An Unusual Prairie Occurrence

An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence by Jamie Harrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sheriff Jules Clement is not a particularly happy man and he really doesn't care for his job. What he likes is living in the area where he grew up and where several generations of Clements have lived. Despite the area being somewhat remote there is a population of about ten thousand there is plenty of crime to go around. The police are called upon to solve every little glitch in the town including most neighborly disputes involving pets and trash.

Meanwhile there is a serial rapist going around and the women being attacked all seem to have faulty window locks or are themselves failing to lock their windows. This is evil on an ordinary face since the perpetrator is likely a good seemingly solid citizen. A part of a skeleton is found on a nearby property and Jules is kept very busy. He does his job well, even though he grumbles.

There are a myriad of characters to keep track of and for some reason several of them are curmudgeons with nasty streaks so it is hard to warm to them. There is a good resolution  and twist to the story.

Faithful Unto Death

Faithful Unto Death by Stephanie Jaye Evans

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Walker Wells, better known as Bear because he once played college football and perhaps because of his physique, is a minister at a church in the suburbs of Houston, Sugar Land, TX.  Bear is a man of God, but he is very much a man of family and a Texan.

He may resort to prayer before he loses his control but he still is quite human in his emotions as he tries to do his best as a husband and father. That he has complete blinkers on when it comes to seeing his family as they really are, is a surprise. He needs a little self-examination at times, but don't we all. He has insight where others are concerned though, as well as all the compassion and empathy needed for his flock.

The smooth path of his days is disturbed when lawyer Graham Garcia is found Big Berthaed to death by a blow to the head at a local golf course. The problem for the police is that it happened in the dead of night so it was not an accident and the problem for Bear is that it involves members of his church and possibly of his family.

The character I found most intriguing was the detective assigned to the case and his future relationship with Bear ought to be interesting. I hope there is one.

A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Singapore is not Kuala Lampur Inspector Singh keeps reminding himself as he travels around this very busy city which is the federal capitol and the most populous city in Malaysia. He has been sent here from the beautiful, well regulated Singapore where he has been getting on the nerves of some of his superiors, to help with the case of Chelsea Liew, a former model who has been accused of murdering her abusive, philandering, quite wealthy  husband. She was from Singapore originally.

Sikh

At this point in  her life however, Chelsea is the mother of three boys who mean the world to her and even though her dead spouse was using all the power at his command take her children away from her. She will do anything to prevent this, but would she commit murder? His latest scheme was to convert to Islam which would force the courts to give the children to him. This is just one way in which his Machiavellian mind works. He has made enemies of many people over the years, including his brothers  and people who would like to stop him from decimating the remaining reserved forests in order to supply lumber to insatiable countries who are building like beavers.


Singh is an intriguing man, almost like a beaver in that he forges ahead with his investigation despite setbacks. He has a certain way which gets results where others give up.
I really enjoyed this first of a series and I am really looking forward to reading the next installment which takes place in Bali.

Kuala Lampur is  home of the Petronas Twin Towers which were the highest buildings in the world until surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2004.

Chronicles of a Curate

Fred Secombe has finished his religious studies in the later years of WWII. After spending some time in an apparent bad situation he has moved to Pontywen, a town in the Welsh Valleys where he has been named as a curate for an elder Vicar, Canon Llewellyn. There were three churches in his parish in this lovely township of about 6000 population. Fred tells his story of his sojourn to Pontywen in How Green Was My Curate.

Some times Fred finds that his clerical collar makes him an outcast from society as he finds that he rides in solitary splendor on the train, because one look at it and no one will join him in his compartment. Vicar Llewellyn is more prosaic and tells him that there will come a time when he will cherish he solitude and thus begins his sojourn in Pontywen.

Fred's first stroke of luck was that he was housed with a very nice landlady who got him on the right footing on town and was able to explains anything that puzzles him about his parishioners . The life a a curate is a busy one and Fred settles in helping with church services and activities.

These are still times of rationing of most things. A pound is a lot of money and many people like Fred own few things. Like many men Fred had one good suit, one OK suit and a couple of shirts. But at one point he feels completely modern living in 1945 and not 1845.  Single man frequently lodged with others and people were glad to have extra income. He describes houses with no bathrooms and out door privies and it sounds like 1845 to me!

His best stroke of luck is when his landlady , who does have a bathroom, but no indoor plumbing paints the bath tub and after a long day he goes for a nice hot soak and finds his fanny fixed to the new paint when he tries to get out. He does get out but he is left in arrears and has to see the local doctor to have his rump repaired. This turns out to be the lovely Eleanor with whom he falls in love with at first sight.

Fred's adventures as a curate are often hilarious, but he does deal with the problems of real people which are sometimes heart rending.


In A Curate for All Seasons the saga continues as Fred now well established is trying to fulfill one of his dreams, which is to start a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera society. His vicar approved this because he thought it might bring more people to the church. The Welsh are well known for their music.  The first production is to be The Pirates of Penzance. There is no shortage of willing participants, from milkmen to schoolgirls. Fred made this sound like so much fun that I felt like getting the movie version and watching it myself, which I did.

