30 September 2009

Review: GROTESQUE, Natsuo Kirino

This review was originally published elsewhere, and is now being republished here.

Translator Rebecca Copeland
Harvill Secker/Random House, March 2007

Yuriko Hirakata, the younger of two daughters born to a mixed marriage, is one of two middle-aged prostitutes murdered in Tokyo nearly two years apart. The older Hirakata daughter takes after her mother, short dumpy Japanese, although she has her father's eyes and aquiline nose. Yuriko, the younger daughter, is strikingly beautiful and catches the eyes of everyone. Yuriko's elder sister gains entrance to an exclusive secondary school and then university, but the family goes to live in Switzerland leaving her behind with her maternal grandfather. Yuriko returns to Japan, becomes a prostitute, and twenty years later, is raped and killed. The second of the dead prostitutes, Kazue Sato, is an acquaintance from school days, a university graduate, working at a high level in an engineering firm. Still a virgin at thirty, she seeks adventure and satisfaction through prostitution.

Yuriko's older sister constantly puzzles over how her parents could have produced a child as beautiful as Yuriko, at the same time as a child as plain, even ugly, as herself. One of the peculiarities of this book is that we never learn the name of the elder Hirata daughter. Her life is lived in Yuriko's shadow and as a result she becomes bitter, seeing herself as Yuriko's negative image.

GROTESQUE in written mainly in first person, and very largely using the voice of Yuriko's older sister. The novel begins as if it is a mystery but there is eventually little mystery about who killed both Yuriko and Kazue. The book is broken into eight major sections, and we read various accounts from the older sister, journals kept by both Yuriko, and Kazue, an account written by the murderer, and then a final few pages that attempts to draw everything together.

The older sister confides in us, the reader - 'what exactly is it that I want you to understand?' - and even then we are not sure, and neither is she. This is a long, densely written work. The style is almost conversational, no matter who the narrator is. It is not a mystery, and I'm not sure I would even call it a thriller. It is a very rich canvas with a few focal points - what it is like to be a 'half'; what success in climbing the Japanese social ladder is based on; the various forms that bullying can take; and the roles played by pressures and illusions.

GROTESQUE is also a translation from Japanese into American English. I'm not sure this is going to be a popular read for Western readers. It is very long (460pp) and much of it is taken up with exploration of the characters and the theme of alienation, of being an outsider. How did I feel about it? I wanted to finish it, but I kept looking for that twist in the tail that never came. I recognise however that Kirino is making an important, even daring, social comment on Japanese society. Did I enjoy reading GROTESQUE? I'm not sure whether enjoy is the right word, but I think it will be a book that people will read again and again.

My rating: 4.3

I first became acquainted with the work of Japanese writer Natsuo Kirino when I read her first novel to be translated into English, OUT. Well known in Japan, she is the winner of many awards, and her work has been translated into a variety of languages. OUT was nominated for an Edgar Award.

March 2007 review originally published on Murder and Mayhem

My mini-review of OUT (rating: 5)
Translated into English in 2004. In the dreary, exhausting hours of the nightshift at a boxed-lunch factory, four women have formed a friendship of sorts. They work side by side and chat briefly each night, always carefully guarding their troubling thoughts and personal worries. When Yayoi Yamamoto, a young wife and mother, kills her abusive husband, the others help her dispose of the body; however, they become bound to one another in an ever tightening web of conspiratorial intimacy, mutual suspicion, and protective self-interest.
Some unexpected twists and turns in this book. There is a lot of very black humour, particularly when the women dispose of the body. Random House has a Reading Guide.
I read OUT some years ago, but recently it was reviewed at Reactions to Reading.

29 September 2009

Review: A SMALL CASE FOR INSPECTOR GHOTE? H.R.F. Keating

Allison & Busby, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7490-0731-7, 285 pages

Inspector Ghote has recently won a place in the highly sought after Bombay Police Crime Branch. He is a little disappointed that he has not yet, after being there for nearly six weeks, been given any real work. The head of the Crime Branch, the Assistant Commissioner, has been keeping him busy working on the bandobast, the schedule of work, of leave, of police dog availability, of transport demands, and memos from the Assistant Commissioner.

Inconveniently his peon, Bikram, the one who runs his messages, has failed to turn up for work. Every now and again Ghote is aware of a smell, like a dead dog, a defective drain, or perhaps a deceased crow. He then identifies it as the smell of blood. Bending down to pick up his typewriter from the floor, he discovers that his waste bin is full. Further investigation reveals that his bin contains, wrapped in an old shopping bag, and covered in newspaper, a man's head. The head is Bikram's.

The Assistant Commissioner's reaction to Ghote's discovery is not at all what he expects. "Just dispose of the damn thing, man. Dispose of the damn thing and get on with your work."

Ghote decides that Bikram's death deserves investigation. He was after all a human being. As for disposing of the head - he is not sure what to do with it, so he decides to take it home and hide it there temporarily. This eventually leads to Inspector Ghote investigating Bikram's death without authority, venturing into the slums of Bombay without authority, risking his career to investigate on his own.

