March Reviews
March Reviews
Reviewed on this page : Child 44 (Tom Rob Smith), White Riot (Martyn Waites), Cut To The Quick (Dianne Emley), Lady Killer (Lisa Scottoline), Willows for Weeping (Felicity Pulman), A Vengeful Longing (R N Morris), Precious Blood (Jonathan Hayes), Open File (Peter Corris), Harum Scarum (Felicity Young), The Medici Secret (Michael White), The Eye of Jade (Diane Wei Liang), Paper Butterfly (Diane Wei Liang), I Saw You (Julie Parsons)
CHILD 44
by Tom Rob Smith
ISBN 9781847371263
473 pages
Simon & Schuster
March 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 13 2007
The action of Tom Rob Smith's magnificent work is set in the fifties, during the closing years of the Stalinist regime. The prologue occurs two decades before that with two young brothers hunting a cat in the desperately poor and starving Ukrainian village of Chervoy. Pavel, the elder of the two, is captured by an unkempt, wild man and the boy knows that he, like the cat, is destined for the cooking pot.
The action jumps twenty years in time and to Moscow in space. Jora and his younger brother Arkady are playing in the snow. A certain rivalry erupts with the elder wishing never to see his winning sibling again.
War hero and member of the MGB, Leo Stepanovich Demidov must tell his underling Fyodor Andreev that his younger son died as a result of his own carelessness and neglect, certainly not as the result of the malign actions of an adult. Arkady was killed by a train and the dirt in the corpse's mouth was easily explained by his being dragged by the train after the fatal impact.
Leo is an obedient functionary who obeys his superiors without question. He has a beautiful wife, Raisa, whom he assumes loves him. No doubt he would be distressed if, somehow, he learned of her hatred of him. He is addicted to methylamphetamine (which, despite the author's protestations is not a narcotic but a stimulant) which he swallows in large amounts in order to remain awake and alert despite his long working hours.
Everybody knows that crime, and especially serial crime, does not exist in Soviet Russia. Thus, when the bodies of naked children, their stomachs removed and their mouth filled with bark, are discovered, Leo and his subordinates -- especially Vasili, who at once loathes Leo and covets his position-- are convinced the deaths are simple aberrations, easily explained. But then Leo begins to wonder and sets in motion his own illicit investigation.
This is a superb book, especially as a debut novel. The prose is incredibly evocative: the paranoia of the people is brought to life in startling detail. The characterisation is beautifully done with the mistrust of people ,even within the one family, made abundantly and heartbreakingly clear. The despair of officials who know they have been betrayed by their own subordinates seems inevitable.
There is no doubt that a great deal of research has gone into the production of this work. Even so, the book easily outstrips tales that rest on research alone. The author has managed to recreate the era together with all the fear and doublethink of the time.
There are great strengths to this novel. The quality of the prose together
with the plotting, characterisation and research have combined to produce
a book which will not be easy to forget.
WHITE RIOT
by Martyn Waites
ISBN 9781847390585
452 pages
pocket books
March 1 2008
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 5 2008
Martyn Waites doesnít believe in sparing the gore. To offset that, he is very good at engaging the readerís interest and writes about topics that are contemporary. WHITE RIOT deals with the unpleasant --but all too possible -- subject of racial discrimination and racial violence in the northern English city of Newcastle.
The tale begins with a kidnapping and murder. A victim is taunted with the Muslim beliefs of his parents. He, perhaps, is not as convinced of the validity of the numerous virgins that await him in the imminent paradise that he is about to enter -- or not.
Kevís mate Jason is scheduled for slaughter by a ruthless group, at first unknown by the reader. Jason has been dubbed The Butcher Boy, a reflection of his job but it seems as though someone else intends butchering him.
Peta Knight, associate of former journalist Joe Donovan is hired by one Trevor Whitman. Whitman has written a tell all book detailing his time with a right wing group calling itself The Hollow Men. He has been receiving threatening phone calls which he wishes Peta to investigate.
