Author fact: Cold Light of Mourning is Elizabeth Duncan’s first book. She has a pretty interesting website as well.

Book trivia: Cold Light of Mourning is the first book in a series about manicurist Penny Brannigan.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Wales Welcomes You” (p 250).

Good Thief’s Guide to Paris

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Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris. New york: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008.

Right off the bat The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris opens with a head-scratcher. Writer and petty thief Charles Howard is teaching someone how to break into an apartment in Paris, France. After a successful book reading and too many glasses of red wine Howard has offered a fan a one on one tutorial in how to pull off the standard B&E. If you have read The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam you would think Howard is too smart to pull off anything that dumb. But he does and of course this B&E leads to more trouble, including a dead woman in his apartment.
In addition to being involved in the typical bungled burglar caper Howard’s relationship with unmet editor, Victoria, gets more complicated. She wants to see him face to face. This poses a myriad of problems for Howard, the least of all being he has lied about his looks.
the biggest improvement over the Amsterdam book is that Ewan sums up the mystery in a more realistic, less movie caper-ish way in Paris.
Pet peeve: The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris was published in 2008 and yet Charlie Howard is still slinking around using payphones and phone books. Even I had a cellphone before 2008.

Lines that made me laugh: “I felt my eyebrows switch places. I fumbled for an answer” (p 250). I just love the image of Howard’s eyebrows dancing around.

Reason read: A continuation of the Good Thief series I started last month. Only I didn’t need to. Good Thief…Paris stands on its own with barely a mention of Good Thief…Amsterdam. However, if you want to keep the advancement of the relationship with Victoria, Howard’s editor, in chronological order it is best to read Amsterdam first.

Author fact: Chris Ewan is a lawyer and while this puts him in the category of John Grisham, I enjoy Ewan more.

Book trivia: This is the second Good Thief book. Next is The Good Thief’s Guide to Las Vegas.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Las Vegas” (p 130). As with The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam, The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris was mentioned as an “oh, by the way…Chris Ewan has also written these “Good Thief Guides” in addition to the one set in Vegas.” Obviously, Paris has nothing to do with Vegas.

November ’12 is…

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November is Thanksgiving. My mom’s birthday. A wedding somewhere out there. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. Soon it will be time to crank up the woodstove. November is also a football game (Go Pats!) and maybe some music. It promises to be a good month for books, too. I have a couple of really short ones to buzz through:

  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Vol 2. by Giorgio Vasari ~ continuing the series started in October in honor of art month. As with Vol.1 I won’t read any bio that has a mistake in it.

    • I’m excited about this volume because Da Vinci is in it.

  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan ~ a continuation of the series started in October to honor the Amsterdam marathon. This should be a really quick read.
  • Camus: a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes ~ in honor of Albert Camus’s birth month
  • Edward Lear in Albania: journals of a landscape painter by Edward Lear ~ in honor of November being a good time to visit Albania.

    • I guess so.

  • Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood by Carolyn Slaughter ~in honor of November being a good time to take a safari in Africa. Truth be told, this won’t inspire me to travel anywhere near the dark continent.

    • I can tell already.

For audio – I’m plan to listen to Martin Gilbert’s biography of Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, a Life and Dorothy Sayer’s The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

For the Early Review program on LibraryThing I will finish Clay by Melissa Harrison. I have to admit I’m not wild about the story. I love the way Harrison describes the landscape around her but not a fan of her character development.

What else about November? Can I say I will be thrilled, thrilled to not have to listen to Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren bash each other over the head anymore? As a woman I have never felt more “targeted” than in this particular election. That would go for Obama and Romney as well. Grrrr.

Man From Beijing

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Mankell, Henning. The Man From Beijing. Read by Rosalyn Landor. New York: Random House Audio, 2010.

The opening scene to The Man From Beijing (aside from the judicial oath) is stunning. Mankell describes in haunting detail the travels of a lone wolf as it hungrily searches for prey. I won’t spoil it by saying anything more. Suffice it to say this scene sets the tome for an ominous story. After visiting a wolf and wilderness center in Colorado my mind’s eye can see this solitary wolf (and it’s ever present hunger) with detailed clarity which makes Mankell’s opening scene even more chilling.

