The Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout are some of my all time favorites, and Gambit is a good one. The story opens with Wolfe trying to get out of an ...moreThe Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout are some of my all time favorites, and Gambit is a good one. The story opens with Wolfe trying to get out of an appointment for a job because he is busy burning, page by page, the new, third edition of Webster's New International Dictionary, Unabridged. It is subversive. But since his appointment, Miss Sally Blount, agrees with Wolfe that "infer" and "imply" may not be used interchangeably, he agrees to take her case (she also refers to him as a wizard who can do what no other man can do, helping her cause), which is to prove that her father did not poison a man at his chess club, even though the only thing the man ate was the hot chocolate brought to him by Sally's father. It all looks hopeless, and Wolfe, of course, balks at actually working, but then Inspector Cramer comes by to see why Wolfe has taken on such and open-and-shut case, and lays all the facts out, which Wolfe admits the police are better acquiring than he is. However, there is a mundane fact that sets Wolfe's mental processes going, for which he even thanks Cramer much to Cramer's confusion and annoyance, and then we are all off and running, bringing murderer to justice. (less)
Another delightful Flavia de Luce mystery from Alan Bradley. It is Christmas at Buckshaw, and to bring in some much needed cash, Colonel de Luce has r...moreAnother delightful Flavia de Luce mystery from Alan Bradley. It is Christmas at Buckshaw, and to bring in some much needed cash, Colonel de Luce has rented out Buckshaw to a movie production. Why they are there to film over the holidays, is best left unexplored. Anyway, the two stars of the movie agree to re-enact their famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet for the locals to raise money for a new church roof. Half the town arrives through a snowstorm that quickly turns into a blizzard, so after the performance, no one can get home, and then during the night, Flavia is out and about the house when she discovers that someone has been murdered. Of course, Flavia is fascinated, however the murder makes it all the more difficult for her to put into place her experiment to determine whether Father Christmas is real. Mr. Bradley weaves all the characters and subplots together into a truly explosive conclusion. Great fun!(less)
The Warden by Anthony Trollope was a fun read. Trollope has a sly sense of humor and narrates as a third person omniscient voice. He, as the narrator,...moreThe Warden by Anthony Trollope was a fun read. Trollope has a sly sense of humor and narrates as a third person omniscient voice. He, as the narrator, often breaks into the story with his thoughts on the opinions and doings of his characters, and that was fine by me. That is when he is often the most funny. However, if that isn't one's thing, don't read Trollope; you'll be very vexed.
There isn't a whole lot of story to The Warden, and the story essentially boils down to a tempest in a teapot. Mr. Harding is the Warden of what is essentially an old folks home for a dozen destitute old men in the cathedral town of Barchester. He is very kind and friendly with all the residents, and they have a good rapport. He often plays his cello for them.
The "hospital" with land was set up hundreds of years previously in a landowner's will, and nothing has changed in all that time, except that the land has become quite prosperous. So the warden now makes a tidy income, but the residents still make very little, although they have no expenses and are too frail to do much with any money. Reformers want to get the residents more money (essentially remove power and wealth from the church hierarchy) and kick out the warden, and the church hierarchy sees that movement as destroying all Christendom. In the end, everyone suffers some, and yet they all end up more or less OK. Without being too melodramatic, Trollope manages to show that it is the residents and Mr. Harding who suffer the most. For all their purported zeal to help the residents, the reformers actually hurt them, and the church hierarchy then abandons them. The individuals get lost in the issues, and Trollope implies that this is the way the world works. It is gentle social satire at its finest.(less)
How this won an Edgar for best first novel, I have no idea. Everything about it--setting, characters, writing, plot--is adequate, barely adequate. The...moreHow this won an Edgar for best first novel, I have no idea. Everything about it--setting, characters, writing, plot--is adequate, barely adequate. The solution comes as no surprise, in fact, the detective's inability to figure out what is going on is pretty unbelievable. Pintoff also does this weird, inconsistent foreshadowing at the end of some chapters but not others. It throws the narration off. I tried to like the police detective, Simon Ziele, and he is pretty amiable, but he just doesn't come completely to life. Maybe Pintoff has become better with subsequent books, but unless I can get one, as I got this one, as a super cheap daily deal at amazon, I'm not going to find out.(less)
Mandarin Plaid is the third book in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series of mysteries by S.J. Rozan. I really enjoy this series, especially the ones narra...moreMandarin Plaid is the third book in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series of mysteries by S.J. Rozan. I really enjoy this series, especially the ones narrated by Lydia, as this one is, but it was funny how dated it already was having been written in 1996. Lydia and Bill have no cell phones, not even beepers; much of the plot depended upon them not being able to get in touch with each other easily as they explored different aspects of their case. The story would have to be changed pretty substantially now to be believable. However, I did like the plot very much; it was well done, and although not a huge surprise, still very satisfying.
