review: A QUESTION OF DEATH, Kerry Greenwood

• 
  This edition published by Allen&Unwin Australia 2007
  
• ISBN 978-1-74175-363-9
• 258 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

The Honourable Phryne Fisher--she of the Lulu bob, green eyes, Cupid's Bow lips, and diamant' garters--is the 1920s' most elegant and irrepressible sleuth. 

This sparkling collection of Phryne short stories and other Phryne miscellany--including Phryne's favourite shoes and hats, delicious cocktail recipes, and her best tips for discouraging unwanted admirers-- forms a gorgeously collectable treat for all Phryne fans. 

Lavishly illustrated with divine color illustrations by Beth Norling, A Question of Death will bring joy to the hearts of Phryne Fisher fans everywhere. 

My Take

I mainly read this for the short stories, none of which I had read elsewhere. The short glossary at the back also told me a few things that I didn't know.

Set  in 1928, this anthology was published between #16 and #17 in the Phryne Fisher series (#16 was set on Christmas Eve 1928) There are currently 22 books in the series, with #22 due to be published in May 2022. I haven't read all of them by any means (although more than I have listed below) and so I think I should look for more this year.

Kerry Greenwood has written another 35 books outside this series (see the list at Fantastic Fiction), including some historical non-fiction, and several books for young adults.

There are 13 short stories in A QUESTION OF DEATH, some better than others, but mostly entertaining.

There is an interesting prelude by the author at the front of the anthology in which she says Phryne Fisher is her favourite heroine.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT - #17
TRICK OR TREAT
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
4.3, DEAD MAN'S CHEST -#18
4.4, COOKING THE BOOKS
4.3, TAMAM SHUD
4.8, UNNATURAL HABITS - #19
4.3, MURDER AND MENDELSSOHN - #18

Phryne Fisher series (from Fantastic Fiction)
   1. Cocaine Blues (1989)
     aka Death by Misadventure and Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates
   2. Flying Too High (1990)
   3. Murder on the Ballarat Train (1991)
   4. Death at Victoria Dock (1992)
   5. The Green Mill Murder (1993)
   6. Blood and Circuses (1994)
   7. Ruddy Gore (1995)
   8. Urn Burial (1996)
   9. Raisins and Almonds (1999)
   10. Death Before Wicket (1999)
   11. Away with the Fairies (2001)
   12. Murder in Montparnasse (2002)
   13. The Castlemaine Murders (2003)
   14. Queen of the Flowers (2004)
   15. Death By Water (2005)
   16. Murder in the Dark (2006)
   17. Murder on a Midsummer Night (2008)
   18. Dead Man's Chest (2010)
   19. Unnatural Habits (2013)
   20. Murder and Mendelssohn (2013)
   21. Death in Daylesford (2021)
   A Question of Death (2007)
   The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions (2022)

Summary for 2021

Here is a summary of what I achieved through my reading challenges in 2021.

Covid-19 and the consequent lock downs here in South Australia made it a funny year, reading wise. I should point out that I really don't use the challenges to push myself so much as monitor what I am reading.

First of all I didn't read as many books as I had expected to. In the nick of time, yesterday I completed my 100th book for the year. I had originally set my sights on 120, and then in November, and as late as early December, I revised my aim down to 95, but read more than I had thought I would, and got to 100. To be honest that is my lowest total for some years. However, I have been keeping these totals since 1975, and since then I have read 4408 books, mostly but not exclusively crime fiction.

Of that 100 books, 56 were by British authors, 28 by Australian authors, 6 by American authors, so you can see where my reading preferences lie.

Over half the books I read were e-books, and one third of them were "new to me" authors. In some cases I went on to read #2 and #3 in a series.

I re-read 11 Agatha Christie titles, mainly Miss Marple and Poirot books. In 2022 I am going to re-read some stand-alone titles.  

Non-crime fiction, and translated titles didn't get much of a look in this year.

My local library remains my greatest source of books, either in paperback form or as e-books (Libby).

Recommendations for what to read come mainly from the reading groups that I belong to, so in a sense they are already pre-selected. I only occasionally browse book shelves either in a book shop or at the library.

I will probably use a similar system for "accounting for" what I read in the coming year, but may simplify it a bit. Below is the summary of my reading. You will find the books listed at https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/2021-reading-challenges.html

• 2021 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I have set my challenge at 95. Currently: 100
  
• Good Reads A-Z of titles: Currently: 18
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, titles read in 2021: 11
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 29/51, this year: 6
• 2021 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 28
• 2021 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 15
• British Books Challenge 2021 currently 56
• 2021 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 55
• New to me authors - a personal challenge currently 33
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge currently 2
  
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge, currently 1
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge. currently 3
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. currently 4
• Snagged through the Library currently: 56
• Audio books: currently: 2
• 2021 Historical Reading Challenge. Currently: 12

Happy New Year 2022

 May 2022 be a lot better for all of us.

