The Young Widow by Cassandra Chan
Phillip Bethancourt and Jack Gibbons Mysteries
Jack Gibbons, an ambitious Scotland Yard detective sergeant, investigates the fatal poisoning of successful businessman Geoffrey Berowne, aided by his best friend from university days, Phillip Bethancourt, who's a wealthy man-about-town with a nose for crime. The chief suspect is Berowne's attractive wife, Annette, whose previous two husbands, both much older than she, also died under odd circumstances. When Gibbons rather predictably starts falling for Annette, he seeks another solution to the murder, despite everything pointing to the young widow as the killer.
A cross between Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christy set in modern day but it had that kind of feel. It was a lot more complicated that I thought it would be but I did enjoy it. I'm looking forward to another endeavour to see how this duo works out.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang
Formerly a high-ranking member of the Ministry of Public Security, Mei Wang now works for people who need things or persons found in Beijing. (Private investigators are illegal in China, so semantics is employed to get around that hurtle.) Mei has her hands full when she is hired to locate a jade seal from the Han dynasty, previously believed to be destroyed, by an old family friend, Uncle Chen Jitian. Mei and her assistant, Gupin, follow slim leads to a shady dealer who might have connections to the same museum collection supposedly incinerated by the Red Guard. When her mother has a stroke Mei's investigation brings her surprising insights into what her mother had to endure during the harsh Cultural Revolution. The murder of an unimportant man plays a minor role in this provocative novel dealing with what truth is and how our personal perceptions cloud reality.
Liang wrote a memoir about her childhood in the Chinese labor camp and her participation in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. She gives an interesting perspective to a part of history I am not that familiar with. Personally I found the mystery part not that interesting as it almost seemed to conflict with the relationship between Mei and her family. The mystery just kind of fizzled out at the end but I am curious to see how this charachter is developed.
Formerly a high-ranking member of the Ministry of Public Security, Mei Wang now works for people who need things or persons found in Beijing. (Private investigators are illegal in China, so semantics is employed to get around that hurtle.) Mei has her hands full when she is hired to locate a jade seal from the Han dynasty, previously believed to be destroyed, by an old family friend, Uncle Chen Jitian. Mei and her assistant, Gupin, follow slim leads to a shady dealer who might have connections to the same museum collection supposedly incinerated by the Red Guard. When her mother has a stroke Mei's investigation brings her surprising insights into what her mother had to endure during the harsh Cultural Revolution. The murder of an unimportant man plays a minor role in this provocative novel dealing with what truth is and how our personal perceptions cloud reality.
Liang wrote a memoir about her childhood in the Chinese labor camp and her participation in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. She gives an interesting perspective to a part of history I am not that familiar with. Personally I found the mystery part not that interesting as it almost seemed to conflict with the relationship between Mei and her family. The mystery just kind of fizzled out at the end but I am curious to see how this charachter is developed.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Three Bags Full : a sheep detective story by Leonie Swann
When shepherd, George Glenn, is found in his field with a spade driven through his body, the sheep he leaves behind takeit upon themselves to solve the murder. The victim's habit of reading to his flock has rendered the animals unusually intelligent,and each sheep contributes his or her own talent as they observe the villagers of Glennkill in hopes of uncovering the mystery.The best detectives in the flock appear to be the brilliant Miss Maple, smart enough to avoid the trivial "Smartest Sheepin Glennkill" contest, the bold black ram Othello, and the all-remembering (and all-eating) Mopple the Whale. As the sheep piece together clues and debate motives, they find that there's no shortage of suspects: "Bible-thumping Beth" paid George frequent visits, George's wife Kate was unhappy, the neighboring shepherd Gabriel has a strange flock of non-fleecy sheep, and the flock's favorite human to place under suspicion, Ham the Butcher, always smells of "screams, pain, and blood."
This story has an interesting premise and I found it rather facinating. The sheep have a particular view of the world and try to associate everything to what they know. The confusion with "grass" is a prime example of what it means to humans versus the sheep. The novel is not fast paced and the ending comes to a satisfying conclusion as they discover that murder does not mean someone else did it. There is a nice addition of the sheep drawn on the bottom of each page, if you flick the pages the sheep gambol, which is cute.
When shepherd, George Glenn, is found in his field with a spade driven through his body, the sheep he leaves behind takeit upon themselves to solve the murder. The victim's habit of reading to his flock has rendered the animals unusually intelligent,and each sheep contributes his or her own talent as they observe the villagers of Glennkill in hopes of uncovering the mystery.The best detectives in the flock appear to be the brilliant Miss Maple, smart enough to avoid the trivial "Smartest Sheepin Glennkill" contest, the bold black ram Othello, and the all-remembering (and all-eating) Mopple the Whale. As the sheep piece together clues and debate motives, they find that there's no shortage of suspects: "Bible-thumping Beth" paid George frequent visits, George's wife Kate was unhappy, the neighboring shepherd Gabriel has a strange flock of non-fleecy sheep, and the flock's favorite human to place under suspicion, Ham the Butcher, always smells of "screams, pain, and blood."
This story has an interesting premise and I found it rather facinating. The sheep have a particular view of the world and try to associate everything to what they know. The confusion with "grass" is a prime example of what it means to humans versus the sheep. The novel is not fast paced and the ending comes to a satisfying conclusion as they discover that murder does not mean someone else did it. There is a nice addition of the sheep drawn on the bottom of each page, if you flick the pages the sheep gambol, which is cute.
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