Joe Donovan, meanwhile, is still trying to investigate the kidnapping of his son. Years later, he seems finally to have located the boyís whereabouts but the people who have the boy in their care and have adopted him, hold him close and Joe seems to no nearer to being reunited with his son -- and his relationship with his wife and daughter is fractured. All Joe wants is to retrieve David and to have a family once more.
Waites is truly a master at building tension. He also has no scruples when it comes to subjecting his characters to violence and, indeed, death. He constructs a plot that is at once horrific yet believable. Not the least of the horrors is the concept of people coldbloodedly manipulating True Believers into actions they probably would not contemplate, were they privy to the machinations of their leaders. The portraits of his characters are well drawn and, alas, convincing.
The author seems to delight in cliffhangers. Somehow, I wish he wouldnít.
When his next book in the series is released, no doubt Iíll have to reread
at least part of this one. Perhaps I need to take a memory course.
CUT TO THE QUICK
by Dianne Emley
ISBN 9781863255820
323 pages
BANTAM
March 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February 13 2008
Detective Nan Vining is the survivor -- just--of an attack by a vicious, knife wielding murderer known to her and her teenage daughter Emily as T B Mann (the bad man.) The near death experience left her with a paranormal sensitivity so that she is occasionally aware of messages from a woman police officer, Frankie Lynde, who fell victim to the killer.
The book opens with someone stalking Oliver Mercer around Pasadena. The cross dressing stalker resents Mercer's success and has worked up a fairly good head of hatred by the time he rings Mercer's doorbell. His artistic butchering of Mercer complete, he is taken aback when the doorbell rings again and he is confronted by Mercer's girlfriend, Lauren Richards. She, too, must die.
Nan Vining and her partner Jim Kissick are sent to the scene, together with other officers of the Pasadena Police Department. There, they find evidence that the killer is probably a cross dresser. A bloodstained footprint left by a size 11 stiletto is a dead giveaway, so to speak. Bloody graffiti on the wall proclaims ìAll work no playî, leaving the spectator to complete the quote.
Mercer, as one of his enterprises, is in partnership with Mark Scoville in an advertising business involving billboards. Scoville's wife is Dena Hale, a television anchor, and both seem shocked when the detectives give them the news. Scoville, however, is reputed to have been fighting with Mercer.
Dena, meanwhile, is interviewing released murderer and talented author Bowie Crowley (I felt that to be a clumsy name - surely the author could do better) an interview that is to have far reaching consequences.
A fair skinned man with bleached hair, apparently both mute and homeless, is picked up by the Pasadena police. Nan meets him but is made extremely uncomfortable by the fact that he is wearing a pearl necklace with pendant that is almost the twin of the one given to her by T B Mann. Others of the man's victims have been given similar necklaces, in which only the gem in the pendant varies.
Fortunately, the supernatural element of the tale is not shoved in the reader's face, thus, the tale does not suffer from it. It is only dwelt on in the last few pages of the novel.
The characters are, on the whole, quite credible. Nan's feelings toward Kaitlyn, the girl who supplanted her in the affections of her estranged husband Wes, are quite believable even up to the point where Nan is brought to feel sorry for the woman. Wes, himself, is almost too bad to be true, but unfortunately clones of him are to be found quite readily in Real Life.
A cross-dressing murderer is a new one on me. Again, while murderers are, thankfully, not readily discernible in the general population, cross dressers may be found plentifully in the club scene almost everywhere. While the author doesn't attempt to justify his little aberrations, she certainly creates a thoroughly nasty man, on all levels.
As to Dena and Bowie, the ancillary characters, one can well imagine meeting them on any fluff television programme. Vining and Kissick, too, are quite credible, paranormal influences aside.
The plotting is adequately done and I did not feel the early disclosure of the killer detracted from the strength of the story.
Ghosts and all, I'll be interested if Nan Vining manages to be rid of
T B Mann in the next instalment of the series.
