The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett

    2024; 406 pages.  Book 1 (out of 1) in the “Shadow of the Leviathan” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Intrigue; Epic Fantasy, Murder-Mystery.   Overall Rating: 9½/10.

 

    Taqtasa Blas, one of the Commanders of the Engineers, has met a gruesome end.  You can read about it in the first excerpt below.  The “how” is easily determined – exposure, either through ingestion or inhalation, to the malignant blooms of the dappleglass.  It appears there is a murderer afoot. 

 

    Interestingly, ten other engineers also perished recently from dappleglass poisoning.  But they were nowhere near Blas, and they died at somewhat different moments, which indicates they weren’t all infected at a single time and place.

 

    Iudex Inspector Ana Dolabra has been assigned to the case, along with her assistant, Dinios “Din” Kol.  Their task is to figure out who the poisoner, or poisoners, were, and when and where those lethal doses were administered.

 

    But Ana is a topnotch investigator.  She intends to also find out who hired the poisoner(s), which will answer the question of why someone wanted so badly to kill a bunch of engineers.  Good luck on that quest, Ana.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Tainted Cup is an epic fantasy tale set in the Holy Empire of Khanum.  Ana and Din are emissaries of its ruler, the Conzulate, but they are a long way from the capital city, Imperial Sanctum.  Khanum is a hierarchal society where one’s rank is of utmost importance.  Ana’s and Din’s loyalties will be tested, but this is also true for those whom they will question about Blas’s murder.

 

    Our two protagonists reminded me muchly of Arthur Conan Doyle’s heroes.  Din assumes the role of scribe, chronicling the events like Dr. Watson did for Sherlock Holmes.  Ana has some remarkable deductive talents, just like Sherlock, and uses some quirky habits, including most of the time interacting while blindfolded, to better “read” the tones and nuances of witnesses’ testimony.

 

    Din himself has some special talents as well.  He’s an “engraver”, which means he has eidetic memory, which in turn means he is the perfect set of eyes and ears to witness events and to “record and playback” testimony.  And unlike the usually clueless Dr. Watson, Din frequently injects biting sarcasm into his snappy remarks, even when conversing with his boss, Ana.

 

    The action starts immediately with Ana and Din arriving at the manor where the remains of Taqtasa Blas repose.  The servants there seem to be covering something up, but what?  From there the case quickly gets more complicated as additional bodies are found.  The worldbuilding overall is superb, with Robert Jackson Bennett deftly blending it into the storyline, yet somehow avoiding bogging things down with long descriptions.

 

    The ending is how I like them: tense and exciting, with lots of twists, yet quite logical.  All the murders are solved, and both Ana and Din reveal personal secrets to each other.  It is obvious that they are going to be a formidable investigative team for the Conzulate of Khanum.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 3,017 ratings and 463 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.69*/5, based on 22,048 ratings and 4,903 reviews.

 

Things That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t…

    “Pick a glass and stick it up your damn nose quick!”

 

Excerpts...

    The most remarkable feature of the room was the clutch of leafy trees growing in the center—for it was growing from within a person.

    Or rather, through a person.

    The corpse hung suspended in the center of the bedchamber, speared by the many slender trees, but as Otirios had said it was initially difficult to identify it as a body at all.  A bit of torso was visible in the thicket, and some of the left leg.  What I could see of them suggested a middle-aged man wearing the purple colors of the Imperial Engineering Iyalet.  The right arm was totally lost, and the right leg had been devoured by the swarm of roots pouring out from the trunks of the little trees and eating into the Stonewood floor of the chamber.

    I stared into the roots.  I thought I could identify the pinkish nub of a femur amid all those curling coils.  (pg. 9)

 

    “The number of people holding a grudge against the Hazas is beyond count.”

    “Might you also count among that company, ma’am?” I asked.

    She raised her eyebrows at me behind her blindfold.  “My, my.  That’s rather insolent of you, isn’t it?”

    “I would simply note, ma’am, that Vashta just referenced your old grudges with them.”

    “A rumor,” she said dismissively.

    “And you also once said of the Hazas—I wouldn’t mind seeing all their progeny rotting in the ground like a bunch of f**king dead dogs.  Which is, I feel, mostly how one talks of one’s enemies.”

    “Oh, yes, well,” she said, sighing.  “This is why people are so loath to talk before an engraver. . .They never forget a f**king thing you say!”  (pg. 241)

 

“What a tool cynicism is to the corrupt, claiming the whole of creation is broken and fraudulent, and thus we are all excused to indulge in whatever sins we wish.”  (pg. 286)

    There’s quite a bit of profanity – 22 instances in the first 10%, seven of which were f-bombs.  Later on, “localized” expletives were used—“by the Harvester” and “by the titan’s unholy taint”—which I always like.  I don’t recall any adult situations, but homophobes beware, a gay relationship is alluded to.

