Books by Jeanne M. Dams
This entertaining series is a must read for any angliophile. Even though she is an older sleuth I still enjoy her experiences in trying to adapt to English society. The mysteries aren't always the best but it is the characters she meets along the way that makes it so enjoyable.
Dorothy Martin Series
Body in the Transept
American sleuth Dorothy Martin has moved to the fictional university/ cathedral town of Sherebury, where she and her academic husband had planned to retire before his unexpected demise. After the Christmas Eve service in the Cathedral, Dorothy stumbles over the body of Canon Billings. Once she recovers her equilibrium, she finds herself feeling involved in the case and curious about the unpleasant but learned Canon, who had made more enemies than friends. He had recently argued vehemently with his young, hot-headed assistant in the library, had tried to get the choirmaster fired and was gathering evidence against the verger who was stealing from the collection plate. Dorothy charmingly insinuates herself into village life in the best Miss Marple tradition, talking to neighbors and befriending others (including widower Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt) and determinedly pursuing the killer even as she puts herself in danger. With her penchant for colorful hats, Dorothy tries to fit in the life of an Englishman while still maintaining her own style.
Trouble in the Town Hall
Dorothy is determined to be all things at once: gardener, home-restorer and sleuth. Present at town hall when the body of a young vagrant is discovered in a broom closet of the venerable building, Dorothy assumes (somewhat illogically) that the murder is related to the fierce battle raging over the structure: Should it be restored to its former magnificence or turned into a shopping mall? She relies on the village's greatest asset?gossip?for her clues. Since her romantic interest, the aristocratic and clever chief constable, Alan Nesbitt, is busy with an impending royal visit, she puts on her best hat, some wildly impractical shoes, and marches up High Street for a few audacious chats with the town's leading citizens, among them an enormously wealthy builder and his browbeaten wife, a cagey shopkeeper and a fiery preservationist. Another murder confounds her and stuns the town.
Holy Terror in the Hebrides
Malice in Miniature
Victim in Victoria Station
Killing Cassidy
To Perish in Penzance
Sins Out of School
Winter of Discontent
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine
Bk 1: Ill Wind
Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she's resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life ...
Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden of them all. Unfortunately, he's also on the run from the World Council. It seems he's stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn -- making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne's chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in -- well, a place she may soon be headed. So she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him because there's some bad weather closing in fast.
This book keeps you reading as it is her escaping one storm after another. The ending was quite surprising and unexpected. But I'm satisfied with it. It will be interesting to see how the series continues.
Bk 2: Heat Stoke
Bk 3: Chill Factor
Bk 4: Windfall
Bk 1: Ill Wind
Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she's resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life ...
Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden of them all. Unfortunately, he's also on the run from the World Council. It seems he's stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn -- making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne's chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in -- well, a place she may soon be headed. So she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him because there's some bad weather closing in fast.
This book keeps you reading as it is her escaping one storm after another. The ending was quite surprising and unexpected. But I'm satisfied with it. It will be interesting to see how the series continues.
Bk 2: Heat Stoke
Bk 3: Chill Factor
Bk 4: Windfall
Monday, January 23, 2006
Dead Boy Detectives by Jill Thompson
Created by Neil Gaiman in his popular SANDMAN series
Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, the dead British teenagers who are always on the run from Death, travel stateside to solve a missing persons case. Our intrepid heroes have been contacted by young Annika Abernathy, a student at a posh International Academy in Chicago. It seems that Annika's best friend has vanished. For Rowland and Paine to investigate the case properly, they decide to enroll as students at the school. And since it's an all-girls academy, the duo is forced to go undercover — in drag.
It is an odd mix of Victorian style and manga. The illustrations change based on location and who is in the square. Not terribly original but interesting. I am curious to look at her previous work "Death, at Death's Door" and future items. I have not seen Gaiman's original comics that this volume was based on to know how it compares.
Death at Death's Door ~ Fills in the backstory of "Season of Mists," by Neil Gaiman. Lucifer has abandoned Hell, giving Morpheus the key to its gates and unleashing a host of troubles for the beleaguered Dream King. Thompson's story, while including enough references to "Mists" to bring everyone up to speed, focuses primarily on Dream's big sister, Death, whose apartment is overrun by the dead with no place to go now that Hell has closed up shop. So, acting on their own idea for coping with the legions of former damned, younger sisters Despair and Delerium host a party at Death's house.
I know that this has gotten a lot of positive write-ups because of the success Thompson has had recreating a Manga style but it just didn't do anything for me. I find most Manga really annoying with all the clutter and yelling and shouting that seems to go on endlessly.
Created by Neil Gaiman in his popular SANDMAN series
Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, the dead British teenagers who are always on the run from Death, travel stateside to solve a missing persons case. Our intrepid heroes have been contacted by young Annika Abernathy, a student at a posh International Academy in Chicago. It seems that Annika's best friend has vanished. For Rowland and Paine to investigate the case properly, they decide to enroll as students at the school. And since it's an all-girls academy, the duo is forced to go undercover — in drag.
