Not a lot to say as a preamble today. It's a gloomy damp Friday. And on that cheerful note, let's update some new books and my latest reviews / and book synopses.
Just Finished
(I've finished 4 books so far in March)
"Book 2 of the YA / historical fiction / graphic novel series, A Girl Called Echo. The series features Métis girl, Echo, who is adjusting to a new school in Winnipeg Manitoba, making friends, and as she learns the history of Manitoba (& hence Canada), she time travels back to the period being discussed.
In this episode, she travels back to 1869, when the Hudson Bay Company has sold a considerable acreage along the Assiniboine River, including Winnipeg, to the new Government of Canada. The citizens already living there, a mix of English, French, Métis (mix of Indian and French) and Native Canadians, want to form their own government and negotiate with the Canadian government.But there is a group of Canada Firsters (does that sound familiar in today's world?) who want the Canadian government to take over from the Métis-led local government, led by one Louis Riel. In a period not a very proud one in Canada's history, we have 'friction' between the Canadian government and the Northwest one, with the Canadians sending an army to route the locals.
Echo gets a front row seat in this battle, making for an interesting perspective. She also continues with her normal life back in the present. All in all it's a unique way of passing along Canadian history. The story is interesting, Echo is an interesting character (I look forward to more character development in the final two stories). The drawings and artwork are also quite excellent, bright and vibrant. Well worth trying out (3.5 stars)"
"(Full Disclosure: A publishing company recently asked if I'd be interested in reading and reviewing a book they will soon be publishing. I said yes. This is the book). Author Philipp Schott is a Canadian veterinarian who lives and works in Winnipeg Manitoba. He has previously published two other books. Fifty-Four Pigs: A Dr. Bannerman Vet Mystery is the 'first' book in his Doctor Peter Bannerman mystery series.
Peter is a veterinarian who works out of New Selfoss Manitoba, a small town on the edge of Lake Winnipeg. The town was established by Icelandic settlers to Canada. Bannerman lives there with his wife Laura (she has a successful mail order business providing interesting knitted garments featuring characters and creatures from fantasy novels), dog Pippin and cat Merriweather. (As you can see both love the fantasy genre, another reason to like them)
Peter is a curious character, curious because of his character traits and just plain curious. He finds himself trying to help solve mysteries, the size doesn't matter. His faithful companion, Pippin, is an excellent sniffer and Peter uses this skill in trying to solve mysteries.
Peter's neighbour Tom has his barn burned to the ground. Along with the 54 pigs inside, who are all killed, the RCMP also find a human jawbone. Tom is an immediate suspect, even though he was away from his home, having breakfast in town. Peter's interest is piqued and he wants to assist RCMP constable, and brother-in-law, Kevin with his investigation.
Other interesting things are happening in the area, besides a frigid winter chill. Another neighbour, Elton has his greenhouse broken into and he asks for Peter's assistance. At the same time Peter's home is burgled and he finds that the only item stolen was meat from his freezer. Well, there were other items, but they turn up very quickly.
Along with his daily routine at his veterinary practice, Peter also has daily runs to farms in the area. This normality adds a very nice quality to the story. Time spent with Pippin, either doing his own private investigation (much to Kevin's annoyance) or just continuing with nose training, also is an interesting feature. The winter weather, the rugged surroundings all bring back fond memories to me as I spent a year in Winnipeg at one time. WEATHER!!! They don't call it Windypeg or Winterpeg for nothing. Well maybe that was just me.
The mystery becomes somewhat convoluted but that is a normal aspect of mysteries, eh? There is an escalation of violence as Peter delves deeper, an increase in tension and a nicely climactic resolution to the story. All in all it's an interesting introduction to what I hope will become a successful mystery series. Well worth trying out. (4 stars)"
"OK, I've kind of jumped around with this series; Stray Kat Waltz by Karen Kijewski is the last book in the Kat Colorado mystery series. I've not been following in any particular order and there is an ongoing story line that probably should have been followed in order. Having provided that qualifier, it didn't take too much to know what that story line was and how it affected Kat's present life.
Without getting into specifics, Kat is dealing with a personal tragedy and has basically withdrawn from life and her PI business. A lawyer friend, Jenny, tries to get her involved in a stalking case but Kat has no motivation to do so. The woman, Sara shows up at Kat's office, and begs her to help her. Her estranged husband, Jed, a police officer, is harassing and threatening her. Kat doesn't want to get involved, feeling it's a job for the police (Sara doesn't trust them) and basically she doesn't really like Sara.
Kat is attacked in her back lane and Sara is almost drowned (blaming Jed) and a friend is killed in the same incident. Kat is dragged into the situation. She begins following Jed, tracking his movements, stopping him from following Sara, etc. There is a lot of friction between Sara and Kat; Sara won't listen to Kat, refuses to take her advice / suggestions. None of Jed's friends believe he is capable of being a stalker or of hurting a woman; he's involved in charities, is a church goer, is a WONDERFUL guy and he's great in bed (well, that's Sara's thoughts)
It's a fascinating story, probably the best in the series so far for me. It's told from a first person perspective; but not just from Kat's, also from Sara's and Jed's. This an be somewhat confusing at times but it does really help you to get to know the characters. It's also great, during the course of the story, seeing Kat reclaiming her life, her emotional stability, her ability to act promptly and decisively. Her pal, Charity, plays a nice little role, an shoulder to cry on, a source of strength and companionship. The story takes a neat little jump to the left as you get into it and takes an unexpected path to resolution. Kijewski writes easily and the story moves along very nicely and comes to a very satisfying resolution. This is the last book in the series it seems. That's too bad, but at least I have some of the earlier ones still to enjoy. (4 stars)"
"I've said this before and I'll say it again. Before I discovered the mysteries of Ross Macdonald, I had been enjoying the works of his wife, Canadian mystery writer Margaret Millar. In the last few years I've tried MacDonald's Lew Archer books, excellent noir mysteries. Meet Me at the Morgue, written originally in 1953, was a non-series novel, featuring Parole Officer Howard Cross. I'll start off by saying it was quite excellent.
