The fifth installment of the popular Barks and Beans Cafe' mystery series removes Macy from the cafe' for most of the book's length, and provides her The fifth installment of the popular Barks and Beans Cafe' mystery series removes Macy from the cafe' for most of the book's length, and provides her with a temporary sidekick in the person of secondary series character Della (mom to one of the cafe' employees), who was introduced in the second book, Iced Over. Della's a caregiver for elderly clients. We learn in the first chapter that the latest of the latter, one Lorraine Rosso (to whom Della was especially close), suddenly died the day before the book opens. She was bed-fast and didn't have a particularly strong heart, and the physician who examined her body attributed her death to heart failure. But while she wasn't a likely contender for any Olympic medals, she didn't previously appear to be at all near death's door; and Della has noted that one of the deceased's two pillows is unaccountably missing. (Was she smothered?) The widowed Lorraine didn't have a loving relationship with either of her two adult children, and didn't trust either of them. (She did trust Della implicitly.)
Adding to the intrigue surrounding the situation, some time before she died Lorraine gave Della a letter, to be opened in the event of her demise. Signed (and witnessed by a neighbor), it reveals that when Lorraine's husband died, he left in her keeping an unspecified "object" of great value, which had come into the possession of his great-grandfather shortly after his immigration to America. (It bears the latter's initials, "F. R.") Not trusting his kids any more than Lorraine did, and believing that they'd simply fight over the object if they did inherit it, he charged her to pass it to some other worthy person. (The kids know a valuable object exists, but not what or where it is.) It further reveals that Lorraine has hidden this treasure, not in her own home, but in some undisclosed place in the Baxter Manor, a Lewisburg inn owned and run by her daughter and son-in-law, Camilla and Phelps Baxter, and designates Della as Lorraine's choice to be the heir of the object. (Lorraine's will, recently changed, will confirm this, though the lawyer won't read her name out loud when the will is officially read.)
With Halloween approaching, the Baxter Manor --where the out-of-town contingent of Lorraine's family is staying, pending the reading of the will-- is sponsoring an upcoming "Spooks and Screams Weekend," to feature a candlelit ghost tour, a hayride, etc. Della proposes that she and her friend Macy sign up for this and book rooms in the inn for the weekend, under the guise of being a bit burnt out from their work and wanting a "girls weekend" to relax. That, she thinks, will give them a chance to secretly search for the treasure, and spy on family members who may be murder suspects. Readers who know Macy won't be surprised that she agrees. (She does have sense enough to contact her police detective friend and acquaint him with Della's suspicions.) This sets the stage for another typical Macy Hatfield outing, this one characterized by numerous red herrings, more than one mystery, faux supernatural elements, and some clean romance. Gilbert makes good use of actual Lewisburg area folklore, particularly the historical element of the "Greenbriar ghost," an instance where a claimed ghostly visitation actually provided verifiable courtroom evidence in an 1897 murder trial (https://www.wboy.com/only-on-wboy-com... ). Following the denouement, the concluding chapter brings us a couple of significant developments in the ongoing series story lines.
Like the previous novels of the series, this was one Barb and I read together. In terms of style, plotting, texture, etc., this book has much in common with the preceding ones. However, I wasn't able to rate it quite as highly, because the initial premise struck me as implausible. Although she's a stronger fan of this particular series than I am, and more of a target audience for the "cozy" subgenre (of which this is a good example), Barb shared my criticisms on this point. While it heightens the mystery element for Della and Macy to be kept in the dark as to the identity and location of the mysterious treasure (which functions as a McGuffin here), there's no discernible reason for Lorraine to conceal this information. Her stated purpose was for Della to have the object; that purpose was threatened, not furthered, by not permitting her to have this information. Since the letter was given to Della, there was no danger of the kids getting it, and no more need to conceal the withheld information than to conceal the things she did reveal. (And surely a safety deposit box, with the key held by the bank or the lawyer, would be a more secure hiding place than placing the item in the home of two people who she was particularly anxious NOT to have find it?) Nonetheless, we enjoyed the tale for the diversion that it is, and plan to continue the series!...more
Note: This review has no spoilers for this book; but it does presuppose that those who read it will have read the four full-length novels that precedeNote: This review has no spoilers for this book; but it does presuppose that those who read it will have read the four full-length novels that precede it in the series. I would definitely advise reading the series in order.
