A Sad Goodbye

It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing the end of Cozy Little Book Journal. I will no longer be reviewing, tweeting about, or blogging about books. Period. This means the end of all of my secondary blogs as well, including this one, I'm afraid.

I'm so sorry to all of the authors and publishers who were counting on me to promote the countless books they've sent me over the years, and I'm sorry to all of the readers who have come back to my blog again and again. I appreciate all of your support and encouragement and I'm so sorry to disappoint anyone. I assure you I did not take this decision lightly.

Most people don't realize this but I've not been well for several months now. I've had medical issues that have impacted my life in various ways and I really need to focus on my health now. For a long time, blogging seemed like a good fit for me. I could read and review books even when I was too ill to do much else. Lately, however, the stress of all of my book-related commitments, combined with feeling physically ill and emotionally exhausted, has made it a hobby that I dread more than I treasure. I've hated having reading turn into a chore instead of a joy.

Apart from health concerns, I've also gotten tired of a lot of other aspects of having a book blog. I'm sick of having authors' friends call me an idiot on Amazon because I didn't like a book. I'm tired of being sent dozens of crappy book files every month, despite repeatedly telling self-published authors that I'm in no way interested in their Christian children's books or their vampire YA. I'm tired of always being a few hundred books behind in my reading list, then feeling guilty if I choose to read a library book instead of one I'm "obligated" to read. I miss re-reading my favourite books just because I feel like it, instead of trying to speed-read the endless book files I have on my Kobo.

Don't get me wrong. I've loved so much about book blogging. I'd say I've loved it way more than I've hated it. I've loved being a part of a community of committed readers who discuss books with the enthusiasm of sports fans discussing a big game. I've loved interacting with authors, illustrators, publishers and publicists, the majority of whom have been the most amazing and lovely people. I've treasured the moments when my honest excitement for a book can make an author's day, and I've loved when they've taken the time to tell me that. I've been in awe of so many authors and artists and I've felt like I was backstage at a rock concert, getting to exchange letters and emails with my literary heroes.

I've loved sharing this experience with my daughter. She's five, but she never starts a new book without reading not only the title, but also the name of the author, the illustrator and the publisher. I didn't do that when I was her age. She's only a beginner reader herself, but she can already easily identify when a book is written or illustrated by someone she knows because she's come to recognize art styles, writing styles, and author photos. She thinks computers are mostly for downloading book files. I love that.

Nonetheless, I've decided that it is time to take a break from blogging. My daughter is starting school in a few days and I'm trying to stay healthy enough to share each day with her. Of course we'll still be reading and discussing all our favourite books. We just won't be doing it online.

Thank-you again to everyone who has supported and participated in my book blog, in every capacity, over the past four years. Unfortunately it's goodbye for now (possibly forever) but I really appreciate all of you. Thanks for understanding.

BOOK REVIEW: The Strangling on the Stage, by Simon Brett (The Fethering Mysteries)

There's no doubt in my mind that Simon Brett is a very talented mystery writer. He's responsible for one of my favourite mystery novels of all time, The Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor. He's also a very prolific writer and, in my opinion, not always consistent. This book, for instance, is definitely not one of my favourites.

It started out with some great elements. It's set in the world of amateur theatre ("SADOS" not "am-drams"), which is always fun. It reminded me of "The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies," by Laura Levine, or the movie Hot Fuzz in that respect. 

Of course it's strange to read a Simon Brett mystery about the theatre without having Charles Paris show up, but I suppose Paris is an amateur detective but a professional actor so he wouldn't be anywhere near the am-drams (sorry, SADOS). But it's a good setting, flush with drama, histrionics and things not being as they appear.

Which brings us to the murder, the so-called 'strangling on the stage.' It seems straight forward enough. A prop Velcro noose is replaced with a real one and an actor is hanged while reahearsing a gallows scene. So who switched the ropes? Seems simple enough but it felt like 150 pages are devoted to nothing else but this question. I really could have used a few subplots to keep the interest up.

And if I never read the words "drinkie things" again in my life, it'll be too soon. It's what the SADOS members call their after theatre cocktails and according to my e-reader the phrase appears over thirty times in the book. I don't believe that. I'm sure it was more like 200 times. And we don't actually get to see much "drinkie"-ing!

The whole book could have taken a cue from that old Elvis song, "A Little Less Conversation (A Little More Action)". And no "drinkie things"!

BOOK DETAILS:
The Strangling on the Stage
A Fethering Mystery
by Simon Brett
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Publication Date: February 1, 2014
View on Amazon

Source: NetGalley


MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW:

Gingerbread Cookie
Murder
(my review)

The Christmas Crimes
at Puzzel Manor
(my review)

Hot Fuzz

A Little Less Conversation

BOOK REVIEW: The Skeleton in the Closet, by M.C. Beaton

I've never read an M.C. Beaton mystery that didn't star either Hamish Macbeth or Agatha Raisin, so I'm glad I tracked down this stand-alone novel. It's charming, and written in a style that reminded me of Michael Palin's novel, Hemingway's Chair (which I read years ago and absolutely loved).


