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My Week in Books: 4 April 2018

Published on April 4, 2018 by Margaret17 Comments

This Week in Books is a weekly round-up hosted by Lypsyy Lost & Found, about what I’ve been reading Now, Then & Next.

IMG_1384-0

A similar meme, WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

Currently reading:

I have started to read The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor, due to be published 5 April 2018 and it’s looking good so far.

Blurb:

Somewhere in the soot-stained ruins of Restoration London, a killer has gone to ground…

The Great Fire has ravaged London, wreaking destruction and devastation wherever its flames spread. Now, guided by the incorruptible Fire Court, the city is slowly rebuilding, but times are volatile and danger is only ever a heartbeat away.

James Marwood, son of a traitor, is thrust into this treacherous environment when his ailing father claims to have stumbled upon a murdered woman in the very place where the Fire Court sits. Then his father is run down and killed. Accident? Or another murder…?

Determined to uncover the truth, Marwood turns to the one person he can trust – Cat Lovett, the daughter of a despised regicide. Marwood has helped her in the past. Now it’s her turn to help him. But then comes a third death… and Marwood and Cat are forced to confront a vicious and increasingly desperate killer whose actions threaten the future of the city itself.

Recently finished:

The Tenderness of Wolves

The last book I finished is The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, historical fiction set in Canada in 1867. I am so, so pleased to finish this as it has taken me almost 4 weeks to read it. I found it really hard to get into it at first and disliked the use of the present tense throughout. But overall I did like the story and will try to expand on these thoughts in a separate post.

Next:

Now the difficult part – what to read next!

Little Dorritt

I really should get back to reading Little Dorrit which I temporarily put on the back burner so that I could finish The Tenderness of Wolves. It’s my Classics Club Spin book but haven’t got very far with it yet and it’s looking extremely unlikely that I’ll finish it by the end of April!

But I am so tempted to read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton that I’ve borrowed from my local library as I suspect I won’t be able to renew it.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Blurb (Goodreads):

How do you stop a murder that’s already happened?

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed–again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend–but nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

Deeply atmospheric and ingeniously plotted, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a highly original debut that will appeal to fans of Kate Atkinson and Agatha Christie.

Have you read any of these books? Do any of them tempt you?

The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor

Published on April 3, 2018 by Margaret10 Comments

Andrew Taylor is one of my favourite authors, so I had high hopes of The Ashes of London. And I was not disappointed – I loved this book, set in 1666 in London. It was just six years after the Stuart Monarchy had been restored – Charles II was reinstated as King after twelve years of the Interregnum under the Cromwells’ reign (Oliver succeeded by his son, Richard) as Lord Protector and there are still sympathisers of their regime at large.

What struck me most is just how real it seemed as people struggled after the Great Fire had reduced a large part of London to ashes and rubble. It brings home the reality of being homeless – a refugee in your own country – and I could hear the noise of the fire, smell the smoke and almost feel the heat and the pain of the victims of the fire.

The novel is narrated in the first person by James Marwood, working for Master Williamson (under-secretary to the Secretary of State for the South) as one of the clerks on the London Gazette, and also from Cat (Catherine) Lovett’s viewpoint in the third person. James’s father, who was a Fifth Monarchist, an extreme Puritan sect, and a supporter of Cromwell, has recently been released from prison, and is now suffering from dementia. Whereas Cat’s father, Thomas Lovett, was one of the Regicides, excluded from the pardon granted to those to those guilty of most crimes committed during the Civil War and the Interregnum, now in hiding, after Charles II took the throne. They meet briefly as they both stand watching the fire engulf St Paul’s Cathedral when James snatches Cat, dressed as a boy, away from the flames. Their stories later combine when the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral – stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back, followed by the discovery of a second murder victim in the Fleet Ditch.