When we finished this installment of the Barks and Beans Cafe' series, which we're reading together, my wife Barb (who's not on Goodreads), commenting on the appeal of the series as a whole to her, said that it's "simple, down-to-earth, country." She added words to the effect that much of its appeal comes from the basic likability of protagonist Macy Hatfield (who genuinely cares about others, and it shows), the small-town atmosphere, and the implicit message of the value of family and community. (And being an Appalachian native herself, the setting is a major plus for her.) Her comments do encapsulate a great deal of what the series has going for it, though I think its appeal would extend to readers in any geographic location, with or without an Appalachian connection or an actual rural or small-town background of their own. My star rating reflects what Barb would give it, since she's more the target audience --though I like the series too, and personally liked this particular book the best of those I've read so far (though it has enough similarity to the others that my general comments in most of those reviews would also apply to this one).
For this adventure, Macy's brother Bo plays a much less prominent role than usual. He's in South America, and mostly incommunicado, for much of the book. As the first book ultimately revealed, he has a DEA background (from which he's "retired," sort of, but not so much so as not to keep his hand in at times!). Now, he's been called into a deep-cover mission to (hopefully) finally get the goods on Leo Moreau, the arch-criminal mastermind who's been his nemesis since his DEA days, and whose doings have formed a constant plot strand through the first four novels as well. But continuing character Kylie Baer, the Hatfield siblings' heavily-tattooed barista at Barks and Beans, plays a much bigger role than usual, and we get to know the usually taciturn and stand-offish young woman much better than heretofore. (Some mystery fans might wish that she were the series sleuth here! :-) Of course, Kylie wouldn't relish the circumstances that bring her so much to the fore here: early on, she happens to emerge as the leading suspect in the murder of her younger sister's detested boyfriend, who's found with one of her antique swords in his back....
This novel is paced and plotted very well, and presented in the straightforward, engaging style that's characteristic of the series. The mystery elements hold up to scrutiny. (As usual, pay attention to minor details; they may prove to be significant!) I actually guessed the identity of the principal baddie as soon as he/she was introduced, and foresaw the main outline of what was going on, though not some details; but that's only because I've read a lot in the mystery genre and understand some of its dynamics, not because the author ineptly telegraphs it. (She doesn't; my wife was in the dark until the big reveal.) Our small-town West Virginia setting continues to be effectively evoked; Coal and Waffles will appeal to dog lovers (and Stormy will please the cat persons in the reading community), and the interpersonal relationships outside of and around the mystery plot add texture. (These will see one significant development, but no spoilers!) At first, I felt that one not initially very likable character mellows and shows a more mature than expected side too quickly; but I ultimately put this down to the fact that first impressions can mislead us.
Gilbert consciously (and skillfully) tailors this whole series to the tastes and expectations of "cozy" mystery fans in particular. For any of the latter who've discovered this series (and there are quite a few who have; this author has several series, in two genres, but this is the most popular of them!), and who have followed the previous installments, this one won't disappoint in the slightest....more
My Goodreads friend Monica gave this novel (the first book in the author's Miss Fortune Mysteries) five stars, which put it on my radar; and I'd downlMy Goodreads friend Monica gave this novel (the first book in the author's Miss Fortune Mysteries) five stars, which put it on my radar; and I'd downloaded the e-book edition some time ago when I discovered that it's offered for free, as a teaser for the series. While my rating isn't as high as hers (it would be three and 1/2 stars if Goodreads allowed that), and I didn't expect that it would be, I did turn out to like the book somewhat more than I expected to.
Our protagonist and first-person narrator here is "Fortune" Redding. We're not told her real first name ("Fortune" is the handle she's used to answering to, but it's indicated, well into the book, that it's a nickname, short for "soldier of fortune") or her exact age; but she's worked for the CIA for eight or five years, depending on which figure we go with, since we're given both in different places. (I took the first one to start with, so picture her as about 30, joining the Company just after college.) The affiliation was a natural one for her; her father, with whom she had a prickly relationship, was a top CIA agent, and after his death when she was 15, her remaining teen years were overseen by a couple of CIA officials, one of whom is now her boss. (Her mother had died years earlier.) She's a seasoned assassin (of verified baddies), with a VERY long list of kills to her credit, and zero compunctions about her line of work. But she's neither a psychopath nor a moral nihilist; on the contrary, she's basically a kind-hearted person (albeit an emotionally-constipated loner with no confidential friends), who sympathizes readily with those in danger and distress.