The story revolves around two people trying to solve a years old train robbery rather than a murder, though a few people are killed--or nearly killed--along the way. I liked Fellworth and Maggie as the sleuthing couple and almost wish Beaton had given them their own series. They could have been a folksy Tommy and Tuppence, or a shabby Nick and Nora Charles.



Keep reading for a sort-of-but-not-really-and-actually-not-at-all *spoiler*...

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Ten Lords A-Leaping, by C.C. Benison...which should have been called "Not As Christmas-y As It Sounds"

Ten Lords A-Leaping is like a combination of several genres of cozy mystery: it's an English country house murder; it's a vicar mystery; at times it's a sexy romance mystery that has the sleuth lingering over impure thoughts (which was kind of weird in a vicar mystery).

One thing it is NOT is a Christmas mystery, which is bull crap as far as I'm concerned. Not only do I LOVE Christmas cozies, I had every reason to expect that this would be one. It's called Ten Lords A-Leaping, the third in a series that started--of course--with Twelve Drummers Drumming and Eleven Pipers Piping. As if that weren't Christmasy enough, the sleuth's name is FATHER CHRISTMAS! And this one was published in December! Why WOULDN'T I expect it to be a Christmas mystery? But alas, no, it does not take place at Christmas time.

It was a little hard for me to get past that one, if I'm honest. It's like C.C. Benison was taunting me. But I digress.

The mystery itself is enjoyable enough, I suppose, though it does proceed at a meandering pace (read: it's a little long). It was hard to maintain any sense of urgency when the murder itself seems all but forgotten throughout much of the book as the characters go off on tangents about lost relatives and weird romances. But I did like the English manor setting, complete with labyrinth (who doesn't love a labyrinth?), and the set up of the literal "lords a-leaping" (Peers of the Realm skydiving for charity) is a lot of fun.

I read this book and also listened to the audiobook, and I must say that the narration by Steve West (with Jean Gilpin) was amazing. I'm pretty picky (read: easily annoyed) about audiobook narration, but I had no complaints about this at all. In fact, I may look up other books narrated by Steve West to see if there are any others I'd like to hear.


BOOK DETAILS:
Ten Lords A-Leaping: A Father Christmas Mystery
by C.C. Benison (Douglas Whiteway)
Audiobook narrated by Steve West and Jean Gilpin
Published by Random House/Delacorte Press
Audiobook published by Random House Audio
Publication Date: December 3, 2013
View on Amazon

 Source: NetGalley (audiobook from my local library)

BOOK REVIEW: Murder Past Due, by Miranda James (A Cat in the Stacks Mystery)

I didn't hate this book, but it definitely had some problems. On the one hand, I found myself speeding through it to find out what would happen next. The main character is a librarian, the victim is a successful author, and the "cat in the stacks" is a Maine coon, a breed I'm very familiar with here on the East Coast, so all of these were good elements for me. But the way they were handled was inexpert, bordering on lazy.

First of all, none of the characters was well developed at all. The main character, Charlie Harris (who is apparently a fan of author Charlaine Harris...might he have been named after her?), is a fifty-year-old archivist at a university library who has recently returned to his home town of Athena, Mississippi, boards college students at his house and takes his cat everywhere with him (literally EVERYWHERE). And know you know everything about him. What does he look like? No idea. What does he like to eat? Um...not important. Does he have any hobbies? Uh...paperwork? I'm guessing he wears sweaters year round because that seems dull to me, but I really don't know. Miranda James never bothered to tell us. Oh, but we do know that he likes the Hardy Boys and Peyton Place (PEYTON PLACE!) because apparently his cultural references are all from the 1950's and '60's for some reason.

Speaking of Miranda James, does anyone know why author Dean James (which also sounds like a fake name, to be honest) chose a woman's name as his pseudonym for this series? I thought since he has a male protagonist, it would have made more sense for him to use a male pen name, but I'm guessing he thought that female authors were more "traditional" for cozy mysteries, particularly cat cozies. It wouldn't surprise me, considering it seems like all his choices were based on what was most traditional (read: stereotypical) rather than developing any depth to his characters or stories.

Take the murder victim, for instance. Godfrey Priest is a successful mystery writer from Athena who returns home for a book signing (or something...honestly the details were a little vague). The only thing that everyone agrees on is that they hate him. Why? Because he's a jerk. How is he a jerk? Well because he is. A lot of the characters complain that they don't like his writing, but it seems more like snobbery and jealousy over his success than a reason to hate somebody as a person. Some of them are annoyed that he acts like he's "too good" for the small town because he doesn't always show up for book signings at local book stores, but if this guy is supposed to be a millionaire (we eventually learn he is worth over $100 million just from his books and movie options, which would make him one of the richest authors in the world) it's pretty damn amazing he shows up for ANY small town book signings. So the whole town can suck it, as far as I'm concerned. At no point did Miranda James make a compelling argument for Godfrey Priest's supposed jerkiness.

