Reading My Way Through June

Somehow I managed to squeeze in six books during June -- no doubt because most of them were so good I couldn't put them down! Not surprisingly, five of them were mysteries (including a recent entry in a delightfully popular series) and one a lovely and moving novel. The last book in the post, "Haunting Paris," is my first entry for the annual blog event "Paris In July." Hosted by Emma at Words and Peace, Paris in July is your one-stop place to find posts about the City of Light (and France) related to books, film, photography, food and more.

"The Bullet That Missed" by Richard Osman 

The Thursday Murder Club is back in this delightful romp. If you have read previous books in the series (this is number three) you are familiar with the characters of Elizabeth (and ex-spy), Ibrahim (a retired psychologist); Ron (a one-time union leader) and Joyce, a widow who may seem a bit off the wall, yet often is surprisingly insightful. 

They all reside at a retirement complex and are part of a group called The Thursday Murder Club, which investigates older crimes. This time they are curious about the death of a news reporter, Bethany Waites, about a decade before. Her car was found pushed off a cliff as she was on the trail of a big story -- but the body was missing. She was tracking a tax story that involved several others -- and not surprisingly, during the course of the investigation, more deaths occur. 

The investigation takes them into the world of television news and introduces the handsome presenter, Mike Waghorn, and his make up artist, Pauline, who join in the search, along with returning characters Bogdan (who works at the retirement home), Stephen (Elizabeth's husband), and detectives Chris and Donna.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has her own problems. In addition to Stephen's increasing dementia, she has been forced into having to kill a former Soviet spy, with whom she once had an affair. If she doesn't, it may be her best friend, Joyce, who pays the ultimate price.

If all this sounds heavy, think again. Osman has a unique gift of spinning a complex plot and loading it with so much humor, you may well laugh out loud. I certainly did! The characters are delightful, endearing and eccentric. You want to know them. So, it's should be no surprise that I not only smiled throughout the whole book, but that smile was bigger when I learned a fourth is in the offing!

"The Last Remains" by Elly Griffiths

I read this book with a bit of sadness, knowing that it is the last in Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series, one I've come to know and love over time. (Thanks, Erica, for introducing me to Ruth and company!). This entry finds Ruth in a somewhat post-Covid world. People are still being careful but loosening up and changes brought about by the pandemic -- including lower enrollments at the archaeology department which Ruth leads -- mean changes. The department may well be closing and Ruth and her colleagues are rallying to save it.

Meanwhile, a skeleton of a female is discovered in what was once a cafe, now under construction. As forensic archaeologist, Ruth is called in on the case by DCI Nelson, the father of her daughter and with whom she has renewed a post-Covid relationship, as Nelson is separated from his wife, Michelle. 

The murder goes back to one of the earlier archaeological studies done in the area -- one in which a young Michael Malone, better known as the druid Cathbad, participated. When Cathbad, suffering from Long Covid, disappears, the team wonders -- could he have been involved?

All the favorite characters return and Griffiths throws some fun little Easter eggs into the plot when referring to cases from the team's past. This is one series I recommend reading in order.

I don't want to see Ruth's story end -- but if it must, this is a fine way to wrap it up.

"Murder in the Mill-Race" by E.C.R. Lorac

I think I have decided that E.C.R. Lorac may be my new favorite in the authors included in the British Library Classic Crime series of mysteries. Her Inspector McDonald and Sergeant Reeves are clever, delightful characters. This book was a fine introduction to them.

Dr. Raymond Ferens and his wife Anne have recently moved to Milham,in the Moor a small, somewhat remote hilltop village in Devon, in his new role as village doctor. Living adjacent to the Granmarye, a children's home, they soon learn of Sister Monica, the stern warden -- highly praised for her selflessness and saintliness -- and yet.... 

It's no spoiler to say Sister Monica isn't long for this world and while the villagers are convinced no one would harm this good woman, bits and pieces of their stories fall away as we learn that the victim may have been admired but was far from loved. The unraveling of the mystery, the well drawn characters and the skills of McDonald and Reeves made this a wonderful offering.

"The Crow Trap" by Ann Cleeves

A crow trap is a cage in which a healthy crow is placed as a decoy to lure another. Once inside the trap, the crows cannot leave and eventually it becomes survival of the fittest. It is a fitting title for the methods used by Vera Stanhope to catch a killer.

