Book Reviews: Fiction

By Carole Shmurak

Dancers in Mourning (Heinemann 1937) is a fine mystery with some classic Golden Age touches: a country house setting, a murder among the rich and famous, a small circle of suspects, an upper class sleuth. It is also a great example of the use of misdirection by a mystery author. (To say more about this would give too much away.)

This is eighth book in Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion mystery series. Here, Campion is initially called in to discover the person attempting to sabotage a London show that stars the legendary singer/dancer Jimmy Sutane (who bears a strong resemblance to Fred Astaire, both in appearance and talent). But when the ‘pranks’ played on Sutane escalate to the murder of another dancer in the cast of the show, Campion joins with the police — his old friends Superintendent Oates and Chief Detective Inpector Yeo — to find the murderer.

Unfortunately, Campion becomes too infatuated with Linda Sutane, Jimmy’s wife, to think as clearly as he usually does. Though he eventually comes to the correct conclusion, this is one book in which the police actually arrive at the solution to the case ahead of the detective.

I enjoyed many aspects of Dancers in Mourning, but I was never quite convinced by Campion’s love for Linda. The irony of the final conversation between Campion and Jimmy Sutane was, on the other hand, perfect. I also missed Campion’s ‘assistant’, Magersfontein Lugg, who appears much too briefly in this book. When Lugg does come on the scene, the book brightens considerably: his interactions with the Sutanes’ neglected daughter Sarah are hilarious and heart-warming, and show Allingham at her best.

By Amanda Linsmeier
Eclipse (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007), the third novel in the Twilight vampire saga by Stephenie Meyer, is yet another interesting and surprising story. Bella and Edward continue their relationship but because her friendship with Jacob puts her in danger, Edward is hell bent on doing everything he can to keep them away. He wants to keep Bella safe from everything and if that means he has to tamper with her truck, have her kidnapped by his sister Alice or watch out for her all hours of the day, then so be it. Bella feels stifled by Edward’s behavior and really misses her best friend Jacob. As Edward’s attitude shifts and he “allows” Bella to see her friends at La Push once more, Bella realizes that Jacob feels much more than friendship for her. Added to this love triangle are threats from the Vulturi, a powerful vampire clan who first made an appearance in book two, Victoria, an enemy vampire out to get Bella, and a string of murders by newborn vampires and Eclipse is very entertaining.

I did find some faults, the first being that I was still waiting for more of the intense love between Edward and Bella. Just Edward and Bella. I’m not interested in love triangles at this point in the series. I understand partly why the author did this and I feel that it’s to illustrate the fact that Bella is just human and while she loves Edward intensely, she is vulnerable and isn’t sure of herself. That being said, why didn’t Edward get mad at her? I’ve heard other people say it’s because he was too “perfect” and I really think it’s because he loves her so much, he just wants her to be happy and if that means loving Jacob too, then its okay. But I think it does show that Jacob is not perfect and that he doesn’t love her, and never will love her, the way Edward does. Besides being pushy and obnoxious, I found the once loveable Jacob to be extremely selfish in this book. Although this is not the best book in the series, in fact it made me quite angry at some points (which is inevitable when you become so emotionally invested in characters) it is still a good read. Many things mentioned in the previous two books are brought into more detail here and also lay the foundation for the fourth and final book. Please, keep reading.

Click here to read Amanda's review of Twilight

Click here to read Amanda's review of New Moon

By Amanda Linsmeier
In this sequel to Twilight, Stephenie Meyer has written another great novel laced with danger and mystery. Bella Swan is just your typical teenage girl with an atypical vampire boyfriend. As she grows closer to Edward and the Cullen family it becomes clear that their very presence in her life has put her in danger, either from the family or from other vampires. To protect Bella, Edward grows emotionally distant and finally forces her to believe that he doesn’t love her and leaves the town of Forks with his family. Bella becomes severely depressed and that depression escalates until she is a shadow of her former self. It is her friendship with Native American Jacob which brings her partly back to life, although she can never forget her love for Edward. Jacob and Bella’s friendship takes some adventurous turns, cliff diving, riding motorcycles and in this way Bella can bring Edward close to her, for she hears his voice of warning in her head whenever she does something reckless. As Bella and Jacob’s friendship changes, Bella learns the truth behind Jacob’s sudden growth spurt, new friends and distant attitude. While Bella once thought she new everything about the magical world now she knows that vampires were only the beginning.

