April's Books

Cataract surgery slowed down my reading time in April (and it will continue this month, too). But All the books I read were well worth reading! As usual, most were mysteries but the gem was a non-fiction work.

 

 "Last Bus to Woodstock" by Colin Dexter 

I read one Colin Dexter "Inspector Morse" novel years ago. When someone sent me "Last Bus to Woodstock" (with a few other books -- and thank you, Vagabonde!) I knew it was the one I had to read first! 

I've always been a fan of John Thaw as "Inspector Morse" on BBC/PBS so as I read, I had a "vision" of what Morse and his sidekick, Sergeant Lewis, looked like and that brought the pages even more to life -- though Dexter's tight plot and good writing would be fine coming in cold.

A young woman is found dead and raped in the car park of a pub on a rainy night and it turns out that she and a friend were waiting for the bus to Woodstock when a driver stopped and offered them a ride. The friend got out first but the driver and the soon-to-be-murdered woman continue on. When Morse and Lewis arrive there is no sign of who she was, how she ended up there and who might have killed her.

Set  in Oxford, the plot takes us into the colleges where three of the professors might know something about the murder, as well as to a local business where a woman who may have been the victim's friend works. As Morse pursues this lead, he encounters her roommates as well. And what about the victim's boyfriend, whom she was supposed to meet at the pub? As you can see, there is no shortage of characters and that means no shortage of suspects.

This is the first of Dexter's "Morse" novels. I don't know that it matters to read them in order, but it is certainly a good one to begin with.

A note -- after I finished the book, I decided to watch the video (the "Morse" series is on BritBox in the US.) The video is equally good with many of the same characters. But many are different, including  the motive for murder. It didn't matter to me as it would with a dearly beloved novel, but it was interesting to see how it was changed and it has me wondering why.

"Blue Lightning" by Ann Cleeves

I can't remember the last time I cried when finishing a book. In fact, I only remember once and that was probably when I was no older than my 20s and possibly even in my teens. So, why does a  mystery like "Blue Lightning" get to me?

I can't tell you the answer, although I know it. It wouldn't be fair to anyone who hasn't read this offering in Cleeves "Shetland" series with its lead detective, Jimmy Perez. 

"Blue Lightning" finds Perez on Fair Isle, the Shetland island on which he grew up, bringing his finance, Fran, to meet his parents. The Perezes are hosting an engagement party for the couple at the island's Field Center where naturalists come from around the world to engage in bird watching. The center's director is Angela Moore, author, television star and birder and it is run by her husband, Maurice, whose teenaged daughter, Poppy, is visiting. Others who are part of the center include guests Hugh and Sarah Fowler, and fellow birders Hugh and Dougie. The staff is made up of Ben Catchpole (Angela's assistant) and Jane, the cook and domestic help.

The night of the party, Angela is found dead, stabbed in the back with an array of feathers in her hair. It is clear that the murderer must be one of the center's residents, for it turns out that many of them have reason to dislike the woman. But with a plethora of suspects and a minimum of evidence, Perez (who must now, as the only policeman on Fair Isle) must investigate the crime. It is a daunting task, made more so when another of those at the center is found dead as well.

To say any more would be unfair to the reader. What I will say is that as you near the ending chapters, be sure to have some Kleenex handy.

"Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande

"Whatever the limits and travails we face, we want to retain the autonomy -- the freedom -- to be the authors of our own lives. This is the very marrow of being human"

But how do we do this when we are in pain -- the excruciating pain that comes when death nears? When we simply cannot do the things that make life worth living? And how can we be certain that those whom we love, who will be left after we have gone, can carry out our last wishes? How do we even start the conversations with our partner or our parents? 

"Being Mortal" should be required reading for anyone "of an age" who will at one point, sooner or later, have deal with these decisions with a spouse, a parent or for themselves.

Atul Gawande, a surgeon, is quick to remind us that the medical profession is dedicated to prolonging life and sometimes that comes at a terrible  price physically and emotionally. Another round of chemotherapy when the first doesn't work, or the second. Living in a medical facility such as a nursing home where the schedule staff must keep to manage their schedules might be rigidly inflexible, often to the detriment of the patient's needs or comfort.

And too many people rely solely on the advice of their doctors -- which is valuable. But do they ask the patient, "What matters to you?"