Not that she (sorry, he) made a compelling argument for any of the characters, one way or another. They're all so bland that not one of them seemed like a real person. Well, except maybe the cat. No, not even the cat, because James' description of a Maine coon was based entirely on wrong information. He describes the cat as being 25-30 pounds and expected to get bigger at full size. Nope. Not true. They ARE NOT THAT BIG, despite what Dean James may have heard. They're big cats, but more like 15 pounds than 25. Plus he has Diesel the cat jumping up and down from things all the time. While this may be typical of most cats, it's not typical of Maine coons. They're not jumpers. We have a lot of the breed here in Nova Scotia, and even more mixed breed versions of them (lots of extra toes amongst Nova Scotia felines!) and they don't jump nearly as much as other cats, because they're too big and prefer to stay close to the ground. And the thing about Charlie walking Diesel on a leash? Just because it could happen, doesn't mean it would. I mean, who brings their cat with them EVERYWHERE? To the bank? To work? To the grocery store? TO A FUNERAL? It's just stupid.

I said at the beginning that I didn't hate this book. That's true. But that doesn't mean I thought it was good. I did, however, think that the author could have done a lot better if he had just put more effort in. Maybe I'll read some reviews of the later books in the series to see if anyone thinks he improved.


BOOK DETAILS:
Murder Past Due (Cat in the Stacks Mystery #1)
by Miranda James (aka Dean James)
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: August 3, 2010
View on Amazon

Source: library book sale

BOOK REVIEW: The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2), by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)

It pains me to write anything negative about J.K. Rowling because I have such affection for the Harry Potter series, but I did not like this book at all. I read it all the way through--I couldn't imagine abandoning a J.K. Rowling book, even if it was one written under her pseudonym--but it never got more enjoyable for me. In fact, I found it more irritating and unbelievable as I went on. Mostly I just found the whole thing to be a giant case of, "Who cares?".

First there's the main character, the unlikely named Cormoran Strike. I couldn't get a read on him at all. He's described as big and lumbering, someone who sleeps in his office and looks quite rough, but then he's described as neat and particular thanks to his military training. He doesn't seem neat and particular. In fact he seems rather slovenly.

The same goes for his memory. Several characters comment on Cormoran's steel trap memory, his ability to remember anything and everything, yet his secretary has to remind him numerous times about their plans to meet for drinks. He keeps forgetting the date and time they're supposed to be meeting. Does he have selective memory? Is he teasing her? He's a completely humourless character (everyone in the series is) so I can't imagine it's that. If it's so out of character for him to forget something, you'd think his assistant would have at least commented on that.

So is Strike a complex character, a man of contrasts? Or just an unbelievable one who isn't very well written? If it were anyone other than J.K. Rowling writing this book, I'd say it was the latter. But I find it so hard not to give her the benefit of the doubt because I love her other writing so much. I don't think I'll ever be truly objective when it comes to her. So far that has resulted in me plodding threw three increasingly unsatisfying adult novels.

The most troubling point of the book, however, isn't just Cormoran Strike's character but his motivation. I never understood what on earth compelled him to take on the case of the missing writer in the first place, after being hired by the man's sullen and boring wife. He knows she's unlikely to be able to pay him, and I can't imagine he found her enticing or even likeable. (I kept picturing her as this character from American Horror Story, not because that's what she looks like but because she's so dull.) Why does he care what happened to her husband? Of course it turns out that her husband is dead (or else this would have been a much shorter book) but Strike doesn't know that when he takes the case.

And the case itself is ridiculous. Writer Owen Quine is murdered because his dreadful new--but unpublished--fantasy novel is a grotesque parody of the behaviour of people in the publishing industry? What?? Rowling--sorry, Galbraith--keeps insisting we should care about this but the whole thing doesn't amount to enough tension to go slack-lining, let alone keep up the interest of mystery reader.

BOOK DETAILS:
The Silkworm
by Robert Galbraith
Series: A Cormoran Strike Novel (Book 2)
Published by Mulholland Books
Publication Date: June 19, 2014
View on Amazon

Source: my local library

BOOK REVIEW: I finally read an Ann Cleeves book and it was pretty great

I love a British mystery. There are many British mystery series that I love to read, and plenty TV adaptations that I love to watch, but few that I love in equal measure. Either the show does no justice to the books, or else it's so good that I hate to admit I like it better than the original stories. But the ITV adaptation of Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope mysteries hits just the right balance, and I love them both.

