Rockin' Around the Chickadee

Christmas is fast approaching so what better to relax than to read another cosy crime Christmas book by Donna Andrews. In Rockin' Around the Chickadee a legal conference regarding wrongful criminal convictions is being held in Caerphilly and, not surprising, members of Meg Langslow's family are organising the conference and involved in presentations. Meg attends to offer support.

All goes well until one of the attendees at the conference constantly verbally attacks the speakers and other attendees. After he is finally evicted from attending the conference a body is discovered near the barn on Meg's property. The investigation is then on to discover the murderer.

As usual Donna Andrews has written a light-hearted crime novel with Meg and her circle of family and friends assisting the police in attempting to solve the crime. On this occasion I worked out who the murderer was quite early in the piece but this knowledge did not distract from entertainment of reading the novel.

Rockin' Around the Chickadee is the thirty-sixth book in the Meg Langslow series and is the ninth book with a Christmas theme.

The Grey Wolf

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team discover a plot to poison the Quebec water supply they realise that they must act quickly with their investigation but also not tell anyone in order to avoid panic in the community.

The investigation leads to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups (Saint Gilbert Between the Wolves). During the visit Armand explains to Jean-Guy the story behind the name. An Indian tribe had the story that a Chief felt that he had two rival wolves inside him. The grey wolf wanted him to be strong and compassionate and forgiving while the black wolf wanted him to be vengeful, to be cruel and cunning and to attack first. When asked which wolf would win the Chief replied, "The one that I feed". Armand and Jean-Guy knew that they had to find both 'wolves' quickly to avoid disaster. However they also realise that they do not know who they can trust.

In The Grey Wolf Louise Penny describes the frantic investigations undertaken by Armand, Jean-Guy and Isabelle Lacoste as they strive to discover who is involved in the plot and prevent the deaths of possibly thousands of innocent people.

In this nineteenth book in the Armand Gamache series, the inhabitants of Three Pines do not feature to the extent that they do in the other books but they are there in the background providing support to Armand Gamache and his family. The mystery in The Grey Wolf will be continued in the The Black Wolf to be published in 2025.

The Life Impossible

Recently I read Susie Dent's novel, Guilty by Definition, which reveals the plot through the examination of language and the solving of puzzles. In The Life Impossible by Matt Haig, mathematical concepts frequently appear throughout the novel as former mathematics teacher, Grace Winters, tells her story.

When Grace received an email from a former student who was going through a difficult time she replied by sending him a story about her recent challenges as she attempted to come to terms with perceived mistakes in her life.

When Grace received a letter saying she had received an inheritance of a cottage in Ibiza she decided to take a one-way ticket to the island. A letter from Christina provided suggestions of things she should do including visiting Albert at Atlantis Scuba at Cala d'Hort. Albert suggests that if she really wants to discover what happened to Christina she should go on his boat with him to explore part of the sea at midnight. While swimming she encounters a blue light in the water and her life changes.

As Grace endeavours to learn how to use her new power she also has to come to terms with the grief and guilt she is still suffering after the death of her son and later her husband. In time Grace realises that she needs to work with Marta and Albert to carry out Christina's goals of protecting the wildlife on the island and saving the island from further development.

Matt Haig has written another thought provoking novel taking the reader into another world.

The Death of Dora Black

After writing a PhD on the life of Katie Cocks, South Australia's first policewoman to be paid the same wage as a policeman, Lainie Anderson wrote the crime novel, The Death of Dora Black, as a work of historical crime fiction with Kate Cocks as the main character.

When Dora Black's body is found in the water off the pier at Glenelg beach, Kate Cocks and Constable Ethel Bromley who were employed as the Women's Police Branch in the South Australian Police Force, were told it was not their place to investigate. They had their own work to do in preventative crime, especially in regard to women. Then a friend of Dora Black also disappears so the two women are determined to investigate.

The Death of Dora Black is set in Adelaide in 1917. Many men were serving in the armed forces overseas during World War One while some had returned home injured. Then there were those who would never return. This crime novel provides background information of life in Adelaide during the war years plus  issues faced by the growing city. 

It is the first book in A Petticoat Police Mystery series.

Kate Cocks: South Australia's first policewoman. - State Library of South Australia  

Hidden women of history: Kate Cocks - The Conversation

The real Kate Cocks - Lainie Anderson  

Fanny Kate Cocks - Australian Dictionary of Biography

The Ledge

In February 1999 sixteen year old Justin Smith kept a diary on his computer where he describes the relationships between four friends and how they react when one of the boys goes missing. Text from the records for Thursday 4 February to Monday 8 February make up alternate chapters in this novel by Australian author, Christian White. Twenty-four years later a body is found and the reaction of the former friends and the local community to this news is explored in alternate chapters to the diary entries.

The Ledge is a coming of age story set in the isolated mountains in western Victoria. It is also a psychological thriller with a twist that I definitely did not see coming. The Ledge by Christian White is definitely a book that should be read when the reader has plenty of time as you will want to continue reading to the end.

Guilty by Defintion

Susie Dent is well known as the language expert on Countdown in Britain. Letters and Numbers was the Australian version of the show. Susie Dent also appears in Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown which can be seen on Australian television. She has written a number of books about words in the English language.

Guilty by Definition is Susie Dent's first novel and, not surprisingly, the meaning of words feature strongly in this crime novel. After ten years in Germany, Martha Thornhill has returned to Oxford to work as senior editor of the Clarendon English Dictionary. One morning, Martha and her team receive a letter written in code which they eventually work out refers to the disappearance of Martha's sister, Charlie, in 2010. The letter is followed by other letters and a series of postcards referring to past events in the lives of the recipients. Martha, Alex, Safi and Simon unravel the clues concealed in the messages and investigate leads that may reveal what happened to Charlie.

The reader also becomes involved in attempting to decode the messages and is introduced to a variety of words they may not have previously encountered. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. This book was Dervla McTiernan's selection in September for her Book club that isn't a book club.

Now or Never

For a light entertaining read, Janet Evanovich in her Stephanie Plum series rarely lets the reader down. In this thirty-first book in the series, Stephanie, Lula and Connie continue to locate those who have broken their bond conditions so that they can be rebonded and a new trial date set.

As usual, things do not always go to plan as Stephanie and Lula pursue their targets - Eugene Fleck, Bruno Jug and Zoran (also known as The Vampire). During the investigations Herbert, who used to go to school with Stephanie, insists on helping her refurnish her apartment after it was fire-bombed and also tags along for part of the investigations.

But Stephanie has an additional problem. She is engaged to both of the special men in her life - Ranger and Morelli - and it is time that she made a decision as to to who she really wants to marry.

Now or Never is another fun read in the Stephanie Plum series.