Review: Passage from Nuala

Passage from Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quite fond of Shanti and Jane--Inspector de Silva, a police inspector of Ceylon and his British wife. It is 1930's and the island is under British rule--it is sometimes hard for me to believe how far into the 20th Century European colonialism extended. But in this installment the de Silva's are away from home, at sea as a matter of fact. Shanti has purchased tickets for them to cruise though the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean and Egypt to see the Pyramids.

Unfortunately, though they are on vacation, as is his boss's boss, Sir William Petrie and his wife, Lady Caroline. murder never seems to take a vacation. Though the two couples do get a chance to socialize a bit in Cabin Class, the elegant expensive level in which the Petries are traveling, it is not long into the trip that a less than charming gossip columnists is found dead in his cabin. As the only two official government representatives aboard the two men find they are in charge of determining the ID of the murderer. Being at sea, there is no chance of escape, however, if the guilty party is not found before they reach Port Said on the Med, the chances of escape will increase.

Though there seem to be no viable suspects, the other passengers on the victim's corridor must be interrogated. This is a thorny situation since the murder took place among the affluent Cabin Class travelers. DiSilva and Jane are traveling Tourist Class but with his credentials he is able to move freely on a deck that would normally be closed to him. Jane, too, gets to enjoy its luxuries, since she and Lady Caroline have hit it off and manage lunch and deck strolls. Soon, however, even these social lulls become less frequent when the crooner at the evening gatherings is found dead in a supply closet!

Are the murders related? The men seem to have nothing in common nor do they seem to have been particularly friendly. Nor, do any of the passengers or crew have connection to either man. Not until the boat docks in Port Said is the mystery resolved. In the meantime, the cruise, the moonlight at night on a dark blue sea, the luxurious food and dress and the romantic dancing to a lovely orchestra keep the reader relaxed and curious in equal measure. And, in the end, jane and di Silva reach the Pyramids atop some rather interesting four-legged beasts.

( I have pictures of my Dad in the 20's in the same place atop one, too. The traditional USN Mediterranean cruise! And pix of Port Said etc as well. ) It was particularly interesting to enter the Med by way of the Canal instead of through Gibralter which my father described in detail.'

Looking forward to the next case when Shanti and Jane return to Ceylon.

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Review: Down the Hatch

Down the Hatch by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A review of an ARC provided by Goodreads for that purpose.

If you have not seen any of the TV programs based on Agatha Raisin, do not watch them. While I enjoyed this book with the slightly madcap sleuth, her ex-husband, James and the rest of the characters, it was very annoying to imagine them as the actors who play them, particularly since I am not fond of the blonde in the shows.

The story is very light, Agatha is very vain and self-centered, the murders are interesting and the solutions satisfying. Not very challenging but a nice read if you don't want to think too much and don't find the characters too one-dimensional. Don't get me wrong, many are fans of the series and it is fun, just not my cup of tea.

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Review: Down the Hatch

Down the Hatch by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Murder on the Oxford Canal

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A female cop of a certain age, with years of experience, finds herself living on a canal boat and hating it. Her deceased husband, also a cop and dirty, has left her, though getting a divorce, as a person of interest to the British version of IA. Was she complicit in his nefarious and money making side business? She is still on active duty and her cohorts, but for DI Ross do not for a moment think she is dirty. Still, she is given a murder to solve but once it appears to be part of a drug seller's action, she is made subordinate to a guy and ladies' man who is also making the moves on her young Sgt. The young DC in her group has a crush on her, though she seems unaware of this. One of the IA guys also seems interested and she finds herself attracted to the lead Vice investigator. Despite all these undercurrents, along with competition for advancement, Hilary Greene seems able to follow leads and eventually assist in a drug raid and also at long last determine who murdered the dead guy found mutilated in the Oxford Canal.

A fast read with a likeable DI who stays calm and sassy as she goes about the business of solving crime. I think I'll read some more, especially since the author makes her character a fan of James Burke's mysteries, as I am!

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Review: The Bat

The Bat by Jo Nesbø
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alcoholic Norwegian police officer, Harry Hole, is sent to Sydney to observe the investigation into the murder of a young Norwegian girl. He pairs up with an Aborigine detective, Andrew Kensington, a former boxer. From Andrew, Harry Holy, as the Aussie's call him, learns the folk tales of the Indigenous people, including an origin story very similar to the Garden of Eden tale of Christians. He also learns of the treatment of the Native people by the European settlers and their descendents--also similar to the experience of others throughout the world.

As the investigation proceeds Harry becomes very familiar with an area of Sydney that is definitely seedy and the underbelly with its motley assortment of denizens. It also becomes evident that the girl's murderer is a serial killer with a preference for blondes and a wide area of predation. Many red herrings and false leads as well as the revelation that Harry isn't very fond of American cinema, in time, leads to the identification and apprehension, of a sort , of the perp.

In this first of a series, the character of Hole, with all its flaws is fully developed. He's likeable, intelligent, driven and terribly sad--he'd be awfully wearing if anyone spent too long in his presence but Harry is a rolling stone so he probably moves on before that happens. The cast of characters surrounding him are varied and interesting, too. All in all, a good book even if his binges are too long and drag the story out too much.

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Review: Pray for Silence

Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in the rural Amish farmland of Ohio, this murder mystery is horrendous in its depiction of the slaughter of a family of seven, including five children, one a toddler. For Kate Burkholder, the Chief of Police and excommunicated Amish woman, it is particularly emotionally devastating. Both teen girls have been viciously tortured and disemboweled. One of them has had her uterus removed and is not found. As the story unfolds, the similarities between Kate's life as a young Amish girl and that of this girl, Mary Planck almost destroy Kate. Without any evidence and with no immediate leads, Kate and her team, outsiders to the community, find it very difficult to get any information from the other farm families of the area. Who could want to so savagely destroy a quiet family with no obvious enemies in this small Ohio town? The search for answers is engrossing and the revelations almost worse than the crime scene itself.

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Review: Murder on Pleasant Avenue

Murder on Pleasant Avenue by Victoria Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Victoria Thompson brings turn of the century NYC to life. This installment takes the reader to Italian Harlem-- how I wish my Mom were still here to fill me in on this neighborhood. I only knew of Black Harlem and Little Italy as locations but never of a large Italian presence in the Harlem area. As to the prejudice against Italians--oh, yes, I knew of that for even in my family there was displeasure when one of my aunts married an Italian fella. But, as can be seen in this story the bias moved in both directions--Gino's family is not thrilled that his " possible" love interest is neither Italian nor Catholic--a double whammy against our Maeve.

This over-riding bias and lack of trust among the Italian community for any outside it play a major role in the search for the murderer of the leader of the Black Hands and the subsequent murder of his wife. It would appear that the Black Hand group has been making money by kidnapping women and children of wealthy Italians for ransom. When the boss, Nunzio Esposito, is found stabbed to death in a flat he'd rented for his mistress, it is assumed the murderer might have taken revenge for this and/or other unjust demands, such as protection money, from the folks of Italian Harlem. Unfortunately, since Gino Donatelli was found in the flat with the dead body shortly after the murder, the police were happy to arrest him, despite his being a former policeman himself.

Malloy gets Gino out on bail and hidden away from the Black Hand. They might want to kill him out of revenge--a vendetta--or perhaps kill him so that the police will consider the murder solved and not go looking for any other possible perp--not that the police ever get very active investigating any crime involving the Italians! Stiil, Malloy, Sarah and Maeve all get involved in finding out what exactly is going on and who is truly responsible. With Gino in danger Maeve is forced to look a bit closer at what she wants from her involvement with him. Many plots thicken as always in the gaslights of New York

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