The Accordionist by Fred Vargas

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The Accordionist (Three Evangelists 3)

The Accordionist by Fred Vargas and translated by SianReynolds is the third book in the Three Evangelists series and it’s probably the most puzzling of the three. They are quirky crime fiction novels, with eccentric characters and intricate plots. The three ‘Evangelists’ are thirty-something historians, Mathias, Marc and Lucien, all specialists in three different periods of history, who live in a rambling house in Paris. Together with ex-special investigator Louis Kehlweiler, retired from the Ministry of the Interior, they find themselves involved in murder mysteries, mainly because Louis just can’t resist trying to solve particularly difficult crimes.

In this third book a simple-minded young man, Clément Vauquer, who plays the accordion, is the prime suspect for the murders of two Parisian women as he was seen watching both of their apartments before their murders. Desperate to prove his innocence he appeals to Marthe, who had looked after him as a child, for help.

Louis is supposed to be translating a biography of Bismark, but the newspaper reports of the two murdered women have distracted him so when his old friend Marthe tells him that Clément, who is like a son to her, is innocent and being used as a scapegoat he agrees to investigate and find the real culprit. He in turn, enlists the help of the three evangelists and Marc’s uncle, a retired policeman and they take Clément into their house to protect him whilst they dig deeper into the mystery.

I found this book the most baffling of the trilogy and really had no idea of how they managed to unravel all the strands of this murder mystery which has its roots in the past. They worked on instincts and by deciphering Clément’s muddled thoughts and memories, and with the help of a poem by the nineteenth century poet, Gerard de Nerval, finally uncover the killer’s identity. It’s the eccentric characters and the complicated plots that make Fred Vargas’ books stand out for me.

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau. She has won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. I’ve also enjoyed her Commissaire Adamsberg books, probably more even than the Three Evangelists, and I still have a few of that series left to read including the tenth and latest book in the series, This Poison will Remain, due to be published in August this year.

  • Format: Paperback
  • File Size: 783 KB
  • Print Length: 370 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0099548364
  • Source: Library book
  • My Rating: 4*

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

An intriguing and mystifying book by Diane Setterfield – Once Upon a River – without doubt one of the best books I read last year – I was entranced from the beginning to the end. It’s a mystery beginning in the Swan Inn at Radcot, an ancient inn, well-known for its storytelling, on the banks of the Thames. A badly injured stranger enters carrying the drowned corpse of a little girl. It’s mystifying as hours later the dead child, miraculously it seems, takes a breath, and returns to life. The mystery is enhanced by folklore, by science that appears to be magic, and by romance and superstition.

The story has a timeless feel to it but it is set somewhere towards the end of the nineteenth century. There are numerous strands and characters to the story and Diane Setterfield drew me slowly into the book with a leisurely description of the characters and their situations. Just as the river, a character in its own right, takes many twists and turns and has many tributaries, it becomes apparent that the little girl could belong to a number of different families all with links to the river. As the story progresses these individual families each claim the child as theirs and I was never really certain which of them – if any – were telling the truth. Much is hidden and much eventually is revealed.

It’s a multi-layered book that you need time to digest, richly atmospheric and told from multiple viewpoints. I loved all the detail – about the river itself, about photography as Henry Daunt (based on Henry Taunt, the real-life photographer of the Thames and surrounding areas) travelled along the river in a houseboat with its own darkroom, about the body’s metabolism and the treatment of injuries and diseases of the late Victorian period and about belief in the afterlife. Various people refer to Quietly, the ferryman who featured in the stories people told – he appeared when you were in trouble on the water, gliding in his punt, either guiding you to the safety of the bank, or if it is your time he takes you to another shore ‘on the other side of the river.‘

Once Upon a River is a beautifully and lyrically told story, and cleverly plotted so that I was not completely sure at times what it was that I was reading. It’s historical fiction with a touch of magic that completely beguiled me with its mysteries and fascinating characters. I enjoyed reading her first book, The Thirteenth Tale, years ago before I began my blog, but I loved this one so much more!