Reading Silent Voices was like watching an episode of Vera, except all of my extra questions about the characters were explained (I know, this sounds obvious, but I'm not sure how else to say it). The tone was the same in the book as it is in the show, so if you've seen the show and hate it, you might not like the books at all.

This entry in the series is a story of a social worker and single mom whom Vera finds dead--a victim of strangulation--in the steam room of her gym. I love the moment when Vera realizes she'll have to call it in, meaning that everyone at work will know she's joined a health club. Realizing she has no choice, she at least takes the time to change back into her street clothes before her team arrives. No need to be seen in her swim suit, even if there is a crime scene!

The pace is somewhat slow, but I didn't find it dragged on. The pace made sense for the setting. Everyone is lying and everyone is at least a little bit depressed about something, so they don't make for very helpful witnesses. DI Stanhope, herself a little depressed and secretive, knows how to get things out of people eventually. These are, after all, her people. The bleakness of the setting is a big part of the charm.

Only Ann Cleeves could make a character as grumpy and frumpy as Vera Stanhope seem like the most capable, formidable, and oddly likeable detective ever. If I had a crime that needed solving, I'd want Vera to solve it. Unless of course I was the criminal, in which case I'd probably break down eventually, confessing everything to her over a cup of spiked tea and a good cry. She'd give me a biscuit, call me pet, and then cart me off to jail in handcuffs. She's made of stern stuff, our Vera.


BOOK DETAILS:
Silent Voices (A DI Vera Stanhope Mystery)
by Ann Cleeves
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
View on Amazon

Source: local library



RELATED POSTS:

Death of a Policeman

A Very British Murder

Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly

BOOK REVIEW: The Devil's Workshop, by Alex Grecian (A Novel of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad)

Ouch. This was a painful read. I alternated back and forth between reading the book and listening to the audiobook, so it was doubly painful. Sigh. I'll try to start with the good points.

1. First, I loved the first book in this series, The Yard. At least I think I did. After reading and hating The Black Country and The Devil's Workshop, I'm starting to question if I ever loved the first book as much as I thought I did. Maybe I only liked it because it reminded me of the far superior Inspector Ben Ross and Lizzie Martin series by Ann Granger (THAT'S A HELL OF A SERIES, BTW). Anyway, at this point I'm ready to give up on Alex Grecian altogether. As a writer he is clearly more interested in a gothic thriller style than a classic Victorian detective novel. It's just not my cup of tea.


2. Secondly, I should point out that the narration by John Curless is quite good. He doesn't overdo the voices or the accents, though sometimes it might be a wee bit hard to tell one character from another. Sure, it's excruciatingly melodramatic most of the time, but that's hardly Curless' fault. I'm convinced he read the book exactly as it was meant to be read. It's not his fault it was so poorly written.

I think that's the end of my good points. I found the book, as I said, excruciating. Here are just a few things that annoyed me:

1. Alex Grecian turned Jack the Ripper into some ridiculous caricature of a "devilish" baddy that is slightly less menacing than Sideshow Bob and twice as cartoonish. Plus all of his passages are italicized, which is a lot less fun to read than Alex Grecian seems to think it is.

2. Inspector Day's perpetually pregnant wife Claire is, as it turns out, a total idiot. She finally goes into labour (hasn't she been pregnant FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES?) and reacts by writing horrible poetry and simpering like a child. I mean I know childbirth is hard (TWENTY-EIGHT HOURS OF LABOUR, PEOPLE!) and lord knows I'm probably the least brave person on the planet when it comes to physical discomfort, but even I wanted to scream at her to buck up a bit. Honestly. I'm amazed this woman has the brain cells to operate anything as complicated as a button.

3. The entire premise of the book MAKES NO SENSE. A group of vigilantes have been busting prisoners out of jail so they can...what? Punish them MORE? But it's not like convicted murderers in Victorian England were sitting around on death row for decades before execution. These prisoners were definitely going to be executed, and quickly. So what then? Do they mean to torture them? I guess so, but again, Victorian English prisons WERE NO PICNIC. They were already being 'tortured' in a lot of ways, and the treatment they received at the hands of this secret group of vigilantes didn't seem any worse than descriptions I've read of actual prison conditions at the time. So are we supposed to believe that the torture was worse, but Alex Grecian just chose not to describe it? It's not like he's shy, because he certainly gets mighty descriptive about grotesque violence later in the book. My guess is he just didn't think it through all the way. So irritating.

In the end, I think my favourite thing about this book is that it reminded me of another series which I do love, the Inspector Ben Ross and Lizzie Martin series by Ann Granger (seriously, it's sooo good), and it prompted me to check to see if there's a new one coming out. And there is! Hooray! So I have that to look forward to at least.

