It’s been a quiet week here. If I hadn’t been reading a historical mystery, I would have had a review yesterday. But, it’s not easy reading, so I haven’t even finished. Because it’s been quiet (no complaints!), I don’t have anything to talk about, weather or happenings. You can tell us what’s been happening in your life, and I’ll dive right into books.
I’m reading that debut historical mystery, The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate Westbury. It’s set in Oxford at the University during the Cold War, In 1951, England is still dealing with the aftereffects of World War II. Sidney Braithwaite is at university thanks to the ex-serviceman bill. The son of a coal miner, he wouldn’t have been able to go there otherwise. The Honorable Ginerva Bishop is studying German, after concentrating on Romance languages in finishing school. Her mother left her the money to go to Oxford.
An MI5 agent recruits the two students following the death of an agent who was tracking a Russian spy at the university. Ginerva is eager for the experience and the money. Braithwaite has to be pushed. He worked as an asset during the war, and he still has nightmares about his experience. The son of a coal miner and daughter of an aristocrat don’t get along together at all. But, they do have a mutual goal – to find a traitor.
This is an excellent debut that combines espionage and academia with two intelligent characters. I’m enjoying this trip into the past.
What about you? What are you doing this week? What are you reading?
Oh, and a note. I’ll be on the road next Thursday, returning from Evansville where I’m going to visit friends. I’ll catch up before I leave, and after I get home, but it’s a six or seven hour trip, so I won’t be around for much of the day. Enjoy talking books! I’ll catch up when I get home.
I hope you enjoy your trip Lesa. We had a last bit of heat here with a high of 90 yesterday, but the leaves are already changing. I’m headed off this weekend to see some fall colors in the higher elevations of the eastern Sierra. The aspens and cottonwoods turn brilliant yellows and golds.
For reading, I’ve finished two books, and both were well worth the time.
A PAIR OF ACES is a fascinating glimpse into 1935-1936 New York City, written by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray. The story follows an unlikely secret partnership between two trailblazing women, Eunice Carter – Manhattan’s first Black female assistant DA and Polly Adler, NYC’s most notorious high-society madam. On opposite sides of the law, they team up to take down the notorious mob kingpin Charles “Lucky” Luciano.
And the second book I’ve read this year with echoes of The Brothers Karamazov. Set against the chaos of modern Naples, CHILDREN OF THE SAVAGE CITY is a gritty, addictive crime novel. Shaken by betrayal in her last high-profile case, Nikki Serafino has retreated from the relentless vigilance that once defined her work as liaison between Italian police and the US military. Withdrawn and mistrustful, she works her shifts, cares for her aging family and avoids entanglement. But this case threatens her self-imposed invisibility—drawing her into a web of lies and resurfacing old wounds and buried loyalties.
The second book in the Nikki Serafino series, following her debut novel, May the Wolf Die.
A Pair of Aces goes on my wish list MM. Sounds fascinating!
This seems to have been a busy week over here filled with various appointments, errands, and the like. Although we did go to our son and daughter-in-law’s on the weekend for dinner and a hotly contested game of canasta, which David and I won by a tiny margin. Little Evelyn was at a friend’s house for dinner, and when she came back three hours later she said hi, enquired who was winning, then sat on the couch reading her book, the brand new #10 in The Warriors series by Erin Hunter (adventures, fierce warrior cats, and a fantasy world). She read the first nine books in graphic novel form but #10 is only available as a regular novel right now and she was so keen to find out what happens next that she decided she’d like to read the novel. She was about ⅓ through the book the day we visited.
Books this week:
THE PARIS MYSTERY by Kirsty Manning
This mystery was published four years ago (did I hear about at Lesa’s?) but it was new to me.
Set in 1938 Paris, Charlie James, an Australian journalist in the process of getting divorced from her lying cheating husband, and wanting to get as far away from him and Australia as she can, applies for a position at The Times – a London-based newspaper with an office in Paris. The boss is taken aback to discover that Charlie is not the man he was expecting, and is in fact a woman. Still, he will give her a chance to prove herself.
Key for a journalist new to Paris is to cultivate connections to members of high society. Charlie’s first assignment is to get in the good books of Lord and Lady Ashford, who know everyone in Paris worth knowing. She is to write two articles; one being a profile of Lady Ashford, and the other one a report on the Ashford’s annual Circus Ball, one of the most anticipated events of the year in Paris.
Charlie gets off to a good start by being invited to attend the ball, but just as she’s beginning to get to know who some of the illustrious guests are, someone is found brutally murdered on the grounds of the villa. And just like that Charlie has a chance to submit a first-hand account of this breaking news and prove to her boss that she has what it takes. She handles it all with aplomb as she skilfully gathers information and confidences from the people she interviews. The victim was not well-liked and from all accounts was not a good person, so there are several suspects. She receives assistance from her new friend Violet and unusual for a journalist, Charlie manages to get local police Inspector Bernard to talk with her.
I enjoyed this book. The writing style elevated it from just a cozy to something more, the characters were believable, and the descriptions of the interior of the villa and of clothing, especially the beautiful gowns all added to the story. Normally descriptions with a lot of specific details of clothes and colours put me off, but I thought in this book they were perfect and created opportunities for me to feel I was part of the scenes I was picturing. Am looking forward to reading the next book in the series!
THE MARTHA’S VINEYARD BEACH AND BOOK CLUB by Martha Hall Kelly
This historical fiction book is based on real events in Martha’s Vineyard during WWII. Told in dual timelines of 2016 and the 1940s, (although 95% of it takes place in the 1940s) the book begins in California in 2016, when Mari Starwood is going through the possessions of her mother who died recently, when she comes across a name she doesn’t recognize – Elizabeth Devereaux. Elizabeth turns out to be a painter living in Martha’s Vineyard, and Mari decides to go there for a day, meet Elizabeth and find out why her mother had Elizabeth’s name amongst her things.
The planned one-day visit turns into several days as Elizabeth begins to tell Mari the story of two sisters and a brother during WWII – Cadence, Briar, and Tom – who lived on the very farm where Elizabeth now lives. I became completely engrossed in their story, and that of several others – Tom’s girlfriend Bess, The Englishman Major Gilbert, the wealthy Winnie Winthrop who is part of the publishing world, suspicion of a traitor in their midst, and more.
Most chapters ended on a cliffhanger which was not resolved in the next chapter. The author thereby cleverly ensured that I was thoroughly invested and had to read on immediately.
Interestingly, considering ‘Book Club’ is part of the title, the book club the sisters started wasn’t a big part of the book, and yet books themselves played quite a large part.
I liked that this story was a bit of a different take on WWII fiction as it’s set in a quiet place in the United States rather than in some faraway place in the thick of the action. This made me see how war affected so much of peoples’ day-to-day lives from a perspective I hadn’t come across before. I also learned things I hadn’t known about before, such as the ASE project (Armed Services Editions) which were books published and produced specifically to be small and lightweight so soldiers would be able to carry them in their packs. Over 1.2 million of these books were produced.
With the mystery and danger of a possible spy, and descriptions of army training maneuvers, some romance, the two sisters to root for, instances of unexpected kindness, and the fact that the author has a personal connection to Martha’s Vineyard – this was a light-ish story considering the theme, but still very affecting. I learned things thanks to the author’s meticulous research, I cared about most of the characters, I wished ill on all those I disliked, and very much enjoyed reading about the part Martha’s Vineyard played in WWII.