In this second book in the 'Susan Ryeland' series, the literary editor/hotel owner investigates an old murder and a current disappearance. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
In the first Susan Ryeland novel, 'Magpie Murders', the London book editor had to investigate a homicide to find the missing chapter of the 9th (and last) novel by deceased author Alan Conway. Conway's mystery series features Atticus Pünd, a fictional private detective modeled after Hercule Poirot.
After Conway's final book was published Susan moved to Crete, where she runs a hotel called Polydorus with her boyfriend Andreas.
Polydorus is a money pit with lackadaisical employees, and Susan is feeling the strain of overwork as well as missing her literary life in Britain.
Thus Susan is intrigued when she's approached by Pauline and Lawrence Treherne, who've come from England to see her.
The couple explain that they own an upscale hotel in Suffolk called Branlow Hall, run by their daughters Lisa and Cecily. Eight years ago, Cecily's wedding at Branlow Hall was interrupted by the murder of a hotel guest named Frank Parris.
Branlow Hall's handyman, a Romanian ex-convict called Stefan Codrescu, was convicted of Parris's murder and sent to prison.
Nevertheless, Cecily Treherne - who encouraged the hotel's 'second chance' program for offenders - thought Stefan was innocent.
As it happens, author Alan Conway stayed at Branlow Hall shortly after Parris's death, and used the tragedy as the inspiration for his 3rd Atticus Pünd mystery, titled 'Atticus Pünd Takes the Case.' The victim in the novel is an actress who owns a hotel, and the characters are thinly disguised versions of real people at Branlow Hall.
Cecily Treherne recently read Atticus Pünd Takes the Case and thinks Alan Conway revealed Frank Parris's REAL KILLER in the book. Cecily confided this in a phone call to her parents, after which she disappeared.
Since Susan Ryeland was the editor of Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, the Trehernes want her to re-read the book, identify the killer, come to England, and help find Cecily. For this service the couple will pay Susan £10,000 - which she sorely needs to fix up her hotel.
Susan accepts the challenge, and stays at ritzy Branlow Hall.....
.....while she surveys the hotel and interviews people who might have killed Frank Parris. Presumably, the REAL KILLER would be threatened by Cecily's (supposed) discovery, and want to silence her. Possible suspects include Parris's friends, relatives, and acquaintances; people staying at Branlow Hall during the murder weekend; Cecily's sister, husband, and hired nanny, etc.
In the midst of her investigations, Susan reads Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, and the novel forms the middle part of Moonflower Murders.
Susan carefully peruses the manuscript to try to identify Frank Parris's killer. This is easier said than done because Conway was a trickster who liked to include codes, allusions, jests, anagrams, Easter Eggs, etc. in his writing.
Of course Susan finally sees the light, but not before she follows a lot of red herrings and is almost killed herself. Finally - in true Atticus Pünd (and Hercule Poirot) fashion - Susan gathers all the suspects for the big reveal.
Fans of golden age mysteries will have fun trying to determine who killed Frank Parris in Moonflower Murders and who killed the actress in Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. This is a clever double mystery, highly recommended.
Rating: 4 stars
Wilson Cromartie (Crow) - who claims to be an Apache Indian - perpetrated a huge robbery in Paradise, Massachusetts ten years ago and got away.
Now that the statute of limitations has expired Crow is back in Paradise, having been hired to find the ex-wife and 14-year-old daughter of a big-time Florida criminal.
As a courtesy Crow stops by the Paradise Police Department to tell Chief Jesse Stone he's in town and doesn't want any trouble with the cops.
Crow finds the ladies he's seeking and learns that Amber, the teen......
.....is involved with a 20-year-old low-life/gang banger.
As it turns out the Florida mob guy, Louis Francisco, wants his ex-wife killed and Amber sent back to Florida, but the girl absolutely doesn't want to go. Moreover, Crow has an aversion to harming women. Thus Crow makes it his mission to 'save' the girl. Due to a confluence of circumstances, Jesse decides to help Amber as well. So, oddly enough, the police chief and the criminal have a common goal in this book.
Meanwhile, a hoity-toity wealthy Paradise woman is trying to stop the opening of a pre-school for Hispanic children in Paradise, claiming this will ruin property values and bring crime to town.
Soon enough her fears seem to be validated when a dead body is found on the school property.
