Oh, I picked up some takeaway from a new food spot, for us anyway, a surprisingly nice little place down on Dyke Road, where a place called Portuguese Joe's fish shop used to be. I ordered something I'd never tried before, Pork Adobo, a Philippine food and both Jo and I loved it. We will try it again.
I've finished two short books the past couple of days. I enjoyed them both. The nice thing about finishing them, as they were sort of additional reading challenges, so I can get back to focusing on the other books I've been working on as well.
I also received a new book in the mail yesterday, so I'll update that as well. Finally, if I have time I'll continue with my look at the Mystery Genre, American PI's with my 14th entry on this topic. So let's get going, time's a-wasting!
New Books
"There were six of them. Professional men and their waiter. They gather at the Milano Restaurant once a month for good food and good conversation. But lately the Black Widowers have added a new entertainment to their meetings. They have begun to solve mysteries, murders, and conspiracies of seemingly impossible dimensions.
With all the skills of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot combined, these six men and their ever-faithful waiter, Henry, take on challenging cases that will tease your deductive skills to the limit and keep you guessing to the very end.
Contents:
* The Acquisitive Chuckle
* Ph as in Phony
* Truth to Tell
* Go, Little Book!
* Early Sunday Morning
* The Obvious Factor
* The Pointing Finger
* Miss What?
* The Lullaby of Broadway
* Yankee Doodle Went to Town
* The Curious Omission
* Out of Sight"
Just Finished
"The Circular Staircase was published by Mary Roberts Rinehart in 1908. It's a busy, entertaining mystery story. The story is told from the 1st person perspective of maiden aunt, Rachel Innes. The story is set in Sunnyside, an estate in the country that she has rented for six months while her apartments in New York are being renovated. The home was rented from the Armstrong family, who are away on vacation. Along for the ride are her personal maid, Liddy, and her niece and nephew, Gertrude and Halsey, who she became responsible on the deaths of their parents.
Action starts pretty well instantly when Rachel moves into the estate. It appears to have a reputation for being haunted, something which sets off Liddy pretty well from the start. Staff is difficult to find as nobody wants to stay in the home. But gradually things sort themselves out. Then there is a death in the card room, at the base of the titled Circular Staircase. The victim has been shot and it turns out he is the son of the Armstrong family. Why has he returned to the home? One of many mysteries that will turn up in this story.
And there are many, many mysteries to keep track of. The theft of shares in a local bank that causes its doors to close; bringing suspicion on Gertrude's fiance, Jack Bailey, and the patriarch of the Armstrong's, Paul Armstrong, who was one of the main owners of the bank, and lies sick out west. Why does Louise Armstrong, Halsey's supposed fiance, and daughter of the Armstrong family, suddenly turn up, ill and turning away Halsey? Why did Halsey and Jack Bailey disappear the night Anthony Armstrong was shot to death? Who is the mysterious woman in the veil? I could go on and on. It's enough to make your head spin at times.
But, even with these mysteries cropping up and various people showing up and adding to the mysteries, the story is fascinating. Rachel Innes is a wonderful character, spunky, intelligent, full of life and willing to get to the bottom of the intrigue. The cast around her are all suspects, but things do get sorted as we get to the end. I also liked the police detective, Jamieson, logical and steady. There is lots of action, lots of tension. It may seem like too much is going on, but ultimately, everything will be resolved and quite satisfactorily. This would have made for a great movie, I think, throw in a Barrymore and it would have been perfect. It might still be a great entertaining movie and not at all dated. I'll have to check out more of Rinehart's writing. (4 stars)"
"Back in high school, I remember reading at least two of Canadian author, Eric Nicol's books of humour. Nicol lived from 1919 - 2011 and wrote over 40 books. I remember enjoying his dry, wry sense of humour. A Scar is Born was published in 1968 and discusses his failed effort to have his play A Minor Adjustment performed on Broadway.
The story is a witty, short bit of fluff, no belly laughs but quite a few smiles and chuckles. Nicol journeys from Vancouver, where his play (then called Like Father, Like Fun) had a three week successful run, to Toronto (not quite as successful), to Montreal (less successful) and finally to New York for an attempt to break through on Broadway.
As Nicol starts his story -
"On the evening of Friday, October 6, 1967, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on 46th Street,.... a play of mine called "A Minor Adjustment" had its official opening.
On the evening of Saturday, October 7, 1967, "A Minor Adjustment" had its official closing."
So not a booming Broadway success. What you have in this compact story are Nicol's thoughts as he spends three weeks in New York at the Algonquin Hotel, working to ensure the play has a successful opening with his witty observations of play-writing, and his experiences in New York. All in all it was a light, entertaining story, an easy, comfortable read and nice to read something by Nicol again. (3.5 stars)"
My Ongoing Look at the Mystery Genre, American PI's #14.
In my last post I highlighted Greg Iles (Penn Cage) and Karen Kijewski (Kat Colorado).
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| Jonathon King |
"The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King is the first book in his Max Freeman mystery / thriller series. Freeman is an ex-Philadelphia cop who has moved to Florida to escape from an incident that happened while he was responding to an incident in Philadelphia. It resulted in the shooting of a teenager and also in Freeman being shot.
Freeman now lives in a cabin in the Everglades as far from life as he can. Unfortunately, a series of child abductions and murders forces Freeman to confront the real world as he becomes heavily involved in the murders. Someone is playing with Freeman, maybe trying to set him up. The cops are suspicious and the denizens of the byways in the Everglades are also suspicious of this stranger to their home.
