In this first 'Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery', a new book store manager has to hustle to avoid being arrested for murder.
*****
Gemma Doyle moved from England to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to manage 'The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium.'
Gemma co-owns the establishment with her 90-year-old great uncle Arthur Clive Doyle, who claims distant kinship with Arthur Conan Doyle - the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Spry Uncle Arthur is often off on excursions (or with lady friends), leaving Gemma in charge of the business.
Gemma also co-owns the adjoining shop, 'Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room', which is run by her best friend Jayne Wilson.
The Emporium and the Tea Room do good business, especially during the tourist season, when customers flock in to enjoy shopping and refreshments. (I wouldn't mind having some of the café's scones with butter, clotted cream, and strawberry jam myself. LOL)
Like Sherlock Holmes, Gemma is very observant and has exceptional deductive abilities - which she demonstrates at every opportunity. For instance, when Gemma's beau (at the time) showed up at a restaurant with his best suit, a new tie, a fresh shave, polished shoes, and a sweaty brow - and reached toward his bulging pocket - Gemma pre-emptively announced "Yes, I'll marry you"..... ruining the entire occasion. Thus, Gemma is still single (ha ha ha).
One day, a tourist group consisting of 28 bridge-playing ladies visits the Emporium, and - while they're shopping- Gemma notices a small middle-aged woman come in and mingle with the crowd. After everyone leaves, Gemma finds a rare 1887 copy of Beeton’s Christmas Annual - the magazine that published the first Sherlock Holmes story - hidden on a bookshelf. If authentic, the Beeton's would be worth around HALF-A-MILLION DOLLARS!
Thinking back on the afternoon, Gemma is convinced the small woman hid the magazine, and meant to retrieve it at a later time. Gemma carefully places the valuable publication in a plastic bag and - to keep it secure - locks it in Uncle Arthur's household safe. Then, having traced the small woman to a local hotel, Gemma and Jayne Wilson (à la Holmes and Watson) drive over to speak to her. For various reasons the two friends sneak up to the woman's room - and find her murdered in her bed!
Jayne goes off to tell the hotel manager and call the police, and Gemma - who fancies herself an amateur sleuth - scurries back to photograph the victim and her belongings. Subsequent investigations reveal that the Beeton's magazine was owned by an elderly gentleman who collected Sherlock Holmes memorabilia. The old fellow recently died, and his nurse (the murder victim) claimed the magazine was left to her. The man's family, however, say it's theirs. Thus, there's a whole parade of people after the precious publication.
As things play out Gemma becomes a suspect in the small woman's murder. After all, Gemma discovered the body and 'hid' the magazine in her house. Before long, Gemma and Jayne find ANOTHER dead body, and Gemma knows she'd better clear her name.....or she'll end up in prison.
Unlike many cozy mysteries - where the amateur detective inserts herself directly into the police investigation - Gemma is ordered to STAY OUT OF IT. Thus, she works on the periphery, eking out information using her smarts and intuition.
To solve the case Gemma utilizes her traditional Holmes-like skills: her excellent memory, powers of observation. and deductive abilities. She also uses a smartphone, IPAD, and computer (like the Jonny Lee Miller/Benedict Cumberbatch versions of Sherlock).
The story has a variety of interesting characters, including: Moriarty - the wily Emporium cat who loves everyone except Gemma (he smirks when Gemma's almost arrested);
Ryan - the detective who has a history with our heroine; Louise -the tough cop who wants to arrest Gemma; Grant - the handsome book collector;
Robbie - Jayne's shiftless boyfriend; Andy - the successful restaurateur; Irene - the local journalist looking for a story; and more.
I'm a fan of Sherlock Holmes and I liked the references and homages to the great fictional detective. The author also does a great job describing Cape Cod, with its ocean setting; historic homes, tourist shops, and fine restaurants.
I enjoyed the book but some parts of the story line seem a little unlikely, and a couple of characters behave in a less-than-realistic fashion (IMO). This lowered my rating.
