The murder at the vicarage, by Agatha Christie

This is Agatha Christie's tenth mystery and first one featuring Miss Marple. Colonel Protheroe was shot dead in the vicar's office, but no one mourns him because he was universally disliked. Two people come forward quickly to admit guilt, but Miss Marple and Vicar Clement don't seem satisfied with their stories. While Colonel Melchett and Inspector Slack are officially investigating the case, the vicar (who also narrates the story) conducts his own investigation, and Miss Marple pops up regularly to provide information and steer the men towards clues and scenarios that she believes are relevant. There are a lot of characters here, including villagers, Protheroe's family, an archeologist and his assistant, and the investigators, and the plot includes several subplots and intrigues that interfere with the investigation and lead everyone on false trails. This is a pleasant and engaging page turner of a mystery!

Tehran at twilight, by Salar Abdoh

 

I picked up this book to read a few days before the recent hostilities between Israel, Iran, and the U.S., but it's a stark reminder of the difference between the Iran we see on the news and the day-to-day life of real human beings. In this book, Iranian-American Reza Malek is asked by a friend to return to Tehran to help him with an unnamed task. Once he gets there, he realizes that he's being used in a larger scheme to help the friend disappear so that he can get away from the terrorist group that he's been helping. In return, he gives Reza information that will help him locate Reza's mother who was thought to have emigrated to Australia decades prior. The action in the book takes place over the course of a year and a half. Reza is helping to sell off his friend's family holdings, lost originally in the 1979 revolution but which he still has a claim to, so that he can get his mother a visa to leave Iran and return to the U.S. with him. Author Salar Abdoh packs a lot into this short 236 page novel. In addition to his family drama, Reza also helps his mother and her friend Anna, a Polish Jewish refugee who has been in Iran since the second world war. Apparently, many Jewish refugees fled to Iran first before making their way to the new state of Israel, but some stayed behind. I had read Abdoh's more recent book about 18 months ago, A Nearby Country Called Love, which I really liked a lot. I'm looking forward to reading more by him.

Before the coffee gets cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

 

This is a slight but charming book about a cafe in Japan where customers can travel though time. There are a lot of rules about time travel; you can only do it from one seat in the coffee shop, you can only do it once, you can't actually change history, you have to stay in your seat, and you can only stay as long as it takes to drink one cup of coffee. This book includes four interrelated vignettes that show how four people traveled through time to address regrets they have. I enjoyed the stories, although they would have benefited from some editing; there's a little too much repetition with each story including the set of rules. There are now five books in this series, attesting to its popularity; however, even though I enjoyed it, one was enough for me.

Vietnam: a history, by Stanley Karnow

This is a substantial (750 page) deep dive into the Vietnam War with a heavy focus on the politics surrounding most of the major U.S. decisions about the war along with the various factions within South Vietnam that made the South particularly difficult to partner with. One of its strengths is how the author sets up the story by delving into the history of French colonialism leading to Vietnamese nationalism and later embrace of communism by many. Another strength of the book is the author's inclusion of his personal experiences as a reporter in Vietnam, allowing him to share his front-row perspective with readers. This edition was published in 1983, and some of the commentary reflects the situation in Vietnam in the early 1980s. There is a 2nd edition available from 1997, and I would recommend going with the later edition.
 

The burnt house, by Faye Kellerman

 

After an airplane crashes into an apartment building in Los Angeles, one of the supposed passengers is missing, but in the wreckage of the building a different body is found. It's not certain that the missing passenger was every on the doomed flight. Detective Decker and his team work both crimes, eventually identifying one man who links both the missing woman and the body. This is a page turning detective story that is well written and engaging. My only beef is the huge coincidence of having one person linked to two crimes decades apart.

The St. Zita Society, by Ruth Rendell

 

Like many of Ruth Rendell's books, this one is filled with zany characters who make incredibly poor decisions. The St. Zita Society is an informal gathering of the servants who work in one block of a wealthy London neighborhood. The Society serves as a way to bring many of the characters together and provide a backdrop for the many subplots going on throughout the book. There is a "crime" early on, which was really an accident but becomes a crime when those involved decide to cover it up; this leads to a much more serious and premeditated crime later in the book. I found myself thinking that almost every character in the book is eccentric in some fashion. They all have desires, goals, and motivations that lead them to act in bizarre ways. While the book comes across as wildly improbable, it is nevertheless entertaining.