Freeman, with the help of friend, lawyer Billy Manchester, Freeman digs into the murders, meets with people who live deep in the Everglades, trying to keep their lives private and to stop the interlopers who want to disrupt life in this area.
The story develops quickly, we get glimpses of Freeman's past in Philadelphia and begin to find out more about Freeman as a person. There were some moments which I found frustrating, things that Freeman did / kept secret from the police investigators, but all in all it was a tense, well-crafted story and provided an interesting view of an area of Florida that I really knew nothing about. Looking forward to finding out more about Freeman and reading other stories. (4 stars)"
"Tormented by the demons of his past, ex-cop Max Freeman rarely ventures beyond his secluded shack deep in the Florida Everglades. But he can't ignore the recent string of suspicious deaths of elderly, poor women that the police have been unable, or unwilling, to investigate. When his best friend urges him to get involved and act like the cop he's trying to forget he was, Max must confront the dangers of the city streets-and the unexpected shadows of his own past."
The remaining books in the series are -
- Shadow Men (2004)
- A Killing Night (2005)
- Acts of Nature (2007)
- Midnight Guardians (2010)
- Don't Lose Her (2015)
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| John D. MacDonald |
"This is my first experience reading John D. MacDonald. I've never been that interested in taking up one of the Travis McGee mysteries, but of later, I've read many recommendations in my Goodreads book clubs. So I took the leap and ultimately, loved this story. Travis McGee is an interesting, thoughtful Private Detective. This story just begins to develop and introduce him to the reader. The mystery, tracking a man who has done wrong to various people is well-developed and quickly set into motion. It's a gritty story when it has to be and the ending was surprising in some ways. It's a comfortable page turner and a satisfying story. I highly recommend you taking a chance on Travis McGee. For me it's on to the second story in the series, Nightmare in Pink. (4 stars)"
"I didn't think this, the 2nd Travis McGee mystery, was as good as the first, but having said that, I still enjoyed very much. I liked the characters tremendously, McGee is developing nicely from the 1st book and his surrounding cast was excellent. I thought the story got somewhat weird in the middle, but even there, it was written to make it tense and even scary. That being the predicament McGee finds himself in. It must have made him feel helpless and friendless. The story resolved nicely and I think realistically. All in all it was an enjoyable, well-written story and it makes me want to continue with my Travis McGee odyssey this month. On to Purple Place for Dying. (3 stars)"
"A beautiful woman calls Travis McGee to Arizona. She needs his help recovering the money that her good-for-nothing, soon-to-be-ex-husband stole from her. But she's not long for the world, and even though his employer dies, Travis isn't giving up. It's not often he leaves Florida, and he's not about to go home empty-handed. The third Travis McGee adventure. (5 stars)"
"It was the standard blackmail scheme. For years, sultry Lysa Dean's name on a movie had meant a bonanza at the box office. Now a set of pictures could mean the end of her career. When first approached for help by lovely Dana Holtzer, Lysa's personal secretary, Travis McGee is thoroughly turned off by the tacky details. But being low on cash, and tenderly attracted by the star's intriguingly remote secretary, McGee sets out to locate his suspects--only to find that they start turning up dead! (4 stars)"
"Of the five MacDonald mystery thrillers I've read this month, this isn't my favourite. Maybe a bit too grim for me. Having said that, I still enjoyed it very much. MacDonald writes readable, interesting stories. Travis McGee is an excellent protagonist, as he describes himself, a white knight in a rusty suit of armour. This story takes him to Mexico and California, trying to find out who killed an old friend. An inevitable romance, more violence than I recall from the other stories and a twist to McGee's heart all add up to an excellent story. Travis McGee has quickly become a favourite of mine, cynical in his way, a throwback in a modern world, he's excellent. (3 stars)"
"Bright Orange for the Shroud is the 6th book in the Travis McGee mystery series by John D. MacDonald. It surprised me to realize that it's been 4 years since I last delved into McGee's world.
McGee is a beach bum who lives on his houseboat in Florida and to make ends meet takes cases to help people in need. In this story he is planning to take the summer off, having earned enough money from previous cases, that he can take the boat and just relax and vegetate for the summer. His plans are upset by the sudden appearance of an acquaintance, Arthur Wilkinson. Arthur is at wit's end and doesn't know who can help him, but McGee. He married a few months back and it turns out that it was part of a scam to bilk him of his inheritance. Arthur is beaten both physically, mentally and spiritually by this encounter. With the assistance of Chooke, a dancer who had previously dated Arthur, McGee agrees to try and help. While Chooke works to build up Arthur's spirit again, they set off to try and get Arthur's money back.
That's the basic story, but it has an edgy darkness to it. Arthur is a decent guy, who has had his spirit broken by his 'wife', a malicious, wicked gold digger and his body broken by a swamp dweller, Boone Waxwell, who partners with the 'wife', Wilma. Other people were involved in the scam but Boone becomes the focus and he is someone you don't ever want to meet.
McGee plan to recover the money is not without danger and the story begins to get under your skin, in a creepy, dangerous way. I'm trying to remember the other McGee stories I've read so far, but I think that so far, this one might have been the darkest, or at the very least, right up there.
The story is a page turner, the characters, McGee, Chooke and Arthur are all well crafted and they are people who you don't want anything bad to happen to. Excellent story and I look forward to the 7th installment. (4 stars)"
The complete series can be found at this link.
So there you go, some reading ideas for you. Now it's time for the Blue Jays; let's hope they can get a couple of hits tonight. Waiting (im)patiently for the groomer to call as well. Enjoy your weekend!
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