Crocodile on the Sandbank

Crocodile on the Sandbank 

  - Elizabeth Peters

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It is very rare for me to abandon a book; of the 750+ books I have marked as read on Goodreads, this is only the 5th one to attain this dubious distinction. I found a recommendation for this on some of “best cozy mystery” lists, which I have been binge reading these this year. I also like history and read a bit of historical fiction, and have been fascinated by ancient civilizations, therefore a setting of Egypt was an incentive. So, I picked it up, only to abandon it after reading about one-third of it.

There is no mystery so far, though there are several other good cozy mysteries that are slow starters, it is a downside. The problem is that this is a cliched Victorian romance disguised as a mystery, which is evident early on, making it a very boring and predictable story.

I like spirited, independent women characters, and loved feminist ones in regency period in many of Georgette Heyer novels. However, Amelia Peabody is extremely unlikable, a smug do-good-er who excels at everything. I cannot reconcile myself to a supposedly intelligent, independent woman, calmly and continuously taking insults from the male lead, because she is swooning over what she considers his masculine charm and finds the conversation (i.e. little exchange they have between the insults) stimulating.

What completely put me off is that every reference to the natives describes them as uncivilized, lazy, dirty, cheats. They are considered way beneath the Europeans, and the British are the most civilized and sophisticated lot (French are lazy while Italians are cheats). These stereotypes and racist attitudes may be what most British held at the time, but the way this is presented in this 70s book makes me wonder if the author (who can be considered as a representative of the society she lives in) holds these views herself. Being a citizen of a country that was once colonized, it is particularly offensive to see authors asserting the superiority of European powers over the once-prosperous civilizations that they colonized and destroyed.

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches 

  - Alan Bradley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have fairly enjoyed the series so far, with its young, precocious (or rather genius) young sleuth. I am amused by her grand schemes, particularly of revenge on her sisters, which often come to nothing; as well as her unabashed sense of superior intelligence. In fact it is these quirks that make her likeable, they indicate a child's innocence despite the sharp brains; without these she would just be a stuck up snob. It is also refreshing to see a female amateur sleuth, however young, who is resourceful, intelligent and is able to get herself out of sticky situations, and does not often need to be rescued by the male leads.

Yet, the series seems to be losing steam now, with a huge build up ending up in a not-so-grand conclusion, and more bizarre events and unexplained inferences. In this book specifically, the plot eventually seems rather thin, the villain a caricature, and a long list on loose threads.

Despite the obvious conclusion, it was still fast paced and suspenseful. It would have been a 3.5 star one for me, but for some of these big holes  .... 

*** SPOILERS ***

Unanswered questions :
- Who was the traitor that Harriet had gone after? It is not likely to be Lena, since Dr Kissing said it was one of their own, and Felicity said that Lena was not in Nide
- Why did they all go to meet Dr Kissing that morning? If Lena was a part of Nide, despite counter-indications, but Felicity suspected her, why was she allowed to join them?
- How is it possible that the officials would ship the body of such a crucial spy without even a cursory search ?
- Why did the Colonel say "It was I, Harriet"? It seemed to be of some significance but never explained
- How did Inspector Hewitt catch on to Lena?
- How did it happen that some characters who had been implicated in crimes in previous books, were present and free here?

Annoyances:
- It is inexplicable that for all her intelligence, Flavia believes that she can revive her mother. And even more so is the fact that, with her passion and stubbornness, she would so be easily thwarted by the coroner from Home Office. This was a paper-thin plot device to allow Flavia to discover her mother's will.
- Why make Lena so thoroughly obnoxious? A sneaky villain would never draw attention to himself/herself like this. It would have worked much better without the abominable behavior and just the suspicious actions

The Time of the Hunter's Moon

The Time of the Hunter's Moon 

  - Victoria Holt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

* Mild spoilers *

As far as the story and mystery part is concerned, it was as formulaic and simple as most of Victoria Holt novels, but entertaining nevertheless. My younger self might have found the sinister undertones intriguing, but now I seem to have become a seasoned veteran of mysteries, particularly cozy mysteries, and usually guess the villain in these by 50-60%, sometimes earlier. The long descriptions of the mundane activities of the school became very boring, and I skipped them after a while. She also tends to throw in a brief appearance from an alternate love interest, who is a really nice person but doesn't appeal to the heroine romantically.

