February Reads

*Kate Atkinson, Case Histories
Janet LaPierre, Death Duties
*Jacqueline Winspear, Birds of a Feather
Gillian Roberts, Til the End of Tom
Jonathan Harrington, The Death of Cousin Rose
Jonathan Harrington, The Second Sorrowful Mystery
*Christine Poulson, Murder is Academic
Terence Faherty, The Lost Keats
*Sarah Smith, Chasing Shakespeares
Lisa Miscione, The Darkness Gathers
*Carl T. Smith, Lowcountry Boil
Elaine Viets, Shop till You Drop

Kate Atkinson, Case Histories

I somehow had missed out on her until the fall 0f 2003 when I read her first book, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which was brilliant (beginning at the moment of the narrator's conception). Her latest is brilliant as well. Case Histories begins with three chapters, told at various times in the past, which lay out three cases (two murders and one child disappearance). Jumping ahead to present day, we meet Jackson Brodie, a retired policeman, now a private detective who is dealing with a number of personal and professional issues. He ends up involved in looking into all three of the "cold cases" that are initially laid out. Atkinson's prose is stunning, and the stories are compelling. An excellent work.

January reading list

excellent ones marked with an asterisk

*Dark Hollow, John Connolly
Skeleton Man, Tony Hillerman
The Lion’s Game, Nelson DeMille
*Night Fall, Nelson DeMille
Shoot the Moon, Billie Letts
The Ghost Writer, John Harwood
Hissy Fit, Mary Kay Andrews
*No Angel, Penny Vincenzi
*The Killing Kind, John Connolly
Murderers Prefer Blondes, Amanda Matetsky
Murder is a Girl’s Best Friend, Amanda Matetsky
*California Girl, T Jefferson Parker
Making It Up as I Go Along, M.T. Lennon
Sugar Skull, Denise Hamilton
*Grave Endings, Rochelle Krich
Secret Sanction, Brian Haig
*Something Dangerous, Penny Vincenzi
*Into Temptation, Penny Vincenzi

Penny Vincenzi: No Angel, Something Dangerous, Into Temptation (aka The Spoils of Time trilogy)

Ran across a blurb about her about Booksense. My public library had No Angel, which I just devoured. It’s a very well done big thick soap opera/family saga novel, beginning in 1904, with Lady Celia Beckenham getting married to Oliver Lytton, son and heir apparent of the Lytton publishing house. The first novel takes us through World War I, and I just couldn’t put it down. The characters are fascinating. Unfortunately, the second and third are much harder to find here in the US. Paperback editions are currently UK only. I ended up ordering paperbacks from a shop in Bath for less than I could procure US hardbacks. Something Dangerous picks up in 1928 and takes us through World War II, leaving off at 1946. It has all kinds of familial and business intrigue, love affairs, and of course the war. One of Celia’s daughters has to escape from Paris when the Nazis come, along with other tragedies. Into Temptation begins at the time of the Coronation, and many changes have taken place in terms of deaths and such. Reading the “cast of characters” page at the beginning had my jaw dropping several times. Vincenzi has quite a few novels to her credit, although none of the others seem to be trilogies or have recurring characters. Not usually the sort of thing I go for, but they are well written, with strong characters, historical contexts, an interesting overview of the history of book publishing through the 20th century, and plot twists galore.