Regular characters in the series make an appearance including Jesse's psychiatrist,
his ex-wife Jenn,
and Paradise cops Molly and Suitcase (both of whom engage in illicit romance....not with each other).
There's also a gang of young, vicious, but not-too-bright criminals. As usual Jesse is having trouble with his drinking, an ongoing theme in the series. There's some amusing repartee among some characters, which makes a nice break from the more violent scenes.
The book is an easy, quick read with a straightforward main story and a couple of side issues. The primary plot is fairly predictable, no big surprises. Also, a good number of characters in the book are not especially likable. Crow is a killer without a conscience (though apparently with plenty of sex appeal), Amber is a foul-mouthed, badly behaved teenager, the rich lady has an agenda (though her backstory isn't particularly believable), and so on. Also, Robert Parker has a sort of tic in his writing and uses the phrase "he said' or "she said" a million times (it seems like). This gets really old.
Overall, a so-so book. Best for for a plane trip or beach read where you don't want too much of a challenge.
Rating: 2.5 stars
This review was first posted on Mystery and Suspense. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. The Rose Code | Mystery and Suspense Magazine
The Rose Code follows three young women who worked at England's Bletchley Park, a country estate converted to a code-breaking facility during World War II.
Bletchley Park
Employees at Bletchley Park deciphered encrypted Nazi communications, providing vital information to the Allies.
The story alternates back and forth between the war years 1940 to 1945 - when England was imperiled, and the postwar year 1947 - when Britain was agog over the upcoming marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
The main characters are Osla Kendall, a beautiful wealthy socialite with ties to the royal family;
Mab Church, a go-getter who grew up poor, but means to better herself;
and Beth Finch, an unsophisticated country girl who's bullied by a selfish mother.
In 1940, Osla and Mab meet on the train to Bletchley Park, which has recruited them for war work. After accepting their positions and signing the Official Secrets Act, the girls are billeted at the Finch family home, where they meet Beth. Though Beth is almost pathologically reclusive, Osla and Mab note her facility with puzzles, and Beth is soon working at Bletchley Park as well.
Each of the girls is assigned to a different unit. Osla's fluency in German eventually lands her a translation job; Mab maintains the Bombe machines used to decipher messages encoded with German Enigma devices;
Bombe Machine
Enigma Machine
and Beth is a gifted cryptanalyst with an almost preternatural ability to decode covert transmissions.
Working and living together fosters close friendships among Osla, Mab, and Beth.
This camaraderie is important because the ladies are forbidden to talk about their jobs to outsiders, and must tell family and friends they're file clerks. The women can be more honest amongst themselves, but are nevertheless prohibited from revealing classified information even to each other.
The work at Bletchley Park is difficult and stressful, and England is being bombed by the luftwaffe....
..... but the girls still manage to have some fun and search for romance. Mab meets a war poet, Beth gets involved with a fellow cryptanalyst, and Osla dates Prince Philip, who's an eligible bachelor in the early 1940s.
Prince Philip
Skip to 1947, and Osla, Mab, and Beth are angry, estranged, and haven't spoken since the end of the war. Beth is a mental patient in Clockwell Sanatorium;
Mab has a husband and children;
and Osla is preparing to attend the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
Osla is hurt by Philip's engagement to another woman, but knows she must present a brave face and carefree attitude.
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip
As the royal nuptials approach, Osla and Mab each get a letter from Beth. Beth claims she discovered a traitor at Bletchley Park, who - fearing exposure - got her committed to Clockwell asylum. Beth writes that Osla and Mab 'owe her', and asks them to get her out so she can expose the Judas.
The book contains fascinating details about England breaking Nazi codes, leading to the discovery of German plans. The Brits then have to use the information in way that doesn't alert the enemy to the exposure of their secrets.
There are also appearances by real historical figures, including naval admiral Lord Mountbatten, codebreaker Dilly Knox, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, computer scientist Alan Turing, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and others.
This compelling and suspenseful historical novel is an excellent example of the genre. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley, Kate Quinn, and William Morrow Publishers for a copy of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
Jews in Warsaw before World War II
After the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Jews in cities were relegated to cramped ghettos where living space, food, medicine, clothing, money, sanitation, work papers, etc. were in short supply.
