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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Jul 7 2020, 2:56pm
Post #1 of 3
(419 views)
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It's the stormy day reading thread!
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I keep hearing the odd rumble of thunder, and the clouds are certainly thick, but whether we get any more rain today I don't know. I wish we could get the rain without the humidity. Our heat index---air temperature and humidity factored together---has been well over 100. Gah.
On paper I just finished another mystery set in France, one that I spotted in the library listings when I was looking for the Martin Walker Inspector Bruno books. This is Murder on Brittany Shores, set in (duh!) Brittany. The inspector is less congenial than Bruno, more Morse-like. I’m sure the somewhat chaotic investigation more accurately reflects real life than, say, you average Morse or Poirot, but still, I never grasped it all. The setting, an imaginary group of islands, was enjoyable.
Despite being published by a major publisher, that manuscript was a mess! Not only is the writing a bit stiff, perhaps because it was originally written in German (not French, German) and translated, but there were way too many formatting and other errors. I stopped dead at one place where the Inspector asked someone, “Have you found the boot?” and searched back through the previous couple of chapters looking for something about a piece of footwear. Then I realized it was a typo for BOAT, which fit the story. And no, the inspector didn’t have a Canadian accent 
Also on paper, I finished reading Murder on the House by Juliet Blackwell. It’s one of a series about a contractor who renovates old houses in San Francisco, who sees ghosts, and who finds herself involved in murder cases. I wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out to be a nicely done story with some clever moments and enjoyable characters. I thought the pacing of the latter half of the book was just a bit off, though, in that she flails around with the mystery and other things for 90% of the book, and then, shazaam! There’s the solution!
I might try one of Blackwell’s witches series, also set in SF. It’s hard to find light reads that aren’t downright silly,
I’ve just started listening to A Fatal Winter by G. M. Malliet, an English country-house mystery a la Christie, set at Christmas. The cold weather is a nice contrast to the reality of July! The mystery is slow, with a plethora of characters all examined meticulously by a likeable detective and a likeable village vicar (ex MI5). So far I have no idea who the killer is, or whether the motive is money or something else, but I'm enjoying the ride. Malliet has a lovely turn of phrase and the reader does accents and voices superbly.
So what you been reading as you stay safe?
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jul 7 2020, 3:07pm
Post #2 of 3
(408 views)
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speaking of chaotic investigations
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I just finished Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa, a pseudonym for the writing team of Jacek Dehnel and Piotr Tarczynski. Set in the Belle Epoque in Cracow, it follows a bored, social-climbing professor's wife as she investigates a series of murders at a retirement home. Zofia is not a sympathetic character: she's pushy, a major snob, and not above lying or a bit of emotional blackmail to get her way. But her sense of how things "fit" is solid, and she catches the murderer in the end. Along the way I learned a lot about Polish history. Well written and tremendous fun.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
My Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/...id=1590637780&sr=8-1
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Hamfast Gamgee
Dor-Lomin
Jul 8 2020, 8:56am
Post #3 of 3
(391 views)
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I am reading a sporting autobiography at the moment. About someone playing in the lower leagues of French professional Rugby and what it is like. It's interesting more than a super read but i will finish it.
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