That trait got her in trouble on her latest mission. It wasn't supposed to be a hit; she was simply posing as the glamorous mistress of a drug dealer, delivering money for him to a Middle Eastern crime boss. But (as we learn along with her, at the debriefing in the first chapter) her meeting was compromised by an unknown leak in the CIA, who'd tipped the bad guys off as to who she was. They'd decided to test the tip by setting up a situation where she'd have to act to try to rescue a 12-year-old sex trafficking victim, figuring that she could then easily be dealt with, since she'd come unarmed. Unhappily for them, Fortune's quite adept at improvising a weapon when she has to; though she doesn't care much for high heels, she dispatched the head honcho with a stiletto heel on the shoes she was wearing, and got away clean, presumably with the 12-year-old. (We learn about this only in a terse second-hand report; I'd have loved to read it in real time!) Now, the deceased's brother Ahmad, also a big-time crime lord, has put her picture all over the Dark Web, with a million-dollar price on her head (ten million, if she can be delivered to him alive to be tortured).
If Ahmad can be taken out, the contract on her will be moot, but in the meantime, she needs to be stashed in a safe place --and one that can't be compromised by the unidentified leaker. Luckily, her boss' niece, librarian and former beauty queen Sandy-Sue Morrow, just inherited a house in Sinful (population 253) in the bayou country of southern Louisiana from a newly-dead aunt on her mother's side. The two weren't close; Sandy-Sue has never been to Sinful, and she has no social media presence due to a stalking incident years ago. With summer just starting, she's scheduled to go down there to inventory the house's contents and prepare it for sale. Before the very unwilling Fortune can say "culture shock," her boss has packed the real Sandy-Sue off for a summer in Europe, and our heroine is in route to Louisiana to hide under this new identity. It's only supposed to be through the summer months; and in a small, quiet southern community, nothing's apt to go wrong, right? But the flooding caused by a recent hurricane unearthed and moved a lot of debris in the backwoods, and on Fortune's first evening in town, the late aunt's dog fishes a human bone out of the bayou behind the house. It proves to have belonged to a very wealthy, and universally hated, town resident who disappeared some five years ago....
As mysteries go, this one is not deep or in some respects very plausible, but it is entertaining. Despite the author's use of a humorous tone in most of it --though it has its serious moments, some of them deadly so (literally!)-- it's not really an example of the "cozy" subgenre, nor even of the broader stream of more "genteel" who-dunnits in general. That tradition features more actual detection in terms of sifting physical clues and witness statements, and eschews directly-described physical violence. There's little of the former here, and definitely some of the latter in the denouement. (Action-heroine fans may be pleasantly surprised to find that Fortune's combat skills won't necessarily have to go to waste in this new environment!) But the mystery of who killed Harvey Chicoran doesn't necessarily have an immediately obvious solution (many characters, and no doubt readers, may assume that the widow did it --but did she?). There will be twists and turns in solving it, and Fortune's involvement in that effort will provide her --and readers-- with challenges, adventures, excitement and danger.
A weakness of the book is that a lot of the humor exaggerates the quirkiness and peculiarities of the Louisiana bayou country's rural inhabitants to the point of caricature. It plays to stereotypes that too many urbanites have about the South, and rural people in general, which reflects culpable ignorance of cultures outside their own. Fortune herself is a prime example; she seriously wonders, for instance, if the community she's going to has electricity. (Rolls eyes profusely.) She also has a tendency to reduce women with Sandy-Sue's background to despised, stereotyped "Others." Some characters, like the members of the Sinful Ladies Society (membership is only open to "old maids" or widows of 10 years standing, to avoid contamination by "silly man thinking"), are steeped in misandry, and Deleon views that as funny. This is mitigated to a degree by the fact that she's native to the region (which I've visited) herself, does reveal some basic affection for it, and depicts it with some realistic local color; and by the fact that she does portray a couple of male characters positively. There are also a few inconsistencies that should have been caught and edited out.
On the positive side, this is a tautly paced book that keeps you turning pages, or in my case clicking frames (I read the first two-thirds of it in one sitting, and could and would have read it all if time had allowed!), with a tightly-compressed plot that unfolds in less than a week. Even if you disagree with some of Fortune's attitudes, she is honestly likable, with a wryly humorous narrative voice that's appealing (at least to this reader). She exhibits a willingness to look at herself and grow through exposure to new experience, which I like; and I appreciated the strong depiction of female friendship and loyalty. There's a certain amount of bad language here, mostly of the h and d-word sort or vulgarisms, but not much profanity and no obscenity; and there's no sexual content nor any romance at all (though I understand that a romance develops in subsequent books in the series). While Fortune describes herself, though not out loud, as a "heathen" (when she's informed that everybody in Sinful who's not one of the latter attends one of its two churches), and there's some humor based on the foibles of the church-goers, there's no actual pushing of an anti-Christian agenda.
