The Merge, by Grace Walker.

  

        This is a very disturbing story.  Disturbing because some of the reasons for ‘Merging’ are already painfully evident:  summer wildfires laying waste to various European countries; overpopulation and consequent food shortages and, at the novel’s beginning, a new ‘privileged’ class springing up in the UK called Combines:  you have to give up your seat on public transport for a Combine – and your house, accepting instead inferior accommodation – while it is still available – for Combines are part of a new world order designed to reduce the world population by ‘combining’ through a radical new scientific process:  two souls  transforming into one physical body – a healthy one!  All kinds of major diseases will disappear.

            Like Alzheimer’s disease, with which Amelia’s mother Laurie has been diagnosed – if Amelia and Laurie sign up for the Merge of their separate consciousness into one body, Laurie will be well again – except, except that Amelia’s boyfriend Albie is implacably against the whole idea, in fact he is an integral part of a very strong protest movement which is starting to receive a lot of publicity, but Amelia decides to go ahead with the probationary period – she wants her beloved mum back – and she’s perfectly placed to expose all those Combines if it turns out to be a huge scam.  Surely it’s a win-win situation?

            And it is, but for whom?  The other candidates for the Merge have endeared themselves to Laurie and Amelia, but they are all at different stages of thought about whether it’s the Right Thing to do, and one young reformed addict starts talking suicide – which changes the minds of Laurie and Amelia, who eventually find that their new opinion means nothing:  they are part of the Merge whether they like it or not.

First-time novelist Grace Walker has produced the Dystopian Novel par excellence:  her depiction of life in a world under pressure in the not-too-distant future is chilling and all too real, and the increasingly desperate measures that ordinary people are forced to consider so that they and their loved ones may stay alive are all too poignantly written.  There are no happy endings here, but justice may be done on the very last page.  SIX STARS.

 

 

 

 

The Retired Assassin”s Guide to Country Gardening,

By Naomi Kuttner.

 

Cozy Crime has now become a successful and popular genre – one that readers could tire of in time to come for its very predictability; the villains always get what’s coming to them, and there’s just the right amount of romance and twists in the plot to keep readers guessing.  And there’s nothing wrong with that so far, as retired MI6 Assassin Dante Reid decides to take early retirement and decides that a remote little town in New Zealand called Te Kohe is the ideal place in which to start a different life, the only snag being his reclusiveness and utter lack of sociability and the incontrovertible fact that Te Kohe is like every other small town anywhere:  it thrives on gossip, and the addition of a tall, handsome etc etc solo male with absolutely no social skills is more newsworthy than Donald Trump.

            Enter Charlie Wilson, a young gardener calling to find out what Dante would require from his services, which was tending to the former elderly occupant’s beautiful grounds and conservatory, where a Corpse plant will soon come into bloom (the Horticultural Society is mad with excitement!) and will require extra care.  An employment agreement of sorts is reached and Charlie is happy because he loves his job – but hasn’t been entirely honest with Dante:  he sees ghosts.

            All his young life Charlie has seen ghosts, usually the elderly of Te Kohe.  This has given him a reputation of talking to himself, which kind people dismiss as harmless eccentricity and the cruel make rude gestures involving screws loose but, having ‘lived’ with this phenomenon for so long, he has decided that his new employer needn’t be shocked by the supernatural this early  in the piece.  In any case, there’s going to be a big social occasion at Te Kohe’s poshest hotel very soon, everyone will be invited even though they don’t like the town’s richest man who’s paying for everything, including a massive fireworks display – he loves rubbing everyone’s nose in the fact that he’s a success and they aren’t, but hey!  He’s paying, and maybe a firework will go up his nose:  That would be something to see.

            And a murder does occur, which leads back to other, older crimes concerning Charlie’s family and the Town’s Richest Man:  how to prove that he’s not as clever as he thinks, particularly when Eleanor, a recent sophisticated and elegant recruit to Te Kohe’s Upper Echelons, decides to lend her considerable deductive talents to the mystery – ‘Helping the Police with Their Enquiries’ takes on all sorts of extra emphasis, especially when Charlie and Dante are both viewed as suspects and the police think they have a cast-iron case. 

