Pauline's Reading

Another author program led me to try three series set in Boston and its suburbs. The three authors are friends who began their series at about the same time. As they share a setting and time frame there are some similarities while the characters reflect the different personalities of the writers. Being Irish in Boston is a key element of each character. Each of the following is a quick read - in paperback, good beach fare.
A Trouble of Fools ( 1987), Linda Barnes -Pauline Kehoe
A Trouble of Fools, the first Carlotta Carlisle mystery, uncovers the activities surrounding the disappearance of a Boston cab driver. Carlotta is a former cob and cab driver turned PI. She is retained to find the cabbie , a member of a group called the "Old Geezers", all Irish Americans, members of the Gaelic Brotherhood Association and supporters of the IRA. Parallel plot lines involves a drug pusher selling crack cocaine at the middle school attended by Carlotta's "Little Sister" and the owner of the cab company, sexy Sam Gianelli (think Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and Joe Morelli).
Death at Charity Point (1984), William Tapply -Pauline Kehoe
Death at Charity Point is the first mystery featuring Boston attorney to the wealthy Brady Coyne. Brady is requested to investigate the "suicide" of the surviving son of one of his clients. Although not a sleuth (and therefore both lazy and amateurish in his investigation) he stumbles on some research that leads him to Vietnam War radicals, and staff of the private school at which the victim taught. A second death, this time a student, results in the medical examiner questioning his verdict of suicide and provides Brady with a new focus for the evidence he has gathered.
Blunt Darts (1984), Jeremiah Healey -Pauline Kehoe
Blunt Darts is the first John Francis Cuddy, PI mystery. Cuddy, former military police and insurance investigator is hired to find the missing son of a suburban district court judge. The boy is brilliant but troubled, the well known firm hired by the judge to find his son has done little investigating, and the judge warns Cuddy off the case. It seems there is a mystery surrounding the family, the judge's wife was killed in an automobile accident (or was she), his brother died a hero in Vietnam (or was he). As we have seen, one book leads to another, hence the popularity of read a-likes. Or you may find yourself growing tired of an author's primary series and want to follow another path they have taken.
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When Red is Black (2004), Xiaolong Qiu -Pauline Kehoe

In this third mystery, Chen takes leave to earn extra income translating a building plan for a major Shanghai urban renewal project for a wealthy friend. Capitalism is gaining a foothold in Shanghai, and projects of this nature are now encouraged. The murder of a controversial author, Yin Lige, occurs during this leave and Chen resists the demand that he forego his leave and return to help Yu solve the case. Yin Lige was also the lover of a noted poet and scholar who had fallen into disfavor during the Cultural Revolution. Chen is coming to terms with the conflict between his senses of duty and right. He assists Yu from the sidelines, uses his connections to get Yu a better housing accommodation and resists the lure of the "silent secretary" provided to help him with his translation.

I hope Qiu has another series entry in the works.

A Loyal Character Dancer (2002), Xiaolong Qiu
	The second Inspector Chen novel finds Chen (because of his facility with English) assigned to escort a U.S. Marshall in Shanghai to take a Chinese national (named Wen ) back to the US as a witness for an American trial. Chen would rather be solving the murder that took place in Bund Park, and when Wen disappears it appears he will get his wish.

The Death of a Red Heroine (2000), Xiaolong Qiu
	This debut novel won the Anthony Award. Chen, an up and coming Communist Party member, is assigned to the special case squad (think Adam Dalgliesh in London) to handle politically sensitive cases. His first assignment is to investigate the mysterious death (murder) of a National Model Worker. Chen is college educated, writes mysteries on the side and has a good command of English. He struggles to reconcile his duty to the Party with his duty to the law and to his fellow men. The Communist history of China is an important part of the story: Mao and the Cultural Revolution, the treatment of "educated youth" impact all of the characters and life in their Shanghai. "Bourgeois capitalist decadence" is blamed for the death of the Model Worker, but how high does it go?
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Concourse (1995), S. J. Rozan

The second Lydia Chin/ Bill Smith mystery. Smith is asked to go undercover as a security guard in a Bronx nursing home to investigate the murder of one of the night guards. The home is an island in gang territory, the murder is thought to be the work of the local gang leader. Two subsequent murders convince Smith that the police are on the wrong track. Add a smooth local politician, a well intentioned by cynical philanthropist, a pair of sharp by physically challenged residents and Lydia on the outside and you have a compelling read.

