tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16446904888023887162024-03-18T19:39:37.087-06:00Mysteries and More from SaskatchewanA blog reviewing mystery books, with a listing of Saskatchewan mysteries, and a sprinkling of non-fiction books, especially history and biographiesBill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.comBlogger1516125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-33336580322352923282024-03-16T19:40:00.000-06:002024-03-16T19:40:28.989-06:00August Into Winter by Guy Vanderhaeghe<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjc9sVJq8uT8HM1A-uiXRWrpbcrwlXAHZXfo2l3f1u8M9Yj_zAwhfJAZCJnOSFTE0h-Va6WtxauiC6jDviroJzFNePxU_QxFTLJx3esa8FjpXoxi-grCpfvFZzrMqkqDAAiM68Zlw5MmNZ2JruvNIo-jUmiG3p1bcnpDiL7Bzta3xxB1rrZeimu4Gn4LcQE" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="338" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjc9sVJq8uT8HM1A-uiXRWrpbcrwlXAHZXfo2l3f1u8M9Yj_zAwhfJAZCJnOSFTE0h-Va6WtxauiC6jDviroJzFNePxU_QxFTLJx3esa8FjpXoxi-grCpfvFZzrMqkqDAAiM68Zlw5MmNZ2JruvNIo-jUmiG3p1bcnpDiL7Bzta3xxB1rrZeimu4Gn4LcQE=w258-h400" width="258" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(17. - 1200.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August Into Winter</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Guy Vanderhaeghe - Connaught, Saskatchewan, is a peaceful small town near the Qu’Appelle Valley. The late summer heat of August of 1939 is heavy upon the town. Ernie Sickert is a 21 year old communi<br />ty eccentric. Usually wearing a bowtie, he runs everywhere and is famed for being the talented saxophonist for the Rhythm Alligators dance band. Few know that he is vindictive and has tortured family pets.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-da634f6c-7fff-9a0f-3808-d59cb6d92fdc"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">RCMP Constable Alfred Hotchkiss is frustrated by a series of minor break-ins and thefts over the summer. Ernie is his only suspect. He decides to interrogate Ernie and examine the shed in the backyard of the Sickert home. Hotchkiss prides himself on his aggressive policing techniques. He calls the meaty palm of his hand his search warrant saying it is signed by Judge Donotfuckwithme before slapping Ernest.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Locking the shed to give privacy for his search and questioning proves fatal for Hotchkiss. Ernie attacks and kills Hotchkiss, splitting his skull with a hammer and chisel. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ernie leaves town that afternoon in his father’s 1929 Oldsmobile Landau with his young girlfriend, Loretta, who is to be presented as his sister until they can procure some fake ID. The 12 year old Loretta is his soulmate.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> He proposes to her, promising to marry her when she turns 14. </span></p></span><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They set out to explore the world starting with Winnipeg or Minneapolis.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oliver “Jumper” Dill had a hard war. In the 1920’s he prospered on the farm with Judy. She softened him. The Depression and drought and Judy’s slow death sent him spiralling down.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">His older brother Jack has always been a bit different. He is a fervent Anglican. Having denounced WW I, he abruptly joins the Army to help end the war. He is a demon on night raids. After the war he lives in a room at the Connaught hotel where he studies and reflects on Christianity and works upon an opus setting out his vision of the Celestial City.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Vidalia Taggart, a 32 year old teacher, banished from the Winnipeg public school system for her affair with a married man, Dov Schechter, has come to the one room country school, Clay Top, near Connaught. She is desperate for a job and the school trustees are desperate for a teacher.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After bitter quarrels, Dov had left Canada in 1937 to join the Mackenzie-Papineau brigade to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He died and Vidalia has received the accounting ledger in which he journaled his experiences in Spain. In its opening he is overjoyed with his welcome in Spain after trekking over the Pyrenees.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ernie’s relentless running had been part of his commando training regime so he could be ready for the coming war.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">His getaway is foiled by a huge thunderstorm. They slide off the road descending into the Qu’Appelle Valley.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">During the pursuit of Ernie and Loretta, Jack and Oliver return to their WW I experiences as front line soldiers. With officer Cooper they send a barrage of “plunging fire”, co-ordinated shots designed to arc into the area Ernie is shooting from at them about 1,400 yards away. They miss.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oliver, after the RCMP spends days floundering around searching for Ernie, leads them to Ernie’s hideout, a tornado shelter. Through plain language and credible threats Oliver captures Ernie.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the meantime, after Loretta burns down the schoolhouse and teacherage, Miss Vidalia moves into Oliver’s farm home. She hates being beholden to him. Wrestling with tortured emotions from the War and Judy’s death Oliver finds himself glad to have a woman in his house.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Vidalia reads Dov’s journal in small chunks for when she is done she will have nothing further from him. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The relationship between Miss Vidalia and Oliver is compelling. Two lonely people whose lives have been hard. Each is a good person. Each has suffered great loss. Each is seeking the meaning of life. Miss Vidalia is a fierce humanist. Dill does his best to be a realist. Each struggles to make friends. Love is even more difficult.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August Into Winter</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is rich in characters, language, emotions and setting. Vanderhaeghe has been a gifted writer for decades. I wish I had read him sooner. We were at the University of Saskatchewan at the same time in the 1970’s but I never met him. The book, with unflinching clarity, outlines the challenges of life in rural Saskatchewan as the Depression winds down and WW II is about to erupt. Vanderhaeghe drew me deeply into life at Connaught. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August Into Winter</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a great book.</span></p></span></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-88339897216314784962024-03-09T18:01:00.000-06:002024-03-09T18:01:50.846-06:00The Watchmaker’s Hand by Jeffery Deaver<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGgqNIjGIFI9yWWDzZOJgRM2s-pU3Vjc4q5uYxn0GuovsCbWjUg_zpZr1xsF7PCPCJUA0HA0hZEjRfUTUzt3zslJApi9QQ_HB2t4w1BLonXgUG46_HH-Jd8Hmm-v0rDbTuQ4UcSAuA4zH-PmQDOtTUjoUDmlhcmu0BP0db739mwb0pcz8YHkLSN9h0BxNx" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="663" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGgqNIjGIFI9yWWDzZOJgRM2s-pU3Vjc4q5uYxn0GuovsCbWjUg_zpZr1xsF7PCPCJUA0HA0hZEjRfUTUzt3zslJApi9QQ_HB2t4w1BLonXgUG46_HH-Jd8Hmm-v0rDbTuQ4UcSAuA4zH-PmQDOtTUjoUDmlhcmu0BP0db739mwb0pcz8YHkLSN9h0BxNx=w265-h400" width="265" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(16. - 1199.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Watchmaker’s Hand</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Jeffery Deaver - The opening crackles. A tower crane operator perched 218 feet in the air is confronted with the front jib tilting forward. Unable to correct the tilt he shifts from electronics to manual controls but cannot stabilize the load of flanges. Desperately trying to move the load to fall in an open space he stays in the cab. The tilt is too much and the crane breaks apart.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d3a08a3a-7fff-9dbf-88ed-c4769f9f9474"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are investigating a theft from the NYC Department of Structures and Engineering - “a trove of infrastructure documents, blueprints, engineering diagrams, underground maps, plats, permit requests”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Medical advancements and new technologies have allowed Rhyme “had restored most movement to his right arm”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">News arrives of the crane collapse and demands made to the city with the threat “if they don’t get what they want, they’re going to do it again in twenty-four hours”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Kommunalka demand the City of New York convert various city owned properties to public housing or have a “disaster” every day.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Charles Vespasian Hale, the Watchmaker, has come to New York to kill his nemesis - Rhyme. Loving the precision of clocks, especially watches, he is a dangerous adversary. He has created the Kommunalka.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I do not see many modern works of crime fiction with a brilliant villain challenging the brilliant sleuth. The modern day Moriarity is a worthy opponent for the Holmes of today. There will be no luck only skill involved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hale uses a powerful chemical, hydrofluoric acid, with which I am unfamiliar in my decades of crime fiction reading. It can kill with astonishing quickness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hale and Rhyme appreciate the elegance of watches and the “complications” (“any function of a watch or clock other than telling the time” including “dials indicating the phases of the moon, tides, seasons”) with which they are adorned. A watch with many features were called “ ‘grande complications’ “. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Deaver drives the suspense. Hale stalks a couple who have seen too much and sets up a device to kill them in their home. On T.V. we know they would be rescued. With Deaver the tension is real for, in earlier books in the series, victims have been killed not saved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The skill and dedication of young criminalist, Ron Pulaski, has achieved Rhyme’s admiration to the point that he Pulaski is listed as Rhyme’s successor.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A weakness of Hale is that he loves elegant complex killing schemes - plots that have grande complications. Not for Hale to simply shoot, knife or strangle. He wants people to admire his plans, appreciate his intelligence and be dismayed by his wicked plans.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Most important Hale’s killing modus is to have death caused throught a remote to programmed means of killing so that he is not in the vicinity of the murder. His approach has the weakness of a million books, movies and T.V. shows. The killer does not actually see whether the intended victim is dead.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The book hurtles forward. Most, not all, of Hale’s schemes are detected and thwarted. Can Rhyme and his team stop Hale’s ultimate plan and prevent him from escaping again?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The tension is so high and the reading compelling that clues were overlooked by me. Deaver drives the reader to read in haste to find out what happens upon the next page. Rhyme never seems rushed as he contemplates a villain’s plans.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A clock is constantly ticking down to disaster when the Watchmaker comes to town. Deaver’s plots are grande complications.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">****</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space-collapse: collapse;">Deaver, Jeffery – (2000) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Empty Chair</i>; (2002) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Stone Monkey</i>; (2002) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Mistress of Justice</i>; (2003) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Vanished Man</i>; (2005) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Garden of Beasts</i>; (2005) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Twelfth Card</i>; (2006) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cold Moon</i>; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Tied for 3<sup>rd</sup> Best fiction of 2006)</b>; (2008) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Broken Window</i>; (2010) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/burning-wire-by-jeffery-deaver.html"><em>The Burning Wire</em></a>; (2013) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/08/the-kill-room-by-jeffery-deaver.html">The Kill Room</a></em>; (2014) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/09/the-skin-collector-by-jeffery-deaver.html">The Skin Collector</a></em>; (2017) - <i><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/03/the-steel-kiss-by-jeffery-deaver.html" target="_blank">The Steel Kiss</a></i>;<strong> </strong>(2019) - </span><span style="font-family: Times; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-burial-hour-by-jeffery-deaver.html" target="_blank">The Burial Hour</a></i>; (2021) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-never-game-by-jeffery-deaver.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Never Game</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/03/handwritten-notes-are-best.html">Handwritten Notes Are the Best</a>; (2023) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-midnight-lock-by-jeffery-deaver.html">The Midnight Lock</a></i></span></span></div></span></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-78729408036151948232024-02-29T22:24:00.000-06:002024-02-29T22:24:37.354-06:00Rain by H.N. Hirsch<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVu77bOVRlmIskegnvS6aNJq6Ndt-ehAjvqzy3loEQMjV_kgZIov5PmZY0BMSqy7yMtYogz3dKW1svwRbH7MRXJoTQQmPft15fPRbXoJIreH_R4lleDG0diZU4Oa_itHgpZcQFoLXJDcxq6RB2E8URbjmCX9IZhiBfw281K9tjeWxLDNFwHcJ2opR6QGLl/s971/unknown%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="759" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVu77bOVRlmIskegnvS6aNJq6Ndt-ehAjvqzy3loEQMjV_kgZIov5PmZY0BMSqy7yMtYogz3dKW1svwRbH7MRXJoTQQmPft15fPRbXoJIreH_R4lleDG0diZU4Oa_itHgpZcQFoLXJDcxq6RB2E8URbjmCX9IZhiBfw281K9tjeWxLDNFwHcJ2opR6QGLl/w313-h400/unknown%201.jpg" width="313" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(15. - 1198.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rain</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by H.N. Hirsch - Professor Marcus George is startled when one of his graduate students, Kenny Glick, is worried about being charged for murder. His girlfriend, Cathy Yaeger, had died. It was reported as an “accidental death”. Marcus takes Kenny home to meet his partner Bob Abramson who has a solo criminal law practice. Reluctantly, Bob says he will talk to the police and prosecutor’s office.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before he can investigate Kenny is called in for an interview. It is a setup for his arrest. A second autopsy has determined Cathy was strangled.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kenny’s father writes a cheque for the $2,000,000 bail.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">While there are no errors in describing Bob’s early interactions as a lawyer they did not feel quite right. I doubt a reader who is not a lawyer would have that feeling. As the book went on Hirsch’s portrayal of Bob’s work building the defence got better.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Life is good for Marcus and Bob in San Diego in 1995. Their relationship is excellent. They have a loving dog, Oscar. Marcus is an accomplished professor, an expert in political rhetoric. Bob has a thriving practice. They live in a neighbourhood called Normal Heights - a name they “thought hilarious when they first heard it”. They are thinking about adopting a child. I was glad to read about a loving couple in a long term relationship. It is uncommon enough in crime fiction to be memorable.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not everything is positive in their personal lives. Every family has its challenges.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bob looks into Cathy’s life. She was a method actor who was “serious about it, and wanted every kind of experience in life” to aid her. Experiences included exploring “some unusual sexual scenes”. Kenny encouraged her to be with other guys. There was “some kink”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bob thinks the case for the prosecution is weak. The primary issue is how Cathy received the Demerol that was in her system plus alcohol. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was interesting to read the interviews of witnesses. It does not happen often in Canada. I have never interviewed the parents of a crime victim. It is a rare case where the victim’s family is not angry towards the accused.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To Bob’s frustration, Kenny doles out the truth of his sexual relationship with Cathy. Kenny ignores Bob’s exhortations to be honest with him. Trying to conceal information from your lawyer is so foolish. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bob understands he needs an alternative to Kenny being the killer. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If there is a trial Bob will have a difficult decision on whether Kenny should testify. A client who is careful with the truth is susceptible on cross-examination.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are competing investigations by the police and Bob’s investigator but readers are not given much information on the police efforts beyond the initial disclosure.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The trial tries for drama but with modest success. The evidence of witnesses was abrupt. I had to grit my teeth over the dramatic licence that was taken.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bob and Marcus are good men with genuine emotions. They are likeable characters. They remind me of a real life gay couple I know well who are a teacher and a lawyer and very likeable. Both the fictional and the real life couple survived the AIDS decimation of gay men in the 1980’s. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was reminded of Gail Bowen (a university professor) whose books feature Joanne Kilbourn (a university professor) who has had two husbands who are lawyers. She has a loving family with the difficulties of real life families. In most of her books she includes the lawyers of her life but limits their involvement.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-94ccdf7f-7fff-1bdd-fa4a-450fe2926c8e"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a nice book that moves briskly. I would have preferred that it focused on university life.</span></span></p>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-22231532918444712852024-02-23T21:58:00.001-06:002024-02-23T21:58:52.286-06:00Suspect by Scott Turow<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsffHYO-XAdD4qCQda1gwt0cCohMeSJ5upO-SmirJLSeTV0q8uf17XYDcz8IIYWy-Q7pwCFSscDqYbZVN-E_UjJJXPLT8nP2XoqKmgWsBnPB4a37iZ2vmG7zuRLWbhYzl3Qx4JZuUCaRk9cXxla0S-NTz_a6GBj5TqSkux7zPnSmh_BPwdD-LgporOxhl/s522/unknown%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="343" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsffHYO-XAdD4qCQda1gwt0cCohMeSJ5upO-SmirJLSeTV0q8uf17XYDcz8IIYWy-Q7pwCFSscDqYbZVN-E_UjJJXPLT8nP2XoqKmgWsBnPB4a37iZ2vmG7zuRLWbhYzl3Qx4JZuUCaRk9cXxla0S-NTz_a6GBj5TqSkux7zPnSmh_BPwdD-LgporOxhl/w263-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="263" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table>(12. - 1195.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Suspect</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Scott Turow - Pinky, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sandy Stern’s granddaughter,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is back. She appeared in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Last Trial</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> helping her grandfather, who was featured in over a generation of Turow’s books. Stern was a suave distinguished lawyer. Pinky is a raucous reckless young woman who was cast out from the police academy. She has tattoos spread around her body. While an unlikely figure to aid lawyers she has a vital aptitude for an investigator. In her words “I love to snoop and pry”.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-cd50a832-7fff-053a-4666-a712ca5f1ebf"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Beyond the ink Pinky, now 33, has a striking presence with a “magenta Mohawk (and a blue undercut on one side)”. Much of the time she has a nail in her nose (it is Goth jewelry in that it breaks apart rather than going through her nose).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She spends hours on YouTube looking to “master” PIBOT:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It means the Private Investigator’s Bag of Tricks. That started with a concealed carry permit, training included in my private investigator’s course. Now I’m always reading about and practicing skills - surveillance techniques, disguises, clever ruses to get people to talk.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She is working for Rik (he has removed the “c” in an unsuccessful attempt to be cool) Dudek who is at the opposite end of the criminal defence spectrum from Sandy. He handles “bar fights and first-time DUIs and drunken stunts by teenagers”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now 52, Rik is hoping a new case “might help him finally step up”. Highland Isle Police Chief Gomez is “accused by three officers of demanding sex in exchange for promotions on the force - “sextortion”. A friend of Rik’s since childhood, Chief Lucia Gomez-Barrera has a big personality. She denies the accusations of her male accusers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pinky obsesses a bit on her adjoining apartment dweller. (Their combined apartments were once a single apartment.) She thinks of him as “the weird guy next door”. He is a “creature of unvarying habit”. Every night he gets takeout from a small Mexican restaurant. Lacking a name she dubs him “TWO”. Pinky does live in her own world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The City of Highland Isle (HI) is on an island in Kindle County and was long controlled by the mob. Their presence lingers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My reader’s heart stopped for a moment when I read that Sandy is now in assisted living. Her Pops gives her his Cadillac CTS when he goes to the facility.