Month: October 2014

A Short Tribute to Mrs. Pollifax

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unexpectedmrspollifaxI have been feverishly re-reading Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax books – it’s been long enough that I don’t remember the particulars, but I do remember how much I enjoyed Mrs. P, though in my memory she was a bit softer than she actually is on the page. Gilman’s portrayal of her in the very first book, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966), is one of the best first mysteries ever. The set-up is clever – an older woman, unsatisfied by life, goes to the CIA to volunteer her services. When the CIA’s Carstairs sees her in the waiting room he thinks she would be the perfect innocent abroad. And through 13 books, she was. Gilman lays down her adventure story format leavened with Mrs. Pollifax’s generous yet knowledgable heart in the very first book and the formula holds. Gilman often provides the reader with surprisingly penetrating insights into human behavior, courtesy of Mrs. P; one of my favorite moments involves a Whirling Dervish (Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish, 1990). Re-discover her for yourself. read more

David Bell: The Forgotten Girl & J. Sheridan Le Fanu: Wylder’s Hand

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WyldersHandI generally read one book at home and a different one at work. Recently the home book was an old one, Wylder’s Hand, the 1864 “sensation novel” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and the store book was brand new, David Bell’s The Forgotten Girl. Strangely enough, I didn’t get very far in either of them before I realized that despite a span of 150 years, they had the same basic plot. I call it “the mysterious disappearance,” and even though it’s an ancient story, going back at least as far as Persephone, perhaps the original Gone Girl, it’s very much in the air these days, especially since we’re all about to ask where the heck the warm weather went to. read more

E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen: The Question of the Missing Head

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missingheadThis absolutely charming, totally enjoyable book is one of the reads of the year from E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen, a writer with a long and solid history in the cozy mystery genre. His earliest books featured a parent with an Asperger’s child; in this one he’s streamlined his concept and given the main character Asperger’s, something that enhances his skills as a detective. Cohen, the real life parent of an Asperger’s child, illuminates the condition for the reader in the best possible way: by showing, not telling. read more

Elizabeth Heiter: Hunted

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huntedThis is a neat first thriller with a really interesting main character. Evelyn Baine is a star profiler for the FBI, and it’s obvious Heiter is interested not just by the FBI jargon but by the whole business of profiling, and it’s a fascinating field, one not covered all that extensively in mystery fiction, with a notable example being Val McDermid’s Tony Hill. It’s odd there isn’t a greater profiling “presence” though there are some; lots of the FBI characters in mysteries are special ops or forensic experts. read more

Andrew Grant: Run

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runAndrew Grant at last returns – after a change in publishers – with a new thriller, Run. Grant uses a fairly conventional thriller set-up and twists it to his own devices through the use of perspective and a possibly untrustworthy narrator, something he leaves the reader to figure out for themselves. I always appreciate an author assuming intelligence on the part of the reader and while I may not be as intelligent as Andrew, I appreciated the leeway he gave me as a reader to figure things out. read more

Maureen Jennings: No Known Grave

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noknowngraveThe final novel in Maureen Jennings’ fine Tom Tyler trilogy is every bit as gripping as the first two – in each, Jennings explores different aspects of life on the home front during WWII. In the first, she looked at the Land Girls; in the second, at a munitions factory; in this novel, perhaps the most heartbreaking at all, she takes us to a wounded veterans home, where the men and women have mostly been seriously disfigured, blinded, crippled, or all three by their war experiences.

Jennings’ skill as a traditional mystery writer is at the forefront here. She is brilliant at constructing a story with various clues and red herrings, almost daring the reader to figure it out (I sure didn’t). This book reminded me most strongly of one of my favorite books, Christianna Brand’s Green for Danger, which is also a kick ass detective story set inside the confines of a wartime hospital. read more