Rozan is a literate mystery writer who tackles social issues as a matter of course in her stories. Gangs feature largely in her writing, as they do in the street life of New York City, her milieu. At the talk in Buffalo (she attended SUNY Buffalo) she was asked who she read. She offered a Chinese American mystery writer Qiu, Xiaolong, who has a series set in contemporary Shanghai featuring Chief Inspector Chen and his sergeant Yu Guangming.

Absent Friends (2004), S. J. Rozan
	9/11 provides the backdrop for this tale of a group of friends from Staten Island, now adults, whose lives were changed by the events of a particular night when they were teenagers. When one of the friends, a decorated fire fighter, is killed in the attack, the spotlight focused on his life uncovers the events that altered the course of all their lives. The attraction for me was the setting - there aren't many novels set on Staten Island. It was a treat that Melanie Griffith lived there in Working Girl. The second attraction was an upcoming author program with S. J. Rozan, architect turned mystery writer. Rozan is best known for her Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series told in the alternating voices of the two Pis.
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The Book Borrower, by Alice Mattison (2003)

Story of the long friendship between two very different women over the course of their adult lives. The friendship began with the lending of a book, and the subject of that book serves as a subplot to the relationship between Toby and Deborah. Explores the nature of friendship and the definition of family. If you like more character development than action, this is for you. It was a compelling listen.

Murder at Madingley Grange, by Caroline Graham (1991)
	A spoof on the English Country House Murder Mystery, in which a brother and sister, heirs presumptive of wealthy Aunt Maude, stage a murder mystery weekend when Aunt Maude goes off on a trip. Upper class snobbery, budding romance and a 1930's setting make this a light weight romp.

Flight, by Jan Burke (2001)
	An installment in the Irene Kelly series, this volume centers on Irene's husband Frank Harrison who is assigned a cold case murder close to the nerve center of the Los Piernas Police Department. Top detective Phillpe Lefebreve died 10 years earlier, while investigating the case and Frank's friends and partner are reluctant to support him in his efforts to salvage a reputation he believes was wrongly tarnished.
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The Italian Secretary, by Caleb Carr (2005)
	Sherlock Holmes is assigned by brother Mycroft to resolve a series of grisly murders at Holyrood House (the palace of Mary, Queen of Scots). Ghosts? Political assassins? Carr as Conan Doyle is a real treat.

Cat's Eye, by Margaret Atwood (1988)
	While "home" for a retrospective of her paintings, painter Elaine Risley revisits her coming of age in Toronto - and the horror that was her relationship with her three "best friends." Girls' inhumanity to girls.

Field of Blood, by Denise Mina (2005)
	Glasgow copy girl Paddy Meehan solves a murder to save her fiancé's cousin - and herself. Blue collar, early 20th century Glasgow is a foreign culture indeed. The unsettling glimpse of another way of life is perhaps more memorable than the mystery.
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Dearly Devoted Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay (2005)
	If you like mysteries (thrillers?) dripping with black humor, this series is for you. Dexter, a blood spatter expert for the Miami police, is a serial killer of serial killers who prey on children. In his second outing, he is enlisted to help stop a counter intelligence torturer from dismembering the remaining members of an intelligence unit which had operated in El Salvador. Mock-human Dexter finds himself struggling with human entanglements, reflecting on "freedom" as he is enlisted to aide the Miami cop who is aware of his inner "dark passenger." This is probably a better read than listen. Dexter's inner monologues get a bit tiring: if your're reading (I listened) you can skim. Still, a different take on crime fiction that leaves you wondering about the "good guys."
Also available on Audio CD

Belle Ruin, by Martha Grimes (2005)
	Grimes, well known for her Richard Jury series, is into her third book about 12 year old Emma Graham and the environs of the Hotel Paradise. In writing a series of newspaper articles about her near death experience while investing the 20-year-old murder of Rose Devereaux, she stumbles upon another mystery in the unsolved kidnaping of baby Fay Stipes (whose father was the half brother of Rose Devereaux) from the Belle Rouen - a hotel now only a charred ruin. A subplot devoted to a production of Medea: the musical in which Emma plays the Deus Machina offers a hilarious counterpoint to Emma's perceptions of the events of 20 years ago.
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The Mermaids Singing, Wire in the Blood, by Val McDermid (1996, 2002)
	Having watched (on video) several episodes of the British crime series Wire in the Blood, about psychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Inspector Carol Jordan, I wanted to read some of the books to see how they compare. Neither the videos, nor the books are for the faint of heart. But the moral dilemma of Tony Hill, whose success as a profiler is his ability to relate to the serial killers he asked to identify, and his rapport with straight talking DI Jordan take the series into the heart of police work.
Mermaids Singing also available on DVD

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