Lydia is such a delightful character that I really enjoy her as a first person narrator. I have yet to read a book in this series narrated by Bill (Rozan alternates narrators with each book), as I don't see how they can be as good, but I'll have to give on a try.(less)
I mildly enjoyed The Window at the White Cat while I was actively reading it, but there was nothing very memorable about it. I often had to review wha...moreI mildly enjoyed The Window at the White Cat while I was actively reading it, but there was nothing very memorable about it. I often had to review what I had read previously before continuing; the story just didn't stick. I also was able to figure out what was going to happen, so that didn't help matters. Also, the generic setting--the narrator tells the reader early on that the setting is essentially a typical city in a typical state--added to the vagueness of the piece. Since Ms. Rinehart's stories are in the public domain, I have another in digital form, which is supposed to be more suspenseful, The Circular Staircase, so at some point I'll give her one more go. (less)
This is the Shamus award winning short story that introduces the reader to the young Akitada Sugwara, a junior law clerk in eleventh century imperial ...moreThis is the Shamus award winning short story that introduces the reader to the young Akitada Sugwara, a junior law clerk in eleventh century imperial Japan. Akitada loses his job early in the story and in desperation to make money to support his widowed mother and unmarried sisters, he agrees to help find the missing daughter of the man in charge of wrestling for the imperial court. Akitada, trained in law, has a knack for investigation that quickly leads him to solve the case with only a few false starts. I have enjoyed this series by I.J. Parker, but since this shorth story was originally published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine back in 2000, I hadn't been able to read it. I was glad to find it available as an ebook. I highly recommend the entire series, and this story is agreat awy to start in order to see how the noble, but impoverished, Sugawara Akitada becomes addicted to solving crimes.(less)
Another excellent entry in the Matthew Bartholomew series of medieval mysteries set in Cambridge. This time it is February of 1358 and rather than tow...moreAnother excellent entry in the Matthew Bartholomew series of medieval mysteries set in Cambridge. This time it is February of 1358 and rather than town vs gown it is college vs hostel. A dead body shows up in the Michaelhouse courtyard, and Matt and Brother Michael set out to investigate. Simultaneously, someone with yellow hair is stealing pilgrimage badges from everyone who wears one. Are the killer and the thief one and the same? Meanwhile a series of practical jokes between the colleges and the student hostels are escalating toward violence that could draw the whole town into the fray. Matt, Michael and Sheriff Tuylet have their work cut out for them.
The story moves along at a good clip, and the convoluted relationships among the town, colleges, hostels and religious orders created plot and character complications by the plateful. These were difficult times! So many allegiances to maintain and play off each other. The added complexity of a one order having a shrine attracting people on pilgrimage contributed to the chaos of the situation. Very enjoyable story over all.
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The third installment in The Spellmans series is the best so far. Isabel, in having to do some growing up, has become a more complex character, primar...moreThe third installment in The Spellmans series is the best so far. Isabel, in having to do some growing up, has become a more complex character, primarily be becoming a little less self-involved, but she is still hilarious, and she will never, thank heaven, be completely reformed. Her older, perfect, lawyer brother is perhaps even becoming more like Isabel.