BOOK DETAILS:
The Devil's Workshop
by Alex Grecian
Audiobook read by John Curless
Series: Scotland Yard's Murder Squad (Book 3)
Publisher: Putnam
Audiobook published by Penguin Audio
Publication Date: May 20, 2014
View on Amazon

Source: I borrowed both the book and the audiobook from my local library

BOOK REVIEW: Clammed Up, by Barbara Ross (A Maine Clambake Mystery)

I love cozy mysteries. Like most avid readers, I read a lot of different kinds of books, but I have a guilty-pleasure favourite genre. I adore a good paperback murder that has an amateur sleuth snooping around her small town looking for clues and handing out recipes. Ooh how I love them! And because I love the genre so much, I'll usually put up with a lot of the mediocrity that comes with genre fiction (by that I mean that even though there are many, many great examples of the genre, there are inevitably also many less successful ones...and I love most of them just the same).

With Barbara Ross' Maine Clambake series, however, no forgiveness is required. Her writing is stellar, right out of the gate. In fact, if someone who had never read a cozy mystery before asked me to recommend a book to introduce them to the genre, I might choose this one.

Barbara Ross understands everything that I love about fiction in general and mysteries in particular. First, her setting is a real place. I don't just mean that she set the book in a place that exists in real life (I don't care about that...fictional places are just fine), but that she describes it in a way that is so deliciously realistic that I feel I could walk down any street in her book and I would know exactly what it would look and smell like. She spends time on her secondary characters, giving them things to do other than just provide clues to the murder investigation (which is wonderful because some of them are hilarious).

I had actually started reading the second book in this series, Boiled Over, first but then was enjoying it so much that I decided to stop and read this one first. Because of that, I think it was a little easier for me to figure out "whodunnit" in this one. I'd recommend just reading them in order if you can. They're both heaven.

BOOK DETAILS:
Clammed Up
A Maine Clambake Mystery (Book 1)
by Barbara Ross
Published by Kensington
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
View on Amazon

Source: my local library


ALSO MENTIONED:

BOOK REVIEW: Rosemary and Crime, by Gail Oust

I'll admit I picked up this cozy for the title. It's a hell of a title. Like many cozy mystery titles, it's pun-based, and after binge watching all three seasons of Rosemary and Thyme (an absolutely delightful British mystery series that has nothing to do with this book), it was a pun I was particularly susceptible to. Plus, I had a vague recollection of reading a review and/or giveaway for this book on another book blog some time ago, though I couldn't remember if the review had been positive. No matter. I figured I'd pick it up and decide for myself.

I wouldn't say I was over the moon for this book or its characters. There was something unconvincing about the whole thing right from the beginning.



The premise is that our heroine--not that I found myself rooting for her much--runs a spice shop in a small town in Georgia. A spice shop. As in, one that only sells spices. I'm not sure how she'll manage to stay in business! Granted, I'm sure these shops do exist, but the author has the spice shop owner doing such "radical things" as putting curry in mayonnaise (shocking, I know!), only to have the people in the town revolt over such exotic spiciness. Yeahhh...that's not a town that can support a spice shop.



But I decided to ignore it. After all, Gail Oust is hardly the first author to create an amateur detective who runs a shop that couldn't possibly make enough money to stay afloat (*ahem* Joan Hess).

Beyond the premise, though, it's the little things that kept taking me out of the story. Our "heroine," Piper, discovers the body (of course) and panics (okay) and thinks to herself that she should contact the authorities to "report the crime" (good). But then when the police arrive and spend most of their time being excessively rude and snappish (why?) and tell her they have a murder to investigate, she freaks the hell out. Murder! She never considered it might be murder! She's beyond shocked! Except that no, she can't be, because she just called it a crime scene two pages ago!

It's just those kinds of little things that annoyed me throughout this book. I believe the technical term is "bad writing."



Even if I had been willing to overlook the flaws in the storyline, it's not like I was enjoying following the characters around or being immersed in the setting. The town is dull and unpleasant, all of the characters are irritating, and Piper Prescott the spice shop lady only has two settings: shock and rage. She goes from being shocked to outraged and back again so frequently throughout the book that her resting face must be a deep scowl. If she used Twitter her favourite hashtag would be #whyInever. In short, she's unpleasant.



I can't say I'd recommend this book. I would, however, recommend a lot of OTHER books with similar themes that have been better writing and more likeable characters. Maybe some of those Laura Childs Southern tea mysteries, for instance. Or the new Maine Clambake series by Barbara Ross (soooo good!). Or the particularly on point Penn Dutch series by Tamar Myers that includes this title. Or...well you're spoiled for choice really. No need to settle for one that doesn't suit. And for me, this one just didn't measure up.




