E.C.R. Lorac - Murder In Vienna

 

 Rating: 3/5

Review:

A bit of a slog

There were aspects of Murder In Vienna which I liked, but overall I found it a bit of a slog.

First published in 1956 and a late book in a long-running series, this is a tale of intrigue and detection in a Vienna which is still recovering from the devastating effects of the Second World War and its aftermath. Superintendent Macdonald of the CID, is going there for a holiday to meet an old friend, when he becomes involved in trying to solve strange goings-on including attacks on two Brits who shared a plane with Macdonald on the way out.

As a plot it’s adequate but not brilliant, the characterisation is quite good but somewhat stereotypical and I’m afraid the dialogue is horribly stilted sometimes. Lorac does set a very good background: the description of air travel in 1956 is very interesting and she paints a fine picture of Vienna at that time. This lends the book a good deal more interest – especially for me because much of the action is set in the suburb of Hietzing, to which I have strong family ties. I found that very poignant; without it, I may not have stuck with the book to the end, and even as it is I was quite glad to get to the end and start something else.

So...not terrible, not great. I may give Lorac another try at some point, but I can only give this a very qualified recommendation.

M.C. Beaton - Death Of A Green-Eyed Monster

 

 Rating: 4/5

Review:

Enjoyable escapism

 

 

This was my first Hamish Macbeth, but even coming so far into a long series, it works OK as a stand-alone book.

The story is, frankly, pretty unlikely – but then no-one reads M.C. Beaton for gritty realism. A stunningly lovely new PC turns up as Hamish’s assistant in Lochdubh, there is a murder, various dodgy characters appear – including the egregious DCI Blair – and romance flourishes for Hamish. Meanwhile, is the new PC quite all she seems…?

It’s all pretty cosy, although some real tragedy does occur. There are plenty of atmospheric descriptions of the location some of which I found a bit clumsy and the characters are decently drawn if a little stereotypical. It all makes for an easy, brain-off sort of read which is just what one needs sometimes. I’m not sure I’ll be reading a lot more Hamish Macbeth, but this does what it sets out to do very competently and if you’re in the mood it’s an enjoyable bit of escapism.

(My thanks to Constable for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Christopher Fowler - Hot Water

 

Rating: 2/5

Review:

Disappointing

 

I’m afraid I was disappointed in Hot Water. Like many others, I suspect, I read it because I love the Bryant & May books, but this isn’t anything like as good. It’s a serviceable psychological thriller, but it felt pretty generic to me, with little to distinguish it from the slew of others in the genre.

Set near Nice, a long, rather disjointed set-up gives us Hannah enrolling as a maid for a shabby company servicing expensive holiday villas for the rich a job for which she is plainly too well educated and too mature. A middle-aged man sends Summer, his teenage mistress, to stay there for a week until he arrives to see her for a while before his wife and son join him. Hannah befriends Summer, and we learn something of their histories and characters but there are sinister developments leading to a mystery.

If this seems a very vague outline, it’s because it takes about a quarter of the book to get to this point and to say any more would therefore be a spoiler for a significant portion of the book – although for some while it’s fairly plain what will happen next. Frankly, I found it all rather plodding and Fowler’s development of suspense is so laboured, with pages and pages of things maybe moving in the bushes, noises that were probably just an animal and so on, that I began to feel patronised and to get rather annoyed.

I didn’t think things improved much as the book developed. It all felt rather standard, run-of-the-mill Tense Psychological Thriller stuff and I wasn’t really engaged. The problem is that without the brilliant elements of character and history which make Bryant & May so good, this just felt very ordinary to me.

I’m genuinely sorry to be so critical of an author whose other work I love, but this wasn’t for me. The psychological thriller isn’t a genre I generally like and I only tried this because it’s Fowler. Fans of the genre may like it much more, but personally I can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to Titan Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Sarah Caudwell - The Shortest Way To Hades

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Brilliantly funny

I absolutely loved The Shortest Way To Hades. I thought the first in the series, Thus Was Adonis Murdered, was excellent; this is even better.

The book is again narrated by Hilary Tamar, a long-established Oxford Professor of the History Of Law, whose gender we are never told. This time, s/he and his/her young barrister friends become involved in the possibly suspicious death of a member of a family embroiled in a complex legal matter to do with inheritance. It’s very nicely done, with scholarly clues fairly laid but well hidden, and a very engaging narrative. Don’t look for gritty realism here, but it all hangs together well, with a gratifying sprinkling of red herrings and, of course, a neat resolution.