One of Cross's parolees is suspected of orchestrating the kidnapping of a young boy, the child of the wealthy family for whom he is chauffeur. Ex-Navy vet Fred Miner disappears and his wife gets Cross to begin investigating this. It all becomes a fascinating, entertaining mystery, as Cross delves into the people who might be involved in the case. Linking with the 'kidnapping' is an accident involving Miner, in which he killed a man (hit-and-run) while driving under the influence. This is why he is out on parole. The body has been unidentified and Cross wonders if there is a link between this accident and the kidnapping.
Macdonald creates a fascinating story. His writing is clear and concise and draws you in. There are suspects enough to keep you wondering and enough action as well to hold your interest. His story - telling is excellent. His description of people and settings creates pictures in your mind. I felt myself liking so many characters, especially Cross. He's a sympathetic but tough individual and has an ability to draw information from those people he comes across. Even minor characters, like aging cop Sam Dressen and FBI man Forest are intelligent and basically good cops.
The mystery twists and turns as Cross investigates. It's all very intriguing and the final resolution is eminently satisfying. So glad to have finally discovered Macdonald's work. (4.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"A British baron's passionate sidelines are a deadly business. A gang of ingenious car thieves uses a most provocative bait to lure young men into crime. A teenager becomes a killer's target when she witnesses the murder of one of the Yard's chief informers."
"It is a few decades after a revolutionary technology has given humans the ability to resurrect the dead. The ever-increasing population of the risen dead is segregated into areas called necrovilles. Here they have created a wild culture, untouched by the restrictions of the law - except that the dead cannot stray into the realm of the living, nor the living into the teeming necrovilles, after nightfall. It is November 1, the Day of the Dead. Virtual artist Santiago Columbar, creator of drugs and 'ware that melt and reconfigure reality for his many disciples, has grown bored with the realities at his command. There is one reality he has yet to try, the culmination of his life as an artist: He will venture into the forbidden streets of the Saint John dead town, and there walk willingly into the open arms of death. At Santiago's invitation, four of his friends will meet in Saint John to record his death and resurrection. On their way to witness Santiago's transformation, as the necroville erupts into the first volley of a revolution against the living, each will face danger and adventure in the wild streets of the dead...and find that life has changed forever."
"Walter Sherris, a successful, happy, good husband and father, made just one mistake: he took a walk along a dark road one night. Without warning, a car raced towards him and screeched to a stop; out piled five young men intent on violence. To the accompaniment of wild brainless laughter, Walter Sherris was beaten to the ground. He awoke in a hospital nine days later. And from that moment his pleasant life became a nightmare, more horrible than those he had wrestled with in those nine days of unconsciousness. Walter Sherris wanted revenge: for the broken leg and the pain; for the doubts he now had about his pretty young wife; and for the countless and nameless others who had been mauled by the thrill seekers, the sadists, the compulsive slayers . . . the tigers loose in a tame suburban world. The police were evasive, almost disinterested. There were no witnesses. So Walter Sherris set out alone to trap the tiger. The Tiger Among Us was filmed as 13 West Street (starring Alan Ladd)."
New Books
"Echo's story pick sup again when she travels back in time to 1885. The Manitoba Act's promise of land for the Metis has gone unfulfilled and many flee to the Northwest."
"The Last Tycoon, edited by the renowned literary critic Edmund Wilson, was first published a year after Fitzgerald's death and includes the author's notes and outline for his unfinished literary masterpiece. It is the story of the young Hollywood mogul Monroe Stahr, a character inspired by the life of boy-genius Irving Thalberg, and is an exposé of the studio system in its heyday."
"Gladys Doyle's luxurious ski weekend, courtesy of her employer, takes a sharp turn for the worse when she heads home on Sunday. Heavy storms force her to seek shelter with a surly stranger in a lonely mountain cabin. Next morning there's a dead man in the bedroom, the mysterious host has disappeared, and poor Gladys's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon.
Her desperate plight sends Perry Mason ice-fishing in dangerous waters--for a catch that includes a silk scarf curiously decorated with monkeys, a pristine tea kettle, a bodyguard who takes care of his clients permanently, and a vicious bottom feeder hungry for prey . . . ."
"Toddler Robert, heir to Selkirk fortune, plays with his mother Lorraine's real gun outside, vanishes after his father Mervin is found shot. His accused ex-girlfriend Norda Allison, harassed by anonymous letters, finds address printing press in basement of Mervin's ex-wife and hires California lawyer Perry Mason to save her."
"Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive."
"If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leaping to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party—lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was just a harmless laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in hotel dining rooms and odd Japanese inns, records it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background—new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet. Some entries are just what you wanted. Others you might want to spit discreetly into a napkin."
So there you go, a complete update. I know in a previous entry I said I'd get back to my look at my ongoing thread on Women Authors Whose Works I've Been Enjoying. I will do that but not today as I've got a puppy who is aggressively signaling to me that it's time for his lunchtime walk and then his dinner. LOL!
Have a great weekend. Stay safe and read a good book or two.
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