Warsaw Ghetto
Women smugglers who could pass for Polish Christians would sneak out, round up supplies, pass messages, and do what had to be done....with no thought to their own safety.
Some Jewish women in Poland could pass as Aryans
A female memoirist describes the girls in a diary: 'Heroic girls; boldly they travel back and forth through the cities and towns of Poland. They are in mortal danger every day. They rely entirely on their Aryan faces and on the peasant kerchiefs that cover their heads. Without a murmur, without a second's hesitation, they accept and carry out the most dangerous missions. If someone needed to travel to Vilna, Białystok, Lemberg [or other cities], to smuggle in contraband such as illegal publications, goods, money, the girls volunteer as though it's the most natural thing in the world. If comrades have to be rescued, they undertake the mission. Nothing stands in their way. The missions are dangerous; the women are often arrested and searched. But they are indefatigable.'
Jewish women resistance fighters
The book, which is almost 600 pages long, contains the stories of many women - all of them memorable. To provide a feel for the narrative, I'll briefly summarize one woman's tale.
In 1942, Renia Kukielkher was a 17-year-old girl living in the Warsaw Ghetto with her family. Jews who made their way to the ghetto from outside told horrible tales. Renia heard the story of a German, foaming at the mouth who killed two infants by kicking them with spiked boots. The mother was ordered to watch, then dig them graves. The German finally crushed the mother's skull with the butt of his rifle.
On another day Renia saw a group of half-insane women - raggedy, pale, blue-lipped, and shaking - who told her that their town had been surrounded. Gunshots flew and the Nazis beat their children to death.
Nazis killed Jewish children
Other women told stories of Poles adding to the persecution, blackmailing Jews for money and possessions, under threat of turning them in.
When the Nazis began liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto, and deporting Jews to work camps and concentration camps (extermination camps), Renia's family decided to leave.
Krakow`s Polish Jews arriving at German Auschwitz concentration camp
Renia made it to a Nazi-run Jewish labor camp, where the workers hoped to be safe from deportation.
Nazi-run Jewish labor camp
The camp wasn't safe, however, and Renia left and began wandering around Poland. Renia was caught by police with dogs, but looked Aryan enough to pass for a Christian, and got away.
At a train station, Renia found a woman's purse with some money and a Polish passport, which was her ticket to travel.
Polish train station during World War II
After a harrowing journey - during which Renia lived in constant fear of being exposed as a Jew - she got a job as a housekeeper in the home of a half-German family called the Hollanders. There Renia pretended to be Catholic, went to church with the family, was careful to speak like a Pole, etc....all the time fearful of being outed as a Jew, and suffering from anxiety and insomnia.
Polish Catholics attended church on Sundays
Renia received letters from her sister, and learned that her family was living in the woods and suffering. Though it was very dangerous, Renia made up her mind to join them. Renia told the Hollanders her aunt was sick, and got permission to visit her. A smuggler helped Renia travel, with her Jewishness deeply buried. Renia finally made it to a Jewish enclave in Będzin, but all her relatives - except for one sister - was lost.
Będzin Ghetto
Wanting to help the Jewish cause, Renia became a courier for the resistance. If caught by Germans, couriers were imprisoned in filthy conditions, raped, beaten, starved, and either transported to concentration camps or killed. But Renia survived to tell her story.
Other women have tales similar to Renia's, and some even took part in armed rebellions. Women fought during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising, for example, and German soldiers were amazed to see women hand-to-hand fighting, shooting guns, and throwing grenades.
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
The book is hard to read because the disgusting, vicious, stomach-churning atrocities committed by the Nazis and (many) Poles are described in detail. Still, the bravery of the featured women is uplifting and inspiring, and it's good to see their stories told.
Author Judy Batalion
In an afterward, Judy Batalion writes that she took 12 years to write the book, most of it spent researching diaries, memoirs, testimonies, books, and writings in a variety of languages, including English, Yiddish, German, Hebrew, Polish and Russian. Battalion also traveled around the world to meet the descendants of the featured women, sifted through photographs and letters, and learned how the ladies lived during the post-war phase of their lives. Many of the women suffered from survivor's guilt and/or mental illness, and some committed suicide.
The book tells an important story of remarkable women, and is well worth reading.
Thanks to Netgalley, Judy Battalion, and William Morrow Publishers for a copy of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
