Gil & Alys Cunningham Mystery #3: The Merchant's Mark by Pat McIntosh

Read: 10 December, 2010

Gil Cunningham is eagerly awaiting a shipment of books. But when the barrel that was supposed to contain literature turns out to have a human head floating in brine instead, he and his companions become enmeshed in yet another mystery.

Another great addition to the series!

There's a bit more supernatural stuff (a ghost this time), but it's still manageable in quantity.

I like that Gil's station changes between the books. Each book is an isolated mystery, of course, but the character development is continuous throughout the series. I've really enjoyed watching Gil's relationship with Alys grow and change - which it does in a delightfully realistic and sensible way - as well as their accumulation of companions - first a baby, then a dog. I look forward to reading the next books in the series!

Gil & Alys Cunningham Mystery #2: The Nicholas Feast by Pat McIntosh

Read: 3 December, 2010

Soon after the events in Harper's Quine, Gil Cunningham participates in his old university's Nicholas Feast. But during the day, a young student is found dead. Because of his success in catching the killer in Harper's Quine, Gil is asked to solve this murder as well. Joined by his love, Alys, and her father, he immerses himself in politics and espionage to find justice for a student no one seems to have liked.

I bought this book, along with the next two in the series, as soon as I had finished the first one, but I didn't read it for quite a while. In my silliness, I loved Harper's Quine so much that I was afraid of burning through the series too fast!

This was an excellent addition to the series! Once again, the mystery was interesting, and I love the relationship between Gil and Alys (not to mention Alys's father). I'm not a fan of the supernatural element (the titular Quine from the last novel seems to be psychic - although like most psychics, his pronouncements are vague enough to be of absolutely no use), but it's low-key enough that it can be easily ignored. Besides, the rest of the story more than makes up for it.

Maigret et le marchand de vin by Georges Simenon

Read: 21 July, 2009

According to my dear ol' mum, bless her French book-reading heart, there's an entire series of Maigret detective novels. For my own part, I've only encountered this one, so I'll have to take her word for it. In this episode, the owner of a wine distribution company has been murdered and Jules Maigret is called in to investigate.

Le marchand de vin is rather different from many of the detective novels I usually read. For one thing, it's an actual detective novel - in that the person doing the investigating is a detective in the police force. This introduces a rather different dynamic than I'm accustomed to. My detectives are usually sucked in to a mystery, often reluctantly, and half the story is trying find some way to convince the authorities to serve justice. But here, Maigret has the benefit of the authorities being on his side, but he's also constrained by this. There are rules to follow, and tactics that are simply off-limits.

I enjoyed how dependent this novel was on conversation. The focus was very little on the discovery of clues, but rather on the interactions between Maigret and his various witnesses and suspects. The whole book reads more like a play than anything else. As a result, character development is emphasized, but also somewhat more subtle. We're rarely told what characters are feeling, but are left to guess based on their verbal responses. This is fairly common in French literature, but I read so little of it that it made for a refreshing change.

As far as the mystery itself goes, it's fairly run-of-the-mill. It's written from a local's perspective, so it doesn't have the charm of otherness that Daphne du Maurier's Don't Look Now had, for example. Maigret is not especially "quirky" like Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe. In other words, there's no gimmick to the story. It's just a plain detective story, albeit of a higher calibre than most. It's well worth the read for fans of the genre, if only for exposure to how good an ordinary detective without some extraordinary selling feature can be.

Gil & Alys Cunningham Mystery #1: The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh

Read: 11 September, 2010

I think that anyone who pays some attention to my reviews here would easily be able to guess that I love mysteries and I love historical fiction. So when I came across Harper's Quine as a book that offers both, I had to buy it. But, as is so often the case, it sat on my shelf next to a whole lot of other unread books as I tried mightily to catch my reading rate up to my shopping rate.

Finally, finally, it was time to give Harper's Quine a turn, and I immediately regretted that I had waited so long!

Gil Cunningham is expected to enter the priesthood. But when he becomes mixed in with a murder investigation, he is led to meet the lovely Alys, his future becomes rather less than certain.

