Reflections on Posts in the 2013 Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme

 For the 2013 Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I decided the post for each letter of the alphabet would have a personal connection for me. The theme proved as interesting as I had hoped.

Among the early letters "B" allowed me to highlight that the three leading writers of mysteries in Saskatchewan all have surnames beginning with the letter "B". Anthony Bidulka, Gail Bowen and Nelson Brunanski all write fine mysteries set in Saskatchewan. Next week I am going to have a review of The Gifted, Gail's newest book in the Joanne Kilbourn Shreeve series.

"C" was the most unique post. It was a review of Showdown at Border Town by Caroline Woodward. It is the third book in the Leaders & Legacies series featuring the adventures of young Canadian Prime Ministers. This book featured a youthful Paul Martin in the vicinity of Windsor, Ontario. What made the book unique is that the author, writing for the YA market, is a teenager from Ottawa who won a contest to write the book.

"F" set me to thinking about Female Fictional Lawyers. It was my most popular post of the Alphabet it had 436 page views. We live in an era where a majority of law school graduates are women. We shall see if become the majority in legal mystery fiction.

When thinking of an "I" post I looked to one of my bookcases where I had a copy of The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton. The simple appearing Father is actually a brilliant investigator drawing on the information shared with him by criminal parishioners. It is hard to see how a rather dumpy cleric solving mysteries with his brains would be published today. He is the opposite of flashy.

At "L" I was able to draw upon my experience as a lawyer to describe Real Legal Fiction. Where readers are accustomed to legal fiction being stories involving lawyers there are real life legal fictions. Examples include corporations, deemed to be individuals so they can own property and carry on business, and child adoption, where children are deemed to be the children of adopting parents.

For "P" I discussed Canadian author Louise Penny becoming one of the movie producers for the adaptation of Still Life, the first book in her Inspector Armand Gamache series. I subsequently wrote a review of the movie which was telecast last month. While I enjoyed the movie I think she should continue to make being an author her career. I am currently reading How the Light Gets In, the just published 9th book in the series.

The book I wished could have been the best in the alphabet was The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault. The entry for "T" featured a mystery set at Batoche, about 125 km from where I live, set at the time of the Riel Rebellion in 1885. A book involving the history and geography of my area excited me. The book was alright but I had hoped for more. For a reader wanting to learn of pioneer life in Western Canada and its history the book is worth reading.

The visual images from Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong will stay with me for a long time. The beautiful red Mandarin dresses in which the murder victims were clothed were at the heart of the mystery.

My favourite book came at "Y" with The Shaman's Knife by Scott Young. Matteesie Kitologitak was a larger than life Inuit sleuth I would like to have known better but Young only wrote two mysteries with Matteesie. Life in Arctic Canada comes alive in the books and Matteesie is a lively character.

It has been another interesting 6 month journey through the alphabet. I encourage readers to go to Mysteries in Paradise to read of the posts of other bloggers of the meme.

“Z” is for Outburst by R.D. Zimmerman

“Z” is for Outburst by R.D. Zimmerman (1998) – Todd Mills is famous in Minneapolis. Not only is he a very successful investigative journalist for WLAK television Todd is one of the city’s best known gay men.

Mysteriously called to the old Stone Arch bridge one night he searches for the anonymous caller who promised him the lead to a blackmail story. As a powerful mid-American thunderstorm crashes down Todd encounters another man who was also summoned to the bridge. Before they can talk another figure appears and shoots the handsome young man Todd has just met on the bridge. As Todd tries to make sense of the scene he dodges a shot and then is knocked unconscious by a falling sign. As he comes to his lover, police detective Steve Rawlins, charges to his side.

At the same time Kris Kenney, formerly known as Christopher Kenney, is coping with thoughts of her future. As a teenager she had lost her testicles in an accident. Later she makes the decision to change genders and is in the midst of the process. Only partly transgendered she finds herself neither a member of the gay nor straight world. She desperately wants to find love.

With Todd on the scene of a murder and even being shot at the producers at the station are in paroxysms of joy. They have an eye catching story that forces other news sources to reference WLAK.

When it turns out the murder victim was also gay the producers are even more excited. Todd is the lead story newscast after newscast.

There are tensions between Rawlins investigating the murder and Todd investigating the story of the murder. While they love each other they are equally passionate about their work.

Rawlins has another level of stress in his life as he is HIV positive. It is an era when he could be out on the force but not open about his HIV status.

Zimmerman does a good job of plausibly connecting Kris / Chris to the investigation.

The investigation requires Todd, Rawlins and Kris / Chris to all consider their sexual orientations and how they fit into current society. The investigation takes everyone into the world of the transgendered.

It is a good book and I am glad I read it. Were it not for needing a “Z” post to finish the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I doubt I would have read the book.

I found myself forced to think about presumptions and assumptions in the murder of a gay man. (Oct. 1/13)

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My connection to the book is the city of Minneapolis. I have traveled there numerous times over my adult years. Most recently, Sharon and I were there last January. It is quite easy to get a good deal on hotel rooms in Minneapolis in January.