I enjoyed this novel but let me be honest, it was not as good as the first. It wasn’t the writing that suffered, it was the story. I missed Edward! Sure, I was a little upset with him at first but he’s gone for the majority of the story. I wanted him there and his family as well. I was suspicious of Jacob and while he was a great friend to Bella, to me he was a poor substitute for Edward. New Moon is a very good story and a stepping stone toward the culmination of one of the best series I’ve ever read. I would definitely read New Moon again; I just would get through it a little faster so I could get to the good stuff.

Click here to read Amanda's review of Twilight

Click here to read Amanda's review of Eclipse

By Carole Shmurak

A renowned detective whose own brother, a Duke, is on trial for murdering his sister's fiancé — that's the position in which Lord Peter Wimsey finds himself in Clouds of Witness. This was the second Lord Peter mystery and the one that brought Sayers to the attention of the British public, largely because of its famous trial of the Duke of Denver in the House of Lords. (A British lord could only be tried by his peers.)

With almost too many clues, this book starts as a routine detective story, as Lord Peter and his friend Inspector Charles Parker spend their time tracing footprints and motorcycle tracks. But when Parker follows a clue to Paris and Peter begins to search the moors near the Duke's hunting lodge, the mystery gains momentum and races to its climax in the House of Lords.

There is a lot of charm in Sayers's writing. The friendship between Wimsey and Parker is nicely developed as is Parker's growing attraction to Peter's sister, Lady Mary. Sayers also depicts, with much humor, British attitudes of the times towards French manners and customs, as well as the upper class's flirtation with Socialism (Lady Mary is member of the London Socialist Club). Some of the characters' names are outright Dickensian, especially Mr. Grimethorpe of Griders Hole, and the trial lawyers Wrinching and Glibbery. And, as in many mysteries of the Golden Age, the echoes of World War I still reverberate. (The fiancé, Denis Cathcart, lost his fortune as a result of investments in France and Russia that disappeared during the war.)

Not the best of the Lord Peter mysteries, but a good introduction to Wimsey, his family (notably Lady Mary and the Dowager Duchess), and the usual cast of Sayers’s characters, with the unusual addition of two femme fatales.

By Amanda Linsmeier
Good Grief (Grand Central Publishing, 2007) the debut novel by Lollie Winston, is amazing. The novel begins at a grief meeting where Sophie Stanton is just one of many in the group. At just 36, Sophie is a widow after just three years of marriage. Her husband Ethan died three months ago of cancer. Sophie is trying desperately to deal with her loss but doesn’t know how to cope. She is falling behind at work, eating everything in sight, hiding out in her house and avoiding friends and family. Sophie has a complete breakdown one day, even showing up to work in her bathrobe and slippers, greasy hair and all. At the suggestion of her friend Ruth, Sophie decides to move. She sells her house, the one she shared with Ethan, quits her job in public relations and moves to Oregon. Unable to let go of Ethan, Sophie brings with her not only memories, anger and guilt but also boxes of his belongings.

Once in Ashland, Oregon, Sophie signs up to become a Big Sister. The agency places her with Crystal, a 13-year old pyromaniac with a penchant towards cutting. Crystal swears, sasses the adults in her life and smokes Marlboros. Sophie doesn’t know if she can handle Crystal when she can barely handle herself. Determined to make a difference in this young girl’s life, Sophie sticks with her. The more she helps Crystal, the better she feels. Sophie quits her job at a restaurant and opens her own bakery. As the one year anniversary of Ethan’s death looms closer, Sophie’s life is bustling with many hopes and promises; her heart full of questions. From feeling like she couldn’t fall any lower to reaching for the stars, Sophie has to deal with not only grief but her own business, difficulties with her family and friends and possibly love.

Good Grief is a wonderful story. The book is sad, funny and honest. I cried, I laughed and I ached right along with Sophie. It was beautifully written with plenty of wit and sincerity. I felt deeply for the characters in the novel and was so proud of Sophie for rebuilding her life and showing that type of courage. Good Grief was a novel I won’t ever forget.

