Here's March's reading - quite a varied bunch, for me! See if there's something you fancy (and excuse my rattiness some evenings).
C.S.E. Cooney, Saint Death’s Daughter: (my copy is bright pink) Two sisters, one with
magical skills but personal problems, the other full of misplaced confidence
and a dangerous ambition, face the financial problems of their family when both
parents die in short order. This is a particularly brutal world but full of
strange comedy, too, and some really lovely use of language. The footnotes,
which often tell stories from the bloody past of the Stones family (25:
Devoured by undead squirrels), are a delight. But the characters, particularly
the heroine, Lanie, are very well drawn. When faced with disaster and danger,
she has to respond cleverly, as she has a strange sympathetic reaction to
others’ injuries – she suffers them herself, too. As a necromancer she has
considerable powers and great responsibility, and must learn not to act without
thinking as she tries to protect her beloved niece from those who would punish
the girl to take revenge on her mother. An intriguing story in a strange world.
S.J. Richards, Black Money: A very enjoyable romp trying to catch
a dodgy gang of money-launderers/drug-dealers/people-traffickers. The team is
coming into its own nicely. But I don’t like numbers used (e.g. ‘2’) under at
least a hundred – the words (i.e. ‘two’) look better in a story. And some of
the team are pointlessly dim – why go on a date with a suspect, and not tell
your colleagues? Or break the Official Secrets Act just to have a chat with
your student daughter? It all seemed a little unlikely, but quite an
entertaining read.
Tormod Cockburn, The Stone Cypher: What is this new trend for
putting Scottish place names in italics? I don’t remember it in this series
before, though I’ve seen it in another one where it was equally annoying. It’s
not even as if they’re restricting themselves to Gaelic place names, as if
they’re in a foreign language. It makes the text look like a comic book, or
perhaps they’re expecting to insert hyperlinks. But setting that aside (or
trying to – I’m in a ratty mood this evening). Okay, getting picky now – 4by4?
‘Peddles’ on a car? What is ‘semi-rectangular’? And rex gladii would be ‘the
king’s sword’ not gladio (all the worse because I could see the mistake coming)
– which is to, by, with or from a sword. Don’t try to give me all this St.
Andrews graduate rubbish and get that wrong. HOWEVER, I loved the plot! A good
mixture of science and mystery and emotion, and though I hope the editing is
tidied up I do intend to read on in this series.
Jason Vail, Prince Edward’s Ride: Unfortunately, Vail still
refers to Simon de Montfort as ‘Montfort’ in this book too, and Gilbert de
Clare as ‘Clare’, but apart from that this is more gripping than some of the
others in this series that have veered more towards political history. The
ending feels more historical than, um, novelistic, but I’ll wait and see what
happens in the next one.
Tim Sullivan, The Cyclist: The second in this interesting series
with an autistic police detective. It’s very instructive watching his sergeant,
Ottey, trying to train Cross into more ‘acceptable’ behaviour, torn between
wanting the team to work and wanting them to be successful. In the end it’s a
rather sad story, but a good plot with plausible motives.
Teresa Solana, A Shortcut to Paradise: The death of a woman who has just won a literary prize is
enmeshed with an amateur mugger’s first job in this intriguing and light-hearted book set in
Catalonia. The author is a translator, but in this case her book has been
translated by her English husband who is also a translator. There are a lot of
lines to follow in this plot, and a bit of head-switching, but on the whole it
moves smartly along and I enjoyed what is to me a relatively unfamiliar
setting.
Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook: At last I have my
mitts on this, by one of my very favourite authors. As always this is
brilliantly plotted, weaving in all kinds of threads in a witty, complicated,
well-observed narrative with sideways glances at the strange father-daughter
relationship between Reggie and Brodie, while also toying with Brodie’s own
complex past and the committee of critical women who invisibly watch his every
move and decision. I want to be Kate Atkinson when I grow up (and Granny Island
from the Katie Morag books, but that’s another story).
Jodi Taylor, The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal: This
explains how the strangely mismatched lady and butler (as it were) came
together to be … well, whatever kind of criminals they are. Lovely plotting,
letting us know what’s been going on in the background of many of Max’s
adventures.
Alex Walters, The Low Road: One of the few series where I will
pre-order as soon as I see the next book is available. I like the main
character, grumpy Mackay, and his sensible boss Helena Grant, and Ginny, too,
who has a good deal to face in this book. An intriguing plot involving a series
of fatal car crashes on the A9 comes to a violent conclusion – a really good
read.
Jean Gill, Hunting the Sun: Skarfr and Hlif are still in Sicily
and seem to be trapped there in a gilded cage, but soon they are on their
travels again, torn apart and trying to get back to each other. In the mean
time their two Irish servants are also in two different parts of Orkney, trying
to find each other and avoid the powerful men to whose advantage it would be to
kill them. Skarfr and Hilf have much to contend with in their marriage and with
their adopted son, and it’s interesting to see them deal with foreign customs
and the threats they face, but I always enjoy returning to the Orkney side of
things where politics and personal lives collide, too, and we’re praying for
innocent Fergus to be spared and restored to his poor wife. The settings are beautifully
done and the characterisation is well handled over a large and disparate cast.
An atmospheric and enjoyable read.
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