Cat and Mouse (Inspector Chucky #1) by Christianna Brand (Oct/Nov 25)

[Susan]

Welcome to our Oct/Nov 25 buddy read of Cat and Mouse: A mystery in Wales recently republished by British Library Publishing. This is the first Inspector Chucky novel, first published in 1950 (written and published in-between 2 Inspector Cockrill novels - Death of Jezebel in 1949 and the fantastic London Particular in 1952. She would not revisit Chucky until 1977 with A Ring of Roses, written under a pseudonym.

Katinka Jones, the agony aunt for Girls Together magazine, is at a loose end in Swansea and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine’s regular correspondents, who goes by “Amista”. Arriving at a strange house perched atop a mountain, everything matches the descriptions in the letters; same cat, same views, same dashing widower, Carlyon. But there is a problem – nobody here has ever heard of the mysterious “Amista”.

As more weird mysteries emerge and the shadow of murder looms over the mountain, the feisty Inspector Chucky joins Katinka in the search for the truth in this lurid love letter to Gothic melodrama – an experimental thriller in which Brand flexes her talent for delivering twist after delicious twist.

Brand is one of my favourite GA authors, so I am delighted we are reading some of her novels as buddy reads.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

[Susan]

A Christianna Brand I haven't read before has to be good. I do wonder why she chose such strange names for her detectives though?!

[Judy]

Yes, very strange names. I found this one really hard to put down although the plot is crazy - Christianna Brand's writing style is just so compelling.

I like the description of it as "a lurid love letter to Gothic melodrama" in the description above.

The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Susan]

It was a very odd mystery, very different from her Cockrill books.

[Sandy]

I have just dipped in (character has arrived in Wales) and the initial scene and characters are very different from most mysteries. Interesting writing style.

[Judy]

I enjoyed the opening section set in the girls' magazine office, which is very different from the rest of the book - quite jokey and light-hearted. I do remember problem pages in girls' magazines being discussed when I was a teenager!

[Sandy]

I may end up bailing on this one. I am far enough in to have met the mysterious woman but not finding that I care much. Chucky is almost as mysterious. Too Gothic.

[Judy]

It is very weird, which is maybe appropriate for Halloween, but I can understand you not being very keen on it, Sandy. I tend to get hooked on Gothic stories - when I was a teenager I read loads of them. There were a lot of sub-Jane Eyre books by one particular author which I devoured, but I can't even think what her name was now.

[Sandy]

I even rather dislike Jane Eyre. Luckily there are plenty of other books.

[Judy]

Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favourites although it's a long time since I last read it.

I've just remembered, the author I was trying to think of is Victoria Holt! Looking her up, I see she was the same person as Jean Plaidy and also had other pseudonyms. I wonder if her books would still grab me now? A lot of them seem to be set in Cornwall, so possibly a bit like Daphne du Maurier and the Poldark books by Winston Graham.

[Ninie]

Judy wrote: "Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favourites although it's a long time since I last read it.

I've just remembered, the author I was trying to think of is Victoria Holt! Looking her u..."

I read a ton of Victoria Holt when I was a teenager too, as well as Jean Plaidy! I wouldn't mind re-reading some of Holt's early books, but I think I'll leave her Plaidy books to my memories.

[Susan]

Plaidy was of her time. I read a lot of them when I was young, Ninie. However, I recently returned to Philippa Gregory after a long time away and really enjoyed it, so who knows?!

[Ninie]

Who knows, indeed! I thought as a teenager that some Plaidy books were a bit too tied to a chronology and didn't really develop a compelling plot, although I loved the royalty aspects. (I was so into them the librarian checked when the next ones were coming out in Books in Print.) I've read a Philippa Gregory as an adult and while I liked the story, I have a possibly irrational dislike of present tense narration!

[Judy]

I don't really remember the Plaidy books though I know I read a few, but I do remember the Gothic atmosphere of the Holt ones. I am with you on present tense narration, Ninie!

[Susan]

Well, Hilary Mantel used it to good effect in Wolf Hall, but I remember when the first book came out that a lot of people didn't like the use of present tense.

[Ninie]

Yes, and I read and liked Wolf Hall. I try not to let it hold me back in my reading but can't lie, it rarely never helps imo.

[Judy]

I agree - I managed to get over the present tense in the wonderful Wolf Hall, but it never adds anything for me.