LADY KILLER
by Lisa Scottoline
ISBN 9780230707016
355 pages
MACMILLAN
March 3 2008
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February 15 2008
I always enjoy reading Lisa Scottoline's Mary DiNunzio novels -not that I dislike her other books but Mary is a charming and extremely likeable heroine. Some part of me chimed in at that instant to comment ìToo nice to be a lawyer!î but my conscious mind, in combination with my conscience, immediately censored such an uncharitable remark.
Mary is presented with a conundrum (that's a word indicating a puzzle, for the benefit of a friend of mine who mistook it for a two syllable similar sounding word with a far different meaning). Her father and friends of his, all Dean Martin fans, wish to sue a lady from a rival fan club, one devoted to Frank Sinatra. She must solve this problem but, in the meantime, is presented with a far graver one.
Trish Gambone, the leader of a team of Mean Girls -- girls who behaved objectionably toward Mary in high school--is in the office, seeking Mary's help. Trish has a boyfriend who knocks her around and she wants to get out of the relationship. She needs Mary to help her - but spurns Mary's suggestions. Not only that, when Trish identifies the abuser, Mary recognises him as someone with whom she had had a brief fling in high school. But then both Trish and her boyfriend disappear and, shortly after, the drug dealing boyfriend's corpse is discovered. But where is Trish and is she still alive?
Mary, of course, feels it is incumbent upon her to investigate but she fails to take into account the effect the Mean Girls would have on her detective friend, so that she is shut out of the official investigation.
Mary puts herself in harm's way on every possible occasion. Mind, there is always the possibility that her love life might take a turn for the better, but she needs to stay in the land of the living in order to enjoy any up-turn!
Scottoline always portrays a wonderfully warm community feeling in her DiNunzio books. One could almost wish to be an Italian American, if those people are just as the author portrays them. Mind, the legal community is portrayed rather differently and Mary certainly faces difficulties in her job during this adventure.
Quite obviously, the author does a wonderful job in her portrayal of a warm (if not too bright) community of elders as well as Mary's best friend (what on earth does BFF stand for?) Judy. Mary's parents are a delight and her father isn't quite the nincompoop that, at times, he seems.
Perhaps Mary's attempts on her client's behalf might strain belief just
that tiny bit. Quite frankly, I can't see any lawyer I have hired putting
her life on the line, as Mary seems to do on behalf of her clients, but
any stretching of the imagination in that area is more than made up for
by the warmth and credibility of the characterisations.
WILLOWS FOR WEEPING
by Felicity Pulman
ISBN 9781741662504
315 pages
RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA
March
3 2008
$17.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February
21 2008
When one has just emerged from a world of adult cannibalism, what could be nicer than to immerse oneself in a young adult universe where, while there are mysteries and guile proliferating, a certain innocence prevails?
The reader, if he or she has not read the previous Janna mysteries (and I had not) is introduced to Janna as a small band of pilgrims passes through the town of Wiltune. Some of Janna's character traits are established when she sees a man, a moneyer, being punished. She knows that she would be able to use her knowledge as a healer to ease the miscreant's pain but caution prevails, so she proceeds, albeit with regret since she doesn't like to see a fellow creature suffer.
Janna, having survived the murder of her mother, is attempting to locate her father, who is probably ignorant of her existence. She has spent a year with the nuns of Wiltune Abbey so that she is no longer illiterate, a fact that plays a part in her search, since she is able, eventually, to read a mysterious letter found with a corpse.
The band of pilgrims journey through Stonehenge, where Janna has a frightening vision, one which discloses to her the murderous nature of the people who used to worship there. Juliana, the mother of the leader of the band of pilgrims, accuses Janna of having Death stalk her and that certainly comes true when one of their number is killed.
Ralph, an apparent nobleman, joins the party and vows to help Janna locate her father. He has knowledge of the emblem she carries on a ring. He also provides a romantic interest for the girl as she seeks justice for her mother's death as well as knowledge of her father.
This is a delightful tale. There is enough mystery and double dealing to keep youngsters enthralled while there is no doubt that the author has a real knowledge of the time about which she writes.
