October 2022 Wrap-Up

Still no physical books this month.

On a side note -- I somehow managed to read only female mystery authors writing about female sleuths! 

Audio Books Completed:

Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters (1983)  3/5 stars

In this adventure, art historian Vicky Bliss visits Sweden, following clues to a potential cache of hidden ancient treasure.  While not as good as the first two of the series, it's still a fun, if improbable, story, fast moving and generally well written, with a few twists and a good ending.

Trojan Gold by Elizabeth Peters (1987)  4/5 stars

In this mystery-adventure, American art historian Vicky Bliss follows an anonymously sent clue to Bavaria to search for a missing treasure.  This novel is full of good dialogue, humorous situations, and likable characters.  The fast-moving, sometimes suspenseful plot is, while implausible, certainly entertaining and engrossing, and a great deal of fun. 

Elizabeth Peters

Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters (1994)  4/5 stars

In this adventure, American art historian Vicky Bliss is persuaded to take an Egyptian cruise in order to uncover a known thief.  This is the longest and most complex of Vicky's adventures, and is more suspenseful than the generally lighthearted previous ones.  The engrossing plot is quite good, with lots of twists, and the characters are as likable as always.  It does lack the humor prevalent earlier in the series, and I couldn't call it "fun" as I have those others, but it was still an engaging, absorbing novel.

The Jackal's Head by Elizabeth Peters (1968)  3/5 stars

American tourist Althea returns to Egypt after ten years, reawakening memories that could unlock clues to valuable secrets.  This was a fun adventure, for the most part, but the casual violence by one of the main characters toward Althea was appalling, as was the attitude toward rape.  Otherwise, it was entertaining, though light and thin.

The Experiences of Loveday Brooke by C.L. Pirkis (1894)  3/5 stars (my review here)

The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange by Anna Katharine Green (1915) 3/5 stars (my review here)

The Dead Sea Cipher by Elizabeth Peters  (1970)  3/5 stars

While in a Lebanese hotel, American tourist Dinah overhears a cry for help from the next room.  Her response unwittingly involves her in a murder investigation.  When she leaves Beirut for a tour of Israel, she becomes further enmeshed, this time with spies, archeological treasures, and romance.  This is a typical Peters' adventure, with an intelligent heroine, historical interests, and improbable but fun action.  Peters was talented at making interesting plots and likable characters and, while this novel is not as good as others by her, I was entertained throughout.  

Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Seventh Sinner by Elizabeth Peters (1972)  4/5 stars  (my review here)

The Murders of Richard III by Elizabeth Peters (1974)  4/5 stars (my review here)

The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1908)  5/5 stars

New York society spinster Rachel Innes rents a summer home for herself and her adult niece and nephew.  While there, they experience mystery, deception, murder, and more.  This is a well-written, wonderfully convoluted, completely engrossing, and thoroughly entertaining story. It has some laugh out loud moments, likable characters, and many twists.  While not perfect, it's close enough to earn five stars from me.

Did Not Finish:

The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

This is the sixth and final Vicky Bliss novel, and it was a terrible disappointment. It was written fourteen years after the fifth of the series (Night Train to Memphis) and in that time Peters seems to have lost her talent for sparkling prose, likable characters, and interesting plots. 

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton

This was my second time trying this extremely popular series, but I heartily dislike Agatha.  I'll not try again.

Death in a Family Way by Gwendolyn Southin

I tried, I really did -- I made it an hour into the audio book but, whew, this one was a real cliché-filled stinkeroo!  

Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak

Just put it down as "not my sense of humor".  

Die for Love by Elizabeth Peters

This is the third in the Jacqueline Kirby series, written in 1984, and takes place at a NYC romance-writer's conference.  Peters' style doesn't work as well when she tries to draw upon the culture and character of the 80s, so it didn't have the personality of the previous books.  As there were no exotic locations or interesting history discussed (as is typical with Peters and a great draw for me), I didn't force myself to finish a book that didn't grab me at the beginning.

Naked Once More by Elizabeth Peters

This is the fourth and final book of the Jacqueline Kirby series, taking place in a small Southern US town with Jacqueline as a romance novelist hired to finish a popular series. My complaint is exactly the same as above. 