 

    I didn’t note any typos at all.  Kudos to the editors.

 

    For me, The Tainted Cup was a captivating first book in a series, with fantastic world-building, mystery-composing and witty interactions.  My only gripe is that the second book, A Drop of Corruption, won’t be released until next April.  I have very little patience when I’m forced to be patient.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  Here’s hoping that the next book’s cover includes a drawing of the main creature in this story, the leviathan.  It has a major impact on the storyline, periodically comes out of the sea, and wreaks havoc on the human coastal bulwarks, even when the humans are tipped off that it’s on its way.  Yet I don’t recall it ever being described. Is it a giant whale-like beast?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Bethlehem Road - Anne Perry

   1990; 313 pages.  Book 10 (out of 32) in the “Charlotte and Thomas Pitt” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Murder-Mystery; Historical Fiction.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    It was a gruesome murder, right there on Westminster Bridge.  The poor bloke first had his throat slashed, then he was tied up to a lamppost.  It made him look like he was leaning against it.

 

    But the real shocker was the fact that the dead man was a member of Parliament, and had been in a meeting there up until a few minutes ago.  The victim was literally walking home from work, even though it was late at night.

 

    For Inspector Thomas Pitt of the Bow Street Police Force, it means that there is tremendous pressure to solve the case, and fast.  The daily newspapers will be running screaming headlines, which will terrify lords and commoners.  Within 24 hours, everyone will be demanding this case be solved immediately.

 

    Sadly, Pitt’s investigation will find promising leads few and far between.  Can things get any worse?

 

    Well maybe.  Suppose a second M.P. (“Member of Parliament”) were to get killed in exactly the same way, while walking across Westminster Bridge, late at night, on his way home.

 

What’s To Like...

    I loved the historical fiction aspect of Bethlehem Road.  As a tourist, I’ve been to the area London portrayed here, but that was in the daytime and in sunshiny weather.  To be immersed in it in Victorian times, at night, and in pea soup fog, was quite different. 

 

    Politically, the Victorian-era England was at a crucial time.  Ireland was demanding independence. Movements were afoot for prison reform, “poor law” reform, and industrial reform.  Anarchists and socialists were carrying out acts of violence, and ordinary citizens chafed under the rigid social class system.  Perhaps most significant of all, the movement for equal rights for women, including the right to vote, was gathering a large number of grassroots supporters, including Charlotte Pitt.

 

    The action starts right away.  Hetty, a street prostitute, propositions the first victim, only to discover he’s dead as a doornail.  Inspector Thomas Pitt discovers there are all sorts of possible motives this murder, including political, familial, accidental, and psychiatric ones.  His wife, Charlotte, also gets drawn into the investigation without his knowledge, on behalf of a friend of one of the main suspects.

 

    There are a number of red herrings along the way for the reader and Thomas Pitt to come to grips with.  A couple of plot twists finally lead to a tension-filled ending, resolving both who was the so-called “Westminster Cutthroat”, and why they did it.  Overall, I’d call Bethlehem Road more of a police procedural than a whodunit.  More on this in a bit.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Kip (v.) : To take a nap; to sleep.

Others: Tweeny (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 1,636 ratings and 151 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.97*/5, based on 4,620 ratings and 208 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Anarchists?” Pitt pressed.

    Deacon shook his head.  “Nah!  This in’t the way their mind goes.  Stick a shiv in some geezer on Westminster Bridge!  Wot good’d that do ‘em?  They’d go for a bomb, summink showy.  Loves bombs, they do.  All talk, they are—never do nuffink so quiet.”

    “Then what is the word down here?”

    “Croaked by someone as ‘ated ‘him, personal like.”  Deacon opened his little eyes wide.  “In’t no flam—I makes me livin’ by blowin’, I’d be a muck sniped in a munf if I done that!  In’t quick enough to thieve no more.  I’d ‘ave ter try a scaldrum dodge, an that in’t no way ter live!”   (loc. 1046)

 

    “Who should she say she was searching for?  It must not be someone in such circulation that Zenobia should have found her for herself.  Ah!  Beatrice Allenby was just the person.  She had married a Belgian cheesemaker and gone to live in Bruges!  No one could be expected to know that as a matter of course.  And Mary Carfax would enjoy relating that: it was a minor scandal, girls of good family might marry German barons or Italian counts, but not Belgians, and certainly not cheesemakers of any sort!  (loc. 2535)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bethlehem Road presently sells for $8.99 at Amazon.  The other e-books in the series go anywhere from $1.99 to $12.99.  That price range also holds true for Anne Perry’s 24-book William Monk detective series, some of which I’ve read and enjoyed in the past.

 

 

“Those who hold power have never in all history been inclined to relinquish it willingly.”  (loc. 2957)

    There is only a negligible amount of cussing in Bethlehem Road.  I noted just five instances, all of them four-lettered words of the “mild” eschatological variety.