Frankly, though, the plot is secondary here. It is Hilary’s narrative voice and the interactions of the other characters which make the book so entertaining and so very funny. I laughed out loud regularly at the use of language, which I think is quite brilliant. As a tiny example, “...the conversation turned, as it so often does among the Chancery Bar, to the imperfections of their administrative and clerical arrangements. The tyranny of their Clerk Henry and the incompetence of the temporary typist were recalled in lingering detail and with copious anecdote.” If you find that amusing, you’ll love the book; if you don’t, you won’t.

I did, and found the whole thing immensely enjoyable. Very warmly recommended.

Louise Willder - Blurb Your Enthusiasm

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

A gem of a book 

 

I absolutely loved Blurb Your Enthusiasm. It was a recommendation and I wasn’t sure I’d be all that keen, but it’s fascinating, laugh-out-loud funny, very perceptive and completely compelling.

Louise Willder has been a copy writer for over twenty years and really knows what she’s talking about. She has read a huge number and a vast range of books, and both her knowledge and her engaging love of books shows through consistently. She is quite brilliant on the use of language, I think, quoting some excellent examples and analysing what makes good writing in a variety of contexts. She also has a very clear-eyed view of publishing and isn’t reverential where she thinks pomposity or pretence needs to be punctured.

There are sections on all sorts of things, including various genres, what makes a good book within them and what makes a good blurb in each case. Willder is often enthusiastic, sometimes withering but always thoughtful and enjoyable to read. There are also some wider reflections on books and publishing, including an excellent section on sexism and how it affects perceptions and the presentation of a book. It’s witty and punchy, making a not-at-all-funny subject very readable. (And boy, did it make me think!)

Most importantly, the book is immensely entertaining; I couldn’t wait to get back to it, which is by no means always the case for me with non-fiction (nor always with fiction, come to that). It has pointed me to a lot of things I really want to read – always a good sign – I laughed regularly and thought a lot. I highlighted far too many passages to quote here, but just as a sample, Willder quotes lots of pithy book comments by others. I really liked Margaret Atwood's 6-word story: "Yearned for him. Got him. Shit!" and the summary of Crime And Punishment: "Man talks about an axe for three chapters. You put down the book never to return." (I have twice struggled to about page 150 of Crime And Punishment before losing the will to live...) Or someone's translation of adjectives in book blurbs:

"Charming: there's a child in it

Heartwarming: a child and a dog

Moving: child dies

Heartrending: dog dies."

Or her take on the sort of Literary Fiction where nothing really happens: “You know the kind of book. They win prizes. There generally isn’t much in the way of a plot. Or if there is, it’s something along the lines of woman goes away and finds herself, someone thinks about an event from their past, or sad middle-aged man has an affair – or even just considers said affair and doesn’t go through with it.” Followed a little later by “... Thomas Pynchon’s notoriously ‘difficult’ (in other words, mainly read by show-offs) novel Gravity’s Rainbow…. I wonder how many people have read it and then not told anybody they’ve read it? Zero, I suspect. Because the point of books like these is that they are an Iron Man literary challenge, and once you’ve been macho enough to read them you can boast about it.”

Or this, talking about thinking one must enjoy “classics”: “My most important classics principle, however, is this: some of them are definitely better than others, and you don’t have to like all of them. Magical realism, the Beats and most ‘Great American Novels’ have never done it for me, and I am at peace with that.” Whether you agree with her taste here or not, that’s a sensible, humane and, for me, helpful and encouraging approach.

I love all that and loved the book. (And anyway, anyone who says that Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker is a masterpiece, that her new favourite detective is DI Manon Bradshaw and that Sue Townsend is a stone cold comic genius can Do No Wrong in my view.) Blurb Your Enthusiasm is a real gem and anyone with any interest in books will enjoy it immensely, I think.

 

(My thanks to Oneworld for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Carol O'Connell - Killing Critics

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Terrific stuff 

This is the third in the Mallory series and is the best so far, I think. It is witty, shrewd, sharply satirical, unflinchingly bloody in places and a terrific read.

A killing at an art gallery leads Mallory and Riker into an investigation which soon links to a horrendous crime from twelve years ago, investigated by Markowitz, Mallory’s adoptive father. The tale is convoluted and involves corruption and manipulation in the art world, serious corruption in the police and city officials, a half-crazed art critic camped on the roof of Bloomingdales...and so on.