By Amanda Linsmeier
Julie Garwood, one of the reigning queens of romance has hit a home run with the book For the Roses (Pocket, 1996.) For the Roses begins in New York City in 1860. It is there where we meet a gang of young boys, orphans and misfits. There’s Adam, the eldest, a runaway slave; Douglas, a pickpocket; Cole, the tough one and Travis, the youngest. The four boys have turned to each other in rough times, living in the streets and figure their future won’t be much different until they find a basket someone threw in the trash. Inside is a baby girl. The boys decide then and there to become the Clayborne brothers and to adopt this baby as their little sister. What they want most is a better life for her. Fast forward several years and Mary Rose, their little sister, is now a woman, breathtakingly beautiful and as kind as she is attractive. Besides winning the hearts of everyone in their small, western town of Blue Belle, Mary Rose soon wins the heart of Harrison, a lawyer from Scotland. What the Clayborne family doesn’t know is that Harrison has a hidden agenda and what he reveals to the family, and to Mary Rose in particular will change them all forever. Added to this drama is Adam’s misfortune to be charged with the murder of his former slave master. With plenty of thrills, a couple of gunfights, a murder trial and lots of romance, For the Roses is a great story about love, family and the ties that bind us to one another.

By Carole Shmurak

A Shilling For Candles is the second of Josephine Tey's mysteries about Alan Grant. Tey was not yet the great writer that she would become in the years after World War II, when she published Daughter of Time, Brat Farrar, and The Franchise Affair, among others, but there are some wonderful scenes and an intriguing mystery nonetheless.

The body of a famous actress, Christine Clay, is found on the beach near the cottage she has borrowed for a time from a friend. Her nobleman-husband is out of the country at the time, but she has been sharing the cottage with Robert Tisdall, a young man who has recently squandered a fortune. When Clay's will names Tisdall as the beneficiary of her ranch in California, he becomes Grant's number one suspect and then a fugitive from the law. The middle part of the book, which follows the sixteen year old Erica Burgoyne as she tries to prove Tisdall's innocence, has the quirky charm that Tey's admirers have come to expect; Erica is indeed an engaging heroine. It's worth noting that when Alfred Hitchcock adapted A Shilling for Candles for the screen (as the film Young and Innocent in 1937), he chose to dramatize the Erica/Tisdall story and pretty much left out the rest of the book (including Alan Grant.)

Grant’s solving of the mystery of Clay’s death is a bit more routine, with an ending that seems to come too abruptly. The actress Marta Hallard, who figures in so many of the Grant mysteries, appears for the first time in this book, and is, as usual, Grant's entree to the world of the theatre; it's interesting to see her introduced with little fanfare, as if Tey did not yet realize that Marta would become Grant's longtime (but platonic) friend.

Readers who love Tey's later books will find this early installment in the Grant series an interesting step on the author's path to greatness.

By Amanda Linsmeier

My absolute favorite Jane Green book, at least so far, is the sassy and surprising Jemima J (Broadway, 2001) Jemima Jones, a British reporter, is one hundred pounds overweight. She also happens to be very smart and very funny and knows that she could also be very pretty, if she just lost the weight. She can’t help but feel totally out of her league when it comes to Ben, her good-looking and charming colleague. Jemima resigns herself to just being his supportive friend because how could she possibly have more? When she takes an internet class through work, Jemima takes a shot at the world wide web for the first time. With her friend Geraldine and Brad at her side, she wanders into a chat room where she eventually meets Brad, from Santa Monica. Brad owns a gym, he’s sexy and in incredible shape. At the urging of Geraldine, Jemima tells Brad her name is JJ and that she’s very athletic. To prove her point, Geraldine helps Jemima Photoshop a picture of herself so that she looks thin and beautiful. When Brad responds enthusiastically and demands that they meet, Jemima has to conquer her fears and take giant leaps forward to finally lose the weight.

Jemima J is a fast-paced and incredible novel about love, addiction and attraction. When Jemima and Brad finally meet, he really is everything she thought he would be: Perfect. There’s just one problem: Jemima senses that something isn’t quite right and when she discovers the truth, it will turn the tables on everything she thought her life could be. I adored this book and know I’ll read it over and over again. It is refreshing reading about a heroine who struggles so much with loving herself. Overcoming her food addiction is just one of the problems Jemima has to overcome. And perhaps it isn’t the most realistic novel I’ve ever read, but I still loved it. It is the quintessential happy ending where you know our heroine will get everything she ever wanted and that she really does deserve it.