 

    There was one missing comma in the e-book format: “sorry constable”, and one spelling mangling: “Ametiryst/Amethyst”, but I have a feeling that second one was a scanning boo-boo.

 

    My biggest quibble with Bethlehem Road was the murder-mystery plotline.  For most of the book it felt like none of the suspects and leads were plausible.  The end of the book was looming, and magically, out of left field, comes a whole new, promising angle.  True, Thomas and the reader both have to pick up on this, but it was way too much of a convenient coincidence.  Curse those dei ex machina!

 

    So read this book for its excellent historical fiction insights and accept the fact that you and the Bow Street Police Department are not going to solve this mystery until the deus ex machina pops out of nowhere.

 

    Which is how police procedurals are usually structured.

 

    7 Stars.  One last bit of wit.  At one point Thomas Pitt requests some records from one of the suspects.  The man complies and will have copies made on something he calls “an awful contraption” and which “sounds like a hundred urchins in hobnail boots”.  What on earth is he talking about?

 

    A recently invented thing called a “typewriter.”

Old Bones - Aaron Elkins

   1987; 210 pages.  Book 4 (out of 18) in the “Gideon Oliver Mysteries” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : International Mystery & Crime; France; Whodunit; Forensic Anthropology.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Talk about a dream business trip, Gideon Oliver is on one!

 

    He’s in France lecturing at a symposium on forensic anthropology, and wouldn’t you know it, a partial skeleton is unearthed at a nearby chateau.  The local authorities call on Gideon for his expertise in assisting them to determine the victim’s gender and age, how long it’s been entombed, and whether foul play was a factor in its demise.

 

    Oh yeah, it should be mentioned that one of the local gentry also has just perished in an accidental drowning in the area’s local tidal pool.  But it’s hard to see that as anything more than a coincidence.

 

    Yeah, right.

 

What’s To Like...

    Old Bones is the third book I’ve read in Aaron Elkins’ Gideon Oliver series.  The settings in these three tales have been delightfully varied: Egypt; Dorset, England; and now the Brittany region of France.  Aaron Elkins is an American author, and must do considerable research, since each of these settings has felt remarkably “real” to me.

 

    It’s fun getting to know Gideon.  He’s a nerd and a scientist, but so am I.  He specializes in carefully analyzing the subject matter (old bones), and drawing objective conclusions therefrom.  Most of his deductions contain a degree of uncertainty (like a weather forecast), and occasionally he’s wrong.

 

    The murder-mystery angle is developed quite well.  The lists of suspects and motives are intriguingly long, and the number of opportunities for skullduggery frustratingly short.  Happily, that’s where plot twists come in.

 

    The story’s setting means that the reader is treated to lots of French phrases, many of which are food-related.  There’s also a smattering of German vocabulary, most notably “obersturmbannfuhrer”, (yeah, try saying that ten times real fast), since the Nazi occupation of France in World War 2 has a significant impact on the plotline here.

 

    I enjoyed learning how to properly eat a delicacy called “tiny gray shrimp”.  Being a language freak, I chuckled at Gideon’s musing as to how “Bugs Bunny” would be translated into French.  Which would it be: “lapin fou” or “insect le lapin”?  Some of the titles of Gideon’s lectures were cleverly amusing, such as “Phylogenetic relationships between the Middle Pleistocene hominids and the western Neanderthals”, and “Larval Invasions of Calliphoridae in Unburied Corpses from Two to Four Weeks”.  And we won’t even mention how a “polydactylous pig” impacts the investigation.

 

    The ending is suitably exciting and twisty.  Some basic assumptions turn out to be false, our heroes come dangerously close to be/coming victims themselves, and my guesses as to who the perpetrators were completely wrong.  Which is exactly the way I like it.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 1,265 ratings and 139 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.01*/5, based on 2,310 ratings and 188 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “There are apparently some hand bones.  I assume there wouldn’t be any other animals with anything like human hands—aside from the apes, of course.”

     “As a matter of fact, there are.  The skeleton of a bear’s paw isn’t hard to confuse with a human hand or foot.  Even the flipper of a small whale.”

    “Ah,” said Joly.

    John, who had been quick to accept the inspector’s invitation to see the French criminal justice system in action, spoke up from the back seat.  “Hey, great, we’re really narrowing things down.  It’s either a person, a bear or a whale.  The case is practically solved.”  (pg. 47)

 

    “You all settled down for the night?”

    “Uh-huh.  I’m in bed.”

    “Good,” he said, his voice softening.  “What are you wearing?  That silky tan thing, I hope; the one that accentuates that lovely, long, marvelous, intra-sacrospinalis sulcus that you have.”