I only read this book as a diversion, because it was free; I don't plan to follow the series. But I don't regret making Fortune's acquaintance, nor visiting her in her new-found community. :-)...more
With this novel, Gilbert and Cudmore bring their Tavland Vikings duology to a strong and satisfying conclusion. This installment is set in the years 1With this novel, Gilbert and Cudmore bring their Tavland Vikings duology to a strong and satisfying conclusion. This installment is set in the years 1000-1001, soon after the first book, and takes place entirely on the authors' fictional island country of Tavland. Here, Ellisif, Dagar and their family connections appear only briefly, in passing, and though Hakon and Inara play more of a role than the latter do, they're secondary characters. Our focus this time is on just one aristocratic couple, young (I don't recall if her age was stated, but I pictured her as about 20) Kadhrin Finnleik and Jarl Vikarr Lodbrok, who's not much older. (He's said to be in his early 20s.) They were betrothed by their families as children (but also share a mutual attraction). The wedding has been delayed for the past two years, while the Finnleiks made an extended visit to the court of the Danish king, Sven Fork-beard, who's a distant relative of Kadhrin's mother. (He was a real-life person, as were the other non-Tavish political figures of that day who are mentioned in places.) But as our story opens, their returning ship is just pulling into the harbor of Ladborg, Tavland's largest “city” (though by our standards, none of these towns would be very large), where Vikarr lives.
Political intrigue will play a major role in this book. (Some of the background to this is hinted at in the previous installment, but it's developed more fully here.) Tavland hasn't been a single entity for very long. Previously divided into several independent regional fiefdoms, it was united in the late 900s by Vikarr's father, Grune Lodbrok, for the most part peacefully. He was able to use the well-founded fear of foreign invasion to convince the other jarls to unite for common defense and accept him as king. But he died before his oldest son, Vikarr, was old enough to rule; so the Thing (the popular assembly of all of the male landowners, which in the semi-democratic polity of the Scandinavian peoples wielded a lot of power) gave the kingship to his younger brother Dungad; and when Dungad died in 998, a majority of the Thing chose his son Eadric as king, rather than Vikarr. Both cousins had fully expected –and wanted-- Vikarr to be chosen. They both accepted the decision. But though Eadric has good qualities and comes across well in small group settings, he's uncomfortable speaking to crowds, untested in battle, and not naturally very decisive. After two years, he still hasn't grown well into the kingly role. Vikarr, on the other hand, is a born leader, a proven warrior, and already shoulders a lot of the decision-making and public speaking for his cousin. By now, more and more people are having second thoughts about their choice, frustrated with the king's passivity, and contemplating the idea of replacing him with Vikarr; and Vikarr shares that frustration, and struggles at times with the same temptation. There's grist for high-stakes drama here.
However, this isn't solely a novel about medieval politics. It's also very much a novel about marital dynamics, and about the personal growth of the main characters. The political aspects of the tale are a natural part of this basic focus on characters, personal growth, and personal choices. Indeed, while there's no single climactic moral choice that faces our two co-protagonists, there are a variety of important questions about what's right or wrong to do that arise in the normal course of their life together. Not surprisingly, with two evangelical Christians as authors, Christian faith forms a moral and spiritual context for our lead couple's thinking. (Tavland was declared officially “Christian” by King Grune, and the faith --of course, in the Roman Catholic form, but denominational distinctives don't bulk large here-- is genuinely spreading among the people; it's far from universally shared, and probably no more than nominal even for many of its supposed adherents, but both Kadhrin and Vikarr take it more seriously.) True, the kinds of specific issues grappled with here are peculiar to the time and place. (For instance, what exactly do you do with former concubines your family owned, who have no particular legitimate employment prospects and no obvious place to go? Or, how does your theoretical belief that working to free other people's slaves is a good thing to do square with the fact that you happen to own a bond-slave , whom you'd much rather not do without?) But we can relate to the basic underlying questions of what's really most important in decision making, and how the other humans in your world deserve to be treated.
