Feeling a Bit Baltimore

I love finding books by accident. I’ve actually written about it on here before.

The particular book that I stumbled onto this time, however, I found in a great little “take-a-book-leave-a-book-mail-it-back” library. All the books have return address stickers on the back! Finding stuff like that brings me great joy.

I kind of absentmindedly picked up a mystery novel, and much to my surprise, I plowed through it quite quickly (I’ve mentioned before, I am a shockingly slow reader). That mystery novel was the excellent Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman. I am a strong believer that finding books, movies, and music that are “better than they have to be” is one of the great joys in life. I struck pay dirt with this book.

It’s a mystery, and part of a series (And no, before you ask, it’s NOT a cozy this time. I love the cozy mystery – no shame! – but this is much more gritty). The thing about Lippman’s writing is that she knows how to not only tell a good story and move the plot along with good pacing, but she includes literary allusion in the right proportion, and her turns of phrase are interesting and eye-catching.

Tess Monaghan is a human character with shortcomings and flaws, but she’s also interesting and relatable. She has some real moments of self-discovery in this novel that one might not expect. Again, she’s “being better than she has to be.”

I think my favorite part of this book, however, has to be Lippman’s treatment of Baltimore. She writes like someone who truly loves a place, warts and all. She is wonderfully descriptive and engaging without glossing over the really seedy, rough bits. Lippman was born in Georgia, but was raised in Baltimore, and moved back to that city after attending University. She worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun for 12 years and looks at the city through a lens that only that kind of history with a place can allow. And, as a fantastic aside, Lippman and her husband (the amazing writer David Simon) were married on the roof of their building in a ceremony by John Waters. Yes, THE John Waters. I mean, how much more Bawlmer can ya get, hon?

A friend of mine once said that the old TV show The Streets of San Francisco was great because “the city was a character.” I think Lippman does the same with Baltimore in the Tess Monaghan books. Having read the first one, I’m eager to get into others. After all, besides keeping up with her budding career as a private investigator, I want to know how her relationship with Crow develops!

Eric (who is currently trying to balance hockey season with the rest of life, including playing dek hockey, and reading as much Tess Monaghan as he can find)

Keepin’ Cozy in the Library

Over the last few months I’ve stumbled onto a writer of cozy mysteries that I quite like. The particular series that has grabbed my attention is the Library Lover’s Mysteries by Jenn McKinlay. I think the thing that initially drew me to this series (other than it being a cozy, which I unashamedly love, and it being about libraries, which I also unashamedly love), is the sheer amount of books that McKinlay writes. In addition to the Library Lover’s mysteries (which currently has four books in it), Jenn McKinlay also wrote the ‘Good Buy Girls’ series (containing three books) as Josie Belle, the Decoupage Murder mysteries (YES! Decoupage mysteries!!! another three books there) as Lucy Lawrence, the Hat shop Mysteries (two books in this one), and the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries (which includes six books). That’s 18 books over five different series, and STILL COUNTING. McKinlay is still writing and has no plans to stop anytime soon (And just to be clear, this is just her mystery output. Before being a successful mystery writer she was a struggling romance writer who did succeed in getting a few of those published, too!).

I picked up Books Can be Deceiving, which is the first in the Library Lover’s series and I was hooked. It has many of the hallmarks of a contemporary cozy mystery (it has no blood and gore, no explicit language or explicit sex, it features a sleuth who is an amateur at crime solving and heavily relies on her hobby or profession, and has a great cast of characters to serve the need to character development and quick-paced plots). Before I knew it I was getting into the second book in the series (Due or Die) and I was loving it as well. This is a solid cozy series and I’m getting into the third (Book, Line and Sinker) next.

The often maligned cozy mystery can be a really good time. There is a certain escapism to the genre, certainly; however, when it’s coupled with good writing the reading experience is not only fun, but enjoyable on another level as well. I urge you find a cozy that speaks to you! Maybe it’s one that features a job or hobby that you share with the sleuth. It’s a great way to get involved in a genre you might not be familiar with. I never expected to be a fan of these kinds of books, but I am! Try something mystery based. Branch out. You might find you really enjoy it!

Eric (keepin’ it cozy in 2014)

Missing Books, (by accident)

Working at a library can have some major benefits…especially if you are a book person. One of the many benefits that I’ve found is the exposure to books that I normally wouldn’t hear about in my day-to-day. The plus is also that, being surrounded by books and DVDs and CDs, sometimes these things literally just cross your path by pure happenstance.

The book! From the Author’s website.

 

One such book for me is The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom. This is a mystery, but it doesn’t really fit into the accepted categories for mysteries. It’s by no means hard-boiled, and it’s not exactly cozy. (In full disclosure, I love cozy mysteries and I’ve even written about them on this blog!) Sansom’s book lives somewhere in between. I like that.