            Fortunately for everyone’s nerves Ms Kuttner keeps all her ducks in a very clever row;  every i is dotted and t crossed so that we can prepare ourselves for the very next book in the series – which I hope will be soon;  despite blood and gore and ghosts, the main, best ingredient is humour:  this was seriously good fun.  FIVE STARS.     

  

 

The Human Scale, by Lawrence Wright.

 

 

            So.  On the human scale, who is worth more:  an Arab or a Jew?  An Arab who has farmed and nurtured his ancestral land for centuries in the same family, or recent Jewish migrants who want to buy the land and settle on it themselves – because God and their Zionist leaders told them they could. This is their Promised Land, and if those Arabs won’t give it up, then they’ll find other means of taking it, and all the worthless Palestinians can drown themselves in the sea. 

            And by the time that American-born Palestinian FBI Agent Tony Malik decides to attend a family wedding in Hebron and renew old ties and acquaintances as part of his convalescence (he was the only survivor of an attempt TO dismantle a bomb built by Hamas to blow up a Jordanian aircraft), he is in a pretty frail state, certainly not up to his usual professional expertise, which means he is entirely unprepared for the lack of action by police against the flagrant, everyday abuse that Palestinian Arabs endure – and their savage retaliations against such injustice (Palestinian boys are athletes of Olympian stature when it comes to throwing stones.)  And stealing!  He saw one wearing his hat when he had his rental car robbed;  the consequent pursuit ended up with him being arrested by the local cops and a very surly bunch they were, too.

            Tony’s visit has not started well, and he is appalled by the blatant criminality, the corruption that he sees on both sides of the spectrum;  it’s only after he proves his worth in exposing the worst of that corruption that he starts to gain some respect – until the local police chief is discovered cruelly murdered.   Bridegroom Jamal (nicknamed the Peacemaker) immediately goes on the run despite the fact that he is innocent: – he knows how justice works in Hebron:  it doesn’t work at all.

            Lawrence Wright has produced an extraordinary, exhaustive and brilliant story of hatred and enmity as old as civilisation itself; the conflict and animus will never end, especially when the I.D.F. carefully targets the apartment of a Gazan family who has given Jamal the Peacemaker shelter:  that fatal attack turns Peacemaker into Avenger, with predictable, awful results

            A reader of this fine book before me gave it a score of 10 out of 10. And how right they were.  Thank you Lawrence Wright, for showing us what everyone has ended up with for all their machinations:  a lifelong burden of grief.  SEVEN STARS.      

 

 

 

 

The Last Living Cannibal, by Airana Ngarewa.

 

          1940’s Aotearoa New Zealand and the Second World War is raging:  Taranaki Maori have not joined the fighting by choice – the cream of their manhood has been decimated over the last century by colonialism, bringing on the Land Wars and unjust imprisonment for some warriors like Koko, who had to endure shame and humiliation because he had fought to retain ownership of his tribal land;  now Koko is  in his 90’s and the fight has gone out of him as it rightly should.  Younger men than he should step up to continue the fight – until he learns from his beloved grandson Blackie that Koko is known at his grandson’s school as The Last Living Cannibal by the pakeha teachers.

            Then insult is added to injury when he hears that Blackie and his mates are threatened with the Strap, a leather strip used for sharpening razors and capable of inflicting nasty welts on young skin:  Okay, that’s the last straw:  time to show that high and mighty schoolteacher who has the most mana.  Koko will cut him down to size.  And does, from the back of an unpredictable horse who will sometimes allow people to ride him – and sometimes not;  fortunately he must have been in a generous mood to carry Koko to his triumphant meeting with the gobsmacked teacher:  the effect they created is unforgettable, the only problem being a fatal heart attack for Koko on his winning way home.  Koko has lost his last battle.