The last one at the wedding, by Jason Rekulak

 

I really enjoyed this suspenseful thriller about a man who's trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Frank is a middle class guy who hasn't spoken to his daughter in three years. He's thrilled when she calls and tells him she's getting married and wants him to come to the wedding. He travels to Boston to meet her fiancé, but from the beginning he senses that something is wrong with the situation. Soon after, he receives a letter indicating that her fiancé may be implicated in the disappearance of a local woman. As Frank travels to the wedding with his sister and her foster daughter in tow, he follows the clues to find out that the entire family may be complicit in at least one murder, and he desperately tries to find a way to extricate his daughter from the situation. But his daughter is reluctant to leave, and Frank must accept her decision until he finally has the evidence he needs to convince her. This was an excellent thriller with a unique protagonist whose character is unlike any that I've seen before. It's a bit funny, but also deadly serious. I couldn't stop reading this book, and recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers.

The Seven Dials mystery, by Agatha Christie

The Seven Dials mystery is Agatha Christie's ninth novel and second starring Superintendent Battle. Like The Secret of Chimneys, although Battle is the primary detective on site, much of the detecting is done by amateur sleuths who work with Battle to reveal the killer. In this book, a murder takes place at Chimneys, the estate that also figured in the earlier book, and it is followed by another suspicious death of a man who had been one of the guests at Chimneys when the first murder occurred. Bundle, the daughter of the owner of Chimneys decides to investigate the murders, and discovers the existence of a secret cabal located in a nightclub in the Seven Dials neighborhood of London. Bit by bit, she and her friends follow clues to identify the murderer. This book is both intriguing and amusing, with plucky characters and a lot of humor.
 

Avenger, by Frederick Forsyth

I really enjoyed this thriller by Frederick Forsyth, an author I had read more regularly back in the 1990s. I had enjoyed his work such as The fourth protocol, The devil's alternative, The day of the jackal, and The Odessa file. Avenger is a fast-paced thriller that takes place in the months leading up to 9/11. It kept me on the edge of my seat and was compulsively readable.
 

The Complaints, by Ian Rankin

I really enjoyed this detective story by Ian Rankin, the very popular author of the Inspector Rebus novels, set in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Complaints is the first book in a new series, also set in Edinburgh, which focuses on detective Malcolm Fox. He works in the Scottish equivalent of an Internal Affairs department, investigating other police officers for corruption and other crimes. Fox is asked to investigate another officer under suspicion of child pornography, but from the start something doesn't seem right. Fox is tenacious and won't drop his inquiries even after both he and the other officer are suspended. This is a compulsive read that I just couldn't put down.
 

Knife: meditations after an attempted murder, by Salman Rushdie

 

I've been following Salman Rushdie's story ever since he made the news with the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. Its publication was followed by a 1989 fatwa issued by the leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, and Rushdie lived in seclusion with 24/7 security for many years. In 2022 the fatwa resulted in a murder attempt at the famed Chautauqua Institute in front of approximately 2,500 people. Left blinded in one eye and with permanent damage to his left hand, Rushdie recovered with the help of his family, including his new wife, poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. In Knife, Rushdie tells us about how he had come to leave behind his security detail and move to New York. He had remarried and had just completed his most recent novel, Victory City, when he was attacked. He writes about his physical recovery and many surgeries, along with his desire to tell his story as a way to heal psychologically. This is a heartfelt and sincere exploration of his experience. I was struck by the vulnerability that he demonstrates, both in detailing his personal life and relationship with his now-wife, and in his recovery from the attack. This is a touching and moving book that I would recommend to anyone who has followed Rushdie's story over the past 30-plus years.