My thanks to the publishers, Transworld Digital, for my review copy via NetGalley.

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 2336 KB
  • Print Length: 419 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0857525662
  • Publisher: Transworld Digital (4 Dec. 2018)
  • Source: Review copy
  • My Rating: 5*

Happy New Year 2019!

Published on by Margaret27 Comments

 

HNY19
Happy New Year 2019!

Ten of the Best Books I Read In 2018

I’m starting my 2019 posts with Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

I was very generous last year in the star ratings I gave to the books I read, so these are just 10 of my 5* books. These are not in any particular order – I loved them all.

Victoria: A Life

Victoria: A Life by A N Wilson – a masterful biography of Queen Victoria. Wilson had access to the Royal Archives and permission from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to quote from materials in royal copyright. He portrays Victoria both as a woman, a wife and mother as well as a queen set against the backdrop of the political scene in Britain and Europe.

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. It’s one of the most powerful books I’ve read for ages. It’s about a shooting at a school and its effect on six year old Zach and his family. It’s emotional, moving and absolutely compelling, sad but ultimately uplifting.

The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox. Aidan Waits is a Detective Constable working night shifts with Detective Inspector Peter Sutcliffe, known as Sutty. They don’t like each other – at all. The only thing they have in common is that they each try to make things as difficult as possible for the other. But strangely their partnership gets results as they search for the identity of the ‘smiling man’ and his killer.


The HungerThe Hunger by Alma Katsu, historical fiction based on the true story of the Donner Party, pioneers who were looking for a better life in the American West. They formed a wagon train under the leadership of George Donner and James Reed making their way west to California in 1846. It interweaves facts and fiction and with hints of the supernatural and Indian myths it becomes a thrilling, spine tingling horrific tale.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell, crime fiction that keeps you guessing about everything right from the first page – someone was murdered, but who was it and why, and just who was the killer? It’s full of suspense and drama. It is only right at the end of the book that all becomes clear.

I was hooked right from the start of No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister. It plunges straight into a trial as Martha sits in the courtroom listening to expert witnesses being questioned  and cross-examined about the death of her baby, Layla, just eight weeks old. Her sister Becky is accused of murdering her. This is a tense, tightly plotted book, narrated from several viewpoints, but mainly alternating between Martha and Becky.

Absent in the SpringSomething completely different from Agatha Christie – Absent in the Spring which she wrote under the name of Mary Westmacott.  Set in Mesopotamia (corresponding to today’s Iraq, mostly, but also parts of modern-day Iran, Syria and Turkey) in a railway rest-house at Tel Abu Hamid on the Turkish border, it’s the story of Joan Scudamore who was stranded in the desert, after visiting her daughter in Baghdad – an in-depth character study, with a growing sense of tension.

The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale, an extraordinary, magical and wonderful book that captivated me, a book set mainly in 1917 whilst the First World War was taking its toll of humanity, leaving despair and tragedy in its wake. It’s a blend of historical fiction and magic realism. Papa Jack’s Emporium in London is a toyshop extraordinaire. It opens with the first frost of winter each year and closes when the first snowdrop blooms. And the toys it sells aren’t ordinary toys – they seem alive!

Tombland (Matthew Shardlake, #7)

Tombland by C J Sansom, historical fiction set in 1549, mainly in Norwich. Edward VI is king, a minor and England is ruled by the Duke of Somerset as Lord Protector. Rebellion is spreading in protest against the landowners’ enclosures of the common land. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake is asked to investigate the murder of Edith, the wife of John Boleyn – a distant Norfolk relation of Anne Boleyn. However, he gets caught up in Kett’s Rebellion as thousands of peasants establish a vast camp overlooking the city.

And last but not least, The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor, set in 1666 in London. It was just six years after the Stuart Monarchy had been restored – Charles II was reinstated as King – and people are struggling with the aftermath of the Great Fire that had reduced a large part of London to ashes and rubble. It’s a complex story interweaving a murder mystery, the hunt for the regicides responsible for the execution of Charles I and details of the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire.

