As November winds down, there is fall smell in the air here in the valley. You know, that damp sort of decay as the leaves all fall off the trees and the mornings are misty, if not rainy. I love the changing colors of the trees but the thought that winter is on the way is a bit depressing.
I finished off a couple of books the past two days. As a side note, my Goodreads challenge, planned total books read, was 115 books for 2020. I have surpassed that total by one so far.
This morning I watched another episode of War of the Worlds (a British / French collaboration) and continue to enjoy it. I also watched another episode of Peter Gunn. I should be running out of those in the near future. I had the Aston Villa / Brighton footie match on live text and was happy that Brighton won the game. They needed a victory. Then I went back upstairs to watch the Manchester City / Tottenham game on NBC and fell asleep. LOL
I've received a few books in the mail this past week as well, an order I'd placed with Russell Books in Victoria and one book from Reusebooks in the UK. So what my post this morning will include is the synopses of the new books, two book reviews and the synopses of the next books I've started. I'll get back to my ongoing look at my favorite authors in the next thread.
Just Finished
"Lonely Road by Nevil Shute was his third published book, originally published in 1936. I've read quite a few of Shute's works this past few years and have always enjoyed his story - telling. The Lonely Road, while it started off slightly strangely, drew me in and by the end, I couldn't put it down. I just had to finish it.
As I mentioned just before, the story starts off somewhat strangely. Malcolm Stevenson leaves a pub he's been at, drinking with friends, and, clearly drunk, begins his drive home. But the next sequence is almost dreamlike, switching from his drive to visions he seems to be having, until he ends up in a hospital, with little to no recollection of what happened.
In the author's note (in this Berkeley edition), he states that the first chapter was an experiment that didn't get well received but that the ultimate story was reasonably successful. Suffice it to say, don't be dissuaded by the first chapter, it's not long and the events within will play a role in the ultimate end of the story. (Teased your interest?)
Malcolm Stevenson is a war hero, for events that took place in WWI while he was a sailor, but he doesn't really want to remember these events and his life, while successful, is dissolute. He's a lonely man, drinks too much and sort of coasts through his life. His real joy is the sea and he owns a shipyard in Dartmouth. He is friend with the main character of Shute's 1926 novel, Marazan. It struck me as quite interesting to once again meet Philip and Joan Stenning (Joan being Malcolm's cousin) and also over the course of the novel, the two Scotland Yard officers, Maj Malcolm and his boss, Sir David Carter.
In his wanderings, Malcolm meets a dance hall girl, Mollie, in Leeds. He spends an evening with her dancing and in some ways is quite taken with her. Things that she tells him during this evening and things that Philip Stenning tells him, as well as sudden remembrances of his accident, make Malcolm suspicious about things that might be happening in England. Things like smuggling, or maybe worse. He explains these suspicions to the local Chief Constable Fedden and they go to London where we meet Norman and Carter.
Thus begins a fascinating adventure and a lovely growing romance. I won't ruin the story by getting into more detail. Suffice it to say that Malcolm, with assistance from Stenning, will assist the police in trying to track down this smuggling operation. But the main part of the story, and the best part (as in all of Shute's stories, I think) is the growing bond between Malcolm and Mollie. As I mentioned, Malcolm has been a single man, his life lonely (Lonely Road?) and this bringing together of him and Mollie changes his life. Malcolm is wealthy and from a wealthy family and Mollie is a wonderful, thoughtful girl, not in Malcolm's social circles. The time they spend together (Mollie plays an important role in this story) is so well told and his growing feelings for her (and hers for him) is beautifully told.
The intertwining of their developing relationship with the increased tension of their situation as they get closer to a resolution of the mystery is developed so thoughtfully, displaying the very best of Shute's story-telling abilities. Great, emotional story. Shute continues to be one of my favorite all-time authors. (4.5 stars)".
"Twelve Sharp is the ... wait for it .... 12th book in the Stephanie Plum mystery series by American author Janet Evanovich. For those who might not yet heard about this series, Stephanie is a bounty hunter working in the Burg in New Jersey for her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. Along for the ride is Vinnie's office manager, Connie, ex-hooker and Stephanie's partner in hunting down court no-shows, bigger than life, Lula. There are the two men in Stephanie's life, cop and boyfriend, Morelli, and mystery man, also bounty hunter, amongst other enterprises, Ranger. Then you have her wonderful family; mother, ever-suffering father, wild grandmother and others.