“Y” is for The Shaman’s Knife by Scott Young

“Y” is for The Shaman’s Knife by Scott Young (1993) – The second Matteesie Kitologitak mystery is a brilliant trip into the far North of Canada.

Matteesie has just arrived home in Ottawa from a trip to Labrador when he receives a call that a double murder has taken place in Sanirarsipaaq and his 90 year old mother, Bessie Apakaq, has been injured. She has been medivacked to Yellowknife.

On the difference in surnames Matteesie explains:

The Inuit system of more or less picking our own surnames baffles some people, especially the whites, but it’s one of our traditional ways that we’ve been able to hang onto. It’s not based on patronymics, like in Russia, or matronymics, if that’s a word, but simply allows the individual to take the name he or she wishes.

It is one of but many lovely little examples of Inuit life.

As Matteesie finishes the call advising he is on his way to Yellowknife his wife, Lois, overhears the conversation and makes a rude remark about “the bloody North” not realizing the trip is to go to his stricken mother and then fly to Sanirarsipaaq to investigate the murders. It is a painfully awkward moment when Lois learns about her mother-in-law being injured, a woman she met early in their 20 years of marriage and has not seen again. Matteesie says Lois “apparently didn’t really warm to a toothless old Inuit woman with a tattooed face and only one eye”.

In the North, Aunt Bessie is a much loved woman who loves to travel from one family group to another, the nomadic spirit still strong in her.

On arrival in Yellowknife Matteesie finds his mother gravely injured but stable. She had been knocked aside by the killer fleeing the house in which the murders were committed.

Matteesie receives long distance comfort from Maxine, the Inuit woman with whom he has had an affair almost as long as he has been married.

Matteesie finds himself content to continue both relationships.

After Bessie stabilizes he travels to Sanirarsipaaq on the Arctic coast. The case gains widespread publicity when there is a suggestion that there are shamanistic aspects to the murders.

Even though it is officially spring in southern Canada it is still winter in the Arctic. For a snowmobile trip out of town he readies himself in case the weather changes:

Most of my heavy-duty cold wear had flown with me from Labrador last Monday. The rest I’d borrowed from Bouvier. I had on a thermal shirt next to my skin, down vest, pants of caribou hide with rubber bottoms, winter parka, fur hat and googles …..

Northerners learn to respect the weather.

Once in the small Arctic community he returns to the life of his youth where the residents make their living from the land hunting and trapping.

Comfortably settled into the local hotel Matteesie commences his investigation with the aid of Corporal Bouvier.

The deceased, a young man and his mother, have been brutally knifed to death. There is blood everywhere.

Forensic examination shows several types of footprints – some in the blood and some prior to the killings. I could not help but think they needed Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte to help them study the footprints.

Matteesie is a dogged investigator. He neither has brilliant deductions or swift insights into the evidence. He carefully proceeds with assembling the evidence.

He considers the local shaman, Jonassie Oquataq, a famed Inuit carver and sculptor. Matteesie thinks of the role shamans have traditionally taken in the North.

As the investigation proceeds the reader is fully taken into the life of an Inuit village far above the Arctic Circle.

There is little doubt about the killer but can Matteesie build a case?

The Shaman’s Knife is an excellent book. I was left regretful at the end that Scott Young wrote no further mysteries featuring Matteesie and the people of northern Canada. It would have been a memorable series. (Sept. 24/13)

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Last year my entry for “Y” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog Mysteries in Paradise also featured Scott Young in the following posts:
 
(2012) - Murder in a Cold Climate;  (2012) - "Y" is for Scott Young; (2012) - Traditional Outdoor Journeys in Cime Fiction

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My connection to the book comes from its setting in Canada and the author being a Canadian. My next post will contain some further observations on life focusing on modern travel in the North.

Reflections on red Mandarin dresses

In my last post I reviewed the book Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong. As I started reading the book I was caught up in the visual image of a red Mandarin dress and looked up some images online. As I continued reading I realized the red Mandarin dress in which each young woman victim was placed after being murdered had great social and political significance in Communist China of the 1990’s.

A red Mandarin dress is instantly a Chinese image. They evoke to me slender Chinese women drawing the attention of all around them in the brilliant brocaded dress. Form fitting they have traditionally been individually made for the woman wearing the dress.

In the book Xiaolong outlines how Mandarin dresses of the early 1960’s usually had long sleeves and modest slits up the legs. They have a sensual attraction.

Current Mandarin dresses are more overtly sexual. They tend to have short sleeves or be sleeveless with no backs and side slits as high as the thigh. Online, almost all of the images I could find were of the current style.

Mandarin dresses were worn after the Communist takeover in 1949. It was not until the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was launched in 1966 that they disappeared for over a generation.

Comrade Yu’s wife, Peiqin, says of that time:

“In our middle school days, such a garment was out of the question, decadent and bourgeois and whatnot.”

