It definitely feels like Autumn today but I still had a good run this morning. We've had a reasonably lazy day besides that. I've finished 3 books this weekend, doing my end of month race to finish off books... lol
I'll provide the reviews of the three books and the synopses of the books I'm reading next, as well as the synopsis of a book I found in my Little Free Library yesterday. Then I'll continue with my ongoing look at Women Authors whose work I've been enjoying.
New Books
"The title of this very readable book is
carefully chosen. The word 'detection' is used deliberately instead of
the words 'thriller', or 'shocker'. These nineteen stories — they
illustrate the full development of the detective story — rely on what
is known as the 'fair play' principle. There have been notable instances
of 'fair play' for the reader — in Mrs Radcliffe's Mysteries of
Udolpho, for instance, where the mysterious happenings are found to
have a basis in fact. But with the increase of new discoveries of such
marvels as barbituric compounds, invisible rays, infra-red photography,
not to mention Freudian psychology, it became more than ever necessary
to explain murder (where these fresh elements were introduced into the
story) by fair means of deduction, analysis of bloodstains, tests for
poison, microscopic examination of bullets, and so on.
The
stories in this book are by such masters as R. Austin Freeman, G. K.
Chesterton, Thomas Burke, Father Ronald Knox and Agatha Christie, and
all play fairly with the reader. Poe's Purloined Letter illustrates a
criminal using his knowledge of psychology to outwit the police and a
detective expert's methods in drawing upon psychological inferences in
solving the crime. Thomas Burke's The Hands of Mr Otter-mole, for all
its striking horror, has clues fairly laid. Agatha Christie provides a
modern specimen of the ' perfect murder ' by psychological means — a
comparison with the Stevenson tale, Was it Murder? Henry Wade's A Matter
of Luck shows the reader the crime first and then proceeds with the
detection. H. C. Bailey's Yellow Slugs is not only first-class
detection but also a characteristic expression of his passionate hatred
of spiritual cruelty. And there are fourteen other stories by masters of
the craft."
Just Finished
"When I started Visitor I thought it was a standalone novel by Sci-Fi author C.J. Cherryh. It turns out that it's the 17th book in her Foreigner series. That does explain why, at times, I was in the middle of something rather than just starting out fresh. Having said that, it didn't ultimately matter as the story is excellent in its own right. There is an ongoing back story but I don't know if it's covered in any of the previous books.
So, basically (yeah, right, like there is a basically in this rich, excellent story), there is a planet called Earth (not our human earth) populated by the Atevi, and also by a human race, the Mospheiran. They arrived on a star ship, '200' years ago? and built a space station (Alpha station). Their star ship departed and the humans asked the Atevi if they could live on the planet. I gather there was friction and even a major war, but they seem to have reconciled; both share the space station and the planet, with the Atevi sort of in ascendance, due to numbers and it being their world.
The Phoenix, this is the star ship, built another space station (Reunion) above another planet and got into a war with another race, the Kyo. (Got it so far?) The Atevi and Mospheirans went on Phoenix to work out a peace agreement between the humans and the Kyo. One Kyo, Prakuyo, had been held hostage at the space station for 5 or 6 years and he was released. So the agreement was that the Phoenix would carry the remaining Reunioner humans back to Alpha Station. This has caused much friction between the Reunioners, the crew of the Phoenix, the humans on Alpha, etc. and now the Atevi have taken it over with the Mospheirans. (Still with me?)
Now the Kyo are on the way to 'talk'. Bren, a human, a translator, who works for the Atevi is tasked to talk with the Kyo, along with the Atevi leader (well, his mother the dowager) and accompanied by her son... Oh my, this is getting difficult. The story is many faceted as you can well imagine, but very thoughtful, the main theme is communication. Bren must play off the many races, organizations and figure out what the Kyo want and ultimately try to arrange a peace. (psst. There is a neat twist in the last part of this fantastic, entertaining story).
I can't say there is a lot of action, but it seems as though there is (does that make sense). People trying to figure out how to communicate without causing more friction or war. It's fascinating. As Bren says at one point,
"There are some very bad types that are clever with words. But they make up their own meanings ... and in situations like this made-up meanings don't get you very far. Good types work until they understand what the other person meant, rather than investing in winning." (Remind you of anything?)