This was my first Inspector Ghote novel, even though it is actually #26 in a series that began in 1964, 35 years ago. I really wasn't sure what to make of it, and it took me quite a while to settle into reading it. It is characterised by a rather quirky sense of humour, and perhaps that was part of my problem. I've written before about how my sense of humour, when combined with a murder mystery, is a bit confined.

There were a couple of other things that irked me just a little. I'm not sure whether this is a characteristic of Keating's novels but the narrative constantly switches between describing Ghote in the third person, to a first person account, making the reader privy to Ghote's thoughts. This can be a little disconcerting.

I'm not sure either that I like Keating's attempt to reproduce Ghote's version of English.
"You know what they are calling a trick like that in English?" Ghote asked him. "Blackmail, they are calling it.... Under Indian Penal Code, section 383, blackmail is called extortion. But, whatever you are calling it, it is one very bad crime."
I think what Keating has tried to do is to reproduce the sound of an Indian speaking. To me it sounds just a bit patronising.

I came close to abandoning this book several times. To be honest I virtually skated through the last 100 pages. All I wanted to find out was how the threads resolved. Tell me, did I just choose the wrong one as my first taste of Keating? I think I originally saw THE PERFECT MURDER recommended but my library no longer stocks it, so I chose A SMALL CASE because it was the most recent. What would you recommend I read?

My rating: 3.5

But never mind what I think of this book.
H.R.F. Keating is obviously a very popular author with well over 60 novels to his credit.
In 1963(?) he won a CWA Gold Dagger for #1 in the Inspector Ghote series, THE PERFECT MURDER.
In 1980 he won another CWA Gold Dagger for #12 in the Inspector Ghote series, THE MURDER OF THE MAHARAJAH.
In 1996 the CWA awarded him the Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding services to crime literature.
H.R.F Keating's own blog is here.

27 September 2009

Sunday Salon - Sunday 27 September

Are you like me - spend too much time blogging, not enough reading?
I've spent some time this week, after BBAW and Christie Week, trying to restore normality, blogging less, reading more, but not terribly successfully. I've had a busy month - 54 posts so far in 27 days.

Sunday Salon now has 455 registered participants, and this and similar events such as Weekly Geeks, and BBAW, just reinforce how important reading is for us all.

This week's posts:
Currently reading
  • now - A SMALL CASE FOR INSPECTOR GHOTE?, H.R.F. Keating
  • next - AS DARKNESS FALLS, Bronwyn Parry
  • in the car - RED BONES, Ann Cleeves
  • on line - CORDUROY MANSIONS 2, Alexander McCall Smith
News & Headlines
Things to do on my blog
Features to check:
I'm running a number of widgets that I think add value to my blog so be sure to check them out. I've picked most of them up from what I've seen on other blogs. Here are some to look for.
  • Odiogo provides an automatic "podcast" of each post, so you can listen if you'd prefer that.
  • Each post now displays a Linkwithin widget at the end, that recommends other posts you might enjoy.
  • Each post has a rating system at the bottom where you can give it a star rating - I'm not actually sure where I got that from.
  • Blogger Widgets provided me with with"My Faithful Commentators" widget - I'm not exactly sure how that works statistically speaking but it shows who comments most frequently on my blog.
  • I use ClustrMaps, Feedjit, and Sitemeter to monitor my live traffic.
  • I have a Google translate widget so a visitor can choose the language they'd rather see the blog in, even Arabic and Japanese.
  • I have a customised crime fiction search that I created through Google search by listing about 100 blog and book review sites.
  • And you'll see that I make extensive use of RSS feeds.

Weekly Geeks - 2009-37: Diversity Roll Call

This week's Weekly Geek task posed by Ali asks us to consider how blogging brings people from diverse backgrounds and reading tastes together.

I thought first of all I might take another look at where the visitors to my blog come from. I know they aren't all bloggers, but they are invariably crime fiction readers and it illustrates how crime fiction is a universally popular genre.

The first image shows how by far the majority of my readers are English speakers, although for those who are not, I have provided the Google translate widget.
However this second graph indicates a far greater diversity of backgrounds.

I belong to a group who meet in a FriendFeed coterie called Crime and Mystery Fiction.

While we converse in English, in reality we come from all over the world: Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, and Denmark. What binds us together is the fact that we read, enjoy, and review, crime fiction. The room has 108 subscribers at present, and we catch up on a daily basis, watching and commenting on each other's blogs, sharing news, and so on.

Some are able occasionally to meet in the flesh in their home country, and just occasionally people from different geographic locations get to meet. Here are 2 such meetings. (Click on the images/links to read the stories).

Dorte met Tim














You're a Winner!

These are the words everyone likes to hear, and I have been particularly fortunate in the last couple of weeks.

First of all I won a copy of Clare Langely-Hawthorne's CONSEQUENCES OF SIN from a competition that Bernadette ran on Reactions to Reading. Bernadette's mouth-watering review is here, and she sums up her reaction with "Historically accurate, delightfully complex yarn full of wonderful imagery".

I met Clare, an Australian author living in the US, at Left Coast Crime back in March, and so winning her book gives me double the pleasure (especially as she is a fellow Vegemite lover).