In this book as well the lively curate finds life mixing the bitter with the sweet and the war winds down and some men are never to return to their families. But Fred is learning that to every season there is a purpose and that is one of the reasons for this title.

Fred's life becomes full in Goodbye Curate as he finally marries his beloved Eleanor even though by now he knows it will be a while before his mother-in-law thaws out. They make a good pair as their careers intersect, Eleanor taking care of the physical and Fred shepherding the souls.  They both have acute senses of humor and their banter reveals that each can hold their own. Fred's time as a curate has come to an end as the Bishop has other plans for him. I am really looking forward to further chronicles in the same fashion that I awaited James Herriot's stories of live among the animals in Yorkshire.

A Dead Man in Tangier

A Dead Man in Tangier by Michael Pearce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



 Sandor Seymour, once a denizen of the polyglot streets of London's East End is now a member of of Scotland yard. In a way he is one of the precursors what is now known as the flying squad because in 1912 or so he is sent to many political hot spots to help solve sensitive murder cases. He is chosen for these jobs because of his facilities for languages, most of which he picked up as a youngster.


In this particular situation he is trundled off to exotic Morocco, in particular to Tangier where they speak both French and Arabic.
Morocco has been governed by Sultans in the past but the country has been in trouble and there has been some negotiations among the European countries, almost like trading baseball cards  the result of which a reorganization known as the French Protectorate is coming into play. When a prominent Frenchman in killed during a pig hunt and the cause is felt to be political outside help is called for.


Seymour personally avoids politics because he comes from a family of political refugees. Both of his parents learned the hard way what speaking out against governments in powers can bring about. His grandfather also was an activist for one cause or another so Seymour's main rebellion was joining the police which totally shocked his family.




In Morocco he finds the somewhat naive intellectual discussions among the students and nationalists very refreshing as these are people who truly hope for a better future. This historical background really added depth to the story and I found much of the history confirmed on Wikepidia.

Moroccan live by a certain etiquette called caida, a kind of tact, sensitivity and respect. For the most part they avoid alcohol. They felt the French, Spanish and Germans could not spend one evening without wine or whine. But Morocco was deteriorating, buildings were falling apart, alleyways were strewn with refuse and rotting vegetables. But here and there there were still beautiful old facades, exquisite wood carvings or perfect Moorish patio with delicate balconies.

Seymour had to tred a fine line to find the culprit but what he learned about the politics and the culture on the way gave me a lot to take home from this book.

Amagansett

One fine day in July 1947 Conrad Labarde a Basque fisherman and his partner Rollo are hauling in their net and the familiar twitch of the line is absent, and where are the pulls and tugs against the twine, or a flicker of a surface break? They both know that they have an inert load beneath the pewter skin of the sea and there is nothing else to do but bring it in. It is what they hoped it wasn’t, a dead woman still beautiful but sea washed and peaceful.

The setting for this mystery is the south fork of Long Island at Amagansett near East Hampton not far from the most eastern part of New York, Montauk Point. This is a community that has been settled over the centuries by fishermen of all kinds and all nationalities. From early days this was a perfect spot for capturing the right whale, which swam in these cold Atlantic waters, and yet it was a great breeding ground for smaller sea life like scallops and oysters. The gatherers of this kind of food were called Bonackers.

Right Whale

 Montauk folk were initially the Montaukett Indians but Norwegians, Finns, Spaniards, Danes, Dutch and Portuguese joined them for the fishing. The Italians came for the building of the Long Island Railroad and the Irish just came. The whalers had distain for the Bonackers who harvested mainly small stuff such as clams, scallops and oysters, the early settlers looked down on all new comers and worst of all they were all considered invisible and of no account to the Gatsbian types who left the city to build summer homes in the Hamptons.

In this fairly isolated area it was not surprising that Conrad knew the dead woman and he wanted to know what happened to her. But this was the job of a relative newcomer to the area, Deputy Tom Hollis, originally from the city, to find out why this young woman was found in the water. The first thing he notices is that she was wearing jewelry and he realizes there is more to the story.

The victim of the drowning is soon revealed to be Lillian Wallace who belongs to a wealthy family who wants a quick resolution to the case because her brother is interested in running for a political office. The Chief of the East Hampton Police is a kowtower to people of influence and he too wants the death written off.

The power of this story comes from the depths of the characters and their backgrounds. Conrad Labarde served in a very elite unit during the war, and even in it he was unique and feared because he seemed to be guarded by angels. He knew better, but like most he never spoke of his wartime experiences, except for one time. He said that war tears at the heart of every man and at the sense of who he is.

