More Updating & Women Authors

"Mow your lawn", they shout!

Today has been a beautiful day, sunny, cool, fresh. I even finally mowed the lawn so the neighbors stop pounding on my door, holding pitchforks and scythes.

"Please mow the lawn, darling," she whispered softly

Jo has been subtly advising me to do it as well. Tonight, I might be able to sleep with my eyes closed.

So now as I relax; Jo and I are watching Sabrina, I think I'll do a reading update, provide the synopses of some new books and continue with my ongoing look at women authors whose work I've been enjoying.

Just Finished

1. Fires of London by Janice Law (Francis Bacon #1).

"I had previously read and enjoyed one of American mystery writer Janice Law's Anna Peters mysteries. Fires of London is the first book in her Frances Bacon mystery series. I've read a few mysteries in the past couple of years which featured real life people in mysteries, e.g. Josephine Tey, etc. Francis Bacon is one of the more interesting real life people chosen.

Sample of Bacon's work

Bacon was a British figurative painter whose works featured humans, crucifixions, portraits of popes, etc. He was a homosexual, living from 1909 - 1992. The story is set during the beginning of WWII, when Bacon, along with many others worked as an Air raid warden during the Blitz of London. He and his Nan live with one of Bacon's lovers, a married alderman.

Bacon lives a dissolute life, along with seemingly countless other people residing in London, hanging out in seedy nightclubs, having encounters with other men; air men from all countries, civilians, even police officers. The story starts with Bacon having a rough encounter with another man in a park. He later discovers that a young gay man, Damien, has been found murdered in the park at the same time. As well, after leaving from his night shift, he stumbles over another body, getting blood over himself.

This begins a gritty investigation, with Bacon both trying to avoid and also assist the inspector looking into the murders. As I said, it's a very gritty story, many threats to both Bacon and also his Nan, even from the police inspector. The story will involve a trip to Brighton to search for a suspect and also to the destroyed east end of London.

It's a fascinating story. The setting of London under the Blitz is tragic, disastrous, the city under flames and debris, but at the same time, a wild night life taking place behind the blackout curtains. Bacon is an excellent character, flawed but also with a sense of morals. We get to look into his artistic mind, as he tries to come up with ideas for his next painting, all the while striving to keep his Nan and himself out of jail and alive. For a very short story, there is a lot packed in. It's a wild ride, an interesting mystery and an excellent portrayal of a critical time in the history of London. Well worth trying (4 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. Saratoga Longshot by Stephen Dobyns (Charlie Bradshaw #1).

"Charlie Bradshaw is in the Big Apple to search for a friend's missing teen-age son. But the boy, Sam, is involved in the dangerous world of big-time drug dealing and everyone--from Sam to Lt. Zack of the narcotics squad--wants Charlie to go back to Saratoga."

New Books

1.  The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart (1996). Someone left this in my Little Free Library. It looked interesting. If you are a fan of Rush, you might like this book.

 

"Accompanied by literary and artistic sidekicks such as Aristotle, Dante, and van Gogh, the author of "Ghost Rider" conducts a voyage of body and mind on a bicycle adventure through West Africa. 12 photos"

2. American War by Omar El Akkad ( 2017). 

"Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, that unmanned drones fill the sky. And when her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she quickly begins to be shaped by her particular time and place until, finally, through the influence of a mysterious functionary, she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. Telling her story is her nephew, Benjamin Chestnut, born during war – part of the Miraculous Generation – now an old man confronting the dark secret of his past, his family’s role in the conflict and, in particular, that of his aunt, a woman who saved his life while destroying untold others."

3. Hobberdy Dick by Katharine M. Briggs (1955). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A hobgoblin is charged with the protection of an unloving Puritan family who come to live at an English manor in 1652."

4. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2009). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko...

Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century." 

 

5. Payback Jack by Timothy Gene Sojka (2021). The author kindly sent me an autographed copy of this.

"When Smith Driskill, a 55-year-old east Texas farmer, widowed and abandoned by his children; dramatically executes child molester and murderer Rodney William Markum; he is unprepared for the ensuing media circus painting him as a hero or the political divisions that surface when he chooses death over a day in court. Why is Driskill determined to die on death row, and why have so many people pledged to stop him?" 

Women Authors I've Been Enjoying - Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

'Robert Galbraith'

J.K. Rowling is best known for her Harry Potter young adult fantasy series. But once the series was completed, she did begin to write other stories, The Casual Vacancy, an adult standalone novel, which became a TV mini-series. As well, she wrote a crime series featuring PI Cormoran Strike under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. This is my focus for this post. As of 2020, Galbraith has written 5 books in this series. I've read the first so far and enjoyed very much. I also have the next 3 books in the series. 

1. The Cuckoo's Calling (C.S. #1 / 2013).

"Many years ago I enjoyed JK Rowlings' Harry Potter books. When I heard that she was writing more adult themed books under the name of Robert Galbraith I kind of hesitated to try them. Moving from fantasy to mystery seemed a bit of a stretch to me. I was wrong, to put it bluntly.

The Cuckoo's Calling, the first book in Galbraith / Rowlings' Cormoran Strike series was a real pleasure to read. The book did have one other thing going against it in my mind, it was almost 600 pages. I read authors who seem to think that the more successful they get that maybe they need to make their books longer and longer. I think that I'm getting a bit lazy in my older years; a long book doesn't mean a bad book. Quality tells.

So moving on to the story. Cormoran Strike is a down-in-his luck detective working in London. We learn over the course of the novel that he's an ex-military policeman who lost a leg in Afghanistan, he's in terrible debt, his absent father is a rock star and he's just had a nasty break-up with his on and off again girl friend. A new temporary secretary, Robin, is added to his situation. How will he be able to afford her? A new case is dropped on his door step, one that might help him get out of his debt situation. A famous model, Lula Landry, falls to her death from her apartment. The police call it a suicide but Lula's half brother thinks it's murder and hires Strike to investigate. There is a link between Strike and John Bristow; his older brother (also a suicide victim as a youngster) went to school with Strike and was a good friend.

Initially hesitant to take the case, Strike, as he gets into his investigation, begins to come around to the murder idea. There are many interesting qualities to Strike; his methodical investigative style, his ability to put things together as the evidence starts to come together, his gruff but caring manner. Robin, his secretary is slowly developed as well. While looking for other work, she begins to like working for Strike, her interest in being involved with the case and she also shows nice detective skills. They make a very nice team.

The case is also interesting, with many potential suspects and Galbraith paces everything nicely and keeps your interest up. She is an excellent writer with great descriptive powers and is a superb story teller. I'm so glad to finally have read this. The next Strike book now awaits my attention (5 stars)"

2. The Silkworm (#2 / 2014).

"When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before . . ."

3. Career of Evil (C.S. #3 / 2015).

 

 

 

 

 

 

"When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…"

4. Lethal White (C.S. #4 / 2018). 

"When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott — once his assistant, now a partner in the agency — set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been — Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that."

The complete listing of Robert Galbraith's works can be found at this link an J.K. Rowling's at this one. Enjoy the rest of your week.