Theme Thursday -- Pathways -- The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

Rules:

*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

Cover via Amazon

This week's theme is pathways (roads, streets, passages).

Most third sons of the aristocracy chose the military or the clergy, but Dallington, in part encouraged by his parents' leniency, had repudiated these traditional paths and instead devoted the first years of his twenties to the Beargarden club and pretty young girls.  Then, shockingly, one day in September he had approached Lenox and requested an education in detective work.  Lenox had warned the lad that it was a profession whose only rewards were internal, that it took dedication to work at a vocation held in such low esteem.  Dallington pointed out that his own reputation was not high, and Lenox had taken him on.  Since then, the lad had been surprisingly adept at his new work, and diligent besides, even if there had been several rocky moments.

~page 61,  The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

Hooray for a new (to me) mystery series set in Victorian England.  This is the third in the series and I enjoy them.  Some interesting twists took place with a villain from the previous two books and Lenox & Lady Jane's relationship progressed as well.  I'll admit that I saw the Parliament subplot play out ahead of time, but I'm not sure Finch was really trying to keep it under wraps.  Now to find out what the next title is!

Book Beginnings and Friday 56 -- Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

"But if he thought the woman was being murdered --- " 

"My dear Charles," said the young man with the monocle, "it doesn't do for people, especially doctors, to go about thinking things.  They may get in frightful trouble about 'thinking' things.  

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
"Or where a murderer might go to play hide and let the police seek," said Wimsey.  

"Well, well.  Have it your own way," said Sir Andrew, smiling. 

I think what I'm realizing about Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries is that I don't read them for the mystery as much as the humor -- and that was certainly the case with Unnatural Death.  It was a fun one, dry wit-wise.  Beyond that, lots of Brit mystery staples -- possibly premature death that benefits the heir, several barristers, relatives returning from Canada, etc.  Fun.  I'll keep reading Sayers. (My first experience of her writing came in college, when I read a collection of her essays.)

Teaser Tuesdays -- The September Society by Charles Finch

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!

Image via Wikipedia

"They come in quite late, sir, even after the Biblius closes at eleven, and meet up in their rooms.  And neither Chapman, who serves at the Society, nor me, nor the cooks, nor the charwoman is allowed to be in the building."

"How peculiar!"

~page 131, The September Society by Charles Finch

This is the second in Charles Finch's Charles Lenox series.  I'm enjoying them and will get the third, The Fleet Street Murders, from the library.  I enjoy reading Finch's descriptions of Victorian Oxford and especially appreciated the appearance of Gerard Manley Hopkins in a cameo role (page 183).  By the way, if you are reading this book -- pay close attention to the conversation in this teaser!!  

Teaser Tuesdays -- A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!

Cover via Amazon

At that moment, Jenkins reappeared in the doorway.  "I've got the fiance, James, in the kitchen.  Mr. Barnard was none too pleased to have him pulled away, but I -- what did you find out?" he said.  "About the body?"  


McConnell looked pointedly at Lenox.

~page 23, A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

This is Finch's first novel, as well as the first book in the  Charles Lenox series.  Set in Victorian England, A Beautiful Blue Death is a murder mystery -- Lenox's good friend, Lady Jane, is distressed when she learns of her former housemaid's apparent suicide and asks Lenox to investigate.  I'm giving it 3 out of five stars, but I do plan on continuing the series.

Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- The Herring-Seller's Apprentice by L.C. Tyler

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

You'll have found the same thing yourself, of course.  Just when you think you have committed the perfect crime, things most unfairly take a turn for the worse.

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

Why this anomaly for such a well-documented event?  It is the sort of question, however, that I usually do not answer immediately, but leave hanging in the air for the reader to ponder.  Occasionally I forget to explain it at all.


 This was a fun book to read with all sorts of self-aware dry wit.  I really enjoyed it while I was reading it but the shine seemed to wear off quickly after finishing it (on Wednesday).  At any rate, it was a fun little British mystery and a publishing house of which I was not previously aware.

Teaser Tuesdays -- The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!

Image by justjason via Flickr

As the battles dragged on, Undershaw languished in disrepair.  Penelope lived close by and was one of the most vocal preservationists in the cause.  She kept an extensive collection of photographs, plans, and other records of Undershaw's history.

~page 298 The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

This has been a fun book to read.  Set at the turn of both the 20th and the 21st century, The Sherlockian is based on many historical events, though of course Moore has added much to his novel about Arthur Conan Doyle's missing journal, the reason Conan Doyle resurrected Sherlock Holmes after sending him to his death at the Reichenbach Falls, and the Sherlock Holmes societies around the world.

Theme Thursdays -- Furniture -- The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

• A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
• Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
• Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
• It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
  Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week’s theme is – FURNITURE.

The pub seemed like a cross between a bar and a restaurant.  There were small wooden tables all over, and a lot of people stood or sat at the bar, eating lunch.  The ones who weren't talking were watching soccer on the large TV.  A rushed-looking waitress waved them to a table, and when she had a chance to come over to them, she seemed pleased that they already knew what they wanted.  

~ pages 11-12, The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett

A very fun book my almost seven-year-old and I are reading.  Xena and Xander Holmes are siblings who've just learned they are Sherlock Holmes' descendants and are asked to solve his unsolved cases.  The first in a series.

 

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2011

I've been thinking that I'd like to re-read my Agatha Christie collection and I'd also like to read more Dorothy L. Sayers (I think I've really only read some of her essays, never her novels.)  So I thought this challenge, reading mysteries written before 1960, would fit well with those desires.  The challenge is hosted by Bev over at My Reader's Block.