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pinky is tasked with finding the evidence that can discredit the accusers. She looks up a past lover, Toyo (Toy) Eo, who has been an HIPD officer for 12 years seeking to make her a personal confidential informant. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pinky has no filter. Wanting to know what is in a trunk in his locker she breaks and enters but her pick breaks in the lock. She escapes the situation but has risked her future to satisfy her curiosity. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Two weeks before the Chief’s hearing they still have no evidence to shake the accusers. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Somehow a local real estate tycoon, Ritz Vojczek, whom she fired from the police department early on as Chief, has something on the complainants.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the first stage of the hearing Rik has the rare experience of evidence that allows him to destroy the credibility of an accuser on cross-examination. I did wonder if Turow was, not so subtly, showing how crucifying an alleged male victim of sexual harassment produces nary a complaint.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I realize it is a challenge to identify a character whose identity is unknown to Pinky but “TWO” felt so artificial.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">TWO is identified as Koob and becomes an important character. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was never comfortable with the TWO / Koob subplot. While connected I found it more of a distraction.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It took 150 pages but the book took off when the hearing is turned upside down. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sudden death, possibly a murder complicates the sextortion proceedings. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">While the key evidence is not found by accident the circumstances defy credibility. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The conclusion is classic thriller though the landscape is not littered with bodies. The ending has nothing to do with lawyers and legal proceedings.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The book is really about Pinky as an investigator for the lawyers. The lawyers play a secondary role. The court proceedings are well done as always with Turow. While Pinky is fascinating I prefer Turow's books that concentrate on law and lawyers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have found Turow’s books vary in quality. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Suspect</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is not one of the best. It is a well told mystery but I know he can do better.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">****</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Turow, Scott – (2000) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/personal-injuries-by-scott-turow.html">Personal Injuries</a></i> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Third best fiction of 2000)</b>; (2003) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Reversible Errors</i> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Tied for the best fiction in 2003)</b>; (2007) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ordinary Heroes</i>; (2011) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/04/innocent-by-scott-turow.html">Innocent</a></em>; (2012) - </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/08/one-l-by-scott-turow-1977-my-review.html"><em>One L (</em>My Review)</a> and</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/08/one-l-by-scott-turow-1977-guest-post-by.html" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><em>One L </em>(Michael Selnes review)</a><span> and<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/08/thoughts-on-one-l-reviews-of-myself-and.html" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Thoughts on Reviews of <em>One </em>L<em> </em>by Myself and Michael</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">; (2014) - </span><em style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/03/identical-by-scott-turow.html">Identical</a></em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">; (2018) - </span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/07/testimony-by-scott-turow.html" target="_blank">Testimony</a> </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">and </span><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/07/lawyers-and-opportunities-in.html" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">Lawyers and Opportunities in International Criminal Courts</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">; (2020) - <i>The Last Trial</i> - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-last-trial-by-scott-turow-opening.html">Opening</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-last-trial-by-scott-turow.html">Mid-Trial</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-last-trial-by-scott-turow-closing.html">Closing</a></span></p></span></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-22867864431013674812024-02-14T21:13:00.001-06:002024-02-14T21:13:27.803-06:00In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbe0iBAbmA4tmjnpoVMXWe3qnqoSq6ecnB-jW6nUWJNLxlgY4eI-jMd8oGn6bc5xa9s6DlsPylW3yoJn3c4FtBH9XQsousftqowOGSzer84DMsUpAJOJNVtM5ZrF8lUh_lQOE8yEom6PEW_0ERvb-NBZ0LB56Ehd0bEi1ifCnP3XunO2pxI9zNWSYboRuV/s1000/unknown%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbe0iBAbmA4tmjnpoVMXWe3qnqoSq6ecnB-jW6nUWJNLxlgY4eI-jMd8oGn6bc5xa9s6DlsPylW3yoJn3c4FtBH9XQsousftqowOGSzer84DMsUpAJOJNVtM5ZrF8lUh_lQOE8yEom6PEW_0ERvb-NBZ0LB56Ehd0bEi1ifCnP3XunO2pxI9zNWSYboRuV/w260-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="260" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">(8. - 1191.) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Bitter Chill</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Sarah Ward (2015) - Detective Inspector Francis Sadler (“rangy restlessness”) and Detective Sergeant Damian Palmer (“cropped hair and stocky build”) and Detective Constable Connie Childs (“diminutive” with “attitude”) are called to the death of an elderly woman, Yvonne Jenkins, at the Wilton Hotel in Bampton, Derbyshire. She is an apparent suicide from pills and vodka. Near the bed is a photograph album with newspaper clippings about her young daughter, Sophie, kidnapped 36 years earlier. The anniversary date of the kidnapping was the previous day.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-55f63973-7fff-8f9b-5382-f45b908e1d1c"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The case had never been solved. Sophie was never found. Yvonne never moved from the tidy modest bungalow which she shared with Sophie until the kidnapping in 1978. It is a home frozen in time.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The case has haunted the local police. Superintendent Llewellyn travels to the hotel before Yvonne is moved. He looks at the album. Though decades have passed since he was a young officer involved in the investigation, he is moved by emotion. He instructs Sadler to re-open the case.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sophie’s friend, Rachel Jones, still lives at Bampton. In 1978 they had gotten into the back of a car to get a lift to school from a lady. How or why Rachel was freed or escaped those decades earlier has been a mystery.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rachel works as a family historian, a personal genealogist, creating family trees. She has searched out her family’s past listing only female ancestors. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A journalist shows up at Rachel’s home and shouts through the slammed front door an offer of more money than Rachel made the previous year if Rachel will talk to her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With little, if any, new evidence to be found the investigators decide to focus on a pair of “whys”. Why did Rachel survive and why did Yvonne kill herself now? My favourite questions in a crime fiction. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rachel is asked by Sadler if anything has come back to her over 36 years:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">‘I told you no. Nothing. Can you imagine how that feels? I’ve lain awake night after night trying to remember, but nothing comes back.’ </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The police muse on whether the woman abductor was the perpetrator or an accomplice?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gradually secrets, not thought important or considered private or concealed or felt irrelevant, emerge to reveal the past. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A current death, a murder,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> complicates the investigation. How are the disappearance and recent two deaths connected? They cannot be coincidences.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rachel must find out the truth of her past to understand the kidnapping. She is sent tumbling back in her memory to the kidnapping by touching and feeling an innocent item. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Generations of women in Rachel’s family are crucial but how and why are devilishly difficult questions. With Mary, her mother, gone she must look to the uncertain recall of Nancy, her grandmother .</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The police search, at the same time. from another perspective the life of the woman who was murdered.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is striking how solitary or unsettled are the lives of the main characters. Sadler, Connie, Rachel, Yvonne and the last victim all live alone. Damian lives with his fiancee but is terrified about their impending marriage. There is not a significant character in a happy stable spousal relationship.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ward is skilful at creating characters, whether they have small or great roles in the book. She creates people not just one or two dimensional characters.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The book started slowly with the pace increasing and tension building until it was a race within the plot between Rachel and the police to the solution.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Bitter Chill</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is an excellent mystery with satisfying complexity. The reader is as challenged as the police.</span></p></span></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-89667898099883720052024-02-09T17:28:00.001-06:002024-02-09T17:40:04.625-06:00ALANNA<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOiHpncDzAC462UBlv-Lrsirln1-V_vc1n-HfGHyqo62xnfTIZ6dXeZfkd7PwQ7nJHwJwSoOn89R7IzHCIQC5WFJMaf5qHSUTivkc845iDBJWZ_UNZdp54xSXHXM-orqWQLA98_jK1-v3rY2eANJLdar_hj6TJNEV3tKvbgDI_igPYwSKLLCV8Q9oflUqR/s512/unknown%201.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="410" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOiHpncDzAC462UBlv-Lrsirln1-V_vc1n-HfGHyqo62xnfTIZ6dXeZfkd7PwQ7nJHwJwSoOn89R7IzHCIQC5WFJMaf5qHSUTivkc845iDBJWZ_UNZdp54xSXHXM-orqWQLA98_jK1-v3rY2eANJLdar_hj6TJNEV3tKvbgDI_igPYwSKLLCV8Q9oflUqR/w320-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">I have been thinking about the meaning of life this week. Sharon’s niece, Alanna, died last week. On Saturday we attended a celebration of her life.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-fa959acf-7fff-7898-3d2d-9762b90d4f93"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After a difficult pregnancy Alanna had profound challenges from birth. She could not see. She could barely walk. Her brain was a fraction of the size of an average brain. A doctor thought she would not survive longer than a month. She lived 33 years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For her last 18 years she lived full time in the Sunshine home in Osler where she truly lived in a home not a house. The Sunshine home is a bright spacious inviting place. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Her memorial card powerfully sets out her life:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.30091; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #111827; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For those who knew Alanna, she will be forever remembered for her captivating smile that invited others to be near her. Music has always been an important part throughout her life. She listened to oceans waves, drumbeats, Lady Gaga and acoustic guitar that caregivers played for her. Her favorite was caregivers singing softly in her ear, “You Are My Sunshine”, and “Jesus Loves Me”. She often joined by clapping or play her bells.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.30091; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #111827; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Alanna loved sunshine and coffee. Being able to sit on the deck on the warm, sunny days with her coffee brought her great joy. She enjoyed the solitude and peacefulness. She also enjoyed her warm, cozy room and long sleeps. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.30091; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #111827; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Alanna loved her family and friends. Her best friends being Elena, Jesse and Josh. All the people at her home, past and present, made sure she had the best of everything and had special bonds with each of them. She has hosted many celebrations, events and visits for all her Sunshine friends. Alanna’s favorite was talking to her family and friends on the phone and listening to the voices on the other end. Alanna loved having her hair combed and braided by dad and staff. She enjoyed meeting up with her mom and having a coffee together. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.30091; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #111827; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Alanna was born November 9, 1990 at Yorkton Union Hospital to Bob and Vi Hartl. Alanna had 2 sisters Rebecca and Raylene. In her younger years she lived in Esterhazy where she attended school at P.J. Gillen Elementary School. In 1998 she moved to Warman with her family and attended Venture Heights School in Martensville. That year she also started transitioning to Sunshine Housing Inc. In 2006 Alanna moved permanently into her forever home where she resided until she passed away. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Her Dad texted me about the importance of donating to care homes such as Sunshine Housing Inc.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sharon and I did not have a role in her life. We admired and are humbled by the dedication and love given to her by her parents, her sisters and all the other caregivers for those 33 years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In our present world I fear that Alana would not have been thought to have a meaningful life. I fear that a meaningful life currently requires good health, a full time job and not being dependent. I fear we do not respect and do not see dignity in the life of all.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Over 50 years ago in 2nd year university one of my classes was the Philosophy of Religion taught by Father Martin Biztyo. In that class I learned of Viktor Frankl, a Viennese psychiatrist and philosopher who thought deeply about life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I subsequently read and reviewed in my blog his book, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Man’s Search for Meaning</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In my review of the book I said:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Frankl said it “does not matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us”. If suffering is your task in life it is necessary to face it with dignity. All life has meaning. He said those with religious faith understood their sacrifice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I continued in my review:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A dying inmate cheerfully faced her death saying she was grateful that the brutal camp life had forced her spoiled pre-camp self to “take spiritual accomplishments seriously”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A couple of years ago I read Louise Penny’s work of fiction </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Madness of Crowds</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, a book in her long running series featuring Inspector Armand Gamache. I wrote several posts about the book.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In one of those posts I set out the philosophy of a statistician, Abigail Robinson, who was one of the primary characters: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She has analyzed massive amounts of information on societies, trends and the Covid pandemic. She has taken a phrase of hope for recovery from the pandemic, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All will be well</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and twisted it into a phrase supporting her thesis that for the world to recover from the pandemic and thrive there needs to be “mercy” killings, especially of the aged, and abortions of the deformed unborn. Those who burden society are to be removed.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In another post I said:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Robinson does not value individuals. It is society - “people” as a group - which is valued by her. The greater good requires sacrifices.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By contrast, Gamache sees “people” as individuals. He sees persons not categories of worthy and unworthy members of society. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gamache has a beloved granddaughter, Idola, who has Down Syndrome.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I appreciate there are prospective parents who face difficult decisions on whether to continue pregnancies. I respect their individual choices. I abhor those who would create government programs that would condemn the aged and the unborn they consider unworthy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Recently I read another work of crime fiction, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Discourtesy of Death</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by William Brodrick, in which a paraplegic young woman, Jenny, with terminal cancer dies. The book explores whether she died a natural death or someone assisted her to die or someone caused her to die.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the book Jenny, a dancer until a devastating fall, initially thinks after becoming a paraplegic that her life has no value. She re-considers and passionately explains why she wants to live:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">‘Now? she replied. ‘I want my life. I was ready to die before but now I </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">want my life</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. I know that in one way it’s broken, disappointing, limited, worthless, empty and insignificant … but it’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">mine</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It’s all I’ve got. I’m still me. And I know it will soon become messy and painful and frightening, but I still want it. I want to live what I’ve got … do you understand? It’s as valuable to me now as it ever was. I’m still … </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">full</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of something … and it can exhilarating, despairing, violent and peaceful - every state you can think of - and I just want to keep hold of it … for as long as possible.’</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The song, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is Me</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, from the movie, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Greatest Showman</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, emphasizes the meaningfulness of every life. A link to a magnificent performance is below.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Alanna’s Dad sent me some thoughts after reading this post:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One thing that I have pondered. Alanna lived 33 years, 2 months and 18 days. Not once did she commit an act of greed or malice or hatred to another being or animal. She liked some more than others but she could not be mean or jealous. Not many humans I have met in my life can measure up to her character. A human being incapable of being "bad". If there ever was an angelic human, it would be her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a practising Catholic and as a lawyer who has dealt with the challenges of people for almost 49 years I see all life as meaningful. Your life was meaningful Alanna. Rest in peace. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">****</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The initial singing of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is Me</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Keala Settle for the cast of the movie is at </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE</span></a></p></span></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-38344933252504633162024-02-02T19:22:00.001-06:002024-02-02T19:22:28.477-06:00Death Without Company by Craig Johnson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD82UJq-3PeAR9TEEpCz0cNBDcC_YHFarn6EhGOfjtJK_lpauIykmDVvDkx0JxKb6m5rNXHHeN2Z6nEHZgpYwgSi_XnVOdtcUE0xGxs-c_LCqgjZbXFcYlelKo7KOoM7j-00tJ7pmug0H4vgOCPOoEOUHXEIVv0P_Ed_hhYoVIgtAwo4asC8T8CAD3ydeR/s277/unknown%201.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="182" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD82UJq-3PeAR9TEEpCz0cNBDcC_YHFarn6EhGOfjtJK_lpauIykmDVvDkx0JxKb6m5rNXHHeN2Z6nEHZgpYwgSi_XnVOdtcUE0xGxs-c_LCqgjZbXFcYlelKo7KOoM7j-00tJ7pmug0H4vgOCPOoEOUHXEIVv0P_Ed_hhYoVIgtAwo4asC8T8CAD3ydeR/w263-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="263" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Working on, I should say reading several books, but have not finished any recently. Thus I am putting up a post of an early Walt Longmire book that I wrote in 2008. It was a good story with depth to the mystery. There was a precursor in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death Without Company</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of the more recent Longmire books when body counts have become extreme.