Review of "Mona of the Manor: A Tales of the City Novel" by Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin is an American writer known for 'Tales of the City', a series of novels set in San Francisco and focusing largely on the LGBTQ+ community. The stories are the basis for the 2019 Netflix mini-series 'Tales of the City.'

This book, 'Mona of the Manor' (published in 2024), is the 10th and last book in the series. If you're curious, this novel provides enough information about the characters to work as a standalone.

*****

The story takes place in the 1990s, and opens with Rhonda and Ernie Blaylock from North Carolina celebrating their anniversary with an overseas trip.



The Blaylocks are in England, headed for a weekend stay at Easley House - a large Cotswolds manor house that's been converted into an expensive hotel.



Easley House's American owner Mona Ramsey (aka Lady Roughton) inherited the estate from her husband, and she and her 26-year-old adopted son Wilfred - who has Australian aboriginal ancestry - take in paying guests to pay for Easley's costly upkeep.





American Rhonda Blaylock is very excited about staying at a British manor house, but her husband Ernie not so much.



Ernie is fresh off managing the re-election campaign of North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms - who opposes civil rights and gay rights - and Ernie would rather stay at a luxury hotel in London.



Ernie's attitude isn't helped any when the Blaylocks' first experience with Easley House includes a hallway filled with dirty hoes and shovels; a tattered poster of a stained glass window; and pots on the floor collecting drips from a leaky roof.



For her part, Rhonda isn't bothered by the mess. Rhonda - who probably reads historic romance novels - is charmed by Lady Roughton ('call me Mona') and Wilfred, and she's impressed by the manor's furnishings and ancestral portraits.







Outside the house, Rhonda likes the hillside gazebo; walking trails; and pretty bluebell field. Rhonda is even willing to help clean the mice out of Easley Manor's kitchen cabinets and assist with the cooking.



Early in the Blaylocks' visit the couple have a disagreement, and Rhonda ends up with bruises, a puffy face, and a black eye. Mona and Wilfred feel compelled to take measures, and that's all I'll say about that.



There's a lot more going on in Easley Manor. Pot-smoking Mona and Wilfred are both homosexual, and this is the era of the AIDS epidemic and Margarat Thatcher's conservative policies. Thus Mona and Wildred each have lost friends to the epidemic, and they inherited their dog, Vanilla Wafer, from a deceased victim.



Because of the AIDS scourge, Mona is anxious about Wilfred cruising London's gay bars and meeting spots, fearful that her son will be infected with the HIV virus.





On the personal side, Mona is involved in a casual sexual relationship with postmistress Poppy Gallagher, a talented artist who seems to be in love with Mona. Poppy wants to recreate a famous painting using Mona as the model, and hang it in the post office....something Mona's not too sure about.



To add to the bustling atmosphere at Easley Manor, the Midsummer festivities are right around the corner, and San Franciscans Michael Tolliver and Anna Madrigal are coming for a visit.





Michael is an old friend of Mona's, and Anna is Mona's parent. Anna deserted the family when Mona was a child and returned when Mona was an adult. Mona and Wilfred are looking forward to the visit, since they haven't seen Michael and Anna in years.

The most amusing character in the story is the elderly groundskeeper Lachlan Hargis, who thinks a gypsy man is camping out on Easley Manor grounds. Hargis believes he sees the Romani everywhere, and despite Mona's constant assurances, Lachlan won't be convinced the intruder is a phantom.



All this leads to some surprising occurrences, important personal discussions, and speculation about the futures of the characters.

'Mona in the Manor' is the only book I've read in the series, but I liked it well enough to watch the mini-series 'Tales of the City', which is filled with memorable characters and compelling storylines

I'd recommend the book to fans of literary fiction.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Lucifer's Tears: An Inspector Kari Vaara Novel" by James Thompson

In this second book in the Inspector Kari Vaara series, the Finnish detective gets involved in two tricky cases: a Finnish national hero is accused of being a war criminal, and a woman has been tortured and murdered.

This novel can be read as a standalone, but it's best to start with the first novel in the series, Snow Angels, to avoid spoilers.

*****

Inspector Kari Vaara and his American wife Kate have moved from Kittilä in northern Finland, to Helsinki, where Vaara is a member of the police homicide squad and Kate manages a high-end restaurant.





Vaara has been lauded for solving his last big case, the murder of a Somali actress, but the investigation was troublesome and Kari is suffering from anxiety and constant migraine headaches. Kari is also concerned about his wife Kate, who's pregnant and due in two weeks.



Vaara has a rookie partner, Milo Nieminen, who got elevated to the prestigious homicide squad because of his intelligence and assistance with previous investigations. Notwithstanding, Neimenin is a conceited loose cannon who's prone to showing off, breaking the rules, and defying authority.



Vaara and Nieminen are doing routine death certifications when Vaara gets a call from his boss, National Police Chief Jyri Ivalo.



Ivalo tells Vaara that a 90-year-old Finnish national hero called Arvid Lahtinen has been accused of war crimes. A new book claims Lahtinen worked in a prisoner-of-war camp called Stalag 309 during World War II, and collaborated with the Gestapo to kill Russian POWs. Germany is now trying to extradite Lahtinen, to put him on trial as a war criminal.



The Finnish mindset is that their country has no war criminals, and Chief Ivalo tells Vaara to make the whole sordid business go away. When Kari interviews Lahtinen, however, the old man admits to killing Russians at Stalag 309, and claims Kari's Ukki (grandpa) did the same thing. Lahtinen explains himself by describing Finland's complicated history with Germany and Russia, which sparked the old man's hatred for Russians. (Note: this is an interesting history lesson in the midst of the novel.)


