Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell

Once again, Inspector Wexford finds himself confronted with a body. This time it’s several years old and is found in a ditch by a truffle hunter. The gruesome find turns into a hunt for someone who must have disappeared years ago. In his search to discover the identities of both the victim and the perpetrator, Wexford runs into a second body and more problems. As if he didn’t have enough problems to deal with, he becomes involved with the Somali community and the fight against Female Genital Mutilation as he realizes that there are things out there which are often more disturbing even than murder.

OK, this one isn’t going to win any prizes and it isn’t Rendell at her best. The murder mystery isn’t particularly memorable in any way other than being a very intricate puzzle that Wexford must piece together; luck being served up in healthy portions to help him complete this task. What one does remember is the FGM. Although I knew it existed, it’s not a subject I’ve personally been confronted with and some of the details Rendell gives in the novel are quite disturbing. Especially distressing is that it becomes obvious that it is, like so many other crimes, almost impossible to prevent and difficult to prosecute for. Few people follow laws they know they won’t be punished for, but prosecution and punishment can only occur if the crime can be established after the fact. That means waiting until the crime has been committed, putting the investigators in charge in the difficult position of allowing a crime to go ahead and one child to suffer so that others can be saved in the long run. What an awful decision to have to make.

Often times, using entertainment media to underline the importance of political or social issues winds up putting people off. Who wants to be preached to while they’re relaxing on their couch at the end of a day’s work? Most of us get enough of reality during the day, so please don’t shove it in our face at night. I have to applaud Rendell for addressing issues like FGM, racism and familial violence without making the reader feel as if it’s social lesson time. She weaves it into her story, making it clear what she thinks without beating the audience over the head with it.

She’s also been much criticised for her lack of modern policing and that Wexford doesn’t seem to have grown with the times. Personally, I think we’re lost in modernism today. After all, Just because the police Can Do all of the tests they show on any of the 100+ CSIs, doesn’t mean they have the budget or the time to do them. It also doesn’t mean that the men and women who are leading investigations get to turn their brains off and rely solely on the latest technology. They still have to be astute and observant. I’m also sure that some of them still prefer to rely on old fashioned methods, at least for the bulk of the investigation. Hard work is still the crux of most things, modern or not. So I’m prepared to forgive the old-fashioned Wexford with his lack of forensics and up-to-date technology. Besides, I’m still a fan of the good old English mystery and that’s what I expect from Rendell. Frankly, I’d be disappointed if she did change it all to fit the critics taste.

This isn’t Rendell’s finest, but if you’re a fan, it’s still worth a cosy Sunday afternoon.

The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante

DI Anna Travis, under James Langton, is investigating the rather grisly murder of a woman who was found severed in two. Both Langton and Travis are desperate to prove themselves and work flat out to solve the case as soon as possible. The killer, it seems, is desperate for attention and begins to send the police anonymous letters I through the media when the attention the story receives flags. It doesn’t take long before they realize that they are dealing with a copy cat killer. The whole case is following the scenario and time line of The Black Dahlia murder in the 1940s. Since The Black Dahlia killer was never caught and it’s clean that The Red Dahlia is just as, or even more sadistic than the original, the pressure to stop the killer before more fall victim to him reaches a fevered state, especially when the trail goes cold.

Thanks again to Audible for this one. It’s another of those that comes from their sales, although it would have been worth the original price. La Plante finds just the right balance between following a brutal, gruesome killer and character interaction. The one offsets the other quite well as she dwells on neither portion for too long. More time spent focusing on the appalling details would have put some readers off, as would too much focus on the feelings and private lives of the characters.

La Plante lets the reader see into the minds and lives of her characters, generating a sympathy with them otherwise not possible and giving them a three dimensional feel. They aren’t just coppers, but humans with their own lives, problems and motives. Fortunately, La Plante does keep the murder investigation and the characters lives separate, unlike, for instance, Cornwell’s Scarpetta who invariably ends up becoming the victim with the criminal taking her efforts to bring him to justice personally. There is a clear definition of work and private life in La Plant’s book which keeps it from becoming predictable.

I can’t say much more without giving the plot away, but it’s a good read for anyone who likes crime/mystery novels. Yes, there are a few gory details about the murders, but these aren’t dwelt upon. I give this one 4.5 out of 5. I’ll definitely be reading more of La Plante’s work.

