The Books of May

May was a most eclectic reading month. There were several mysteries (of course!), a sweet novel, a fantasy, and a book of essays on finding joy. 

"We Solve Murders" by Richard Osman 

 

I'll admit I had a hard time initially starting the newest book by the author of the "Thursday Murder Club" series. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it was because (as a new series), Osman was introducing new characters and I hadn't yet warmed up to them. But the chapters are short -- sometimes as short as three pages -- so, I kept on and I'm glad I did. 

Amy Wheeler is a personal protection agent, working for a large firm whose client list includes actors, writers and other celebrities who either need or request a bodyguard or who have had their lives threatened. When we meet Amy, she is on a South Carolina island, guarding Rosie D'Antonio, a best selling thriller author, protecting her from a death threat.

We also meet her father-in-law, Steve, a retired policeman from a small town in England, a widower who loves the routine of "same" -- his cat, his quiz night gang, his favorite pub and daily one-sided "chats" with his late wife. 

The third element is a string of recent murders -- in South Carolina (not far from where Amy is guarding Rosie), St. Lucia and Dublin -- which may well be connected with money laundering and triggered by Francois Loubet, whose messages to his assassin team are written with the ChatGPT in the style of "an English gentleman." 

When Amy's life is threatened while working for Rosie, she realizes she needs help -- and the one person she can trust is Steve. So together, Amy, Steve and Rosie (still under Amy's protection), set out to solve the other murders -- before Amy either dies or is blamed for them.

It's a pretty good story and it works well. But what make it fun is Osman's tongue in cheek writing style. He goes for the humor as well as the action, particularly with the characters of Rosie and Steve. I became very fond of this trio and by the time I got to the end, I knew I had to stay up to finish -- and that was nearly 1 a.m.! The book reads fast (once I got into it) and it's just plain fun. Maybe far fetched, but who cares? A little action and some chuckles? Works for me!

"My Beloved" by Jan Karon

 

This recent book in Karon's "Mitford" series comes after a fairly long absence of the author. For fans, the return to Mitford will be a delight.

Set during the winter holiday season, "My Beloved" features the characters readers have come to know well over Karon's past 14 books. Father Tim Kavanagh and his wife, Cynthia, are getting ready to celebrate the winter holidays with extended family and friends, and searching for the perfect gift for each other. When Father Tim asks Cynthia  what she would like, she tells him simply, "A love letter." And so, he writes one, addressing the envelope "My Beloved" and placing inside a book of poetry by a favorite poet of Cynthia's. And then, he loses it.

Part of the story follows the book and the letter as it inadvertently ends up in the hands of others and for some, it is a life changing experience, even for those who do not read the words inside the envelope, but perhaps just look at the poems.

Meanwhile, Mitford being the small town that it is, each character has their spot in the sun -- the former mayor and her husband, now 93 and 92, with daughters who want to "boss them around"; Hope, the bookstore owner, whose store is threatened by the opening of a larger one not far away and whose furnace has gone out just as the weather has turned cold; her precocious nine-year-old daughter and her shop worker Coot, who have decided they want a dog; Harley and Winnie, who work for the Kavanagh's son, Dooley on his farm, now aging and and concerned about their futures; Miss Pringle, the town piano teacher, stern and perhaps very lonely.

If any people were in need of little miracles, it is the various citizens of Mitford. And, while Father Tim can't bring those miracle to pass, he can certainly add his prayers to those of others.

"My Beloved" is in the spirit of Christmas -- kindness, love, reconciliation, joy and delight. Fans of the series will be glad that Karon penned a new chapter to this series. 

"The Last Hope" by Susan Elia MacNeal

 

I've had the final book of the "Maggie Hope" series for awhile, but I just didn't want to say goodbye to this smart, intrepid, World War II agent. Still, all good things must come to an end, and it was a mostly fitting one.

For those who haven't followed the eleven book series, Maggie Hope is an American who has lived in England for some years following her studies in higher mathematics. Her first job in the country was as a secretary to Winston Churchill as the country was on the threshold of World War II. From there she moved on to become a spy. In this concluding mystery, set in 1944, she is assigned to go to Madrid, where she will meet designer Coco Chanel (who is working in collaboration with the Nazis) and get a letter from the designer to be delivered personally to Churchill, advocating a peace between Britain and Germany. 

