MYSTERIES in PARADISE

3 October 2011

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month so far in 2011

It is getting to that stage of the year when I am beginning to assess what I've read so far and what the outstanding books have been for me.

Here is what I have listed so far in Pick of the Month which is the outstanding book in each month's reading list:

January 5.0, THE RULE BOOK, Rob Kitchin
February 5.0, BURY YOUR DEAD, Louise Penny
March 4.8, CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER, Tom Franklin
April 5.0, A THOUSAND CUTS (aka RUPTURE), Simon Lelic
May 5.0, THE WRECKAGE, Michael Robotham
June 5.0, DEAD TOMORROW, Peter James
July 4.8, THE DIGGERS REST HOTEL, Geoffrey McGeachin
August 5.0, BLUE LIGHTNING, Ann Cleeves
September 5.0, THE END OF THE WASP SEASON, Denise Mina

This list will be a little different from my "best reads so far" list that I'll publish later in the week.
That will be a list of about 30 books that have rated 4.8 and above from m this year.

Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass: Italy: week beginning Mon 3 October

The idea behind Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass is that participants write a post linked to the country of the week.

We have already visited

It is almost with relief that our train pulls into various Italian cities this week. I for one feel like I am on more familiar ground, but I have learnt so much so far.

This week's country is Italy

Regretfully we have only two more stops on our journey:

Monday 10 October - Greece
Monday 17 October - Turkey

create your personalized map of Europe

Some suggestions:
You can choose one of the following (or something more imaginative)

a book review (create a new one or revive an old one)
an author profile
a reading syllabus for crime fiction either set in this country, or written by authors from this country.

Your post can be "based" anywhere in this week's country.

When you have written a post please do the following:

put a link to this post in yours (feel free to use the logo if you like)
Come back here and put a link to your post in Mr Linky

2 October 2011

Review: BEGGARS BANQUET, Ian Rankin - audio

Audio available from Audible.com
UNABRIDGED
Narrated by James Macpherson
Length:10 hrs and 43 mins
Release Date:07-25-11
PUBLISHER: Orion Publishing Group Limited

Publisher's Blurb

Over the years, Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories. Published in crime magazines, composed for events, broadcast on radio, they all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular Rebus novels. Ranging from the macabre ('The Hanged Man') to the unfortunate ('The Only True Comedian') right back to the sinister ('Someone Got To Eddie') they all bear the hallmark of great crime writing. Of even more interest to his many fans, Ian includes seven Inspector Rebus stories in this collection...
Listen to an audio sample

Read an extract

From Wikipedia - a list of the stories is available there
Beggars Banquet is the second collection of short stories by crime writer Ian Rankin.
It features 21 stories written between 1991 and 2000.
The collection also includes the novella Death Is Not the End which was later expanded into the novel Dead Souls.

The story Herbert in Motion is concerned with the theft of works of art from the storage facilities of a major Gallery and their replacement with high quality forgeries to avoid detection of the crime, which was also the basis for the 2008 novel Doors Open

My take

Ian Rankin's short stories always illustrate what a superb story teller he really is, and what a variety of issues and ideas interest him. The short stories collected into BEGGARS BANQUET have also recently been included in a new volume called THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES.

I must admit the ones I most enjoyed were the Rebus ones, and the ones I disliked most were the Walter Scott ones.

The story Herbert in Motion won a CWA Short Dagger in 1996.

James Macpherson (whom you will remember from Taggart) does an excellent job of narration, if sometimes challenging when he implements a broad Scottish brogue.
In general each of the stories is approximately 20 mins long.

My rating: 4.4

Review: THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY, Agatha Christie

This edition published by Fontana Books 1970
originally published 1942
191 pages
source: my own collection

Synopsis (Christie.com)

“Those quiet ones are often the worst. Jane Marple says so.” Miss Wetherby.

Dolly Bantry wakes in her beautiful home in the quiet village of St Mary Mead; everything is perfect until the shocking discovery of a body in the library. Who is the murdered young girl and who could possibly have killed her? Suspicion falls on Dolly’s husband, a man with a reputation as a flirt, who swears he never met the young woman – but why was she found in his library?

Dolly calls on her friend, Miss Marple to help them in their time of need. Can she find the killer or is village gossip about Colonel Bantry true? Nothing seems certain, then another body is discovered…

My Take

THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY saw Miss Marple's third appearance (she had already appeared in THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE (1930) and THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS (1932) which was actually a collection of connected short stories).

Various characters apart from Dolly and Arthur Bantry also appear in other Marple titles including Sir Henry Clithering and Jane Marple already has a reputation of a puzzle solver. Her method is to compare situations to those that she has already encountered in village life and she is full of anecdotes. All those who first meet her see is that she is an old lady who merges into her background. Others like the Chief Constable know better. Dolly Bantry on the other hand is disappointed when Miss Marple can't solve the murder when she first sees the body in the library.