Harm Done by Ruth Rendell

A paedophile convicted of raping and murdering a small boy is released from jail and moves back to his old home on an otherwise quiet estate prompting protests. A 16 year old girl inexplicably goes missing from her home after an evening out with her friends, but returns 3 days later with a bizarre tale that she was kept hostage by a middle aged woman and a younger man and forced to do housework. As Lizzie is a bit intellectually challenged and obviously afraid of something, no one takes her tale very seriously until another girl of roughly the same age goes missing. Even more sinister is the disappearance of a 3 year old girl from a wealthy home in the same town. Suddenly the reappearance of the paedophile takes on a whole new meaning as far as the town is concerned. Inspector Wexford sets out to find the girl and save a paedophile from a lynch mob.

Harm Done is a very diffuse novel which tackles several difficult themes: paedophilia, kidnap, vigilantism and domestic violence. The plot is complex but the story is well written and it isn’t difficult to keep the different lines of inquiry separate when necessary. Personally I thought this one took on a bit much myself although I understand why she wrote it as she did. It does have it’s advantages, the primary one being of confusing the focus of the real crime so the solution isn’t obvious from the beginning, which is what would have happened in real life. It also shows how much one piece of news or one person can effect many different people at once. Still, I personally would have preferred her to concentrate on fewer issues at once. Doing so might have made the novel a bit more powerful, especially as it would have obviated the need for the epilogue. Written as is, however, it’s a good mystery and a good, quick read. It’s not one of Rendell’s best, but neither is it one of her worst.

3.5 out of 5

The Chorister at the Abbey by Lis Howell

Another English whodunit but this time a real cracker of a book. I don’t mean to imply that it’s face paced, just well written with good, strong, likeable characters and a plot that’s not at all transparent. It was a good read from start to finish.

Suzy Spencer is a single mother living with a man who “saved” her in a previous adventure. As they and her two children struggle to make their lives work together, a well known member of the community is found murdered in the local music college. Morris
Little was a grouchy snoop who liked preaching hellfire and brimstone to anyone and everyone as long as he thought they were listening. Still, his death makes no sense at the time since being grouchy isn’t usually grounds for murder. The police are quite happy to lay the blame at the door of two local thugs who just happen to fit the bill. However, as Suzy and her circle of friends and neighbours start to think about it all, little details that make the scenario as assumed no longer quite to likely. They start to look into the whole business a bit deeper, especially when “accidents” start to happen and the situation starts to become dangerous.

Although this is literally a mystery and is rightly sold as such, Howell does an ingenious job at integrating the lives of her characters into the novel. There are times when it feels more like an inspection into the lives of those surrounding the murder rather then a mystery which in no way detracts from the book. The forays into each character’s life are engaging and interesting, especially as Howell is so good at allowing to reader to identify with the characters and their choices. In a way it reminds me of Kate Atkinson’s “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” http://blacksheepbooks.blogspot.com/search/label/Kate%20Atkinson, although it’s not just focused on one family. Howell wanders through their lives, hinting at circumstances and events each character would like to have hidden away from the world, even though they may, or may not, have something to do with Morris Little’s murder. They are all afraid of revealing something of themselves to others because they are embarrassed or ashamed, allowing Howell to grab the reader on both the level of the mystery as well as on a human level. This also adds to the suspense of the mystery by opening up many different avenues for the reader to search for clues in.

This is a thoroughly good read for anyone who likes a good English whodunit with a touch of human soul searching in it. 5 out of 5.

Challenge: Typically British

The Wintergarden Mystery by Carola Dunn

I'm afraid I've been a bit lax in posting lately. Mostly that's because my brain seems to have assumed that taking a vacation from work also means taking a vacation from just about everything else too. The last ten days have been bliss. I did nothing I didn't feel like doing at the time. I swore to myself I wouldn't pressure myself into doing anything at all, regardless of necessity and I succeeded. Perhaps a little too well. I didn't even know I was capable of sleeping so much. 9-10 hours a day became the norm when I usually can't sleep much more than 6.5 without having trouble sleeping later. It must have something to do with sleeping when you're tired and not when you have to. Anyway, I also got a lot of reading done, including finishing Eldest, which I've been working on for a while. So, now I've got a lot to review. I'm going to start with The Wintergarden Mystery by Carola Dunn, which I actually finished before my vacation , but didn't get around to blogging about.

The Wintergarden Mystery by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is a 1920’s aristocratic woman with a twist; she wants to work for her living instead of just being an societal ornament. She turns to journalism in her bid to make her own way in the world and finagles an invitation to a fellow aristocrat’s large country home as a way of finding enough information to put together an article on the house. Unfortunately, the family matriarch is not too thrilled with having to entertain a working woman, let alone an aristocratic working woman and protests her presence vehemently. Daisy is already walking a proverbial tightrope when she stumbles across a body buried in the winter garden. Daisy then becomes bent on finding out whodunit, despite the protestations of police inspector, who is also a friend of hers.