Still, all in all this is a good cozy mystery, recommended to fans of the genre.
Rating: 3 stars
In this 2nd book in the 'Lizzy and Diesel' series, the duo are hunting for the magic Luxuria stone. The book can be read as a standalone.
****
In the Lizzy and Diesel books, the main characters have special abilities that they use to search for stones infused with dark magic. In this book Lizzy and Diesel are in a race against Diesel's no-good cousin Gerwulf to find the Luxuria Stone, which induces lust.
Gerwulf's goal is to collect all the magic stones, which would apparently give him great power. And Diesel's job (with Lizzy's help) is to stop Gerwulf from amassing the stones.
As the story opens Gilbert Reedy, a Harvard English Professor, has been killed and Gerwulf has Reedy's book of sonnets, known to contain information about the Luxuria Stone.
In the thin plot Lizzy and Diesel, who have obtained the key to the sonnet book, run all over the greater Boston area searching for clues that will lead to the stone. Hard on their heels are Gerwulf and his henchman Hatchet, who dresses in medieval garb and brandishes a sword.
The characters, though mildly amusing, are not very well developed. Lizzy is a culinary school graduate who bakes cupcakes, bread, and meat pies for the bakery that employs her. Diesel is a part-time bounty hunter with a pet monkey, Carl, and a very hot body. However, Lizzy and Diesel can't act on any physical attraction between them because this will lead to the loss of someone's special abilities - so there's always sexual tension.
Other characters are even less developed. Gerwulf looks like a sexy vampire.
Lizzy works with two women, bakery owner Clara and co-worker Gloria - who can detect clues invisible to others. And then there's Anarchy, a mysterious woman who also wants the stone. And so on. To me, the most fun characters are Carl the monkey and Hatchet the swordsman - who actually made me laugh out loud.
The plot of the book is not compelling and I didn't much enjoy the story. And in the end, nothing much had happened. In the future I'll probably stick to the Stephanie Plum books and skip the Lizzy and Diesel series.
Rating: 2.5 stars
In "A Legacy of Spies" John Le Carré takes us from the present day back to the time and setting of his most famous book "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold."
*****
As the story opens Peter Guillam, a former protegé/right-hand-man of spy-master George Smiley, is a senior citizen living on his ancestral farm in Brittany.
The elderly Guillam is summoned back to London by the British Intelligence Service ('the Circus') to answer questions about a cold war operation that went badly wrong. During the mission - decades ago - British agent Alec Leamas and his girlfriend Elizabeth Gold were shot dead at the Berlin Wall.
Now, Leamas' son (Christoph) and Gold's daughter (Karen) have joined forces to sue the British spy agency for millions of pounds.....for the wrongful deaths of their parents.
Two current honchos at the Circus - a man called Bunny and a woman named Laura - are investigating the case, hoping to stave off the lawsuit.
They can't find George Smiley - who's apparently gone deep underground - so they want Guillam to tell them the whole story about the operation that got Alec and Elizabeth killed.
The 'whole story' is quite complicated, but I'll provide the basic outline (avoiding spoilers). During the cold war an attractive East German woman named Doris Gamp - a low level employee of the Stasi - became disenchanted with her life. Doris's Stasi husband was a closet homosexual who beat and abused her....
.....and Doris's Stasi boss was a pig who expected sexual favors. The one light in Doris's life was her five-year-old son Gustav.
Wanting to help 'reform' communist East Germany - so creepy men wouldn't have all the power - Doris began photographing secret Stasi documents and passing them to the British.
The Circus dubbed the espionage operation 'Wallflower' and Doris was given the codename 'Tulip.' Peter Guillam became Tulip's contact, and being a notorious ladies' man, fell in love with her.
Such relationships were STRICTLY FORBIDDEN by the Circus, so Peter kept his trap shut about it.