I participated in a number of book giveways during BBAW the week before last. I was initially rather disappointed that so many of the giveaways were confined to US/Canada. That made me very grateful when I found the occasional one that offered not only crime fiction, but also offered "worldwide" entry. In a sort of retaliation I offered 4 books, 2 to Australia/NZ and 2 worldwide.
I am still waiting for one of my winners, AlisonB from New Zealand, to contact me. All the other books are on their way.

I am grateful to Lizzy at Lizzy's Literary Life who allowed me to choose a book to be sent from the Book Depository.

I was lucky indeed because Lizzy had 93 entries!

I had nominated Stieg Larsson's THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, due for release on October 1.

I have read the two earlier books so am looking forward to reading this.
My reviews:
The second book that I won in BBAW is coming from Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty.
I won a copy of A WORLD I NEVER MADE, by James LePore.

Here I was one of 43 entrants. Wendy seems to have given away a couple of books for each of 5 days during BBAW so that was very generous of her indeed.

I particularly like a quotation that Wendy has on her blog: No two people ever read the same book (Edmund Wilson) - How true!

So thank you everyone.

26 September 2009

Mini-Review Roundup 2

This is the second of my mini-review roundups, the result of an offer I made about two weeks ago.
Just two participants this time.

CITY OF SILVER by Annamaria Alfieri was submitted by Kirsten who blogs at 4IQREAD.

Kirsten writes " In Potosí, the richest city in the Western Hemisphere, Inez de la Morada, the bewitching, cherished daughter of the rich and powerful Mayor, mysteriously dies at the convent of Santa Isabella de los Santos Milagros, where she had fled in defiance of her father. It looks as though the girl committed suicide. But did she?"

Kirsten rated CITY OF SILVER, a historical mystery, as 4/5. She says " I liked the main character and foreign setting."

Click on the cover to read a few pages at Amazon.



THE ABC MURDERS by Agatha Christie was submitted by Margot Kinberg who blogs at Confesssions of a Mystery Novelist.

Margot rates this murder mystery at 5/5, saying " The murder of a elderly shopkeeper in Andover doesn't cause much public stir until a second murder occurs in the seaside resort of Bexhill; this time, the victim is a young woman. Now Scotland Yard gets involved, and an all-out effort is made to catch the murderer before he kills again. The only clues the police have are the ABC railway guides left near the bodies, and the fact that the murderer sends Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective a warning before each murder. Even Poirot doesn't seem about to stop the killings, as two more people die.

As Poirot joins forces with the Yard and with the relatives and friends of the victims, it seems more and more clear that a madman is targeting communities in alphabetical order, and choosing his victims that way, too. In the end, it takes Poirot's genius to put the pieces together and show that things aren't always what they seem.

Agatha Christie is at the top of her form in this novel. The story is told from two different points of view, so that we get to see the plot unfold from two perspectives. That heightens the suspense and is an innovative use of point of view.

The story also makes brilliant use of character. The group of friends and relatives of the murder victims are disparate people who, under ordinary circumstances, would never have met. As they are thrown together, their interactions add to the story and provide Poirot with useful clues to the victims and to the murderer.

Christie's sense of pacing and timing are evident here, too. The story moves quickly, and the suspense builds effectively, especially as Poirot gets closer and closer to the truth of the murders.

Add to that Poirot's knack for understanding the psychology of murder, and the result is a suspenseful novel that tells the story of multiple murders without being graphic - one of Christie's many skills. "

Margo say " I highly recommend this book, especially for Christie fans who haven't read it. For those less familiar with her work, you may wish to start with one or two of her earlier novels, so you can get to know a little more about Captain Hastings and his history with Poirot. You'll enjoy the novel more that way."

Thank you Kirsten and Margot for your contributions.

The mini-roundup will be an ongoing feature of this blog, so if you'd like to submit a mini-review to be published at a later date, you can do it through the form I have set up at Google Docs. Leave a comment somewhere on my blog too so I know you've done so.

Book Art & Book Scupltures

I couldn't resist this - I saw it somewhere else a week or two ago.
Today I found it on the Auntie blog.
The post is called Eye Candy - The Librarian


The Librarian by amartinsdebarros

From deviantart user amartinsdebarros, found via sleepydumpling's tumblr.
Another reader of the blog said it reminded her of the Arcimboldo painting "The Librarian" (ca 1570)
Aren't they great?

There are some terrific images around - do a search on Google Images for "made from books" or "book art" and a different world opens up. Click on the images below to find out where they came from.

25 September 2009

Review: GHOSTLINES, Nick Gadd

Scribe Publications 2008, ISBN 978-1-921372-04-9, 283 pages.

Philip Trudeau was once a journalist with a future, working for Australia's premier financial newspaper. That was before. Now he's down almost as low as you can get, holding down a desk on a local suburban rag. The death of a local boy on his bicycle on a level crossing late at night looks an open and shut case. All Philip needs to do is get the story, get some local comments, and then his job is done. The next morning he visits the boy's mother, his school, and writes his story. Job finished, or so he thinks.

His editor is pleased, until a rival paper picks up on angles he never thought of. And just what was Michael doing dodging around the barriers at that time of night? Where had he come from? And where was he going in such a hurry? Philip's training as an investigative journalist rises to the top and strange elements of a complex story begin to emerge. Philip is contacted by an 80 year old antiquarian with an obsession who wants a ghost writer to write his memoirs. As we would expect the various threads of the novel converge the longer Philip's investigation continues. And then someone from Philip's past reaches out to stop his probing.