Happy Reading too.

Review: THE CURLEW'S EYE, Karen Manton

• 
  This edition an e-book made available by my local library through Libby
  
• ISBN: 9781760879518
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin, Australia 
• Pub Date: September 2021
• Length: 352 pages 

Synopsis (publisher)

A richly atmospheric Gothic mystery set around a ruined homestead in the NT's Top End.

'It struck her that in all these years, every highway and meandering track they'd taken together had been heading towards this destination. A shack perched halfway up a hill in an other-world of bizarre shadow plants and dark sentinel trees . . . Every road had been leading here, to this place.'

Greta's partner Joel grew up with five brothers and a sister in a feisty household on an isolated NT property. But he doesn't talk about those days - not the deaths of his sister and mother, nor the origin of the scars that snake around his body.

Now, many years later, he returns with Greta and their three young boys to prepare the place for sale. The boys are quick to settle in, and Joel seems preoccupied with work, but Greta has a growing sense of unease, struggling in the build-up's oppressive heat and living in the shadow of the old, burned-out family home. She knows she's a stranger in this uncanny place, with its eerie and alluring landscape, hostile neighbour, and a toxic dam whose clear waters belie its poison. And then there's the mysterious girl living rough whom Greta tries to befriend.

Determined to make sense of it all, Greta is drawn into Joel's unspoken past and confronted by her own. Before long the curlew's haunting cry will call her to face the secrets she and Joel can no longer outrun.

My Take

The Northern Territory, the tough lifestyle, and the isolation are elements that Greta has never known. Like her husband Joel, Greta is an orphan, although she still has family down South. But there is so much about his past that Joel has never told her. She knows that Joel's parents came from Europe at the end of the Second World War, that they were determined to start a new life. She knows that he is from a large family of five sons and one daughter, and that they grew up on this homestead; that his sister died young in a car accident, but there is so much Joel will not talk about.

Setting up home for her 3 boys, herself and Joel at the ruined homestead is tough, as is the time when Joel goes away to work to bring in some extra money.

Greta is lucky that she makes friends with a couple of local women, mainly through her children, and they help her hold things together. She finds remnants of the past, photos and other things in the burnt out homestead which give her puzzles to solve, and gradually she is able to piece together what happened to Joel's parents and his sister.

Apart from the main narrative, the author has used to ploys to add to the story: the Gothic element of the past intruding into the present, and between chapters, small snippets of narrative in different voices which supply more clues for the reader.

An interesting read, and certainly an accomplishment for a debut novel 

My rating: 4.4

Author bio:

Karen Manton lives in Darwin and Batchelor in the Northern Territory. Her short stories have won five NT Literary Awards and are published in various anthologies, including Best Australian Stories, Award Winning Australian Writing, Review Australian Fiction and Landmarks. She has been awarded the Eleanor Dark Flagship Fellowship Varuna Writers' House, the NT Writers Centre Hachette Mentorship and the Arts NT Varuna Residential Fellowship. The Curlew's Eye is her first novel.

Review: THE WAY IT IS NOW, Garry Disher

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby through my local library
• Published: 2nd November 2021
• ISBN: 9781922458162
• Number Of Pages: 416

Synopsis (Publisher)

A stunning new standalone crime novel from one of Australia's most revered writers.

Set in a beach-shack town an hour from Melbourne, The Way It Is Now tells the story of a burnt-out cop named Charlie Deravin.

Charlie is living in his family's holiday house, on forced leave since he made a mess of things at work. Things have never been easy for Charlie.

Twenty years earlier his mother went missing in the area, believed murdered. His father has always been the main suspect, though her body was never found. Until now- the foundations are being dug for a new house on a vacant block. The skeletal remains of a child and an adult are found-and Charlie's past comes crashing in on him.

My Take

Things became a bit of a mess for Charlie when his mother disappeared twenty years earlier. His mother and father had already separated then, and his father, a senior policeman at the time, was investigated, but his mother was never found. His brother has always believed his father was responsible for their mother's disappearance, and hasn't spoken to his father since. His father has re-married since then, and Charlie has also married, but his marriage has broken up. 

Most recently Charlie struck a senior officer and is currently suspended on pay. There are those who'd like to see Charlie given his marching orders. Charlie's father has retired and his second marriage appears to have been a success. 