O’Connell writes excellently and creates great characters, especially Charles and Mallory herself, who is cool, self-possessed but not invulnerable and utterly determined and ruthless. If you’re looking for a charming, likeable protagonist, you’ll have to look elsewhere, but I find her a brilliant companion and a very interesting character study. I also love O’Connell’s jaundiced picture of New York; not just the blatant, criminal corruption but her characters’ world-weary acceptance of political shenanigans and manipulation – like this exchange, for example:

“But the homicide rate is falling.”

“It’s an election year so the mayor won’t let us drag the river.”

This is a great entry in a great series. Warmly recommended.

 

Celia Fremlin - The Jealous One

 

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Exceptionally good 

 

I loved The Jealous One. Celia Fremlin was a completely new author to me and I’m very glad I’ve discovered her.

Written and set in 1964, this is a story of a 60s picture of settled suburban “domestic bliss” in the marriage between Rosamund and Geoffrey being disturbed by the arrival Lindy, the seemingly free-spirited, rather bohemian woman who moves in next door. She gradually infiltrates and disrupts all their routines and shared pleasures while Geoffrey begins to focus more and more on Lindy. And then Lindy disappears, but severe flu means that Rosamund cannot remember what happened that day...while sinister clues and dark imaginings begin to accumulate.

It began a little slowly for me, but I was soon hooked by Fremlin’s brilliant character portraits and witty, penetrating insights into people’s attitudes and what is really going on for all these seemingly contented, successful people. She captures perfectly the insecurities, pretences, competitiveness and so on endemic in the staid middle-class group for whom appearing supremely competent and perfectly happy is paramount. And all the while, a slow tension is building so that the final few chapters were truly gripping – although the climax and denouement didn’t quite live up to the rest of the book, I thought.

Nonetheless, I thought it was excellent. Fremlin’s writing, her witty and penetrating insights and her mastery of tension made this quite exceptional and I will definitely be revisiting her work. Very warmly recommended.

Freeman Wills Crofts - Inspector French's Greatest Case

 

 Rating: 2/5

Review:

Just plain dull

 

I gave Inspector French’s Greatest case a good go, but I struggled to about half way and couldn’t face any more, I'm afraid.

First published in 1924, the plot involves a theft of diamonds from a London merchant and the murder of the firm’s Chief Clerk. Inspector French diligently and ploddingly pursues enquiries which lead to blind alleys or more conundra. These enquiries include travelling to different places in Europe, which the author is keen to describe to us to show that he has been there.

I’m afraid found it pedestrian in the extreme and, unlike some other other readers, the meticulous, repetitive spelling out of exactly what each piece of evidence might mean (but then didn't) began to bore me badly. I did quite like some of the travelogue aspects from a century ago, but that wasn't enough to maintain my interest.

Dialogue was pretty terrible, I thought, with supposedly spontaneous remarks sounding like the reading out of a solicitor’s Prepared Statement, and even for 1924 the prose often felt stilted and creaky. I kept thinking of the writings of Kipling or Dorothy L. Sayers or C.S. Forester around that time and how, in their different ways, their prose was so very good by comparison.

I'm glad others have enjoyed it, but Crofts isn't for me. In the High And Far Off Times when I collected (and actually read) those lovely old Penguin Crime Editions, I slogged my way through The Cask. I didn't enjoy it, but after all this time I was prepared to give him another try. Forty years on, I'm afraid I feel the same, so it's no more Freeman Wills Crofts for me, I think.

Helene Hanff - 84, Charing Cross Road

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Still a delight 

 

It is almost 50 years since I first read 84, Charing Cross Road. I loved it then and, to my relief, I still love it after re-reading half a century later.

So much has been said about the book that a summary is scarcely necessary. The correspondence between Helene Hanff and “FPD” (soon revealed to be Frank Doel) is funny, affectionate and entirely charming. Beginning in the late 1940s, Frank is, of course, reserved and formal in his official correspondence while Helene is deliberately outrageously American – and as a playwright and scriptwriter, often very funny in her affectionate needling, railing and sometimes delighted and almost awestruck responses to the books she receives. There is also some fascnating social history as Helene sends commonplace items of food from the US which are rare luxuries in rationed London. To see just how much some ham, a few eggs or a pair of nylons meant to their recipients is quite humbling.

Chiefly, this is a story of friendship between two people who love books and share a sense of humour, although they express it very differently. The correspondence lasts for over 20 years; it is described in one blurb as “winsome and sentimental”, two adjectives which I regard as pejorative when applied to books, but I didn’t find it anything of the sort. It is funny, charming, rather touching in places and, quite simply, a delight.