The book at war: how reading shaped conflict and conflict shaped reading, by Andrew Pettegree

 

This is a fascinating history of books and reading during wartime. Focusing to a large extent on 20th century wars, primarily World Wars I & II, this book discusses how the wars impacted publishing, booksellers, libraries, and reading, and conversely, how books and publishing affected the war and people's perceptions of war. Books were used as propaganda to build the case for war. Books were also a major casualty of the wars, with hundreds of millions of books destroyed through bombing, book burning, or other means. Author Andrew Pettegree shows how book burning was not limited to the famous Nazi book burning that we all know about, but it was a common feature of war and regularly performed in the United States, such as when the U.S. entered World War I. The rise of the paperback book also coincided nicely with the need for light-weight and smaller editions of popular books that soldiers could fit into their pockets. The delivery of books to soldiers on the front lines was an important part of supporting troops, and Pettegree details how the allies collected donations and raided libraries and bookstores to provide reading material and entertainment for the soldiers. During and after the wars, victors on all sides raided libraries and bookstores to steal valuable books and manuscripts. Many of these items ended up in the Soviet Union or the United States and other allies, preserved in research libraries. There is such a wealth of research and reporting in this book that this review can only scratch the surface. This is a deeply-researched and valuable contribution to 20th century history.

My side of the mountain, by Jean Craighead George

 

I first read this book as a kid when I found it in my aunt's apartment; I think it was left there by another cousin who was visiting. I loved this book so much that when I came across Jean Craighead George signing copies of it and the 1990 followup (On the far side of the mountain), I bought both books. I re-read this one and read the sequel as well, then the books sat on my shelves for 35 years. Now I'm trying to downsize a bit, and before donating the two books, I decided to re-read My side of the mountain. It is a very fast read, and I enjoyed it all over again, but of course, reading it as an adult I had so many thoughts about how fantastical the entire plot is. But I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to any child interested in the outdoors or animals.

The mystery of the Blue Train, by Agatha Christie

 

This is Agatha Christie's 8th novel (and 5th with Hercule Poirot). In it, Poirot tackles the murder of a wealthy woman on a luxury train headed to Nice and the theft of a set of valuable rubies that were once worn by Catherine the Great. Suspects include her husband, traveling to Nice on the same train, but unknown to her; her husband's mistress, also on the train and unknown to either of them; and some well-known jewel thieves. Poirot brings a young woman into his confidences as he follows the clues to bring the guilty persons to justice. I really enjoyed this one, possibly the first one where I was able to identify the guilty party before the big reveal.

The mystery of Mrs. Christie, by Marie Benedict

Agatha Christie gets the Marie Benedict treatment in this novel about Christie's 11-day disappearance in 1926. Alternating sections address Christie's early life and marriage and, from her husband Archie's viewpoint, her disappearance and eventual reappearance. This is a well-written and entertaining look at the mystery of what might have happened to Christie during those 11 days, during which she had amnesia. Interestingly, Benedict's depiction of Christie is very different from how she portrays her in The Queens of Crime, in which she is described over and over as frumpy and drab, but perhaps that was due to the latter book's narrator being Dorothy Sayers.
 

Sleepwalk with me, and other painfully true stories, by Mike Birbiglia

 

I watched all of Mike Birbiglia's standup specials on Netflix last year and really enjoyed his funny, storytelling style. This book is in the same vein and I found the stories about his childhood and young adulthood funny and touching. And very entertaining!

The queens of crime, by Marie Benedict

 

The queens of crime was my book club's April pick, and it was a good choice for me in particular since I've been reading Agatha Christie mysteries for the past few months. The premise of this book is that Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Marjorie Allingham, and Emma Orczy band together to solve the murder of a young British nurse that took place while she and a friend were on a day trip to Boulogne. Their goal in solving the murder is to demonstrate that they are worthy of their membership in the Detection Club, made up of prominent detective and mystery fiction authors. The fact that they feel the need to prove their value in a club that Dorothy Sayers actually helped found is the only part of the book that rankles me. Otherwise, it is a fun romp with the five authors splitting up the investigation, each of them taking on different aspects, then meeting up every day or so to compare notes. To solve the case, they use some of the techniques of their fictional detectives to get at the answers, including bringing everyone together at the end for the big reveal.