    “Ah,” she said with a sigh, “that’s more like it.”  (pg. 143)

 

Kindle Details…

    Old Bones is discounted to $1.99 right now at Amazon, but that’s a temporary situation.  The other books in the series cost anywhere from $1.99 to $9.99, with the prices generally higher for the books in the latter half of the series.

 

“Oh-oh. (…) Looks like another case of cleidacranial whatsamatosis.”  (pg. 149)

    There are eleven instances of profanity in the first 10% of the book, but no f-bombs.  No adult situations arose, nor do I recall any being alluded to.  I only spotted one typo: “Iout/I out”.

 

    That’s all I can find to grouse about in Old Bones.  The three Gideon Oliver books I’ve read so far have all been captivating: engaging storylines, lots of plot twists, exotic settings, and well-structured murder mysteries.  I think this series is a winner.

 

    8½ Stars.  One last tidbit.  The most useful of all the French phrases given in Old Bones is this one: “Fermez la bouche.”  Google it.

Still Life With Murder - P.B. Ryan

   2003; 296 pages.  Book 1 (out of 6) in the “Nell Sweeney Mysteries” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Historical Crime; Murder-Mystery; Women Sleuths.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

   The Good.  William Hewitt, one of the sons of Boston’s “upper crust” Hewitts, and reported as killed while attempting to escape the dreaded Andersonville POW camp four years ago, has just turned up alive in Boston!

 

    The Bad.  He’s been living under the assumed name “William Touchette”, and has just been arrested for murder.  Eyewitnesses confirmed his presence at the scene of the crime, kneeling over the corpse, knife in hand, and screaming at it about revenge.

 

    The Ugly.  William and his parents can’t stand each other.  His father is fully convinced of his son’s guilt and his mom wants to question Will about the incident.  William refuses to meet and talk with either one.  What can the Hewitts do?

 

    Maybe they should send their governess, Nell Sweeney, posing as some sort of spiritual guide, to visit “William Touchette” in jail.  She can at least ask him if he wants to retain a lawyer and/or get out on bail.

 

    Before they hang him.

 

What’s To Like...

    Still Life With Murder is set in the Boston area in the 1860s.  The prologue, which introduces us to Nell Sweeney and gives a backstory of how she came to be governess of little Gracie at the Hewitts’ manor, takes place in 1864; the rest of the book takes place in 1868.

 

    Although this is primarily a murder-mystery, I was impressed by the depth and detail paid to the historical aspect of the novel.  Things like women’s wear and house furnishings felt well researched.  So did, for that matter, the opium dens which play a prominent part of the storyline; including how they were laid out and the various gambling games they hosted, such as chuck-a-luck, rat’s night, and lansquenet, to keep the addicts entertained and spending even more money.

 

    There are some nice character studies in the story.  Nell, of course, gradually evolves into an amateur sleuth.  But that’s no easy task since Will Hewitt is a most uncooperative client – he refuses to confess or deny his guilt, and at times acts like he’d welcome the hangman’s noose.  The police detective is also non-stereotypical:  far from being bull-headed and resentful of Nell’s meddling, he shares information with her at times, and even occasionally invites her along on some of his inquiries.

 

    I enjoyed the smattering of French and Chinese phrases that were worked into the text, since I’ve taken some night classes in both.  Unfortunately, I drew a blank on the Chinese words (but maybe this was in the Cantonese dialect, not the Mandarin I studied), and I had to look up the context of the French phrase “Vous l’avez voulu, George Dandin”.

 

    The ending is satisfying, logical, with a bit of a twist to it that causes Nell, the police detective, and myself all to be slightly off in our theories as to who did the killing and why.  Will Hewitt rides off into the sunset (well, you knew he wasn't going to hang, right?) but I suspect he’ll become an important character in the series.  I have a felling that little Gracie will show up in the next book as well.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 8,401 ratings and 1,523 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.91/5 based on 9,796 ratings and 958 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “The round head is because of the Caesarean.  She didn’t have to pass through the . . .”  Nell looked away, chastising herself for having made such a reference in polite conversation, especially with the likes of Viola Hewitt; what would Dr. Greaves say?

    Mrs. Hewitt chuckled.  “I’m afraid I’m not particularly easy to shock, Miss Sweeney.  Mr. Hewitt is of the opinion that I ought to be a bit more prone to swooning, but I never could quite get the knack.”  (loc. 301)

 

    “Let’s see if I understand this correctly.  Will is supposed to have killed this man because of an altercation over a woman.”

    Nell nodded.  “Kathleen Flynn, the owner’s daughter.”

    “Is she beautiful?”

    “I . . . she’s . . .”  Nell shrugged.  “I’m not really sure, from a man’s perspective.  Why?”

    “Will’s women are always magnificent.  And very sophisticated.  He liked them smart and a little dangerous.”