The Author! From the Publisher’s website. (Harper)

 

As the title indicates, the crime is a heist, not a murder, and the unwilling sleuth is a librarian named Israel Armstrong who is charged by his brand new employers, to find some 15,000 missing library books. (Also in full disclosure, I wanted to read this book after reading the description!) So, we have no murder, no cats, and the sleuth is a man…not exactly cozy fodder. Did I mention that it’s set in Northern Ireland and our librarian sleuth arrives from London for the job? That probably sealed the deal for me wanting to look into this book.

The Author, a dog, and a VW minibus. (culled from a Google image search)

 

I’m glad I did. It’s funny. VERY funny. Very uncomfortably, awkwardly funny (think the first season of the original BBC series The Office).  It’s also well written. It also reads very quickly. I am, what I believe to be, one of the slowest readers on the planet. That said, I tore through this quickly. Again, I think it’s due to Sansom being quite a good writer.

Add to all of this the fact that Sansom has created a cast of interesting, quirky, memorable characters that are a bit more than you’d expect, and you have a winner. Much like other books that fall into the “better than it needs to be” category, Sansom’s writing and characterizations give the reader much more to work with than one might expect. His ability to balance the elements of his fiction are not lost here. It’s a real pleasure to read a piece of so-called genre fiction that is so well crafted. There are plenty of cases where the skill of the writer is not evident in fiction like this, and it’s a fantastic treat to find a case where it is present.

I devoured the first in this series and I am looking forward to getting into the second. Here’s to finding a new writer by total accident, and here’s to finding a new series by the same wonderful accident.

Eric (who is eagerly awaiting the next book in this series, and the next amazing author and book he’s never  even heard of yet)

What I Did (Read) on My Winter Vacation

I just emerged from two weeks of hibernation to rejoin productive society. In other words, I’ve been on vacation. I participated in the usual family holiday festivities, sure, albeit fewer than most others did due to the small size of my clan. To be honest, I was actively trying to keep this vacation relaxed and low-key. I felt I needed it and deserved it. My promise to myself was to spend as much time reading as I possibly could. And read I did. I may not have made as huge a dent in my To-Read pile as I might have hoped, but over the course of 15 days, I read 6 books. Considering that I currently average about 1½ books per month, I was pretty thrilled with those results. I was also thrilled that I read books from several genres. Reading outside my usual categories was one of my goals for 2012, one that I will continue to explore in 2013.

So here’s a run-down of what I read on my winter holiday break (in the order read):

Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier — The second book in a trilogy about a time-traveling teen who is now a reluctant member of a secret society that goes back generations in her family. I read the first book (Ruby Red) earlier this year and couldn’t wait for this one to come out in October. There’s mystery, a sinister villain from the past, fencing and a convoluted romance (of course). The only problem is now I’m stuck waiting for the last volume to come out in fall of 2013. Sigh. This series was originally published in Germany and has been since translated into several languages.

Lou! #1- Secret Diary by Julien Neel — This graphic novel tells the story of a tween and her single mom. You get to follow along as they survive adopting a stray cat, a visit from Memaw, video game addiction, love and each other! The self-deprecating humor and colorful panels make the story a stand-out. I can’t wait to see about getting my hands on numbers 2-4. (Update: I read volumes 2 & 3 last night and they were just as funny and cute as the first one!)

Driving the Saudis: A Chauffeur’s Tale of the World’s Richest Princesses (Plus Their Servants, Nannies, and One Royal Hairdresser) by Jayne Amelia Larson — If you’ve read the subtitle, you’ve pretty much read this book. You’re going to get exactly what you expect, stories about the uber-rich spending like there’s no tomorrow. Only, there is a tomorrow and they spend just as much money that day too. What is also included, that you may not expect, is the opportunity to get to know the people who take care of these wealthy Saudis. Their servants and caretakers are real people, with real feelings, and hopes and dreams that they, all too realistically, know won’t come true. To sum up: the princesses are spoiled (not necessarily their fault) and the author, as well as the rest of their domestic help, was overworked.

A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters — This more recent, and possibly last, of the Amelia Peabody mystery series finds her archeological family in the Holy Land instead of their beloved Egypt. Amelia’s son, nicknamed Ramses, and his brother from another mother, David, are kidnapped (as usual). Amelia uses her wits to deduce what’s happened to them and her pointy parasol to prod the story along. Her dashing and boisterous husband, Emerson, uses his massive countenance and forceful personality to orchestrate the rescue of Ramses and David.

White Jacket Required: A Culinary Coming-of-Age Story by Jenna Weber — Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be another cooking-blog-turned-book, here it is! Jenna always wanted to be a writer and the idea of combining her love of cooking and writing into a career led her to culinary school. Her journey, from making the decision to attend school, through graduation and entrance into the world of work, is interesting. You come to understand that the culinary arts are not as simple as they may appear and no one’s career path is smooth and straight. We all have bumps and roadblocks to make life interesting, and hopefully worthwhile.

Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother’s Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl — I’ll admit it. I’m kind of fascinated by the television shows about hoarding. Well actually, more than kind of. It’s like the proverbial train wreck that you can’t look away from. I am always shocked by the living conditions of these people, some more than others, and I am always rooting for them to get it together so they can pitch the stuff, mental as well as physical, that’s keeping them a prisoner in their own home. This book approaches hoarding from a slightly different point of view. You get to see how this mental illness specifically affects the child of the afflicted. Jessie finally comes to the realization that she has to “divorce” herself from her mother’s house. Accepting that she cannot change her mother, however, doesn’t mean Jessie loves her any less.

“What’s Melissa going to read next?” you may ask. The answer is I’m reading the book for the Mystery Book Group which is meeting on Friday, January 18th at 1pm in the Teen Meeting Space on the First Floor. Our current theme is Middle East Mysteries and the book for January is Belshazzar’s Daughter by Barbara Nadel. All are welcome!

Happy Snuggly Winter Reading!
-Melissa M.

It’s a Mystery…

As much as I love to read, mystery series fiction is not high on my list of favorites; I’m more into classic English and American literature or historical nonfiction. I’m not sure what it is about mysteries; maybe the same story told over and over again, the complexities of following it all (and making sense of it), or just the fact that there are so many out there, but a mystery series has to be pretty unique, engaging, and well-written for me to read it. That said, here are four mystery series (with the first in each series listed) I have thoroughly enjoyed reading (and recommending) over the years. And, yes, you should read them in their series order for them to make sense and for character and story development.

 Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. My husband and I listened to the first book in this series on a vacation drive to northern Michigan, but the drive wasn’t quite long enough for the entire book. I checked it out from the library as soon as I got back to finish it and we’ve been hooked ever since. Set in London in the period between World Wars I and II, Maisie Dobbs is the background for the entire series. Maisie was raised to be a maid in Lady Rowan’s household, but her thirst for knowledge and self-betterment catch the attention of Lady Rowan and her friend, Maurice Blanche, a psychologist/investigator. They recognize her gifts for inquisitiveness and keen perception and decide to college educate her and thus, set her life on a much different course. The series is now up to seven novels, each one devoted to a different case, with the changes in Maisie’s life, her career as a psychologist/investigator, and relationships. What’s fascinating about this series is its vivid and poignant descriptions of the effects of war on a generation (and the people of England), class distinctions, and chilling momentum as it brings you ever closer to a second world war.

Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton. This one is really one-of-a-kind. Okay, so it requires a great stretch of imagination. To be specific, it’s about a ghost who communicates through a diary to the protagonist. The other unique thing about this series is that nothing horrible ever really happens; it’s truly a mystery series. American Lori Shepherd grew up hearing stories about what she thought was an imaginary “Aunt Dimity” from her mother. After her mother’s death, she inherits money and a cottage in the small town of Finch, England and the knowledge that Dimity was in fact her mother’s best friend during World War II, whom her mother corresponded with for years after the war. Through a series of sixteen novels now, Atherton has created an idyllic village of colorful characters in the English Cotswolds with ever-inquisitive (read: nosy and impulsive) Lori solving mysteries with Dimity’s advice and clear-headed counsel. Along the way, Lori falls in love, marries, has children, and becomes enmeshed in the life of the village and its inhabitants. A truly lovely series.

 Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs. In 2006, in part because I read this Tea Shop mystery series and because it is a must-see for die-hard historians, I visited Charleston, South Carolina. Theodosia Browning (love that name, don’t you?) owns the Indigo Tea Shop and, with Drayton (her tea connoisseur) and Haley (her chef) stumbles upon murder while hosting and catering soirees in tony Charleston society. This one, too, is filled with quirky characters who (sometimes) border on caricature, but it’s the plucky heroine who keeps me reading along with the descriptions of Charleston, too.

 A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters. I haven’t made my way through all of the series yet (there are over twenty) but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far. Set in early 12th century England, Brother Cadfael, a former Welsh warrior, is a Benedictine monk who specializes in herbs and homeopathy. He tries to lead a good and contemplative life amid the harsh realities of the Middle Ages. He becomes involved with murder mysteries and, often through the study and science of plants, he solves them. Ellis Peters died in 1995 so the series is no longer being written, and she was also a romance writer so, sometimes, there is a secondary romantic storyline in the plots that I don’t much care for; I don’t think it needs them. What keeps me reading is the atmosphere of medieval England, the descriptions of a primitive and monastic life, and the good heart of Brother Cadfael. This was also a very popular British television series starring Derek Jacobi.

What are your favorite mystery series?

~Maria