It's a fascinating story, rich characters, a beautifully crafted universe & intelligent story and dialogue, confusing at times but worth making the effort to understand and keep reading. My only other experience with Cherryh's writing up until this point was Downbelow Station, which was also excellent. Check out her books. It's worth doing (4.5 stars)
P.S. I've ordered the first book in this series, Foreigner."
"It's been a few years since I visited to the world of Lucas Davenport, Minneapolis cop. Eyes of Prey is the 3rd book in the series by John Sandford. Much like the others, it's a gritty, well-paced crime thriller.
It's a crime story on two levels; a basic police procedural with shifts of cops following suspects, monitoring phone logs and calls, all the good cop procedures. On the other level, you've got personal issues; Lucas Davenport dealing with a broken relationship, possible PTSD from his previous case, just trying to get his life back on track. In a nice feature, you also follow the two 'suspects' as they work together to enact a murder spree. Michael Bekker is a psycho pure and simple; pumped up on a suitcase full of drugs, with severe issues. His partner - in - crime Carlo Druze is a different kettle of fish; basically described as a troll, a wannabe actor, working with, or as a pawn to, Bekker. It's a strangers on a train scenario with twists.
Davenport and the other cops; Del, Sloan, etc and their boss, Lt Daniels, are tracking a pair of murders; Bekker's wife and the theater company director, Druze's boss, so to speak. Bekker is the chief suspect although an absentee witness, who refuses to identify himself, 'Loverboy', has identified the murderer of Bekker's wife as someone else and Bekker has an alibi!
Into the investigation, which is a bit of a lease on a new life for Davenport, something to take his mind off of his personal issues, comes Cassie, an actress who awakens Davenport. She's a great, positive character. It's a fascinating story, lots of action, switching back and forth between the cops and the murderers, all making for a taut, tense crime story. Sandford can spin a neat story and this one continues an enjoyable series. (4 star)"
"I saw Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad as I was wandering around my local book store. There were three or four books on the topic and this one was recommended by the owner. I have to start off by saying that I did not do the recommended journalizing for each chapter. There are terms for that well-described within the various chapters. Part of it is because I am by nature lazy and tend to automatically rebel when I'm asked to do extra work.
Anyway, the book came out of an Instagram challenge that the author created #MeandWhiteSupremacy, where participants take part in a 28 day challenge where they discuss a different topic each day and also work on journals as well.
Each week develops the various themes and each day presents a different topic; Week 1 - The Basic, Week 2 - Anti-Blackness, etc. Each Day had topics like You and White Silence, You and White and Colour Blindness, etc. It's well presented and does make you think. I found myself going through many emotions as I read the book and they often reflected what the topic was. Am I apathetic about the issue? Do my actions, if any, only mean that I crave being patted on the head for being a 'good white guy', etc? There were times when I felt irritated, feeling set upon, but as I continued to read, I could see the point. (simplified analysis)
In its simplest form, trying to understand white supremacy means understanding it's not about me, but about BIPOC's, not trying to explain my point of view, but shutting up and listening, 'communicating'. There is a lot to think about and the book does achieve that. But it's a starting point, not the be all and end all. Layla Said makes that very clear. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a
hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of
these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has
been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them
for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact
drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they
are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future
harm.
While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting
to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring them home,
these women—all illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside
their community and unable even to speak the language of the country
they live in—have very little time to make a choice: Should they stay in
the only world they’ve ever known or should they dare to escape?"
"Felix Castor has reluctantly returned to
exorcism after a successful case convinces him that he really can do
some good with his abilities---"good," of course, being a relative term
when dealing with the undead. His friend Rafi is still possessed, the
succubus Ajulutsikael (Juliet to her friends) still technically has a
contract on him, and he's still dirt poor.
Doing some consulting for the local cops helps pay the bills, but Castor needs a big private job to really fill the hole in his bank account. That's what he needs. What he gets is a seemingly insignificant "missing ghost" case that inexorably drags him and his loved ones into the middle of a horrific plot to raise one of hell's fiercest demons.
When satanists, stolen spirits, sacrifice farms, and haunted churches all appear on the same police report, the name Felix Castor can't be too far behind..."
Women Authors I've Enjoyed - Meg Gardiner
Meg Gardiner is an American thriller writer born in Oklahoma in 1957. She is the author of a variety of series. I've tried two of them and enjoyed them, filled with at times far-fetched action, but still enjoyable. Since 2002 she has written 12 books in 3 series. I've enjoyed 3 so far and have 5 more on my bookshelf. I'll highlight those for you.