    “Kathleen is none of those things.  Although her father did compare her to his most vicious rat terrier.”  (loc. 3295)

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Gowsters (n., pl.) : violent or unmanageable persons; swaggering fellows  (alt. spelling)

Others: Merlin chair (n.), Stertorous (adj.).

 

Kindle Details…

    Still Life With Murder sells for $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The other books in the series are priced at $4.99 apiece.  P.B. Ryan, who writes under the name of Patricia Ryan as well, also pens the Historical Romance series, Lords of Conquest, with its six books all going for $3.99 each.

 

“Hate to ruin your little theory, sweet pea, but dead men are even worse at payin’ off their debts than live ones.”  (loc. 3884)

    There’s not much to gripe about in Still Life With Murder.  The profanity is light, just seven instances in the first 25% of the book, and all but one of those were the relatively mild epithet “damn”.

 

    There were a couple of ethnic slurs later on, but those would be consistent with lingo of the times.  There are several visits to opium dens along the way, but frankly this book serves as a warning against the usage of that drug, not a glorification of it.

 

    The editing was good; I noted just two typos: lean-to’s/lean-tos and wretching/retching.  Kudos to whoever the copy editors were.

 

    That’s about it for the nitpicking.  I like it when the murder-mystery I’m reading is set in another time and another place, with just as much attention paid to getting the historical fiction right as to getting the murder-mystery coherent.  Still Life With Murder succeeded nicely in that regard.

 

    8 Stars.  In looking at the Amazon blurbs, it looks like the e-book versions of the books in this series all came out in 2010, and the paperback versions all came out in 2014.  I’m guessing that means this is a completed series.  For me, Still Life With Murder was a great way to get introduced to Nell Sweeney.

Something The Cat Dragged In - Charlotte MacLeod

   1983; 232 pages.  Book 4 (out of 10) in the “Peter Shandy Mystery” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Amateur Sleuths; Murder Mystery.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

    Betsy Lomax’s cat, Edmund, has once again brought something dead into the house.  Something red.  Something furry.  Probably a chipmunk or squirrel that he caught.

 

    Hey, that red stuff looks like human hair, not fur!  Jeez, did Edmund scalp somebody?

 

    Ah, fortunately, it’s not real hair, it’s a toupee.  Betsy even recognizes it; it belongs to one of her tenants, Professor Herbert Ungley.  But that’s odd, he’s very vain about wearing it.  He wouldn’t be caught dead without it.  Betsy had better go check on him.  Maybe something’s happened to Ungley.

 

    Maybe Edmund caught the professor, “dead with it”.

 

What’s To Like...

    Something The Cat Dragged In is set in the fictional town of Balaclava Junction, located somewhere close to Boston.  It is home to a small university, Balaclava Agricultural College, where Peter Shandy, our protagonist, is a professor.  In his spare time he solves murder-mysteries.

 

    As the above introduction indicates, the sleuthing starts immediately, when Betsy Lomax’s cat deposits Professor Ungley’s hairpiece on the floor.  Ungley’s body is found behind the meetinghouse of a fraternal group called the Balaclavian Society, which is where he was known to have given a speech earlier in the evening.  Sheriff Fred Ottermole and Peter Shandy are summoned and an investigation begins.

 

    The main question at the start is whether Ungley’s demise was an accident or due to foul play.  For the possibility of it being a murder, the storyline provides us with lots of suspects and lots of motives.  It was fun to watch our pair of sleuths make do with the skimpy resources a small town offers, and being a chemist by trade, I was happy to see the college’s chemistry professor, Professor Joad, contribute to the solving of the case via vital lab results. 

 

    Charlotte MacLeod infuses a lot of wit into the text, courtesy of a number of quirky-but-quaint characters.  She also manages to slip in a few more serious bits of insight, particularly those involving populist and pro-agriculture topics.  Plowing up farmland to make way for more housing developments is a sore subject for her.  Something The Cat Dragged In is also a wordsmith’s delight: if you enjoy being introduced to new words, you’ll love this book.  Some samples of new words (at least for me) are given below.

 

    The ending is okay, although not exactly packed with action.  Shandy comes up with a dubious scenario, then skirts a few legalities to determine whether it’s the real motive.  Once that’s confirmed, it’s just a matter of coaxing Sheriff Ottermole into assisting with the round-up of miscreants.  Things wrap up cozily.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 515 ratings and 46 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.92/5 based on 1,067 ratings and 69reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Shemozzle (n.): a state of chaos and confusion; a muddle (Yiddish).

Others: Redd (v.); Welter (n.) Swivet (n.); Interlarded (v.) Nobbling (v.); Josser (n.) Braw (adj.).

 

Excerpts...