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-26fc6f3d-7fff-6466-3a2e-4da63bb8e0c4"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;">****</div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2. - 412.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death Without Company</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Craig Johnson – The title comes from a Basque proverb – “A life without friends means ....”. Former sheriff, Lucian Connally, shakes Walt Longmire to his core when he claims fellow resident of the assisted living home, Mari Barojas, was murdered and follows up that she was his wife. It turns out they had briefly married before her father and brothers forcefully broke up the union. Her granddaughter, Lana Barojas, has opened a bakery in Durant. While skeptical Walt finds a way to order an autopsy. To his surprise she was poisoned. About the same time an effort is made to kill Dr. Issac Bloomfield by damaging his brake lines. Suddenly others are attacked. Motivation becomes clear when Walt learns of the millions in revenue coming from methane gas extraction on the Barojas property. A new deputy, Santiago Saizarbitoria, helps with translating the Basque language of the Barojas clan. It turns out the solution goes back 5 decades to the man Mari was married to after Lucian. Henry Standing Bear is a stalwart friend. The action flows swiftly. It is a vivid story that utilizes Wyoming geography and weather. Fierce winter Christmas storms are woven into the story. Walt is very believable. The solution could be determined by the bodies left standing. Excellent. Hardcover. (Jan. 7/08)</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">****</span></div></span></span><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Johnson, Craig – (2007) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Cold Dish</i>; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Best Fiction of 2007)</b>; (2008) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death Without Company</i>;<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>(2008) -<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/03/kindness-goes-unpunished-by-craig.html"><span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kindness Goes Unpunished</i> </span></a><span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Third Best Fiction of 2008)</b>; (2009) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-mans-moccasins-by-craig-johnson.html">Another Man’s Moccasins</a></i>; (2011) - </span></span><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/dark-horse-by-craig-johnson.html"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em>The Dark </em>Horse</span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">; (2011) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/08/junkyard-dogs-by-craig-johnson.html">Junkyard Dogs</a></em>; (2012) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/07/hell-is-empty-by-craig-johnson.html">Hell is Empty</a></em>; (2013) <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/06/j-is-for-as-crow-flies-by-craig-johnson.html">As the Crow Flies</a></em>; (2013) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/06/longmire-tv-series-on-a-e-network.html">Longmire T.V. Series</a></em>; (2014) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/05/a-serpents-tooth-by-craig-johnson.html">A Serpent's Tooth</a></em>; (2015) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/04/radio-in-indigenous-mystery-series.html">Radio in Indigenous Mystery Series</a>; (2015) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/09/any-other-name-by-craig-johnson.html" target="_blank">Any Other Day</a></em>; (2015) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/09/where-is-walt-longmire-series-headed.html" target="_blank">Where is the Walt Longmire Series Headed</a>; (2016) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2016/11/musings-on-longmire-in-its-5th-tv-season.html" target="_blank">Musings on the 5th Season of Longmire</a>; (2017) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2017/08/dry-bones-by-craig-johnson.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Dry Bones</a> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2017/08/is-largest-t-rex-in-saskatchewan.html" target="_blank">Is the Largest T-Rex in Saskatchewan?</a>; (2018) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/09/an-obvious-fact-by-craig-johnson.html" target="_blank">An Obvious Fact</a></i>; (2019) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-western-star-by-craig-johnson.html" target="_blank">The Western Star</a></i>; (2021) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/12/depth-of-winter-by-craig-johnson.html">Depth of Winter</a></i></span> </span></p>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-16053419329272802482024-01-27T19:33:00.002-06:002024-01-27T19:33:38.861-06:00The Plantin Polyglot Bible in Fiction<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5RZJ3_eYmg1o0VDxWt3ejtQRQm5TY2f1CVRst919dWuK5Pm34q2m89corYK90zAf0uiQLDMoaUqzgFTzd8rUHMW8iUN6Nl2DuP61hrOxnPNd3Cpa_4nx8bUUJg4_1_YaLvQYvBPhM9B_C40bEIL_gDdpwVP7jlKjDjsosvu5OLBRfZd458SOhGslQZHvx" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3200" data-original-width="4051" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5RZJ3_eYmg1o0VDxWt3ejtQRQm5TY2f1CVRst919dWuK5Pm34q2m89corYK90zAf0uiQLDMoaUqzgFTzd8rUHMW8iUN6Nl2DuP61hrOxnPNd3Cpa_4nx8bUUJg4_1_YaLvQYvBPhM9B_C40bEIL_gDdpwVP7jlKjDjsosvu5OLBRfZd458SOhGslQZHvx=w640-h506" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p>In </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Eva Jurczyk the mystery is about the disappearance of The Plantin Polyglot Bible which has been purchased for $500,000 by Department Director, Christopher Wolfe.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-76a0fc76-7fff-ee6d-901e-9e1a1372b08b"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are 6 volumes to the Bible and they are not in the safe at the Department. Jurczyk creates a wonderful book around the missing volumes of the Bible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I had certainly heard of the Gutenberg Bible, the book that heralded the age of print in the Western world, but I had not known of the Plantin Polyglot Bible. A quick Google search revealed the stunning Bible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is Polyglot as it is written in multiple languages - Hebrew, Chaldean (Aramaic), Greek, Latin and Syriac. Printed between 1568-1572 in Antwerp the Bible is a magnificent work of book making. Plantin’s goal was, as stated in Christie’s who were selling a vellum copy in 2018, to “produce the finest Bible in all Christendom”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There were 1,200 copies printed on paper and 12 copies on vellum. The vellum copies were for King Philip II of Spain. The skins of 8,000 sheep were needed to print the vellum copies.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christie’s says:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Plantin devoted 5 years, up to 4 presses and 40 workment to print the Bible. He had been acquiring types from the best type-cutters and designers of the day - Guillaume Le Be and Cornelis van Bomberghen for Hebrew and Brobert Granjon for Greek and Syriac … </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Between financial issues and strife in the Netherlands the last two volumes, the Apparatus Sacra, were only printed on paper.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The vellum copies, because of weight, were bound into 11 volumes instead of 6 volumes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the book it is the paper version which has been bought by the library.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was not until I saw the photos from Christie’s, which in 2018 auctioned the only vellum copy in the world in private hands, that I appreciated the majesty of the Bible as described in Jurczyk’s book.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It would be an amazing experience to hold and look at a volume.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christie’s sold the vellum Plantin Polyglot Bible for 488,750 pounds (Canadian $836,101)!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">****</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">My review is at </span><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-department-of-rare-books-and.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections</span></a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Here is a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=2894b8a3afae0f3b&rlz=1C1OKWM_enCA785CA787&q=plantin+polyglot+bible&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ-aXrzfyDAxXoHjQIHRfWASwQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1280&bih=863&dpr=1#vhid=cHOno9leM988UM&vssid=videos-39195a20">link</a> to a wonderful video from Christie’s auction information.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Eva had an interesting conversation with John Shoesmith, the Outreach Librarian at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto about her book and her work at the year. The Fisher Library is the inspiration for the library in her book. Here is a link - </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mkaGbdAfa0&t=246s" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mkaGbdAfa0&t=246s</span></a></p></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-32619204109519629952024-01-23T15:22:00.002-06:002024-01-23T15:22:48.133-06:00The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk<span id="docs-internal-guid-4a1943eb-7fff-b729-561a-7280efbaf377"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBNiv5463Cnb-VFko5d-y2He_is5X-VyOS2Gzo5q1gyHxjoQakYXBqOX8NSCd9AGoz601ub8vYRtbjBacH0vPnY8LyD2fYI5s-oMoj4_a3qNSz_4Lrfqd4wDfAl57sVSn9ah5JIJ8RxP1VzvOG09zN3imeWcLVsSJJMxqLrHC65I3j2x4A3UlAdSghkCz/s522/unknown%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="348" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBNiv5463Cnb-VFko5d-y2He_is5X-VyOS2Gzo5q1gyHxjoQakYXBqOX8NSCd9AGoz601ub8vYRtbjBacH0vPnY8LyD2fYI5s-oMoj4_a3qNSz_4Lrfqd4wDfAl57sVSn9ah5JIJ8RxP1VzvOG09zN3imeWcLVsSJJMxqLrHC65I3j2x4A3UlAdSghkCz/w266-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Eva Jurczyk - The Plantin Polygot Bible has been purchased for $500,000 for the university while Liesl Weiss was away “at home working on her own book”. Christopher “Chris” Wolfe, the Director of Rare Books and Special Collections at the university (a thinly disguised University of Toronto) for over 50 years, who made the winning bid at auction, is disabled, probably from a stroke. </span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When the safe in Christopher’s office is finally opened there is no Bible. Liesl is in charge with Christopher gone, but she is not respected by senior male librarians. With uncertain authority and a diplomatic personality she struggles to investigate what has happened to the missing multi-volume Bible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Everyone wants the Plantin Bible to be misplaced but how is a multi-volume Bible misfiled? Liesl wants to call the police but President Lawrence Garber refuses to allow her to report as stolen a Bible that has been misplaced. Only when another book cannot be found are the police contacted.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A hand search is undertaken that goes deep underground. Ordinarily, Liesl loves the basements of the library where books are shelved by size to maximize space and let the “fragile” books support one another. Now she is depressed and anxious as she and another librarian slowly go from stack to stack of books. She considers the quest to be futile.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The donors who provided thousands of dollars for the acquisition want to see “their” Bible. It is getting harder and harder to deflect wealthy men not accustomed to or tolerant of delay.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is nothing in Christopher’s personal computer. He was a “digital ghost”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is a fascinating visit to a book fair at the huge convention centre by the Toronto airport. Aisles of booksellers are ranked by Liesl. She equally slots the buyers. The book world is relatively small with significant trust. A vendor hands a buyer a book upon receiving a $25,000 cheque.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She has spent 40 years in the Department and loves the rare books and special collections.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As the investigation proceeds explanations must be given about the missing books. Liesl is advised:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> “Don’t get too creative, and don’t be more honest <br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 36pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">than you have to be.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Recommending evasion inevitably means manipulation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Determining the identity of the thief or thieves should not be that difficult. With the Department having good security against intruders the investigation must focus on the librarians. Yet it proceeds slowly. The police take little role as the university administration does not push the original complaint. President Garber wants as little attention as possible to the missing books. Donors might turn reluctant to give if the university cannot safeguard what their donations have purchased.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Liesl has a significant flaw as an investigator. She does not want any of her colleagues to be a thief. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The head librarians have well developed personalities. There is friction, credible conflict between them. At the same time there are the bonds of decades together. When there is loss of life among them they grieve deeply and sincerely.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They all have secrets in their lives. They are gradually revealed during the investigation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I had an early inkling about the thief but put it aside and was as saddened as Liesl when she discovered the thief.</span></p></span></span><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a wonderful place for those who love the feel, the sight, the weight, the smell, the print, the contents of great and rare books. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> book is a thoughtful mystery with an admirable clever sleuth. No guns, knives, bombs or other means of mayhem were wielded in the library. Liesl is a woman of mature years with great integrity. I admired her determination to solve the mystery. I would love to visit her Department.</span> </span></p>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-73078979904029017152024-01-16T19:07:00.002-06:002024-01-16T19:07:34.062-06:00The Legacy by Gail Bowen<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip_E39iSqttz_XHJ7ZRxFWq74vxXk_U6wT3Xkiia_VXBaSsTLDgUWprkl0YBfDH2abVQQd5OLAKwQvirHJIxvVPyg9G0kKSdwYDyxb2JFIsiiQpSuxj8w2xDUq512JVKQFmF7YcNS4naqGbFs6ztJa5Dh-fglP3b41W4vHQf6kwVO4dyykGZnq_SpeWUjy/s385/unknown%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="249" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip_E39iSqttz_XHJ7ZRxFWq74vxXk_U6wT3Xkiia_VXBaSsTLDgUWprkl0YBfDH2abVQQd5OLAKwQvirHJIxvVPyg9G0kKSdwYDyxb2JFIsiiQpSuxj8w2xDUq512JVKQFmF7YcNS4naqGbFs6ztJa5Dh-fglP3b41W4vHQf6kwVO4dyykGZnq_SpeWUjy/w259-h400/unknown%201.jpg" width="259" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">(39. - 1178.) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Legacy</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Gail Bowen - Zack Shreve is grieving the loss of Pantera. They had been inseparable for eight years and eight months. She was his first dog. </span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-008132d6-7fff-6f92-eb73-203494dae330"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Zack and Joanne meet their nearly 6 year old grandsons, Colin and Charlie, at a dog breeder near Regina to pick out a puppy. When they arrive the breeder, Neil who has Down Syndrome, startles Zack:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Neil spoke slowly, and he stuttered a little when he was excited. “That’s right. It took me awhile to find the right puppy for you, Mr. Shreve. But I found him, and here he is. He’s a boy, and you get to choose his name. Neil handed the squirming puppy to Zack and the pup immediately settled in.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was emotional reading about the new dog. Zack can now move forward with life.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Just as Zack was surprised by Neil, Joanne is equally caught off-guard when they go for lunch at Val Masluk’s home near Neil’s place. Val is a writer who is about to have published a lengthy biography of Steven Brooks, a very successful Canadian fiction author. Val, using the surname of Massey, had been a student of Joanne during an ugly time involving fellow professor, Tom Kelsoe.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Leah, Steven’s daughter, and Angus, Joanne’s son, are getting married just after the Labour Day Weekend. They are 15 years into their relationship.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is abundant tension about Steven. Leah has had little to do with her father but he has come to Regina for the wedding. Her unmarried aunts, Reva and Mila, effectively raised her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to the wedding there are multiple family birthdays to be celebrated.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">An anonymous emailer raises issues of plagiarism with regard to Steven’s last two books, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Medusa’s Fate</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Iron Bed of Procustes</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> drawn from classical Greek stories. Steven’s first three books had modest readership. After eight years without a book Steven was fading from public and publishing view. The two brilliant books save his career and make him famous.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Val is interviewed by Charlie Dowhaniuk, the Shreve’s son-in-law, for his national radio show the tension level with regard to Steven is ratcheted up. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">All tread carefully. Accusations of plagiarism, if true, would be devastating for Steven’s career. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Val is in a quandary. He is embarking on a national promotional tour as the rumours circulate. He is constantly asked about the claims of plagiarism. He wants to avoid speculation. Deflecting the issue seems best.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Back in Regina Zack and Joanne are occupied with the outdoor fall wedding and the birthday parties. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Concerns over Steven take precedence over the weather uncertainty of a fall outdoor wedding in Saskatchewan. Steven has learned of the accusations. You will need to read the book to find out what happens at the wedding.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The primary investigation concerns the alleged plagiarism. Suspicion is not proof.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As an avid reader and former University English professor Joanne is well suited to assessing literary honesty.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Legacy</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is definitely a book that has a murder in the plot. The greatest focus is upon Joanne, Zack and their family. They are thriving and I appreciate the latest updates on their lives in each book of the series.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was glad the book dealt with literary issues. The last few books in the series had featured the movie industry. I was ready for the series to move to other themes. A book focused on books was welcome.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a powerful testament to Gail’s drive to write that she completed this book while in hospital for 9 months, the first four in bed. Fortunately, she has been able to return home and continuing to write. Her spirit is indomitable. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space-collapse: collapse;">** Bowen, Gail – (2000) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/burying-ariel-by-gail-bowen.html">Burying Ariel</a></i> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Second best fiction of 2000)</b>; (2002) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/glass-coffin-by-gail-bowen.html">The Glass Coffin</a></i>; (2004) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/last-good-day-by-gail-bowen.html">The Last Good Day</a></i>; (2007) – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/endless-knot-by-gail-bowen.html">The Endless Knot</a></i> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Second Best Fiction of 2007)</b>; (2008) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/brutal-heart-by-gail-bowen.html">The Brutal Heart</a></i>; (2010) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/nesting-dolls-by-gail-bowen.html">The Nesting Dolls</a></i>; (2011) - <a href="http://deadly%20appearances%20by%20gail%20bowen/"><em>Deadly </em>Appearances</a>; (2012) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/05/kaleidoscope-by-gail-bowen.html">Kaleidoscope</a></em>; (2013) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/06/m-is-for-murder-at-mendel-by-gail-bowen.html">Murder at the Mendel</a></em>; (2013) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/10/the-gifted-by-gail-bowen.html"><em>The Gifted</em></a> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/10/q-with-gail-bowen-on-gifted.html">Q & A</a>; (2015) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/05/12-rose-street-by-gail-bowen.html">12 Rose Street</a></em>;<em> </em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/11/q-with-gail-bowen-on-writing-and-joanne.html" target="_blank">Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series</a>; (2016) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2016/03/whats-left-behind-by-gail-bowen.html" target="_blank">What's Left Behind</a></em> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2016/03/heritage-poultry-in-saskatchewan-crime.html" target="_blank">Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction</a>; (2017) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/08/the-winners-circle-by-gail-bowen.html" target="_blank">The Winners' Circle</a></i>; </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">(2018) - </span><i style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">Sleuth - Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> / Gail the Grand Master - </span><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/06/sleuth-gail-bowen-on-writing-mysteries_25.html" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">(Part I)</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> and (<a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/07/sleuth-gail-bowen-on-writing-mysteries.html" target="_blank">Part II</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; white-space-collapse: collapse;">); (2018) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-darkness-of-heart-by-gail-bowen.