Strip Jack by Ian Rankin

Strip Jack
Ian Rankin
1992
4/5 stars

Gregor Jack, MP, is discovered in a brothel during a raid.  Inspector Rebus feels it was a set-up to strip Jack of his good reputation and, sympathetic to him, does some casual investigation to find who was behind it.  When Jack's wife is found murdered, Rebus becomes involved in this case as well, having a hunch the two are connected.

This is the fourth in the Inspector Rebus series, and even though I had not read the first three, I had little trouble picking up on Rebus' personal and professional life.  The mystery was involved, interesting, and mostly plausible.  Rankin's writing, while not literary, is solid.  The depth of the plot and the appeal of Rebus as a character made this an enjoyable book, and I will definitely continue the series.

The Broken Wings by Khalil Gibran

The Broken Wings
Khalil Gibran
1912
4/5 stars

This short novel is a tragic love story taking place in Lebanon in the early 1900s.  The young, unnamed protagonist falls in reciprocated love with Selma, the beautiful daughter of his father's rich friend, but she becomes betrothed to another.

Gibran, while delivering a simple and predictable story, is also discoursing on wealth, religious and political corruption, the lack of rights for women, and the ideal of love.  It is beautifully written, with poetic prose that is, though, at times too flowery; this could, of course, be due to the translation into English from Arabic.  The Broken Wings doesn't have the depth and maturity of his later work, the Prophet (my review here), but Gibran's ability to paint word pictures is fantastic, and his philosophical musings are intriguing, making this novella worth reading.

The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey

The House Sitter
Peter Lovesey
2006
5/5 stars

When a young woman is found strangled on a Sussex beach, Detective Hen Mallin is assigned to investigate.  The victim is traced back to Bath, and Inspector Diamond becomes involved.  Meanwhile, a famous television producer is murdered in what appears to be the first in a string of serial killings.  Mallin and Diamond feel the two are connected, and become embroiled in this case as well.

Diamond is truly likable, and realistic with his flaws and good points.  The mystery itself is tight and intelligent, and hangs together perfectly.  Lovesey is a good writer, creating a compelling, believable story line with well-drawn characters.  Lovesey became a favorite mystery author early in the series, and by this eighth novel, is firmly established in my top five.

Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

Secondhand Souls
Christopher Moore
2016
4/5 stars

In this sequel to A Dirty Job, Charlie Asher and his fellow soul merchants discover that many souls aren't being collected in San Francisco, ghosts are surrounding the Golden Gate Bridge, and a new evil has appeared wearing all yellow and driving a vintage car.  The soul merchants, along with Charlie's friends and family, band together to save life --and death-- as they know it.

Secondhand Souls has all the elements of a Moore novel: great writing, compelling story line, engaging characters, and an abundance of the absurd.  When compared to A Dirty Job, though, it feels a little flat; it lacks the charm and tenderness of that previous novel, and at times seems a repeat of it.  Despite that, it's still a fun and well-written, and is sure to please Moore's fans. 

Murder Has a Motive by Francis Duncan

Murder Has a Motive
Francis Duncan
1947
4/5 stars

Mordecai Tremaine, retired tobacconist and amateur sleuth, visits friends in a what appears to be a peaceful village.  However, he arrives just in time to learn that evil has come to Dalmering in the form of murder, and  all in the close knit community are under suspicion.

Tremaine is a likable protagonist, and the mystery was intriguing, yet solvable.  I didn't like that Tremaine at times had information not available or given to the reader, but that is not unusual in Golden Age mysteries.  Duncan writes generally well, though not as polished as some of his more well known contemporaries.  Overall, though, it was a pleasant read and I will no doubt read more of this short series.

Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North

Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm
Gil North
1960
4/5 stars

In the Yorkshire village of Gunnarshaw, recently married, middle-aged Amy Snowden is found dead by apparent suicide.  Despite the coroner's ruling, Sergeant Cluff, knowing Amy slightly, is not convinced and feels that the husband is somehow to blame.  Following his instinct, Cluff takes a holiday from work and uses his own time to further investigate Amy's husband.