Russian POWs during World War II

In any case, Lahtinen has cards to play. If the war criminal charges don't go away, the old man will reveal the war crimes of several Finnish 'heroes' and politicians who collaborated with the Nazis. All this puts Vaara and his boss on the horns of a dilemma.

Meanwhile, Vaara and Nieminen get a troubling homicide case. An Estonian businessman named Rein Starr claims he was knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant.



When Rein woke up, he was lying next to his dead lover Iisa Filippov.



As Vaara and Nieminen investigate, they discover that Iisa was repeatedly burned with cigarettes and lashed with a horse whip before being suffocated. The detectives also learn that Iisa was having an adulterous affair with Rein, and was married to Russian property developer Ivan Filippov.



Vaara and Niemenin have hardly begun investigating Iisa's homicide before Chief Ivalo puts pressure on them to charge Rein Starr with murder. The detectives resist because they believe Ivan Filippov murdered his wife. As the case proceeds, it becomes clear that sexual fetishes played into Iisa's death, along with attempts at a cover-up and frame-up by 'higher ups.'

As Kari goes about his business, his headaches are crippling; he hasn't slept in months; and he's consumed with worry about Kate's pregnancy.



To top it off, Kate's brother John and sister Mary arrive from America, to 'help with the baby', and immediately cause problems. John is a broke alcoholic druggie and Mary is a judgmental conservative Christian who loudly disdains Finnish culture.





By the end of the book there's a surprising denouement to the murder investigation and a hook that leads to book three.

I'm enjoying this series, but have some reservations. Kari has a spiteful side to his personality that I find off-putting, and his constant smoking and drinking seem excessive. I do like the peeks at Finnish culture, like the celebrations around the birth of a baby, and the Karjalan Paisti (meat stew) Kari prepares for guests.



If you're a fan of Nordic noir, you'd probably like the Kari Vaara books.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Mania: A Novel" by Lionel Shriver

Author Lionel Shriver is an iconoclast who likes to stir the waters. That said, the premise of this book is really out there.

Author Lionel Shriver

The idea in this novel is that 'political correctness' in America has gone off the rails, and 'mental parity' (MP) is the new standard. This means all people are deemed to be equally intelligent. So, for example, Albert Einstein would not be considered smarter than Harold and Lloyd from the 1994 movie 'Dumb and Dumber.'


Albert Einstein

Harold and Lloyd from the 1994 movie 'Dumb and Dumber'

To go along with this thesis, language has been cleaned up, and words like stupid, dumb, dim, slow, thick, dense, etc. are forbidden. Schoolchildren using such lingo are sent to the principal's office, and 'bad words' in the home can lead to a visit from child protective services.

As a logical extension of this, there are no more tests in school, and no more SATs or ACTs; no GREs, MCATS or LSATs.



It's first come first served to get into college, law school, medical school, etc. There's no need to pass anatomy tests to become a surgeon; to be a competent engineer to design a car; to know chemistry to create vaccines; to master calculus to launch a space shuttle; and so on.



Any idiot (a verboten word) can be President of the United States or a Cabinet member, etc.



Television shows like Jeopardy are taken off the air; the New York Times has to stop publishing crossword puzzles; Sudoku games vanish; the worst movies win Academy Awards; the least talented actors and actresses get Oscars; and so on. You get the idea.



As the story unfolds, we follow along as Pearson Converse - an adjunct English professor at Verlaine University in Pennsylvania - navigates this new paradigm.



Before MP became the rage, Pearson was artificially inseminated with sperm from a 'gifted' man, and her two oldest children, daughter Zanzibar and son Darwin, are brilliant and talented.



Pearson's youngest daughter Lucy was conceived with Pearson's live-in partner Wade, who's a professional arborist.



Lucy is an average child who's learning nothing in the new school system. Lucy can't read, can't add numbers, and so on. Pearson tries to tutor Lucy at home, but the child is very resistant. Finally, when Lucy hears Pearson use the word 'stupid', the child becomes something akin to a Stasi spy, and reports her mother to the authorities.



Pearson is frustrated about her children: Zanzibar and Darwin are no longer being intellectually stimulated and Lucy is a dum-dum (forbidden word) informer. Moreover, most of the students in Pearson's English classes at Verlaine University pay no attention to her. In class, the pupils talk to each other and play games on their phones. The worst students sit with their arms folded and sneer, almost challenging Pearson to try to teach them anything.



Pearson's best friend is journalist Emory Ruth. At the beginning of the MP movement, Pearson and Emory would make fun of the MP movement (behind closed doors), acknowledging how silly (forbidden word) it was. However Emory is professionally ambitious, and seeing which way the wind is blowing, Emory soon publicly, loudly, and enthusiastically embraces the MP movement. Emory's broadcasts become filled with pro-MP rhetoric, and Pearson and Emory's friendship is severely strained.



Things in Pearson's home take a turn for the worse when Pearson's partner Wade, who's forced to hire an incompetent assistant arborist, is injured on the job. Wade's initial injuries are a sprained wrist and broken ankle, but a know-nothing surgeon cripples Wade; and know-nothing nurses almost kill Wade with the wrong medication.



After this, the situation in Pearson's household becomes dire, mirroring the conditions in the country. For the rest of the story, you'll have to read the book.

In real life, a mental parity movement in the United States would probably collapse the economy, and everything else, within a year (in my opinion). Can you imagine Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, etc. laughing themselves silly at an MP movement in the US? In fiction-land, however, this MP scenario plays out over almost two decades.

The novel 'Mania' is promoted as a funny satire, and there's plenty of dark humor, but I found the book more disturbing than entertaining. Still, it's an interesting take on popular culture, and well worth reading.

If you do read the book, I'd like to know what you think. 😃

Rating: 4 stars