    Professor Daniel Stott of the Animal Husbandry Department, a man not easily aroused to wrath, had waxed hot in defense of the genus Sus when somebody had been so injudicious as to call Claude a swine.  In Stott’s considered opinion, the district would have been far better advised to elect a sensible, well-disposed, right-thinking sow or boar to the seat Claude now occupied.  The local Plowmen’s Political Action Committee was said to be taking Stott’s recommendation under advisement.  (loc. 781)

 

    “Who are you?”

    “My name is Shandy.”

    “Well, well!”  This must be the deposed soap king in person.  “The great Professor Shandy, as I live and breathe, deigning to grace my humble abode.  Edna Jean, you damn fool, why didn’t you have brains enough to slam the door in his face?”  (loc. 2494)

 

Kindle Details…

    Something The Cat Dragged In presently sells for $9.99 at Amazon.  The other nine books in the series range in price from $1.99 to $11.99, which is quite a wide range.  Charlotte MacLeod several other series, including the 5-book Grub-&-Stakers series and the 12-book Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn set.

 

“For your future enlightenment, young lady, there’s only one ‘s’ in bastard.”  (loc. 1528)

    There are a couple things to quibble about.  Goodreads labels Something The Cat Dragged In a cozy mystery, and certainly has that “feel” to it, except that there’s way too much profanity.  I counted 22 instances in the first 25% of the book.  To be fair though, most of the cussing is courtesy of just one character, and there were no f-bombs.

 

    There are quite a few characters to meet and greet, many of whom are introduced with absolutely no backstory.  I suspect this means they’re recurring characters from the earlier three books in the series.  There are also references to earlier happenings, such as something involving “Silo Supporters”, but no details about the incident are given.  My recommendation therefore is to read this series in order.

 

    There were only a couple of typos, such as staffs/staff’s and entree/entry, so I was impressed with the editing.  But the one instance of verbal Hispanic condescension, “Steppo asideo, sister”, seemed dated.

 

    All in all, this was an okay tale, but it didn’t blow me away.  The reader makes the sleuthing rounds with Peter, meets lots of interesting suspects, but if you’re trying to solve the case before he does, forget about it.  It’s beginning to dawn on me that this may be a standard approach for cozy mysteries.  I reminded me of “Murder She Wrote”.

 

    6½ Stars.  One last thing.  Late in the investigation, Peter contemplates possible reasons for some odd actions by a few of the suspects.  His first thought is that they’d been “blind drunk”, but he then wonders if they “smoked peyote” or were “growing hallucinogenic mushrooms” in some dusty corners of the meetinghouse.  It made me wonder what kind of research Peter, and the author, did to entertain this possibility.

Stargazer - Anne Hillerman

   2021; 320 pages.  Book 24 (out of 25) in the “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Native American Literature; Murder-Mystery; Astronomy.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    It was going to be an easy investigation.  The facts were clear-cut.  Maya and Steve are divorced; the latter wants to give it one more try; Maya says no.

 

    Steve gets distraught, drives out into the desert and shoots himself in the head with his own gun.  The firearm is recovered outside the open driver’s-side window, which makes sense since Steve was left-handed.  It’s an obvious suicide, as any detective can tell.  Then things get a bit weird.

 

    While the cops are at police headquarters, wrapping up the paperwork on case, Maya shows up, confesses to shooting Steve, and refuses to give any further details about it.  Officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito, who years ago was Maya’s roommate, is asked to take a closer look at the case.

 

    Then things get even weirder.

 

What’s To Like...

    Although the cover calls this a “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito” novel, the latter does all the investigating here.  Leaphorn is now a retired cop, and Chee is busy with a dual role of being both Bernie’s husband and boss. 

 

    As is true of any Hillerman novel, whether it be by Tony or Anne, Stargazer is both a murder-mystery and a study of Native American culture.  But here, as alluded to by the title, a healthy dose of astronomy is added, includ9ng both the technological goings-on at a New Mexico site called the Very Large Array  radio telescope (“VLA”), and what the various star formations such as the Big Dipper, North Star and Milky Way are called in Navajo, and why.

 

    Anne Hillerman utilizes a lot of Navajo vocabulary in the story, but the English equivalent is always given the first time a Native American word is used, and there’s a handy and comprehensive Navajo/English glossary in the back in case you forget.  The Author’s Note, also in the back, is well worth your reading time, especially if you want to know what’s real and what’s fictional in the storyline.  And at one point, Joe Leaphorn gives Bernie some practical tips on how to tell if a person is lying, which I found quite enlightening.

 

    There’s never a dull moment in Officer Manuelito’s workday.  When she isn’t trying to determine why Maya would give a voluntary but false confession, Bernie also has to figure out who beat up and tied up Bee, why is some stranger named Ginger Simons trying to get in touch with her, and the identity of a toddler found dead in the same house as Bee.  Lastly and not leastly, Bernie is assigned to bring in the charming Melvin Shorty on an FTA charge, which provides a bit of comic relief, as exemplified by one of the excerpts below.