The author has ensured that, with the introduction of a romantic interest, she has both girl and boy readers in mind in order to keep both sexes adequately amused.
For those readers of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels, it might be of interest to note that the time is contemporaneous with that religious' adventures. Cadfael, too, had his life affected, albeit in a minor way, in the war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda (or Maud.)
If you are a parent who would like your child to take an interest in
mediaeval history, you could certainly do worse than buy for them the Janna
adventures. I know I would certainly enjoy discovering how the girl's quest
ends!
A VENGEFUL LONGING
by R N Morris
ISBN 9780571232529
317 pages
faber and faber
March 13 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 3 2008
Porfiry Petrovich, already rescued from Doestoevskyish oblivion by R N Morris, in A GENTLE AXE, returns to historic St Petersburg. Accompanying Porfiry from the earlier book are one time suspect Virginsky and the brutal Salytov.
It is June 1868. St. Petersburg swelters in the summer heat. Not only does the heat assail the residents but the smell from the waterway known as the Ditch adds to the discomfort. The Meyer family, in their rented dacha, are not immune from unpleasantness, as is evident when Raisa and her son Grisha fall victim to poisoned chocolates. Dr. Meyer, obviously dissatisfied with both wife and child, purchases chocolates for his family every week. Only this latest box proves to be an instrument of murder, but is it possible that Meyer could adopt such a blatant solution to the problem of his imperfect family? Porfiry Petrovich, together with novice investigating magistrate Virginsky, attempt to uncover the identity of the murderer.
Dr. Meyer proclaims his innocence but there is the small doubt of the time he took to come to the servant, Polina's, aid when she screamed upon Raisa and Grisha falling ill.
Naturally, the case must expand beyond the obvious suspect and Porfiry's cause him to despatch Lieutenant Salytov to the confectioner's. Salytov, being Salytov, immediately finds a suspect, one who is probably also involved in sedition.
It is not long before there is another corpse. This time, there is the possibility that someone's honour is involved.
Morris is adept at establishing atmosphere-a very handy knack for a novelist. The reader is quite likely to find the St Petersburg atmosphere quite claustrophobic. The threat of cholera, too, is an ever present threat throughout the book.
Given the historic context of the book and, of course, the fact that most readers would be unfamiliar (Dostoevsky notwithstanding) with the Russia of that era, Morris has written an excellent mystery and one guaranteed to baffle to reader as well as the investigating magistrates. The insight given to his readers by Morris into the Russia of the day is convincing, as he plunges his protagonist into one unpleasant situation after another.
I would say that the author has well and truly found his footing in
historic fiction and is likely to acquire even more readers with this polished
opus.
PRECIOUS BLOOD
by Jonathan Hayes
ISBN 9781846054235
383 pages
March 3 2008
Century.London
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
It must be the season for artistic gore and ambitiously inventive murders. Strange how one can go for weeks at a time without books that are more than mildly blood curdling, but then there is an outbreak of ever more hair raising fictional crimes to enhance one's midnight hours. I dare any reader to consume PRECIOUS BLOOD, genuinely read it and try to imagine the scenes, and not come over all queasy like.
Forensic pathologist Edward Jenner has gone into private practice following the trauma of post 9/11, from which he suffered even more than the average New Yorker, since his professional occupation brought him into so much contact with the victims of that sad time. He was discharged from his job with the medical examiner's office by pompous, self-important, deputy chief medical examiner Steve Whittaker who resents Jenner for the best of reasons - he knows Jenner is better at his job than his superior.
Jenner is called in to work on a case by the father of a murdered girl. The girl, Andie, has been affixed to a wall in her apartment and variously tortured. Her flatmate, Ana, is missing - until she turns up in Jenner's loft apartment, seeking his help and protection. She is terrified because she saw her friend's assailant and was threatened by him. She is unwilling to talk to the police because the murderer was, before he stripped naked in order to enjoy the blood of his victim to the utmost, dressed as a policeman. What if the police send him to investigate the crime he has, himself, committed?