Many of the general comments in my review of the first book would also apply to this one. Again, the narration is past tense in the third person, and again I couldn't detect any obvious “seams” or stylistic differences between the two writers' contributions to the whole. Lifelike, nuanced characters are a strength of both books; and both our main characters here are very human, with a mixture of qualities that can be both positive and negative. Kadhrin, for instance, is a basically kind person, smart (even though illiterate), and possessed of great strength of character, courage, and resolution. She's also headstrong, impulsive in ways that aren't always well considered, and ambitious to do great things –of course, for the betterment of Tavland; but she's not really aware of how much ambition for her own renown and satisfaction may play into that. Vikarr is a man of real integrity, intelligent (few Viking leaders in that day could read, but he's mastered the skill), with a strong sense of duty, noblesse oblige, and compassionate responsibility to those dependent on him. But he's also got his blind spots; and he's not always emotionally perceptive, not good at showing affection in public, and doesn't necessarily take advice well. Neither of these people have ever been married before, so they're learning to navigate the relationship by trial and error; and the development and maturation of their feelings is very believable. (Other characters are realistic as well, though not so deeply drawn.) Another strength is the solid research into the period that underlies the work, allowing our authors to bring the Viking world vividly to life (and without infodumps). The plot is ably constructed, and genuinely suspenseful in the last chapters, where the reader is not sure what will happen. Dialogue is not archaic sounding, though the writers don't include anachronisms (and in “translating” their characters' Old Norse speech into modern English, they retain the proto-Germanic “ja” --cognate with the English “yeah”-- for a period effect). Overall, for me this was an immersive reading experience, and a real page-turner.
A few nits can be picked here. I'm not sure Vikings would have used surnames like Lodbrok or Finnleik at this early a date, rather than just the patronymic (for instance, Grunsson, or Torstensdatter). On one page, Grumsborg is twice said to be the eastern part of Tavland, though the map places it in the west. And a couple of times, characters travel from Ladborg to Voslo by ship; but the latter is well inland, and would be more practical to travel to over land. But these are quite minor points! This was an excellent read, and I would highly recommend it to all fans of medieval (and especially of Viking) historical fiction.
Note: Although I was given a review copy of the series opener, I purchased this sequel, as soon as I learned it had been published!...more
Joe Vasicek is an independent author of speculative fiction, whose work I originally stumbled on back in 2020 through one of my Goodreads friends. SinJoe Vasicek is an independent author of speculative fiction, whose work I originally stumbled on back in 2020 through one of my Goodreads friends. Since then, I've read a couple of his other short stories (like this one, as freebies). A devout Mormon, his faith, as he notes in the Foreword here, informs all of his life including his writing; but in the SF he writes under his real name, he eschews explicit religious references. When he wants to incorporate the latter, as he does here, he writes under the pen name of J. M. Wight. This short e-story, which I ran across earlier this year, was my first introduction to his work in that incarnation, and to his series character Zedekiah Wight. (The identical last names suggest to me that the character might be something of an imagined "ideal self" for the author.) "Bloody Justice" is undoubtedly a teaser for the rest of the Zedekiah Wight corpus.
Zedekiah Wight is a fanatically religious vigilante with lethal combat skills, a penchant for quoting Scripture (his favorite book is Isaiah), and a particular zeal for stamping out sex trafficking and slaughtering sex traffickers, for which he sees himself as an instrument in God's hand. His character has some similarities to Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane (who's my favorite REH hero). But whereas Solomon is a Puritan scion of Elizabethan England, Zed lives in a far future in which the Earth has long since become uninhabitable, and humanity has spread across the stars. Since fallen human nature remains unchanged, this gives sex traffickers a much vaster scale on which to operate. Then as well as now, their "sordid business" remains illegal. But as captain of the well-armed spaceship Voidbringer, Zed and his loyal crew aren't interested in making citizen's arrests. Nominally, their primary mission is to rescue captives. But Zed takes a bloody-minded delight in inflicting lethal divine vengeance. When, early in this story, the Voidbringer intercepts what they know to be a slave ship, it becomes possible that the latter agenda might in this case preclude the former ...so the question is, which agenda trumps the other?
Our primary viewpoint character here is Eve, a super-intelligent A.I. whose holographic avatar (which "she" has internalized as a self-image) is a beautiful human woman in her 20s. She's a key part of Zed's crew, though here we're not told how she joined it; there are hints that her presence may not be wholly legal, especially since Zed's freed her from her "AI safeguards." Be that as it may, she's very committed to the partnership; she finds Zed quite interesting to work for, though even with the "emotional assessment algorithm" she's created for her own reading of his moods and character, she's not able to read him perfectly. (Since we see him through her eyes, that's an excellent narrative strategy on the author's part, preserving his protagonist's enigmatic quality.) Eve's actually a very well-drawn, and even likable character (I'm not a big fan of the whole idea of AI, but if all of its manifestations were as engaging as she is, I could be more reconciled to the technology :-) ).