            BUT!  More trouble awaits:  Koko is laid out on the Marae in advance of his funeral;  his spirit is still watching to see who is going to visit to pay their respects.   He is attended by his feckless son, Blackie’s dad and Blackie himself, plus all the old Aunties without whom these useless men can’t seem to function, when unexpected strangers arrive who don’t seem to be particularly friendly.  They are Tainui, the Northern Tribe of Blackie’s mother, and everyone is shocked to see her arrive and demand to take Blackie with her back to her tribal home on the Waikato.  She left Blackie’s dad after he beat her in a drunken rage – now she wants her son under the law of Muru, a just repayment for former wrongs suffered:  she wants her son:  Taranaki Maori  have had him long enough!

            Once again Airana Ngarewa has blessed us with unforgettable, exuberant characters – Blackie’s mates in particular, (and don’t forget that horse!)  – and lessons in history that pakeha would much rather forget but as always, he accentuates the positive and like Koko, we recognise that despite great tragedy and injustice optimists can still take heart in some parts of this troubled world.  SIX STARS.   

      

 

  

 

The Glass Man, by Anders De la Motte.  

 

 

 

          Scandie Noir is flourishing as a genre in the hugely capable hands of De la Motte and his excellent translator Alex Fleming.  This is the second book in a series with Leonore Asker, brilliant but flawed (aren’t they all?) police detective as the main protagonist, along with her long-time friend University professor Martin Hill, a tried and true companion on some truly life and death adventures and – if Leo were to be honest with herself, a future significant other, not least because they trust each other completely.   They will always come to the rescue of each other, if they can.

            In the meantime, Martin has been offered his dream job writing a book about the history of one of Sweden’s most successful international medical companies, founded and still administered by the original family, the Irvings:  could his luck be any better?  Of course not – he’s ecstatic, especially when the Irving estate and manor house will be at his disposal along with all (he hopes) its records.

            By unhappy contrast, Leo is still hidden and labouring away sight unseen in the depths of the Police basement in charge of various officers who have talents not really required by their colleagues, or hoping soon for retirement:  such is her punishment for being too good at her job – she made the Stockholm Hotshot who took over her position look silly more than once, with the result that when a body is discovered close to her father’s farm, she is not allowed any information connected to it.  It’s ‘none of her business’, even though her father – whom she loathes – becomes the main suspect.  While she knows her father is capable of anything, she is also sure that this murder is definitely NOT his Modus Operandi.  Something Stinks in the State  of Denmark.

            And life is not going as well as first thought for Martin:  he does not have the open and free access that he expected on the Irving Estate[J1] , in fact he seems to be watched by an awful lot of people – even by Drones when he walks outside, but the worst thing – the very WORST THING - -was being persued by a huge man-like creature through the gardens when he was returning to his accommodation.  He’s never been so scared in his life – Leo, where are you???

            From a very convoluted plot De la Motte unravels the Irving family’s real reason for their interest in Martin, revealing  a Trump-like narcissism in  their belief that he will marvel at their mastery of Cryogenics – or  become their next victim.  What some people will do to advance the cause of science – or live forever.  FIVE STARS

 

 

 

 

 

---

 [J1]

 

 

 

 

The Mind of a Murderer, by Michael Wood.

And it’s sequel, The Devil’s Code.

       

  

          I am enormously proud of myself.  I have finally started a book series off at # 1 – usually I discover after several pages that I have done my usual trick of starting after several books have already been written, then having to rely on the author being kind and filling in key information – well, this series is so obliging it even has the first chapter of the next story to refresh peoples’ minds and whet their appetite for more blood and gore - and this series is awash with it, for its main protagonist is a forensic psychologist who started off life as Olivia Button, a normal little child, content in the bosom of her loving family, until she came home from school one day to find her younger sister dead in her dying mother’s arms, blood pouring everywhere and urged by her fatally stabbed mum to ‘RUN!’