GHOSTLINES is Australian writer Nick Gadd's first novel. For an Australian novelist it has an unusual blend of crime fiction and the paranormal. I've actually had GHOSTLINES on my shelves for some months, and I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to get it down. It is well worth looking for.

My rating: 4.5

GHOSTLINES won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award in 2007 for an unpublished novel, and the Ned Kelly award for best first fiction for 2009. Nick Gadd has his own blog site: The writer in disguise.

24 September 2009

Forgotten Books: a Christmas triptych

This week's contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books.

I have a clutch of forgotten books for this week.
The last week of September reminds me that Christmas is only 3 months away, so why not hunt these Golden Age titles down? (What a lovely Christmas present for someone!)

First of all MAIGRET'S CHRISTMAS by George Simenon (1951)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Nine short stories make up this delightful holiday-themed collection, each featuring Georges Simenon's famous
detective, Jules Maigret. Christmas mysteries abound: an otherwise sensible little girl insists that she has seen Father Christmas, a statement alarming to her neighbors, Monsieur and Madame Maigret. Then, a choirboy helps the inspector solve a crime while he lies in bed with a cold; another boy, pursued by a criminal, ingeniously leaves a trail to help Maigret track him. Many of these stories feature observant and resourceful children, frightened yet resolute, who bring out a paternal streak in the childless Maigret. The rapport between the inspector and these youthful heroes imparts a delightful freshness to this holiday collection-
a cornucopia for fans of Maigret and mysteries.
If you'd like to read a few pages go here.

Then TIED UP IN TINSEL, Ngaio Marsh (1972)

Christmas time in an isolated country house and, following a flaming row in the kitchen, there's murder inside. When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing Santa Claus, foul play is at once suspected -- and foul play it proves to be.
Only suspicion falls not on the staff but on the guests, all so unimpeachably respectable that the very thought of murder in connection with any of them seems almost heresy. When Superintendent Roderick Alleyn returns unexpectedly from a trip to Australia, it is to find his beloved wife in the thick of an intriguing mystery...

Once again you can read a few pages - just click on the image.

Then there is HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, Agatha Christie (1938)

It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture, followed by a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. But when Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas, offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man.

What is your favourite Christmas novel?

Tribute to the Agatha Christie Blog Tourers

The purpose of this post is to thank those who took part in contributing to the Agatha Christie week blog tour. An event like that is only as good as the people who contribute and I was very pleased with such generous support.

I've created a "wall wisher" (using a lovely new tool I discovered last week) where you can not only see all the sites but contribute your messages - no log in required. Click on "post a sticky" to be taken to the wall itself (this makes it much easier to see all entries on the wall) or here is the link. (If you use IE6, there'll be a problem - sorry)



All the participants
13 September: Overkill
14 September: Reactions to Reading
15 September: Elizabeth at Miss Lemon Mysteries
16 September: Just A (Reading) Fool
17 September: Margot at Joyfully Retired
18 September: Crime Scraps
19 September: A library is a hospital for the mind...
19 September: Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover
20 September: Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
21 September: BooksPlease
22 September: Agatha Christie Quiz - here on MiP
23 September: ACRC Carnival #9

23 September 2009

Review: THE PERFECT SUSPECT, Vincent Varjavandi

This is a review that I first published on another site, and am now re-publishing it here.

Longueville Media/MacMillan, Oct 2006

Australian doctor Tom Hackett arrived in New Orleans as a Paediatric Surgery Fellow full of joy at his perfect life. Three months later he is back in New South Wales, wifeless. Tom's wife Olivia has been murdered in New Orleans, and Tom has returned home to learn to live without her. Tom is living in Sydney but commuting to Sanctuary, a small town on the South Coast where he has a clinic in the local hospital.

The first sign that Tom's past is following him comes when a dozen black roses are left on his Sydney doorstep. "Hell has found you", says the note nestled among the roses. In Sanctuary that morning a husband finds his wife dead on the kitchen floor, battered to death with a frying pan. Senior Sergeant Jack Maguire, a homicide detective demoted to Sanctuary because he has followed his instincts once too often, feels that there is something odd about this murder, although he can't put his finger on it. Tom Hackett, on the other hand, knows that there is something strange, when he reads the local newspaper report about the murder, and realises that not only has he met the murdered woman, but her murder bears considerable similarity to his wife Olivia's.

THE PERFECT SUSPECT is author Vincent Varjavandi's first novel. It reads a bit like a first novel, too - complex and tangled plot, some unlikely scenarios, and a relatively "all's well that ends well" ending. But for all that it is not bad; the tension builds well, and the mystery element is well teased out, and I think Vincent has potential.

The relationship between Jack Maguire and his assistant, newly promoted Detective Constable William Tucker, is interestingly described and could provide the basis for future books. The novel is very firmly set in Australia by the author's inclusion of Australian colloquialisms in dialogue, and in his references to New South Wales place names and events. That said, I don't think it will reduce its appeal to non-Australian readers.