It soon becomes obvious to Jenner that Andie is but one of a series of victims, but what is the link that connects them and is there a danger that there may be more victims?
It doesn't take long for Jenner to become bound up in the case, as much for Ana's safety's sake as for his own professional pride.
The villain makes another snatch and Jenner realises both the link and the proposed fate of the kidnapee. He is forced to travel across the country as well as back in time to try to find a solution to his own and the victim's plight.
ìTaut and chillingî are the words the publisher uses to advertise this book - and I am inclined to agree with them. It's not often, given the scope of my reading, that I find a book has the power to penetrate my dreams, but forensic pathologist Hayes managed the trick. I found myself picturing the poor, crucified victim in my sleep, an experience I do not particularly wish to repeat!
The characterisation is more than adequate. I found myself to be in total sympathy with Jenner as he seeks to overcome the trauma he experienced as well as protect the slightly foolish, fearful Ana as she attempts to stay out of the clutches of the malefactor.
For my own comfort, I just wish Hayes descriptions of the crime scenes
were not quite as graphic and compelling as they are!
OPEN FILE
by Peter Corris
ISBN 9781741754179
295 pages
ALLEN & UNWIN
March 1 2008
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 4 2008
OPEN FILE will no doubt give those who love Cliff Hardy reason to hope. Trouble prone Cliff now has a lifetime ban on his private investigation career, so it is reasonable to assume his future is, well, clueless, but thanks to the miracle of human memory (as opposed to that belonging to computers) Corris has mined the interstices of the past to present the devoted public with another Hardy adventure. Where there has been one exhumation, perhaps there is hope of more, although the author seems to have stamped Hardy's career with a certain finality.
Cliff isn't too badly off, thanks to Lily's posthumous beneficence - well he is able to afford Business Class on his imminent journey, something not usually falling to the lot of the common reader. Cliff is sorting through his stuff, prior to taking off, and is deciding what to stash in his home (could this possibly be the source of future past adventures?) He comes across a file labelled ìHampshire Openî with the date 1988 and this prompts him to sink into memories of the past.
In 1987, Cliff is approached by Paul Hampshire, who represents himself as a military man. He has brought up his son, for as long as he had contact with him, with the notion that he was the latest edition of a heroic soldier and was destined to fulfil a wonderful army potential. The only trouble is that Justin Hampshire has disappeared. Even in 1987 the case was, at best, tepid as Justin had disappeared two years previously. His adoring father was, at the time, in the US and didn't know how much of his former wife's claims to believe. Hampshire is not particularly concerned about Sarah, his putative daughter. Twenty years ago DNA tests were not as readily available as they are today.
Cliff takes the case but things are very far from being as simple as they had first seemed. Perhaps Justin had a need to carve a path for himself outside the inflated image of his family's martial extravaganza.
As always, Corris tells a pretty good tale. Cliff, as usual, finds himself in some hairy situations but I didn't think they were quite as perilous as some places in which he had found himself in recent adventures.
As to characterisation, perhaps the author relies on the reader being very familiar with Cliff Hardy so that a minimum of time is spent on his antecedents. Nonetheless, one does tend to care just what is likely to happen to the investigator - for all that we know the worst has already happened in the future.
Cliff Hardy has been around for a long time now and his Sydney has charmed
(or possibly frightened) a good many readers. It would be a shame were
Corris to ditch both his character and Sydney in future adventures , perhaps
in favour of concentrating on a different series character. I guess all
faithful readers can do is keep all digits crossed and hope, with a great
deal of fervour, that the author decides to exhume his most popular character
and bestow on him yet more adventures.
HARUM SCARUM
by Felicity Young
ISBN 9781921361104
288 pages
Fremantle Press
April 7 2008
$22.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
25 February 2008
Stevie Hooper returns in this episode of the fiction of up and coming Australian author Felicity Young. Stevie is now equipped with a young daughter, child of her one time boss Monty McGuire. Her domestic situation may strike some people as odd (one of the characters likens it to a broken home) as she and Monty keep their own separate residences. No doubt many married couples would see the advantages of such an arrangement.
