Death of a Ghost by Margery Allingham

Death of a Ghost by Margery Allingham

by CarolNo Comments
I do have a fondness for mysteries involving art. In Death of a Ghost, a young artist is killed at the showing of a painting, not his painting, one of his mentor's, Lafcadio. Lafcadio, before he died, left instructions to have one of his paintings that he had boxed up shown each year beginning several years after his death, and his wishes have been faithfully carried out by his widow- quite a strong woman by the way, the kind of woman who takes everything life throws at her, straightens her shoulders, and carries on. Campion, luckily, was at the party/showing, so even though he didn't actually witness the murder, as a friend of the family he takes an interest in the mystery. There is a lot of art talk in this one, which I find fascinating. I even took a picture of at least one page and sent it to Amber, since the description of the area where the paint was...
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Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon

Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon

by Carol2 Comments
I finished Doctored Evidence about a week ago- I'm a little behind on posting. The thing is, when I sat down to think about it, I remembered how unlikeable the victim was and really how good it was for the neighbor to come forward with her evidence that the maid, now dead too, was not guilty. What is took me a while to remember though was the killer's identity. I liked the basic plot - Brunetti sets out to clear the Romanian maid's name and find the real killer. It's the kind of thing he would do. I like Venice, the food and the characters as usual. I didn't care for the seven deadly sins conversations and obviously the mystery itself was not memorable. It had a lot to do with money and blackmail. Eh, maybe I've just read too many of hers lately....
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Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

by Carol2 Comments
Bruno is the only municipal policeman in the small town of St. Denis, France. He's a good guy, he is not a brooding policeman, he is not corrupt, he is not plagued by guilt, he does not go renegade. He's a good guy. He teaches tennis to local kids, he organizes parades, he makes sure the "hygiene" police don't catch locals selling cheese that doesn't meet the standards. He also cooks and has a wonderful vegetable garden. In general, the people of the town get along, with a couple of minor exceptions. And then the murder occurs. An Algerian grandfather is found brutally murdered in his cabin, a swastika carved into his chest and his medal of honor and a treasured photo missing. Members of the right-wing National Front, a political party that opposes immigration, immediately rise to the top of the suspect list. Given the background between France and Algeria, along with some anti-immigration sentiment, the investigation is...
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Sunday Salon – 3/1

Sunday Salon – 3/1

by Carol5 Comments
Thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting The Sunday Salon. Stop over there or at the Facebook Group to participate. Week’s Highlight: David and I went to a Ohio Valley Cloak and Dagger on the Air performance. It was fun. The plays were all time travel based radio plays from the 30s and 40s. You can hear some of their performances on Soundcloud. You can hear one of the plays they did, The Ineffable Essence of Nothing, here. It's an older recording though, not from them. Reading: I finished several books, but only posted one review. A couple are scheduled for later in the year and a couple still need written. Last week’s post: By Its Cover by Donna Leon Watching: We watched The Good Liar earlier today. I really enjoyed it. We've been trying to find a good tv series to watch. Any suggestions? We tried the first couple of episodes of Schitt's Creek and the first of The Watchmen, but neither really struck us. Looking forward to: David and I are going to the...
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By Its Cover by Donna Leon

By Its Cover by Donna Leon

by Carol6 Comments
It's probably not a surprise to anyone that I'm a book lover, and I love the setting of the original crime here, a library in Venice. The descriptions of antique and rare books are fabulous. The original crime is that someone is stealing pages, mostly illustrations, from rare books as well as stealing whole books.  I really found the whole topic of book theft pretty interesting. Of course, the thefts are followed by a murder, but it takes a little while to get there. The investigation was not particularly interesting, but I do like Brunetti. He and Venice are what keep me returning to these books. This one wasn't as rich as some of the others, but it's an enjoyable, quick read. Once again, we have an abrupt ending, something I realize I should just expect from Leon. We learn who the killer was and the why, but there's no wrap up that's become traditional with mysteries....
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