Over the course of time Tulip passed priceless information to the west. Eventually, Tulip's husband became suspicious of her activities, and exposure seemed imminent. So British agent Alec Leamas, a seasoned operator, took it upon himself to exfiltrate Tulip to Britain.
Unfortunately, little Gustav couldn't go but Leamas promised that mother and son would be reunited at a later time. Alec and Tulip's exfiltration trip was quite harrowing, and provides the major excitement in the story.
In any case, a tragedy ensued and - due to various circumstances I can't divulge - a high-placed Stasi spy called Hans Dieter Mundt was forced to become a double agent for the British. Later, when the Stasi began to suspect Mundt of double-dealing, Alec Leamas undertook a super-secret mission to save the communist's skin and keep him in power.
The task required a female sidekick, so Elizabeth Gold - a naive English girl who happened to be a communist - was roped into the operation by Peter Guillam. Alec and Elizabeth became involved romantically and - when things went belly up - ended up dead.
Christoph Leamas blames the British Intelligence Service - and especially Peter Guillam - for his father's death. Christoph, a big man who's no stranger to criminal activity, means to get restitution one way or another. Thus Christoph stalks elderly Peter, tries to extort him, and threatens his life.
From the point of view of the Circus, proof of this entire cold war operation - which greatly benefitted Britain - would make Cristoph and Karen's lawsuit moot. However, only George Smiley knows the location of all the pertinent documents, and he can't be found.
And that's the gist of the novel. There's also a sub-theme about a possible mole in the Circus during the cold war, who was outing agents to the enemy. Unfortunately this thread didn't really go anywhere (much to my disappointment.)
I enjoyed the book, especially the insights into the spy game and how agents operate. (In grade school I wanted to be a spy, and wrote the CIA. At that time women were considered more secretarial than spy material, so I was disappointed with the CIA's response.....and my dreams didn't pan out. Their loss!! Ha ha ha.)
I'd highly recommend this book to all readers who like espionage novels, especially fans of John Le Carré.
Author John Le Carré
Rating: 3.5 stars
In this 14th book in the 'Adam Dalgliesh' series, the Scotland Yard detective investigates murder at a medical clinic. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn - who's exposed her fair share of secrets - schedules plastic surgery to remove a disfiguring facial scar.
Her surgeon, George Chandler-Powell runs a private clinic in his ritzy country estate at Cheverell Manor.
There he employs a motley assortment of characters including an assistant surgeon, a manager/housekeeper, a married pair of young chefs, an accountant, a girl from the village, a sexy nurse, an irascible gardener, and so on.
The scarred journalist has her share of detractors at the clinic, who fear she'll find some secrets to expose - but the surgeon is unmoved by these concerns.
When Rhoda shows up a Cheverell Manor for her preliminary visit and then for her surgery, she's followed by her friend Robin Boyton - an attractive young man who can't find a way to make a living. It so happens that Robin's cousins (the assistant surgeon and his sister) work at Cheverell Manor. Robin rents a cabin on the estate and plans to exhort his cousins to give him some of the fortune they've recently inherited from a mutual grandfather who cut off Robin's side of the family.
Rhoda has successful surgery after which she's brutally murdered in her room at the clinic.
Enter Adam Dalgliesh and his team of detectives to investigate the crime.
This sets up the remainder of the story which involves a long, old-fashioned inquiry. Seriously....a modern mystery wouldn't start an investigation by assembling all the suspects in the library for a mass questioning. The Cheverell Manor residents would love to pin the crime on a 'stranger' but a second death on the estate makes this very unlikely.
Some additional goings on add variety to the story:
Dalgliesh gets engaged;
A tangential female character gets assaulted and raped;
A teacher fears he may be (wrongly) accused of being inappropriate with a child; and so on.
For most of the book the detectives collect evidence, question persons of interest, make discoveries, narrow down the list of suspects, and so on. In the end, the perpetrator essentially exposes themself - and even then we're not quite sure the case has been successfully closed. In my opinion, the book should end right after this climax. However it meanders on for several more chapters to bestow 'happy endings' on various characters.
