traditional detection

Freya Sampson: The Busybody Book Club

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I loved this book and its Cornwall setting. It begins with the heroine, former Londoner Nova, fretting that no one will show up for the book club she runs at the local Community Center.  Luckily a few people do straggle in, led by the overwhelming Phyllis, who is so entirely bossy that she’s allowed to bring her smelly dog with her wherever she goes. She’s joined by the affable, older Art, who reads romances to his now blind wife who loves them, a painfully shy teen, Ash, and a man named Michael who seems to have come from afar to join the club but seems to have read little of the book they’re discussing. read more

Nev March: The Silversmith’s Puzzle

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Captain Jim & Lady Diana #4

I loved, loved, loved the first book in this series, Murder in Old Bombay.  In that first book, the main characters, Captain Jim Agnihotri and Lady Diana Framji, meet and marry despite some pretty steep obstacles.  Jim is half white, half Indian, and he is not a Parsi, as Lady Diana is.  The Parsis, the aristocrats of Indian culture in the 1890’s, have very strict rules about marrying outside the faith. This creates problems for the couple.

Jim, a dashing and decorated Captain in the British army, has worked as a journalist and a private investigator for the Framji family.  He met the Framjis when he searched for the killer of Diana’s sister-in-law.  In this novel, it’s her widower, Diana’s brother Adi, who is in trouble.  The two novels in between this one and the first found Diana and Jim in Boston and Chicago and on a steamship crossing the ocean.  Those novels, which were fine traditional mysteries, nevertheless lacked the zip and life of the first novel.  As the Agnihotris return to India, however, life returns to this wonderful series. read more

Uzma Jalaluddin: Detective Aunty

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Kausar Khan #1

This is the first mystery for writer Uzma Jalaluddin, though she’s already had a successful writing career creating women’s fiction.  Her detective, a recent widow named Kausar Khan, lives in North Bay, Canada.  One morning she gets a call from her daughter Sana, back in Toronto, telling her there’s been a murder and she’s the prime suspect.  Then she hangs up.  Kausar, who hasn’t been back to Toronto since the death of her son many years ago, nevertheless hurriedly packs a bag and jumps on a plane. read more

Ragnar Jonasson: Death at the Sanitorium

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Author Jonasson, an Icelandic fan of Agatha Christie from a child, had read all the available books translated by the time he was 17.  At that point, craving more, he simply went to the publisher and asked if he himself could translate more of her previously untranslated titles.  They agreed, and Jonasson was treated to a master class in plot, structure, character and setting as he did his work.  As evidenced by his own books, the lessons certainly took.  Like Christie’s, his books are perfectly structured, have memorably distinctive characters and always feature an evocative setting.  Oh, and they are also short, another valuable lesson he gleaned from Agatha. read more

Connie Berry: A Collection of Lies

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Kate Hamilton #5

Even though this is book five in an established series, I was able to comfortably settle in with Berry’s characters, setting, and story right away. The series features antiques expert Kate Hamilton, and in this instalment she’s on honeymoon in Devon with her police detective husband, Tom Mallory.  In true mystery tradition, it’s a busman’s honeymoon, as they’ve also taken on a private job to verify the provenance of a blood covered dress from the 1880s, which supposedly belonged to a murderess. read more

Anthony Horowitz: Close to Death

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Hawthorne & Horowitz #5

Anthony Horowitz is simply a plotting genius, with a brain that must that must be constantly constructing puzzles, and fortunately for us, he’s nice enough to share a few.  His latest gem is an instalment in his very meta Hawthorne and Horowitz series, where Horowitz himself takes the almost Hastings-esque form of a writer who follows genius detective Hawthorne around, writing down his actions, thus creating the novel we hold in our hands.  As this outing begins Horowitz is working on a new book under a deadline, but unfortunately Hawthorne hasn’t caught anything interesting for a while.  Horowitz decides to revisit an old case, and as Hawthorne doles the story out to him in portions he writes, using case notes as his guide, creating personas for the people involved in the story. read more

Nicholas George: A Deadly Walk in Devon

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Debut

This charming cozy is set in Devon, but features a group of Americans who have gathered there for a walking tour of England.  Our hero, Rick Chasen, or “Chase”, is a recently retired, recently widowed police detective.  The loss of his husband, Doug, has caused him to rethink his life and search for things that will keep him active and engaged.  He’s meeting up with his friend Billie for the trip, who is an optimistic soul and knits with enthusiasm.

The rest of their tour group – or shall we call them the suspect pool? – is nicely varied and interesting.  There’s a wealthy man and his trophy wife; there’s a couple who create environments for the elderly (who are dissatisfied with their room décor); there’s a sister and brother who are fulfilling the sister’s life long dream of a trip to England; and there’s the required curmudgeon, rounded off by the tour guide and driver.  While I really enjoyed this novel my enjoyment would have been heightened by the traditional cast of characters at the beginning of the book.  This book seemed well suited for that kind of thing. read more

Jenny Adams: A Deadly Endeavor

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Debut

Set in 1921 Philly, this lively series debut finds its characters affected by both the war and the influenza pandemic.  Heroine Edie Shippen returns home after suffering through the flu and nursing her San Francisco aunt just in time for her twin sister Frances’ engagement party to Edie’s former beau, Theo.  She isn’t even planning to attend until her maid Jenny convinces, telling her she looks too good to miss it.  Edie, who seems remarkably unaware of her own charms, does agree, but for her the occasion is only saved by an encounter with her rebellious cousin, Rebecca. read more

Amanda Flower: I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died

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Emily Dickinson #2

I hardly ever think the second book in a series is better than the first, but in this case, I do.  Amanda Flower introduced Emily Dickinson as a detective in the first audacious book. She detects with her maid, Willa Noble.  While the first book was mostly about Willa and her family, this one is more a melding of the two women’s lives, centering on a visit by Ralph Waldo Emerson to the home of Emily’s brother, Austin, and his new wife, Susan.

As the story opens Austin and Susan have just returned from their honeymoon, and Emily insists that Willa help them out for the week, preparing the house for Emerson’s arrival.  She blithely insists Willa can do her work at her house when she’s finished for the day at Austin’s.  One feature of this book, a bit more than the first, is Emily’s lack of awareness of the different life of a servant, and the constraints under which they function.  She’s constantly putting Willa into situations where no other maid would find herself and where Willa is supremely uncomfortable. This friction, mostly undiscerned by Emily herself, adds depth to the story. read more