It is harder to think of a greater fashion contrast from beautiful richly coloured Mandarin dresses than the thick drab unisex Mao suits that were worn by the Chinese people of the Cultural Revolution.

When China started liberalizing its economy and money began flowing through the nation the Mandarin dress made its return.

The placement of the women in red mandarin dresses provokes speculation among reporters in the book:

“One deemed it a political case, a protest against the reversal of values in socialist China for the mandarin dress, once condemned as a sign of capitalistic decadence, had become popular again.”

What puzzles the investigators is that the red mandarin dresses in which the young women were found were 1960’s conservative dresses. Why was the killer using traditional dresses? What could be so important to the killer that he places his victims, without underclothes, in ripped red Mandarin dresses with bosom buttons undone? The red Mandarin dresses have a symbolism to the killer that, if Chief Inspector Chen, can but decipher will allow him to find the serial killer.

The red Mandarin dresses draw an intense public interest to the murders that would never have been the same had the victims been dumped by the killer wearing Mao suits.

The book uses the red Mandarin dress as a powerful effective image – politically, culturally, sexually – that is at the heart of the mystery. When I see a red mandarin dress in the future I will think of Xiaolong’s book.

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For readers interested in the role of clothes in books I recommend the Clothes in Books Blog (http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.ca/) where Moira has fascinating posts.

"X" is for Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

43. – 732.) Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong – For a third year my entry for the letter “X” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, will be a review of a book by Chinese American author, Qiu Xiaolong. I hope it is more tradition that I have developed than being unable to find another author I like whose surname starts with “X”.

As with Death of a Red Heroine the book opens with the discovery of a young woman who has been murdered. What makes the case here unusual is that she was found wearing a red mandarin dress that has had side slits ripped and several double-fish-shaped bosom buttons left undone.

The police are left reeling for it is the second murder of a young woman in a short time who has been dumped in a public location wearing a red mandarin dress and no other clothes.

There is a media frenzy about the red mandarin dress murders. Even in the highly controlled culture of Communist China the authorities are forced to acknowledge there is a serial killer in the City. Until the economic changes serial murders had been kept out of the press but once Chinese media were forced to sustain themselves economically they look as avidly to murder as any Western media.

A serial murderer is not acceptable to the Party and there is enormous pressure on the police to find the killer.

Chief Inspector Chen Cao is not interested in the case. He is on a short leave. He has enrolled in an MA program for Classical Chinese Literature at Shanghai University. His first paper is due shortly and he is going to use his time away from the office to work on the paper.

After looking at several Chinese short stories he has decided upon a paper which will delve into similarities in how women are portrayed in love stories over several hundred years.

His love of poetry is a daily part of his life, whether on work or at home. Chen continues to quote favoured lines. On a textile worker growing old swiftly:

            Soon, the splendor fades

            from the flower. There’s no stopping
            the chill rain, or the shrill wind.

While Chen is trying to focus on his paper his dutiful aide, Comrade Yu, is racing around trying to find information. Yu’s wife, Peiqin, searches for information on the distinctive red mandarin dresses placed upon the victims.

When Chen leaves Shanghai for a rest Yu is distraught. He has always leaned heavily on Chen to guide him investigations.

When Chen does return the investigation takes him back into the cruel days of the Cultural Revolution. Terrible actions were taken in the name of the Party.

During the book I was diverted by the amazing descriptions of food.  Chen describes soup buns:

“….the soup in the bun comes from the pork skin jelly mixing with the stuffing. In a steamer over the stove, the jelly turns into hot liquid. You have to bite carefully, or the soup will splash out, scalding your tongue.”

At the same time I was stunned by some of the dishes. I can do no more for description than list one item as live monkey brains.

Xiaolong writes subtle mysteries taking the reader into Chinese society past and present. His sleuth is skilled at dealing with highly political superiors. Every action must consider what the Party would want done.

The ending was one of the most poignant I have read in some time. I look forward to reading more Chief Inspector Chen books.

My next post will provide some thoughts on a red mandarin dress. It is a striking sensual dress. (Sept. 13/13.)

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My personal connection is an affection for the beauty and power of the poetry in the series. I do not read books of poetry but I love poetry with great imagery and flow of words.

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Earlier posts involing Qiu Xiaolong are:

Death of a Red Heroine (Second best of 2009 fiction); (2011) - "X" is for Qui Xiaolong; (2011) - A Case for Two Cities; (2012) - "X" is for Qiu Xiaolong Again; (2012) - A Loyal Character Dancer;

"V" is for Vodka Doesn’t Freeze by Leah Giarratano

"V" is for Vodka Doesn’t Freeze by Leah Giarratano – For the letter “V” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie Smith on her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I have read a book from Kerrie's homeland, Australia.

Sgt. Jill Jackson of the Sydney Police is assigned to investigate the murder of a man found in some brush on a cliff overlooking a pool frequented by children. It is instantly apparent to the Police that he was a paedophile.

