A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny.

 

            Canadian author Louise Penny is internationally renowned for her series featuring Chief Police Inspector Armand Gamache and his trusted assistant Jean-Guy Belvoir as they battle crimes big and small in Montreal and its environs.  Her readers number in the millions, all fans of her great plotting and clever characters who reappear in each new story, and it shames me to say that this latest title is the first of hers that I have read.  So, where have I been all my life?!  Missing out on an excellent series of thrillers, that’s where!

            Monsieur Gamache’s latest display of his superior powers of deduction centres on the return to his home in the little country village of Three Pines of Sam and Fiona Arsenault, the adult children of murder victim Clotilde Arsenault, a local prostitute and drug addict.  She didn’t just sell herself;  it transpired that she sold her children as well, and kept a record of who did what to them:  the local police force were good customers. 

            After it was proven that Fiona killed her drugged mother as revenge for what she did to them, Fiona was tried and jailed as an adult, even though she was barely in her teens:  now she has served her sentence, earned an engineering degree, and returned to lodge with Gamache and his family. 

            The only fly in the ointment of this successful rehab story is Sam, her brother:  he loathes Gamache and takes special pains at every opportunity to show him the contempt in which he regards him;  Gamache knows in his very bones that Sam is anything but rehabilitated:  wherever he fetches up, grief and strife will follow. 

And they do, but first a seemingly unrelated quandary presents itself:  a mysterious letter is forwarded to one of the series’ permanent characters, writing of a false wall in the local bookseller’s loft:  when it is excavated a copy of a very famous painting is revealed behind the bricks – the Paston Treasure – or a very competent copy of it – is there, complete with tiny variations, spelling out a coded message for Inspector Gamache. 

‘I’m going to get you’

And

‘Time’s Up’.

Louise Penny has constructed a seemingly impossible plot to unravel;  there’s no figuring out in advance who, or how many, villains there are, but Gamache has been in the business of catching criminals for a long time;  he has many enemies – but none so clever and seemingly anonymous as his latest adversary.  What a clever writer she is, and how deprived I have been by my ignorance, especially when all her permanent minor characters are so winning, especially Rosa the duck:  she can quack at me any time!  FIVE STARS.

 

 

Around the Adriatic, by Tony Straw.

         Levin author Tony Straw opens his second book of travels with the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, a major disaster for New Zealand which killed 185 people and changed the city’s landscape and way of life permanently.  It also changed emotional landscapes, too;  he and Lee, his partner of many years, finally decide to Tie the Knot, Engage in Wedded Bliss – get MARRIED, not least because, out of the rubble eventually appears in handy proximity a building announcing it is the Dept. of Births, Marriages and Deaths.  Tony is intrigued because he’d never noticed it on his travels to work and back and, after some discussion, he and Lee decide to avail themselves of the department’s marriage service which turns out to be a very happy and tasteful occasion – and after the celebrations, the perfect excuse to plan a honeymoon.

            And what a wonderful itinerary is planned:  their first cruise ever on board the liner Celebrity Silhouette, fifteen decks containing twenty-eight hundred passengers, leaving from Venice, where Tony and Lee will join the ship, having completed a motoring tour of the Balkans beforehand.  Their ship’s ports of call also include Balkan ports, as well as Malta, Sicily, Naples and Rome:  this is the Honeymoon of everyone’s dreams!  In theory.  In a perfect world.

            Tiresome reality at Shanghai airport cracks Tony and Lee’s rose-coloured glasses, especially after a two-hour wait on the runway, all belted up and ready to go, waiting for someone’s permission to take off.  They are not in the best frame of mind to start touring the Italian Lake district before they explore Croatia when they eventually get to their first destination, BUT!  A good night’s sleep will restore anyone’s good humour – even driving with the prospect of a Tom Tom GPS nicknamed Tomasina who, in the grand tradition of all GPSs, is definitely a law unto herself as pilot of their rental car. 

The monumental tussle of wills is just beginning as Tony and Lee start their journey on what they hope will be lesser-known country roads instead of the huge motorway system – the scenery and accommodation will be much less ‘touristy’, more authentic.  (If Tomasina allows it.)

            Especially in the Balkans, where there has been so much recent tragedy and conflict:  the locals are very resilient and happy to help, and they are possessed of an offbeat sense of humour that our travellers find very appealing – and that is one of the strengths of this book -  Tony’s great attention to detail, and the fascinating background and historical facts that add to his wonderful scenic descriptions, not to mention the mouthwatering descriptions of food and drink consumed (Tony and Lee are gourmets of long standing).

            If finances prevent you from following in their footsteps, then get a vicarious thrill from the printed page, especially aboard the Liner Celebrity Silhouette:  Tony is such an engaging, humorous writer that it will almost be like sitting at the same table. Everyone who reads this book will enjoy his honeymoon, too!   FIVE STARS.