            Which she does – fleeing her father, of all people, who had decided that after killing several complete strangers, it was time to dispatch his family.  And he is nearly successful with Olivia, wounding her terribly before the police overpower him.  Fortunately she survives her injuries and is lovingly cared for  by her grandparents who provide as much love and normalcy as they can as she grows up, but you don’t have to be Einstein to know that she will always want to explore, study and understand why some people kill (especially serial killers), and what they actually enjoy about it.  From her own experience she knows that familial love means nothing;  the thrill of ending someone’s life is paramount so, on the positive side and after a name change, Olivia has made a substantial career out of travelling the world and studying the deeds and minds of serial killers;  she is such an authority that her advice is sought by Police authorities everywhere, especially in London where a killer has struck again:  how she eventually unmasks him is very well plotted and, in the best tradition of all superior crime novels one never knows who the baddy is until the last possible minute.

            Book Two starts in a similar vein;  Olivia is required to go to Newcastle-on-Tyne to offer advice and suggestions to the authorities after a car was stopped on a stormy night by police;  when the car boot was opened, a body was revealed, cut into twelve pieces.  The driver will only say ‘no comment’, even as he is sentenced to life imprisonment.  A search of his house reveals documents which appear to be in code, but how to break it? 

And underlying all the mystery and worry that more remains will be found is Olivia’s father, still contacting her from prison whether she wants to hear from him or not (she doesn’t).  But he has other bodies – and murders – up his sleeve, and wants to brag about them whether she likes it or not! 

            Michael Wood has created a flawed, damaged but courageous protagonist in Olivia;  she makes mighty mistakes but great inroads, too, in outwitting her villains – and her nightmares.  FOUR STARS EACH.   

 

 

 

 

The Seventh Floor, by David McCloskey.

            

Typically, I have chanced upon #3 in David McCloskey’s series of Spy novels involving various colourful and driven members of the USA’s Central Intelligence Agency – why can’t I ever seem to start at #1!  He writes from experience, having worked for the CIA in another life – he knows how everything functions, especially the hierarchy on the seventh floor, Olympian home of Finn Armitage and Deborah Sweet, brand new leaders eager to make their mark on the organisation, which includes Artemis Proctor, a fearless – and tactless – leader of a subsection. The failure of an exercise against a Russian Source and the disappearance of handler Sam Joseph, captured and held by the Russians for three months until they swapped him for someone they needed more, provided Armitage and Sweet with the ammunition they need to boot her out of the only job she has ever really loved:  without her CIA job she is nothing:  ‘all your life you’re CIA.  Then you’re not.’

Working as an alligator wrangler at her cousin’s Florida theme park is no substitute, and the gators take exception to being rode twice a day;  they bite and will never be her pets.  Is this what her life will be like from now on?

Until Sam Joseph miraculously turns up bringing whiskey – and salvation in the form of explosive secret news that he hasn’t shared with anyone, including the various Psychologists and Medics he has seen since being released:  one of their number on the seventh floor has sold out and is providing the CIA’s most secret knowledge to the Russians.  A mole has been planted and that little critter is flourishing, absolutely bursting with information, and excellent at covering his tracks, having had so much training at doing just that at the CIA.

And how can a disgraced ex- section boss and an ex- undercover spy prisoner have any credibility with a leadership that wanted them gone anyway – no:  they will have to try to unravel and expose the traitor by themselves, the hard way, the dangerous, ‘they could kill-your-ass way.  Which is the only way.

David McCloskey’s superb prose takes no prisoners;  his character—building is second to none and, despite the demise of one of his main protagonists there are still enough great identities for the series to keep going, and going – and going!  Do you hear me, Mr McCloskey?!  SIX STARS. 

                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Riveter, by Jack Wang.

 

            After his father’s untimely accidental death, young Canadian forestry  worker Josiah Chang decides to enlist in the Canadian Army;  it is 1942 and Josiah wants to prove himself as a  loyal  citizen, ready to fight for his country in the Second World War.  The ‘only’ problem that he can see is that even though he was born and raised in Canada and has never been to  China, he cannot fight for Canada because of the possibility that he would demand Canadian Citizenship – which would not be tolerated.