 ‘ You could be brave one minute, a coward the next, selfless then cruel, compassionate and heartless within moments of each other. You spent a lifetime forging a view of what made you tick, what marked you out from other men. Then war came along and ripped that construct limb from limb. It seized you by the neck, pressed your face to the mirror and showed you that you weren’t one thing or another, but all things at the same time. The only question was: which bit of you would show up next? That’s what F**ed you up. The not knowing.’


Tom Hollis had his life torn apart in a different way but he learned many of the same life lessons. He knew that it had to be something Lillian had experienced that led to her death.

Eastern Long Island in 1947 is distant time and place but Mark Mills has no problem capturing the essence of the era as well as the location. This book brought back memories of my own of visiting Montauk Point with friends in the early ‘60s and watching the breakers of the Atlantic crash on the shore as we looked out from what seemed like land’s end.

Montaukett Indian

He also used the language of the sea beautifully and it was foreign to me as he spoke of longshore sets turning and right whales bound east’rd inside the bar. I loved it.
I also took home from this book that this area once belonged to the Montaukett Indians and moneyed developers wanted to make a northern Miami Beach in the area, setting aside agreement with the native people. Judges declared the Montauketts extinct even while they sat in their courtrooms in full regalia. A hurricane in 1938 stopped the plans for a while but money will always talk and it will be heard.

The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald A. Knox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ronald A Knox  was a mystery writer in the early part of the 20th century who belonged to a club peopled by such writers as Christie, Sayers and G. K Chesterton. He made a list of the ten commandments of detective fiction which includes such gems as
1. The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story
2. No supernatural explanations
and 3. No Chinaman must figure in the story which may mean a foreign servant or passerby. He also says at #10 that if twins or doubles are used in the story the reader must be prepared in advance for them.

In this mystery there are two young men who do indeed bear a mild resemblance to each other but he doesn't break any of his rules. The story is about the disappearance of one young man while on a rowing trip up the Thames with the other.  This is one of those delicious tales where you have to decide who is really the victim .

Most of Knox's commandments have become outdated in modern crime writing, especially #2. and #4 which calls for the exclusion of unknown poisons and the use of any appliance which requires a long scientific explanation at the end. In this story the setting is a river, a boat  and some oars.

Marshal Makes His Report by Magdalen Nabb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Marshall, whose name is Salvatore Guarnaccia, although the author never uses it , referring to him all the time as The Marshall, gets called to the site where a dead body has been found.  The place is an ancient Florentine castle and the corpse was once Buongiannini Corsi a wealthy producer of a famous aperitif and the husband to Marchesa Ulderighi a member of the onetime ruling classes.





The Marshall had been watching the uniquely violent Florentine football which resembled a melee between aggressive males fighting almost to the death with no holds barred. The only restriction is that one player may not kick another in the head. These games are preceded by great pagentry because they originated centuries ago at a time when the players were mostly sons of the nobility. From Sicily himself, the Marshal doesn't understand Florentine ways and wonders if all the participants in the game should be arrested for assault.




So the Marshall doesn't appreciate the game and any diversion is acceptable. But from the moment the Marshall enters the castle he gets a feeling of claustrophobia and a foreboding of evil. A young man explains to him that this feeling is quite the norm inside these palaces in Florence. They were built to keep people out, rather than invite them in. It is one city where the great houses have their backs on the streets and the facade and gardens on the inside. The Marshall also has the feeling that he is observed at all times.


The Marshall is asked to make a report on the death and he fears that because he is dealing with very powerful people his job and life here in Florence is at risk. The Marchesa won't condescend to answer questions. The scion of the family is a young man who has ailed most of his life but he is quite intuitive, intelligent and simplistic. He holds the answer to many of the questions the Marshall has but he is guarded well. Only the tenants are willing to give information. They are here because the family rents out some apartments in order to make some money.

The Marshal goes forward in the routine of investigation and uncovers secrets that have existed in the  long past and exist in the present.

The facts are straight foreword, but the people are not and Magdalen Nabb tells an excellent story with a wonderful atmosphere and a inevitable conclusion. The Marshall and his cases are addicting.

Frozen Assets by Quentin Bates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gunnhilder Gisladottir known as Gunna the cop, is the head of a two person police force in a small town about an hour from Reykjavik, Iceland. A body is fished out of the waters in her town and while it seems that he fell into the water after over imbibing . Gunna is being pressed by her superiors in Reykjavik to accept this scenario but she feels that unless he had wings there was no way from him to have travelled to her locality on foot. Murder, then is what she begins to investigate getting resistance from everyone she interviews as well as her boss.




Gunna has two children and lost her husband  several years before in an incident she refuses to discuss. She is no push over. When a second man is found dead she moves into higher gear and begins to realize that she is on the trail of a cunning cold-blooded killer.

Despite the fact that the murderer is elusive and crafty she is soon on his trail a and the authorities are forced to fall in behind her even though what she is really following is also a trail to high level corruption.



The book is billed as a thriller. I found it to be a leisurely walk that begins to pick up pace toward the end of the story. I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading COLD COMFORT the next in the series.

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