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The Jevlir Caravansary

Category: Mystery Books

  • Book: Born in Death

    J. D. Robb continues the saga of Eve Dallas and Roark with this delightful action story with some mystery. I found myself guessing ahead correctly a bit too often, but the story moves well in any case.

    Eve finds herself handling two complex cases simultaneously. With the department insinuating that she might not be trustworthy because she’s dealing with substantial amounts of financial data that might get to Roark, who might use it for his own benefit, she and Roark decide to tackle the issue head on and challenge the department, the criminals, and some very powerful people.

    All of this is entwined with the preparations for Mavis to give birth with Roark and Eve serving as coaches. At some times, one wonders which will be more challenging, the criminal element or the baby element. Eve survives the attacks of criminals, but a baby shower seems more challenging.

    I confess that J. D. Robb grows on me as time goes on. She’s one of the rare contemporary authors that I truly enjoy.

  • Book Series: Lord Meren Mysteries

    I recently re-read Eater of Souls by Lynda S. Robinson, and as a result remembered that I’d intended to read more. So I immediately found what I could at the local library and I’ve thus far gone backwards to read Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing. I’ve got a couple more sitting on my “to be read” shelf.

    I’m not sure why I didn’t follow up on this series at the time I first read one of the books. Normally when I like a series I head straight to the library and/or bookstore, fill out the list and work right through it. It can’t have been because I didn’t like the books–I love them. With some knowledge of Egypt (I have a year of Middle Egyptian reading from graduate school), I’m able to really appreciate the feel Robinson gives to characters and culture. As she notes, many times she has to settle controversies, and I would assume also fill in gaps in our knowledge, but she has done so consistently and in such a way that the culture seems very realistic.

    I especially like the way that Lord Meren searches for signs of magic and includes killing by magic as one of the possibilities for means in murder cases, as of course an ancient Egyptian would have. But many modern authors would have some difficulties keeping the viewpoint authentic. Robinson does so successfully in my view.

    Family relationships, religion, culture, politics, and ancient warfare all combine to create the background for this exceptional series. The key characters of Lord Meren, his adopted son Kysen, and the remainder of his family would be interesting wherever they were placed, and the mysteries would be interesting no matter what the background.

    This is truly an exceptionally enjoyable series of historical mysteries. I strongly recommend it.

  • Book: The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood

    Somehow I didn’t catch this one when it came out in 2005, so I just got to reading it last week. I think I’ve already made it pretty clear that I like Andrew Greeley’s writing, though in most of his books one of the key reasons is theological. I think he produces the best representation of the gospel in fiction form of anyone I have ever read. I add that I find his stories entertaining as well, and I should note that he’s got to write the best sex scenes written by a celibate.

    The Bishop Blackie mysteries, on the other hand, are purest entertainment. In the background is Catholic church life, and the gospel is there, but it is not as much front and center. What we have is a set of excellent mysteries where the key detective happens to be a bishop.

    In this one, there is some serious mayhem in Cardinal Sean Cronin’s old neighborhood, involving a parish priest who is his classmate. With his typical “see to it, Blackie” he places the matter in Bishop John Blackwood Ryan’s capable hands, while he heads off to Rome to pick up a few markers. All the normal characters are there, the virtuous cops and the corrupt cops, the boorish and stupid feds, the stupid and somewhat venal as well as the dedicated priests.

    Since I tend to lose interest in long running series unless the authors are very good, the best recommendation I can give this book is that I enjoyed it as much as the first Father Blackie book that I read, and I’ll look for the next one with equal anticipation. (Honor Harrington, for example, has run long enough to lose my interest, but David Weber is just too good an author, but even though I adore Alan Dean Foster’s work, the latest Pip and Flynx novels seem to be getting weaker.)

    Look at the Energion.com page for The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood.

  • Book: Death in the Middle Watch

    This was my first book in this series, subtitled A Carolus Deene Mystery. Leo Bruce presents an interesting mystery, though I think some elements of the plot and some of the clues are a bit overdone. I also think that the probabilities are pushed a bit on what a cruise ship can get by with.

    The characterizations are quite clear, although the book is largely populated by stereotypes, and a good portion of the actions are a bit predictable.

    The story is set on a cruise ship. There was a passenger death the year before and the company has been getting threatening letters. An extraordinarily stupid company president and a rather poor excuse for a ship’s captain make the trip more interesting. Mr. Deene’s apparent love of drama makes the finale a bit more exciting than it realistically would have to be.

    I rate this a 2 out of 5. I finished reading it, but I’m not in urgent search of another volume.

  • Book: Murder in the Chateau

    I really enjoy books about the second world war, whether they are histories or fiction set in the war. Elliott Roosevelt writes a series of books about his mother, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Murder in the Chateau is a good example of the style of this series. In this case, Eleanor Roosevelt finds herself in Vichy France, and as one might expect, there is a murder that she needs to solve.

    I think this particular volume takes more liberties with the historical possibilities than usual. You will need to suspend disbelief to a pretty serious extend in regard to the capabilities of the Gestapo, the SS, and even the Vichy Milice. But the story is interesting, and the characters are engaging as usual.

    I rate this at 3 of 5.

  • Book: Out on a Limb

    With an endorsement on the front cover from Elizabeth Peters, and another on the back that said, “She’s hilarious . . .” I had hopes for this mystery novel. After reading it, however, I have to rate it a 3 out of 5. I do find some of the characters engaging and interesting, but the story is scattered, the mystery is a bit weak, and the jokes fall short of hilarious for me.

    The strong female lead is diminished, in my view, by her weak and apparently inept boyfriend, a police Lieutenant who can’t seem to see fairly obvious things. At one point when the lead (Claire Malloy) is making an excuse for not telling him something that she really should have as a good citizen, she notes that the police have much greater resources than she has, and that a little simple police work would have produced the result. She’s right, it probably would have, thus indicating that the police work wasn’t done. It seems that Malloy wins not through intelligence or hard work, but rather through a combination of fortuitous information and police laziness or ineptness.

    Interesting characters might get me to pick up another book in this series. The story in this one will stand against that. We’ll have to see what happens.

  • Book: Claws and Effect

    Rita Mae Brown and her co-author Sneaky Pie Brown collaborate to produce this delightful new volume in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series. Mrs. Murphy is a cat, of course, whose human is named Mary Minor Haristeen, the village postmistress for Crozet, Virginia. I’m a sucker for all things feline, including feline detectives. If you don’t like books in which animals behave intelligently and converse, though in this case not with humans, then you’ll hate this one.

    The mystery begins this time in Crozet hospital, where an unexpected target is killed in an unexpected place. It will take all of Mrs. Murphy’s senses and good sense to solve this one and keep her human alive at the same time.

    For more information, see Claws and Effect.

  • Book: Tomb of the Golden Bird

    I truly love the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. It combines my love for mysteries with my love for and knowledge of the ancient near east. Though it is set in Egypt, which was the least of my own studies, it nonetheless never fails to please, and Peters is very good about fitting her fiction in with both the real history and also the history of archeology in Egypt. Familiar historical names mix with fictional names to provide a fascinating tale.

    In this book, we find the Emerson’s back in Egypt with the usual villains making themselves apparent and with the great Radcliffe Emerson annoying various and sundry folks with his direct form of address, otherwise known as a lack of tact. The year is 1922, and the key event is the discovery and early excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun. You’ll find it fascinating to do a search on the web and look at some of the real history of this event beside the story.

    This is another book that’s fun and that doesn’t require you to be in intellectual high gear. I heartily recommend it and all the works of Elizabeth Peters, whether in this series or others.