Cluff, quiet, determined, and somewhat gruff, is a likable character.  North's prose is terse, with not an unnecessary adjective anywhere, and somewhat abrupt.  This doesn't detract from the novel, however, as the style fits both Cluff and the countryside.  The focus of this short novel isn't on the mystery, but rather on Cluff himself--the way he thinks, acts, deducts. This was the first in a series, I will certainly read more of Cluff's stories. 

Love Among the Ruins by Angela Thirkell

Love Among the Ruins
Angela Thirkell
1948
4/5 stars

In this seventeenth novel of Bartsetshire, the reader follows the lives and romances of six young adults during the summer of 1947: siblings Lucy and Oliver Marling, brothers Freddy and Charles Belton, and sisters Susan and Jessica Dean.  Now in their mid-to-late-twenties, with  most of their youth given up to the excitement of war time, these six come in and out of each others lives as they, and all of Barsetshire, still attempt to adjust to peace.

The "ruins" referenced by the title are not physical ruins, but rather the state of life after WWII, when Britain was suffering greatly with inadequate food and supplies and "a state of dull resentful apathy with no hope of relief".  Thirkell writes movingly of the struggles faced by post-WWII Britain, but balances it with her usual (sometimes snarky) humor, and with well-developed characters and plot.  I highly recommend this series, but it must be read in order, as the characters of the county remain the same, and have aged in real time.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

from "A Scandal in Bohemia"

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle
1892
5/5 stars

Holmes stories are comfort food for me, and this volume of his cases contains some of my favorite stories: "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", and "The Speckled Band".  By this volume, Doyle has developed into a much better writer than his previous two Holmes novels.  The twelve stories are interesting, and sometimes thrilling.  I would suggest that those new to the Holmes stories to start with this book of adventures.  While "The Five Orange Pips" may offend modern sensibility, the rest I can recommend universally.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes contains:

 "A Scandal in Bohemia"

"The Red-Headed League"
 "A Case of Identity"
"The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
"The Five Orange Pips"
"The Man with the Twisted Lip"
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band"
"The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb"
"The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor"
"The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"
"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches"

Continental Crimes edited by Martin Edwards

Continental Crimes 
Martin Edwards, editor
5/5 stars


This is a varied collection of crimes both committed and detected, not necessarily mysterious, but always nefarious.  As is the case with all the British Library Crime Classics, the authors are a mix of Golden Age writers, with a few earlier and later.  I was impressed by the quality of the writing of most of the stories, even when the plot wasn't stellar.


The stories are as follows:
"The New Catacomb" by Arthur Conan Doyle  4/5 stars
"A Bracelet at Bruges" by Arnold Bennett  4/5 stars
"The Secret Garden" by G.K. Chesterton  5/5 stars
"The Secret of the Magnifique" by E. Phillips Oppenheim  4/5 stars
"Petit-Jean" by Ian Hay  5/5 stars
"The Lover of St. Lys" by F. Tennyson Jesse  4/5 stars
"Popeau Intervenes" by Marie Belloc Lowndes  3/5 stars
"The Perfect Murder" by Stacy Aumonier  4/5 stars
"The Room in the Tower" by J. Jefferson Farjeon  4/5 stars
"The Ten-Franc Counter" by H. deVere Stacpoole  3/5 stars
"Have You Got Everything You Want?" by Agatha Christie  4/5 stars
"The Long Dinner" by H. C. Bailey  5/5 stars
"The Packet-Boat Murder" by Josephine Bell  4/5 stars
"Villa Almirante" by Michael Gilbert  3/5 stars

The book deserves five stars for the motley collection of authors and crimes.  The stories themselves average to  four, making the book four and one half stars, which I rounded up to five.

A Winter Away by Elizabeth Fair

A Winter Away 
Elizabeth Fair
1957
4/5 stars


In this charming novel, twenty-year-old Maude (fresh from secretarial school) takes her first job and moves away from home to stay with her Cousin Alice, and Alice's companion Con in a small, rural village.  Maud becomes involved in her employers family life, sparks her new friend's romance, and experiences both infatuation and love.  Fair's delightful domestic comedy is well-written and witty, and a pure pleasure to read.