There is an emphasis on modern technology in this novel. Undoubtedly most crime fiction readers are familiar with fan websites and websites where people can communicate with one another via chatrooms or fora.
The prologue opens the book with an impromptu murder, after three people emerge from a car in a deserted spot. The prologue ends with the two survivors assuring each other that each knows the identity of the other.
Chapter One has Stevie and her colleague Natasha arresting a paedophile. Tash's tactics could well be seen as unorthodox but it is obvious that she feels strongly about those malefactors and sees nothing wrong with subjecting them to devices which might be outside police guidelines.
Monty is investigating the murder of a little girl. He thinks it possible that the killing was unintentional, that the murderer only wished to immobilise and silence the child, but the gagging made it impossible for a child suffering from a cold to breathe. Stella Webster, mother of the girl, inevitably blames herself for her daughter becoming a victim.
Miranda Breightling runs a modelling agency. She is nervous of men who hang around at the close of the day. What if they approach one of the girls who work as models?
Emma, Miranda's daughter, obviously has all the right instincts. She sponsors a child in Morocco for World Vision and does without lunch every school day, preferring to put the money she saves toward Josef's upbringing. Emma is also responsible for ongoing adventures of Katy Enigma, a child superhero who entertains the Net savvy children who daily visit her website. Emma, when called upon to babysit Izzy, Stevie's daughter, entertains the child with further tales of Katy Enigma.
Felicity Young has the happy knack of concentrating on topical issues. Anyone with even a slight knowledge of the Internet is aware of chatrooms. Anyone with even a slight knowledge of the kind of criminal preying on society is also aware of how paedophiles are liable to use the Internet in order to meet their targets. Young is to be congratulated for bringing this particular danger to the attention of aficionados of crime fiction who may be parents and may, therefore, be warned of the dangers which face kids. Kids, after all, are notorious for wishing to keep their private lives private from their parents so are quite likely to be enthusiastic about meeting a cyber-friend in real life.
As always, Young's characterisation is particularly well done. Emma is such a vivid character that she practically leaps from the pages. I would hazard a guess that the author had great fun in creating her.
The police procedures are, as ever, well researched and informative for those of her audience who don't have the same resources as she to investigate just what happens behind the scenes of news stories.
It's always good for an Australian crime fiction audience to be able to read novels set in familiar territory, although some American cities have, over the years, become very familiar territory indeed for some readers.
It was very gratifying to see an Australian publisher pick up this excellent
author rather than permitting her to remain with the British publisher
who published Young's first novel. One trusts that Fremantle Press doesn't
let this particular author slip through their fingers and into the hands
of perhaps larger overseas concerns.
THE MEDICI SECRET
by Michael White
ISBN 9781863256162
295 pages
BANTAM
March 3 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 12 2008
The action begins in Florence in 1966, when the city is engulfed in flood. Mario Sporani, the warden of the Medici Chapel hastens to check his charge and, while there, rescues a mysterious something from the turbulent waters threatening to engulf the site.
In the present day, Edie Granger is a scientist working with her uncle, Carlin MacKenzie, on the contents of the Medici Chapel despite the remonstrations of a group of protestors. Interestingly enough, Edie and her uncle have found evidence of bad relations (so to speak) within the Medici family, including proof positive of poisoning that had occurred half a millennium or so previously. It appears that all bad dealings can't be confined to history when Carlin dies. Before doing so, however, he leaves a message describing writing that has appeared on what has previously appeared to be a plain tablet. As is always the case, however, the memory of the telephone on which Carlin leaves the message truncates the message before it can be finished.
Jeff Martin is also in Venice. He is a friend of Visconte Roberto Armatovani, who admires the historian as well as his fourteen year-old daughter Rose. The two men are enjoying the evening when they are approached by Mario Sporani who wishes to add his voice to that of the protestors in requesting the work on the Medici Chapel be stopped. Sporani is deeply concerned for the safety of the team working on the Medici Chapel.