Vincent Varjavandi is a Sydney-based paediatric surgeon. He uses his medical knowledge sparingly in the novel but it does emerge on occasion in the description of murder scenes and in autopsy reports. Without doubt Tom Hackett is Varjavandi's mouthpiece and his alter ego. Tom feels strongly about child abuse, paedophilia, and child pornography.

My rating: 3.8

October 2006 Review First published on Murder and Mayhem

Other reviews:

Celebrating Christie Week #11: Blog Carnival posted

Christie Week ran from 13-20 September. Here we extended the celebrations for a couple of days

We Celebrated the life and work of Agatha Christie with a blog tour where bloggers undertook to put up a special post on their own site.

Our last stop on the blog tour is a real treat, the 9th edition of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival now posted at ACRC Carnival #9

Do stop by here tomorrow for a special tribute to the bloggers who participated in the tour.
The list is below, so if you've only just come across the tour here are the tour stops for you to visit.

We visited
13 September: Overkill
14 September: Reactions to Reading
15 September: Elizabeth at Miss Lemon Mysteries
16 September: Just A (Reading) Fool
17 September: Margot at Joyfully Retired
18 September: Crime Scraps
19 September: A library is a hospital for the mind...
19 September: Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover
20 September: Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
21 September: BooksPlease
22 September: Agatha Christie Quiz - here on MiP

It is never too late to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
See information about the Challenge here.
Join the Challenge here, and by all means use the Challenge image on your blog with a link back to our Blog Carnival site.

Each month the Carnival closes on the 22nd of the month, and is then published on the 23rd of the month. Your contributions are very welcome.
You can submit a link to any postings you have made that review Agatha Christie books to the Agatha Christie monthly Blog Carnival by going to the Carnival collecting space and putting in the URL, your details, and a comment about the post. We are also interested in any interesting online articles that you come across.

22 September 2009

Celebrating Christie Week #10: A Quiz or two

Christie Week ran from 13-20 September. Here we are extending the celebrations for a couple of days

Here on MYSTERIES IN PARADISE we are Celebrating the life and work of Agatha Christie with a blog tour where bloggers have undertaken to put up a special post on their own site. Our blog tour is coming to an end and we've had some wonderful visits. If you haven't seen them all then be sure to visit each one of them and leave a message.

Today's Christie celebration is here on MYSTERIES IN PARADISE with a specially created quiz. You'll find it at the bottom of this page.

Our last stop on the blog tour happens tomorrow with a real treat, the 9th edition of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival ACRC Carnival #9

We've already visited
13 September: Overkill
14 September: Reactions to Reading
15 September: Elizabeth at Miss Lemon Mysteries
16 September: Just A (Reading) Fool
17 September: Margot at Joyfully Retired
18 September: Crime Scraps
19 September: A library is a hospital for the mind...
19 September: Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover
20 September: Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
21 September: BooksPlease

It is never too late to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
See information about the Challenge here.
Join the Challenge here, and by all means use the Challenge image on your blog with a link back to our Blog Carnival site.

Each month the Carnival closes on the 22nd of the month, and is then published on the 23rd of the month. Your contributions are very welcome.
You can submit a link to any postings you have made that review Agatha Christie books to the Agatha Christie monthly Blog Carnival by going to the Carnival collecting space and putting in the URL, your details, and a comment about the post. We are also interested in any interesting online articles that you come across.

Welcome to Kerrie's Agatha Christie Quiz.

I invite you to complete the Quiz and then leave a comment about it (or your score)
If you are using IE6 there may be a problem with the embedded Quiz below just displaying the choices but not the questions. You may be able to do it online here. (although IE6 users may have the same problem)



This Quiz was created on MyStudiyo and then embedded in my blog.

Here are the questions in case you need them

  1. Was the AFFAIR AT STYLES
  2. In which year was Agatha Christie's first book published?
  3. The police superintendent in THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS was
  4. Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings are often joined by
  5. How many Dials were there?
  6. The alternative title for LORD EDGWARE DIES was
  7. How many Agatha Christie novels featured Miss Marple?
  8. Who was the detective in DEATH ON THE NILE?
  9. Which was the first Miss Marple novel?
  10. Agatha Christie wrote her novels over a period of
Explore some other Christie Quizzes

21 September 2009

Celebrating Agatha Christie Week #9

Christie Week ran from 13-20 September. Here we are extending the celebrations for a couple of days

Here on MYSTERIES IN PARADISE we are Celebrating the life and work of Agatha Christie with a blog tour where bloggers have undertaken to put up a special post on their own site.

Today's Christie celebration is happening with Margaret at BooksPlease.
Margaret has a lovely blog, and she contributes each month to Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival. I was very pleased when she agreed to be part of the blog tour.
Do visit Margaret's blog and let her know you've been there by leaving a comment.

To come next on the blog tour:
22 September: Agatha Christie Quiz - here on MiP
23 September: ACRC Carnival #9

We've already visited
13 September: Overkill
14 September: Reactions to Reading
15 September: Elizabeth at Miss Lemon Mysteries
16 September: Just A (Reading) Fool
17 September: Margot at Joyfully Retired
18 September: Crime Scraps
19 September: A library is a hospital for the mind...
20 September: Confessions of a Mystery Novelist

If you have only recently come upon the Agatha Christie blog tour, explore the sites that have hosted posts so far, and remember to come back tomorrow to visit the next one.

