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.