Tag: mystery (Page 1 of 3)

Hard to beat Stephen King’s blurb, “Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can’t-put-it-down entertainment.”

Set in the summer of 1974, during Boston’s heatwaves and on the eve of the desegregation of schools, there is a murder of a young Black man on a subway station in “Southie”, a neighbourhood known for poverty, drugs, and housing projects. The Irish immigrants and descendants of Southie are in an uproar about sharing their school and having half of their kids bussed to a nearby Black school. So on the surface the novel is a police drama and the crime seems to be that four Irish-American teens have attacked an up-and-coming Black man, whose only crime was having his car breakdown in the wrong neighbourhood while he was en route home from his retail management training program.

That indeed is the crime, but the novel unveils the systemic racism and rule of law that undermines the welfare of those four teens who are fed lies from early on and jacked up on drugs fed to them by the neighbourhood watchmen who are running girls, guns, and drugs.

The Irish mob has a stronghold on the community of Southie until Mary Pat’s daughter is one of the teens on that subway platform. Mary Pat is one tough Broad and she has now lost both husbands and both children to Marty Butler’s gang of thugs and way of life. She disrupts his shit in a way that not even the police can, and it’s her story of hate, poverty and crime that is the real power of the novel.

This is America’s version of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, where human folly and racism lead to greed and cruelty at a scale that is nauseating.

If you enjoyed The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters or Hell of a Book by Jason Mott then Small Mercies explores the same depraved indifference to human life, and the corruption the erodes democracy and exacerbates inequality, poverty, and division among communities.

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane is published by HarperCollins Canada. And NPR has a a great, indepth review.

Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel written by English author Daphne du Maurier. I believe it’s never been out of print and there’s a new Netflix movie out starring Lily James. I remember the basics of this novel in that it’s got a Wuthering Heights vibe of love, passion, deceit, and consequences. But watching the Netflix version had me grasping for the book to settle some confusion in my mind about the storyline. The film does take some liberties but I actually think the film plays out the last half of the book better way than the novel.

The novel is about an unnamed young woman who is working as a lady’s companion and finds herself swept off her feet in Monte Carlo by the wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter, of the renowned country estate Manderley. After a romantic courtship in Monte Carlo and honeymoon in Italy, Rebecca is whisked off to Manderley, where she is quickly unsettled by the stone-cold housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. What follows is some supreme gaslighting, a weird bit of nerves and misunderstandings, and then the abrupt and emotional discovery that Maxim’s first wife was murdered.

Rebecca is a dark psychological tale full of secrets and betrayal. The 1930s language can be a bit dull, but if you’re a Bronte or Austen fan then definitely give this one a go.

I listened to the audiobook off Libby, which I recommend. But I also discovered this reader, who has a great voice for the book too.

I become a huge fan of Kate Quinn after her book The Shrines of Gaiety and I have since inhaled The Rose Code and The Alice Network. The Rose Code is a masterful spy novel that alternates between flashbacks to the the 1940s wartime activities of at Bletchley Park and the days leading up to the royal wedding in 1947.

Three headstrong women answer the call to join the war effort at Bletchley Park. They do not know what they are getting into. Osla is a beautiful and wealthy debutante who puts her fluent German to use as a translator. Mab is an east-end London powerhouse who is a towering beauty with a sharp set of eyebrows. And Beth is a mousey, downtrodden local girl with a panache for crosswords. She is a brilliant puzzle cracker and becomes one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.

But Beth also sniffs out a traitor and finds herself locked up in a sanitarium before the war is over.

Osla, Mab, and Beth are estranged because of a series of small betrayals between the friends. It means that Beth’s accusations are buried and Osla and Mab are not aware of the traitor until they receive a message from Beth that she has managed to smuggle out of the sanitarium. Will they help her?

The Rose Code is a fantastic story about the layers of friendships, betrayals, and loyalty. It’s fast paced, fun, and taps into some of the real history of the Park. I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did a great job of the various British accents and creating a veil of mystery.

See the Author website for more info.

My venn diagram of reading is spy novel meets literature. So I’m glad that ages ago at a marketing conference Scott Cowley mentioned his wife Katherine Cowley was writing Jane Austen spinoffs. I have read and loved all 3 books in the series (review #1, review #2).

In Jane Austen novels, Mary is the underestimated, often overlooked character, which makes her the perfect inspiration. In Katherine Cowley’s series, Mary Bennet is living a secret life as a spy for Britain.

The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception is set in Brussels. Napoleon Bonaparte has escaped from the Isle of Elba, and England with the Allied forces are preparing for war. Mary’s spy work has her in multiple disguises, befriending strangers, kissing men (oh the impropriety, it’s 1815), and learning the French waltz. It’s a fun and witty historical novel, influenced by Austen.

Get ready to step into the grittiness of London and the glam (and gangs) of Soho clubs during the period between the World Wars.

Our cast of characters includes:

• Nellie Coker who is newly released from prison and back to managing her infamous nightclubs.
• Chief Inspector Frobisher who’s cleaning up corruption on the streets and in his own force.
• Gwendolyn Kelling who’s in London from York and looking for two runaway girls who are hoping to make their fame on the stage–and are likely to end up at one of Coker’s clubs as a dance hostess.
• Nellie’s children: Niven (the eldest and most put together), Edith (the brains of the operation), the twins Betty and Shirley, the youngest girl Kitty, and the youngest boy Ramsey (coke addict and aspiring novelist).

It’s an all-star cast. They are each great in their own way and their lives are woven together like a braid. The storytelling is amazing and I cheered for each of them. The basic rivalry is between the Cokers and Frobisher, with Miss Kelling caught in the middle. But actually they all face another nemesis and that’s what lets readers cheer for them all.

The dialogue is wonderful. The quality of word choice is top notch. The quick wits and pacing of the novel is superb. I can’t say enough. I loved this book.

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson is available from Penguin Random House.