Up with the Lark

The Blood Spilt

I seem to have quite a lot of Scandinavian mystery stories on my reading pile these days.  I find them very different in tone from English or North American mysteries.  There is a kind of formality and perhaps more civility to them.  I'm not sure if that comes from their society or if it is a function of reading a work in translation.  The urban mysteries don't have the kind of nastiness and grit you associate with Ian Rankin or Ken Bruen and the small town mysteries don't have the kind of fey charm of something by Simon Brett.  There is also a very strong sense of place in most of these novels.  This seems to me to be true of The Blood Spilt, the second novel by Asa Larsson.  I enjoyed this book, but my biggest complaint is that the plot is too close to her first novel, Sun Storms. I should let you know that if you read this book first, then you'll know who committed the murder in the first novel.  I always find that annoying in mysteries with recurring characters, but in this case you can see that Larsson wrote herself into a corner and really had to reveal the information, otherwise the behaviour of her main character wouldn't make sense.  I'll certainly give her third novel a try when it appears. Buy at Amazon

The Naming of the Dead

The Naming of the Dead is the lastest in a series of mystery novels by the great Scottish writer Ian Rankin.  Rankin has once again returned to his tortured antihero Inspector Rebus. As always, Rebus is tilting at his own personal windmills, trying to get the better of his superior officers and trying to stay clear of his nemesis Ger Cafferty.  Rankin's writing is taut and the murder plot moves along at a good clip.  But it is the character of Rebus that makes Rankin's novels so compelling.  It seems that his mantle of guilt and responsibility becomes heavier to bear with each book.  Rankin's other recurring character Siobhan Clarke is also a great character study and with this novel she is moving perilously close to leading the kind of austere and driven life that Rebus endures with so much difficulty.  Rankin is a real master of his genre and here he is at the top of his game.Buy at Amazon

The Meaning of Night

Author Michael Cox apparently took some 30 years to write this novel The Meaning of Night.  Weighing in at 600 pages, it may take you almost that long to read it.  Mr. Cox is the editor of The Oxford Book of Victorian Detective Stories and clearly knows the writing style of the period intimately.  I have read a lot of 19th century literature and if I hadn't known that this was a modern book, the author would have had me fooled.  It has all the requisite characters - the young man cheated out of his inheritance, the saintly mother, the kindly benefactor, the beguiling prostitute, the evil enemy, the beautiful chaste young lady, the mysterious deceased Lady of the manor, even the rotund housekeeper and the weeping maid.  Mr. Cox has not only captured the voice of the time, he gives the novel the kind of pacing of a Victorian detective fiction, doling out bits of forshadowing information and plot twists, although none that weren't apparent to me.  The novel touches on many things common to Victorian books: the notion of honour, loyalty, blood, true love all seen through the lens of the social mores of the time.  Readers of modern novels may find it wordy, but if you are a fan of authors such as Wilkie Collins then you have a good read ahead of you.  So sit in your wingback chair in front of the fire with your companion next to you working her embroidery, ring for the butler to bring your tea (or perhaps a very little whisky) and open the pages of the novel and let Mr. Cox work his magic.

For movie lovers - you might want to try Kind Hearts and Coronets (19490 starring Alec Guiness and Dennis Price which covers a lot of the same territory but with a lot more humour. Amazon

Dead Cold

This is the second novel by Canadian writer Louise Penny.  A mystery set in rural Quebec, it revisits characters from her first novel, Still Life.  I think this effort is better than the first with the characters a bit more fleshed out and with a good plot. There is no need to read the Still Life first, although Penny does refer to that novel quite often as the book progresses and I think may provide a bit of a spoiler for people who read these books out of order.  This is one of those books that's good to curl up with on a snowy afternoon and just enjoy. Amazon in Paper or in hardcover

Dublin Noir

Dublin Noir: The Celtic Tiger vs. the Ugly American is part of a series (D.C. Noir, Chicago Noir , Brooklyn Noir) with more to come. If the others in the series are as good as Dublin Noir, then I am in for a treat. Edited by the wonderful Irish writer Ken Bruen Dublin Noir is a collection of short stories that give you a rather different view of that beautiful city than James Joyces’ Dubliners. The stories are gritty and stark and some are graphically violent. Some have gruesome plot twists that made me laugh out loud. If you are a devotee of the English “cosy” then this will have you choking on your tea and crumpets, but if you want something down and dirty and really well written this is the book for you.  Dublin Noir at Amazon

Echo Park

 

I love to curl up on a Sunday morning with a mystery novel. With no obligations or chores for the day, I can begin a page turner and follow it through to the end. Michael Connelly is close to the top of my list of authors who write great Sunday morning mysteries. This past Sunday I read Echo Park which features Connelly’s signature character Harry Bosch. With great characterization, lots of plot twists, nasty bad guys and the flawed, but brutally honest Bosch, this is vintage Michael Connelly. Connelly, who was originally a crime journalist, has a terrific sense of timing while he reels the reader into the material. My husband listens to books on tape and found himself exercising for a longer time at the gym in order to hear the next chapter. This is a terrific book. Echo Park  at  Amazon