Except for faster-than-light space travel (which was tacitly tolerated as legitimate even by "hard" SF purists from the very beginning of the genre's pulp magazine era in the U.S.), all of the technology here could be credibly imagined as an extrapolation from existing knowledge. This is basically straightforward action-oriented space opera, with danger, suspense, excitement and (very) bloody combat, such as might have appeared in the SF magazines of the 1920s and 30s; but here there's much more focus on character, and on human moral and spiritual issues. The tale is a quick, one-sitting read. Despite the author's Mormonism, there's nothing necessarily to indicate that Zed or his human crew are supposed to be Mormons as such. There's some mild bad language here, mostly of the d- and h-word sort, from the head villain and sometimes from Eve (we can assume that her speaking style was programmed into her by the secular-humanist programmers who created her), but none of that posed any issue for me in this context. Despite the premise, there's no sexual content.
Our villains here happen to be (or, at least, to think of themselves as) Moslems, and to be ethnic Arabs, judging from their names. This extrapolates from the fact that in the contemporary world, the only countries where slavery remains legal, and that still support a slave trade, are those where Sharia law (which regulates slavery, but doesn't forbid it) remains in force. However, that isn't to deny that in the contemporary world a great many of the traffickers who trade illegally in sex slaves are European-descended or of other ethnicities than Arab; that probably the great majority of these are of no religion rather than Moslems (and some undoubtedly profess other faiths); and that many Moslems would deprecate slave trading and trafficking as much as any other decent persons do. I would assume the author knows this, and presumes that it would be no different in the far future. Given that assumption, I didn't take the story as Islamophobic propaganda. (If I would discover that I was wrong, it would definitely affect my rating very adversely!)
A more serious issue arises from the fact that Biblical faith and ethics sees God as preferring the repentance of the wicked rather than the death of the wicked; supports the legitimate authority of the State to establish and enforce justice (provided that it actually does so) rather than encouraging lethal vigilantism in the name of God; and has as its focus the proclamation of a message of forgiveness and redemption. Viewed from that perspective, Zedekiah Wight is not genuinely a very sterling poster boy for Christian values (though he may reflect contemporary stereotypes of what Christians are like). Nonetheless, I was prepared to view him as "a work in progress," whose spiritual journey and character arc in the subsequent works of the series remains to be seen. So I was able to accept him as he is for now, and appreciate the story on those terms....more
Born into a middle-class family, Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was a British writer of both fiction and nonfiction, much of the latter on religBorn into a middle-class family, Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was a British writer of both fiction and nonfiction, much of the latter on religious subjects. (He was a staunch advocate for classical Christianity, ultimately converting to Roman Catholicism from High Anglicanism in 1922.) Artistically talented, as a young man he considered becoming an artist, and did take college art classes (as well as classes in English literature); but he never took a degree, and wound up becoming a journalist instead, which led into other forms of writing. In the person of his series protagonist Father Brown, he created the first of the mystery genre's many 20th-century clerical sleuths. His prose style is characterized by exuberant humor, joi de vivre, love of paradox, and a really zany imagination.
These qualities are never more in evidence than in this short (159 p.) collection of six stories. They're unified by having the same narrator, “Swinburne,” who relates (fictional) experiences he had with his friend Basil Grant, a retired judge, and often shared with Basil's younger brother Rupert, a private detective of sorts. All of these experiences revolve around members of the eponymous Club of Queer Trades, who, in order to be eligible, “...must have invented the method by which he earns his living. It must be an entirely new trade. ....it must not be a mere application or variation of an existing trade. ....the trade must be a genuine commercial source of income, the support of its inventor.” Each of the six stories introduces the narrator to one of these trades, invented by Chesterton with a remarkable fertility of imagination, and unfolded to the reader through a series of wild and bizarre plots that are sometimes seemingly surreal, but which make perfect sense once they're explained. (That's not to say that they don't require very considerable suspension of disbelief.... :-) )
Calling the tales “general fiction” seemingly stretches the definition. True, they're set in the author's Edwardian present, and in or around London, not in a fantasy world. Neither magic nor hitherto unguessed discoveries of science are involved. But the events are so genuinely outre' and off the wall that it's hard to characterize them as descriptions of “everyday life.” Chesterton's humor here, though, is consistently of a whimsical and good-natured sort. Even though I'd previously read and liked other Chesterton works, this one wasn't on my radar until it was nominated for a common read in one of my Goodreads groups, and I only read it because it was picked for that. It did prove to be entertaining, but that's the best that can be said for it. The stories aren't characterized by deep, serious messages, and break no new literary ground; and I wouldn't recommend them as a first introduction to the author's work. For that, I'd recommend a nonfiction work like Orthodoxy, either of the novels The Man Who Was Thursday or The Napoleon of Notting Hill, or (especially) his mystery stories. But even a second-string book by Chesterton has its rewards!...more
Most readers of this third installment of the Barks and Beans Cafe Mystery series will have read the previous books; and it's really best to have doneMost readers of this third installment of the Barks and Beans Cafe Mystery series will have read the previous books; and it's really best to have done so, because some aspects of the plot and relationships build incrementally on previous developments. Likewise, most people reading this review have most likely read my reviews of the earlier two volumes; and all the general comments I made in those would apply with equal relevance here. So it's probably not necessary to provide a very long review here; it would inevitably involve a lot of repetition. :-) However, the book itself doesn't have a repetitive feel; we're getting used to the community and to our small circle of continuing characters, who by now are old friends, but the author knows how to vary her plots and situations with each outing for series protagonist Macy. I didn't say “series sleuth,” because Macy isn't exactly one. Mysteries rear their head in her vicinity, and she gamely tries to investigate them (and she can be plucky when it's needed, too!); but when the mysteries get solved, it's not typically by her deductive efforts. Jane Marple she definitely ain't. :-) (But that's okay –we like her for who she is!)