Henning Mankell is a master at writing mysteries. The Man From Beijing is no exception. The story starts with nineteen people, concentrated in one tiny Swedish village, brutally murdered. Most of the victims are elderly and the level of violence inflicted on them is unprecedented. Even their pets have been viciously attacked and killed. As the details of the massacre unfold the plot becomes multi-generational, spanning 150 years; and international, taking place in China, Zimbabwe, the United States and, of course, Sweden.

Reason read: I needed a “wild card” story for the fun of it. I chose The Man From Beijing because it isn’t attached to any other story (Mankell writes mostly series).

Author Fact: Mankell was the first winner of the Ripper Award.

Book Trivia: The Man From Beijing is an international best seller. According to IMDB it was made into a television movie in 2010.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Swede(n), Isn’t It?” (p 223).

Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam

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Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam. New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2007.

Charles Howard is a suspense writer visiting Amsterdam for inspiration to the ending of his latest crime-thief thriller. He shouldn’t ever get writers’ block because he happens to be one of the very thieves he writes about in his “fiction.” As a petty thief he steals things just because he can. In addition, the thefts stave off boredom and supplement his writing career. One of his sidekicks is his literary agent, Victoria, who he has never met. He tells he everything about his thieving escapades. This time word has gotten around – he’s a good a thief as they come – and he is approached by an American willing to pay him to steal the matching plaster monkey figurines to his “See No Evil.” The figures are cheap and the job seems to simple. Howard rightly thinks there has to be a catch and of course, there is. After successfully stealing “Hear No Evil” and “Speak No Evil” all hell breaks loose when the American is murdered and his death is pinned on Howard.

Chris Ewan’s writing is fun and furious. It’s easy to read 100 pages in a single lunch break without looking up once. His Charles Howard character is entertaining with just the right amount of cheeky sarcasm contrasted with humble likeability. Like other reviewers I enjoyed his sly and flirty relationship with his literary editor. Of course the ending is wrapped in a “Who Dunnit” ending with a neat little bow, but because Ewan kept many details out this play by play was almost necessary to make the ending complete.

Good line: “It was enough, to begin with, to be somewhere I wasn’t meant to be, without anyone knowing about it” (p 79).

Reason Read: in honor of the Amsterdam marathon which takes place in October.

Author Fact: Chris Ewan has his own Bond-like website. It’s entertaining, just like his books.

Book Trivia: The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam is the first in a series of “Good Thief” books by Ewan.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Las Vegas” (p 130). This was another one of those “mentioned by default” books Pearl decided to include. This particular “Good Thief’s Guide” has nothing to do with Vegas but because Ewan wrote another one that does take place in Vegas Amsterdam gets a mention as well.

Big Sleep

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Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window.New York: Everyman’s Library, 2002.

This was my first introduction to a “hardboiled” thriller. Phillip Marlowe is a private investigator hired to deal with a blackmailer. His client is an ailing elderly General with two unruly adult daughters. The plot twists and winds around murder after murder and through it all private investigator Philip Marlowe is right behind, chasing down clues and killers. It takes place in the 1930s so the economy is a little out of place but the humor and sarcasm of Marlowe is timeless. One of my favorite “shticks” in the story is how everyone keeps asking Marlowe if he is looking for the missing husband of one of the daughters, Vivian. He has been hired to sort out a blackmail scheme, not find a missing man but everyone assumes that is why he is on the case. He ends up accomplishing both but his technique along the way is highly entertaining.

Favorite passages: “The General spoke again, slowly using his strength as carefully as an out-of-work show-girl uses her last good pair of stockings” (p 7) and “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts” (p 36) and “If you can weigh a hundred and ninety pounds and look like a fairy, I was doing my best” (p 44).

Author Fact: Raymond Chandler didn’t start writing detective fiction until he was 45 years old. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Book Trivia: The Big Sleep was made into a movie twice and was just adapted for the stage in 2011.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 122). This is a huge chapter with over 80 titles. She does try to break up the lists into different genres of mystery and I guess Chandler would be listed under private investigators.

October ’11 was…

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What do you get when you add a vacation to two road trips and a freak snow storm in which I lose electricity for two days? Answer – a boat load of books read in one month; so many books that I haven’t been able to review them all.