Andrew Taylor has written a complex story interweaving the murder mystery, the hunt for the regicides responsible for the execution of Charles I and the historical details of the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. Both James and Cat meet Master Hakesby, a draughtsman working with Dr Wren – that is Christopher Wren – on a design for rebuilding London, including St Paul’s Cathedral.

I found it all fascinating, fully engaged in the plot full of suspense and tension, loving the detail of its setting and the characterisation. I particularly liked James Marwood and the glimpses of Charles II as he directs the work to prevent the fire from spreading and his engagement in scientific research. It is an impressive recreation of the period, full of historical detail without overwhelming the story. In short, I loved it.

There is a second book continuing the story, The Fire Court, to be published on 5th April, which I have just started to read.

Many thanks to Harper Collins for a review copy via NetGalley.

Amazon UK link
Amazon US link

The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie

Published on April 1, 2018 by Margaret2 Comments

Description

Can you hide a secret with the whole world watching?

When an explosion rips apart a Chicago building, the lives of three women are forever altered.

A year later, Cecily is in mourning. She was supposed to be in the building that day. Instead, she stood on the street and witnessed it going down, with her husband and best friend inside. Kate, now living thousands of miles away, fled the disaster and is hoping that her past won’t catch up with her. And Franny, a young woman in search of her birth mother, watched the horror unfold on the morning news, knowing that the woman she was so desperate to reconnect with was in the building.

Now, despite the marks left by the tragedy, they all seem safe. But as its anniversary dominates the media, the memories of that terrifying morning become dangerous triggers. All these women are guarding important secrets. Just how far will they go to keep them?

My thoughts:

This is the first book by Catherine McKenzie* that I’ve read and I was immediately drawn into this story, wondering who I could believe. The narration alternates between the three woman, Cecily, Kate and Franny as their stories are gradually revealed. Franny’s story is told through the transcripts of her interviews with Teo, who is making a documentary about the tragedy and its impact on the families concerned both at the time of the explosion and also a year later.

Cecily, immediately comes across as trustworthy – and yet there is something she is obviously concealing. It’s obvious right from the start that Kate has a secret and Franny appears to be the most fragile and desperate to find out more about her biological mother. With a title like the ‘good liar‘ I was suspicious about all three women; which one is lying, can you believe any if them, and if so who? Catherine McKenzie built up the suspense, providing back stories for each woman, revealing reasons to distrust their stories and the way they present themselves.

I enjoyed the suspense, and trying to work out who was lying. It kept my interest to the end, even though I thought some of the ‘secrets’ were easy to detect. It builds up to a satisfying conclusion with a twist right at the end – a book of lies and deceit from start to finish.

My thanks to Lake Union Publishing for a review copy via NetGalley.

Amazon UK link
Amazon US link

*About the author (copied from her website)

A graduate of McGill University in History and Law, Catherine is a partner in a litigation boutique in Montreal, where she was born and raised. Catherine’s novels, SPIN, ARRANGED, FORGOTTEN, HIDDEN, SMOKE and FRACTURED, are bestsellers and have been translated into numerous languages, including French, German, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Slovakian and Czech. SMOKE was named one of the Top 100 Books in 2015 by Amazon and one of the Best Books of October 2015 by Goodreads. FRACTURED was named one of the Best Books of October 2016 by Goodreads.

Catherine’s first book writing as Julie Apple (the protagonist in FRACTURED), THE MURDER GAME, was released in November, 2016. SPIN has been optioned for a television series. A short film of ARRANGED was made in 2014 and won a Canadian National Screen Institute Award. Catherine was on set while they filmed it. It was one of the highlights of her writing life.

Catherine’s next novel, THE GOOD LIAR, will be published on April 3, 2018.

An avid skier and runner, Catherine climbed the Grand Teton in 2014.

And if you want to know how she has time to do all that, the answer is: robots.

My Week in Books: 28 March 2018

Published on March 28, 2018 by Margaret15 Comments

This Week in Books is a weekly round-up hosted by Lypsyy Lost & Found, about what I’ve been reading Now, Then & Next.