It is never too late to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
See information about the Challenge here.
Join the Challenge here, and by all means use the Challenge image on your blog with a link back to our Blog Carnival site.

You can submit a link to any postings you have made that review Agatha Christie books to the Agatha Christie monthly Blog Carnival by going to the Carnival collecting space and putting in the URL, your details, and a comment about the post. We are also intersted in any interesting online articles that you come across.

The September Carnival closes on September 22, and will be posted on September 23, marking the end of our 10 days of celebrations this year.

20 September 2009

Sunday Salon - Sunday 20 September - Weekly Geeks

Well, this has been a spectacularly busy week with not only BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) happening but also Christie week, during which I've been running a blog tour.
BBAW is over but the Christie blog tour is still happening.

I did feel at times as if I had taken on a bit too much, and ended up posting three times some days, so there's a lot to catch up on. I posted 21 times this week, so I apologise if your RSS reader got a bit full.
I had intended to take part in most of the BBAW activities, had prepared lots of posts in advance, but it soon became very obvious that there was a huge amount going on. The amount of cyber energy being harnessed and excitement being generated was enormous. I found some new-to-me blogs and got some wonderful ideas.
At the same time visits to my blog reached unprecedented volume, and I really haven't been able to reply to comments which is something I really like to do.

Similarly I had done a lot of preparation for the Agatha Christie Blog tour and have been delighted by the wonderful posts that tour participants have been providing. The blog tour has 3 days to go, so do pop in and have a look. Each daily post here gives you where we've been, who today's host is, and where we're going.

At the end of the week my daughter and son-in-law arrived home from Abu Dhabi for a flying visit, so there are family functions too.

So I am looking forward to resuming a bit of normality if I can this week, but things will remain pretty busy for a few days. This week's Weekly Geeks task is to check ourselves for burn-out.

This week's posts:Books I'm reading
  • now - GHOST LINES, Nick Gadd
  • next - A SMALL CASE FOR INSPECTOR GHOTE?, H.R.F. Keating
  • in the car - RED BONES, Ann Cleeves
  • on line - CORDUROY MANSIONS 2, Alexander McCall Smith
News & Headlines
Things to do on my blog
Features to check:
I'm running a number of widgets that I think add value to my blog so be sure to check them out. I've picked most of them up from what I've seen on other blogs. Here are some to look for.
  • Odiogo provides an automatic "podcast" of each post, so you can listen if you'd prefer that.
  • Each post now displays a Linkwithin widget at the end, that recommends other posts you might enjoy.
  • Each post has a rating system at the bottom where you can give it a star rating - I'm not actually sure where I got that from.
  • Blogger Widgets provided me with with"My Faithful Commentators" widget - I'm not exactly sure how that works statistically speaking but it shows who comments most frequently on my blog.
  • I use ClustrMaps, Feedjit, and Sitemeter to monitor my live traffic.
  • I have a Google translate widget so a visitor can choose the language they'd rather see the blog in, even Arabic and Japanese.
  • I have a customised crime fiction search that I created through Google search by listing about 100 blog and book review sites.
  • And you'll see that I make extensive use of RSS feeds.
Have you discovered a widget that you think might interest me?

BBAW Giveaways - the winners!

There were 4 books up for grabs in Book Blogger Appreciation Week.
They are all crime fiction books that I have reviewed here on this blog.
See my original post.
The method of deciding who won was the fickle finger of fate - the cat's paw.
There were 36 entrants from all over the world. So thanks you to everyone who took part.

THE CLEANER by Brett Battles. - the winner is AlisonB from New Zealand
This book was only for Australian or New Zealand participants.

ABOUT FACE by Donna Leon - the winner is Misused innocence from the US
ABOUT FACE is smaller format, so I'll send it anywhere in the world.

FROM DOON WITH DEATH was Ruth Rendell's first novel. - the winner is Sheila from the US.
The publication is a double-banger as it also includes A NEW LEASE OF DEATH. it is in the small format, so I'll send anywhere in the world.

GONE TOMORROW by Lee Child. - the winner is Veronica from Australia
This was available only to Australian or New Zealand participants.

Celebrating Agatha Christie Week #8

Christie Week is scheduled for 13-20 September.

Here on MYSTERIES IN PARADISE we are Celebrating the life and work of Agatha Christie with a blog tour where bloggers have undertaken to put up a special post on their own site.

Today's Christie celebration is happening with Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist.
Margot is both a published novelist and a real expert in Agatha Christie. Her daily posts about crime fiction in the Golden Age are a treat to read, and often give me new insights into Agatha Christie's characters and novels.
Do visit Margot's blog and let her know you've been there by leaving a comment.

To come next on the blog tour:
21 September: BooksPlease
22 September: Agatha Christie Quiz - here on MiP
23 September: ACRC Carnival #9

We've already visited
13 September: Overkill
14 September: Reactions to Reading
15 September: Elizabeth at Miss Lemon Mysteries
16 September: Just A (Reading) Fool
17 September: Margot at Joyfully Retired
18 September: Crime Scraps
19 September: A library is a hospital for the mind...
19 September: Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover

If you have only recently come upon the Agatha Christie blog tour, explore the sites that have hosted posts so far, and remember to come back tomorrow to visit the next one.