The big four, by Agatha Christie

 

The big four is billed as a Hercule Poirot mystery, but it's less of a mystery than a spy novel. It was pulled together from a series of short stories that had been previously published. They all surround the effort of Poirot and Hastings to identify and capture four international criminal masterminds who not only conduct their crimes on a worldwide scale, but also try to influence world events; in fact, Poirot attributes several major international disturbances to the Big Four, including the Bolshevik revolution. The Big Four includes a wealthy American, a French woman scientist, a Chinese man, and a nondescript Englishman who is a master of disguise. In chapter after chapter, Poirot and Hastings learn about the Big Four and get closer to catching them. Because the book was composed of a bunch of short stories that were slightly altered so they fit together as a novel, it doesn't have the same type of story arc as a typical Christie mystery; instead, it comes across as a series of vignettes that are loosely related. That's not a criticism, though; the book was still a very enjoyable read.

A tree grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

 

I read this book for my book club a little reluctantly because I had read it before; however, I realized that I remembered so little of it that it was like reading it for the first time. I have to admit that I was not overly fond of the author's writing style, but I did get sucked into the story and wanted to know what happened to the characters. I do like stories where people overcome the odds to succeed and in that sense, the book is very affirming. I had a hard time with many of the characters who are so one dimensional. The librarian, the teachers, the saloon owner, and even the relatives only seem to have one side to them; there's very little depth or nuance to any of them. The description of Francie's interactions with the librarian were laughable (and slightly offensive). Like Huckleberry Finn, the book uses some offensive language and characterizations of Jews and other minorities.

The murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie's third novel featuring Hercule Poirot has the detective in retirement (showing she didn't necessarily plan on such a long career with him). Roger Ackroyd has been killed and many of his acquaintances and family members have both means and motive. Narrated by his friend and neighbor Dr. Sheppard, we learn that Ackroyd was concerned that his late friend, the widow Mrs. Ferrars, was being blackmailed. Just as Ackroyd was to learn the identity of the blackmailer, he ends up dead. His niece asks Poirot to investigate the murder, which he does along with Dr. Sheppard who takes on the role of Hastings in this book. As usual, there are many twists and turns in the plot, but the ending was definitely a surprise.
 

Mission to Paris, by Alan Furst

This was an enjoyable spy thriller that takes place in the lead-up to World War II. Austrian-American actor Fredric Stahl is strong-armed by his film studio to go to France to make a film, in spite of the clearly increasing tensions there. Once there, Stahl is the target of many competing forces, both pro- and anti-German. He agrees to participate in several risky operations to gather information for the American consulate, placing himself and his friends in danger. All the while, he is pursuing a relationship with Renate, a woman working on his film, and having an affair with another. While I liked the writing and premise, the book seems a little anti-climactic.
 

A place for everything: the curious history of alphabetical order, by Judith Flanders

 

This is an extraordinary study that shows how humans slowly transitioned toward the use of alphabetical order to organize all manner of things from files to reference works. While it might seem obvious to us now, it was a slow revolution in how people think about the world around them. Earlier conceptions of the "right" way to organize things often revolved around hierarchy or grouped ideas around subject concepts, but as the world became more complex and the information landscape grew astronomically, it was necessary to resort to new methods of organization. Author Judith Flanders presents a fascinating history of the development of many types of organization systems, showing how truly innovative many of them were, including one of my favorites, the card catalog.

Love's Labour's Lost, by William Shakespeare

 

I read this play in anticipation of a performance by Penn State's Centre Stage in April. It's one of Shakespeare's earlier comedies and follows the King of Navarre and three companions who agree to swear off women for three years while they study. Of course, their plans quickly go off track, especially when a French princess and her friends come for a visit.

Selected poems of Charles Baudelaire, translated by Geoffrey Wagner

 

I bought this book in the 1990s at the University of Pittsburgh bookstore when I worked at Hillman Library. I thought it would be a good way for me to practice my French reading, since it had the original poems in French and the English translation on facing pages. It did, in fact, prove to be a good exercise, but I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me 30 years to take on this project. In the meantime, this book traveled with me from Pittsburgh to New Haven to State College to Albany and back to State College before I picked it up recently and read through all the poems several times. It was a fun project!

