April Reads

For a person who doesn't read a lot of fiction (in the form of novels, not mysteries) two of the best books I read this month fall into that category. Of the three mysteries were solid too, including one by one of my favorite authors, two were excellent or very good; one just OK.

 

"Conclave" by Robert Harris 

 

I'm not sure why this book was in the "mystery" section of used books at my local store. It better fits my definition of a novel with some suspense but clearly nothing violent. No one dies (well, the Pope dies at the beginning but no mystery there) and if there is any mystery it is who, among the cardinals gathered for the Conclave, will become the next pope.

That said, it is a gripping novel and (if one hasn't seen the film, which I hadn't) is a page turner, as it reveals the machinations that go on behind the scenes as one prepares to select the Supreme Leader of the Roman Catholic faith. There is politicking, soul searching, doubt, and the question "can anyone be with without a sin or transgression in their past?" Even the holiest of holies?

Cardinal Lomeli is the Dean of the College and as such, the leader of the Conclave, ensuring that all the rules and traditions are followed as the church prepares to elect a new pope. Cardinals are gathered from around the world, some better known than others. There are two Italians of prominence -- Bellini and Tedesco, very different in their approaches to church doctrine, one more liberal and the other more conservative. Cardinal Tremblay could be the first Canadian Pope and Cardinal Adeyami the first from Africa. Or could the new pope be Lomeli, (in whose perspective the book is ridden). He is filled with angst and confusion as his name rises in the balloting. Or are there others less known but perhaps a "better fit" for the turbulent and occasionally violent times of the 21st century?

Harris has done his homework and the book is well written and researched, bringing in some suspense as Lomeli undertakes his own investigations. At first I was a bit overwhelmed by the dozens of names introduced but the lead characters quickly rise to the top, all different enough to be easily distinguished by the reader. Now I'd like to see the film!

"The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans

 

I think just about every blog I've read that has book reviews has written about "The Correspondent." Indeed, as the day I began reading this, it turned up on my New York Times newsletter as a "book to read." But the day before that, it turned up in my mailbox, thanks to a lovely friend who had to have known how much I would love this book.

Sybil Van Antwerp writes letters. Now in her 70s, and in the early stages of losing her sight, she is a prolific correspondent and she writes to anyone and everyone -- family, a neighbor, a young boy who is the son of a friend, famous authors, former colleagues, a customer service representative, and more. 

Writing letters is not only a passion for Sybil, it is a commitment, a practice she schedules diligently. She is a divorced mother of grown children (one with whom the relationship is terribly strained) who had a prominent career in the law before her retirement, one which has left her with both friendships and guilt -- guilt for the outcomes of certain cases and guilt for how she so involved herself in work that she often paid less attention to her children and marriage as she should have. A remarkably intelligent woman and voracious reader, she can be stubborn, opinionated, reclusive, and determined.

In other words, she is like many of us, a mix of feelings, emotions and, as she ages, aware that her time is shorter than before and perhaps she might do well to take a chance or two and see what it brings.

We learn Sybil's story through her letters (and occasional emails) -- her budding relationships with a neighbor and with another retired attorney; her conflicts with her children; her devotion to her brother, also adopted (as Sybil was), her tentative quest (instigated by her son) to learn of her unknown past. And ultimately, we learn of two incidents that have plagued her for many years, both of which require forgiveness -- in one case, from another; in the other, from herself.

 "The Correspondent" reminded me of how important letter-writing -- the actual act of "getting it down on paper" -- is also the creation of family history. When I think of the biographies of history's greatest people, I realize that in the days before they or anyone else knew they would be great, it is the deeply personal letters and journals they wrote that added to the depth and richness of their lives when later revealed. It is the same for the correspondence of family or dear friends, that tell the stories of our parents and grandparents and if we have them, we are lucky indeed. (It also reminded me about the importance of sending more "snail mail" and fewer emails!)

This is a gem. 

"The Dark Wives" by Ann Cleeves

 

I love a good "Vera" mystery and I'm glad Ann Cleeves is still writing them. This is from 2024. Chloe Spence, a troubled teen living in a group home, was going to meet her social worker, Josh, when he arrived for his evening shift. But when Josh is found dead outside the home and Chloe missing, both the murder investigation and the search begin.

Is Chloe the murderer? A witness? Another victim, yet to be found? Vera and her team -- Sergeant Joe Ashworth and new DS Rosie  Bell -- have a challenging case, with their police commissioner pushing them for a quick resolution. The search for Chloe and the quest to find Josh's murderer takes them into the worlds of social  services and to the Northumberland area of England as they visit Josh's parents, Chloe's family, a commune where the two have connections, and a town that holds memories for Vera's past. But when another murder victim is found, the pressure is on to find Chloe before she becomes victim number three. 