It is an odd mix of Victorian style and manga. The illustrations change based on location and who is in the square. Not terribly original but interesting. I am curious to look at her previous work "Death, at Death's Door" and future items. I have not seen Gaiman's original comics that this volume was based on to know how it compares.
Death at Death's Door ~ Fills in the backstory of "Season of Mists," by Neil Gaiman. Lucifer has abandoned Hell, giving Morpheus the key to its gates and unleashing a host of troubles for the beleaguered Dream King. Thompson's story, while including enough references to "Mists" to bring everyone up to speed, focuses primarily on Dream's big sister, Death, whose apartment is overrun by the dead with no place to go now that Hell has closed up shop. So, acting on their own idea for coping with the legions of former damned, younger sisters Despair and Delerium host a party at Death's house.
I know that this has gotten a lot of positive write-ups because of the success Thompson has had recreating a Manga style but it just didn't do anything for me. I find most Manga really annoying with all the clutter and yelling and shouting that seems to go on endlessly.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, began her working life as a servant in a Belgravia mansion, only to be discovered reading in the library by her employer, Lady Rowan Compton. Fearing dismissal, Maisie is shocked when she discovers that her thirst for education is to be supported by Lady Rowan and a family friend, Dr. Maurice Blanche. But The Great War intervenes in Maisie’s plans, and soon after commencement of her studies at Girton College, Cambridge, Maisie enlists for nursing service overseas.
Years later, in 1929, having apprenticed to the renowned Maurice Blanche, a man revered for his work with Scotland Yard, Maisie sets up her own business. Her first assignment, a seemingly tedious inquiry involving a case of suspected infidelity, takes her not only on the trail of a killer, but back to the war she had tried so hard to forget. It is interesting to see the merging of the working and upper classes and how England was forced to change because of the war. Scars run deep and are not always on the surface.
Most of the story is told through flashbacks. This is proving to be an excellent series and I cannot wait to read more. It has a very Sherlock Holmes style about it but does not feel like a copy.
Birds of a Feather
Maisie gets hired by a wealthy industrialist to find his only daughter, Charlotte Waite, who has gone missing. With the help of her cockney assistant, Billy Beale, Maisie sets out to learn all she can of Charlotte's habits, character and friends. No sooner has Maisie discovered the identities of three of these friends than they start turning up dead—poisoned, then bayoneted for good measure. At each crime scene is left a white feather. Increasingly preoccupied with these tragedies, Maisie almost loses sight of her original mission, until it becomes apparent that the murders and Charlotte's disappearance are related.
The ending was not difficult to deduce but it is enjoyable to see how she developes. Plus I got to meet the author a few weeks ago at a Mystery Author's luncheon at the Cerritos Library. I bought a copy of this book for my mother. You see a lot of the culture being developed after WWI is over.
Pardonable Lies
Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, began her working life as a servant in a Belgravia mansion, only to be discovered reading in the library by her employer, Lady Rowan Compton. Fearing dismissal, Maisie is shocked when she discovers that her thirst for education is to be supported by Lady Rowan and a family friend, Dr. Maurice Blanche. But The Great War intervenes in Maisie’s plans, and soon after commencement of her studies at Girton College, Cambridge, Maisie enlists for nursing service overseas.
Years later, in 1929, having apprenticed to the renowned Maurice Blanche, a man revered for his work with Scotland Yard, Maisie sets up her own business. Her first assignment, a seemingly tedious inquiry involving a case of suspected infidelity, takes her not only on the trail of a killer, but back to the war she had tried so hard to forget. It is interesting to see the merging of the working and upper classes and how England was forced to change because of the war. Scars run deep and are not always on the surface.
Most of the story is told through flashbacks. This is proving to be an excellent series and I cannot wait to read more. It has a very Sherlock Holmes style about it but does not feel like a copy.
Birds of a Feather
Maisie gets hired by a wealthy industrialist to find his only daughter, Charlotte Waite, who has gone missing. With the help of her cockney assistant, Billy Beale, Maisie sets out to learn all she can of Charlotte's habits, character and friends. No sooner has Maisie discovered the identities of three of these friends than they start turning up dead—poisoned, then bayoneted for good measure. At each crime scene is left a white feather. Increasingly preoccupied with these tragedies, Maisie almost loses sight of her original mission, until it becomes apparent that the murders and Charlotte's disappearance are related.
The ending was not difficult to deduce but it is enjoyable to see how she developes. Plus I got to meet the author a few weeks ago at a Mystery Author's luncheon at the Cerritos Library. I bought a copy of this book for my mother. You see a lot of the culture being developed after WWI is over.
Pardonable Lies
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