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">A Darkness of the Heart</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2018/10/emails-with-gail-on-darkness-of-heart.html" target="_blank">Email Exchange with Gail on ADOH</a>; (2020) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-unlocking-season-by-gail-bowen.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Unlocking Season</a>; (2021) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/10/an-image-in-lake-by-gail-bowen.html" style="font-style: italic;">An Image in the Lake</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-fourth-f-is-forgiveness.html">The Fourth "F" is Forgiveness</a>; (2023) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/02/whats-past-is-prologue-by-gail-bowen.html">What's Past is Prologue</a></i> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/02/law-matters-in-whats-past-is-prologue.html">Law Matters in <i>What's Past is Prologue</i></a></span></span></span></p></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-23714582435661447302024-01-07T19:52:00.002-06:002024-01-07T20:29:13.762-06:00Resurrection Walk by Michael Connellly<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4vIGaAyjwb4f6lEE6ZozVv4LlWhK4dx56yyTecMYffbHjGA3oL1KvN8PXRmiDyfHZzDGhi0yho3mvn2doXJj6Me-zgsIrxUWpkl24wqIFC63YA-JaiTYrXdT-OvXdKOXRnBCCyeQyJt4nP3_xFEg8R1pmVfYwbK5jMTrqn2BKuM9CJUQvLT1mrLzOysn5" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="894" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4vIGaAyjwb4f6lEE6ZozVv4LlWhK4dx56yyTecMYffbHjGA3oL1KvN8PXRmiDyfHZzDGhi0yho3mvn2doXJj6Me-zgsIrxUWpkl24wqIFC63YA-JaiTYrXdT-OvXdKOXRnBCCyeQyJt4nP3_xFEg8R1pmVfYwbK5jMTrqn2BKuM9CJUQvLT1mrLzOysn5=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Resurrection Walk</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Michael Connelly - Mickey Haller has rescued Jorge Ochoa from life in prison because of Harry Bosch’s hard work in identifying a serial killer who was the actual killer. Mickey takes pride in seeing Ochoa walk out of prison into life. (Connelly has an exceptional talent with his publishers in coming up with remarkable book titles.)</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-057ee1f7-7fff-0782-2f5b-89f25b3d9c3d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">While smiling over Mickey’s satisfaction I was hit hard when I read Harry has a raw throat from his latest cancer treatment. He is working for Mickey on Mickey’s personal innocence project. Mickey hired him so Harry could get private health insurance and be enrolled into an experimental treatment program at UCLA. The sense of looming mortality in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Desert Star</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> has been realized.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harry is driving Mickey but not chauffeuring him. Mickey sits in the front seat. When he forgets the Lincoln Navigator does not move until Mickey remembers and moves from the back seat to the front seat.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harry, in addition to driving Mickey, is reviewing the numerous letters Mickey has received from inmates stating they are innocent and asking Mickey to represent them. Harry’s skeptical eyes find but two letters worth investigating.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One is from Lucinda Sanz who pleaded </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">nolo contendre</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to killing her ex-husband Roberto Sanz, a Los Angeles County deputy, and has an 11 year sentence. She had claimed innocence throughout the case but accepted a plea deal to avoid the risk of a life sentence without parole if she were found guilty at a trial.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Harry contacts Renée Ballard who is still working at the recently re-established cold case unit where the 70 year old Harry had been a volunteer in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Desert Star</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. He asks her for background information. She cleverly avoids compromising access to official files by emailing him newspaper reports of the case.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harry swiftly notices some weaknesses in the case.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mickey contacts Frank Silver, Sanz’s defence counsel. He operates out of legal commune. It is a set of offices in which defence lawyers come and go so frequently there are simply slots on the doors for business cards. There are no support staff. Silver proves to be a “weasel” demanding a share in any civil law payments if Sanz is freed before he will release the file to Mickey.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mickey and Harry go to the prison in Chino to see Sanz. She is steadfast and convincing in her denial of guilt.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The hunt for evidence to free her commences and I was absorbed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her son, Eric, now 13 had been with his father for the day before being dropped off late. His father had been shot 12 feet from the house after an argument with Sanz. The police interviewed him. Silver’s failure to interview Eric was a flaw in representation.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Roberto Sanz was part of a “clique” within the Sheriff’s department and had been involved in a shootout with a gang a year before in which he killed a gang member. The police ceased looking into that possible motive when they concluded Sanz killed her ex.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">For Silver not talking to a clearly potentially important witness, even at 9 years of age, and not looking into the gang shootout were egregious missteps. Mickey derisively refers to him as Second Place Silver.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">And then Harry’s careful review of the evidence finds the thread that can unravel the whole case.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I understand but do not excuse the police, clearly not mentored by Harry, did not bother with an interview or following up on the shooting. They were convinced they had the killer and did not need to talk to anyone who might weaken their case.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Resurrection Walk</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Harry and Mickey are actually working together. In past books they would come together for meetings but it was never a true working relationship. They also have more of a brotherly connection. Cancer can build as well as end relationships.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Connelly provides a vivid description of Harry’s treatment:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bosch could feel the isotope moving in him, coursing coldly through his veins, over the shoulder and across his chest like a broken-dam flood.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harry has always maintained that representing the accused and the convicted was the dark side and, beyond a few isolated cases for or involving Mickey, he has never worked defense cases. Thus, I was stunned when:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the seven months they had worked the Sanz case together, Bosch had come to realize that working on the defense side made Haller a long-shot underog. He was like a man on the beach holding a surfboard and looking up at a hundred-foot wave coming in. The power and might of the state was limitless. Haller was just one man making a stand for his client. He was willing to paddle out to that crushing wave. Bosch was beginning to see that there was something noble in that.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I went “yes!” to myself. While uncommon now I think lawyers and investigators benefit in perspective if they have both worked for prosecution and defense.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">habeas corpus</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> application hearing was as tense and driving as any Connelly has written.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The twists and turns were riveting as the evidence and law shifted back and forth. The case was both sophisticated and visceral, as rare a combination as you can find in legal fiction.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In recent years I have decried some of Connelly’s books for bad guys who were so evil as to be caricatures. In </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Resurrection Walk</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> he returned to his early books with wickedness present but characters who were multi-dimensional.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harry and Mickey formed a great team. I hope they continue forward together but the tone of the book makes me wonder.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ending was spectacular with a closing little twist that left me smiling as I read the final page.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space-collapse: collapse;">Connelly, Michael – (2000) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Void Moon</i>; (2001) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Darkness More than Night</i>; (2001) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Concrete Blonde </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Third best fiction of 2001)</b>; (2002) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood Work</i> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(<u>The Best</u>)</b>; (2002) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> City of Bones</i>; (2003) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lost Light</i>; (2004) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Narrows</i>; (2005) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Closers </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Tied for 3rd best fiction of 2005)</b>; (2005) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/03/lincoln-lawyer-by-michael-connelly.html">The Lincoln Lawyer</a></i>; (2007) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Echo Park</i>; (2007) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Overlook</i>; (2008) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-brass-verdict-by-michael-connelly.html">The Brass Verdict</a></i>; (2009) – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/11/scarecrow-by-michael-connelly.html">The Scarecrow</a></i>; (2009) – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/07/nine-dragons-by-michael-connelly.html">Nine Dragons</a></i>; (2011) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/reversal-by-michael-connelly.html">The Reversal</a></i>; (2011) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/07/fifth-witness-by-michael-connelly.html"><em>The Fifth </em>Witness</a>; (2012) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2012/02/drop-by-michael-connelly.html">The Drop</a></em>; (2012) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/04/black-echo-1992-by-michael-connelly.html">Black Echo</a></em>; (2012) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/04/harry-bosch-first-twenty-years.html">Harry Bosch: The First 20 Years</a>; (2012) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-black-box-by-michael-connelly.html">The Black Box</a></em>; (2014) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gods-of-guilt-by-michael-connelly.html">The Gods of Guilt</a></em>; (2014) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-bloody-flag-move-is-sleazy-and.html">The Bloody Flag Move is Sleazy and Unethical</a>; (2015) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-burning-room-by-michael-connelly.html">The Burning Room</a></em>; (2015) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/02/everybody-counts-or-nobody-counts.html">Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts</a>; (2016) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2016/01/the-crossing-by-michael-connelly.html" target="_blank">The Crossing</a></em>; (2016) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.mx/2016/01/lawyers-and-police-shifting-sides.html" target="_blank">Lawyers and Police Shifting Sides</a>; (2017) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/01/the-wrong-side-of-goodbye-by-michael.html" target="_blank">The Wrong Side of Goodbye</a></em> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/01/a-famous-holograph-will.html" target="_blank">A Famous Holograph Will</a>; (2017) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/01/bosch-tv-season-one.html" target="_blank"><em>Bosch</em> - T.V. - Season One</a> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/02/titus-welliver-as-harry-bosch.html" target="_blank">Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch</a>; (2018) - <i><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2018/02/two-kinds-of-truth-by-michael-connelly.html" target="_blank">Two Kinds of Truth</a></i>; (2019) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/06/dark-sacred-night-by-michael-connelly.html" target="_blank">Dark Sacred Night</a> </i>and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-protest-on-connellys-use-of-vigilante.html" target="_blank">A Protest on Connelly's Use of Vigilante Justice</a>; (2020) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-night-fire-by-michael-connelly.html" target="_blank">The Night Fire</a></i>; (2020) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2020/07/fair-warning-by-michael-connelly.html">Fair Warning</a></i>; (2021) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-law-of-innocence-by-michael-connelly.html">The Law of Innocence</a> </i>and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/01/writing-credible-trial.html">Writing a Credible Trial</a>; (2022) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-dark-hours-by-michael-connelly.html">The Dark Hours</a></i>; Hardcover</span><br style="font-family: Times; white-space-collapse: collapse;" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><br /></span></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-48637812272701553542024-01-03T22:12:00.004-06:002024-01-03T22:12:59.800-06:00Bill's Best of 2023 - Non-Fiction and Most Interesting<p><span style="font-size: large;">I conclude Bill’s Best of 2023 with the categories of Non-Fiction and Most Interesting. The latter is a list of books that were not favourites of the year in Fiction or Non-Fiction but had qualities that I found intriguing.</span></p><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b1def6dc-7fff-9820-aa50-189226be4698"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJvSmxTYXIUM4R-ql6JQSlG69Qycl4OXQ1DI51k4shqNsinmADHweOim1bq2hEy6yVZSQbMMze-1EREH8jKgs-zkjXZ9e8ljoqn8G-KwvHkgxgj5NEHlpnUfiL07xGd0G_uOkl05udkh8Jqchza9cvrZG88QjmAcIapdFuYYA4i9MCzfL8J0v2vrNI-8u/s400/unknown%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="265" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJvSmxTYXIUM4R-ql6JQSlG69Qycl4OXQ1DI51k4shqNsinmADHweOim1bq2hEy6yVZSQbMMze-1EREH8jKgs-zkjXZ9e8ljoqn8G-KwvHkgxgj5NEHlpnUfiL07xGd0G_uOkl05udkh8Jqchza9cvrZG88QjmAcIapdFuYYA4i9MCzfL8J0v2vrNI-8u/w265-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="265" /></span></a><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As with 2022, I have chosen 2 books for Best of Non-Fiction in 2023.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">**** </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">NON-FICTION<br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We Keep the Dead Close</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Becky Cooper - It is a book for which I have not yet posted a review. I expect to post in 2024. This note will be part of the review:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harvard is a world of its own. Cooper recounts how it is filled with elite people displaying all the variations inherent in “elite”. It was no different in 1969 when Jane Britton was working on her Ph.D. in archaeology.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cooper is intrigued, ultimately obsessed, with the murder of Jane Britton. She has had a fascination with solving mysteries since she was a child. A 40 year old murder with a striking victim, a glamorous professor and a potential coverup by one of America’s great institutions is perfect.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cooper’s style appeals to me. She tells the story from the alternating perspectives of the actual investigation of the murder and her search decades later. She is open about herself and how she reacts to the investigation. She writes narrative very well. The stories, past and present, flow as they unfold. I ended up with almost 5,000 words in notes upon the book. It took me much of the book to appreciate she is telling Jane’s story through seeking to solve a murder.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nothing But the Truth</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Marie Henein - She is currently Canada’s best known criminal defence lawyer.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants she grew up in Toronto. I found the description of her youth and attending law school the best part of the book:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the book Henein sets out the best and worst of law school.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The best involves critical thinking:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 72pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Navigating a case effectively requires an ability to critically think, set aside your ego, and most importantly, challenge your own and your client’s assumptions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In her next sentence she discusses the worst:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 72pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">While law school does some of this, it completely fails to teach students about the actual practice of law. Very little time is spent on how to interact with clients, tackle ethical issues, or master the art of negotiation and advocacy.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I regretted that she chose not to discuss any of her high profile cases.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">MOST INTERESTING</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Livingsky</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Anthony Bidulka - Last year Anthony’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Going to Beautiful</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was my favourite book of the year. In 2023 his next book </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Livingsky</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> tops Most Interesting.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Private Investigator, Merry Bell, is returning to Livingsky (inspired by Saskatoon), Saskatchewan from Vancouver. She arrives in the midst of the harsh Saskatchewan winter. Her days are long as no one is calling. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was caught offguard when Anthony reveals Merry is transgender who has completed her physical transition to a woman in B.C.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Looking for cheap housing she finds an inexpensive house through the son of a notorious slum landlord:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gerald tells Merry that he rents to those who have no choices.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In return, she investigates a fire for which he is a suspect. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Merry is a good investigator.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book is another illustration of Anthony crafting an excellent mystery featuring the under-represented in crime fiction.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I especially appreciated his reply to an email asking him numerous questions on the book.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thursday Murder Club</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - I loved the concept of a group of senior citizens forming a club to solve murders in England.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In my review I set out why I thought I could be valued addition to the club. I summed up:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The club members are relentless. Each is resolute in solving murders. I enjoy the challenge of trying to solve murders in crime fiction. My determination is reflected by having over 1,000 murder experiences through reading mysteries.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I really enjoyed the club members. They are witty, kind and bright. Each is an engaged senior using the talents acquired during their lives. They are a dynamic quartet. I hope they call. I would relish being a member of the Thursday Murder Club.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I regret to report they have yet to call me.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">3.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scorched Grace</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Margot Douaihy - Sister Holiday of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood in New Orleans swears, smokes, has tattoos and is queer. She is also devoted to her vocation. She is unlike any nun I have met in my life.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She is teaching music in a high school when there is a fire and a member of the staff is killed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She joins another unique woman, Magnolia “Maggie” Riveaux, New Orleans first black female fire investigator, in investigating the arson. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Douaihy is a strong writer. I stated in my review:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is a lyrical quality to Douaihy’s prose as she drives the story forward.