Two Featuring Jacqueline Kirby

The Seventh Sinner by Elizabeth Peters (1972)  4/5 stars
This is the first book featuring Jacqueline Kirby, a forty-something American librarian. She is visiting Rome, and while there she makes friends with a clique of seven international students.  The book focuses on Jean, one of the group, who discovers a fellow scholar -- disliked by all -- dying from a slit throat, and finds her life in danger as a result.    

While Jaqueline isn't as fully likable as other Peters' heroines, she's an interesting  and well-written character.  The Seventh Sinner is typical of Peters' entertaining style, with an intelligent, twisty, and attention-holding plot.

The Murders of Richard III by Elizabeth Peters (1974)  4/5 stars

In the second of the Jacqueline Kirby series, she and her friend Thomas attend a house party with Richard III apologists.  The story follows Thomas' point of view as various tricks are played, resembling the supposed murders committed by Richard III.  Jacqueline becomes convinced that more serious plans are in the works, but as she doesn't share all of her deductions with Thomas, he and the reader are left to discover the culprit without her aid.

This novel may not appeal to those who are not historians (professional or armchair), as there is much rehashing of the theories surround that King.  I doubt that such dedicated Ricardians would continue to go over the same ground again and again at a meeting, but despite that, I still found the plot, mystery, and characters well-written, attention-holding, and entertaining.

Two Early Female Detectives

Loveday Brooke, illustrated by Bernard Higden

The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective

C. L. (Catherine Louisa) Pirkis

1894

3/5 stars

This is a set of short stories, originally a magazine serial, featuring Miss Loveday Brooke, who works for a detective agency in London.  Her services are much in demand, as her employer recognizes in Loveday's intelligence and gentility the traits of a valuable agent, and she is quick to repay his regard with success after success.

Pirkis (1841-1910) is a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, publishing her stories and novels during some of the same decades, and her plot formula is quite similar.  Loveday, like Holmes, assesses and solves the situation quickly, reaching the right conclusion based on information rarely given to the reader.  She then points out the malefactor, is shown to be right, and, finally, explains to an admiring audience how she solved the case.  

The seven stories in this collection are generally interesting, some quite so, but they would have been  much better if the clues had been provided for the reader.  There is another reason, however, that Loveday -- unlike Holmes -- has been mostly forgotten: Loveday has no life, no personality, and the stories are equally emotionally flat.

The Loveday tales are important in their own way, though, as they are among the earliest written by a woman about a female detective.  Given that, they would be worth reading to those interested in the history of crime fiction.  Otherwise, I don't particularly recommend Loveday's experiences, even to fans of Victorian melodrama and mystery.

Illustration from "the Grotto Specter"

The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange

Anna Katharine Green

1915

3/5 stars

(note: audiobook produced by Tantor Audio as Mystery Stories of Violet Strange)

Violet Strange is a popular, pretty, sparkling society belle of America's Gilded Age.  Secretly, however, she is an agent for a private investigator, willing to use her intelligence and powers of observation to do work she finds unpleasant for a salary that she doesn't appear to need.  Her secret is revealed slowly in a larger story arc that surrounds the nine stories of her cases.

Green (1846-1935), justly popular at the time and one of my favorite American authors, was among the first authors of the modern "detective story". Violet is often credited as the first "girl detective".  

Tantor Audio does a disservice to the stories by referring to them as "mystery stories"; they are in fact, her adventures or experiences or, in some cases, just stories that Violet appears in as a more minor character.  Expecting them to be mysteries will cause unfulfilled expectations in the reader, making the book less enjoyable.

As mentioned above, these stories are not really detective stories; they are, as Green's original title states, "problems".  In some, Violet sets up a trap so that whoever the malefactor is, they will give themselves away.  In others, her intelligence and powers of observation serve her to find a missing object or see an obscure element of the case.  In one instance, she doesn't come to the right conclusion at all.  They are still good tales, though, as Green was good at interesting plots and surprising solutions.  The main flaw in this collection is that Violet is shoehorned into them all even though it's a stretch to do so, and there are times when she doesn't fit in at all.  If Green had written them without Violet and with no connection to each other, this would have been a four star -- if not five -- collection of intriguing puzzles.  

I still recommend them, for those who enjoy mysteries from this time period, as long as the reader takes the above into consideration.