IMG_1384-0

A similar meme, WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

Currently reading:

The Tenderness of Wolves

I’m making progress with The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, historical fiction set in Canada in 1867. In last week’s post I wrote that I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I hoped, or expected, but now I’ve read about 40% of the book I’ve settled more into the story as Lucy Ross heads north into the forest following the trail of her son Francis, suspected of murdering Laurent Jammet. Although, I am still finding the number of characters rather confusing and am uncomfortable with the use of the present tense.

The Ashes of London

I’m also reading The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor and am totally immersed in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1666 as work begins on rebuilding London. There is mystery too as among the many dead bodies a body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral – stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back. There are two strands to the story, one narrated in the first person by James Marwood, whose father was a Fifth Monarchist, and the other in the third person by Cat Lovett, also the child of a Fifth Monarchist, whose father was one of the Regicides, and is now a fugitive.

Little Dorritt

And I have made a start in reading my Classics Club spin book – Little Dorrit. I was quite surprised to find it doesn’t begin in the Marshalsea Debtors’ prison but in a prison in Marseilles in 1826 with a notorious murderer Rigaud telling his cell mate how he killed his wife.

Recently finished:

The last book I finished is The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes, pure escapism, an Inspector Appleby book about a house in Bloomsbury that had disappeared, two young girls who had been kidnapped in York and London, and a cab horse named Daffodil that had gone missing in Harrogate.

I posted my review on Saturday.

Next:

It could be the sequel to The Ashes of London, The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor, due to be published 5 April 2018.Or it could be something different as I never really know until the time comes to start another book what I want to read next.

Blurb:

Somewhere in the soot-stained ruins of Restoration London, a killer has gone to ground…

Have you read any of these books? Do any of them tempt you?

The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes

Published on March 24, 2018March 24, 2018 by Margaret4 Comments

‘A hodge-podge of fantasy and harumscarum adventure’

The Daffodil Affair was first published in 1942.

Description

Light after light goes out, including two luminaries from Scotland Yard.

In the midst of the Blitz, a house in Bloomsbury disappears. In York and London, two young girls have been kidnapped. And in Harrogate, a cab horse named Daffodil has gone missing.

Appleby is sent to look into the Daffodil affair, while vice detective Hudspith investigates the cases of human trafficking. But they must work in tandem to piece this mystery together. And they soon find that the links among the disappearances are odder than they could possibly imagine: the house is haunted, one is girl a witch, the other has multiple personalities, and the horse can count. Whoever is behind this is trafficking in marvels.

Appleby and Hudspith pursue their victims deep into the South American jungle where they discover the terrifying sprawl of this bizarre vision. Surrounded by rivers filled with alligators and the swirling mist of the Amazon, the pair are confronted with questions of magic and the supernatural. But when the madman’s machinations turn to the two police officers, Appleby must race against the clock to stop this weird experiment before it costs him his life.

Master mystery writer, Michael Innes, turns his hand to an adventure tale, and sends his Inspector Appleby to the exotic jungle of the Amazon.

My thoughts:.

This is the 8th Inspector Appleby book and the 3rd one I’ve read. Each one seems very different. This one is pure escapism and I think Michael Innes must have enjoyed himself immensely whilst writing it. It’s full of literary allusions and quotations and has a completely unrealistic plot. I think his writing is an acquired taste with long, meandering sentences, and formal language, including many unfamiliar words to me that I wasn’t sure of their meaning.