 

    The ending is tense, but I didn’t find it particularly exciting.  I’m proud to say I had the perpetrator pegged from the beginning, which is a rarity for me.  But that just meant when perp and cop ended up alone together (is that an oxymoron?), I could pretty much predict what was about to go down and the outcome.  The last two chapters tie up a couple loose ends, including Leaphorn’s fear of flying and why Bernie can’t remember who Ginger is.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 7,376 ratings and 438 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.19/5 based on 7,189 ratings and 725 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Bilagáana (n.) : white man; Caucasian; Anglo (Navajo)

    Others:  a slew of Navajo words in the text, all covered in the book’s glossary.

 

Excerpts...

    “Mr. Shorty, the courts don’t care about excuses.  You’ve got to go to jail now.”

    He put his hands in the pockets of his overalls.  “Call me Mel.  Officer Bernadette Manuelito, my wife made some pumpkin pancakes before she left for her job, and there are three of them left.  They sure are good.  Could you use one?”

    She shook her head.  “We need to leave for Shiprock.”

    “What’s the hurry?  You sound like a white person.”  (loc. 685)

 

    Even though Window Rock was in Arizona, the Navajo Nation’s capital city received what they called local news from Albuquerque’s television stations.  Most of the stories concerned fresh crime and ongoing investigations, which, as a veteran cop, he found riveting.  The reporters ignored the Navajo Nation unless there was an election, a pandemic, an environmental disaster, a winning high school sports team, or perhaps a Sasquatch sighting up in the Lukachukai Mountains.  (loc. 2752)

 

Kindle Details…

    Stargazer sells for $8.49 at Amazon right now.  Books 1-18 in the series, written by Anne’s father, Tony Hillerman, are in the $6.99-$13.49 range.  Anne Hillerman took over writing the series when her father passed away; Books 19-25 are by her and are in the $6.99-$14.99 price range.  Book 26, The Way of the Bear, is due out sometime this fall.

 

“You and I seem to go together like flies on a cow pie.”  (loc. 947)

    Stargazer is admirably sparse in profanity; I noted just one “ass” in the entire book.  I am always impressed by authors who use their literary skills to set the tone of a story instead of resorting to excessive profanity.

 

    There is an underlying examination of the abuse of women throughout the storyline, which apparently occurs all too frequently in Native American society.  A couple reviewers took exception to the inclusion of this topic, but I will trust Anne Hillerman’s assertion that it is a major problem on reservations, and am happy she turns the spotlight on it.

 

    My biggest issue with Stargazer was the plethora of irrelevant storylines.  I kept waiting for the Bee and Ginger and Melvin and Leaphorn’s fear-of-flying tangents to tie into the main plot thread in some clever fashion.  But they never did.  Which made them feel like just potholes in the path of the investigation.

 

    This doesn’t mean Stargazer is a poor book.  On at least three counts—Astronomy, Women’s Rights, and Native American culture—it is a noteworthy effort.  And the Murder-Mystery aspect, isn’t bad either; it just wanders off a bit too much for my reading tastes.

 

    7 Stars.  My favorite Navajo expression in Stargazer was the oft-used Yá’át’ééh, which the glossary notes can mean “hello” or “it is good”, and yes it takes four accent marks and two apostrophes to spell that precisely.  I learned the word many years ago from an Apache friend, and it comprises 50% of my Native American vocabulary.  The other half is an Apache insult that is said to be the worst slam you can give to a Native American, and is guaranteed to start a fight in any bar.  We’ll refrain from detailing it here.

Death By Disputation - Anna Castle

   2014; 360 pages.  Book 2 (out of 8) in the “A Francis Bacon Mystery” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Historical Fiction; England; Historical Mystery.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Thomas Clarady is going to college!  He’s enrolled at that prestigious institution, Cambridge University!

 

    Well, actually, Thomas is attending Corpus Christi College, one of a number of colleges that comprise Cambridge.  And studying to get a degree is not the main reason he’s there, he’s been commissioned by Sir Francis Bacon to do some spying.  Corpus Christi College is a hotbed for members of the Puritan sect, and it is rumored that a secret group is being organized there, plotting sedition against the English Crown.  The Crown wants to know whether that's true, and if so, who the leader is.

 

    Thomas’s job is to keep his ears and eyes open and report back to Francis anything he overhears that smacks of potential rebellion.  That might sound exciting, but Thomas hasn’t heard anything even a bit suspicious yet.  Frankly, he’s bored.

 

    But then his tutor, Bartholomew Leeds, is found hanging, dead as a doornail, from the rafters in the room where Tom does his studying.  He isn’t bored anymore.

 

What’s To Like...