            So!  Josiah does the next-best thing:  he finds a job as a riveter at Vancouver’s shipyards where shipbuilding is proceeding apace to make up for the many cargo ships being sunk by the Germans.  ‘Every Rivet A Bullet’ and, because he is strong, fit and healthy Josiah does well in his new position – except for those of his workmates who don’t believe that Chinamen know what they’re doing.  He proves them wrong many times but it still takes a long time to fit in, especially after he meets and with almost indecent haste, falls in love with Poppy, a girl named after Flanders Fields where her father was wounded in the First World War – she loves being a rebel and upsetting her staid, conventional parents but quickly finds that her feelings for Josiah become much more than just a casual liaison:  this is the real thing.

            Jack Wang leads us expertly through this love affair that was so unexpected and thrilling for both – and so forbidden, especially when Poppy’s father visits Josiah to inform him that if they decide to get married, Poppy will lose her Canadian Citizenship.  What’s a man to do against such Draconian policy?  Well, he’ll show them:  if he travels to Toronto he may have a chance to join up with the Canadian Parachute Battalion and this time, luck (?) is on his side:  with his fellow paratroopers he jumps into Normandy on D-Day 1944:  at last he will be able to prove his worth as a Canadian, a citizen and a man.

            Jack Wang’s battle scenes are thrilling, written with such verve that one would swear that he was with Josiah every step of the way, not to mention the friendships forged in valour and heartbreak, and the civilians – friends and enemies alike, who were all too human – and humane.  Yes, Josiah survives and returns home to a hero’s welcome, but nothing has changed; those laws are still the same:  Chinese are Aliens.  This is a beautiful story.  SIX STARS.    

                              

 

 

 

 

Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, by James Lee Burke.

 

   

       James Lee Burke is very proud of this book.  He’s an old man now, but doesn’t care a bit, for his memories are of a Texas and real-life characters that dominated the landscape of his youth, and age (he is 89) cannot dim his wonderful artistry with words.  Burke has written several series, including those featuring fearless Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland;  now he would like to introduce us to Bessie Holland, Hackberry’s 14 year-old daughter when this story begins.  It is also the start of the 1914-1918 War, so world-wide trouble is brewing, even though America’s President has kept them out of it so far.

            Such lofty worries are beyond Bessie’s experience or interest at the moment;  after her mother’s death her father Hackberry has hit the booze and owes money everywhere:  she is faced with problems she is too young and ill-equipped to handle – BUT!  She refuses to be daunted by the fact that her father is a drunk, her brother will run away from home, leaving her entirely alone, but not before White-trash Jubal Fowler wrecks one of his eyes with a slingshot.  No, her attempts to  gain an education at the tiny local school have been ruined because the gifted teacher whom she adores has been sacked ‘for lewd behaviour with another woman’.

            Bessie is outraged – women’s rights are non-existent anyway;  they are no more than servants in every capacity.  Well, she’ll follow her brother Cody’s example and leave home too:  she’ll follow him to New York and the Lower East Side (whatever that may be);  anything would be better than her current location.  She thinks.

            True to form, she finds that her good looks generate plenty of attention, even from a ‘gentleman’ by the name of Anthony Vale who, after courting her perfectly (he seems to have lots of money) rapes her most cruelly, then makes sure she loses her employment.  He likes playing with people, but he has reckoned without good Baptist Bessie’s outrage at her treatment, or her father Hackberry’s thirst for revenge.  Anthony Vale’s days are numbered.

            Father and daughter return to Texas and find that their 200 acres have lots of oil waiting to be pumped from the ground – which presents its own problems for a good Baptist and a Texas Ranger who has given up the Demon Drink;  the tension never lifts and the Baddies never stop coming, from corrupt sheriffs and old enemies like Mexican Joe, a sadist who cuts up people because ‘he feels like it’.  And he feels like getting rid of Bessie by the nastiest of means;  she’s in his way.

            Fortunately for us, Bessie narrates the story so she’s still there at the end of this brilliant, almost unbearably suspenseful chronicle of a young State in an old country.  James Lee Burke can be justifiably proud of his work, which teems with unforgettable and authentic characters.  He just better live forever!  SIX STARS.    

Julia's 2025 Top Reads

Once Again, I Have a Little List – and this time, it is so late I really must apologise!

