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.