There is no regret in the police that he has been killed. Some officers would prefer not to aggressively investigate a murder of a man they despise.

On her return home Jackson, thinking of the investigation, suffers a panic attack as she remembers being kidnapped and brutalized as a child by her captors. When she comes home she obsessively checks her house to be sure there are no intruders present.

Clinical psychologist, Mercy Merris, is unraveling. She has spent too much time counseling the victims of paedophiles. The private clinic where she works has unsuccessfully attempted to get her to restrict her practice

Jackson knows and admires Merris who had treated her. She worries about what is happening to the psychologist.

In her police unit Scott Hutchison, a big bluff outgoing man is Jackson’s partner very supportive of her. Her nemesis is Elvis Calabrese a big, overweight offensive man. Each is almost a caricature. I do not make light of the challenges of women in police services but there is no subtlety to these men.

In a review of outstanding cases Jackson notes a pair of murders of men in the Sydney area. It does not take long to determine someone is killing paedophiles.

Much of the book focuses around paedophiles and their connections with each other. Reading about them is difficult, often repellent. In reading the book I wondered whether they could be anything but evil in fiction. Could a writer show any aspect of their lives in a positive way?

I admire Giarrantano for writing about a mystery involving paedophiles. I doubt there is a harder subject.

With the investigation turning into the hunt for a serial killer Jackson is conflicted about diligently pursuing the killer. Should the police go after a vigilante eliminating men who hurt children?

At the heart of the book for me was the question whether a paedophile can be a victim if he is murdered? Does the predator become victim when murdered?

I thought of Michael Connelly’s character, Harry Bosch. For 20 years he has lived by the motto that everyone matters or no one matters.

 

Michael Connelly, on his website, has an interview from 2002 between himself and his character, Bosch. In that interview Bosch explains his philosophy:

 

    HB: Look, I’ve always said that everybody counts or nobody

    counts. I choose the former over the latter. Everybody counts.

    That goes just as much for the boy on the hill as it does for every

    person that was in the World Trade Center or in the Pentagon or

    on those planes. I’ve never had a problem keeping my eyes on

    the prize. Not this case or any of the others before it.

 

Bosch will not value one person’s life over that of another person. He is widely admired for his commitment to all victims. By this creed the murder of a paedophile is the same as the murder of any other person.

If we decide victims can only be good people we play God on whose lives and deaths have worth.

To her credit Jackson seeks out the killer. She is a true officer enforcing the law rather than making judgments on whose deaths deserve her efforts to solve their murders.

Publishers are squeamish about the issue of murdered paedophiles as victims of crime. On the back cover they would far rather talk about Jackson seeking out living paedophiles participating in a ring than her responsibilities as a homicide detective to find a murderer of paedophiles.

If you like Hollywood you will enjoy the ending to the book.

I was glad I read the book. It did leave me disturbed and thoughtful. I expect it will be some time before I read another book focused on paedophiles. (Aug. 25/13)

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My connection to this book comes from spending time in Sydney three years ago while my son was on a university exchange to that fine city.

Tracking Past and Present



James Laurenson as Bony in the T.V. Series with a modern means
of tracking, the airplane, and his traditional personal observation

The art of tracking is both similar and vastly different between Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield in 1945 and Trackers by Deon Meyer in 2011.

The tracking is comparable when it involves the examination of human tracks in rural areas. Whether the 1940’s or the 2010’s the tracking involves a person observing and assessing the imprints.

Bony explains the basic difference between rural and urban tracking:

I leave the body to a uniformed constable, and the cause of death to the doctor and the coroner, and to the experts at headquarters I leave fingerprints if any, the weapon, if any, and objects more closely associated with the crime. In a city the scene of a crime is confined to a room, an office, a flat, and, if on a street, to a space within a few feet of the body.

Here in the bush the scene of a crime is extended far beyond the immediate locale. Someone has had to go to the scene of the crime in order to commit it, and, afterwards, to leave the scene of the crime. As the criminal does not grow wings, he needs must walk, and he does not walk about without leaving tracks of his passage for me to see. To the city detective his fingerprints: to Bony his footprints. So you will now understand how it is that I am much more interested in the ground outside a house or hut or camp than I am with the interior.

Bony uses the training of decades and the skills of his aboriginal ancestors in examining tracks.

In Trackers there is tracking in the bush by men using the same skills Bony used almost seven decades ago. I am acquainted with tracking prints left upon ground.

My father was a trapper which meant he was a tracker. In an ever more urban world there are not many today who can distinguish which animals made the tracks they see upon the ground. I am far from being a skilled tracker but I learned some basics of tracking from my Dad such as where to look for animal tracks. You need to search where you would expect animals to be based on terrain, food sources, shelter offered and the quickest safest and most efficient way to travel through an area.

The title to Trackers in Afrikaner translates to spoor in English. It is an apt word for traditional tracking which looks to the traces left behind.

What has changed significantly, even in rural tracking is the use of technology to aid trackers.