The secret of Chimneys, by Agatha Christie

 

In Agatha Christie's fifth mystery, down on his luck Anthony Cade travels from South Africa to London to deliver a manuscript memoir by a British diplomat to the fictional country of Herzoslovakia to a publisher in return for 1,000 pounds. Anthony also agrees to deliver a packet of letters to a woman whom he believes has been blackmailed. Once in London, it's clear that there are many people and organizations trying to prevent the delivery of the manuscript, and when one of them breaks into Anthony's hotel room, he steals the letters by mistake. Anthony is determined to get the letter back and deliver the manuscript, and he follows the clues to the country mansion Chimneys, where a man has been murdered. Once again, Christie has developed a plot that is so intricate and with so many twists and turns, that it's hard to summarize. I'll just say that Anthony stays one step ahead of the bad guys throughout the book, and he teams up with Superintendent Battle, from Scotland Yard, and a beautiful widow, presumably the author of the packet of letters, to solve the crime. Although not the main character in The secret of Chimneys, Superintendent Battle appears in four subsequent Christie mysteries. The fictional country of Herzeslovakia appears in two other Christie stories, and I was fascinated to see that there is a travel poster for this country available on Ebay.
 

 

Service model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

I really loved this science fiction novel by British author Adrian Tchaikovsky. Humanity is in decline, and when a virus disrupts the work of most robots, the robot valet Charles murders his employer, then is set adrift on the world. Ordered to go to the Diagnostics Center, he walks for days until he locates the center, but along the way he observes how all the estates that he passes are run down, and the robots tending them are all dysfunctional. When he gets to the Diagnostics Center, he meets up with another robot and they team up to find appropriate work for Charles, who is now unemployed and who has been renamed Uncharles. What follows is a series of adventures as the two cross what appears to be a post-apocalyptic landscape with few humans left alive. Service model is a compelling and funny take on the human condition. The dialog between the two robots as well as others whom they meet along the way is both provocative and hilarious. I was completely entertained by this book and couldn't put it down. Each new situation that they encountered was outrageous but plausible, and the ending was both highly entertaining and satisfying.

Flight, by Lynn Steger Strong

 

I have mixed feelings about this novel about three siblings, their spouses and children, and a young mother and her daughter. I had a hard time keeping track of all the siblings at first. Henry and his wife Alice live in an old house in Vermont that Alice inherited from her grandmother. They're hosting Christmas dinner for Henry's sister Kate, her husband Josh, and their three children, as well as Henry's brother Martin, his wife Tess, and their two children. Alice is a social worker, one of whose clients is Quinn and her daughter Maddie. This is the first Christmas after Henry, Kate, and Martin's mother Helen died, so it's particularly fraught with grief and other emotions. All of the characters have what appear to be major flaws. Henry is an artist who is obsessed with the environment and makes no money. Alice was an artist but has had to stop creating art and works as a social worker to help make ends meet. Kate is a stay at home mom, which she loves but won't admit. Her husband Josh works in finance at a mid-level job; he has no ambition because he's always relied on his trust fund for support, but this has been depleted by his poor investment decisions. Tess is a highly stressed attorney who is anxious about everything, especially her children. Her husband Martin is a professor on leave due to some inappropriate behavior with his students. As they come together, they struggle with decisions regarding the disposition of Helen's estate, with Kate and Josh hoping to be allowed to live in the house and everyone else, at least initially, hoping to sell it and split up the proceeds. The story advances slowly and is interspersed with Quinn's narrative. She is a single mom who is a recovering addict; Alice is her social worker, but is obsessed with Maddie as she has been unable to conceive a child herself. As they prepare for Christmas dinner, they all rally to help find Maddie, who has gone missing while her mother was out drinking. I was put off by the unlikability of all of the characters. How likely is it that every single member of a family has such distressing issues? It's a non-stop stream of bickering and arguing and picking on the spouses behind their backs. None of the children are charming. I just didn't find this pleasant to read. Nothing much gets resolved, although the ending seems to have mellowed everyone out, including the kids. I also found the writing to be a little awkward. 