I really enjoyed this books for quite a few reasons. The biggest is that the mystery is solvable by the reader - pay attention while Gil gathers clues, and it's possible to figure out the murder rather early on. It's a little frustrating to see Gil continue to stumble about in ignorance, but it's immensely satisfying to be proven correct at the end. These are my favourite sort of mysteries!

Another aspect I really enjoyed was the relationship with Alys. Alys is an active participant in the mystery solving. She's smart, capable, and contributes a lot to the detective work. But at the same time, this doesn't feel anachronistic. Unlike Rowland's Uechi Reiko, Alys is not a modern feminist trapped in the past. She's a strong woman, but she's still plausible. And, as a woman, she has many responsibilities. While her father and lover are out having great adventures, she must remain mindful of her household and its need to be continuously managed.And she can't just "do it all" - there are times when she can't get to a particular task that's relevant to the mystery because she is occupied with being the lady of the house.

If I had to look for a flaw, it would be with the fate of the baddie. I've complained about this before, I know, but I find it rather distasteful when the baddie(s) meets with a gruesome end. I understand that it's supposed to be cathartic, or some such nonsense, but it just strikes me as barbaric. A simple hanging, while only slightly less brutal, would at least have the benefit of being that age's expression of justice.

But leaving that aside, this was a truly remarkable book, a rare gem. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who is a fan of mysteries and/or historical fiction!

Gaius Ruso mystery #3: Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie

Read: 4 October, 2009

When Gaius Petreius Ruso receives a strange letter from his brother, he has no choice but to return to Gaul. Once there, however, he discovers that he has been tricked and he's about to find out just how dangerous "civilization" can be.

We've seen quite a bit of Roman-occupied Britain, but now we get a glimpse of Ruso in his own environment; and this presents its own whole set of dangers. Once again, Downie is able to stay faithful to everything I love about the series without making it seem like just another replica.

I was a bit concerned when Christianity was introduced to the story, as Tilla spends time with Christian slaves. Books with Christian subplots so often devolve into apologetics either for or against the religion. I was practically holding my breath through the whole novel! But Downie manages to handle it with great finesse, simply including it as she does other historical details, and remains blessedly non-partisan.

Mistress of the Art of Death #4: A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin

Read: 24 June, 2010

Adelia Aguilar has been enjoying a simple life with her daughter and friends, but King Henry II has come for her again. This time, he needs her to accompany his sister, Joanna, to Sicily. To ensure that Adelia returns when the task is completed, he keeps her daughter in England as a hostage. As the procession makes its way, strange things start to happen and Adelia is suspected of witchcraft.

There isn't much to say about this that hasn't been said for the last three books. If you've enjoyed the last three, you'll enjoy this one too.

Mistress of the Art of Death #2: The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

Read: 7 July, 2009

In Serpent's Tale, we find that Henry II's mistress has died. Naturally Adelia, who now has a baby in tow, is called to solve the mystery.

In many ways, Serpent's Tale is an improvement over Mistress of the Art of Death. The plot is more of a mystery in the detective sense and Adelia does, actually, solve it and finger the culprit. There is also considerably less Mary Suism. The addition of the baby raises the stakes for Adelia, making the novel more suspenseful.

In addition, Serpent's Tale kept many of the good bits of its predecessor. There is still the interesting view of Henry II and the low key but definitely present feminism. Overall, this novel is a very interesting read.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Read: 28 November, 2008

Having been a huge fan of the movie version for years, my approach to the book was understandably loaded. I already had an image of what the characters would be like and how the plot would unfold. As I read, I kept referring back to the movie and comparing the two versions - sometimes favourably and sometimes not. Ultimately, however, I realized that the two are entirely different entities, having only some plot elements and names in common.

Overall, I found the characterizations of the movie to be more enjoyable, from a purely emotional stand-point. I don't think any film has ever captured the awkwardness of growing up quite so well as Adso's kitchen scene with the village girl! Sean Connery's William was the familiar figure of the innocent and slightly naive genius. And then there's Ron Pearlman's Salvatore - a character the book version can only be a poor foretelling of.