The segments of Isabel with her court appointed therapists are very funny and good lessons in how to evade meaningful answers to difficult questions.
Isabel has several small issues she is dealing with here, although I would hesitate to call any one of them a real case. She is on leave from her parents private investigation business, a fact that displeases her parents no end. Several episodes of spying, tailing, awkward lunches with Dad and ultimatums finally get Isabel to get off the fence and make a decision about her life's work. This makes everyone but her little sister Rae happy, and this ending along with a couple of other loss ends, will no doubt face resolution in book four.
Very short, short story with an interesting premise. The writing was snappy, and I liked the cat. It could have easily been expanded, but I don't thin...moreVery short, short story with an interesting premise. The writing was snappy, and I liked the cat. It could have easily been expanded, but I don't think anything crucial is missing from the story. (less)
The Amsterdam Cop series, now branded as Grijpstra and de Gier Mysteries, by Janwillem van de Wetering are an excellent set of police procedurals that...moreThe Amsterdam Cop series, now branded as Grijpstra and de Gier Mysteries, by Janwillem van de Wetering are an excellent set of police procedurals that take place in 1970s Amsterdam, and The Corpse on the Dike lives up to that reputation. Amsterdam is portrayed as a quite city where no one ever gets murdered, but occasionally, when the unthinkable does happen, Grijpstra and de Gier are assigned the case. Through careful, clever interviews of suspects, thorough examination of evidence, and a deep understanding of human nature, they inevitably put all the pieces of the puzzle together and find the culprit.
Here a recluse living along a dike is shot dead between the eyes while standing at his window, and the shooter had to be at least 30 feet away. Such marksmanship is rare in the Netherlands, but a next door neighbor is a shooting champion. However, she doesn't seem to have a great motive, although she certainly had opportunity. Grijpstra and de Gier are unsatisfied and a later shooting along the dike, sends them off in a different direction following stolen merchandise and an amateur crime ring. But this crime ring seems to have nothing to do with the original victim. Following Grijpstra and de Gier through this maze of conflicting motives is very enjoyable as the story reaches a sound and satisfying conclusion.(less)
Arson Plus is the first short story featuring the Continental OP. I liked it in part because it takes place just outside Sacramento, CA, and I live ne...moreArson Plus is the first short story featuring the Continental OP. I liked it in part because it takes place just outside Sacramento, CA, and I live near there. In this story, the hard-boiled detective is just a little more than a twinkle in Hammett's eye. There is none of the complexity of character and morality found in Chandler's Philip Marlowe or in Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer or even Hammett's own Sam Spade.
Even though this is an example of this genre in its infancy, the story moves at a good clip and there is some smart-alecky dialog. A good, quick read.(less)
This is an essential book to the Nero Wolfe canon, but that said, it is not like the others. Wolfe's best friend from their native Montenegro, Marko V...moreThis is an essential book to the Nero Wolfe canon, but that said, it is not like the others. Wolfe's best friend from their native Montenegro, Marko Vukcic, is murdered in New York, and Wolfe feels obliged to find his murderer. This takes Wolfe and Archie to 1953 Montenegro, and therein lies my problem with the story. If I hadn't read almost every other Wolfe mystery, which are so saturated with New York City, I would have enjoyed this better. However, taking them to such a different place, where Archie doesn't even speak the language, takes a lot of wind out of the story's sails.(less)
Mark Coggins does a great job here capturing the style and essence of Holmes and Watson. The case is a bit quirky, as Watson himself admits, but still...moreMark Coggins does a great job here capturing the style and essence of Holmes and Watson. The case is a bit quirky, as Watson himself admits, but still very enjoyable. I think fans of Conan Doyle won't be disappointed by this addition to the Holmes and Watson stories.(less)
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