But MI6 has another task for her while she is there. She must seek out physicist Werner Heisenberg and determine if Germany already has or soon will have a fission bomb, something the Americans are already working on with the Manhattan Project. If she feels they are close to this, she must assassinate Heisenberg. This secret mission will take her away from the home she shares with her friends and from John Sterling, her colleague and ex-fiancee, with whom she has reunited. 

So, armed with a small pistol and a cyanide capsule, she is off to Lisbon, then Madrid, where she will meet up with her colleagues on the mission. And, as one might expect, danger ensues.

I like this series very much and I'm sorry that it is ending. And yet, it feels like MacNeal left the ending wide open for a return of these characters, with the timeline months away from the allied invasion of D-Day. So, in many ways, there is no resolution for the characters and their lives after the war as there was in the more satisfying "Maisie Dobbs" series by Jacqueline Winspear, which concluded post-war. it didn't feel "wrapped up" to me. 

I thought it was a good book, well told, with (at least for fans who have followed the series) a most unsatisfying conclusion, lacking the closure longtime fans would hope for.

"At Bertram's Hotel" by Agatha Christie

 

In my quest to reread many Agatha Christie mysteries, I opted for a Miss Marple book this month. (I have to say it has been so long since I've read these tiny paperbacks that I bought in high school and college that it is like reading a book I've never before read!)

This one finds Miss Marple as a guest at Bertram's Hotel, a renowned British establishment known for its traditional style and service. Unlike entering a more modern hotel, Brown's is designed like and treats its guests as a grand city hotel decades earlier, with impeccable classic service and style. The price is steep and the clientele well to do. 

Miss Marple is visiting as a gift, courtesy of her nephew. Other guests include the 17 year-old Lady Elvira, an heiress who is expert at escaping her guardians and in love with a racing driver; the absent-minded Canon Pennyfeather, and the famous Lady Bess Sedgewick, a well known adventuress whose exploits are the subject of world headlines, among others.

The mystery begins with parallel events -- the mysterious disappearance of Canon Pennyfeather and the robbery of the Irish Mail train. Could these events possibly be related? lt is up to Chief Inspector Davy to find out. 

This is a tight, well written mystery and if I have any complaint about it, it would be that Miss Marple only appears very briefly, in two or three scenes in the book. She has little to say, but of course her brief observations are astute and aid Inspector Davy with solving the case. 

For those who know London, it is said that Brown's Hotel on Albermarle Street is one of two possible hotels that served as the inspiration for Bertram's Hotel. It  was a spot where Christie often had tea and served as the setting for one of the television adaptations of the book. 

"Murder in the Ashmoleon" by Jim Eldridge

The detective team of Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton are called to Oxford's Ashmolean Museum when curator Gavin Everett is found shot in his office, presumably a suicide. Gladstone Marriott, director of the museum, is puzzled as to why the charismatic curator would take his own life and asks the duo, who specialize in cases related to museums and art, to take a look.

Daniel and Abigail soon believe that Everett was murdered and begin to search for a motive. It could lie in the potential sale of the purchase of a Shakespearean original manuscript of a never-produced play. But who brought it to the museum and where is it now? Or could it be something else?

There was more to Everett's life that it first seems. He is a member of a secret gentlemen's club, and he has a penchant for blackmail. When an inspector from London's Special Branch turns up, investigating him for actions related to the Boer War, yet another potential motive arrives. Abigail adds to it when she discovers that some of the museum's artifacts are forgeries, presumably commissioned by the curator, who then sold the originals for personal gain. And then there is the disappearance of a woman from the Quill Club. Was Everett responsible -- or did he know who was?

This is another well conceived mystery by Eldridge in his "museum" series. Daniel and Abigail are engaging characters, as are those drawn into their orbit: Inspector Pitt, newspaper reporter Esther, and a host of suspects. While it is set in the Victorian era, I visualize these as mostly contemporary, apart from a few references to Queen Victoria and, of course, the relatively recent Boer War. Eldridge includes a tremendous amount of history in his books, but told in an engaging and enlightening way. If history and mystery are things you enjoy (and I do), this series is worth a look!