What I could not digest was the heroine's attitude and attraction to the undoubtedly vile man who was the male lead. It is rather common in the books of this genre, set in this time period, for the naive young woman to fall for the much older man with a bad reputation (all the while finding an excuse for his past behavior and reforming him for future). In this book however, the said love interest goes a step further, and actually tries to rape her, and later tries (successfully?) to convince her that she had wanted it too and would have relished being intimate with him even in such circumstances. Even more disgusting was her feeling soft just because he didn't fulfill his intentions when she injured her arms trying to break the windows, finding references to this incident and his forceful attentions amusing, and eventually marrying him. In my view, endorsement of such behavior is even more reprehensible when coming from women authors.

It might have been a 2.5 star for the entertainment value, but had to pull down one star for repulsive behavior of the male lead, and the amused acceptance by the female lead.

The Mystery of the Ghost Train

The Mystery of the Ghost Train: A Three Investigators Novel

  - Thomas Hudson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The blurb of this book says:

In this Fan Fiction homage to the series of The Three Investigators, the final title, never published and the original manuscript never located, has been written based on the title only along with a specially-commissioned front cover. This may be entirely different from the direction the original author, Mary V. Carey, had in her mind, but is a complete mystery story written in the same tone as the rest of the series and the multiple authors responsible for having done that. 

I was very excited to chance upon this on Kindle Unlimited as The Three Investigators has been my first favorite mystery series, and continues to remain dear to me. However, this felt like a betrayal of my fond memories of the series which I have read many times in childhood, and still read once in a while.

The kid detectives, are suddenly 15 year olds. And joking about girlfriends and dates. Which never happened with the slightly younger boys in the original series. It may be natural for 15 year old boys, but it is not what I expected. Yet this is only a minor grouse.

Further, in the original series, Pete and Bob did not ditch their leader even when they disagreed with the risky action he planned to take. In here, there were at least a couple of occasions where they did so. There wasn't much of logical reasoning either, which was a significant feature of Jupe's character.

The biggest problem was the behavior of the boys. They are rude and disrespectful, particularly Jupiter. And he displays a terribly sexist attitude towards women. This really killed the book for me.

Death by Darjeeling

Death by Darjeeling 

  - Laura Childs

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have always loved murder mysteries, I grew up reading Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot mysteries, but the contemporary ones don't work for me because they almost invariably bank upon a psychopath. That is how I landed up with "cozy mystery" genre a year ago, and have explored quite a few series by now. Sad to say, they are entertaining and charming, but fall short on the mystery and crime-solving aspect.

 
This book is a good example of the books that don't make the cut for me. For one, this has too many similarities to the Hannah Swenson series I have just been reading. Cookie/coffee shop is replaced by tea shop, rescued pet cat by rescued pet dog, a love interest or two ... But the main problems are the story-telling and the story itself. The descriptions of the place, the process of tea brewing and the aspects of tea business are good. But the descriptions of characters are no great shakes- every so often a new character is introduced, and one paragraph describing their background/thoughts complete the "character development" ... it is abrupt, and becomes tedious, feels like an info dump. The mystery was underwhelming - I frankly guessed the murderer from the beginning, at the crime scene itself. The rest of the suspects just end up being random red herrings - the reasons for suspecting most of them are flimsy, and their so-called suspicious actions or thoughts are never clarified.

I will give another one or two in the series to see if they are any better, but wont hold my breath.

Murder is Binding [Booktown Mystery #1]

Murder is Binding [Booktown Mystery #1]

  - Lorna Barrett

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I have been exploring several cozy mystery series in the (increasingly futile) hope that I will find one that I would really like. After trying out 3 culinary mystery series, two of which I abandoned after the first book, I thought this one with books as the core theme would be tempting.

The first half was interesting, with the build up of small town/village environment, one that is resuscitated by tourism, by means of specialty bookstores (however unlikely it may seem). The second half grew dull due to the typical issues I have found with this genre ...
- the protagonist is unable to get information from others by herself and has to be helped out by a sister/friend who people just tell everything
- she is too generous despite strained finances (how do they manage to keep their businesses afloat?), but unlike her counterparts from other series who are sickly sweet, she is not quite likeable
- the mystery part is thin and the villain is clear by at most 50-60% into the book
- and worst of all, she goes about announcing her investigation and suspicions to everyone, in this case, a clearly antagonistic sheriff.

Further, if it was a literary mystery, why force recipes into it? Is that a trend in this genre, or the author wanted to have it all ?