But I enjoyed reading it, once I’d come to terms with Innes’ style – and the crazy plot. I enjoyed spotting many of the literary references, although I probably missed as many as I recognised. There are allusions to Wordsworth’s poem Daffodils, to Moby Dick, Ulysses, Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Shelley, Dr Johnson, Australian Aboriginal mythology, Browning, Yeats and Shakespeare amongst others. And in the South American jungle with its alligator–infested rivers, their ‘plop’,’plop’ as they disposed of Mr Wine’s victims reminded me of the crocodile in Peter Pan. The characters’ unlikely names, such as Mr Wine – Mrs Nurse, a high-class medium, seemingly nice, honest and capable, the enigmatic Miss Mood, with her ethereal, gibberish talk, husky and glamorous and Mr Beaglehole, Mr Wine’s secretary, whose name is a corrupt form of Bogle Hole, Scots for the lair of the demon, who lures his victims in, all contribute to this allegorical tale.

I particularly like his thoughts about detective stories, referring to them as stories that take one out of oneself, and as Hudspith tells Appleby they are in ‘a sort of hodge-podge of fantasy and harumscarum adventure that isn’t a proper detective story at all. We might be by Michael Innes.’ ‘Innes? I’ve never heard of him.’ Appleby spoke with decided exasperation.’

Throughout the book Innes drops in his thoughts on a variety of topics including philosophy, the nature of evil, witchcraft, paranormal manifestations, telepathy, superstition versus scientific inquiry, and multiple personalities. The arch-villain, Mr Wine, is a madman attempting to conquer the world with his physic circus of mediums through superstition and the supernatural.

I wasn’t at all sure where this book was taking me. It’s more a book of suspense than a detective story. There is nothing straight forward about it; it’s richly descriptive and surreal as it proceeds from one absurd situation to the next, but with serious undertones. It predicts that under such a madman as Mr Wine weird fantasies would spread, and sub-rational deceits and mumbo-jumbo would put power in the hands of whoever had control of a vast and efficient organization.

The ending of the book continues the fantastical aspects of this book and as Hudspith considers how they can escape from Wine and his gang he concludes that their only hope is for a ‘deus ex machina to wind everything up happily after all.’ And that is precisely what Innes provided.

The Author

Michael Innes is the pseudonym of John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (1906 – 1994), a British scholar and novelist. He was born near Edinburgh, the son of a Scottish professor, and attended Edinburgh Academy, then Oriel College, Oxford where he won the Matthew Arnold Memorial Prize in 1939 and honours in English. He was a Lecturer, then a Professor in English at different universities, including Adelaide University in South Australia from 1935 to 1945. He became an Oxford fellow in 1949 and finished his academic career in 1973 as a Student (Fellow) at Christ Church Oxford.

As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective John Appleby.

My thanks to Ipso Books for a review copy via NetGalley.

Amazon UK link
Amazon US link

My Friday Post: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M Harris

Published on March 23, 2018 by Margaret13 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

This week was the week for the library van to visit (it comes once a fortnight on Tuesdays) and I borrowed a few books, including The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M Harris.

The Gospel of Loki (Runemarks, #0.5)

ALL OF US CAME FROM FIRE AND ICE. Chaos and Order. Light and dark. In the beginning – or back in the day – there was fire coming out of a hole in the ice, bringing disruption, turmoil and change. Change isn’t always comfortable, but it is a fact of life. And that’s where life as we know it began, as the fires of World Below pierced the ice of World Above.

Blurb:

The novel is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods – retold from the point of view of the world’s ultimate trickster, Loki. It tells the story of Loki’s recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself.

Using her life-long passion for the Norse myths, Joanne Harris has created a vibrant and powerful fantasy novel.

The first adult epic fantasy novel from multi-million copy bestselling author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56:

I found the smiths in their workshop. A cavern, deep in World Below, where a series of cracks in the earth gave vent to a seam of molten rock. This was their only source of light, it was also their forge and their hearth. In my original Aspect, I would not have suffered, either from the fire or the fumes, but in this body I was unprepared, both for the heat and for the stench.

~~~

At the beginning of the book there is a list of Characters, with a word of advice – don’t trust any of them. Loki describes himself as the Trickster, the Father of Lies … Not the most popular guy around. I’m really looking forward to reading this – hope I won’t be disappointed!

What do you think – should I carry on reading – or not?