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

Poisoned Pen Press|4 December 2018 |227 pages|e-book |Review copy|5* This edition, published in association with the British Library, has a preface by Rachel Reeves, Member of Parliament for Leeds West and an introduction by Martin Edwards. It was first published in 1932 by George G Harrap & Co. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Division Bell Mystery – it’s entertaining on several levels both from the mystery ‘locked room’ aspect and historically, socially and culturally with its insight into how Parliament worked in the 1930s and the status of women in Parliament in the inter-war years. In fact political commentary runs throughout the novel. It was a period of great social injustice, people were still struggling in the aftermath of the Great War – a period of mass unemployment with demands for both political and social change. Ellen Wilkinson was one of the first women Labour MPs. I’ve come across her before as a fiery politician, known as ‘Red Ellen’ both for her red hair and her left-wing politics. She supported the men from Jarrow in Tyneside in 1936 as they marched from their home town to London to present a petition against the mass unemployment and extreme poverty in the north-east of England. She marched with them for part of the way and handed in their petition to the House of Commons. She was a keen murder mystery fan and The Division Bell Mystery is her one entry into the Golden Age Detective fiction. The classic mystery was popular in the interwar years as people entertained themselves with puzzles such as the ‘locked room’ mysteries as in this book. The main character is the Home Secretary’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, young Robert West. As a Parliamentary Private Secretary herself, Ellen Wilkinson portrays his role and political intrigue with convincing detail. There’s a financial crisis and the Home Secretary is negotiating with the American financier Georges Oissel for a loan. The Division Bell rings – a signal to MPs to cast their votes – and West is shocked to hear a gunshot as he is making his way down the corridor leading to Room J, where the Home Secretary and Oissel had been dining. On entering the room he finds the Home Secretary has left to vote and Oissel is slumped on the floor, his shirt front stained with blood and a revolver lying beside him. No one else was in the room, no one had been seen entering or leaving the room and there is no evidence of who had killed him. It falls to West to work with the police investigating his death. It is a nicely complicated mystery but for me it is the setting and the characters that makes this book so interesting. West is the main character but I particularly liked Grace Richards, a young female MP, based on Ellen Wilkinson herself – in her preface Rachel Reeves points out the similarities between Ellen and Grace. Once I started to read The Division Bell Mystery I didn’t want to put it down – definitely a 5* read for me! My thanks to the publishers, Poisoned Pen Press, for my review copy via NetGalley.

The Last Ten Books Tag…

Published on by Margaret12 Comments

I’ve seen this tag recently on Annabel’s blog (see her answers here) and on Simon’s blog (see his answers here) and I thought I’d do it too …

  1. The last book I gave up on

I don’t think there’s been one book I’ve given up on this year, but there are several books that I’ve started, read a few pages, or even a few chapters, and found them difficult to get into, so I’ve stopped reading them. But I haven’t abandoned them as the right time to read them could come round sooner or later.

2. The last book I re-read

The Poisonwood Bible

I don’t do much re-reading, although I’d like to. The last book I re-read was The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favourite books.

3. The last book I bought

A Deadly Thaw (DC Connie Childs, #2)That was Sarah Ward’s A Deadly Thaw – her second book, just before Christmas. I loved her first book, In Bitter Chill. And I have a few to catch up with as she has now written books three and four in her DC Childs series.

4. The last book I said I read but actually didn’t

I’ve never said I’ve read a book when I haven’t – although there are books I think I’ve read and then when I look at them realise that I haven’t – I’ve just known about them, or seen a dramatisation.

5. The last book I wrote in the margins of

Book Darts

I’ve only written (and underlined/highlighted) in books I’ve been studying for a course – otherwise I don’t. One of the benefits of reading e-books is that you can highlight and make notes to your heart’s content without spoiling the pages. And for ‘real’ books I have a tin of little book darts to mark pages of interest, as well as ordinary bookmarks.