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The striking cover caught my attention in the bookstore. Fair or not, I doubt I would have picked up the book except for the cover.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I expect to read more of Sister Holiday.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">3.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death and the Conjuror</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Tom Mead - I cannot recall the last time I read a classic locked room mystery written by a contemporary author.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mead does set the book in 1936 in London. Joseph Spector is a former music hall conjuror who aids the police in their investigation of murder.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I said in my review that:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mead’s prose flows smoothly and I glided through the book. It is a good book. Mead is a clever man. The solution is suitably complex. As usual, my efforts to understand how murder was committed and how the killer escaped the locked room were futile.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I followed with a post featuring Hercule Poirot analyzing Spector and Inspector George Flint. Mead kindly said my review and Poirot analysis were “highly entertaining”.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-88435551175977584692023-12-31T21:26:00.002-06:002024-01-01T21:12:26.585-06:00Bill's Best of 2023 Fiction<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CY8rCE2DRzYBUxVlLZollb5s8d1hWllk4CSHUPRiPipudsYd1hpNYDpitF70JntF2BaHnXlN460IWks0v2rq87Ighey1-myOnyjQyLWXyu68tqXcP3TFN8sF7mNvGrjJdn7Acf8ciY9zuIeJ0Yzb6W9E5TO5izklWMojDX5UyQTO_ficXRGDlgSLRexU/s550/unknown%201.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="367" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CY8rCE2DRzYBUxVlLZollb5s8d1hWllk4CSHUPRiPipudsYd1hpNYDpitF70JntF2BaHnXlN460IWks0v2rq87Ighey1-myOnyjQyLWXyu68tqXcP3TFN8sF7mNvGrjJdn7Acf8ciY9zuIeJ0Yzb6W9E5TO5izklWMojDX5UyQTO_ficXRGDlgSLRexU/w268-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="268" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">I continue a minor tradition of publishing Bill’s Best of Fiction on December 31. I like to make it a genuine assessment of my reading for the full calendar year. My next post will have Bill’s Best of 2023 Non-Fiction and a personal category of Bill’s Most Interesting of 2023. The lists do include books published earlier than 2023.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9872; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">For the best of 2023 fiction:<br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-discourtesy-of-death-by-william.html">The Discourtesy of Death</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-discourtesy-of-death-by-william.html"> by William Brodrick</a> - My favourite work of fiction this year was written 10 years ago. I found it while browsing in The Sleuth of Baker Street bookstore in Toronto.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">A book featuring a Gilbertine monk, Father Anselm, who was an English barrister before becoming a monk was an immediate attraction. And then I learned Brodrick had been an Augustinian monk prior to becoming an English solicitor.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">What made the book the best was its exploration of death.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jenny Henderson has been left a paraplegic after a fall and has terminal cancer when she abruptly dies.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I summed up the questions in my review:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-097958d8-7fff-8329-5e62-25f6b737eb77"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Was Jenny murdered or given assistance in dying because she did not want a lingering death or did she die of natural causes?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book was brilliant.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-quiet-flame-by-philip-kerr.html">A Quiet Flame</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-quiet-flame-by-philip-kerr.html"> by Philip Kerr </a>- Second best is another book written years ago. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Quiet Flame</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the 5th book in the Bernie Gunther series and was published in 2008.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gunther has reached Argentina in 1950. He escaped from Germany with a pair of ex-SS officers. One of his traveling companions is Adolph Eichmann.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kerr grabbed my attention when Gunther is welcomed by President Juan Peron. The President asks him to investigate the death of a teenage girl and the disappearance of another. Argentinian authorities think the cases might be connected to a German case Gunther worked on in 1932.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Gunther investigates in Argentina there are flashbacks to the German investigation which is occurring months before the Nazis gained power in Germany.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The story flows seamlessly between the investigations in Argentina and Germany.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a fascinating twist that in 1950 Gunther has authority to investigate his “old comrades” where in 1932 he was subject to their power.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-world-of-curiosities-by-louise-penny.html">A World of Curiosities</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-world-of-curiosities-by-louise-penny.html"> by Louise Penny</a> - Armand Gamache investigates a complex mystery that has connections to the mass murder of female engineering students 30 years ago at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, a mother who was murdered after allowing her children to be abused 10 years earlier and the discovery of a hidden room at the bistro in Three Pines.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The hidden room contained a marvel:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is a secret to the bookstore that has been hidden for 160 years. There is a hidden room. The room was bricked and plastered over in the 19th Century. It is a locked room mystery as to its creation and that inside are several items and a copy of The Paston Treasure painting to which have been added images that range from the 1600’s to our time. A grimoire, a book of spells, from the 17th Century is also found in the room. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The symbolism within the painting is from the minute to the massive. The symbolic power of the spells is intense. The consequences for those who create symbols and invoke spells has its own symbolism.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Had the ending been less Hollywood it would have been my favourite fiction of 2023.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="Sunset and Jericho by Sam Wiebe">Sunset and Jericho</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="Sunset and Jericho by Sam Wiebe"> by Sam Wiebe</a> - I too often find noir just dark. Wiebe has the ability to have balance amidst the bleakness. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Vancouver private investigator, Dave Wakeland, sets out to find the missing brother of the mayor and the missing handgun of a transit cop.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I noted that:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only in Canada would it be credible that a carefully orchestrated attack be made on a security officer to get a handgun. In America the attack would be disregarded as fantasy. An American needs only to stroll down to the neighbourhood gun shop to get a handgun.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The investigation takes him to an extremist group called Death of Kings. The zealots in the group are frightening.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dave is a classic lone P.I. who, in the best traditions of hard boiled detectives, will not be intimidated:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can’t prevent being threatened, and you can’t win them all. But you can hold them to account.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s no forgetting with matters of violence.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I found the resolution both credible and surprising. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wiebe has developed an enduring Canadian sleuth.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy New Year to readers near and far!</span></span></p>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-75482641123106793482023-12-26T21:29:00.000-06:002023-12-26T21:29:12.932-06:00Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB8g_wyg7OIM1YiYW5VyUNC_HXeILRDzxJJrS6nHeIHoWvgvdJ487QUt3KifXLm7pNG_dCDXgvXUISE78CTVslFjI2ZkIE9fo924KV1Z-vXDcLpzW5sQj61bUws7JQKmkFP00j1g0RSnhiOiSA3zFvViXoG-aBE5zG3FFyx--VHNsnS3v17uLUEhbuNiMe" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB8g_wyg7OIM1YiYW5VyUNC_HXeILRDzxJJrS6nHeIHoWvgvdJ487QUt3KifXLm7pNG_dCDXgvXUISE78CTVslFjI2ZkIE9fo924KV1Z-vXDcLpzW5sQj61bUws7JQKmkFP00j1g0RSnhiOiSA3zFvViXoG-aBE5zG3FFyx--VHNsnS3v17uLUEhbuNiMe=w400-h400" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(44. - 1183.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do Tell </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">by Lindsay Lynch - I was enthralled by “moderately successful” actress, Edith “Edie” O’Dare by the end of the first page:</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ef3e62d8-7fff-64f4-0f30-f3c8acf1c8ee"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">… I built my career in silences and averted glances, paying attention to who missed work, who skipped parties. I asked why, and when no one answered, I filled in the blanks myself.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I love characters who are fascinated by “why”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In August of 1939, Edie has invited her brother Sebastian O’Shaughnessy, a “successful” novelist, to come from New York City to Los Angeles. She advised him that he will “have a job”. It is his first education in Hollywood “speak”. She has not arranged a job. She is sure he will get a job as he is “very employable!”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On Seb’s arrival they attend a cocktail party at the mansion of Thomas Brodbeck, Studio Chief and FWM Sudios. She is wearing a gown borrowed from FWM casting which was rejected by a star. His pants and shirt are wrinkled. Edith assures him that people will “think it’s very </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">New York</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of you. That kind of credibility gets people jobs”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Edith has not bothered to tell Seb she has but 3 months left on her 7 year contract and studios do not offer new contracts to “moderately successful” actresses. She is out hustling herself to find a way to make a living in Hollywood.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She already has a niche as the “favorite” source for prominent gossip columnist, Poppy St. John.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The party celebrates the studio arranged engagement of stars Charles Landrieu (a handsome former stuntman) and Nell Parker. The studio even purchases the Cartier engagement ring.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Edies was creative with her past in winning a contest to get to Hollywood and remains inventive. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a gossip source she unreservedly questions everyone in the movie business. Her cheekiness, I would actually say brassiness, often gets a quotable response. Many of her tips for Poppy’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tinseltown Tattler</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> column come from attending nightclubs where the stars and not-so-stars go to be seen. She is a keen observer.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In discussion with the head costume designer at FMW, George:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I always mocked George for his insistence that he was the only person in the industry who </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">truly</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> understood how to tell a story - according to him, actors were phonies, directors were pigs and screenwriters were drunken hacks. It was his belief that he could convey more about a character’s inner life through a fabric choice and tailoring than any of the stars could hope to with their diction or facial expressions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She knows the value of every actor to the studio and their roles. The primary value for a couple of male actors is their ability to die on screen.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not all gossip is benign or trivial.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She seizes the opportunity to start moving to newspapers when she skillfully and quietly orchestrates the release of a story of a young starlet who states a star sexually abused her at a party. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Los Angeles Times</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> subsequently gives her a chance and Edie is ready.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">While she has no shame in listening in at parties, clubs and movie sets or asking questions she has a conscience with regard to the information gathered but how far will Edie go to be a gossip “star”? She knows can destroy a reputation with a deft phrase. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Beyond the ethics of gossip, she must tread carefully not to overly antagonize the powerful publicists who can make access to their actors and actresses difficult.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It says a lot about the status of women in the movie industry of the early 1940’s for Edie to be “the most feared woman” in Hollywood. There is neither an actress nor a woman director nor a woman producer with real power. I exclude studio mogul as nary a senior executive in the book is female.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">There was a relationship for which Edie, a keen observer of Hollywood combinations, was so slow to discern its true nature as to defy probability.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I had hoped </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do Tell</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> would be the start of a series featuring Edie but, alas it appears from the plot that it will be a standalone. Entertaining and thought provoking and the movie industry are an uncommon combination.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I do want to read more from Ms. Lynch. She is a gifted writer.</span></span></p></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-75574907621001762532023-12-17T13:42:00.004-06:002023-12-17T13:42:58.234-06:00Heat Wave by Maureen Jennings<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVSWRxkmqfpfc_mn6xqZT6ai__mjBbovuvyWbT0Z3nrHroiEA-TN_FGz5m2ufEpLqU7Bsb9KqT6oQqk2Vzx1cdv8a4guhe6dQI94vvz6AZBnI4MGf-tp3aXvlfeK5xD3jck4aEF-oeGYCLpb8eSfK6B6OlCw3dsuK0b82hiD0hHxUYC7c51JUlXz6_domh" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="674" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVSWRxkmqfpfc_mn6xqZT6ai__mjBbovuvyWbT0Z3nrHroiEA-TN_FGz5m2ufEpLqU7Bsb9KqT6oQqk2Vzx1cdv8a4guhe6dQI94vvz6AZBnI4MGf-tp3aXvlfeK5xD3jck4aEF-oeGYCLpb8eSfK6B6OlCw3dsuK0b82hiD0hHxUYC7c51JUlXz6_domh=w270-h400" width="270" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">(43. - 1182.) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Heat Wave</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Maureen Jennings - Miss Charlotte Frayne is employed at T. Gilmore and Associates, Private Investigators, as the sole associate, “secretary and general dogsbody”. She wears her ‘uniform’, a white cotton blouse with long sleeves and a prim collar, and a navy blue linen skirt” even inn the 90F degree heat of a Toronto summer. She is on “the disconcerting side of thirty”. It is 1936.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7fd6086d-7fff-ae0f-1dd7-4798a841594c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her employer, Mr. T. Gilmore, receives a letter privately dropped into their letter box. It says:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">FILTHY COMMIE JEW. YOU DESERVE TO DIE.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Below there are “drawings of rats with vicious teeth. Each had a knife protruding from its side.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Miss Frayne is a clever young woman with wit about her. She is enjoying private investigation. She is not fond of the “domestic situations” cases, their gathering of evidence for divorces but recognizes they are “lucrative”. More appealing are the cases reuniting people with “beloved pets, cherished jewellery, even lost relatives”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She has made a personal study of door knocks. She confidently predicts male v. female knockers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mr. Gilmore’s wife, Ida, is attacked in their home and severely injured. He is the primary suspect.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mr. Hilliard Taylor, one of the owners of the Paradise Cafe on Queen Street consults her while Mr. Gilmore is out of the office. Hill suspects someone is stealing from the cafe.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In an age where “air coolers” are rare, the fierce heat and high humidity dominate every waking and sleeping moment:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The temperature had climbed even higher, and I felt as if I was trying to suck oxygen from air reluctant to yield it up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a striking scene she saves an overheated dray horse from dying with cloth sacks soaked in a horse trough and buckets of water slowly poured upon the horse. In the process, she is overcome by the heat:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">…. A wave of dizziness swept over me and I staggered against the dray. Hilliard was beside me at once.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Hey, you need to sit down,” He half carried me to the tree, and I sank to the ground. “Hold on,” He grabbed one of the buckets. There was some water left in the bottom, and unceremoniously he poured it over my head.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fans in the cafe provide customers and staff with a breath of relief from the heat.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have spent time in Toronto during the summer, especially August, when the heat and humidity would leave me sweating and almost short of breath after walking a block. From higher buildings, when looking down, you could see the pollution in the air.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Charlotte diligently pursues both investigations. She is a thorough person alert to nuance and discrepancy.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was surprised when one of the lead detectives is Detective Jack Murdoch. (The author gained fame with an earlier series set at the end of the Victorian era with Detective William Murdoch.)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Paradise Cafe is owned by a quartet of WW I veterans who met while prisoners of war. Each still bears the trauma of their wartime experiences.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The owners seek to provide good food at the best price possible for the many Torontonians with only a bit of money. For 35 cents on Camp day (in memory of the fare they ate in the war) a diner gets an hour to eat a four course meal - potato soup, shepherd’s pie with 2 green vegetables, apple and beet or dandelion salad and either trench pudding or Eccles cake or chocolate biscuit for dessert. Coffee or tea are included. An extra slice of bread with dripping or parsnip marmalade costs 5 cents.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Charlotte goes undercover as a waitress at the Cafe.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The risk for Mr. Gilmore rises when his wife dies of her injuries.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book takes readers into the political extremes of the 1930’s.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Toronto, oft perceived as Toronto “the Good” at that time, has strong undercurrents swirling through the city.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a good book with good characters and a solid story. Jennings is adept at moving the plot at a steady pace. I do think Charlotte and Detective Murdoch may have an unrevealed flaw or two. I plan to read more of Charlotte’s adventures.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times";">Jennings, Maureen - (2015) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2015/07/no-known-grave-by-maureen-jennings.html" target="_blank">No Known Grave</a></em></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times";"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></span></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-83954947037590902832023-12-10T18:54:00.000-06:002023-12-10T18:54:39.651-06:00The Exchange by John Grisham<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiu9iOStqBUdEpl9Owz4CWnVgqrkGyh6K4KaSnxuCfjD0xOiLLyALdYl3Za1ok7enb0XAGmcbu4QBi5OY_hFvYyDM37g-XXjh6WfmSwwKogyZqFiCjfd-gJnz8SsY2O1-JCJJBLGKgRZ9mHS5A9gEX-Qzw6GWX0H6lcTai5I7idDJvClB2kfDZ2eZHqq-vj" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="343" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiu9iOStqBUdEpl9Owz4CWnVgqrkGyh6K4KaSnxuCfjD0xOiLLyALdYl3Za1ok7enb0XAGmcbu4QBi5OY_hFvYyDM37g-XXjh6WfmSwwKogyZqFiCjfd-gJnz8SsY2O1-JCJJBLGKgRZ9mHS5A9gEX-Qzw6GWX0H6lcTai5I7idDJvClB2kfDZ2eZHqq-vj=w263-h400" width="263" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">(42. - 1181.) - <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Exchange</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by John Grisham - In reading Grisham’s books over the past 30 years I have admired the many different lawyers he has created. Some, such as Jake Brigance from Ford County in Mississippi, have appeared in more than one book so that we learn what has happened to them in life and the law. Most have been featured in a single book. I occasionally would think about a lawyer’s future after reading the book. Mitch McDeere was the young protagonist of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Firm</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b0aa5b90-7fff-4212-6b1c-1642822e434f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mitch had been recruited at Harvard by a very successful Memphis law firm. Shortly after joining the firm the FBI cajoled, then threatened him, to report on the nefarious actions of the firm on behalf of the Chicago mob. It was more thriller than legal mystery but it was compelling. I thought the movie with Tom Cruise as Mitch and Gene Hackman as his mentor, Avery Tolar, was excellent. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now and then I would wonder what had happened to McDeere. He clearly could not have returned to Memphis where the firm collapsed and criminal indictments and then convictions abounded. I expected he would have stayed in the law unlike Rudy Baylor who was headed west to become a teacher at the end of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Rainmaker</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I did not expect he would stay in the Caribbean sitting on the beach. I did not think he would have practised in the Caribbean. I had a partner who went to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands to be a lawyer. He was back within a year. Island life is attractive in the winter but very confining. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I thought Mitch would have found a position in a mid-American firm and lived a quietly prosperous life. I was completely wrong. He was hired by Scully & Pershing, the largest law firm in the world. It is headquartered in New York and has 2,000 lawyers in offices around the world. Mitch had started work in the firm in London and moved to the New York office. 15 years have passed since he left Memphis. He is a partner. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mitch’s wife, Abby, is working for a publisher of high end cookbooks and they have 8 year old twin sons. Their personal lives could not be better.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scully & Pershing has a strong commitment to </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">pro bono</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> work. Lawyers are expected to commit 10% of their time to </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">pro bono</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> clients. Mitch is currently aiding a homeless shelter and fighting evictions. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grisham’s next surprise was that Mitch has also represented two death row inmates fighting for their lives. Each time he was unsuccessful and his clients were executed. The cases have taken an emotional toll upon him. At the same time he has been caught up in the emotion, the tension, “the ticking clock” of death cases.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">He returns to Memphis to meet Amos Patrick whose Capital Defense Initiative which only represents inmates on death row for over 50 years. Mitch is to defend a man whose execution date is 90 days away.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Just when I thought the book was another look at the death penalty comparable to the searing intensity of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Chamber</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the case disappears with the death of the inmate and Mitch is sent to Italy and Libya to deal with a multi-national business law case. I am not sure why the portion of the book on the death penalty was included. I did not find a connection with the main story line. It is such an abrupt shift in the book I wondered if Grisham changed his mind on the theme halfway through writing the book.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lannark, a Turkish construction company, is suing the Government of Libya for hundreds of millions of dollars for a bridge to nowhere it had built for Gaddafi.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I thought we were headed for a book dealing with high stakes litigation in the United Arbitration Board </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in Switzerland.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Once again I was wrong as there is a kidnapping of a Scully associate, Giovanna Sandroni, in Libya and Mitch must lead the firm’s response. Specialists in international hostage takings are called in. Major firms pay significant amounts for hostage insurance.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The actual theme is the effort to try to save and gain the return of Giovanna.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The process is interesting and includes Mitch’s wife, Abby. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The book becomes a thriller much like </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Firm</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> became a thriller when Mitch and Abby go on the run being pursued by the Mob and the FBI.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grisham is good at writing thrillers. The action is credible. There is not an excess of bodies. However, he is better at writing legal fiction. The hostage taking process has a limited connection with lawyers. The hostage taking could have involved other professions or businesses. I would have preferred Grisham making the litigation over the Libyan bridge to nowhere the theme of the book. There was lots of drama potential in the high stakes and international intrigue of the bridge.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope Grisham’s next book is back in a Mississippi courtroom where most of his best novels are set.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">****</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Grisham, John – (2000) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Brethren</i>; (2001) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Painted House</i>; (2002) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Summons</i>; (2003) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The King of Torts</i>; (2004) -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Last Juror</i>; (2005) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Runaway Jury</i>; (2005) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Broker</i>; (2008) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-appeal-by-john-grisham.html" target="_blank">The Appeal</a></i>; (2009) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/03/associate-by-john-grisham.html">The Associate</a></i>; (2011) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/06/confession-by-john-grisham.html">The Confession</a></em>; (2011) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2012/01/litigators-by-john-grisham.html">The Litigators</a></em>; (2012) - "G" is for John Grisham - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/07/g-is-for-john-grisham-part-one.html">Part I</a> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/07/g-is-for-john-grisham-part-two.html">Part II</a>; (2013) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/01/the-racketeer-by-john-grisham.html">The Racketeer</a></em>; (2013) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/01/grishams-lawyers.html">Grisham's Lawyers</a>; (2013) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/01/analyzing-grishams-lawyers.html">Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers</a>; (2013) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/12/sycamore-row-by-john-grisham.html">Sycamore Row</a></em>; (2014) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/12/gray-mountain-by-john-grisham.html">Gray Mountain</a></em> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/12/gray-mountain-and-real-life-legal-aid.html"><em>Gray Mountain</em> and Real Life Legal Aid</a>; (2015) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.mx/2016/01/rogue-lawyer-by-john-grisham.html" target="_blank">Rogue Lawyer</a></em> and <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.mx/2016/01/sebastian-rudd-in-rogue-lawyer-by-john.html" target="_blank">Sebastian Rudd</a>; (2016) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/01/the-whistler-by-john-grisham.html" target="_blank"><em>The Whistler</em></a>; (2017) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2017/08/camino-island-by-john-grisham.html" target="_blank">Camino Island</a></i>; (2017) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2018/01/the-rooster-bar-by-john-grisham.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">The Rooster Bar</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2018/01/law-students-and-integrity.html" target="_blank">Law Students and Integrity</a>; (2019) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-reckoning-by-john-grisham.html" target="_blank">The Reckoning</a></i>; (2019) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/12/cullen-post-in-guardians.html" target="_blank">Cullen Post in <i>The Guardians</i></a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-guardians-by-john-grisham.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">The Guardians</a>; (2020) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-time-for-mercy-by-john-grisham.html" style="font-style: italic;">A Time for Mercy</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/01/practising-law-in-rural-mississippi-and.html">Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Rural Saskatchewan</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/01/writing-credible-trial.html">Writing a Credible Trial</a>; (2021) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/12/camino-winds-by-john-grisham.html" style="font-style: italic;">Camino Winds</a>; (2022) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-judges-list-by-john-grisham.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Judge's List</a>; (2022) - <a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-biloxi-boys-by-john-grisham.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Biloxi Boys</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/11/body-counts-in-fictional-gang-wars-ian.html">Body Counts in Fictional Gang Wars (Ian Hamilton, John Grisham and Don Winslow)</a></span></span></div></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-27079290190817922222023-12-06T20:45:00.000-06:002023-12-06T20:45:22.227-06:00A Voice in the Night by Andrea Camilleri<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGnfRYBv-f-i2xFMiAzo9R4F8ABSGHc7vQbD8nPz57EFTSnUk8Zbp9hsCZrTAvn4dDrRFTAaWTqKHdv0iKDfS6s3DXoAnyfPJ4jAfYGmVLrzXIhtfjrrJ9LZDnh8YpIvjdOKaxNCape6PtumVjuY7qISvBKux_vPKRu1peDEXADQczn-fSqtejcIk_P4ms" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="228" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGnfRYBv-f-i2xFMiAzo9R4F8ABSGHc7vQbD8nPz57EFTSnUk8Zbp9hsCZrTAvn4dDrRFTAaWTqKHdv0iKDfS6s3DXoAnyfPJ4jAfYGmVLrzXIhtfjrrJ9LZDnh8YpIvjdOKaxNCape6PtumVjuY7qISvBKux_vPKRu1peDEXADQczn-fSqtejcIk_P4ms=w260-h400" width="260" /></a></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">A Voice in the Night</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Andrea Camilleri </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(translated by Stephen Sartarelli) (2012) - Inspector Montalbano is having a befuddled morning. He is disoriented when he awakes, cuts his foot walking on the beach, thinks someone is watching him through a window, is startled by an octopus he just bought staring at him, knocks over his coffee pot burning himself, runs screaming through his front door and cannot remember it is his 58th birthday until his love of 25 years, Livia, reminds him. Upon regaining his wits he feels “elderly”.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3c27a8fe-7fff-8d88-c125-e10846b0bb29"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Montalbano is called to a supermarket from which 16,728 euros has been stolen, the previous day’s sales. The police are skeptical since there was no forced entry and the money had been kept in a desk which was easily forced. The inspector leaves the manager, Guido Borsellino, to explain to the owners what has happened.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">That evening the inspector is called back to the supermarket for Borsellino has been found hanging in his office. The apparent suicide was clumsily done but the pathologist is reticent about calling the death murder.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Subsequently, a young man, Giovanni Strangio, who is the son of the provincial president, advises Montalbano that his girlfriend is dead in their apartment. Having already had a run in with the young man, Montalbano, is unusually careful about the investigation.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Both murders have more than a whiff of Mafia connections.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Every day Montalbano feels his age. His digestion is unsettled over the large meals, focused on seafood and pasta, that he loves to consume. He blows up when a lawyer suggests they are men of a “certain age”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now that I am 71 his preoccupation with being 58 makes me smile. There are many good years after 58.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The resolution involved clever deductions and actions. While Montalbano has a modest regard for rules he does live in Sicily where many disregard the law.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Montalbano’s challenges with electronic devices are staggering. The 21st Century is not a comfortable place for him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book moves smoothly. While a good book I thought <i>The Shape of Water</i> a better book. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; white-space-collapse: collapse;">Camilleri, Andea - (2012) - <em><a href="http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.no/2012/09/the-shape-of-water-by-andrea-camilleri.html">The Shape of Water (1994)</a></em></span><br style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: collapse;" /></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-32971061508265631312023-11-30T20:14:00.001-06:002023-11-30T20:14:19.398-06:00I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson and Will Ferguson<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXL1dySsjz-Iw7iNfItM6xHPffWw-DTT6VaV4DoltFHqYIqW3-cyWUaI77vLd93eUEoVWpxQNstubTMS7CZ65BzvegoPiWbw9efpyhXq33i5wmErGzV2-Ivhh8BaKbEo0Q-VBh_3tO328IlKH7KxsWY_LJGyFZTA1ZsS5bqPQQusxHFdqd86pAF6omdccY" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXL1dySsjz-Iw7iNfItM6xHPffWw-DTT6VaV4DoltFHqYIqW3-cyWUaI77vLd93eUEoVWpxQNstubTMS7CZ65BzvegoPiWbw9efpyhXq33i5wmErGzV2-Ivhh8BaKbEo0Q-VBh_3tO328IlKH7KxsWY_LJGyFZTA1ZsS5bqPQQusxHFdqd86pAF6omdccY=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />(40. - 1179.) - <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I Only Read Murder</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Ian Ferguson and Will Ferguson - Miranda Abbott, faded “actress extraordinaire” is furious when her agent, Marty Sharpe, advises her that she was passed over for a role in the reality television series, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Real Has-Beens of Beverly Hills</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. He tells her:</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-908ca178-7fff-9317-1d35-ecd537b40ebf"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Producers of reality TV are looking for flamboyant unstable delusional narcissists.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Despite strong evidence to the contrary she is not narcissistic enough.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Furious to be offered a Metamucil commercial in which she would play the grandmother, insults are hurled and she no longer has an agent.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Broke and without work her bad awful day continues with furniture being re-possessed and an eviction notice served to leave her apartment. Her personal assistant, Andrew Nguyen, unpaid for months, is ready to give notice. A cryptic postcard arrives and Miranda is off to Happy Rock, Oregon via Greyhound bus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Miranda had starred in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pastor Fran Investigates</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, a crime drama T.V. series in which she solved mysteries with each episode featuring her Sinner-B-Gone ™ karate chop.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The unusual book title is revealed when she arrives at the I Only Read Murder bookstore in Happy Rock. Miranda had convinced herself that the postcard saying “It’s been fifteen years. I think it’s time” from Edgar (a fine name for the owner of a mystery bookstore) was a call to resume their marriage. Alas, Edgar says it meant it’s time to divorce.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Desperate to try to win Edgar back and learning he is deeply involved in the Happy Rock Amalgamated & Consolidated Little Theatre Society, Miranda auditions for the lead female role in its tenth annual production of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death is the Dickens</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A significant proportion of the community comes to watch the auditions. None recognize the star among them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At this stage of her life Miranda is star oblivious to those around her rather than the condescending imperious diva of younger years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was clever to have Miranda reach a modicum of understanding that she is now a member of the real world. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It turns out there is a greater diva in Happy Rock. Annette Baillie, a buxom realtor whose smiling face and personal motto “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You bet, Annette</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">” adorn benches throughout the community, drives her pink Cadillac to the auditions. She proclaims:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“... I said to myself, I am from Happy Rock, and I have always considered this theater </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">my</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> home. I must come, I thought. I really truly must.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Happy Rock is too small for these two divas. Los Angeles might be too small.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is murder and Miranda turns her inquiring mind to solving the murder and reconciling with Edgar.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As Miranda applies the deducting skills she learned over several seasons as Pastor Fran there are several nifty twists before the killer is revealed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is hard to maintain an over-the-top atmosphere for a whole book. The Fergusons’ succeed, though the plot was strained during the abundant rehearsals of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death is the Dickens</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. All rehearsals are attended by a good number of local residents.</span></p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The story flows easily. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I Only Read Murder</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is excellent diversionary fiction. I was glad there was more satire than sarcasm. There are witty comments and observations throughout. Miranda is a fine character. It would be a good read over the Christmas holidays.</span></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">****</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Ferguson, Will - (2021) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-finder-by-will-ferguson.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Finder</a></span></div>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-72675428729270807522023-11-24T21:19:00.000-06:002023-11-24T21:19:06.402-06:00Broca's Aphasia in The Water Rituals<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSaj9fP0DThKYXCTc_V7a_gWvighItOhi9xsAvUsMDxvHBKxoXqRSnAko4hIifXMOEibqsJ7qzm-G0CFatixbYBtVbyVrRmCwe-nhLeX7r9v4qog70NvHqBohGi6oohO3lFzjwKlBxvTe8cOsdCnNZavE8DGQndFFK9jPWGN7AbCguydryAano9Yy2aS9Q" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1248" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSaj9fP0DThKYXCTc_V7a_gWvighItOhi9xsAvUsMDxvHBKxoXqRSnAko4hIifXMOEibqsJ7qzm-G0CFatixbYBtVbyVrRmCwe-nhLeX7r9v4qog70NvHqBohGi6oohO3lFzjwKlBxvTe8cOsdCnNZavE8DGQndFFK9jPWGN7AbCguydryAano9Yy2aS9Q=w400-h246" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Water Rituals</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Eva García Sáenz translated by Nick Caistor, is about ritual murder. In </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">White City</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the first in trilogy, Unai López de Ayala was shot in the head. He is still recovering. One of the consequences was Broca’s aphasia. His mind is working well but he cannot speak words. </span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-54d86961-7fff-823a-545f-a8d6a5fec692"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The National Aphasia website describes Broca’s aphasia:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Broca’s aphasia results from injury to speech and language brain areas such as the left hemphispere inferior frontal gyrus, among others. Such damage is often a result of stroke but may also occur due to brain trauma. Like in other types of aphasia, intellectual and cognitive capabilities not related to speech and language may be fully preserved.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Broca’s aphasia is named after the French scientist, Paul Broca, who first related a set of deficits associated with this type of aphasia to localized brain damage. He did this in 1861, after caring for a patient who could only say the word “tan”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was striking to read how Unai has grown accustomed to writing upon his phone and showing the screen to provide his side of conversations. The messages are inevitably stilted and generic. While personality occasionally breaks through what he enters needs to be quick, clear and concise.