Character versus Plot – Musing Mondays

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

This week’s musing from Miz B at Should Be Reading asks’¦

Do you prefer character-driven stories, or plot-driven stories?

I can’t chose, because for me a book has to have both well-defined characters and a good plot.  I prefer to have a balanced book which is both character and plot-driven.

There’s not much left to say really, but I suppose that I couldn’t believe in a plot-driven story without well-defined characters, so maybe I would prefer character-driven stories. For example, not a lot happens in One Fine Day by Molly Panter Downes, and I loved it.  But then it’s a psychological novel, being more about mind than action, about the pleasures and tragedies in life and there is plenty of reflection in it about sociological and cultural changes.

Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass: Holland

Published on by Margaret1 Comment

The idea behind Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass, run by Kerrie, is that participants write a post linked to the country of the week.

This week’s stop there is a choice of either Holland or Belgium. I’ve chosen Holland, with two books set in Amsterdam.

First a book I reviewed in January 2008:

The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan.

[Thief2.jpg]This was the 2007 winner of Long Barn Books First Novel Award. From the back cover: ‘œCharlie Howard writes caper novels about a career thief. He also happens to be one.’

The description of Amsterdam conveys its atmosphere, canals and buildings very well for some one like me, who has never been there. Charlie is asked by an American to steal two little monkey figurines to make up the set ‘œSee no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’. They don’t appear to have any value and he has to steal them from two different people on the same night. Then the American is found murdered and at first Charlie is suspected of being the murderer.

From that point on the book moves at a fast pace through all the ins and outs of the mystery ‘“ who did murder the American, why, what is the significance of the monkeys? At the same time Charlie has a problem with a book he is writing and spends time on the phone discussing the difficulties of sorting out the plot with Victoria, his agent in London.

It kept me guessing and amused and I raced through it to find out what happens.

There are more Charlie Howard mysteries:

  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris
  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas
  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice

And for more information check out Chris Ewan’s blog – The Good Thief’s Blog.

Secondly, a book I read in May 2006, before I began this blog:

book cover of The Apothecary's House by Adrian MathewsThe Apothecary’s House by Adrian Mathews. As I didn’t write anything about it other than this in my list of books read – ‘Set in Amsterdam – a good mystery novel‘ and I no longer have the book, here is a summary from Fantastic Fiction:

When an old woman storms into the Rijks Museum demanding the return of her painting, archivist Ruth Braams cannot quell her curiosity. Together with Myles, her gay confidant, Ruth delves into the history of the piece of looted Nazi art and discovers an enigmatic picture with a disturbing wartime provenance. It also appears that the elderly Lydia is not the only claimant and, against strict bureau regulations, Ruth endeavours to help strengthen her case. Days later, Ruth begins to receive sinister anonymous threats, warning her to stay away from Lydia and the painting. When the door of her home, a houseboat on the Bloemgracht canal, is covered in graffiti and her gas supply tampered with, Ruth is convinced these are deterrents from the rival claimant. Our irrepressible and emotionally troubled heroine refuses to take them at face value and continues to strike up a friendship with the lonely old lady. But as the threats escalate, Ruth realises that there must be far more to the painting’s popularity, and she enters into a series of increasingly lethal adventures as she investigates the painting’s secret symbolism…

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

I thought Murder on the Eiffel Tower was a frustrating book to read. On the one hand it combines crime fiction and historical fiction, which is a favourite genre so I expected to be good. It begins really well as Eugénie Patinot takes her nephews and niece to the newly-opened Eiffel Tower in 1889. They sign the visitors’ book, the Golden Book and then Eugénie collapses and dies, apparently from a bee-sting.  Then there is Victor Legris, a bookseller (even better – historical crime fiction and a bookshop!) who is determined to find out what had really happened. More deaths occur, also caused by bee-stings. Could Paris really be invaded by killer  bees?

So far, so good, but the historical descriptions kept interfering with the mystery. Although it was interesting it slowed the book down too much and was distracting, to my mind. And the mystery wasn’t that good either, with too much guesswork by Victor, who kept changing his mind about who he suspected (and so did I).  I also thought the characters were rather flimsy and I didn’t really engage with any of them. Maybe it’s the translation but I wasn’t enthralled with the style of writing, either, which in parts was a bit tedious. I loved the cover, though.

I bought this book secondhand from Barter Books, without knowing anything about it or the author, attracted by the idea of a murder on the Tower and the cover. From the book I discovered that Claude Izner is the pen-name of two sisters, Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefèvre. They are both booksellers on the banks of the Seine, so that was why I found the book-selling scenes the best part of the book. They are also experts on 19th century Paris – hence the plethora of historical detail, I suppose.

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Gallic Books (1 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 190604001X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906040017
  • Source: I bought the book

Saturday Snapshot

Published on by Margaret18 Comments

 I took this photo a few weeks ago through the window of The Maltings Kitchen, in Berwick-upon-Tweed. It shows the River Tweed on its way down into the North Sea, a seagull sitting on top of one of the chimneys below the restaurant, and a crow-stepped gable end of one of the buildings. And on the skyline you can just see the Royal Border Bridge carrying the East Coast Main Line Railway over the Tweed, built by Robert Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria in 1850.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books.

Book Beginnings

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

I’ve been reading books recently and not writing about them. I didn’t have the impetus at the time (too many other things going on in my life right now to distract me), but I hope to write about them quite soon:

  • The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards – excellent
  • Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie  – very good
  • Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner – a bit disappointing

I’m about to start reading S J Bolton’s second book Awakening. Here are the opening sentences from the Prologue:

The darkest hour I’ve ever known began last Thursday, a heartbeat before the sun came up.

It was going to be a beautiful morning, I remember thinking, as I left the house; soft and close, bursting with whispered promises, as only a daybreak in early summer can be. The air was still cool but an iridescence on the horizon warned of baking heat to come. Birds were singing as though every note might be their last and event the insects had risen early.

This opening is full of threat. Even though it is a beautiful morning it foreshadows some dreadful event coming soon, in contrast to the fine day.

I decided to read Awakening after finishing Sacrifice, which I wrote about in my last post, especially as several people commented that her later books are better.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages.

Sacrifice by S J Bolton: a Book Review

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

I found most of Sacrifice an absolutely compelling book to read. It begins with the discovery of a corpse buried in the peat in Tora Hamilton’s field on Shetland. This is no ordinary corpse because the heart has been removed and there are marks etched into the skin that look very similar to the carvings Tora has seen in the cellar of her house. Tora is an obstetric surgeon. She had recently moved to the Shetland Isles with her husband Duncan, who although he had been born on the Isles, hadn’t been back there for twenty years.

Tora uses her position at the hospital to search patient records and aided by D S Dana Tulloch begins to discover some very suspicious and sinister facts. Despite opposition from her boss and from Dana’s boss the two women dig deeper and become involved in a very dangerous and bizarre situation, endangering both their lives.

I was swept along with the story, but as more twists and turns in the plot developed with links to folklore and myth I found it became rather far- fetched the more I read. But, having said that I did like the book. I liked the drama, the characters were well-defined, and I liked the tension that built up between the characters as Tora began to wonder who she could trust. I liked the setting of a mysterious, remote and isolated place where outsiders find it difficult to fit in and where dark deeds could take place. I liked it enough to want to read more books by S J Bolton.