 

Time has run away with me this Festive Season, but it won’t stop the Staff, Friends and Volunteers of our beautiful library Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po from wishing all of you Great Readers the very best New Year this worrisome world can offer us, with Goodwill to All a compulsory requirement – we hope!

 

1.    The Things We Didn’t Know, by Elba Iris Perez. 

2.    Sea Change, by Jenny Pattrick. 

3.    The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyre

4.    Frankie, by Graham Norton.

5.    Going to the Dogs, by Pierre le Maitre.

6.    Fangs for Nothing, by Steffie Holmes.

7.    In a Place of Darkness, by StuartMacBride.

8.    King of Ashes, by S. A. Cosby.

9.    A Beautiful Family, by JenniferTrevelyan.

10. Lucky Thing, by Tom Baragwanath.

11.   The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths.

12.   An Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman.

13.   The Spy Coast, by Tess Gerritsen.

14.    The Summer Guests, by Tess Gerritsen

15.   Three Days in June, by Anne Tyler

And there's the list, everyone - Te Takere's First Fifteen waiting for you to take your pick. 

Happy New Year to every dedicated reader in Aotearoa and around the globe.

 

 

Three Days in June, by Anne Tyler.

 

            Anne Tyler is a  treasure.  She has been nominated for or has received every prestigious literary prize the world has to offer, and her genius comes not from telling great sagas about world-shattering subjects, but the everyday dramas that beset us all – which is another reason why she’s so popular:  she writes about thee and me.

            Starting with Gail Baines, assistant headmistress at an elite Girls’ Private school in Baltimore, Maryland:  she is having a bad day because her Boss has just informed her that she will no longer be needed as her assistant for various reasons, not least of which is that her people-skills are lacking;  sometimes, telling a parent that ‘Good God, their daughter will never have the slightest chance of getting into Princeton on those marks’ is not what they want, or need to hear:  the Boss has found a replacement for Gail, necessitating in the last, desperate grand gesture from the person with no people-skills:  ‘I quit!’

            Which gives Gail a certain bitter satisfaction, but she’s 61 years old.  What’s she going to do for income?  And it is her daughter Debbie’s wedding rehearsal and dinner tonight, followed by the wedding and reception tomorrow – what should be Gail’s proudest day for her daughter has been blighted.

            And the situation does not improve with the arrival of her ex-husband Max, looking like a bundle of old clothes – he doesn’t even have a suit for his daughter’s wedding! – and a request to stay at her house for the three days of festivities.  He has also brought with him an elderly cat ‘which he thought she might like’ for he has been working in an animal shelter and the cat’s ancient owner has just died. Could this day get any worse?

            Of course it could, with her daughter’s revelation in a phone call to her mum that a secret has been inadvertently been revealed by the Groom’s sister that very morning, necessitating in much soul-searching about cancelling the whole thing or bravely going ahead. What advice to give, and would anyone listen?  The only one seemingly unaffected is the cat, who has found Gail’s bed and is not giving it up.  She is silent on the subject, but she (and Max) are ever hopeful,

            Yet again Anne Tyler delights and charms us in this lovely little novella of relationships old and new, showing thee and me that face value sometimes doesn’t have that much worth, and that taking a risk (sometimes!) can achieve the contentment to which we all aspire.  FIVE STARS.

 

The Girl With Ice in her Veins, by Karin Smirnoff.

 

            Since the tragic and untimely death of Stieg  Larsson and his unforgettable protagonist Lisbeth Salander, many notable writers have attempted to further her story;  all, so far, have failed to keep up the momentum and suspense of their second foray into Lisbeth’s life, business and personal:  she’s a hard nut to crack and, despite Karin Smirnoff’s very creditable first attempt with ‘The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons’, an icy-veined Lisbeth doesn’t seem true to her life as all we millions of fans know it, BUT!

            It’s thrilling that she is still being recreated, even though in this case she’s not happy;  her most trusted – her only trusted friend, a brilliant hacker who goes by the name of Plague has disappeared.  And that’s a big ask, for he’s obese, with all the health problems that go with that condition:  why would anyone kidnap him?  Except to get at her? 

