December 2007 Archives
From the Yemen to Los Angeles, for a rendezvous with Harry Bosch, himself returned to the LAPD and working alongside former cop partner Kiz Rider. This time round they are part of the Open-Unsolved Unit, doing what Harry and Kiz do best: solving old, cold cases - in this case, the murder of Becky Verloren, a high school student, 17 years previously.
Connelly's novel brings in the racial tensions of the late 1980s, in particular the institutional racism characterised by the police beating of Rodney King and the resultant race riots of 1992. Did the initial investigators deliberately overlook the fact that Becky was the daughter of a white mother and a black father, or were they persuaded to look elsewhere by Harry's nemesis, Irvin Irving?
There's also Becky's secret abortion to explain and the exact role petty criminal Roland Mackey played in 1988 - scientific advances have allowed the police to identify his DNA from a skin sample caught in the trigger of the gun that killed Becky.
Amazon.co.uk link: The Closers - Michael Connelly
Superbly readable set of highlights of Tim Mackintosh-Smith's 13 year residency in Yemen, taking you to the highlands and lowlands, oases and deserts, mountains and coast, mainland and islands, cities and villages, and providing historical and cultural insights throughout.
Now, who runs trips there.....?
Amazon.co.uk link: Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land - Tim Mackintosh-Smith
I hate to say it, but I find Philippa Gregory's books a much better read than Elizabeth Chadwick's. Even though both authors often deal with historical events and key characters from a romantic perspective, I seem to put down Philippa Gregory's novels feeling that I'd been given a deeper insight into what might have happened at key points in history.
I think I've said it before, but having studied history to degree level, I still feel that the focus on political history that we followed missed out the significance of the individual and human relationships - we learned the what without really understanding the why.
In The Boleyn Inheritance Philippa Gregory tries to explain why Henry VIII got through so many wives in the final 8 years of his life, with the focus being on Anne of Cleves (No 4, divorced) and Catherine Howard (No 5, beheaded). There are sideways glances at the fates of Katherine of Aragon (No 1, divorced), Anne Boleyn (No 2, beheaded), Jane Seymour (No 3, died) and Katherine Parr (No 6, survived), underlining how Henry changed from golden youth to despotic tyrant, desperate for another male heir and to cling onto his more heroic and handsome yesteryears.
Amazon.co.uk link: The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory
Having loved Mma Ramotswe, I thought I'd see how I got on with Alexander McCall Smith's Scottish variation on the lady detective theme. The answer is, Very Well. So if like me you're looking for some light reading in between Botswana-based books, I'd recommend you get acquainted with Isabel Dalhousie, an erudite Edinburgh lady of independent means whose outlook on life is reflects the intellectual and philosophical inheritance of the Scottish setting.
I'd previously been somewhat put off by the The Sunday Philosophy Club title, but the club only features in a supporting role, serving to underline the importance of philosophy in Isabel's world and to demonstrate that she and her friends and acquaintances have the same foibles and weaknesses as we ordinary mortals; the club hasn't managed to meet for months.
Indeed, the main plot is more concerned with love and money and Machiavellian motivations as Isabel tries to find the answer to that age old conundrum "Did he fall or was he pushed?" - after witnessing a young man's fall to his death during an opera concert at the Usher Hall.
Amazon.co.uk link: The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith
On a roll with Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, Property of Blood offered a much easier plot than The Monster of Florence - Olivia Brunamonti, American model-turned-Florentine-aristo-cum-designer, is kidnapped by dastardly Sardinians.
The novel provides gripping account of the "kidnappee's" experience, blindfolded and temporarily rendered deaf so as to be unable to identify her captors, Olivia finds herself striking up a friendship with one of the kinder members of the gang - à la Stockholm syndrome.
Guarnaccia brings his usual common sense approach to tracking down the kidnappers and the victim. He also manages to persuade the family to cooperate with the police - no mean feat given Italy's range of anti-kidnapping laws which kick in as soon as the kidnapping is reported, freezing the victim's assets and forcing the families to negotiate through police channels. Fascinating.
However, when, eventually, a ransom is demanded of Olivia's family we see two very different reactions from her son and her daughter....
Amazon.co.uk link: Property of Blood - Magdalen Nabb
My first foray into the Florentine world of Marshal Guarnaccia. A less self assured investigator than Aurelio Zen or Commissario Guido Brunetti, but Magdalen Nabb makes you fully aware that this self effacing family man is highly valued by his colleagues and others.
That said, The Monster of Florence wasn't that easy a read - the complicated plot featured lots of dastardly Sicilians with similar names and complex connections, as suspects into a series of ritual killings of courting couples that had spanned several decades. Even with the added advantage of Guarnaccia being Sicilian by birth himself, having reached the end of the book I still wasn't sure "whodunnit", but that's probably due to having read the book piecemeal as bedtime chapters rather than in one long stint.
Amazon.co.uk link: The Monster of Florence - Magdalen Nabb
A tale set in England during the turbulent 12th century, when the repercussions of the Norman Conquest were still being felt - not just in England but in what we now know as France too - as Empress Matilda and her cousin King Stephen fought for the crown, bringing civil war, famine and fear to the country that Henry I had made strong and prosperous.
The man at the centre of the novel is John FitzGilbert, Lord Marshal of England, who after loyal service to Henry I, first supports Stephen and then switches sides to support Matilda, staying Lord Marshal throughout. He discards his first wife on the grounds of consanguinity, and swiftly makes a political and more profitable marriage to Sybilla of Salisbury.
As you might expect, Elizabeth Chadwick turns this somewhat unsavoury set of events into a tale of passion, heroism and honour - and whilst it is a good read, be prepared for rather a lot of battles and sieges.
Amazon.co.uk link: A Place Beyond Courage - Elizabeth Chadwick