I'm aiming for the  Take 'Em to Trial level -- 16+ books.

Friday 56 -- September 24, 2010-- An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

A letter came back faster than I'd expected.   It occurred to me that Simon had somehow arranged to have it sent with dispatches. The post where I was presently stationed was notoriously slow.

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

This is the second in Todd's Bess Crawford series.  Charles Todd is actually the mother-son team that created the Ian Rutledge series as well as authoring a stand-alone novel, The Murder Stone.  It was the first Bess Crawford novel, A Duty to the Dead, that drew me to their writing and since that time, while waiting for the second Crawford installment, I've read all the Rutledge novels that have been published so far.  Both series are set in England during or soon after WWI.   I like them a fair bit.

Teaser Tuesdays -- Faithful Place by Tana French

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!

Cover of Faithful Place: A Novel

The rose-colored glasses aren't your style, Frank.  You must have been really crazy about this one, were you? p. 94, Faithful Place by Tana French

I've read Tana French's other books (In the Woods & The Likeness) and liked them. Faithful Place goes even deeper into the sorrows of human relationships and the disappointments those relationships bring.  The story of Detective Frank Mackey's return to the neighborhood of his childhood had just enough echoes of my current situation (you know, minus the whole being set in Ireland and featuring two murders twenty-two years apart) to make a very bittersweet, evocative, and poignant read for me -- though not necessarily in a negative way.  (Run-on sentence much?)

While Faithful Place could certainly be considered to be in the thriller/mystery/page turner genre, French's character development and skill at setting the scene makes it so much more.  Frank's dread of getting pulled back into the downward spiral of his family and neighborhood of his youth is counter-balanced by his almost unacknowledged hope that maybe things could be different -- while almost certainly knowing that they won't be.  The idea of seemingly small and simple things that we do when we are young reverberating many years later certainly reverberated in my own mind -- as did the hopelessness of ever really making things right.  ". . . everything you believe is up for grabs, every ground rule can change on a moment's whim, and the dealer always, always wins." (247)

Frank's relationship with his ex-wife, Olivia, and his daughter, Holly, ring true.  "Her voice had softened.  In all the world, the last think I needed that night was Olivia being nice to me.  It rippled my bones like water, soothing and treacherous." (30-31)  Speaking of his daughter,

"She's completely surrounded, from every angle, by people telling her that reality is one hundred percent subjective:  if you really believe you're a star then you deserve a record contract whether or not you can sing for shit, and if you really believe in weapons of mass destruction then it doesn't actually matter whether they exist or not, and fame is the be-all and end-all because you don't exist unless enough people are paying attention to you.  I want my daughter to learn that not everything in this world is determined by how often she hears it or how much she wants it to be true or how many other people are looking." (153).

This is the second book I've read recently (see last week's teaser) where things go very wrong after a phone call is not returned.  Let me tell you, it makes me want to keep my phone by my side at all times and never, never ignore it!

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. KIng

Image via Wikipedia

Another fun mystery in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series.  In The Language of Bees, Russell and Holmes have returned to England after 7 months of traveling far and wide.  When they arrive at their country home in Sussex, Damien, Holmes' son, is waiting for them.  Holmes' had learned of his son's existence five years earlier upon the occasion of Damien's being accused of murder and he and Russell have not seen Damien since he was exonerated.

Damien's wife and child have disappeared and he has come to ask Holmes for help.  Meanwhile, Russell figures out why one of Holmes' hives has been abandoned and then heads to London herself to see what she can learn about Yolanda and Estelle's disappearance.

Stonehenge, Druids, details about beekeeping, London Bohemians, Aleister Crowley, the Wilmington Giant, aeroplanes, A Passage to India in the new fiction section at a bookstore -- what's not to love? Oh, and the ending makes me very glad that The God of the Hive is already out!

Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King

Laurie King is a clever, clever woman.  I love her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, of which Locked Rooms is the eighth.  It was a re-read for me before reading the ninth, The Language of Bees.


Russell and Holmes, after their escapades in India (The Game), head for San Francisco.  Mary hasn't returned to California since the accident that killed her parents and younger brother ten years earlier -- and left her alone in the world.  She is ready (she thinks) to take care of the legal matters related to her parents' estate and then put it all behind her.

As she and Holmes begin exploring San Francisco, however, her memories of her childhood become clearer while only creating even more questions.  Why doesn't she remember living in San Francisco during the earthquake?  What do her dreams -- of flying objects, a faceless man, and locked rooms only she is aware of -- signify and are they related to her return to the city where she lost her family? 

I love that King includes a meeting and eventual partnership between Holmes and Dashiell Hammett at the same time that she captures the spirit of San Francisco just 18 years after the 1906 earthquake.  I'm so glad I re-read this one before picking up The Language of Bees and I'm also glad that the next one, The God of the Hive is already out so I can pick it up soon!

Book Beginnings Friday -- Victim Foreshadowing?

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

I am reading Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George

Product Description: (from the back cover)
The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands when someone drives an eighteen inch dirk through her neck.  Called upon to investigate the case in a country where they have virtually no authority, aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, grapple for both a motive and a murderer.  Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama, for the list of suspects soon includes Britain's foremost actress, its most successful theatrical producer, and the woman Lynley loves.  He and Havers must tread carefully through the complicated terrain of human relationships while they work to solve a case rooted in the darkest corner of the past and the unexplored regions of the human heart.
The Opener:

Gowan Kilbride, aged sixteen, had never been much for early rising.

 Not the most intriguing opener I've ever heard, but certainly some fore-shadowing here...