Cleeves is excellent at combining the geographic atmosphere of the area with its traditions and people with vibrant descriptions. Equally adept is her study of Vera, Joe and Rosie. Joe is the family man who has worked for years with Vera, with deep respect but some frustration. Rosie is the new kid on the block -- eager to get the boss' approval. And Vera, healing from the death of her previous sergeant, Holly, during a case, finds herself trying to change, become more open with her team, but still holding her cards close to her chest, all while desperately worried about Chloe and the other youth in the care home. 

If I have one quibble here -- and its a small one -- it's that Cleeves doesn't play quite fair with the mystery writer "rules of conduct" -- reveal (as surreptitiously as one likes) all clues so the reader has the info you do. That said, she doesn't reveal those clues, ideas and investigations to Joe and Rosie either, so maybe all is fair.

"The Killings at Badger's Drift" by Caroline Graham

 

If the title sounds familiar to you, you may be a "Midsomer Murders" fan and this was the first episode of the long running series. Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy are called in when Emily Simpson's neighbor notices that she is missing, and while pronounced dead of natural causes by her doctor, neither Lucy Bellringer nor -- eventually -- Tom Barnaby are convinced that it might have been murder instead. Tracking Emily's last known footsteps indicate that she may have seen something deeply upsetting (and perhaps illegal) in the woods, something serious enough to lead to her death.

As with most cases, the detectives begin by questioning all the neighbors in the hamlet as to their whereabouts that day and he turns up quite the variety, all of whom may be suspects. There is Emily's doctor (who may be living a secret), his younger wife (also not on the up-and-up) and his daughter; the town's manor owner and his soon-to-be much younger bride (and her artist brother); the sister of the manor owner's deceased wife, and the town "ornithologist," whose binoculars are targeted to see fewer birds than blackmail subject and whose son is -- at the bare minimum -- odd.

It would appear that in a small village, there is more than one secret and Barnaby and Troy must sort them out on their quest to find the murderer. The tale is well written, occasionally with a smile (as the TV show is) but with solid detection, great descriptions and a good unraveling of the mystery.

For one who has seen the series, I have "visuals" of these characters. If you do too, be warned -- television Troy and television Joyce, Barnaby's wife, are a bit different than what we've come to suspect. This doesn't make it bad -- just a tad jarring. 

"Murder at the Black Cat Cafe" by Seishi Yokomizo

 

Have you ever read a book and thought "I'd like to rewrite that and it would be a lot better." That's what I thought about "Murder at the Black Cat Cafe." Yokomizo is said to be the "Agatha Christie of Japan." I think not. His plots are good. His writing made me crazy!

I should backtrack. This book is actually two novellas and "Murder at the Black Cat Cafe" is the first of the two. It's also the one I liked best, with a solid plot and a surprising but well conceived ending. In essence, Detective Kosuke Kindaichi has told the "author" about a case and provided him with all the information he'd need to write about it. It tells of the owner of a bar (The Black Cat) in an unnamed Japanese city owned by a couple, both of whom have other lovers -- the husband's, a dancer named Ayuko, and the wife's, a businessman named Kazama. 

At the beginning of the book, a body is dug up from behind the cafe, a faceless corpse that perplexes the police investigating the case. As they talk with staff they discover that one day, the wife went into hiding in her room, apparently ill with a skin condition that embarrassed her and she would not leave. Was she really there? Was the body of the faceless corpse hers? And if not, whose was it?

The second follows two Japanese families, one wealthy, one quite poor, and that being due to the former lending them money over generations and when it could not be paid back, taking chunks of their land as payment, till there is little left. 

There. I said in one sentence what it took the book many pages to say and bring it up to the time of the story. That first part revealed so many names (from generations going back well over a hundred years in history) that I'm not sure who could track them. And it really didn't matter, once you knew the basic premise of the relationships, because you never heard of them again -- just their descendants over two or three generations, those currently living. 

The plot focuses on two young men (one from each family) who are half-brothers (through an illicit relationship between the wealthy father and poor mother of the otherfamily). They who go off to war in the same platoon. Only one returns, now blind, his personality radically changed. Who is he? A damaged soldier or an impersonator?

You see, the plots are decent. But oh, what a mess of writing! I know I'm more familiar with Japanese names than many American readers, having had friends from Japan and traveled there myself. But the names in this one just threw me. There were far too many and they all sounded a little too similar to keep straight. I'm sure this is due in part to their being so unfamiliar. Would it have been easier to keep them separate if they were Bob and Bill and Sam? 

Maybe. All I can say is a little radical editing (eliminate the first irrelevant 100 years or so!) and maybe a different way of presenting the names (O-Shiri or O-Rin?) would have helped. 

Maybe you'd like it more than I did.