I like mysteries and I adore Agatha Christie, so I figured I could hardly go wrong with this one, especially as I got it during Audible’s $4.95 sale. If you’re looking for a cosy mystery and a simple, quick read, this is a good one. It’s hardly taxing as both the plot and the characters are fairly predictable and it’s a little heavy on the cheery-o pip-pips and that sort of rot (just enough to make the eyes roll but not to irritate). It’s definitely not up to Christie standards, yet it’s light and enjoyable and just the thing is you’re looking to relax with a bit of fluff. 3 out of 5 for this one. Recommended if you’re looking for something that won’t tax you too much.

The Alchemist’s Pursuit by Dave Duncan

I’d seen this book around a few times and thought it looked interesting but never wanted to risk spending money on it. So, when it popped up in the latest Audible $4.95 sale, I decided the price was worth the risk and bought it. Well, let’s just say I’m glad I waited until it was on sale. It really just wasn’t my thing.

Alfeo Zeno, a poor nobleman, is Master Nostradamus’ apprentice. For a price, Nostradamus solves mysteries and helps prove innocence of guilt but because he has slowly become infirm, Alfeo must do most of Nostradamus’ running around for him while the master himself does the thinking. Venice’s “courtesans” are being killed off by a serial killer and Nostradamus is hired to find that killer before anyone else dies. Alfeo, whose lover is a courtesan, is desperate to protect the girls, especially his own, from further harm and pitches himself into the hunt with fervour. The trail brings them back to an old murder in a noble house; one the lords of Venice don’t want dug up. The more they find out, the more dangerous the whole situation becomes for everyone.

The idea for the book sounds pretty good, but it doesn’t live up to the hype in my opinion. The plot was fine, but I didn’t care for the execution of it. Alfeo lacks personality and his forays into the world of romance are cheesy at best. Some of his romanticisms were so bad I actually groaned out loud. It was like reading the thoughts of a love-struck teenager who’d read too many bad romance novels. Nostradamus had a little more spark, but he didn’t feature in it as much as I would have liked. The other characters were OK, but seemed either stereotypical or wooden. Of course, this brings me to mention that it was an audio book and the reader isn’t going to become one of my favourites. His voice is pleasant enough, but he lacked any notion of the Italian language and truly slaughtered a lot of the words, he seemed to be stuck in intense mode, even when the dialogue was light-hearted and didn’t adapt to the characters very well. This all sounds a lot more scathing than it’s meant to be. After all, I did actually finish the book, which is more than I can say for several I’ve tried recently, and it’s not as if I didn’t enjoy it at all because it was OK. It may also be right up someone else’s ally, and it may be that I just didn’t catch the best of the series, so if you think it may be your kind of thing, then by all means give them a try. I think I’ll be passing though.

This one gets a 2 out of 5 from me. Disappointing especially as it had the potential to be quite a good read.

Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh is New Zealand’s own Agatha Christie and I’ve been wanting to read one of her books for a long time but hadn’t had the opportunity. I finally got a hold of one in the last Audible sale and dug straight in. It took me a while, but I finally cottoned on that these are the books to the series The Alleyn Mysteries which I loved.

In Death at the Bar, three gentlemen meet up for their annual vacation in a small Devonshire town. The local pub has both a public and a private tap. These gentlemen meet in the private tap and are joined by a few others in the evenings for a game of darts and a drink. Amongst them is a relative stranger to the area, but who is an excellent darts player, dares Watchman, a famous London Barrister, to a game of darts where Watchman must hold his hand up to the board while this man, Legg, throws the darts between his fingers, with a storm raging outside all the while. Unfortunately, one of the darts his Watchman then the lights go out and suddenly Watchman is dead. Inspector Alleyn is then called in from London to ferret out the killer.

I wouldn’t have said this is one of the better mysteries, although I think it might make an excellent play. In novel form, it drags a bit because most of the action and deduction takes place in the pub where the murder occurred giving it a bit of a stifling feeling. Although Marsh introduced enough characters to keep you guessing whodunit, the scene and motives were still a little too obvious. On the plus side, it’s a good, comfortable murder mystery of the kind I like and I’ll probably read it again sometime, even if it isn’t up to Christie standard. 3 out of 5 for this particular book, but I’ll be giving the author another try to see if it was just this one that didn’t overwhelm me.