            Which proves to be the case, but who, and why?  She is even approached most innocently by a woman who wants to befriend her;  this woman is called Lo (the Lynx) and she has a spectacular set of burn scars from a dreadful childhood accident;  she’s definitely unforgettable so why use her as bait?

            An added complication is her niece Svala, barely fourteen and in protest mode with a group of other young people in the small northern town of Gasskas, which is in danger of being taken over by huge, greedy multi-nationals – ‘never mind the environment, think of all the jobs!’ (Sound familiar?) Naturally, nobody pays them any attention until one of their number ends up murdered by a slag-heap:  life is cheap when billions are at stake.  Svala vows revenge for her friend’s murder, but  it isn’t long before her uncles, reindeer herders with whom she lives, start finding dead animals everywhere – just as a warning, you understand.  Svala loves her uncles, so her heart and mind are understandably full of  hurt and hatred.  Who can she rely on?  Does anyone care at all?

            Mikael Blomquvist does.  He has just accepted a job as editor of Gasskas’s local paper;  his daughter is married to the mayor and everyone should be living happily ever after – you think?

            Of course they should, but every character, large and small has a back story here, which impedes the action and complicates the plot;  it’s hard to keep up with myriad nasty baddies who all present themselves on the last page, ready to carry on the series.  Having said that,  Lisbeth and Mikael, with Supergirl Svala, still have enough charisma to continue the tale.  FOUR STARS.

 

 

 

 

 

The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman.

 

            Hands up anyone who thinks the gang from the Thursday Murder Club has done its dash, grown a bit hackneyed and predictable – in short, can’t cut it any more:  Harrumph.  NO HANDS AT ALL!!   I should think so.

            It’s such a pleasure to meet these singular characters all again;  they are so dear to us that we would be happy to follow the most boring of their routines at Coopers Chase Retirement Village just to be part of their unique way of looking at the world, and at themselves – which as we know, can come up wanting.

            Joyce, former nurse, who sometimes employs a wildly different kind of logic to her friend Elizabeth (ex spy) to arrive at the same sharp conclusions is in raptures because her only daughter Joanna is marrying Paul, a Sociology Professor and at the reception Joyce is in 7^th Heaven because she can introduce him as ‘my Son-in-Law, Paul’ – which she does to tiresome effect.  Elizabeth (ex spy) is grieving terribly for her beloved husband who has recdently died, and is taking a break from the reception and its festivities, only to be approached by the Best Man, who asks for her help in finding out who has put a bomb under his car parked in the driveway of his home.  Grief in its many forms is forced to take a back seat as Elizabeth and Joyce embark on their latest mystery, ably assisted by the rest of the members of the Thursday Murder Club, including ex-eminent Psychologist Ibrahim and retired Firebrand Unionist Ron, who is having troubles of his own:  his daughter’s drop-kick violent husband has finally been given his marching orders by Ron’s daughter, but he doesn’t like being told what to do, so he hires a hit man to dispose of them all.  Big mistake! 

            Ron’s son foils the plot and ex-hubbie is forced to plan another hit by himself – which he is greedy enough to do because he has gotten wind of the fact that Ron has access to an enormous fortune in Bitcoin, left to gather value until it has reached a total that sounds like a multitude of phone numbers.  Shouldn’t be too hard to access;  that old Ron is way past his use-by date:  piece of cake!  Or not.

            Once again we are turning pages at breakneck speed and loving every minute;  new characters are introduced and minor characters have been given a dusting-off so thorough that I hope they will appear in the next book – yes, Richard Osman has done it again:  made us forget, however briefly,  what a worrying place our world is at this time.  FIVE STARS      

 

The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths.