In Trackers I noted 26 different types of tracking. They were tracking of vehicles in rural areas by anticipating roads, tracking done by teams of cars following cars, tracking of vehicles by transmitters placed upon them, tracking on foot in the city by visual contact,  tracking of people by observation from nearby buildings, tracking of telephones with electronic intercepts, tracking through talking with friends and enemies, tracking through sleeping with a source and listening to pillow talk, tracking through informants within organizations, tracking through computers searching the world wide web, tracking through the satellites continually orbiting the earth, tracking through reading newspapers and magazines for information on those being tracked, tracking through searching government records, tracking through breaking into buildings, tracking through searching desks and computers, tracking through the mind with skilful questions and brutal demands for knowledge, tracking through the sharing, often reluctantly, of information between powerful organizations, tracking through careful examination of financial records, tracking through the sources of funds in bank accounts, tracking through hidden microphones, tracking through the closed circuit cameras that inhabit every city, tracking through the examination of personal public records, tracking through the study of bodies and tracking through examination of wallets, clothing and other personal items.

Modern trackers would be lost without all their electronic devices.

Yet current technology has its limits. In Murder One by Robert Dugoni the investigators deal with footprints leading up to the window of a home through which a killing shot was made. The investigators try to determine size from computer analysis of the size of the tracks and distance between steps. I expect Bony could have told them by his experience. I believe he would have gleaned more information about the killers if study of the tracks had been left to him.

The powers of observation and reflection are less prized by modern crime fiction trackers. In our instant world we want answers and analysis instantly. Good trackers need patience to find the tiny signs that let the tracker follow their quarry. Bony often takes the time to sit down, make and smoke a cigarette, and deliberate about what he has seen. Few modern trackers pause to think.

“U” is for Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield

 
"U” is for Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield (1945) – For the letter “U” in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme being hosted by Kerrie Smith at her fine blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I am posting a review of a Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte mystery by the Australian author, Arthur Upfield.

It is another Bony mystery set in the vicinity of a prominent Australian geographic feature. Death of a Swagman takes place in and around the Walls of China in the southwest corner of New South Wales. On the opening page Upfield describes the area: 

The colour of the country is reddish-brown, and upon this reddish-brown land the soft fingers of the wind built a wall of snow-white sand some twelve miles long, three quarters of a mile wide, and several hundred feet high.

In The Will of the Tribe the Wolf Creek Meteorite Crater in Northwest Australia had been featured in the book. 

Bony arrives at the small town of Merino some six weeks after the

death of swagman, George Kendall, at a hut adjacent to the Walls of China. Where modern crime fiction perpetually emphasizes the importance of the first 24 to 48 hours after murder in conducting the investigation Bony is unperturbed about arriving weeks later. 

For this investigation he chooses to slip into town as a stockman, with the name of Robert Burns, looking for work. Only after being arrested as a vagrant does he reveal his official status to Sgt. Richard Marshall of the local police detachment. Bony consents to a sentence of 10 days in the local jail during which time he will paint the police compound fence, whitewash the cells and have the chance to talk to the residents as a casual stranger rather than a police inspector.

There are interesting local characters led by Mr. Jason, a former Shakespearean actor, who owns the garage. Merino is so small he is also the Justice of the Peace dispensing justice, the town undertaker carrying the deceased to the cemetery in a spectacular hearse and presiding over the coroner’s inquest. 

Among the touches that mark the book as set almost 70 years ago is the role of tobacco. Almost everyone smokes. Bony does a lot of thinking while rolling his own humpbacked cigarettes. The community times how long it will take Mr. Jason to exhale great draughts of pipe smoke. 

The ever shifting sands of the Walls of China are at the heart of the detection of the book. Bony’s skills as a tracker are evident throughout the story. It is a physical art lost to all but a few current detectives. My next post will compare the trackers of the past and the present. 

What modern detective could discern that faint straight lines in sand showed a clever killer was covering his tracks by using a flail for the wind creates curved lines in the sand. Only man produces straight lines. 

There is also a fascinating explanation of the use of noughts and crosses or X’s and O’s to provide information. 

Bony is always professional in his investigations. He sets out the problem with emotional involvement by the police:

Many young detectives, and older ones too, are too liable to the emotion of indignation because of a brutal killing. They accept such a crime as a personal matter and so permit their judgment to be clouded by animosity towards the killer.  

Would that the fictional police of today avoid the righteous indignation that fuels so many of them? 

The book differs from earlier Bony mysteries I have read in having a strong child character. Little Rose Marie is a spirited and clever girl. 

The strength of the book is in the investigation. Unlike The Bone is Pointed or The Will of the Tribe or The Bushman Who Came Back it does not venture into the relations between white and aboriginal Australians. As always there are some passages that will make a contemporary reader cringe but I accept them as a reflection of that era. 

While the solution ventured into the bizarre I enjoyed the book. I find Bony a remarkable character.