This particular book takes place over just a few days in the summer following the events of the prior book(s). Specifically, it's August; so, coming closer to the first anniversary of the opening of the Barks and Beans Cafe.' More noticeably, it's the month of the annual West Virginia State Fair, which really is held just outside of Lewisburg (as noted in an earlier review, the latter is an actual real-life place). When our tale opens, the fair is open as well, and the Barks and Beans crew have set up an iced coffee booth on the fairgrounds, in quest of publicity and added sales. Musical entertainment for the fair-goers is to be provided by (fictional) country music superstar Carolina Garten and her band. Though she moved to Tennessee when she was eleven, Carolina's a Lewisburg native; and though they lost touch after she left, she and Macy were schoolmates and best friends in their early years. A chance meeting lets them reconnect –but that night, Carolina winds up in the hospital with what proves to be Digoxin poisoning, and it clearly wasn't accidental. From there, Macy goes on to get a bird's-eye view of a high powered country music milieu that's rife with intrigue, secrets,and dark agendas.
My wife liked this book as well as the preceding ones. I actually liked it a bit better; I felt the plotting was tighter, and the mystery elements were more challenging. (Then two, the comic relief provided by the antics of the shelter dog Waffles had me chuckling out loud in a couple of places. :-) ) Again, recommended for fans of this type of fiction (but read the preceding books first!)....more
Bruns and Olson are retired U.S. Navy officers, Olson in particular with a background in naval intelligence –and that background is drawn on heavily iBruns and Olson are retired U.S. Navy officers, Olson in particular with a background in naval intelligence –and that background is drawn on heavily in the various self-published series that he and Bruns co-write. This particular 117-page novella exists only in an electronic edition; in keeping with my usual practice, I'd never have read it, but for the fact that it's a freebie. Supposedly, it's the fourth in a succession of “Standalone Suspenseful Short Reads.” In fact, although I read it as a standalone, it actually ties directly into The Pandora Deception, the fourth novel in the authors' WMD Files series. (The first novel of that series is premised on the conceit that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein really did have his infamous “weapons of mass destruction,” but cleverly smuggled them out of Iraq before the Americans closed in –okay, this IS fiction.) Our protagonist in this novella, Mossad agent and top-notch assassin Rachel Jaeger, is an important character in the afore-mentioned fourth novel of that series (and possibly others); and indeed, we can surmise that the reason this work is given away for free is so that it can serve as a teaser to draw readers to the series.
Actually, our heroine's real name is Makda Moretti; “Rachel Jaeger” is her Mossad code name (jaeger means “hunter” in German, and probably also in Yiddish, which is a Germanic language; and Rachel is a name with definite Old Testament associations). Historically, going back to at least New Testament times and possibly back as far as the reign of Solomon, a certain number of blacks in East Africa have identified with the Jewish faith. Rachel was born in Ethiopia, and her mother was one of these (although her mixed race father was half Italian). But though this subculture is mentioned. the authors don't develop it at all. Their concentration is very much on providing the character's “origin story.”