BOOK DETAILS:
Rosemary and Crime
by Gail Oust
Publisher: Minotaur
Publication Date: December 17, 2013
View on Amazon

Source: local library

DVD REVIEW: The Ellery Queen Mysteries

The Ellery Queen Mysteries is a TV show about a regular forty-something single guy in New York who writes mystery novels and lives alone with his also single father, a police inspector who brings his son along literally every time there's a murder to solve the crime for him. That's normal right? Nothing strange about any of that at all.

I've been curious about The Ellery Queen Mysteries ever since I read creator Peter S. Fischer's book Me and Murder, She Wrote (which is SUCH a great book btw). In it, he talks about several series he created or worked on, including Murder, She Wrote, Columbo, and a few you probably don't remember (like The Law and Harry McGraw or Blacke's Magic). There's a special place in his heart, though, for The Ellery Queen Mysteries, which Fischer recalls fondly throughout the book while expressing continued confusion as to why the show wasn't more popular. After watching the series on DVD, I think I know why.

It's not that the show is terrible--it has a lot of great elements which make it fun and watchable--but it definitely has some problems. The premise--that writer Ellery Queen solves murder cases better than his police inspector father can--might be straight from the books, but the TV series makes it seem like his father is the world's absolute worst detective. It's not that he's portrayed as bumbling (quite the opposite--David Wayne is very gruff and direct) so much as that he has no idea what he's doing. Whenever there's a murder he literally panics until someone goes to get his son. His son the writer, not the police officer. It stretches the very limits of belief.

I'm also not a fan of the fourth-wall-breaking moments when Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen speaks directly to the camera saying, "I've figured it out. Have you?" That almost never works out as well as TV and movie creators want it to. Suddenly I feel like I'm watching a children's detective show with the host saying, "Hey kids, did you figure it out?"

The series was only based on the Ellery Queen stories in the most basic ways (only one or two episodes even credit Queen, the rest being original scripts using the same characters) so you're not likely to find your favourite books or short stories depicted. It does stay true to the "fair play mystery" aspect of Ellery Queen stories, in that all the clues you need to solve the mystery at home are given and shown. Of course, they rather hit you over the head with that point. And the answer to almost every single one is that the murderer left before the victim was really dead, giving the victim a few seconds to leave a "dying clue," some cryptic indication of who the killer is (no one ever uses those last seconds to call for help or try to stop their own bleeding).

Still, there's something inviting about the show. It takes place in the 1940's but was made in the 1970's, which means that it feels very 70's. What was it about the 1970's that compelled people to make period dramas in which everybody wore polyester and shiny blue eyeshadow? And the odd relationship between father and son is sort of like a detective duo version of Sanford and Son. Plus there's the added mystery of how 5'7 David Wayne managed to have a son as tall as 6'5 Jim Hutton. How tall was the mom supposed to have been??

But the chess-themed opening sequence and instrumental music draws you in. Get it? Because his name is Queen, like a chess queen? And he solves difficult puzzles, sort of like playing chess. Yeah, the show doesn't go much for subtlety. But I'm glad I watched them. I could almost hear Peter S. Fischer in the background saying, "I love this show! Why isn't anyone watching it?"

DVD Details:
The Ellery Queen Mysteries--Complete Series
Starring Jim Hutton, David Wayne, John Hillerman
Series Creators: Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, William Link
Based on characters created by Ellery Queen
DVD Release Date: September 28, 2010 (Entertainment One)
Original TV air date: March 23, 1975
View on Amazon

Source: I borrowed it from my local library

TV REVIEW: 'Penny Dreadful' is Just Regular Dreadful -- The 5 Most Disappointing Things About the New Showtime Series

I can't remember the last time a new series had me as excited as Penny Dreadful did. A macabre TV show set in late Victorian London and filled with characters inspired by so-called "penny dreadfuls," or popular horror fiction of the day? Yes please! That sounds great! Or so I thought until I watched the first episode.

Here are the five things that most disappointed me about the first episode of Penny Dreadful:


1. It's not really British. 

Though it's billed as a joint venture with Sky, it's basically a Showtime project. That alone is not enough to discredit it--after all, Showtime is responsible for shows like Nurse Jackie and Dexter...though the latter went on about three seasons longer than it should have--but it's enough to make me nervous. They may overdo it, try too hard, and make it entirely too glossy and American to fully capture the creepiness I was hoping for. If the first episode is any indication, that's exactly what they did.


2. The opening credits.

 Oh they tried, didn't they? They tried so hard to make their opening as creepy and ghoulish as first season American Horror Story, what with its barrage of unsettling images. But the series of gratuitous grossness is undercut by the flat instrumental music and in the end it just seems desperate.


3. Josh Hartnett. 

Seriously, has Josh Hartnett ever been in anything that wouldn't have been made better by his absence? It's a controversial opinion, I know, but I stand by it. His squinty, pubic hair face, perpetually greasy hair and charmless mumble are just the worst. Ugh. I wish I could go back in time and re-cast everything he's ever done with someone else (Ooh, maybe Jason Momoa. Yum.).