In the first week of October I went home. As past posts can tell you I like nothing more than reading on an island, especially one on the tail end of a hurricane. There is something so book-worthy about a rain soaked afternoon or two by the raging ocean…
On Monhegan I was able to read:

  • Anil’s Ghost by Michael Onjaatje (e-book),
  • Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (stolen from my childhood bookcase),
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (stolen from my sister’s childhood bookcase)
  • Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (another e-book) and part of
  • The Stand by Stephen King

On a road trip to New York (to see Natalie Merchant ~ more on that on the Other Side) I was able to finish

  • The Stand by Stephen King and
  • Spy Trap by Edward Packard and
  • Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I started reading Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann when I forgot Immortality by Milan Kundera at work. I finished both those books and Last to Die by James Grippando during the freak snow storm/power outage (and to think people wanted me to come out with them because they had cable!!). As long as I candles and blankets I was in heaven.
But, probably the hardest book to get through was Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (another e-book). I started Altered Carbon the first week of October and slogged through it until October 27th. Talk about a complicated story! I am struggling with the review because the plot was so intense.

So, there it is. Nearly a dozen books for the month of October. True, four of those books were for kids (Phantom Tollbooth, Johnny Tremain, Spy Trap and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) but Altered Carbon, Last To Die and Buddenbrooks were “adult” enough to offset the kiddie stuff.

What’s in store for November? Well, considering I have no trips to Monhegan (or anywhere for that matter), Thanksgiving is this month, and we have a power back, I have no idea. 🙂

Anil’s Ghost

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Ondaatje, Michael. Anil’s Ghost. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. EPUB file.

Disclaimer: This was my first electronic book. I am trying very hard to trust that everything that was in the published hardcopy was present in the e-book version. I have to believe I didn’t miss out on something by reading this on an iPad.

Anil’s Ghost is the clever weaving of fact and fiction. In the mid-1980s Sri Lanka was in a state of civil unrest. It went beyond a north versus south conflict and involved illegal government activity. Anil’s Ghost is the fictional account set in the middle of a political and historical truth.
Anil Tissera is a forensic anthropologist returning to Sri Lanka after a fifteen year absence.  As part of a human rights organization her obligation to investigate and ultimately uncover the truth about ethnic and religious killings occurring during the country’s civil war. Her entire attention remains focussed on one particular skeleton she nicknames “Sailor.” His remains have been found in an ancient burial ground and yet anthropologically he is considered a contemporary.  Upon arriving in Sri Lanka she becomes paired with man she doesn’t know if she can trust. Sarath is quiet and keeps many secrets. What is amazing about Anil’s Ghost is the lush language and the intricate character development. Each chapter is dedicated to the unfolding of someone’s life, past and present. This technique brings a fullness to the storyline. In the end you feel as if every character has purpose to the plot.

Most interesting – Anil. Hands down. I don’t really understand her obsession with changing her name. She actually “buys” one of her brother’s names because he has more than one. The way she buys this name is not explicitly spelled out, but it seems ominous.

Favorite lines: “She was working with a man who was efficient in his privacy, who would never unknot himself for anyone” (p 60), “She would not step back from her fury” (p 116), and “One can die from private woes as easily as from public ones” (p 237).

Line that gave me pause: “They had both hoped for a seven-bangled night” (p 118).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the simple chapter called “Canadian Fiction” (p 51) and more interestingly from More Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in “It Was a Dark and Stormy Novel” (p 129), and again in the chapter called “Sri Lanka: Exotic and Troubled (p 213).

Accounting for Murder

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Lathen, Emma. Accounting for Murder. New York: Pocket Books, 1974.

This seemed to go hand in hand with The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe. Both take place in New York on Wall Street. The big numbers game. I have to admit I was bored by this book. None of the characters interested me enough to care what happened to them (another similarity with The Bonfire of the Vanities). Each and every one of them seemed dull and flat. In addition the plot was slow moving and I kept asking myself  “where and when is this murder? I know this guy dies so when does it happen?” Accounting for Murder is supposed to focus on amateur silver-haired detective John Putman Thatcher and yet for the first 60 pages he’s barely in the story. Initially, he is invited to a lunch with Mr. Fortinbras who late winds up dead.

Author Fact: Emma Lathen is actually two authors collaborating as one. Mary Jane Latis (1927 – 1997) and Martha Hennissart (b. 1929 – ). Both women were businesswomen in the field of economics.

Book Trivia: Accounting for Murder is actually part of a series with banker and amateur detective John Putnam Thatcher as the main reoccurring character.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery: (p 117).