 

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My earlier posts on Arthur Upfield and his books are:

Upfield, Arthur - (2011) - Cake in the Hat Box; (2011) - The Widows of Broome (2011) - "U" is for Arthur Upfield; (2011) - The Bushman Who Came Back; (2012) - The Will of the Tribe; (2012) - The Battling Prophet; (2012) - "U" is for Arthur W. Upfield; (2013) - The Bone is Pointed; (2013) - Q & A with Stan Jones on Nathan Active and Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte - Part I and Part II

 

Batoche and The Third Riel Conspiracy

I think it is fitting that my 500th post on this blog is about Saskatchewan. Batoche is my favourite historic place in Saskatchewan.

The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault, which I reviewed in my last post, is focused on the major battle of the Riel Rebellion at Batoche in 1885. Batoche was at the heart of the Metis community in the Northwest Territories of that time. (In 1905 the province of Saskatchewan was created out of territory that included Batoche.)

The Metis settlement around Batoche had grown up in the 1860’s and 1870’s. The settlers created long narrow farms moving away from the Saskatchewan River in the style of early Quebec farms. The Metis of that era were great hunters and annually went south for buffalo until the buffalo were almost exterminated.

The Metis people were the descendants of intermarriage between French fur traders and the Indian inhabitants of the prairies.

A variety of grievances, including the fear their farms would not be recognized by the Government of Canada because they did not conform with the grid being surveyed, caused the Metis, led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont to rise in revolt.

The Rebellion did not last long mainly because the Metis political leader, Riel, would not allow their military leader, Dumont, to fight when and how Dumont wanted to take on Canada.

The founder of Melfort, Reginald Beatty, had just homesteaded in 1884 in the area that would become Melfort. During the Rebellion he was a scout for the Canadian forces and a negotiator persuading Indian communities not to join in the Rebellion.

The Third Riel Conspiracy is excellent at describing Batoche and the surrounding area. It is a beautiful spot on a bend in the South Saskatchewan River.

The site is almost unchanged in the past 128 years. There is no development around the site. To travel there is to go back in time.

The church and rectory have remained intact with some bullet holes in the rectory to mark its role in the battle.

The photograph above shows the view from the cemetery on the riverbank looking towards the church and rectory.

I first visited the site 45 years ago. My father had a keen interest in 

An aerial view showing the Saskatchewan River in the background

Western Canadian history and knew men who had participated in the Rebellion.

Over the years I have made many visits to Batoche with my family and visitors to our area. Each visitor has said going to Batoche made history come alive for them.

In 1985 my Dad and I attended the centennial celebration of the battle. At the official event the Red Cross donated the flag flown by that organization during the battle. It was the first time the Red Cross had raised their iconic flag on a battleground.

I am glad that Legault set his second book in the Durrant Wallace series at Batoche. Every NWMP of that time had some participation in the Rebellion.

For any reader crossing central Saskatchewan in the summer a trip to the National Historic Site of Batoche will be a worthwhile stop.

While a place of battle and death it is now a serene site. I feel a sense of peace whenever I visit Batoche.

"T" is for The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault

The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault - It is 1885 in Western Canada when the Riel Rebellion, equally referred to as the Northwest Rebellion is under way in the heart of what is now Saskatchewan and then was part of the Northwest Territories.

The Third Riel Conspiracy is my entry for "T" in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise.

NWMP (Northwest Mounted Police which is the original name of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Sargeant, Durrant Wallace, is on duty in Calgary.

He has just returned to duty after losing part of a leg and having a hand severely injured.

 Despite his physical restrictions Durrant is eager to participate in the Rebellion and feels stuck in Calgary, a boomtown of tents and new buildings, growing rapidly on the prairie. When the forces advancing on Batoche, the small community on the South Saskatchewan River at the centre of the Rebellion, are ambushed his superior sends Durrant a wire to come to help the Canadian forces.

The headstrong Durrant ignores a further wire saying he need not leave Calgary.

By the time he arrives at Batoche the final battle is over and the Metis forces have been routed. In the midst of that battle a Regina teamster, Reuben Wake, has been murdered in the zareba where the Canadian forces are camped. 

A captured Metis fighter, Terrence La Biche, has been arrested for the murder. He had in his coat pocket the Colt revolver used to shoot Wake.
 While Sub-inspector Dickenson is content to close the investigation Durrant finds the accusation implausible and starts an investigation. 

Thought it is a time when forensic science is very limited and there is not a lab in the territory Durrant applies the science of the day to the investigation.

Mainly he explores the lives of those involved and, in so doing, sets out the history of Western Canada that led up to the Rebellion. In my next post I will go into some of the history and my personal connections with Batoche. For those readers unacquainted with Canada it will provide a basic understanding of our past.

What is striking is how the investigation takes Durrant over a significant part of what is now Saskatchewan, eastern Alberta and northern Montana.

Participating with him is a young woman, Charlene Louise Mason, separated from an abusive husband. Their relationship feels more modern than late 19th Century.