    Death By Disputation is the second book in Anna Castle’s Francis Bacon historical mystery series.  I read Book One, Murder By Misrule, a couple years ago and was quite impressed.  Its review is here.  This time around, Bacon’s protégé, Thomas Clarady, is the main protagonist, with Francis cast in a supporting role as Tom’s mentor.

 

    I love the historical fiction aspect of this series.  Death By Disputation is set in 1587 London, and the famous playwright, Christopher Marlowe, also has a major part in the tale.  Interestingly, Wikipedia confirms that both Bacon and Marlowe were at Corpus Christi College around this time.  Tensions between the Anglican church and the upstart Puritan movement are running high, and this religious angle plays a major role in the storyline.

 

    The mystery aspect is also done well.  The “was it suicide or murder” question is solved fairly quickly, but Tom then struggles to make further headway. Marlowe pursues his investigation, and at one point each protagonist suspects the other of murdering Leeds.  When Trumpet, a recurring character from Book One, gets involved, things get really complicated.

 

    I liked the attention Anna Castle pays to historical details.  At one point Thomas is shown an exciting new invention: a wood-encased writing implement that its creator calls a “pencil”.  A number of “archaic” English expressions are used in the dialogue, some examples of which are listed below.  There’s a "Historical Notes” section included in the back of the book which I found fascinating.  Anna Castle also seasons the tale with a bit of romance (after all, Tom is a handsome fellow) and humor (will “Eggy” ever remember Tom’s last name correctly?) which makes the story even more interesting.

 

    Things close with all the plot threads getting successfully tied up.  Leeds’ death is solved, the question of possible sedition within the Puritan movement is resolved, and Tom comes to grips (at least for now) with his feelings of passion.  I wouldn’t call the ending particularly exciting, but it is both appropriate and heartwarming.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Cozener (n.) : a dishonest person who uses clever means to cheat others out of something of value.

Others: Brabble (n.); Nidget (n.); Dizzard (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 846 ratings and 118 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.08*/5, based on 621 ratings and 78 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Am I that obvious?”  He tried for nonchalance, but his voice sounded plaintive to his own ears.

    “No.”  Marlowe chuckled softly as Tom exhaled a sigh of relief.  “I happen to be interested in religious politics.  My uncle, partly, but also for my own reasons.  Theatrical reasons.”

    “Whose side are you on, Kit?”

    “Side?  A playwright doesn’t take sides.  He creates both heroes and villains.  His job is to present them both and let the audience choose.”

    “That’s not a good enough answer,” Tom said.

    “It’s the best you’re going to get.”  (loc. 1888)

 

    She smiled a virtuous smile, batting her thick black lashes at him.

    Tom knew she was lying through her pearly teeth.  She’d undoubtedly rifled through everything he owned: clothes, books, bedding, the secret drawer at the bottom of his writing desk.  The worst of it was he hadn’t noticed a thing out of place.  He popped another almond into his mouth and chewed it with deliberate care, showing her his teeth.

    She stuck her tongue out at him, the unrepentant little minx.  (loc. 4115)

 

Kindle Details…

    Right now, Death By Disputation goes for just $0.99 at Amazon.  The rest of the books in the series cost anywhere from *free* (Book 1) to $4.99 (Book 8).  Anna Castle has two other series (The Professor & Mrs. Moriarty and A Cunning Mystery) and a number of short stories for your reading pleasure.  The books in those series are priced at $4.99 and $2.99 respectively; the short stories cost $0.99 apiece.

 

“My father likes to be a little late.  It’s the best way to avoid being early.”  (loc. 2105)

    I couldn't find much to quibble about in Death By Disputation.  Cussing is sparse (just 4 instances in the first 33% of the book), which speaks well of Anna Castle’s writing ability.  There are a couple of rolls-in-the-hay, and some gay relationships are alluded to, but that’s all historically accurate.

 

    The sleuthing element is not really a whodunit.  It’s not so much a matter of putting the clues together to suss out the perpetrator as it is for Tom (and the reader) to be alert for the key clue when it appears.

 

    Several reviewers felt that there was too much focus on the religious aspect.  They have a point, but only if you’re reading Death By Disputation solely for its mystery aspect.  The reality of 16^th-century England is that religion dominated every part of one’s daily life, and to ignore that would really compromise the historical accuracy.

 

    Personally, I found Death By Disputation to be a great follow-up to Murder By Misrule.  The mystery kept my interest, the historical setting was fantastic, and there were enough action-&-intrigue and witty dialogue to keep me reading “just one more chapter” night after night.

 

    8½ Stars.  One small sidelight into Puritan customs of the day.  Parson Wingfield is a fiery preacher who believes his children’s names should reflect Biblical attributes.  For better or worse.  His eight kids were christened Abstinence, Tribulation, Obedient, Resolved, Diligence, Steadfast, Prudence, and Humility.  Thank goodness my parents weren't Puritans.