Like the others I've enjoyed, the story is basically predictable, but it's a good, entertaining, fun predictability. Stephanie and Lula will struggle to catch and bring in their FTA's, i.e. Failures to Appear. I have to say, that after 12 books, they are having more success now. Stephanie's complicated relationships with Morelli and Ranger (who will eventually win?) is once again complicated, but nicely so. And then there is Grandma, well, what can you say about Grandma? Adventurous, always getting into hilarious trouble and causing Steph's mother to consider taking up drinking as a serious occupation.
The premise for this story is that someone is after Ranger, who seems to have disappeared. Someone is stalking Stephanie. People begin to go missing, dead bodies begin to turn up. Lula has joined transvestite rocker Sally's band as lead singer and eventually Grandma wants to give it a try. Vinnie's bail bonds office is being overwhelmed with FTA's and Connie wants to hire another bounty hunter. There's more to it, of course, but there is the gist.
As always there is humor, even laugh out loud moments. Consider the band rehearsal at Steph's parent's home with Grandma in tow. Consider the antics at the funeral parlor (once again with Grandma in the middle). But there is nicely developed tension as Evanovich develops the plot against Ranger. There is also neat investigative work. And there is a great cast of characters beyond the main group.
All in all, it was an entertaining, sexy and action packed story. So there is an element of predictability, but this predictability holds the story together while the rest is developed. You will always be entertained and Twelve was one of the more entertaining ones. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Book Two in the madcap time-travel series based at the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research that seems to be everyone's cup of tea. In the second book in the Chronicles of St Mary's series, Max and the team visit Victorian London in search of Jack the Ripper, witness the murder of Archbishop Thomas A Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and discover that dodos make a grockling noise when eating cucumber sandwiches. But they must also confront an enemy intent on destroying St Mary's - an enemy willing, if necessary, to destroy History itself to do it."
"Set in 1938, this novel tells the story of the Corbetts, a family preparing for the coming war. As the world begins to collapse around them, Peter Corbett, a local lawyer, his wife, Joan, and their children make the decision to move away from the war zone after their house, and Corbett’s offices, are destroyed. They quickly realize that escaping all the mayhem will be no easy task at all. The novel addresses the issues of the aftermath of bombing, such as the spread of disease from lack of clean water, and what may be done to relieve the distress of those affected by it."
New Books
"PARIS. An old mystery. As midnight strikes, a man desperately seeking sanctuary flees into a church. The next day, his sudden disappearance will make him famous throughout France. A new science. Forensic expert Enzo Macleod takes a wager to solve the seven most notorious French murders, armed with modern technology and a total disregard for the justice system. A fresh trail. Deep in the catacombs below the city, he unearths dark clues deliberately set - and as he draws closer to the killer, discovers that he is to be the next victim."
"Dead Beat introduces Kate Brannigan, a female private detective who does for Manchester what V.I. Warshawski has done for Chicago.
As a favour, Kate agrees to track down a missing songwriter, Moira Pollock, a search that takes her into some of the seediest parts of Leeds and Bradford. But little does she realize that finding Moira is a prelude to murder…"
"Investigative reporter Carter Ross finds himself with gruesome front-page news: four bodies in a vacant lot, each with a single bullet hole in the back of the head. In a haste to calm residents, local police leak a story to Carter’s colleagues at the Newark Eagle-Examiner, calling the murders revenge for a bar stickup. But while Carter may not come from the streets, he knows a few things about Newark’s ghettos. And he knows the story the police are pushing doesn’t make sense. He enlists the aide of Tina Thompson, the paper’s smoking hot city editor, to run interference for him at the office; Tommy Hernandez, the paper’s gay Cuban intern, to help him with legwork on the street; and Tynesha Dales, a local stripper, to take him to Newark’s underside. Soon, Carter learns the four victims have one connection after all, and knowing this will put him in the path of one very ambitious killer."
"In this novel set in Victorian times, a public spat between two dancers at a London theatre has a dramatic conclusion that wasn't in the script: one dead, the other arrested for murder. As far as the jury's concerned, it's an open-and-shut case, but Liberty Lane believes otherwise. Soon Liberty's leading her own investigation."
"As Quebec City shivers in the grip of winter, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache plunges into the most unusual case of his career. A man has been murdered in a library where the English citizens safeguard their history. The death opens a door into the past, exposing a mystery that has lain dormant for centuries."
"On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands."
"A band of deserters led by a cook and Sharpe's vicious longtime enemy, Obadiah Hakeswill, holds a group of highborn British and French women on a strategic mountain pass. Outnumbered and attacked from two sides, newly promoted Major Sharpe leads his small force into the biting cold of the winter mountains to rescue the hostages."
So there you go. See any good reading possibilities there? Enjoy the rest of your weekend and please remember... 😷
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