It is never too late to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
See information about the Challenge here.
Join the Challenge here, and by all means use the Challenge image on your blog with a link back to our Blog Carnival site.

You can submit a link to any postings you have made that review Agatha Christie books to the Agatha Christie monthly Blog Carnival by going to the Carnival collecting space and putting in the URL, your details, and a comment about the post. We are also intersted in any interesting online articles that you come across.

The September Carnival closes on September 22, and will be posted on September 23, marking the end of our 10 days of celebrations this year.

The Dog Who Came In From The Cold

Notification came this week that the sequel to Alexander McCall Smith's CORDUROY MANSIONS, THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, takes off on September 21.

This was probably my only departure from crime fiction last year, but I do enjoy McCall Smith's writing, particularly his quirky sense of humour, and who can resist Andrew Sachs reading?

I have to admit though that real life got in the way of me completing my reading of CORDUROY MANSIONS last year. I finished 14 of 20 weeks. Somehow my habit of listening to a chapter a day got broken, and I never went back. It is a bit like running a marathon. Sit down, and you never stand up again.

So maybe this year I'll do better.

If you'd like to catch up with this new online novel visit the Telegraph site. Lots of information there from McCall Smith too. There's a list of the characters from CORDUROY MANSIONS, and interviews etc.

Visit this website for more information on the first novel, character profiles. This is a publisher's promo, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Uses Flash animation. You can easily catch up with the story and characters here.
Andrew Sachs reads each of the chapters, mostly a little over a minute each.
Be warned there will be 80 of them so set some time aside. You can come back though and scroll through to the next chapter.

If you are interested you can follow progress on a special FaceBook site too.

Check my other blog posts mentioning Alexander McCall Smith.

This 2 minute video explores Pimlico which is where CORDUROY MANSIONS is set. Here's the link if the video doesn't display below.

19 September 2009

Splashed and Lovely

Last week has been a very busy week what with BBAW (Book Bloggers Appreciation Week) and the Agatha Christie Blog Tour (which continues even as I write).

And in the middle of it, Luanne has splashed me, and Patti has given me the "One Lovely Blog Award".

The "Splash" rules:

Nominate 9 blogs that allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you, link to your nominees within your post, let your nominees know they have been splashed by commenting on their blogs, and link to the person who nominated you.

Rules for the One Lovely Blog Award:
  • This first rule is my own - a blog that continues to impress me, that I visit often (recipients can make up their own rule here)

  • Accept the award, and don’t forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
  • Pass the award on. (I've chosen to hand it on to 5 people- you choose how many)
  • Notify the award winners.

En route to me, the One Lovely Blog Award seems to have lost its image, so I have recycled one I just happened to have in stock as it were.

BBAW was a good chance to sample some terrific blogs and so I have plenty to choose from. I've even managed to add a few new crime fiction ones to the blogs I watch on Crime Fiction Journeys. So here is your chance to catch up on some new-to-you crime fiction blogs.

My nominations for a Splash Award are

  1. Mack Captures Crime
  2. everything distils into reading
  3. Overkill
  4. Books to the Ceiling
  5. Straight From Hel
  6. Crime Always Pays
My nominations for the One Lovely Blog Award are
  1. CRIME SCRAPS
  2. Mystery Fanfare
  3. Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Now don't go getting your dander up if you weren't listed above! I had far too many to choose from. Hopefully you can find some new blogs to watch from my recommendations.

Awards Received and Given

Review: TELLING TALES, Ann Cleeves

Pan Macmillan, 2005, ISBN 1-4050-46473, 409 pages

Ten years ago Abigail Mantel died. In what appeared to be an open and shut case, her murderer Jeanie Long was quickly identified and charged. To some people in the East Yorkshire village of Elvet, Jeanie had seemed an unlikely culprit, but even her father believed she was guilty. Now, after years of protesting her innocence, Jeanie has committed suicide in prison, and someone has come forward to give her an unshakeable alibi for the time of the murder. So the killer, probably a local, is still at large, and Inspector Vera Stanhope comes to the village to seek the truth.

She has an advantage - Dan Greenwood, local craftsman, is a former copper whom she has worked with, and he was on the Mantel murder case. For one of Abigail's friends, Emma Bennett, who discovered Abigail's body the past comes back.

Ann Cleeves tells us that TELLING TALES is set in a fictitious landscape east of Hull, but that doesn't stop it from feeling very real. Vera Stanhope is an almost larger than life character, gruff, with a way of winkling confidences from people, and a little unorthodox in her methods. She has that attribute of all good detectives, the ability to make the intuitive leap, to see past what she is being told, to admit when she has made a mistake, and finally to come up with the goods.

My rating: 4.6

TELLING TALES is the second of three novels in the Vera Stanhope series. It completes my reading of the series so far, and I really hope for another soon.

My other reviews:
CROW TRAP (1999), my rating 4.8
Debut novel in the Vera Stanhope series. In the Northern Pennines there are plans to open a new slate quarry. Three women are employed to conduct an environmental survey. Bella Furness, whose cottage holds right of way to the site of the quarry, commits suicide and shortly afterwards one of the women involved in the survey fails to return home. Vera makes her first appearance at Bella's funeral and then is the investigating officer when the missing woman is found murdered. Ann Cleeves has created an intriguing character in Vera Stanhope. She is the sort of detective who more or less does as she pleases, very hands-on. There are many twists in this, keeping me guessing until the end.