The conspiracies are more plausible than the usual fictional conspiracies.

It is an interesting book. I liked the plot which deals with a time and place with which I am very familiar. The mystery is capably set up. At the same time the dialogue did not capture me. There was too much of the characters' personality and appearance in their actions and role in the plot. Wake is such a dark character it is hard to imagine how he could have survived in the real world. I wanted the book to be better because of its subject and location. In the end, I found it an average book. It is worth reading. I intend to read another Wallace mystery to see if the other book in the series is beyond average.

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My connection with the book comes from its location in Batoche which is about 120 km from Melfort and is my favourite historic spot in Saskatchewan.

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The Third Riel Conspiracy is the 2nd book of 13 I have read in the 7th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog.

Connections and Issues with The Taking of Libbie, SD

On Sunday I put up a review of The Taking of Libbie, SD  by David Housewright as my post for the letter “S” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet being hosted by Kerrie Smith at her fine blog, Mysteries in Paradise.  It is a good book. At the end of my review I indicated in my next post I was going to outline my South Dakota connection and discuss a couple of issues concerning the book not related to the plot.

I have a personal connection to the setting of the book. Not only did my grandfather homestead in South Dakota a century ago the community at which he homesteaded, Clark, has numerous similarities to the fictional Libbie.

It is also a town of just over 1,000 people in a farm based area. It is the county seat. It has a high school and a nursing home.

While Clark is located in a different part of the state and I doubt they consider themselves in the type of decline as Libbie was portrayed I kept thinking of Clark as I read the book.

I also have not heard in real life Clark of comparable stories to the busy sexual lives of the fictional Libbie residents.

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It was a book for which I had no knowledge when I opened the covers. I bought it at the Once Upon a Crime bookstore in Minneapolis in January when I was looking ahead for books for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise. It has been some time since I read Tin City by Housewright and when I saw The Taking of Libbie, SD I knew I had my “S”.

Generally I know something of the plot to determine if I want to read the book. For The Taking of Libbie, SD I knew no more than than I had read a book earlier in the series. 

With nothing but the title to guide me my mind tried to anticipate the plot. It seems impossible to keep a completely open mind until a book is read. For no specific reason I expected the “taking” to refer to a form of attack upon the community instead of the “taking” referring to a fraud perpetuated on the town. 

How easy it is to mislead yourself!

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The one issue unrelated to the plot that upset me is the cover. The photo of the big city has absolutely nothing to do with the story and is blatantly misleading. The fictional Libbie is a small town of 1,200 people whose whole population might occupy one of the skyscrapers shown on the cover. The story spends but minutes in the opening pages in Minneapolis and little more later in the book. Had they shown the beautiful sunset sky alone it would at least have had a connection. When I started the book I thought it would involve a large fictional South Dakota city such as Rapid City (about 70,000 people) or Sioux Falls (225,000 in the metro area). I have no idea why the publisher chose a cover that deceives readers. (I show the cover again to illustrate the deception.)

“S” is for The Taking of Libbie, SD by David Housewright

“S” is for The Taking of Libbie, SD by David Housewright – The book gets off to a rousing start when retired Minneapolis police officer, Rushmore McKenzie, is snatched from his home and thrown into the trunk of a car and driven for 6 hours to the small town of Libbie, South Dakota. Roughed up in the local police station he learns the mayor has hired bounty hunters to bring him from Minnesota because he has defrauded the town of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is hard to take a breath reading the opening chapter.

Once in Libbie the authorities realize he is not the Rushton McKenzie who has swindled them. He does not look like the crook. A few questions and it is clear that they have the wrong man.

McKenzie learns that the fraudster has stolen his identity to set up a new Rushton McKenzie in South Dakota. Cleverly the crook has not used any of McKenzie’s credit cards or accounts. He is using the stolen identity to cheat the town not McKenzie.

Desperate to make amends lovely town councillor, Tracie Blake, sweeps into his cell to offer an apology to McKenzie who is justifiably furious over his treatment.

He learns the fake McKenzie has enticed investment in a regional mall to be located on the edge of town. She further asks him to track down the imposter for the town administration and many citizens who are facing financial disaster if the money is lost.

While he does not forgive McKenzie finds himself fascinated with the fraud scheme and returns to Libbie to solve the mystery.

The South Dakota town is a central character in the mystery. As with most real life towns in rural Saskatchewan there has been a declining population in Libbie recent decades that diminishes the well being of the community and forecasts a doubtful future.

The people of Libbie want to save their town and are ready to listen to a smooth talking stranger on the prosperity to follow the development of a mall.

Trevor Herriot, in his book River in a Dry Land, sets out the rise and painful decline of the real life town of Tantallon in southeastern Saskatchewan. It is a story that could be written about hundreds of communities on the Great Plains of Canada and the United States.

While Housewright effectively describes Libbie and the readiness, even eagerness, of some to get out of town he does not do as well at capturing the spirit and joy of living in a town where everyone knows you. I believe the townspeople are less greedy than desperate for trusting and investing with the imposter.