6. The last book I had signed

A Life in QuestionsThat was by Jeremy Paxman when he visited Mainstreet Trading to talk about his book, A Life in Questions.

7. The last book I lost

Notes from an Exhibition

That was Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale – but I hadn’t actually lost it – I just hadn’t put it back where I thought I had. I was going to buy another copy but luckily I found it in a box of books to return to the library!

8. The last book I had to replace

The Magus

The Magus by John Fowles because it was chosen by my book group to read earlier this year. I’d read it years ago and given it away, so I bought the e-book version to re-read it.

9. The last book I argued over

I can’t remember ever arguing over a book – discussed yes, but actually argued over, no.

10. The last book you couldn’t find

See no 7 above.  I often misplace books. It’s mainly because they’re double shelved and end up out of the original a-z author I’d shelved them. And I’m not very good at putting them back on the shelves in the right place.

The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries

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The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries: The Most Complete Collection of Yuletide Whodunits Ever Assembled

The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries:The Most Complete Collection of Yuletide Whodunits Ever Assembled edited by Otto Penzler is just the book to read at this time of year if, like me, you enjoy mystery fiction with a Christmas theme. It is a big book of 647 pages – so I have an e-book version and dip into into it each Christmas.

It contains stories by a variety of authors including Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter, Ellis Peters, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ellery Queen, Edgar Wallace, Peter Lovesey, Peter Robinson, Ed McBain, Sarah Paretsky, Mary Higgins Clark, Ngaio Marsh, Isaac Asimov, G K Chesterton, H R F Keating, Robert Louis Stevenson and more.

Rumpole and the Spirit of Christmas by  John Mortimer is one of the stories in the section ‘A Funny Little Christmas’. In it Rumpole is at the Old Bailey defending Edward Timson, the youngest member of the huge south London family of criminals, charged with wilful murder. It’s Christmas and Eddie tells Rumpole his mum wants him hone for Christmas – but Rumpole wonders ‘which Christmas?‘

Will he make it? The evidence against him is strong. It all began when a war broke out between the Timsons and the O’Dowds when Bridget O’Dowd was chosen to play the role of Mary in the school nativity play and Eddie said she was ‘a spotty little tart unsuited to play any role of which the most notable characteristic was virginity‘. The resulting battle ended with the death of Kevin O’Dowd.

Rumpole is his usual grumpy self, getting drunk on wine in Pommeroy’s Wine Bar with the prosecuting barrister, Wrigglesworth, instead of hurrying home to his wife, Hilda (She Who Must be Obeyed) who has made him rissoles and frozen peas for his dinner. As I read it I could easily imagine the scenes, with Leo McKern playing the role of Rumpole.

Agatha Christie has two stories in the collection – the first is The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding in which Hercule Poirot investigates the theft of a priceless ruby stolen from a Far Eastern prince. The Christmas Pudding in question is a ‘large football of a pudding, a piece of holly stuck in it and glorious flames of blue and red rising round it’  and the second A Christmas Tragedy, a little puzzle of a mystery. Miss Marple tells the story of the death of Mrs Sanders and how it it had been made to look an accident when it was really a cold-blooded murder. I can’t see any connection in this story to Christmas, but it is definitely a tragedy and for a short story it is very complicated.

There are no stories by Charles Dickens in this collection but Morse’s Greatest Mystery by Colin Dexter begins with a quotation from A Christmas Carol, when Lewis knocks on the door of Morse’s North Oxford flat and Morse greets him whilst shouting down the phone to his bank manager. Like Scrooge Morse doesn’t like Christmas! This story is about the theft of a donation of £400 pounds to a charity for Mentally Handicapped Children the patrons of the George pub. Morse has to follow a series of clues to solve the mystery – and by the end he becomes more like the Christmas Scrooge …

~~~

As this is my last post before Christmas I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!