This is the first mystery in the "Vera" series and I can see why it made Cleeves' famed inspector a beloved character and one that merited her own television show. 

In this book, we really don't meet Vera until about halfway through. The first three segments focus on three women -- Rachael, Anne and Grace -- who are collecting data on the natural habitat in an area that is being considered for a quarry. If their data reveals significant damage to the area's environment would occur should the quarry be built, the project would likely be scrapped. 

Rachael is the team leader and shortly after she arrives at Baikie cottage, a cottage on the property where the three will stay, her friend Bella, who owns the neighboring house, is found hanging from a tree, a suicide.

When Anne and Grace arrive at the cottage it is clear that their only common interest is the project. The married Anne is known for being a flirt and her affairs; Grace is extremely private, almost sullen. It's not long before Grace is found dead as well.

Enter Vera Stanhope and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth. Vera has a history with Baikie cottage and the land, as her father came to the area and the cottage often, a part of his own shady past. 

There is no shortage of suspects and interesting characters in this 535-page book. In addition to the trio of workers, there is Rachael's mother, Edie; their boss (and Rachel's former lover) Peter; Neville Furness, (Bella's stepson); Godfrey and Barbara Waugh (he, the potential quarry builder and his reclusive wife); Edmund Fulwell (Grace's father); Jeffrey Preece (Anne's husband in name only); and many others. All could be suspects -- but are they? And why?

"The Figure of Eight" by Cecil Way

This is the second in the series by Way focusing on the Perrin detective agency in London. While I missed Christopher Perrin's sister Vivienne (who figured prominently in the first book), this holds up well with a good mystery.

When a woman is found dead on a bus in London, a Central American diplomat comes to Perrins, suggesting that she was murdered, as opposed to death from natural causes. There is controversy in his country as a neighboring country wants to take over a key area with many mineral resources. Soon after, the diplomat himself is dead.

Because of the diplomatic issues and because this is now murder, Inspector Philpott of the Yard is on the case and since Perrin is already involved, asks his assistance. The only witnesses of which they are aware are a mysterious man who was on the bus with the dead woman and the taxi driver who delivered the diplomat to a secret meeting and when he did not return, went within and discovered the body. Both have disappeared.

This is a solid mystery, well crafted and clever. You don't need to read the Perrin mysteries in order. I'll look forward to the third of Way's four books in the series.

"Haunting Paris" by Mamta Chaudhry 

Sometimes you can be really wrong about a book. This is one I wouldn't have picked up at a bookstore or ordered online. Reading the back blurb it speaks a good deal about the Holocaust, a subject on which I have read many books, fiction and non-fiction. With so much of what led to the Holocaust happening in our own country all these years later -- the intolerance, anger, aggression and racism/anti-semitism -- I needed a break from this. We're living it and fighting it. Do I need to read yet another tragic story?

But a friend sent me this and as I was perusing my shelf to decide what might be a pretty quick read (and it had a very nice font, which matters to me), I picked it up. I'm glad I did.

There are two primary characters in the book. Sylvie is a widow living in contemporary Paris. She has subdivided the large apartment on Ils St. Louis that she and her lover/companion of 25 years, Julian, shared after he left his wife. The tenants, Anne and Will, are Americans on a summer abroad. They are perplexed by their mysterious neighbor who rarely leaves her apartment and confides only in Ada, the concierge, who, we find out, has rescue Sylvie from the madness that comes with grief over the past year.

The other central character is Julian -- and he is a ghost. He haunts Paris, watching over Sylvie, whom he loved with all his heart and soul. We hear his thoughts about their relationship and his past -- including the death of his sister Clara and her twin daughters in the Holocaust.

When Sylvie finds a mysterious envelope in Julian's desk she becomes curious and eventually seeks to find "M," the name on the letter, and discovers it is Marie -- a figure from his past. In the course of her quest she comes to believe that one of Clara's daughters may have escaped death and becomes obsessed with finding out the truth. 

This is Chaudhry's first novel and she does an admirable job with both characters and describing the areas of Paris in which they inhabit. One who has ever visited the remarkably moving Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, with its 200,000 lights, representing one for each French person deported during the war, will recognize it immediately and be as moved by her writing as a personal visit. The streets of the Marais, Notre Dame, Ile St. Louis itself all come to life in her words.

While parts of this book deal with the Holocaust, it is as much, if not more, a book about grief and coming back to life after the loss of one dearly loved. I'm glad I picked it from my pile. 

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