 

Within Libbie McKenzie is struck by the number of beautiful women in the town. Temptation is present as he works to solve the mystery.

I would not say it is a great book. There are some implausible developments near the end. I consider it a very good book. I liked it better than Tin City.

 

This review is my entry for "S" in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. In my next post I will discuss my connection with the book and a couple of aspects of the book. (July 21/13)

Q & A with Robert Rotenberg on Stranglehold

My last post was a review of Stranglehold, the new book by Robert Rotenberg. I appreciate Anneliese Grosfield  at Simon & Schuster providing me with a copy. I thought it an excellent book. I wrote Robert a letter with some questions that with Anneliese’s assistance I was able to get answered from me. My questions and Robert's answers in bold are below.

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To: Robert
 

I have enjoyed reading Stranglehold and will be posting a review on my blog Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan next week.
 

I have appreciated past email exchanges and would like to ask you a few questions:

 

            1.) In the book DiPaulo has a sign in his office 

            from Anatomy of a Murder:

A trial was after all a savage and primitive battle for

survival itself.

Do you also view Canadian criminal trials as bloody combat? In my experience in Saskatchewan criminal trials they can be intense but I would not characterize them as “savage”. While sometimes “primitive” I think most trials involve sophisticated work by the lawyers;

 

Savage might sound a bit extreme, but it is the perfect quote. (Hint, I used it at the front of my second novel, "The Guilty Plea," which in some ways was an homage to that novel and great film.)

 

But I do it is true. When we strip back all our civility in Canadian courts (and thank goodness for that civility) the core of what we are dealing with are the most basic…savage…of emotions. How else can you describe someone shooting, stabbing, or strangling another human being. (And thank goodness they do, or how would I make a living as a lawyer or a writer!)

 

2.) When Ari Greene reflects on the murder he thinks there is something about the murder scene that has been arranged to set him up for the murder. He is already suspicious over the timing of the 911 call. I do not recall reading about anything being done in the room to compromise him. Was there something I missed suggesting he was set up beyond the timing of the phone call?

 

I just emailed Ari a copy of your email. He's tough to get a hold of. So if you don't hear back from him about this, don't be offended. Half the time he never returns my calls either!

 

3.) Has it become perilous to be the Head Crown Prosecutor in your books with Ralphie Armitage going to jail and Raglan being murdered? Or is it perhaps a defence counsel author exacting a subtle revenge upon the Crown?

 

Crowns have a good life. No client calls in the middle of the night. Paid vacation. Pensions. Sick days. (I haven't had a sick day or a paid vacation ever.) So if one gets killed and another ends up in jail, I say: "suck it up."  

 

4.) The book has an interesting bail hearing but no preliminary inquiry. Have you decided to avoid prelims in your books? If so, I would be interested in knowing why the prelim, often held in most major criminal proceedings, is not in the books.

 

I try to switch things around. If I wrote a book with a bail hearing, a preliminary inquiry, a trial, an appeal, another appeal to the Supreme Court, a retrial…well you get the idea. Damn boring. 

 

Indeed, in "Old City Hall" the prelminary hearing is about to take place.

 

But the bottom line is a "prelim" as we call them is usually deadly dull. A judge once told me it was like baby-sitting a sleeping child.  

 

5.) On some websites it is now the Ari Greene series. How did that happen? I still think of it as a unique series with equally powerful police and lawyers.

 

Thanks. I agree. This is a marketing thing I guess that I have no control over. Note, none of the books use this phrase.

 

I have never thought of this as an "Ari Greene Series." I'd say for example, that the third novel "Stray Bullets" is really Nancy Parish's book. 

 

I've always been interested in writing about a whole cast of characters. In fact, Ari kind of appeared on the scene a bit by accident in Book One, "Old City Hall" and just kept hanging around.

 

But I do see him as the moral centre of the series. And knowing Ari as well as I do, I'm sure he wouldn't want his name on it. That's for sure. 

 

6.) There were issues raised in the story that received little attention during the book but were featured in the resolution. As an example, there was a letter received by Greene but never acted upon him. Were there subplots cut from the book?

 

Afraid I can't agree with you that Greene never acted on the letter. I think that's the whole point of how he handled himself. And the novel.

 

Beyond that I'd rather not say. I think it's pretentious when authors talk about the deeper meaning or real themes of their books. 

 

Suggestion: re-read the letter again. Then perhaps re-read the last chapter.

 

As for the plot and subplot. In this book they are extremely complicated. (That seems to be my way.). But in the end, I think they all fit together. That's the struggle of writing and the real fun of making it work. 

 

Thank you for considering my questions.

 

Best wishes.

 

Bill Selnes

 

Thank you. You are a very careful and interested reader.

 

Hey, get me invited to a literary festival out there some time.

 

Best and a safe summer.

 

Bobby

 

On Thursday I will have a post with Thoughts on the Q & A.