Meg Gardienr
"When Evan Delaney's father disappears, the cops think he's fled the country to avoid prosecution. But Evan is sure he's been abducted or killed for reasons associated with his work for Naval Intelligence. As Evan hunts for clues, she's attacked by an armed man. The attacker ends up dead—and turns out to be a federal agent. Now Evan is on the run, implicated in his murder. And then she's contacted by a sinister duo—a madam and gigolo mother-and-son team who claim her father was mixed up in their very dirty business. Can Evan save her father's reputation—and his life?"
"When a woman’s body washes up on the shore of California’s Jericho Point, she’s identified as Evan Delaney. Except that Evan is very much alive—apparently the victim of an identity thief who’d been scamming Hollywood elite. The thief may be dead, but the crimes she was murdered for—committed in Evan’s name—are turning Evan’s life into a nightmare. Now it’s all Evan can do to survive in the shadow of a dead woman’s lies."
"Evan Delaney has come to
terms with the hit-and-run crash that left her boyfriend, Jesse
Blackburn, in a wheelchair and killed his best friend. But when she
hears that the driver, Franklin Brand, is back in Santa Barbara, she is
determined to help Jesse bring him to book for his crime.
Brand
was a golden boy at Mako Technologies, a heavyweight cyber-security
firm. That's where Evan starts looking, and as she digs deeper, she
finds evidence of theft and extortion. Then witnesses to the hit-and-run
start dying. It seems that powerful interests are determined to stop
Jesse and Evan - once and for all."
"Forensic psychiatrist
Jo Beckett's specialty is the psychological autopsy- an investigation
into a person's life to determine whether a death was natural,
accidental, suicide, or homicide. She calls herself a dead-shrinker
instead of a head-shrinker: The silence of her "patients" is a key part
of the job's attraction. When Jo is asked to do a psychological autopsy
on a living person-one with a suspect memory who can't be trusted to
participate in his own medical care-she knows all her skills will be put
to the test.
Jo is called to the scene of an aircraft inbound
from London to help deal with a passenger who is behaving erratically.
She figures out that he's got anterograde amnesia, and can't form new
memories. Jo finds herself racing to save a patient who can walk and
talk and yet can't help Jo figure out just what happened to him. For
every cryptic clue he is able to drag up from his memory, Jo has to sift
through a dozen nonsensical statements.
Suddenly a string of
clues arises, something to do with a super-deadly biological agent
code-named "Slick," a missing wife and son, and a secret partnership
gone horribly wrong. Jo realizes her patient's addled mind may hold the
key to preventing something terrible from happening in her beloved San
Francisco.
In order to prevent it, she will have to get deeper
into the life of a patient than she ever has before, hoping the truth
emerges from the fog of his mind in time to save her city-and herself."
"When you have to take
on the White House there's only one woman to call – Jo Beckett. When a
rock singer is killed onstage during a concert, Jo Beckett is called in
to perform a psychological autopsy. But Tasia McFarland's death causes
Jo all kinds of problems, because Tasia is the ex-wife of the President
of the United States.
The White House pressures Jo to declare
Tasia's death an accident rather than a suicide. The media and
conspiracy nuts rant that Tasia was knocked off to silence her, for
unknown reasons. Fringe extremists seethe about taking direct action to
"save America" from the president and his administration.
Jo
learns that an obsessed fan was apparently stalking Tasia. The stalker
may have killed her and escaped in the panic at the concert.
As
the media and conspiracy frenzy grows, the White House leans harder on
Jo to close the case. When she won't, Gabe Quintana finds his military
orders suddenly changed, and he's called up to active duty in
Afghanistan… in 72 hours.
Jo discovers the identity of the
stalker. It’s someone who's obsessed with Tasia's new boyfriend, a
famous country singer. Jo calls the police but she's too late. The
stalker stabs the singer to death.
The police kill the stalker.
The case seems to have come to a spectacular conclusion. But Jo doesn't
think the stalker murdered Tasia; the facts don't add up. She fears that
Tasia was killed for other reasons. And she's nervous, because the
President is coming to San Francisco to attend Tasia's memorial service…"
The complete listing of Gardiner's works can be found at this link. Have a great week.
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