Would have given a rating of 2, but added the half star because I still may read another one in the series, because I liked the setting even if I didn't particularly like the primary character.

The Unknown Ajax

The Unknown Ajax

  - Georgette Heyer

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Note: Review contains mild spoilers.

When I mentioned on my reading group that I have read Georgette Heyer for the first time, and enjoyed most of them, several enthusiastic fans recommended me to read this one.

I think it was different from the other books, which was a plus. The main protagonist was the hero, and it was a refreshing change to have one so likeable and genial (rather than a stiff, curt, older man of a bad reputation, that the heroes of this genre usually are). It was quite amusing the way Major Darracot deceived most of his family about himself, with only a couple of them realizing that he was not the simpleton they had expected, an impression which he proceeded to emphatically sustain. I also enjoyed the antics of some of the other characters, like the brothers Vincent and Claud, and especially their mother. However, unlike other Heyer novels, the heroine was not a very impressive character.

The story started off well enough in this entertaining manner, but that is almost all I can say in it's favor. For almost three-fourth of the book not much happens, except the natural family conflicts. The last one-fourth captures the only notable incident of the story, and is a complete comedy of errors. I would have found it extremely hilarious when I was much younger, but with the perception and sensitivity of age, I find certain things quite unacceptable - even taking into consideration the context of the times it is set in. The entire family comes together, abusing their social position, to not just deceive but grossly insult a police officer who is only doing his duty, and what makes it worse is that he happens to be right in his accusation but has to give in. The way the rich and titled, though idle, elite bully and harass hardworking people like these is utterly shameful. Even more so is the way they consider themselves to be above law or common courtesy. There is certainly nothing noble about the 'nobility'.

In this genre, a repetition of characterization and themes is rather expected, but I was peeved to find the author repeating same adjectives over and over again to describe the same character in the same book. Bovine countenances, muttonheads, twinkling eyes, glints in the eyes, had me fairly pulling off my hair.

Lone Fox Dancing: My Autobiography

Lone Fox Dancing: My Autobiography 

- Ruskin Bond

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the greatest regrets of my reading journey is not finding Ruskin Bond in my childhood. Where I grew up, I had very limited access to reading material beyond school library and Russian books from Mir and Raduga, and later on, my father's collection. So, even though I might have heard of Ruskin Bond during my student life, I didn't get to read one of his books until I moved to NCR for work. I fell in love with his writing, simple but delightful, and with a timeless charm. I keep on repeating myself, but I can't get over the fact that his writing makes me feel nostalgic for the times I haven't lived in, for the places I haven't been to.

I have read some of his 'Rusty' books, and also 'The Room on the Roof', which if not exactly semi-autobiographical, provide a glimpse into his early life. And I was very curious to know more about his life as a child, how and where he grew up, and how he came to spend his entire life in India. Therefore, when his autobiography came out, it went into me to-read list immediately. I purchased it a few months back, but I was in a sort of reading slump, so didn't pick it up until last week. But once I started reading it, I found it hard to put down ... it is not a keep-you-on-the-edge thriller, it is just so enchanting, that it pulls you in and keeps you there.

What I love most about his writing is, that it is simple, and the charm lies is what he tells you, and how he tells it. I don't know if anyone else has written in such a rich manner about the small hill towns ... that makes you feel that you are seeing it all with your own eyes, traveling those roads with him .... perhaps the only thing missing to make the experience complete is the cool pine-scented air. I loved his description of the life in early 1900's in the princely state of Jamnagar, in the hill towns of of Dehradoon and Shimla. He describes his troubled childhood with candor, also his grief at separation and loss of his father; it is heartbreaking, but because you feel empathy for that lonely child, not because he wallows in self-pity as he writes it. I also found a new insight into the lives of British people at the time of Indian Independence ... many of them also suffered - as usual, the poorest of them, who had spent all their lives in India, had rarely or never been to England, and now were left with no means and no country of their own. Through his words, you can see the changing life through almost a century, his own circumstances from privilege to poverty to struggle to well-deserved fame, the changing face of hill stations and the benefits as well as the cost of development.

He turned down the chance of a comfortable life in England, and quit a well-paying job in Delhi, to follow his dream. He remained a struggling writer for many decades, but the world is definitely richer for it.