In the novel version, however, the characters didn't come through as much - perhaps because they were more realistic and didn't draw quite so much on stereotypes and archetypes. On an intellectual level, this worked just fine. On an emotional level, however, I just had too much trouble bonding with any of the characters for it to really work. That being said, I don't know how much of this is because of the movie version's taint.

The novel is long and slow (an intentional feature, if the appended essay is to be believed), but it is never tedious. The rythm is steady and only as slow as it needs to be. Whenever I would feel myself just starting to get bored, something would happen. Eco showed an incredible sense of pace in that sense - every scene is exactly as long as it needs to be.

All in all, it's a great novel. It is, however, very dense. I am glad that I waited until now to pick it up because I think that I would have been turned off by it had I tried any earlier. It's a wonderful novel to read for someone who has been studying Medieval history as a hobby for quite a while and wants a good illustration of the complexities of society/theology.

My recommendation would be to try reading it, but to put it down immediately if it seems to dense or boring. Try it again later. It would be a terrible shame to predispose yourself negatively to the experience simply because you tried to get into it too early.

The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner

Read: 13 May, 2008

This is your fairly standard mystery genre-fiction piece. Characters are well developed, they have psychologically realistic explanations for all their actions, and they are each unique - but none of them really jump off from the page in the same way that, say, Brother Cadfael does. In other words, they feel real but they aren't particularly memorable.

And that's really all that can be said about the entire book. It's a good book and, as far as genre-fiction goes, I'd say that it's one of the better mysteries I've read to date. It was an enjoyable read, it brought up some interesting ideas, I enjoyed the psychology perspective the author chose, and the subject matter was handled very well. But for all of that, I won't remember the title in a week and I will have forgotten the book entirely in a month.

Sano Ichiro #4: The Concubine's Tattoo by Laura Joh Rowland

Read: 18 January, 2008

Emperor Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's concubine has died while carving a tattoo onto her body. The emperor's lead investigator, Sano Ichiro, must solve the mystery of her death while navigating the delicate balance of the court, the conflicted allegiances of his right-hand-man, and his new wife's feminist ideals.

The Concubine's Tattoois genre-fiction; there's no mistaking it. It makes the unfortunate poor writing choices that most detective mysteries seem to make. If characters are developed at all, it is only in "character blurbs" that are given on introduction and that are supposed to explain all future actions of that character. For example, a few paragraphs are devoted to Lady Uechi Reiko's (Sano's wife) upbringing and how, as an only child, she was raised as a male and that's why she's such a feminist. Unfortunately for what could have been a very good story, Rowland has never heard the phrase "show, don't tell."

This is a recurrent issue in the novel, and not only when characters are first introduced. Whenever a character feels anything, we are told explicitly what it is they feel, regardless of which side of the investigation they are on. In a mystery, this does a great deal to ruin the story because it takes a lot of the guess-work out of the equation. And, of course, since the reader knows what the protagonists can't know, it forces Rowland to give the detectives "sudden insight" that defies logic.

The novel also offended my sensibilities in many ways. Nearly every "bad" character is either gay or a sexual pervert. It wouldn't bother me so much if only one antagonist were gay or if some of the good characters were too, but the one-sidedness suggests to me that Rowland equates being gay with a deficiency of character (whether it be outright evil like Lord Yanagisawa or plain effeminate impotence like the emperor). And while I certainly agree with some of the narrator's ideas about the caste system and the role of women, seeing the author break through into the writing to get on her soapbox and lecture about these topics becomes wearisome after a while.

For my last negative comment of the day, I found the mystery itself to be lacking. There were red-herrings and femme-fatales and all the other staples of the genre, but the total lack of originality, interesting characters, and a compelling plot made the whole novel drag. The big twist ending might have been all right if the characters didn't go on at length about how unexpected a twist it was. Rowland doesn't seem to understand that her readers can identify surprising conclusions without being told to be surprised (and then lectured at about how anti-feminist we all are for not anticipating it).

That being said, I loved the setting. Rowland does a great job of exposing the world of her mystery - it's just a shame that such an interesting world is populated by such cardboard people.