We begin en media res, on her first mission as a fledgling operative in a town on the Egyptian Sinai penninsula, where she's supposed to provide scouting and lookout functions for a team tasked with taking out a terrorist. (But circumstances will cause her role to morph into something more demanding....) Well positioned flashbacks show us how, as a smart, physically fit and observant Tel Aviv Univ. student with a double major in economics and foreign languages, a solid background of martial arts training, and no close family (her mother had recently died, and her brother had emigrated to the U.S.) she was recruited into Mossad. (Later flashbacks show her family's harrowing trek to Israel from danger in an unraveling Ethiopia, on which her father was killed, when she was a very small child, and a later formative experience of standing up to two bullies in order to defend another child, which shaped her penchant for defending innocents.) Levi, the slightly older agent who recruited her, initially used the cover of a dating relationship as a medium to get close to her and check her out; this probably began as a ploy on his part, but quickly became much more serious, and the Makda-Levi relationship plays a very crucial role in the plot here. I don't recommend reading the Amazon book description (the Goodreads database entry doesn't have any description) because it divulges a lot of the plot, not just the premise. But suffice it to say that personal tragedy will be a shaping force in Rachel's career. The time frame of the main tale is apparently about two years.
This is not a deep novel wrestling with moral, psychological, spiritual or political issues. There's no real exploration of the complex roots and merits of the current Israeli vs. Arab hostility. Both Rachel's and Levi's role in Mossad is strictly counter-terrorism, combating and forestalling bad actors who would target and murder innocent civilians for political ends. That these people need to be stopped is a moral no-brainer, regardless of your attitudes towards Zionism or Palestinian statehood. Religion plays no role in the tale; Rachel and Levi are strictly secular and identify with Israel on the basis of peoplehood (which in her case is not exactly ethnic either, but more cultural, in a broad sense). The first time that she has to take a life (in self-defense), Rachel experiences some believable psychological distress at the enormity and finality of it, but is able to work through it and come to terms with it fairly quickly, as an action in successful and needed defense of her people; that kind of issue doesn't arise elsewhere in the book. Despite the Amazon blurb's overwrought reference to her “inner demons,” we don't really meet any of the latter, our authors don't really psycho-analyze her in depth, beyond the obvious feelings.
What it is instead is a straightforward tale of espionage action-adventure, with no real pretensions beyond offering exciting entertainment for readers who appreciate danger, suspense, physical challenges, and the satisfaction of seeing a good gal kick some bad-guy butt. :-) That's exactly what the authors set out to deliver, and they make good on their promise admirably. This is a very well-written, fast flowing novel, with believable characters, all of them presented in life-like fashion. The prose is thoroughly serviceable, and free of bad language, with the exception of a couple of s-words in one place. (I appreciated that restraint, which I regard as a hallmark of good, tasteful writing.) There are a variety of locales here –Rome, France and Tunisia, in addition to Israel, the Sinai and East Africa, as already mentioned-- and while they're not necessarily realized with a deep sense of place (remember, this is a 117-page novella!), all of the physical settings are described vividly enough that we can easily visualize them. Inside knowledge of espionage trade-craft and the inner workings of an intelligence agency is incorporated seamlessly into the narrative, giving it a solid feeling of verisimilitude. Our authors refrain from depicting explicit sex, and they treat sexual matters in general with restraint. It's mentioned that Makda and Levi began sharing her bed after they'd been dating two weeks, but it's left at that, and the feelings between the two, in fairness, are much more intense than the short time span suggests. (Normally I'm skeptical of insta-love scenarios in fiction, especially in a modern setting, but it carried complete credibility here.) One scene had both Rachel and the target of one of her hits naked at one point, because she was posing as a prostitute in order to carry out her mission, but there's no gratuitous physical description and no sexual activity takes place. (It's a disgusting scene only because of the repugnant nature of the target's exploitative and misogynistic attitudes, but he's meant to be disgusting.) As an action adventure yarn with a government-sanctioned assassin for a main character, it's going to feature lethal violence directly described, but there's restraint here too; there's no wallowing in gore for its own sake, and neither the authors nor Rachel are sadistic. (She'll deliver certain death to her marks –who inspire no particular pity!-- with consummate efficiency, but she''ll deliver it quickly and cleanly.)
My high rating reflects the degree of skill with which the authors deliver on the conventions of their genre, as well as my enjoyment of the tale (I'd easily have read it in one sitting if my time had allowed!). The only negative I felt is that Rachel's character arc here doesn't leave her, emotionally, in as good a place at the end as her friends would want her to be. (And by the time you finish the book, if you read it, you'll probably also count yourself among her friends. :-) ) To be fair, however, that's because it's not a complete arc; the authors have at least one more adventure for her, in a full-length novel that will probably allow for much more progress in her personal life journey. Sadly, I don't plan to witness it; at the age of 70 and with a gargantuan TBR, I don't choose to get sucked into the welter of Bruns' and Olsen's various series, so I read this as a stand-alone. But I wish our heroine well; and can unhesitatingly recommend at least this start of her saga to all fans of espionage thrillers and action heroines!...more
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