4. Eva Green's accent. 

Congratulations, French actress Eva Green! Years of English lessons have allowed you to perfectly capture the sound of an American actress pretending to be British. It's something, at least. Maybe you can make up for it with a judicious use of your Super Serious Face. When in doubt, pout.


5. Everything else.

By that I mean they threw EVERYTHING in there. Monsters! Vampires! Underworld! Spiders! Resurrection Men! Carnivals! Plus fifty more things! It's just...ugh. Too many ideas, not enough plot. And while American Horror Story has handled this masterfully (particularly in Season One), Penny Dreadful (so far) has not.


The one bright spot? Timothy Dalton.

 He's eminently watchable as a charming villain, or a villainous hero, or whatever variation of that role he happens to be in. In the DVD commentary of the movie Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg say "Timothy Dalton looks like a cartoon fox." Indeed.


Final verdict? I just can't. 

I may, however, check out the show's Goodreads Book Club, which encourages viewers to read the books that inspired the series. So far they've only added three books though. That might be another bad sign.

BOOK REVIEW: The Mangle Street Murders (The Gower St. Detective: Book 1), by M.R.C. Kasasian

Research always shows in writing. If an author skimps on their research before writing a novel, it can ruin the impact of the whole book. While this may not be true for every book, it is always true for historical novels. Always. After reading some truly stellar historical mysteries set in Victorian England (plus several great non-fiction books about the time period and its real life crimes), as well as some truly awful ones, I approach every historical mystery with some healthy skepticism. Will this be as good as Ann Granger's Inspector Ross series? Or Alex Grecian's first book? Or will it be a mess, like Mrs. Poe? Or Alex Grecian's second book? I'm ever hopeful, but I've been disappointed so many times.

In the case of The Mangle Street Murders, I'm undecided. On the one hand, I'm not sure I completely trust the author's research, but on the other hand I'm not sure if it's factually incorrect or just poorly written. It sometimes seems that the whole book is written with modern values in mind, just "aged back" with old-timey words like "pianoforte."

One character says she didn't want the indignity of "going into service" so she earns extra money by teaching pianoforte and French language instruction, as well as "taking in children when their parents are unable to care for them." I'm not sure I'm buying it. In 1882, would the middle class have been sufficiently established to allow for people to need pianoforte and French lessons for their children, but without them just hiring a governess or nanny? I'm skeptical. I think the working classes may indeed have left their children in the care of neighbours while the mothers went to factory jobs, but I don't think they'd be concerned about paying extra for French lessons. And I think pianoforte lessons would have only been for the wealthy, and those people had staff for those sorts of things.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it's just one example in the book that made me think, "Are you SURE about that?" Like I said, I didn't trust the author.

Also, the "personal detective" character of Sidney Grice was, as other reviewers have noted, not easy to like. I also kept seeing his name as "Sidney Grace" which reminded me of "Sophia Grace," that British child who sings Nicki Minaj songs in a tutu. Remember her? It's who I was picturing the whole time I was reading this book. (Oh lord, that girl has a movie. YouTube has a lot to answer for.)

I guess if I had liked the book more, these little things wouldn't have bothered me. But I just wasn't that into it, which is why I had time to wonder about the details and get lost in tangents.

In the end, I thought it was only okay. I think the expression I'm looking for is "damning with faint praise."

BOOK DETAILS:
The Mangle Street Murders
Author: M.R.C. Kasasian
Series: The Gower St. Detective (Book 1)
Publisher: Pegasus/Open Road
Publication Date: February 6, 2014
View on Amazon

Source: NetGalley

BOOK REVIEW: The Revenant of Thraxton Hall (The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), by Vaughn Entwistle

The Revenant of Thraxton Hall:

The Paranormal Casebooks 

of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

by Vaughn Entwistle

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Pub. Date: March 25, 2014

Source: NetGalley

View on Amazon

Eeee! I loved this book so much! It was the most fun book I've read all month (I read a lot of books, so that's definitely a compliment).

I love detective fiction set in Victorian England ('VicLit,' I like to call it) but lately I seem to have found all the worst examples of the genre. I was starting to despair. I'm so glad I found this book. It was like a palate cleanser after a bad meal, or in this case, after bad writing.

Not only is The Revenant of Thraxton Hall well written, it's SO MUCH FUN. It's like a Scooby Doo episode for nerdy adults. Vaughn Entwistle has Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde investigating a murder in a haunted castle. There are secret passageways, spooky portraits, levitating psychics, blind butlers, ghosts, guests wearing masks, and--oh my god!--a family crypt with coffins! Not to mention a mirror maze, a monkey running amok, a woman allergic to sunlight... Oh it's just so much fun I can't stand it!

