The One Word Meme, stolen from the wise and interesting Katya.
1. Where is your mobile phone? Purse.
2. Relationship? Strained.
3. Your hair? Boring.
4. Work? YAWN.
5. Your sister(s)? Nonexistent.
6. Your favourite thing? Books.
7. Your dream last night? Sexy.
8. Your favourite drink? Tea.
9. Your dream car? Green.
10. The room you're in? Library.
11. Your shoes? Flat.
12. Your fears? Many.
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Happy.
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? E.
15. What are you not good at? Music.
16. Muffin? Cranberry-orange.
17. Wish list item? Calm.
18. Where you grew up? Jersey.
19. The last thing you did? Chatted.
20. What are you wearing? Warm.
21. What are you not wearing? Bra.
22. Your pet? Four.
23. Your computer? Laptop.
24. Your life? Full.
25. Your mood? Anxious.
26. Missing? Love.
27. What are you thinking about? Babies.
28. Your car? Efficient.
29. Your kitchen? Sticky.
30. Your summer? Relaxed.
31. Your favourite colour? Green.
32. Last time you laughed? Tuesday.
33. Last time you cried? Tuesday.
34. School? Worrisome.
35. Love? Troublesome.
Showing posts with label A Place of Execution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Place of Execution. Show all posts
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
"You see these old fellas in the pub going: 'I've had a great life, me. Gone nowhere. Done fuck all. Aye.'" - Paul Tonkinson
I have a particular fondness for the English mystery. Not necessarily the Miss Marple/idyllic English village type (not that they’re not fine in their way and not that I haven’t read every Agatha Christie written), but more the mysteries set in the dales and shires of rural England. Elizabeth George’s early Inspector Lynley books; Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse books; Caroline Graham’s fabulous Chief Inspector Barnaby stories. I love them all - I love the villages, the farmers that populate the villages, the moors and copses that become a character in the mystery themselves, and most of all, the wise and canny detectives that must not only solve the mystery but also must navigate the minefield of the insular rural communities from which the victims and suspects emerge.
Monday night, before I had a chance to get myself to the library to pick up my requests, I took Charles Todd’s A Cold Treachery off my TBR shelves. It’s the second in the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, previously unheard of by me. Like the Maisie Dobbs mysteries, this book is set post-World War I, and the trenches and battlefields of the war still haunt its characters. I got a couple chapters in, and definitely liked it; I intend to keep an eye out for Todd’s other novels.
When I finally stopped at the library, I was pleasantly surprised – I’d forgotten that I’d requested Val McDermid’s A Place of Execution. A Salon review of her latest, The Grave Tattoo, contained this quote: Val McDermid is known for her hard-bitten, grisly crime novels -- a critic friend describes her "A Place of Execution" as one of the scariest books he's ever read…. How does one resist that endorsement? Clearly, you can’t, and I didn’t. I started the book last night, just before the migraine hit, and when I woke up this morning, groggy and bleary-eyed, I picked it up and read three more chapters before crawling out of bed, making myself a cup of hot, strong tea, and crawling back into bed with the tea and three more chapters.
Set in the tiny farm village of Scardale, in Derbyshire, so far the book boasts everything I adore about the English mystery: the local color (the farmers, the schools, the village gossip), the class and rank struggles of most of the characters (in this case, the Squire of Scardale Manor, and the village folk), the same struggles reflected in the interaction of the townie police force versus the Scotland Yard. The chief detective, here the young but very promising Detective Inspector George Bennett, must learn when to be assertive and when to defer to the knowledgeable locals, must play his desire for using this case as a stepping-stone in his career against finding himself caring terribly about the victim and the results of his investigation, must untangle the secrets of a close-knit community and know when to expose secrets and when to hold them close to his vest.
McDermid writes admirably well. The pacing is perfect, the bits and pieces of clues dropped throughout keep you guessing, and I know I am in for quite the ride.
I will hate to see this book end.
Monday night, before I had a chance to get myself to the library to pick up my requests, I took Charles Todd’s A Cold Treachery off my TBR shelves. It’s the second in the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, previously unheard of by me. Like the Maisie Dobbs mysteries, this book is set post-World War I, and the trenches and battlefields of the war still haunt its characters. I got a couple chapters in, and definitely liked it; I intend to keep an eye out for Todd’s other novels.
When I finally stopped at the library, I was pleasantly surprised – I’d forgotten that I’d requested Val McDermid’s A Place of Execution. A Salon review of her latest, The Grave Tattoo, contained this quote: Val McDermid is known for her hard-bitten, grisly crime novels -- a critic friend describes her "A Place of Execution" as one of the scariest books he's ever read…. How does one resist that endorsement? Clearly, you can’t, and I didn’t. I started the book last night, just before the migraine hit, and when I woke up this morning, groggy and bleary-eyed, I picked it up and read three more chapters before crawling out of bed, making myself a cup of hot, strong tea, and crawling back into bed with the tea and three more chapters.
Set in the tiny farm village of Scardale, in Derbyshire, so far the book boasts everything I adore about the English mystery: the local color (the farmers, the schools, the village gossip), the class and rank struggles of most of the characters (in this case, the Squire of Scardale Manor, and the village folk), the same struggles reflected in the interaction of the townie police force versus the Scotland Yard. The chief detective, here the young but very promising Detective Inspector George Bennett, must learn when to be assertive and when to defer to the knowledgeable locals, must play his desire for using this case as a stepping-stone in his career against finding himself caring terribly about the victim and the results of his investigation, must untangle the secrets of a close-knit community and know when to expose secrets and when to hold them close to his vest.
McDermid writes admirably well. The pacing is perfect, the bits and pieces of clues dropped throughout keep you guessing, and I know I am in for quite the ride.
I will hate to see this book end.
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