On Regency Romance, Georgett Heyer, and Venetia

On reading Regency Romance, and Georgette Heyer in particular, and thoughts on 'Venetia'

 

After a binge of "cozy" murder mysteries since November, in the last couple of weeks I have been indulging in what is termed as regency romance. I revisited Victoria Holt, whose books I just loved in my late teens (the only books in the romance genre that I liked), but was disappointed in the two books I read in last few years. The current encounter was more satisfying - I liked 5 of the 6 I read, some of them quite a lot. And then I introduced myself to Georgette Heyer. I heard of her soon after college, but I had developed an impression that her books were similar to MBs (which I went into and grew out of during college). However, in last couple of years I saw numerous recommendations for her on my online reading group, and was convinced that I should give her a try.

The first Georgette Heyer I read was 'The Grand Sophy' - it was a laugh riot, and the wit and repartee was really entertaining. Then I read 'Fredrica' and loved it, and concluded that my earlier impression was quite misplaced. Her heroines were not simpering damsels in distress, but frank, cheerful, intelligent and independent - something of an anomaly in the times they were placed. I was encouraged to read more of her, and followed it up with 'Venetia'; this however I did not enjoy much.

I ended rating it 2 stars, though I might have given it 3 stars, had I not already read Fredrica, and read it just before Venetia. The plot of the two have too many similarities, far beyond the usual tropes of the books of this genre. Just like Fredrica, Venetia has lost her parents; the oldest brother who is supposed to be the guardian of his siblings is very selfish and absorbed in pursuits of his own pleasures, leaving the oldest sister to shoulder his responsibilities and thus get past the marriageable age and resign herself to spinsterhood. They are both cheerful, frank and very independent, and fulfill their obligations without reservations and with love and care. In comes the self-serving hero, who has earned himself a bad reputation regarding women. He is not just kind to our heroine, but belying all expectations, also takes care of her younger brother when he has been gravely injured. In the end, for me the only thing going here was the witty exchange of conversation between many characters, particularly Venetia.

In these times, it is difficult to reconcile oneself to the restrictive (for women, that is) social norms of 18th and 19th century, but there are things that strike a discordant note even in this context. In this book though, these notes assumed a much greater magnitude to become downright disturbing.

In their first encounter, Venetia is forcibly kissed by Damerel, and told that he thought she was a village maiden. For all inferences, she may have undergone a far worse fate had she really been a simple girl rather than a member of the nobility. Yet, she is only momentarily angered, and subsequently accepts it as a matter of fact - a natural tendency of men, considering it either a privilege or a weakness of their gender.

Damerel committed an unforgivable sin in his youth - eloping with a married woman - for which he was labelled as an immoral rake by the society, and shunned by his own family, which led him further down on the path of destruction. It was indeed unfortunate that he did not have appropriate guidance when he needed it, but I found it inexcusable on Venetia's part to assign the blame to the woman, his parents, his family (basically everyone except himself) for his continued reprehensible behavior.

*** SPOILER ***

We are told that his reputation is so far beyond redemption that marriage to him would destroy her own (how, and why does it matter?), so he chooses to ignore the deepest desire shared by them, and spurns her. So what does our calm and practical heroine do - instead of reasoning with him, she decides to ruin her reputation. And how does she do it? She finds that her mother is actually alive, was divorced by her father for having an affair (too much of coincidence here?), and is therefore a 'persona non grata' - never mind that she is married to that man for 15 years, and he is in the highest echelons of aristocracy. So, Venetia walks down a busy and fashionable street with her stepfather - and that is enough to send her into disrepute!! This all is so irrational, beyond my comprehension at least. 

*** END SPOILER ***

[
We are told that his reputation is so far beyond redemption that marriage to him would destroy her own (how, and why does it matter?), so he chooses to ignore the deepest desire shared by them, and spurns her. So what does our calm and practical heroine do - instead of reasoning with him, she decides to ruin her reputation. And how does she do it? She finds that her mother is actually alive, was divorced by her father for having an affair (too much of coincidence here?), and is therefore a 'persona non grata' - never mind that she is married to that man for 15 years, and he is in the highest echelons of aristocracy. So, Venetia walks down a busy and fashionable street with her stepfather - and that is enough to send her into disrepute!! This all is so irrational, beyond my comprehension at least.
(hide spoiler)]

Last but not the least, the book emphasizes the view that as long as a man treats his wife with consideration, she must ignore his philandering ways and even occasional violence. Surely a great foundation for a marriage!!

Overall, what I really felt that at the time of writing this book, Heyer had run out of ideas.