And now the past rears it's ugly head again with the discovery of skeletal remains which may be his mother. There are some ex-policemen in the area who seem to be keeping an eye on Charlie too,

This is a typical Disher stand-alone with sub-plots to keep the mind alert, and a range of interesting characters, including Charlie Deravin himself. The setting of a coastal surfing town is strong and gives the novel a substantial Australian flavour.

A welcome read.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read

4.7, WYATT
4.8, WHISPERING DEATH
4.7, BLOOD MOON
4.2, THE HEAT
4.5, SIGNAL LOSS
4.7, HER
4.9, UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS
4.7, KILL SHOT
5.0, BITTER WASH ROAD - Hirsch #1 - aka HELL TO PAY
5.0, PEACE- Hirsch #2
5.0, CONSOLATION - Hirsch #3

Review: MR BOWLING BUYS A NEWSPAPER, Donald Henderson

• 
  Format: Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0797X4GSB
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Black Heath Editions (January 22, 2018)
• Originally published 1943
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 161 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

Mr. Bowling never used to read the newspaper. But since his second murder, he has found it convenient to discover whether the law has finally cottoned on to his activities. Because Mr. Bowling is an unusual kind of murderer - the kind that desperately wants to be found out. As the list of victims slowly grows, however, Bowling starts to wonder whether you really can get away with murder after all...

Originally published in 1943, this classic thriller, laced with jet black humour, was one of Raymond Chandler's favourite books. 

My Take

As Mr Bowling's murders escape police detection, he begins to wonder why God seems to be rejecting his advances. As he commits more murders he buys swathes of daily newspapers to see if anybody has picked up on his activities. The problem is that his murders seem to be covered over by "natural" events, like the Blitz of London, a heart attack, a fall down the stairs, and a catastrophic fire. Nobody asks the questions that Mr Bowling thinks should be asked. He is sure he has left evidence that a discerning detective should "see", or even be alerted by the fact that his name keeps turning up in connection with dead people.

Mr Bowling has no real motives for most of his murders apart from the fact that his victims are essentially boring people, or that they don't particularly like him. Originally Mr Bowling was working for an insurance company and he benefited from a policy that he had taken out on his wife. He had thought about making himself the beneficiary of policies taken out by some of his clients but then that seemed a little greedy.

It is unusual to read a murder mystery from the point of view of the murderer, and I thought at times they pontificated a little too much. In the end Mr Bowling seems to have found the woman of his dreams, but has he? For he has told her everything about his murderous activities. Does she believe him, or is she blinded with love? 

My rating: 3.9

About the author

Donald Landels Henderson was born in 1905; he later said, `I cannot pretend to have enjoyed anything very much about my childhood or adolescence.' Henderson was an actor and combined writing with his acting career. He died at only 42, in 1947, just three years after the publication of Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper

Review: THE UNHEARD, Nicci French

• 
  this edition an uncorrected proof
  
• Book published by Simon and Schuster September 2021
• Length: 464 pages
• ISBN13: 9781471179327

Synopsis (publisher)

He did kill. Kill and kill and kill.’
 
Tess’s number one priority has always been her three-year-old daughter Poppy. But splitting up with Poppy’s father Jason means that she cannot always be there to keep her daughter safe.
 
When she finds a disturbing drawing, dark and menacing, among her daughter’s brightly coloured paintings, Tess is convinced that Poppy has witnessed something terrible. Something that her young mind is struggling to put into words.
 
But no one will listen. It’s only a child’s drawing, isn’t it?
 
Tess will protect Poppy, whatever the price. But when she doesn’t know what, or who, she is protecting her from, how can she possibly know who to trust . . . ? 

My Take

Three year old Poppy can't always tell her mother what she means. But Tess becomes alarmed when she finds a disturbing drawing which Poppy tells her is a woman being killed. Poppy increases her sense of anxiety by asking her mother if she is dead. Tess at first thinks Poppy is telling her about something her father Jason, whom Poppy stays with a couple of times a week, has done. Until now both she and Jason think they have been handling their separation, and his new marriage, pretty well. Now Tess is anxious about who Poppy has been having contact with when she is not with Tess.

Poppy is showing clear signs of anxiety: wetting the bed, biting other children and so on. Now Tess does not know who she can trust, and she doesn't know who she should tell. She stalks Poppy's father and his new wife, and does not like what she finds out, things that were happening when they were together. 

She tries to report things to the police, but, as they point out, there is no body, no evidence of a crime. By her 11th report they are threatening to take action, against her.

Nicci French has come up with a very believable scenario.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.3, BLUE MONDAY
4.5, TUESDAY'S GONE
4.7, WAITING FOR WEDNESDAY
4.7, FRIDAY ON MY MIND
4.7, THE LYING ROOM
4.5, DAY OF THE DEAD