The action then retreats to 1410 and Cosimo de Medici. That worthy is not terribly happy to be told by his father that he is expected to embark on a tour of the family's banks. The instruction marks, virtually, the end of Cosimo's time as a carefree youth. Meanwhile, Cosimo decides he must embark on another, altogether different path.
And yes, the two stories do manage to marry up. I am having great difficulty in expressing this without including a spoiler or six! Suffice it that the reader is made privy to the Secret of the Medicis. Readers may well be extremely surprised - I know I was.
The author, in a lengthy afterword entitled ìThe Facts Behind The Fictionî presents the reader with a grab bag of items, including paragraphs about actual, historical figures whom he has employed within the novel. It is an interesting addendum and one which I felt was of equal or even greater import than the novel itself.
Obviously, this book is for those readers who have an interest in things
historical and does succeed in giving one to think.
THE EYE OF JADE
by Diane Wei Liang
ISBN 9780330424035
361 pages
PAN
March 3 2008
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
April 4 2008
Mei Wang has left her old job at the Ministry. She could have remained there, but at the price of prostituting herself, which she declined to do. Instead, she has set herself up as a private investigator-- but since that activity is illegal, she has registered herself as an ìinformation consultancyî (whatever that means!)
Mei is approached by a friend of the family, Uncle Chen. He tells Mei that a ceremonial bowl, a very valuable antique, has been sold in Hong Kong. The Luoyang museum had previously owned it, but the museum burned down and Chen feels that other items, especially one very valuable piece, might also turn up in Hong Kong, and he wants Mei to investigate, to be sure the jade seal does not leave Chinese soil.
Mei is the elder sister in her family. Despite this, her younger sister, Lu, is favoured by their mother, the artist Ling Bai. Lu is glamorous and a TV star. She has married well and is the wife of a wealthy, successful businessman. The girls have no father, as he was placed in a labour camp, where he eventually died.
As Mei attempts to investigate, but meets with a wall of studied ignorance, her pursuit is disrupted by a near tragic event. Her mother is felled by a stroke. Despite Mei proving beyond all doubt that the welfare of her mother is more important than anything in her own life, Lu continues to be the favoured child.
As Meiís knowledge of the past increases, she seems also to draw closer to a solution of the mystery of the missing antiques.
This is a delightful tale. Just as Donna Leonís Venice becomes remarkably familiar to her readers, so does Diane Wei Liangís Beijing become far less foreign to her readers. The city takes on a life of its own -- as does the historical aspect of both the Long March and the Cultural Revolution.
The authorís prose is charming. It lacks the savagery of a lot of contemporary Western literature. The story of Meiís absorption in family matters is equally as interesting as the mystery of the missing antiques.
The characterisations in the tale are excellent. The reader may well come to feel that Oriental inscrutability is, perhaps, a trifle more scrutable, by the conclusion of the story.
The author really shines in her descriptions. I found myself salivating at her frequent mentions of Chinese food, to the extent that I had to ask my husband to accompany me to a local Chinese eatery, after I finished the book.
For anyone ignorant of the history of China, this book is a valuable
aid to understanding. The mention of Chinese antiques, too, is very interesting
and could well prove a guide to any ignorant Westerner seeking to collect
something well worth having.
PAPER BUTTERFLY
by Diane Wei Lang
ISBN 9780330423564
248 pages
MACMILLAN
March 1 2008
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
April 5 2008
The prologue is set in a labour camp in 1989. Lin, formerly a college student, has not got used to the ways of imprisonment and the fact that a guard can single him out and perform any cruelty he chooses upon the prisonerís person. The ideals of the Chinese bureaucrats are such that a mother is charged the price of the bullet used to execute her son.
Part One sees Mei, her mother Ling Bai and her sister Lu watching the preparations for Chinese New Year. Mei, having discovered the truth about the death of her father, is now emotionally estranged from her mother.
Mei is hired by Mr Peng, the entrepreneur. Kaili, their newest star, has disappeared and her employer wants to hire Mei to find her.