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I thought of Kevin Brace in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Old City Hall</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the first novel by Canadian lawyer Robert Rotenburg. Brace was Canada’s leading national morning radio show host. Charged with murdering his wife he will only communicate with his lawyer in writing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Brace’s communication is far more awkward than Unai entering words on a cellphone and using WhatsApp. Rotenburg skilfully concealed the reason for the written communications until the end of the book. It was an “oh my'' moment as I felt I should have figured out there was a reason for not talking to your lawyer beyond quirky stubbornness. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have had clients and other lawyers who want to only communicate by text and/or email. I resist limiting communication to writing in some format. Even if it is by telephone there is more nuance in oral communications than written words. For important meetings I want them in person to get the full benefit of seeing expressions and body language in addition to the words delivered.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unai’s speech therapy was fascinating. Learning to speak again involved exercises and repetitions that needed to be done before his face lost the ability to form and say words. He had delayed going for therapy.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">He spends up to 5 hours a day “doing the exercises in front of the mirror practicing with the apps Doctor Korres had recommended”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">His grandfather, impatient with his lack of progress towards speaking again, seeks to force him to move ahead by tossing his cellphone into a small pond.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unai starts by speaking single syllable words. More can be expressed with a single word that I would have expected.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later he progresses to planned short sentences.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">He carefully learns common sentences he can use in conversations.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later his instructor has him singing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">At times of great emotions he finds he can speak more readily than when he is calm.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was fascinating to read how Unai communicated when he could not speak and how his speech improved through the book.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Sáenz, </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Eva Garcia </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">and translated by Nick Caistor </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">- (2022) -</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span> </span><span><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-silence-of-white-city-by-eva-garcia.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Silence of the White City</a>; (2023) - <i><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/11/water-rituals-by-eva-garcia-saenz.html">The Water Rituals</a></i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-39001121895409143392023-11-20T17:25:00.001-06:002023-11-24T21:22:06.111-06:00Water Rituals by Eva García Sáenz<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfqTtdzBugl5Fb4ZOdZXue6bLGT1ebHqxx160_c3W9yJ8wMCNMYG7qbh03b3Siv_ay8sVt6JImT43KJ52rMLaFH88YHTfLhx9cjYIQNnBxEH8o6FgagRI5OAbglvr6AVNQhocDXpriSqWUMWZQ6IBBl1Me2Z9Y5GnnCAE6hyv_q1WtxiiHYuxtHzxxrAr1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="648" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfqTtdzBugl5Fb4ZOdZXue6bLGT1ebHqxx160_c3W9yJ8wMCNMYG7qbh03b3Siv_ay8sVt6JImT43KJ52rMLaFH88YHTfLhx9cjYIQNnBxEH8o6FgagRI5OAbglvr6AVNQhocDXpriSqWUMWZQ6IBBl1Me2Z9Y5GnnCAE6hyv_q1WtxiiHYuxtHzxxrAr1=w260-h400" width="260" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(37. - 1176.) - </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Water Rituals</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Eva García Sáenz translated by Nick Caistor - Another compelling opening for the second book in the White City trilogy. As with the first book, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Silence of the White City</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Sáenz had me hooked early.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b3be7cf-7fff-1828-c1c4-9965ea1aee99"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the opening page Unai López de Ayala nicknamed Kraken, formerly a police inspector and now profiler, learns his lover is pregnant but she is unsure whether he or her deceased husband, a serial killer, is the father.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the second page we learn he has partially recovered from being shot in the head. He has Broca’s aphasia which prevents him from speaking. He communicates through an “editing app on his cell phone”. He uses WhatsApp continually.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the third page he is called to a crime scene where a young pregnant woman, her ankles tied together, has been found hanging from a tree branch with her head down in a “bronze cauldron” filled with water. The cauldron was made in Celtic times. She is dead from drowning.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the fourth page he finds out the victim was a teenage love.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Such a complex murder raises questions of rituals, past and present.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book shifts back and forth between Unai’s teenage years and the present.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For Unai and the 3 other boys in his </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">cuadrilla</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the victim, Ana Belén Liaño, known as Annabel Lee, was their first love during a teenage summer they spent working on an archeological site.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">She has made a successful career as a graphic novel artist and author.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">His close colleague and friend, Estí, has been appointed inspector. She has controlled her drug addiction.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Unai conceals the personal relationships of himself and his </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">cuadrilla</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> from his supervisor and lover, Deputy SuperintendentAlba Diaz de Salvatierra.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">And then there is another victim.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As he approaches the hanging body he genuflects “as a mark of respect” and recites his motto:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here your hunt ends, and mine begins.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As inevitable, the murders become known and the public is terrified by another killer bound up in a personal ritual of death.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unai has used a hacker known as Golden Girl to assist him with cases. She is extremely talented. She is also 69 years old and recovering from a hip operation. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The story is bleak in many ways involving sexually abusive situations.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time it is not only the men who are sexually manipulative.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The relationships within the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">cuadrilla</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and the police department are intense.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Amidst the tension there are moments of friendship. On Christmas Eve the members of Unai’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">cuadrilla</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> carry on the city and personal tradition of meeting to drink mulled wine, “the hot wine is infused with cinnamon, lemon, dried apricots, figs and other delights”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Someone with a great knowledge of Celtic water rituals is exacting revenge and Unai is a target. The Celtic fertility ritual of Threefold Death where the victim is burned, hung and drowned is terrifying. If the victim is a pregnant woman she “has been judged a potentially unfit mother” and the unborn child is given to “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">las tres Matres</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, or the three mother goddess”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The hunt for the killer is devilishly difficult as suspicion and paranoia creep into the minds of the investigators.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the investigator’s quirks is an obsessive use of Post-it notes. (I try not to use them at my office but I still find them very convenient.) She uses different coloured notes for different people. And she is pursuing a personal parallel related investigation.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Water Rituals</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a complicated book. Several plot lines are disturbing. There is significant but not excessive detail on death. What is most chilling is the macabre precision of the ritual taking of life. As with the first in the trilogy I was absorbed by the combination of history and personal relationships. I thought the translation flowed better in this book. Ultimately, at the heart of the book are thousands of years of history and the contemporary setting of the Basque region of Spain.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Sáenz, </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Eva Garcia </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">and translated by Nick Caistor </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">- (2022) -</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span> </span><span><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-silence-of-white-city-by-eva-garcia.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Silence of the White City</a> and <a href="and Broca's Aphasia in The Water Rituals">Broca's Aphasia in <i>The Water Rituals</i></a></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-80278491225164298842023-11-12T21:31:00.000-06:002023-11-12T21:31:30.865-06:00The Holdovers (Movie)<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcoB4zcX3UCVUStSh1d_HAM5x5-9N8vpwVyaX3TRv8d4LcXEqnpIqM4lZvheKrnZ-cA1j0WDyXeEngRqlQVwx1_N4d2veQ2aTCtg983CDlunixQyH2QfIM81wD9Yuywiwiisb5T1fm6sJns5gZTGOONypnGr3rCGhcxaO4CofFd8Chax2zaR8GUFsTx2mE" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1481" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcoB4zcX3UCVUStSh1d_HAM5x5-9N8vpwVyaX3TRv8d4LcXEqnpIqM4lZvheKrnZ-cA1j0WDyXeEngRqlQVwx1_N4d2veQ2aTCtg983CDlunixQyH2QfIM81wD9Yuywiwiisb5T1fm6sJns5gZTGOONypnGr3rCGhcxaO4CofFd8Chax2zaR8GUFsTx2mE=w270-h400" width="270" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">In December of 1970 I had just finished Grade 12 at boarding school. I had attended St. Peter’s College in Muenster, Saskatchewan. As I watched the <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Holdovers</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> movie my mind went back 50 years to life in boarding school.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-0bd88dae-7fff-5c58-10f1-2c72e60ee5d6"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">St. Peter’s was not a well-to-do preppy New England academy like Barton in the movie. Many of my fellow students came from farms like myself. Certainly no one had a father with a helicopter.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">We did not wear suit jackets and ties. The College had given up on having us wear ties after I was in Grade 10. Too many guys simply wore the same tie day after day with no regard to the rest of their clothing. The Barton boys were far more co-ordinated.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The longer hair of many of the boys in Barton was familiar. At St. Peter’s hair was also lengthening as the 60’s turned to the 70’s.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">We did not have any Korean students. We did have students from Hong Kong. I could not imagine going thousands of miles from home for high school.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The casual, often biting banter, between the Barton boys was exactly what I recall from St. Peter’s. I did not fit in the banter as I hardly ever swear.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I would say there was less meanness at St. Peter’s. Certainly guys could be nasty but it was not as pervasive as at Barton.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The metal beds of the infirmary reminded me of the beds at St. Peter’s. The Barton beds appeared to have better springs than our beds.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The movie did not show the challenge of sleeping in a dormitory setting. It is hard getting to sleep in a room of guys. At St. Peter’s there would be 25 - 30 guys per dormitory.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Meals were less chaotic at Barton with the faculty sitting at a table in the dining room. At St. Peter’s the main goal at meals was to eat as fast as you could. Were you there more than 15 minutes after getting your tray you would be by yourself.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Meals at St. Peter’s were made mainly by sisters from the Order of St. Elizabeth with the aid of a few lay ladies. There was no equivalent to the formidable Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Holdovers</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. I expect the food was comparable between the schools. Since we ate so quickly it would have been hard to appreciate the meals.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Randolph was understated but powerful as a grieving mother still carrying out her duties in the kitchen while aided by whiskey. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Seeing the Barton College principal chain smoking in his office brought to mind Father Vincent Morrison who was principal at St. Peter’s when I started school there in 1967. He was always smoking in his office.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">None of the teachers at St. Peter’s closely resembled Paul Hunham (Paul Giametti). </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I do recall guys being shaken by the academic standards at St. Peter’s. We were expected to meet expectations well beyond public high school. What was different from Barton is that the St. Peter’s administration would never have put pressure on a teacher to grade a student higher because their parents donated to the College.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">At St. Peter’s most of the teachers were Benedictine priests or brothers. Two to three lay men filled in the remaining positions. Some of the Benedictine teachers had been there for decades. As with Mr. Hunham they gave us a good education.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">None of my teachers were as caustic or profane as Mr. Hunham. They could be sarcastic. Brother Bede was slight in stature but no one wanted to cross him as he could verbally slash any pretense and put us in our place. Profanity between teachers and staff was not tolerated.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Integrity was valued at St. Peter’s and Barton. When students and teachers live together integrity is important.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was never a holdover, unable to go home or to other family or friends for Christmas. I can see how achingly lonely it would have been for the holdover boys of the movie.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">There were a couple of guys at St. Peter’s who wrote inappropriately to a girl. Instead of suspension they were, with the consent of their parents, heldover for weekends when the rest of us went home. One of the guys later said that discipline decision let him reflect on his actions, made him a better man and helped him be successful in his life.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) could have been one of my classmates. Bright but fragile defined many of us at St. Peter’s. While Giamatti was the star I thought Sessa was brilliant. After the movie I learned he attended Deerfield Academy, a Massachusetts boarding school. He had acted in school plays, just finishing the fall play, when he auditioned for the role. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Holdovers</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is his first movie.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Giamatti is a great actor. Once again he was Mr. Hunham, a brilliant aloof man with a deeply damaged soul. His ability to convey emotion without talking is exceptional. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mr. Hunham’s personality is far from the well regarded Mr. Chips of the 1939 movie, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Goodbye Mr. Chips</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, about an English boarding school. Mr. Hunham and Mr. Chips did share a love of the classics and learning and teaching.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was not surprised when I read, after watching the movie, that the screenwriter who was also one of the producers, David Hemingson, had attended prep school. I read an article in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Time</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> in which he said Mr. Hunham was modelled on his demanding caring Uncle Earl Cahail. He added that “I channeled my mother’s immense strength and heartache and love into Mary”. He did not say if he was the inspiration for Tully. I expect an Oscar nomination for his script.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Holdovers</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> deeply moved me. It is far more drama than comedy. I do not know why it is advertised as a Comedy/Drama. It was the best movie I have seen in years. I hope it does well.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I left the theatre another filmgoer asked my thoughts. I said I had appreciated a movie where no one was killed or blown up, where real people dealt with real problems, where the plot was not a cartoon, where I could get emotional over the characters. He said there are not many out there.</span></span></p></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-32438776215060801872023-11-08T20:27:00.000-06:002023-11-08T20:27:36.556-06:00Citizens of Light by Sam Shelstad<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeoc72kvmZ1Plbmftpj2eqyAZbFTzJM2BChU2gJSXB83LuRqnzVBQknGKIbrzbJBlvr4DvKN4rYp9ofqbGNsTWb1RUfk-x27dPPyGAzr7L0Nfz2jCdriZFyaYqQ-YqrMwQFQXrPmTXyH5OifD0VAtdjymkePnkxcWxiQzrHUHHt4LUNDDkpLTFg091qWR/s1000/81vs2URyUBL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="641" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeoc72kvmZ1Plbmftpj2eqyAZbFTzJM2BChU2gJSXB83LuRqnzVBQknGKIbrzbJBlvr4DvKN4rYp9ofqbGNsTWb1RUfk-x27dPPyGAzr7L0Nfz2jCdriZFyaYqQ-YqrMwQFQXrPmTXyH5OifD0VAtdjymkePnkxcWxiQzrHUHHt4LUNDDkpLTFg091qWR/w256-h400/81vs2URyUBL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="256" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">(33. - 1172.) - <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Citizens of Light</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Sam Shelstad - Colleen Weagle is getting by. She works at a Toronto call centre calling out to people across North America. She conducts phone surveys. The electric company survey can take 45 minutes. The job just covers the expenses of herself and her husband, Leonard. Much of his income from working in a plastics factory went on student loan payments. They live with her mother.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4bab7787-7fff-077e-1a04-9fa342d69371"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now Leonard is gone. He was found over an hour from home in Morrison Bog, shot in the head. The police decided it was suicide.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Colleen is floundering. She is certain Leonard never shot himself. She cannot understand why he was in a distant Bog dressed in black clothes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her Mother is struggling with mental health issues. Her anxiety paralyzes her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">They reside in Mimico, a neighbourhood in Toronto, near Lake Ontario on the West side of the city.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Colleen sees a photo in the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Metro</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, a free newspaper, of a man who she remembers being at Leonard’s funeral she is certain he knows why Leonard is dead.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">He is wearing a Fallsview Casino (a real life Casino in Niagara Falls) jacket. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Colleen is a naive, maybe simple is more accurate, woman. Why this man should talk to her, should she find him, never enters her mind. She is positive that if she can reach this man she can find out what really happened and her anxiety over Leonard’s death will end.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a struggle for Colleen to take initiative. Being passive is her way of life.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I longed for her to turn from wimp to warrior. Undertaking an investigation into Leonard’s death takes her coping lifestyle into the unknown where she haltingly treads. Her friend, Patti, pushes and leads her to being more assertive.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is hard to have a sleuth who is meek at heart. I am accustomed to sleuths who are brilliant or physical or both. Colleen was the stereotype of the “ordinary working woman”. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Friends, family and co-workers are startled when she pursues an investigation into Leonard’s death.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">While far from, Colleen and Patti remind me of a modern day Laverne and Shirley of sitcom fame. (At least fame for those of us who are seniors or near to being seniors.)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her earnest efforts at investigation have the real life feel of the perils of an amateur sleuth. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Colleen is a budget conscious sleuth. She travels by bus between Toronto and Niagara Falls.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Colleen's aggressiveness has bizarre consequences. The ending strained credibility. I sensed the closing was added to create drama rather than flowing from the plot. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As noted above Colleen did not have a dynamic personality. The sudden shift from passive past assertive to aggressor came too late and too suddenly for me.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Citizens of Light</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a good book. It won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best First Novel in 2023. I hope Shelstad can publish more crime fiction. I am confident his next book will be better.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-52777244377384290962023-11-04T10:17:00.001-06:002023-11-04T12:53:52.067-06:00The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2cnHEwsKgNJvHG0nJE3Z07Ovo5NlrOlecqDiz7ZnvcZChdCJpJqgE2pueUt_e6nhdNZx1iBhOy_5GZzKpXNncFturnL94UADqDv3tjFOtgOlY6dZ2Z4BzGw7JNTmgw1xUZroc5FTRWzkimxZ0alvSnmPNG93YV-Lmqvwh6TqjYqJBVTn4lBfuUxW23kL5/s1000/unknown%201.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="746" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2cnHEwsKgNJvHG0nJE3Z07Ovo5NlrOlecqDiz7ZnvcZChdCJpJqgE2pueUt_e6nhdNZx1iBhOy_5GZzKpXNncFturnL94UADqDv3tjFOtgOlY6dZ2Z4BzGw7JNTmgw1xUZroc5FTRWzkimxZ0alvSnmPNG93YV-Lmqvwh6TqjYqJBVTn4lBfuUxW23kL5/w299-h400/unknown%201.jpg" width="299" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">(36. - 1175.) - <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Dark Vineyard</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Martin Walker (2010) - Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police in St. Denis puts aside his fear of fire to rescue the local fire chief after an explosion at a fire which destroyed a field of grain and a large unauthorized shed in the hills near the town. And there is an unknown standpipe at the scene. Bruno is startled. How could this development have occurred without his knowledge?</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7cbcba47-7fff-36bd-3423-963e56b7b426"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">It turns out that it was a secret Ministry of Agriculture project testing new GMO grains.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is immediate pressure from Paris to solve the crime. No one in the capital wants attention drawn to the project.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Suspicion falls on </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ecolos</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, enviornmental activists opposed to GMO’s. Yet there are no loud local strident activists threatening direct action.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time the heir, Fernando Bondino, to one of the world`s wine industry giants arrives in St. Denis to propose a major project that would transform the region. Bondino equally wants the crime solved.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Mayor emphasizes the importance of the project saying competition from supermarkets is gradually destroying villages. Surrounding communities dependent on tourism are `` `dead from September to June every year … No families, no schools, no jobs, no shops, and most of the houses empty until the tourists come back to rent them. ` ``</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another newcomer is the lovely young Jacqueline Duplessis from a Canadian wine making family. She draws ardent admirers as she assesses every man she meets.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bruno acutely feels the modern world pressing upon his comfortable life in St. Denis. As with many he would prefer life be updated rather than changed. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bruno enjoys bringing his own container to fill with wine, for a Euro or less a litre, at a local </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">cave</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. On visits in the countryside he gladly stops for family produced glasses of wine. There is commercial but not industrial production of wine around St. Denis. I longed to join him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">He prefers the modest Saturday new market, started in 1807, to the larger Tuesday market, held continuously since 1347. The new market has a dozen stalls of locals selling their cheeses, yoghurts, meats, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables and wine.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">As it is early fall grapes are being picked. Some are processed in the traditional way by having villagers tread upon the grapes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nearing 40 Bruno is melancholic as his love, Isabelle, has moved to Paris. Even a passionate lover could not bring him to leave his beloved St. Denis. An unexpected return visit by Isabelle leaves him in turmoil.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Further vandalism and the combined deaths of an elderly resident and his newly adopted son create mean intense investigations for Bruno.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amidst the police work Bruno invites friends for a supper featuring a truffle omelet and then becasses (woodcocks). They are consumed with fine wines from France and New Zealand. The meal made me long to visit Le Bugue, the inspiration for the fictional Saint-Denis.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The resolution of the mystery is convincing. At the same time Bruno’s personal life is perking up. I am eager to go looking for the next in the series.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Walker, Martin - (2019) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/08/bruno-chief-of-police-by-martin-walker.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Bruno, Chief of Police</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-magic-of-st-denis-and-three-pines.html" target="_blank">The Magic of St. Denis and Three Pines</a></span><br style="font-size: x-large;" /></p></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-91896704436125786382023-10-31T17:08:00.001-06:002023-10-31T17:08:15.844-06:00Gilbertines in Fiction and Contemporary Life<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1LwGKAygSXjDO9EeR_sC2n5HYXa-8QO7YjqF5jPfeoXzG-ZR1SWnzImKaEdwBuxKoq6uTXzKZncwWtDtcrOvEl4AZKhuo9rCYztzyXAnWz6l0Di74UP2-DJtn0Ge6h3wg-FnteVdh4rH9hXTzUqJ2HpjZTkkxfS0sXo7NRyTJlo6GUgvrH68lqrDdxEG/s400/unknown%201.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="295" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1LwGKAygSXjDO9EeR_sC2n5HYXa-8QO7YjqF5jPfeoXzG-ZR1SWnzImKaEdwBuxKoq6uTXzKZncwWtDtcrOvEl4AZKhuo9rCYztzyXAnWz6l0Di74UP2-DJtn0Ge6h3wg-FnteVdh4rH9hXTzUqJ2HpjZTkkxfS0sXo7NRyTJlo6GUgvrH68lqrDdxEG/w295-h400/unknown%201.jpeg" width="295" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Father Anselm, the sleuth in <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Discourtesy of Death</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by William Brodrick, is a Gilbertine monk residing at the Larkwood Priory in England. He had been a barrister before becoming a monk. </span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-9acc431a-7fff-7719-4dbd-90c80b30ff90" style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>Anselm is the priory beekeeper. While I wondered if his monastic work was inspired by Sherlock Holmes being a beekeeper it is common for monasteries to have bee hives. At St. Peter’s Abbey in Saskatchewan where I went to high school and first year university Father Demetrius has long been the Abbey beekeeper.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>Brodrick was an English barrister for 10 years before becoming a full time writer. Prior to being a barrister he was a member of the Augustinian order leaving shortly before he was to be ordained.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Anselm is not the only Gilbertine monk to be featured in contemporary crime fiction. Louise Penny, in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Beautiful Mystery</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, has Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir investigating a murder at the Gilbertine monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups (Saint Gilbert Between the Wolves).</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>The fictional monastery was inspired by the real life Benedictine monastery of Abbey Saint-Benoit du Lac located on the shore of Lake Memprhenmagog. The Abbey is an inspiring building in a beautiful location.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>I was harsh in my assessment of Penny’s fictional monastery being a secret monastery almost invisible to the world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After reading </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Discourtesy of Death</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I discovered online Penny’s motivation for making it a Gilbertine monastery in the website </span><a href="http://www.gamacheseries.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">www.gamacheseries.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The religious affiliation and events of the book bear no resemblance to the Benedictine Monks of the real abbey, as explained by Louise: “it became clear in researching [</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Beautiful Mystery</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">] that I couldn’t set the book in a monastery, or even an order, that really existed, so I dug into history and found the Gilbertines, an order that actually once existed, but went extinct.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>It is ironic that both books were published in 2013.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>I do not know why Brodrick chose to make Anselm a Gilbertine. I suspect it was for the purposes of artistic licence outlined by Penny.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>Another reason may be that the Gilbertine Order of Canons Regular was the only completely English religious order founded in 1130 by Gilbert of Sempringham.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>The Gilbertines were unusual in that the order had both women and men as members. According to Wikipedia they lived in the same building divided by a wall and only came together for Mass.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>Another reason why Anselm might be a Gilbertine is outlined in Wikipedia in that the men “lived according to a variant of the Augustinian rule”.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>There were 26 houses of Gilbertines in England in the early 16th Century when Henry VIII forced their dissolution ending the Order.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>I had thought their history ended almost 400 years ago until I learned in Wikipedia that efforts have been made to revive the Order in the last 40 years. A group of lay people in England have established the Oblates of St. Gilbert. A Brazilian priest set up an experimental Gilbertine community in Brazil but it has been dissolved. Of most interest to me has been what happened in Calgary in the past decade.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>Initially it was sought to establish the Canons Regular of St. Gilbert of Sempringham in Calgary in 2017. In 2019 those involved decided full restoration was not possible and the Companions of St. Gilbert of Sempringham proceeded. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They state:</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-eec6cb95-7fff-fc31-e83e-efdc9c55bf45"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">WE FEW COMPANIONS are based at St. John the Evangleist in Calgary, Canada. As Companions of St. Gilbert, we pray for the full restoration of the Gilbertine Order and live out our Christian discipleship in friendship with our fellow Gilbertines, according to a Personal Rule of Life as well as the Statutes of our Association.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Gilbe</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;">rtine Institute has been established to provide classical Catholic education in Calgary and Edmonton. The elementary school is Holy House of Our Lady and St. John and the high school is the Gilbertine Academy.</span></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>Students wear uniforms. All students are taught Latin as part of the curriculum. Singing is important. The Prospectus states:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Gilbertine Academy and Holy House hold as integral to their daily community one of the oldest academic traditions in Catholicism: the singing school - </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">schola cantorum</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. The venerable tradition of the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">schola cantorum</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> attributes its origins and patronage to St. Gregory the Great. The Gilbertine Academy and Holy House will strive to cultivate this ancient tradition along with the patrimony of the celebrated Anglican choral tradition.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In order for any </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">schola cantorum</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to sing the Lord’s praises capably, the choristers must learn vocal technique and sight singing as well as music theory and history.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>There are 3 choirs.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>As set out above, the Gilbertines in Calgary are based at the parish of St. John the Evangelist. It was an Anglican parish until dissatisfaction with the Anglican church led them to join the Roman Catholic church when Pope Benedict made it possible for Anglican parishes to join the Church while preserving important aspects of their Anglican traditions. An example is that some of their priests are married.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>The parish is not a part of the diocese of Calgary but rather is a parish within the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter which has 38 parishes in the United States and Canada with the Bishop in Houston, Texas.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>The parish is in the heart of the Inglewood community in Calgary. It is located within minutes of the homes of my sons. A few years ago I attended a Christmas Mass at the Church.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>It was a welcoming though unusual experience for me. The priest faced the altar and the servers were all male. The Mass was a blend of Anglican and Catholic prayers. Much of the language was from centuries past. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>While the Gilbertine religious order has not been restored, Gilbertines remain active within the Catholic Church.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>****</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span><span style="font-family: "times";">Brodrick, William - (2023) - <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-discourtesy-of-death-by-william.html" style="font-style: italic;">The Discourtesy of Death</a> and <a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/10/can-death-be-courteous.html">Can Death be Courteous?</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span><br /></span></div></span></div></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644690488802388716.post-53626597946504115422023-10-28T17:07:00.001-06:002024-01-11T22:44:04.806-06:00Can Death be Courteous?<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok9r1pludG8ZkMdkoQxFbII1qhmOj_8EFic3o88urVm2U5yIUvLDN95vKqVNLq9kFPv9yK8pOXjPpYhFd7KuDRJVhi1UxS6AXbYNE7rYthYBsrP9WH8drVkrSJ6qXepcLbOWGHl4jak6L5_eaI9NXxd5NmWnmFWbSMQRIrLy5tRqBOq3T__7DFwxHEqyR/s250/unknown%201.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok9r1pludG8ZkMdkoQxFbII1qhmOj_8EFic3o88urVm2U5yIUvLDN95vKqVNLq9kFPv9yK8pOXjPpYhFd7KuDRJVhi1UxS6AXbYNE7rYthYBsrP9WH8drVkrSJ6qXepcLbOWGHl4jak6L5_eaI9NXxd5NmWnmFWbSMQRIrLy5tRqBOq3T__7DFwxHEqyR/w320-h320/unknown%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">The Discourtesy of Death<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is an apt title for Father Anselm’s investigation into the death of dancer Jenny Henderson, paralyzed in a fall and suffering from terminal bowel cancer. The death certificate lists bowel cancer as the cause.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6ac3a58f-7fff-9967-8e9a-b17b3269afeb"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Google definition of discourtesy is “rude and inconsiderate behavior”. Death is normally discourteous. Can death be courteous?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Within the book there are hard discussions between Anselm and Jenny’s family about her life and impending death.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Much of the conversation is about the value of her life as a paralyzed person and the suffering before death it was anticipated she would endure.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">For several, including Jenny, it appeared life has meaning so long as a person is physically and mentally whole. A young woman in a wheelchair with terminal cancer does not fit that image.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her mother, Emma, the veterinarian says:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Her life is over. What has she got to live for now? If she was an animal, I’d gently put her down. It would be the right thing to do.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her dancer friend, Vincent Cooper, makes an exit mask that can fit on her head to end her life at a time of her choice.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I thought of Louise Penny’s book, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Madness of Crowds</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, in which Abigail Robinson, a statistician, advocates for the state to kill those who are a burden upon society. She considers “mercy killing” of, in the words of one of my posts upon the book, “ailing aged or deformed unborn”, to be appropriate, even necessary.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Armand Gamache abhors her philosophy. In his personal life he loves and adores his granddaughter, Idola, who has Down Syndrome.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later Jenny changes her mind. She tells Father Anselm in a powerful passage:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">‘Now? she replied. ‘I want my life. I was ready to die before but now I </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">want my life</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. I know that in one way it’s broken, disappointing, limited, worthless, empty and insignificant … but it’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">mine</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It’s all I’ve got. I’m still me. And I know it will soon become messy and painful and frightening, but I still want it. I want to live what I’ve got … do you understand? It’s as valuable to me now as it ever was. I’m still … </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">full</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of something … and it can exhilarating, despairing, violent and peaceful - every state you can think of - and I just want to keep hold of it … for as long as possible.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jenny’s life is an illustration of the principles of Viktor Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist who was a Nazi concentration camp surivivor. I first learned of his philosophy 50 years ago in second year university in a class called The Philosophy of Religion.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some years ago I read his great book, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Man’s Search for Meaning</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> which discusses what sustained those who survived the camps.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">In my review of the book I said:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Frankl said it “does not matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us”. If suffering is your task in life it is necessary to face it with dignity. All life has meaning. He said those with religious faith understood their sacrifice.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I continued in my review:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">A dying inmate cheerfully faced her death saying she was grateful that the brutal camp life had forced her spoiled pre-camp self to “take spiritual accomplishments seriously”.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anselm, following the principles of Catholic faith, recognizes all lives as meaningful. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jenny’s husband Peter says:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">… I wondered if you’d ever considered that certain … intricate situations … require neither mercy nor justice. Just a blind eye. Not because it’s expedient. But because neither mercy nor justice can reach the true depths of what actually happened. When all we can do is turn away and look in the other direction.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anselm replies:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘And I’m inclined to think that turning away is the first step towards barbarism. Because it would be the ultimate concession that we cannot regulate human affairs.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">….</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Because the most intricate situation of them all is protecting the weak against the strong. We can’t give up on that one. It’s what makes us civilised.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anselm will not accept there can be mercy killing. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">Were all the family and friends around Jenny to have considered her life meaningful there would have been less drama to the plot but an affirmation of life for all.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I say death cannot be courteous.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">****</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: collapse;">Brodrick, William - (2023) - </span><i style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="https://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-discourtesy-of-death-by-william.html">The Discourtesy of Death</a></i></span></span></p></span>Bill Selneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.com2