    
     

          Detective Ali Dawson works for the Police on cold cases – some of them so old that the victims are known as the Frozen People, especially when she is asked to apply 21^st century investigative techniques to Victorian crimes, like that involving the ancestor of her son Finn’s ambitious boss, Isaac Templeton:  he has aspirations to lead the Tory party to victory sooner rather than later, but his ancestor has scandalous stories whirling about him – even in 2023 – that could damage his chances if it is revealed that Caine Templeton belonged to a gentleman’s club called the Collectors, ostensibly for collecting art – and oddities (a murderer’s brain, for example) – but to join, would-be applicants had first to kill a woman.  Ali is relieved she can’t travel back in time to investigate – until an ambitious young physicist finds a way that works, and like it or not, Ali is on her way.

            And what she discovers is more than enough to stay to solve more crimes (including Templeton and his Collectors) – but it transpires that her one chance to return to the 21^st century has been nabbed by someone else – and that someone has murder on his mind (oh, really?) – yes, here was I ambling along enjoying all the Dickensian characters and Elly Griffith’s wonderfully well-researched descriptions of every-day life in 1850 London (Chamber Pots – thank goodness for modern plumbing! And the enormous amounts of clothing that women had to wear:  if nothing else, the world has become a more comfortable place.)  But not a safe one with a Victorian killer on the loose.

            Ali is able to return to her own time after a few days of horrible suspense – only to find that her son Finn’s boss Isaac Templeton has been murdered at his country estate, and Finn has been charged with murder – by an over-zealous Detective Sergeant who wants everything tidied away with the minimum of fuss;  the CCTV showed a few blurry photos that could have been anyone – including Finn, so that is another mystery for Ali to solve. Whether she wants to or not.

            The ending leaves lots of questions unanswered as this is the first of a new series – which is SO good I hope Ms Griffiths already has Book Two ready for publication,  Ali is not glamorous;  she’s had three husbands of varying quality, celebrated her 50^th birthday and is past her prime, but she’s not dead yet, and capable of carrying this new series high.  FIVE STARS.   

 

Lucky Thing, by Tom Baragwanath.

 

            Well, the reader is the Lucky Thing to be enjoying another Kiwi-As thriller from Tom Baragwanath – who lives and writes in Paris, but has forgotten nothing of his origins in the Wairarapa town of Masterton on the North Island’s East Coast.  Once again, we meet Lorraine Henry, ostensibly a filing clerk in the local police station, but her photographic memory and acquaintance/friendship with most of the town’s denizens gives her an advantage on the town grapevine that no-one else has;  consequently, she is always brought in as an ‘observer’, taking notes for the police chief as required, but filling him in on her opinions later.

            And there is much to talk about and charges pending if they can only establish  what happened to  Jessica Mowbrie, a young local girl from the wrong end of town ( Lorraine’s end of town), who had won a place against  the local debating team of Langsford’s an exclusive private boy’s college:  now she is in intensive care in the local hospital after being found deep in the Tararua Ranges by a couple of  Finnish trampers.  Jessica is in an induced coma as she been given such a good hiding that her skull is fractured, and her family is looking for answers – and vengeance, a classic case of privilege against poverty, for it transpires that Jessica and her cousin Michaela were invited to a teen party at a woolshed belonging to one of the rich farmers of the district;  their drinks were spiked, Michaela was driven home semi-conscious, but Jessica disappeared.  The last person to see her was Stuart, eldest son of the farmer.  Which shows him in a very suspicious light, especially when he and his parents visit the police station all lawyered-up before they were asked:  the plot is thickening alarmingly.

            And more tragedy is on its way.  No-one is exempt, rich or poor. There are a raft of minor characters waiting in the wings to add to a seemingly insoluble mystery, and no-one comes away unscathed:  Lorraine’s life is threatened more than once on a single night and she is starting to wonder if being a filing clerk could be a dead-end job (sorry) before the cavalry turns up in the shape of Constable Dion, saving the day but not every life.

            Tom Baragwanath has proved to be no One Hit Wonder:  his second foray into small-town crime in rural Aotearoa New Zealand is just as meticulous and atmospheric as his first, and Lorraine, who lost so much in ‘Paper Cage’ is well and truly cemented into her role as so much more than just a paper shuffler. Good on you, girl!   FIVE STARS.