Crooked House

I have had the children on holiday from school for the last couple of weeks, so I needed a bit of easy reading that I could pick up and put down whenever I needed a few minutes distraction. What could be better than a nice murder mystery (I had a few murderous thoughts of my own last week!) so I decided to see what Agatha Christie had to offer. I have read and reread all her Poirot and Miss Marple books but I have never thought of reading any of her other work. I thought perhaps I wouldn't like it, but I read Crooked House and I was soon engrossed in the plot. It is dated and it is hard to believe that such an unattractive selection of characters could have lived together for so long, but somehow none of that mattered. I had my suspicions about the murderer, but still the book produced a sudden and unexpected twist at the end. I enjoyed it, it is a good holiday read and it has made me want to revisit my old friend Hercule Poirot so I am now reading Five Little Pigs.

Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry

Anne Perry is one of my favourite authors, and I am really looking forward to getting her new book Buckingham Palace Gardens. I have already written about her book Whited Sepulchres which is part of the William Monk series of books. She has another series based on police officer Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte, who live in Victorian England and Buckingham Palace Gardens is the latest book in that series. I love her books because you really get a sense of what life was like then, she is very good at the small details that do so much to set the scene and add to our understanding of the characters. I think she creates very strong and believable female characters and her writing has certainly made me understand how little power women of that time had to control their own lives and those of their children. My favourite characters are Great Aunt Vespasia and the Pitt's maid Gracie, Charlotte's grandmother is not an endearing character but she is very well written, I am sure I have met her in another time and another place!

It is hard to choose a favourite from the Thomas Pitt series of books because I have enjoyed them all, so I have chosen just one to write about in more detail.

Belgrave Square by Anne Perry
I think the style of writing seems a bit prim at first, but you get used to it and you realise that it conveys a sense of the times, there is a good plot to carry you along. This book is set the year after Jack the Ripper made his mark on London. A moneylender is found dead in the back streets, he has been shot with unconventional ammunition. This confusing case leads Inspector Thomas Pitt and Charlotte, his wife, to uncover secret societies and corruption in the highest places. The very poor are being exploited and powerful people are keen to ensure that the identities of slum landlords remain hidden. This book uncovers a powerful love story that has been a closely guarded secret for many years. It is well worth the read and the characters are well drawn but perhaps just a little 'larger than life'

Charles and Elizabeth by W. J. Burley

I came across this book when I was looking for more Wycliffe books (by the same author) I love Wycliffe books, but I will write about that another day. This is an odd book, it could be a ghost story, but somehow it is more about being in touch with the past. It could be a book about mental illness or about obsession, you will have to decide on that. It is set mainly in the past with links to the present, it has a gripping story and I found it hard to put down. In a way this is a book about identity and about things being not quite as they seem. I loved this book, I got really caught up in the unravelling mystery - which wasn't obvious. It deals with a very difficult and scandalous relationship, but it is treated in a very sensitive way. It is a book I will read again.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tay

Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard is in hospital. A friend gives him a portrait Richard III, and he remembers him from school history lessons as a hunchbacked ruthless killer, but the face in the picture seems to tell a different story.The Inspector is hooked and set out to investigate the murder of the Princes in the Tower But after four hundred years, is it really possible for a policeman to re write history? This book is dated but wonderful, it made me look at Henry VII in a different light and perhaps Richard really wasn’t as bad as history suggests. Was Henry just better at ‘news management’ than the Plantagenet’s. Did they have ‘spin doctors in those days?

A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy L Sayers

I have been a fan of Lord Peter Wimsey for many years. I always enjoyed reading about Harriet Vane who was a strong consistent and believable character. I loved Gaudy night in which Harriet took centre stage. In A presumption of death the story focuses on Harriet (now Wimsey) Jill Paton Walsh presents a stronger and more equal relationship between Harriet and Lord Peter, who now have two young sons. The book is set at the beginning of the second world war and there really and the author draws a clear picture of the fear and confusion of the time. The background detail of war time village life is excellent and the reintroduction of familiar characters in changed circumstances is fascinating. The author handles the class issues in a believable and thought provoking manner and the strength, warmth and humour of the Dowager Duchess brings a depth to the plot.

The resolution of the mystery is clever and the decisions made do feel like those which might well have been made in the circumstances ... whether they are the right ones, is a matter for debate, but the choices make clear the brutality of the war and the cost to those who are caught up in it.

I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to any Lord Peter Wimsey fan.

Asta's Book by Barbara Vine

I rarely read book reviews but I came across a review for this book when leafing through an old magazine and it made me curious enough to buy the book. It is an extraordinary book that moves effortlessly between the past and the present. It spans almost all of the twentieth century and almost all the main characters are dead. The narrator Asta’s granddaughter inherits diaries written by Asta and made famous by Asta's daughter. Asta and her husband Rasmus came from Denmark to settle in England in the early years of the new century (1905) and her diary records the loneliness and isolation of an immigrant. Asta is strong proud and passionate, but she has to face many painful losses. The book is really about identity and loss of identity. It works on several levels Asta feels she has lost her sons when they become too English and like so many mothers of the time her worse fears become reality and she does lose them. Some of the pages of her diary are acutely sad, some are mundane and some are unbelievably arrogant, but hidden among it all Asta may have the solution to an unsolved disappearance. It is a wonderful, clever book with a twist in the tale.