Murder with puffins

In an attempt to get away from her family, Meg and her boyfriend go to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. What could have been a romantic getaway slowly turns into disaster.

Once there, they are marooned by a hurricane and that is only the beginning of their problems. Meg and her boyfriend arrive at the house only to discover that Meg's parents and siblings, along with their spouses are all there. When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to keep try and clear her father who is the chief suspect. A Meg Langslow mystery no. 2

Murder with peacocks

Donna Andrews introduces a cast of quirky characters who will pull her heroine in different directions as she plans three successive summer weddings.

When Meg Langslow is roped into being a bridesmaid for the nuptials of her mother, her brother's fiancee, and her own best friend, she is apprehensive. Getting the brides to chose their outfits and those of their bridesmaids (and not change their minds three days later), trying to capture the principals long enough to work out details, and even finding peacocks to strut around the garden during the ceremony--these are things Meg can handle. She can brush off the unfortunate oaf who is smitten with her, and take philosophically her disappointment when she learns that the only eligible man in her small Virginia town is of questionable sexual preference. But even Meg is taken aback when the unpleasant former sister-in-law of Meg's soon-to-be stepfather disappears and is later found dead. 

A Meg Langslow mystery no. 1 by Donna Andrews.

Die like an eagle

The junior baseball season was about to begin and Meg and Michael's twin sons are ready to play for the Caerphilly Eagles. Unfortunately it is soon obvious that politics exists in this junior baseball carnival competition. While most of the families just want their young children to enjoy learning the game the head of the league, Biff Brown, is determined that his team must win at all costs. 

When the body of Biff Brown's brother is discovered before the first game of the carnival many people think that perhaps the wrong man was murdered. Meg becomes involved in solving this puzzle with the assistance of her extended family who are always ready to assist. Another entertaining Meg Langslow Mystery by Donna Andrews (no. 20).

The nature of the beast

Time has passed. Armand Gamache has retired with his wife, Reine-Marie, to live in the village of Three Pines. Isabelle Lacoste is now chief inspector while Jean-Guy Beauvoir remains an inspector in the Surete du Quebec.

One afternoon, nine year old Laurent Lepage ran into the bistro telling those present that he had seen a huge gun with a monster on it in the forest. As Lauent was known to have a vivid imagination no-one believed him. The next day Laurent is found in the forest, dead. Armand becomes involved in the investigation to discover the boy's killer. As the investigation continues it is obvious that a force of evil has been present in Three Pines but who, or what, is it?

The Nature of the Beast is the twelfth volume in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamanche series of books by Louise Penny. Once again this book is not just an investigation of a crime but is a study of strengths and weaknesses of individuals as they struggle with present and past events in their lives.

Keep the aspidistra flying

First published in 1936, this book by George Orwell is largely about money - at least money, or lack of it, in the world of Gordon Comstock. Orwell provides a clue to this at the beginning of the novel by providing an adapted quote of I Corinthians chapter XIII where the word money has been substituted for the word love.

Gordon Comstock has given up a well paid job in an advertising agency to devote his life to writing poetry. The novel is written from Gordon's viewpoint as he struggles to survive with limited pay from working in a bookshop during the day and writing his poetry at night. Gordon makes it clear that he hates money and all that it represents but he needs money to survive. He resents friends who have money though he has no qualms about borrowing from his sister who he knows will not refuse him even though she cannot afford to keep bailing him out. Gordon is a depressing character who does little to try and improve his situation. He is unkind to friends, including his girlfriend Rosemary, who try to help him. It is only at the end of the book when he is forced to make a life changing decision that he reluctantly decides to review his lifestyle.

I found this a difficult novel to read primarily as the character of Gordon annoyed me. The book is set in England during the 1930s Depression. Initially it was interesting to view his decisions and struggles but as the story progresses, his self pity increased along with his refusal to take advantage of chances to improve his situation. I had to force myself to finish reading the book.

Sarum

When we were in England last year a number of people on tour with us, because of my interest in history, recommended that I should read Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. I thank them for this recommendation.

When we visited Hobart in November for the Seniors Cricket National Championships I purchased a copy of Sarum in Dymocks Bookshop. Since then my copy of Sarum attended most of the local over 60s games that I watched last season, travelled to Launceston and Adelaide when we visited for cricket matches, and more recently has been to Port Douglas. A well travelled book.  Although this book obviously took me a while to finish this was due to a shortage of reading time and had nothing to do with the impact of the novel. In a way the structure of the book allowed me to take a periodic break from the novel as each chapter covers a succint period in English history from the time when the area around Sarum (Salisbury) was first settled until after the Second World War.

Sarum, Rutherfurd's first novel, was published in 1987. The story unfolds through the lives of the members of five families - the Wilsons, the Shockleys, the Masons, the Porters and the Godfreys, although there are variations in some family names over time. Each chapter looks at how events occuring in England at a particular period of time may have impacted upon the lives of ordinary people. However the changes in the use of landscape over time is also an important feature of the book as is the cathedral in Salisbury.

In August 2011 we visited the area of England where the book is set including Stonehenge and Old Sarum and the Cathedral in Salisbury. It was therefore, for me, especially interesting to read this novel. My blog posts (above) noted the remnants of the castle at Old Sarum built in Norman times, the foundations of the first cathedral in the region plus the deep ditches around the site including a note that this had originally been a Neolithic site before being used in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, during Roman occupation and by the Saxons. All of these time periods are covered in the novel.

My paperback edition of Sarum comprises 1344 pages so it is quite a long book however it is one that I would certainly recommend to anyone interested in reading a novel about the history of England.

The Pursuit

At the end of the previous book in this series. The Scam, Nicolas Fox had disappeared. At the beginning of The Pursuit he wakes up in a coffin in Belgium after being kidnapped by members of the Road Runners, a group of diamond thieves led by Dragan Kovic. Dragan wants Nick to help him rob a diamond vault in the Executive Merchants Building in Antwerp. Nick agrees to help while waiting for Kate O'Hare to rescue him. They then discover that the diamond robbery was planned primarily to steal something deadly which was also hidden in the vault. Nick, Kate and their team have limited time to foil a plot which could threaten the lives of thousands of people.

I thought that initially the story-line in The Pursuit by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg was a little slow to develop (perhaps I am becoming used to the plotline in this series) however once the plans for the con took shape the book proved to be another lively romp - a worthy sequel in the series.