"The Simplest of Joys" by Diane Shiffer

Sometimes a book lands in your mailbox just when you need it. I'd neither heard of "The Simplest of Joys," its author Diane Shiffer, nor her highly viewed YouTube posts. But I was in a down period where life seemed a bit overwhelming and reading her reassuring words was encouraging and uplifting.

This book is a compilation of short (one-to-two page essays), grouped by season (although apart from specific references, like Christmas, for example, in winter, that's really irrelevant). Subtitled as "how to Create Your Own Magic, Let Your Best Be Enough, and Find Contentment Exactly As You Are," the essays focus on living a life of gratitude and joy, even when there are numerous challenges. Shiffer offers strategies for dealing with those challenges.

For example, in a short piece called "Happy Traps," she discusses anxiety and anticipating a dreaded event, like a hard meeting for work. She would cue up a comfort show to watch, ready for her when arriving home or wrapping a trinket like a present to find on her pillow that night. They may be as simple as leaving a piece of your favorite candy in the glove box of your car, building a daily comfort ritual,  creating a "joy" folder on your phone with photos to lift your spirits,  or putting a sticker on the mirror with an affirming message. The idea is to delight yourself when life feels heavy.

Chapter titles include "Unlearning Perfect," "Gifts i Disappointment, "On the Art of Letting Go," "Gratitude is a Coping Strategy," "A Lesson in Humility," "The Hair I Lost, the Strength I Found," "The Tiny Joys of Unconventional Life," "The Gift of Rest," "Gentle Rebellion," "Embrace Your Winner Weirdo and "How to Deal with Meanies," among others. 

If I have any quibble with this book, it's Shiffer's manner of addressing her reader as "Dear One", my darling" or "my dear." It feels forced and overly cute and too familiar. It's a small quibble, a "nails on chalkboard" thing for me. But the rest of the book is affirming and a good reminder for us all to slow down, take stock, be grateful. It may not be a book for everyone, but it was definitely a book for me at this time.

"Aftertaste" by Daria Lavelle

 

I don't even know how to describe this book, to provide a synopsis that makes sense. So, let me start with the obvious.

This is a novel about food. Or, more specifically, a novel about the impact of food on memory and how we may search throughout our lifetime to find the perfect "aftertaste," the exact taste or meal that matches, down to the amount of salt or herbs, a dish from our past associated with a memory we will never forget. Maybe it was slightly burned, but that didn't matter. It was the memory you wanted and the food that went with it.

Think about it. We have lots of food favorites, but what experience do you remember where you had the most wonderful (or interesting or even terrible) taste that created a profoundly lasting memory, one that you would like to revisit? (For me, it is being a kid and my mom in our kitchen in the home where I grew up, making her American fried potatoes, sliced in thin rounds, in our electric frying pan, sprinkling with paprika and slightly crispy; watching her, hearing her laugh, smelling them, and then devouring them at the table. Have I had better food in the decades since, more elaborate or expensive or tasty? Sure. But most of those don't have a memory attached to them so powerful I can practically taste the food. Nor, have I ever been able to duplicate them.

I digress. Kostya, the son of Russian immigrants, had a tough childhood, especially after his father died while he was quite young. Periodically, as an adult, he would remember a certain taste, the memory connecting him to his father. And, as he became an older, he could pinpoint the ingredients of this Russian dish he'd watched his father make, but try as he might, he could not duplicate it.

Eventually, while working in a restaurant, a guest begins talking about his deceased wife and Kostya's mouth fills with the flavors of a cocktail she had loved. When he makes it for the man, the ghost of his wife appears, briefly reuniting them. Could he do this for others? 

And most of all, if Kostya could get it "right," could he bring back his father for a brief moment?

And what would happen if he goes too far?

Fantasy is not my genre but I truly enjoyed this book, partly because the food descriptions were so eloquent (the author MUST be a cook!) and following Kostya as he embarks on his career as a chef in New York was interesting. Of course there are wonderful secondary characters -- his best friend, Frankie; his love, Maura; Viktor, who opens a restaurant for Kostya, and others. There were times when I was a big confused, but then, who isn't confused about the supernatural and who knows what could really be?

The story intrigued me to the very end and made me think "outside the book." It may or may not be your thing, but I'd happily recommend it. 

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