HIDDEN DEPTHS (2007), my rating 4.7
Julie Armstrong has been for a 'night out with the girls' and arrives home, barely sober, to find her son Luke in the bath, apparently drowned, scented water and flowers floating on the surface. Whatever happened, her daughter Laura has slept through it all. Inspector Vera Stanhope of the Northumbrian police, is the investigating officer. Soon there is a second body, this time young student teacher Lily Marsh. She too is found lying in a pool of water strewn with flowers but this time in an fairly inaccessible part fo the coastline. The subsequent investigation which Vera leads works rather like peeling back the layers of the onion, seeking the connections between the two deaths. And are they connected to an earlier drowning where mourners threw flowers onto the river where another young man died? This is #3 in the Vera Stanhope series: in tall, lumpy Vera Cleeves has almost created a female equivalent of Reginald Hill's Andy Dalziel. Perhaps that's being unkind to Vera, but she is every bit as clever, as intuitive.

It has now been confirmed
that ITV Studios will bring Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope to the screen, in the person of international award winning actress Brenda Blethyn OBE. A two hour drama based on the third Vera Stanhope mystery, Hidden Depths, will go into production in October. I have grave doubts that Brenda will match my "bag lady" image of Vera though.

In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. Check more biographical details and information about her books on Ann's own website.

ACRC Update - 19 September 2009

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month.
I've read 14 books and 4 collections of short stories.

Read & reviewed so far
  1. 1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
  2. 1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
  3. 1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
  4. 1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
    1924, POIROT INVESTIGATES (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
  5. 1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
  6. 1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
  7. 1927, THE BIG FOUR
  8. 1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
  9. 1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
  10. 1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
    1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
  11. 1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
  12. 1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
    1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
  13. 1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
  14. 1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)

    Reading schedule

    1929 Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
  15. 1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
  16. 1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)
  17. 1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR)
  18. 1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS)
  19. 1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA
  20. 1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE
Check the opening blog post of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge here.
If you'd like to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge click here.

I am using the list at Wikipedia of novels and collections of short stories. I will interlace the short story collections into the list where I can, but may have to read them out of order. I have decided on a method for reporting on the short stories.

Please feel free to join in my challenge, comment on my reviews etc.

I have set up a block over in the right hand column called Agatha Christie Reading Challenge (with the same logo as this post) where I am listing the books I'm currently reading and those I've finished.
The challenge is called ACRC so each review will be preceded by those letters.

If you want to follow my progress through your RSS reader, then the RSS URL is
http://www2.blogger.com/feeds/8273911883856580200/posts/default/-/Agatha%20Christie%20Challenge
Just save that in your bookmarks or RSS reader and you will be notified when I have written a new post.
Alternatively you could subscribe to the feed through FeedMyInbox. Just copy the RSS URL, click on the FeedMyInbox link and paste the URL in there.
You will need to confirm your subscription by email.

Contribute your blog postings about any Agatha Christie novels to the monthly carnival. Make an agreement with yourself that whenever you complete reading an Aggie you will write a blog posting about it and then submit the posting to the carnival.
If you are participating in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge then write updates like this one and submit them to the Carnival. Let us know what progress you are making.

Celebrating Agatha Christie Week #7

Christie Week is scheduled for 13-20 September.

Here on MYSTERIES IN PARADISE we are Celebrating the life and work of Agatha Christie with a blog tour where bloggers have undertaken to put up a special post on their own site.

Today's Christie celebration is a double banger.
First of all with Sarah at A library is a hospital for the mind... Sarah is a regular contributor to the Agatha Christie Blog Carnival. I love the library image that Sarah uses on her blog too. It has a real olde worlde feel to it.

And secondly with Elaine at Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover. Elaine is a huge fan of the Dame, and she writes about how a bout of German measles turned her into a lover of crime fiction.

Do visit both their blogs and let them know you've been there by leaving a comment.

To come next on the blog tour:
20 September: Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
21 September: BooksPlease
22 September: Agatha Christie Quiz - here on MiP
23 September: ACRC Carnival #9

We've already visited
13 September: Overkill
14 September: Reactions to Reading
15 September: Elizabeth at Miss Lemon Mysteries
16 September: Just A (Reading) Fool
17 September: Margot at Joyfully Retired
18 September: Crime Scraps

If you have only recently come upon the Agatha Christie blog tour, explore the sites that have hosted posts so far, and remember to come back tomorrow to visit the next one.

It is never too late to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
See information about the Challenge here.
Join the Challenge here, and by all means use the Challenge image on your blog with a link back to our Blog Carnival site.

You can submit a link to any postings you have made that review Agatha Christie books to the Agatha Christie monthly Blog Carnival by going to the Carnival collecting space and putting in the URL, your details, and a comment about the post. We are also intersted in any interesting online articles that you come across.

The September Carnival closes on September 22, and will be posted on September 23, marking the end of our 10 days of celebrations this year.

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