It may seem strange that I loved this book so much when I criticized other books in the genre for having too many plot points (The Black Country), for being historically inaccurate (Mrs. Poe), for having an ill-conceived ghost story (The Little Stranger), or unrealistic characters (The Mangle Street Murders). So what makes The Revenant of Thraxton Hall different? Simple. IT'S WELL WRITTEN.

If a story is well written it could take place in a unicorn colony on the moon and I'd find it believable. If a story is poorly written it could be an autobiography and I'd question its veracity.

My only complaint is that J.M. Barrie didn't factor into the story as much as I'd have liked. He was with Conan Doyle and Wilde in the beginning, and I think it would have been fun if he'd been with them at the haunted castle. They could be a supernatural crime fighting trio, with Sherlock Holmes showing up as the secret advisor only Arthur Conan Doyle can see.

I'm already fantasy casting the voice actors for a cartoon version of this book (can anyone say Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie?).

This review originally appeared on my other blog, Cozy Little Book Journal.

TV REVIEW: I just started watching 'Vera' and I'm noticing a pattern...

I started watching the British detective show 'Vera,' based on the Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope novels by Ann Cleeves. I'd been avoiding it, but if there's a British detective show on TV sooner or later I'm going to watch it. It's not bad, but I'm noticing some trends. Here are some things you can rely on in every episode:

• The cold open will involve a murder, even though it will often look a little like an accident or a suicide.

• Brenda Blethyn (as Vera) will use her "almost crying vibrato" voice, which is probably the most annoying sound on the planet (I'm exaggerating, but I still haven't forgiven her for that Law & Order: SVU episode where she played Linnie Malcolm, the woman with the world's most irritating whine).

• There will be a second murder. Count on it.

• After a series of red herrings, the "real" answer will be something hidden deep in the victim's past, and will invariably involve someone they were supposed to trust. This makes it pointless to try to guess the ending too early.

• Some small detail will cause Vera or her crew to have an "aha" moment, which will result in a mad dash to confront the killer "before it's too late."

• I will lose track of what they're talking about--and cease to care--somewhere around the 1-hour mark, but will keep watching because it's a lovely, cozy atmosphere. Still, at an hour and half without commercials, each episode is loooooong.

I haven't read any of Ann Cleeves' novels, but after watching 'Vera' and the other show based on her stories, 'Shetland' (which is even better!), maybe I should. She seems like she's kind of the grittier M.C. Beaton. She even has one series with a Scottish male police officer in the Highlands (or Sheltand islands) and one with a middle aged female detective in England. Sound familiar?

Listen to FREE AUDIOBOOKS on YouTube!

I only JUST discovered that YouTube has loads of FREE UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOKS! Did everyone already know about this? There are lots and lots of older mystery books in particular, so I'm in heaven. Right now I'm listening to The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne (it's the detective mystery that Milne wrote for grownups and I'm loving it so far)!

There are a number of channels that have full audiobook uploads. I've been finding them by searching for "audiobook" plus a few keywords and setting the filter to "Long (20min+)" to find the longer files (and not just the book trailers or author interviews).

If you've found some great audiobooks on YouTube, I'd love to hear about them!

BOOK REVIEW: The Killing Hour, by Paul Cleave

The Killing Hour
Author: Paul Cleave
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
View on Amazon

Source: Edelweiss and NetGalley



Yay! Paul Cleave! I was so pleasantly surprised (okay, thrilled) to stumble upon Paul Cleave's previous novel, The Cleaner, so I was very excited about this one. And then...

I admit this book spent a long time on my ebook reader before I got around to finishing it. I was so excited to read more from Paul Cleave, so what happened? 

BOOK REVIEW: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
A Flavia de Luce Mystery
Author: Alan Bradley
Series: Flavia de Luce
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 14, 2014
View on Amazon

Source: NetGalley

There are few things that excite me more than seeing a new Flavia DeLuce mystery by Alan Bradley. With the familiar cover art it's easy to spot them right away, and when I saw The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches on NetGalley I literally squealed. Quite loudly in fact.

I read the entire book in the first twenty-four hours I had it, partly because it's a short book and partly because I couldn't put it down.

This is Book #6 in the series and it--more than any of the previous novels--is not a stand alone story. It picks up where the cliffhanger ending of the last book (Speaking From Among the Bones) left off. In fact it's the last book in the original story arc that Alan Bradley had planned, though apparently there will be at least four more books after it.

BOOK REVIEW: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (book and audiobook)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Narrated by Jesse Bernstein

Published by Quirk Books on June 7, 2011

Audiobook published by Random House Audio, June 10, 2011

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 11, 2014

View on Amazon

I think this is my favourite book from Quirk Books to date. I've always thought of them as just a novelty publishing house, best known for the Worst-Case Scenario guides and all of those Pride and Prejudice and Zombies type books. They make funny gifts, but they're not...well, they're not going to make anybody's list of favourite books. That is until now.