The man in the brown suit, by Agatha Christie

 

Agatha Christie's fourth mystery doesn't include any of her more famous detectives. The main character, Anne, is a young woman who loves adventure and decides to solve the mystery of who killed another young woman in an unoccupied home up for rent. The clues lead her to book passage on a ship to South Africa and introduce her to a cast of characters that may or may not be involved in the crime. Stolen diamonds, refugees from justice, secret service investigators, wealthy politicians, and more are all under suspicion, and Anne proceeds to follow the trail to find the murderer and thief. Another of the characters, Colonel Race, appears in three later books by Christie, including two in which he is a close friend of Poirot's. Initially given mixed reviews, The man in the brown suit is just as compelling and page-turning as any Christie mystery. However, the prejudices of the time (1924) are reflected in the depictions of Black South Africans, which may be off-putting to readers.

Eight hundred grapes, by Laura Dave

I was disappointed in this novel by popular author Laura Dave. I had read another book by her and found it to be entertaining (The night we lost him), but this one is so problematic that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. The main character, Georgia, runs home to her parents after seeing her fiancé, Ben, walking down the street with another woman and a child; after confronting them, she learns that the woman is a former lover and the child her fiance's. He only learned about the child several months ago, but had kept it secret from Georgia for all that time, even though they're not only set to be married in a week but also relocate to London, where Ben's ex and child live. Once at home, Georgia learns that her parents are selling their vineyard and planning to separate, as her mother has taken up with a former romantic interest from decades ago. Georgia further learns that there's a rift between her two brothers, because Finn is in love with Margaret, Bobby's wife, and the feeling is mutual. If that isn't enough drama, Georgia's parents are selling their small, family vineyard to a large corporate operation, and Georgia starts trying to sabotage the sale. My problems with this book abound. First, the writing is atrocious. Granted, I have an advance reader's edition, but that can't account for the awkward sentences and terrible plot. Second, none of Georgia's actions are believable. She runs out into the street in her wedding dress, which she is being fitted for, when she sees Ben with his ex and the child. Then, she goes home, packs a bag, and drives nine hours in her wedding dress to see her parents? If she had left right from the shop to make the drive, it would be almost believable, but she packs a bag, so she must have gone home to do it. She also goes to the headquarters of the company that's buying her parents' vineyard, interrupts a board meeting, and fights with the President over the purchase. She then files an injunction against the sale in a scene that makes it look like the process of filing an injunction involves just going to a courthouse and filling out a piece of paper (is it really that easy?) Third, characters repeatedly make comments that are unclear as to their meaning, and it's not explained. A good editor might have cleared some of this up, but this book comes across as a first draft, rather than an almost completed book. Advance reader's editions often have typos, which I can overlook, but there are so many problems with this book that the fact that it's an ARE can't account for all of them. I can't recommend this book.
 

French lessons, by Ellen Sussman

In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to read this short novel about love in its many forms. French lessons is about three French tutors and their respective students who have signed up for private lessons in Paris. Nico spends the day tutoring Josie, a French teacher who has recently lost her married lover in a plane crash. Josie is visiting Paris alone, grieving in a way that she cannot do at home, and her encounter with Nico helps her along on the way to recovery from her paralyzing grief. Philippe is teaching beginning French to Riley who is in Paris with her two small children and husband, Victor. Vic has been distant lately, staying out late and leaving early in the morning, and Riley is feeling more and more isolated and finding no comfort in the ex-pat groups that she belongs to. She spends the day with Philippe, wandering around Paris on a tour that eventually leads to an afternoon of passion at his apartment. Finally, Jeremy passes his last day with his tutor, Chantal, fantasizing about kissing her. He's feeling some dissatisfaction with his marriage to Dana, an actress working on a film in Paris. All three of the tutors are single and looking for love, and all three of the students are experiencing some kind of crisis: grief, abandonment, or dissatisfaction. The book is framed by two short chapters that have the tutors meeting up before and after their day, and the bulk of the book is one chapter devoted to each relationship. The stories don't have pat endings, but each pair of tutor and student had learned something about themselves and what they want, and moved themselves a little bit further along to getting it.