Through a variety of examples of patients he has encountered, as well as the story of his own father, Gawande takes us through a series of cases that make us think "What would I want? What do I need in the final stages of life?" Independence? Family? My pet? To be able to read books or paint or travel?

He introduces us to men and women who have changed the look and practices of many nursing and assisted living homes, offering their patients privacy or the opportunity to care for something outside themselves. (These chapters were my favorites and I started looking for places like this in our area. There aren't enough.) He also discusses the benefits of Hospice at length for giving the dying the opportunity to have their pain controlled and to be able to be at home with family if that is what they choose.

Perhaps most important, he goes through the tough conversations that must be had between family members and the importance (and difficulty) in respecting the wishes of the other, even if they conflict with one's own. 

"Being Mortal" is inspiring, as we meet a host of courageous people -- patients, family members, and medical professionals who want to focus most on the needs and desires of the individual and not the institution. Or, to put it another way, if one more chemo drug or trial makes you so ill, so weak or leave you in great pain, is that what you really want? 

Or would you prefer to have your pain controlled and be in the environment you would most like. We can't always have everything we want, but we can do better than we have in the past.

This book came out in 2014 and I read it then but it didn't resonate. As I read it now I realized I wasn't ready for it then. My parents had already passed; there was nothing I could about that. And aging seemed far away. Now I suspect there is a whole generation of people my age who will be contending with physical challenges and hard decisions (if they aren't already) and a younger group who may well be responsible for the well-being of their parents.

The stories -- some deeply personal, such as those related to Gawande's father -- help us walk through our own thoughts. Beautifully told, with honesty and a surprising degree of humility, "Being Mortal" is definitely one worth reading -- and sharing with those you love.

"Fire in the Thatch" by E.C.R. Lorac

This is another Inspector Macdonald mystery in the British Library Crime Classics series, originally published in 1946. The story is set in the Devonshire countryside near the end of the war. Colonel St. Cyres and his daughter, Anne, live at Manor Thatch, a large farming estate. Cyres' daughter-in-law, June, is living with them, along with her young son, while her husband is a prisoner of war.

June wants her father-in-law to rent Little Thatch, a small cottage with land on the property. to her city friend, Thomas Gressingham, who wants to turn the area into a country club. Opposed, St. Cyres chooses Nicholas Vaughan, a taciturn but hard working veteran who wants to build a viable farm, as his tenant. Vaughan works hard on the property, fixing up the house, planting the garden and working the fields. He is respected by the villagers in the area for his hard work.

So, when his body is found in the ruins of Little Thatch after a devastating fire, many think it is an accident -- faulty wiring, perhaps, or an unattended fire. But the matter comes to the attention of Macdonald and he is not convinced. Indeed, he believes that murder might be the cause of Vaughan's death. But who might the murderer be? Gressingham or his friends, Brandon or Rummy? Another villager? 

In this clever mystery, Macdonald eventually sorts out the clues and comes up with the answer -- and it's a clever one, and one that totally surprised me! I love this series of books and Lorac has become one of my favorites.

"Bodies in the Library" edited by Tony Medawar

I am, in general, no fan of short stories. I can't seem to get as involved as I do in a good fiction or non-fiction tale. But a collection of very short mysteries appealed to me -- can they set out a good story and solve a mystery credibly in few pages?

Those stories collected in "Bodies in the Library" do that, for the most part, quite well. The sixteen stories are written by many of the Golden Age of Crime's well known novelists, including Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Croft, Anthony Berkeley (aka Cecil Waye), A. A. Milne, and Georgette Heyer, among others. 

Some stories (and mini-plays) are extremely captivating. Among my favorites were the play "Blind Man's Bluff" by Ernst Branah (and I'd love to see this on stage!); "The Elusive Bullet" by John Rhode, "The Girdle of Dreams," by Vincent Cornier, "The Starting Handle Murder," by Anthony Vickers and "Lincke's Greatest Case," by Georgette Heyer. "Victoria Pumphrey" (H. C. Bailey) is delightful, as is "The Man with the Twisted Thumb" (Anthony Berkeley). 

And lest you should think all of these involve murder, think again. You'll find spies, thefts and swindles among the mysteries to be solved.

If you like a mystery -- and a short story -- then this collection (published in England) might be just the one for you!

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