Through a Glass,Darkly by Donna Leon

by Carol2 Comments
It always seems like Leon has a topic she wants to discuss and works her mystery around that. This time around it's pollution and the environment. This was not my favorite in the series. The mystery doesn't really get started until maybe half way through. Up until them Brunetti is investigating even though the only "crime" was that a woman he barely knows is worried that her father will harm her husband. I'll grant you that does tie in to the eventual mystery, but a lot of Brunetti's investigating and thinking happens before the actual murder. And someone entirely different is killed. I enjoy the bits of daily life, Brunetti's conversations with his wife and kids, the delicious food. In this one, I found the glass making process interesting. It works better as a novel the a standard mystery I think. I hated the ending. I listened to the audio version, as I always do with this series and I felt like the...
Read More

Told After Supper by Jerome K. Jerome

by CarolNo Comments
Apparently telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve was a tradition in England. This is a funny little book. I found it because I was looking for Christmassy ghost stories for a Thursday's Tale post, but this is more of a parody of ghost stories. "Christmas Eve is the ghosts' great gala night. On Christmas Eve they hold their annual fete. On Christmas Eve everybody in Ghostland who IS anybody—or rather, speaking of ghosts, one should say, I suppose, every nobody who IS any nobody—comes out to show himself or herself, to see and to be seen, to promenade about and display their winding-sheets and grave-clothes to each other, to criticise one another's style, and sneer at one another's complexion." The narrator tells us that it is Christmas Eve at his Uncle John's house. Gathered together are of the narrator, old Dr Scrubbles, the local curate, Mr Samuel Coombes, Teddy Biffles and Uncle John. At the party goes on and they more of the...
Read More

Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon

by Carol2 Comments
The dog and I were home one Saturday night when Amber and David went off to watch a hockey game. I hadn't been able to dig out my box of Christmas books yet, but was in the mood for a vintage seasonal mystery. Someone, somewhere said good things about Mystery in White by Farjeon (if it was you, thank you) so I picked it up. I love how many old mysteries have been re-released as e-books in the last few years. As the blurb says, a train gets stopped by a blizzard on Christmas Eve and a mismatched group of people decide to leave the safety of the train and attempt to make it to the next station on foot. Of course they get lost, but happily stumble upon a house - that is empty but has fires roaring and tea set out. "“Don’t disappoint me? Don’t tell me you cannot supply the corpse? A bread-knife on a floor, a boiling...
Read More

The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon

by Carol2 Comments
We've got two "mysteries" in The Girl of His Dreams, the death of the girl mentioned in the blurb and a potential scam being run by a man claiming to be a priest of some kind. Both are solved even if the resolutions aren't entirely satisfying, but I guess that's a bit like real life, not every mystery gets tied up in a neat little bow. Sometimes politics and money and being at the right place a bit too late all get in the way. I like Brunetti. He's happily married and actually enjoys spending time with his family. He and his wife love books and conversation. While his superior is not ideal, he's not a loner, he works well with the competent members of the force. He cares about his case, perhaps more than he should at times. While the mystery steers the book, the musings on life, death, religion, the mafia make it slower than the typical mystery. There is less...
Read More

Thursday’s Tale: The Corn People

by Carol1 Comment
The Corn People, illustraded by José Carlos and translated/edited by Kelly Carlos, is a mix of Aztec and Mayan mythology, and presents a lovely creation story. It's available on Amazon. It's a bilingual book, the Spanish on the top of each page, the English translation on the bottom, which I like, even though I can't pronounce the Spanish at all. In the beginning there was silence and Heart of Sky was very lonely, so he made planets to keep him company. Heart of Water was his favorite. He asked Heart of Water whatshe thought of their world and she asked that her oceans be opened, allowing land to rise. The land became mountains, valleys and hills covered with tall pines. Heart of Sky made fish, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Both Hearts were happy with so much company, but the creatures couldn't praise them. Heart of Sky, with Heart of Water, first created mud people and the wooden people, but neither would praise their makers...
Read More

Friend of the Devil by Mark Spivak

by Carol2 Comments
First a confession, I watch a lot of the Food Network, so I couldn't pass up a "culinary thriller." Friend of the Devil turned out to be a fun thriller full of drugs, sex and food. Not a bad combination. David is a writer who first meets  Joseph Soderini di Avenzano while doing a story. He is then hired to write the famous chef's biography and is summoned to the Chateau de la Mer, where the menu is amazing, the chef a brilliant, if often drugged-out, showman, and the hostess irresistible. Actually, that is my one complaint, how quickly David and Alessandra hook up. I guess they have to for the rest of the story, but it just seemed a little quick. Of course, everything at the Chateau is a little intense. For me, it wasn't a quick read. I'm not sure why exactly. The pacing was good and there was enough action to keep the story moving. I enjoyed the bits of history that Avenzano...
Read More