By Amanda Linsmeier

I’ve been hearing the buzz about Twilight for months. This young adult novel by Stephenie Meyer is everything it’s cracked up to be. It’s a wonderfully suspenseful novel about love and darkness. Isabella Swan is a 17-year old girl who moves in with her estranged father Charlie after her mother gets remarried. Bella is less than enthusiastic about living in rainy, gloomy Forks, Washington with no friends. But her interest is peeked when she learns about the Cullen’s, a very wealthy, very odd family living in town. The teenagers attend her high school and none interest her more than the mysterious Edward Cullen. With his pale but breathtaking beauty and his obvious dislike for her, Bella cannot help but be intrigued. When Edward’s aversion for her turns into friendship and then more, Bella is positive that Edward is hiding something. When she discovers the secret of the Cullen family and learns that Edward is not what he appears, and in fact, much more dangerous, Bella is in far too deep to turn away. Can her love for Edward and his family overcome the horrible pain that he could inflict on her, or will his passion for her break his restraint to keep her safe?

I could not put this book down! I finished it in record time and went and bought the sequel immediately afterward. I wasn’t sure if I would get into the whole vampire thing, but I definitely did. This novel was thrilling and interesting. I loved Bella and Edward’s relationship and I could really feel their mutual pain and frustration. I thought the Cullen’s were surprising and very likeable and I couldn’t wait to read more. This tale is a four part series and there is also a movie being made. Twilight is spectacular and I can’t wait to keep on reading!

Click here to read Amanda's review of New Moon

Click here to read Amanda's review of Eclipse

By Amanda Linsmeier

Finally! I thought to myself as I put down book C of the Tyler series, a series of books that take place in Wisconsin written by an assortment of authors. Each book has a romantic theme with a murder mystery dwelling underneath. Books B & C were disappointing, to say the least. That’s why I was so excited to pick up book D, titled Monkey Wrench (Harlequin, 1992). It was written by the same author who wrote book A, which I happened to love. Unfortunately, this book fell short.

Monkey Wrench takes place in the charming small town of Tyler, Wisconsin with the same characters gracing its pages as in previous books in the series. In this book, Susannah is the main character. She’s a smart, beautiful woman who has her own TV show in Milwaukee. When she is not teaching crafts or showing her new household hints, she doesn’t have much of a life. But when she gets a call from Joe Santori, she’s quick to return to Tyler to come to the aid of her sick Grandma Rose. Although Rose is in great spirits, Susannah can tell she’s just not feeling well. But Grandma Rose has a plan and it involves Susannah and Joe Santori, her contractor. She thinks that they would be perfect together, and it’s not long before Joe agrees with her. But will Susannah open up her heart to Joe and the possibility of love? Or, is her thrilling career destined to be the only passion in her life?

I had a hard time reading this book. I didn’t get really interested until about half way through and even then, it was sometimes difficult to care what was happening. What Nancy Martin did so wonderfully in Whirlwind (Book A) was create realistic, fun characters. This book did not fair so well. I thought Susannah was dull, old-fashioned (she actually used the term “Gentleman friend” to refer to a man she’d been seeing) and just not that fun to read about. Joe, to be frank, was annoying. Sure, I liked him from time to time, he even grew on me as the book progressed, but did he have to call Susannah “Miss Suzie” in every other breath? I found the language difficult to relate to because in real life I don’t think I’ve ever heard somebody say the words “gee” or “fellow” and if they did, they were at least 80 years old. I also disliked that the characters in the book kept up about how glamorous Susannah’s life in Milwaukee was. It was if they were describing Manhattan or London. I live in Wisconsin, and while Milwaukee certainly has some good points, I would never describe it as being glamorous. If readers are interested in reading the Tyler series, I have to warn that while Whirlwind is a hit, the rest so far have been disappointing. But I know I’ll keep reading just to figure out the murder mystery. I’m just hoping the next book isn’t as hard to swallow as the last three.