A couple of things struck me. First of all Christie is not very complImentary about the police force, from the way Police-Constable Palk answers the phone with his "Hallo, 'hallo, 'hallo", to the name of Inspector Slack.

THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY is full of people who aren't quite who or what they seem. Appearances are deceptive. People who don't look nice quite often are, and vice versa. This provides quite a bit of misdirection and a number of red herrings.

The other thing that struck me is that we the readers know what the police know and we know most of what Miss Marple knows. But she doesn't know all that the police know. She has only partial knowledge. But we rarely "see" what she is thinking. That makes it all the more puzzling when she eventually nods her head and tells Dolly that she knows who the murderer is.

A very satisfying read, part of my participation in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, my 10th Agatha Christie title for this year..

My rating: 4.4

You might also be interested in this post: did agatha christie change her mind about miss marple?

Here is Joan Hickson in THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY from YouTube

My reads in September 2011

Lots of books in the last month, generally of a very good level, although one "donkey".

1.0, THE EMPANADA AFFAIR, Jerold & Elaine Last (29 September) - Kindle
4.1, CARIBBEAN MOON, Rick Murcer (28 September)- Kindle
4.3, DEATH IN THE LATIN QUARTER, Raphael Cardetti (26 September)
4.2, NEMESIS, Lindsey Davis (25 September)- audio
4.4, A QUESTION OF BELIEF, Donna Leon (24 September)
4.4, ACTS OF MURDER, Laurali R. Wright (22 September)
4.4, N or M? Agatha Christie (21 September) - Kindle
4.8, VIOLENT EXPOSURE, Katherine Howell (18 September)- Australian author
5.0, THE END OF THE WASP SEASON, Denise Mina (14 September) - Kindle
4.5, TO THE HILT, Dick Francis (12 September)- audio
4.0, BUNKER, Andrea Maria Schenkel (11 September) - Kindle
4.5, THE HYPNOTIST, Lars Kepler (10 September) - Kindle
4.5, THE SATURDAY BIG TENT WEDDING PARTY, Alexander McCall Smith (7 September)
4.4, DEATH OF A RED HEROINE, Qiu Xiaolong (3 September)- Kindle
4.8, DEAD LIKE YOU, Peter James (3 September) - audio

My pick of the month was Denise Mina's THE END OF THE WASP SEASON which I gave 5.0 to, but VIOLENT EXPOSURE by Katherine Howell and DEAD LIKE YOU, Peter James have my very high recommendations.

3 of the 15 books were unabridged audio versions, 7 were e-books read on my Kindle,2 were from my TBR, and 3 from the local library.

My aim this year is to exceed 142 books which was last year's achievement, and at 121, I am well on the way.

1 October 2011

Adelaide Writers Week 3 - 8 March 2012

Adelaide Writers Week, 3-8 March 2012, is a biennial event that is part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts (2-18 March in 2012).

Because for the most part events are free, AWW really allows writers and their reading public to come together in a unique way. It also raises our expectations of what literary events should be like.

AWW is easy to get to. Any visitor staying within the immediate city will be able to walk there. The venue is very close to the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Adelaide Writers Week has been taking place for over 40 years, making it the oldest literary event in Australia. It is a free writer's festival traditionally held adjacent to the memorial in the Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens. The event features national and international significant writers on two stages within the gardens. The event offers a blend of readings, panel discussions and 'meet the author' sessions. A comprehensive children's program is also proposed for this event.
The events are mainly held outside under shade. In the past this has been in marquees. In 2012 these will be replaced with temporary shade sails.

In the past there have been a number of events to delight the crime fiction reader, with a great mixture of international and Australian writers.There will be two night events, usually held at Bonython Hall in the University of Adelaide. In the past these have featured panels of writers, many of them crime fiction.

There is no sign of a program yet but here are some sites to visit for more information:

If you are a crime fiction writer or reader and intend to be in Adelaide for all or part of AWW do let me know. I would love to meet up!

2011 Global Reading Challenge Completed

While the last couple of books that I read for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge, particularly the last one, were disappointing, I have finished the challenge at Expert Level.

I have found the GRC a good way of ensuring that I read a good variety of books, although the fact that I am participating in a number of other challenges does that too, as does the fact that I am constantly bombarded with suggestions for reading from blogging friends, particularly through the Crime and mystery fiction room on FriendFeed.

I committed myself to reading 21 titles, all crime fiction, 3 titles each from 7 "continents". My 7th continent - historical crime fiction.
Blog site: 2011 Global Reading Challenge

Many thanks to Dorte for managing the challenge.

Africa