Mei begins her investigations and searches through Kailiís dressing room for clues, since it was from there that Kaili had disappeared four days previously. When Mei is about to investigate Kailiís apartment, she encounterís Mr Pengís assistant emerging from there. Ostensibly, she had been in the place to look for threatening, anonymous letters that she herself, being jealous, had sent the actress. Mei discovers that the letters the woman carries are, instead, love letters sent to Kaili by someone signing himself ìLî. Mei, of course, has not yet heard of Lin, but he is the mysterious lover of Kaili who had once been a fellow student. In a scrapbook in the apartment, Mei finds the first of the beautifully wrought paper butterflies.
Not long after this, Kailiís body is found and Mei is enmeshed in a murder investigation.
As I said of the previous work, this is a nice, gentle mystery. Mind, some of the topics are very hard to take. From what I have read, in other sources, of the labour camps, they were atrocious places which people were very fortunate to survive. The author herself,as a child, was confined to one so no doubt she witnessed atrocities comparable to what she describes in her book.
The tale is constructed very well, with the climax being virtually inevitable.
The characterisations are carefully drawn. Mei is held somewhat in contempt by her sister and her mother, yet her success rests solely on the fact of her hard work, not because she, like her television star sister, is beautiful. She has a compassion that seems lacking, too, in her sister. She certainly breaks through the normal boundaries, as well. There she is, a woman running a (illegal) detective agency and having a male assistant, to boot.
As in the previous mystery, the city of Beijing is the real protagonist of the tale. The attitudes of the people, so different from Westernersí values, are well depicted and the individual characters come to life as one reads.
Certainly, the descriptions of food the people eat have again made me
very hungry!
I SAW YOU
by Julie Parsons
ISBN 9780333906996
354 pages
MACMILLAN
March 3 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 5 2008
The action opens with a rather horrible death. A man has his hands cuffed behind his back and has been without food and water for longer than he is able to count. He is in considerable pain and discomfort and the reader is left wondering what sort of monster could possibly do these things to another human being.
In July 2005, Michael McLoughlin is enjoying the summer but is incredulous that retirement has finally hit him. He has been a policeman for a long, long time but has, at least, lined up a job that is more pleasure than work, just for the summer.
Margaret Mitchell still mourns the death of her murdered daughter, Mary, years after the event. Since the murder, Margaret has lived in Queensland but now she has returned to Ireland and is occupying her house, having no rent paying tenant.
In a moment of expansiveness, enjoying the pleasure of the moment at retirement, Michael has promised a friend that he will look into the death of Marina Spencer, a girl who was found by the coroner to have committed suicide, but Marinaís mother, Sally, doesnít believe that is possible. Now Michael must face the consequence of his transient feeling of happiness and perform what he feels will be a brief job, but without the benefit of being part of an official investigation, complete with badge.
Unfortunately, the deaths donít finish with Marinaís and Michael finds himself investigating a cluster which, in the normal run of things, would be statistically unlikely.
One aspect of this novel, absent in so many books that narrate the doings of unofficial investigators, that I find realistic, is the way Michael is constantly being pulled up short by the fact that he is no longer a policeman and so no longer has the resources of the Guards on which to call. He is uncomfortable at pulling the wool over trusting eyes when it comes to his own out of date credentials.
When I arrived at the denouement, I was surprised to find myself holding my breath and itís a long time since I had to admit to anything like that when reading a book, thus, I have to give Parsons full marks for that aspect of the suspense.
Characterisation, too, was well done. I can imagine the motivation of a newly retired policeman to continue investigating-- as well as the frustration of needing to use methods previously foreign to him. Similarly, the conviction of the mother of the dead girl that her child would not have taken her own life, is very plausible. The slightly forlorn, anxious to please Vanessa is beautifully depicted although at first I thought her to be much younger than she really is.
This is not a debut novel and it displays quite a lot of polish in its construction as well as its characterisation. On the whole, I can pronounce it a good, if somewhat claustrophobic read.