This isn't one of PD James best books. Fans of the author might enjoy the book for old times sake but it's not a great mystery.
Rating: 3 stars
Beartown, a declining hamlet in the middle of a Swedish forest, has one big hope - ice hockey. Beartown's junior hockey team, the Bears, has made it to the national semi-finals, and - if they go on to win a championship - might attract a new sports arena to Beartown, along with tournaments, hotels, tourist traffic, and so on.
This boon to Beartown's economy would be welcome to business owners, residents, and hockey sponsors. Thus, the high school boys who play for the Bears are pressured by both personal ambition and the dreams of everyone around them.
The Bears' star player is the team captain, Kevin, a 17-year-old phenomenon who's been practicing day and night since he was a kid.
Kevin's best friend is Benji, the team's 'enforcer' - who protects his squad from opposing players during games. Benji and the other Bears look up to Kevin and are intensely loyal to him.
Kevin's mother and father - a wealthy, successful couple - are proud of their son's achievements and have high hopes for his future. In some ways, however, Kevin's parents are oddly distant. They travel frequently, rarely attend hockey practices, and seem to brush off signs of boyish misbehavior.
Since hockey is Beartown's obsession, the adults who run the Hockey League are always in the public eye. These include the league's General Manager Peter - who made it to the Canadian pros before returning to Beartown;
the junior team coach David - whose sole mantra is "Win";
the A-team (older boys) coach Sune - a hockey veteran who's about to be replaced;
and the board of directors/sponsors - who pull the strings behind the scenes. Many of these men are anxious - and losing sleep - in anticipation of the important upcoming games.
The first part of the book introduces the major characters in the story. In addition to the people mentioned above, this includes: the other teenage boys on the junior team and their families; the pub owner - an upstanding woman who's still mourning the death of her long-dead husband; Peter's 15-year-old daughter Maya - an aspiring guitarist/singer;
Maya's best friend Anna - who has a troubled home life;
Peter's wife Kira - a high-powered business attorney;
David's pregnant girlfriend - who keeps him centered; and more.
The initial chapters also establish the ambiance in Beartown - a village that eats, breathes, and sleeps hockey, hockey, hockey. Kids in Little League hockey hope to play for the Bears; Bears players dream of becoming pros; and everyone in town basks in the league's reflected glory. In addition, hopes for economic success related to hockey light up a lot of Beartown eyes.
The future of Beartown looks pretty bright until things go badly wrong.
As part of the revelry in Beartown - and with his parents away - Kevin throws a big bash at his house.....with plenty of booze. The teenage boys and girls at the party drink too much, and - at one point - Kevin takes Maya to his room and won't take no for an answer.
When Maya reports the assault, Beartown becomes a divided town - with a pro-Kevin cabal and a (much smaller) pro-Maya faction.
In many ways this is par for the course. Most readers are probably aware of news stories about 'entitled males' (athletes, politicians, celebrities, business moguls, etc.) who take advantage of females.....with little or no fear of negative consequences. Kevin seems poised to join this maleficent group since most Beartown citizens are determined to deny (or excuse) his bad behavior. After all, Kevin is a hockey star!!.
Thus, there's a lot of ugly talk and bad conduct directed toward Maya and her family.
The author handles these trends deftly, showing us the self-justifications and rationalizations of the people involved. Of course there's no real excuse for this kind of thing, and I was quite disturbed by the book's theme. (In fact, I wish Backman would have chosen some other topic to write about.) Still, several Beartown residents DO step up in an admirable fashion, much to their credit.
'Beartown' is well-written, the characters are engaging, and I like the mini-epilogs, which give us a glimpse of the future of some Beartownians. I think many readers would enjoy this book and I'd recommend it to fans of hockey, literary fiction, and Frederik Backman
Rating: 3 stars
