A Work in Progress

Mysteries with War Settings: A Thursday Thirteen

I recently mentioned that I could think of a handful of authors who set their mysteries in the years surrounding WWI.  To expand that a bit I wondered if I could come up with at least thirteen and include both WWI and WWII, since I like reading about both periods and in between as well.  Some of these are first novels in a mystery series and some of these I just happened upon on their own (though they may well be part of a series).  I think I am fairly evenly split between WWI and WWII, though it looks like male protagonists beat out their female counterparts.

1. Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear - Maisie Dobbs, private investigator and psychologist (and former WWI nurse)...one of my very favorite series! 
2. A Duty to the Dead, Charles Todd - Bess Crawford, WWI nurse, first book just recently released
3. Stratton's War, Laura Wilson - DCI Ted Stratton, London during the Blitz, supposedly heavy on atmosphere
4. Mark of the Lion, Suzanne Arruda - Jade Del Cameron, ambulance driver in WWI, mysteries set in Africa  
5. Test of Wills, Charles Todd - Inspector Ian Rutledge, veteran of the Great War
6. Carousel, J. Robert Janes - Jean-Louis Saint-Cyr of the French Surete and Capt. Hermann Kohler of the Gestapo, these novels are set in occupied France, interesting combination, eh?
7. No Graves as Yet, Anne Perry - Reverand Joseph Reavley, the story begins in Cambridge just before WWI
8. By a Slow River, Philippe Claudel - Novel/mystery by French author set in an unnamed village in 1917
9. Green for Danger, Christianna Brand - Inspector Cockrill, set in a military hospital during the Blitz, excellent classic mystery
10. Skeleton in the Grass, Robert Bernard- Mystery set in a country house prior to and during WWII
11. The Blood Dimmed Tide, Rennie Airth - Inspector Madden, mystery set in the English countryside between the wars
12. The Murdered House, Pierre Magnan - A story of murder and revenge set in Provence just after WWI
13. Consequences of Sin, Clare Langley-Hawthorne - Ursula Marlow, Edwardian murder mystery with a suffragette as sleuth, anxiously awaiting next book...     

I admit to cheating slightly on the last one, but I expect the author will soon catch up to WWI as the first novel is set in 1910.  I could have come up with more, but I listed those that were close at hand on my shelves.  England and France are usually the settings for these mysteries, but I wonder if there are any set in Italy or Germany and surely there must be some set in the U.S.  Who have I missed?  Any good suggestions? 

Simon's Ten Random Books Meme

Simon at Stuck in a Book tagged me for a Ten Random Books meme.  The rules:

1. Go to your bookshelves...
2. Close your eyes.  If you're feeling really committed, blindfold yourself. 
3. Select ten books at random.  Use more than one bookcase, if you have them, or piles by the bed, or...basically, wherever you keep books.
4.  Use the books to tell us about yourself - where and when you got them, who got them for your, what the book says about you, etc. etc....
5.  Have fun!  Be imaginative.  Doesn't matter if you've read them or not - be creative.  It might not be easy to start off with, and the links might be a little tenuous, but I think this is a fun way to do this sort of meme.
6.  Feel free to cheat a bit, if you need to...

So, in no particular order here goes.  I did close my eyes, but no blindfold was necessary.  And I grabbed from different places to get a variety.  I wonder what these books say about me...

Detective Inspector Huss, Helene Tursten.  I pulled this from my bookcase in my bedroom that has one full shelf of mysteries.  This one is set in Sweden.  I'm not sure when I bought it, but I expect it's part of my international crime/mystery phase.  Note--female author and female sleuth.  Very typical of me.  I also love the Soho Crime imprint.

The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James.  I really like the Modern Library editions and there was a time that I would only buy ML classics.  Now I am not so picky.  I've seen the movie, but Henry James in general scares me.  I read and loved Washington Square and enjoyed The Turn of a Screw.  Someday I am going to tackle this one.  I can't remember which Edith Wharton book it has been compared with (The Age of Innocence?), but I have wanted to read them close together to compare.  Wharton is far more accessible to me, by the way.

The Purity of Blood, Arturo Perez-Reverte.  This is the second Captain Alatriste adventure.  I've read the first, which is set in 17-century Spain.  I love swashbuckling stories.  Give me a novel with a little swordplay maybe a pirate or two and I'm happy.  I know that sounds weird, girl's probably aren't supposed to like those sorts of stories, but I love adventure stories.  And if you've never read Perez-Reverte I highly recommend him.  He writes very literate prose.  As a matter of fact I wonder how one man can know so much and incorporate it into his novels.  Maybe I won't put this one back on my shelves now that I have it out.  These are just run of the mill historical novels, but literary thrillers.

Marking Time, Elizabeth Jane Howard.  You might already know I love books set in England roughly between 1900-1950.  Well, other periods as well, but I tend to read a high percentage of books with this setting.  I've already read Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles years ago, a quartet of books that begin right before WWII and follow one extended family through the war years.  Actually I never got around to reading the last book, so last year I started at the beginning but never quite got around to the second book, which is Marking Time.  Maybe this year.  The books are roughly autobiographical and EJH is a marvelous writer.

Marie Blythe, Howard Frank Mosher. I've had this book for years and years.  I believe I bought it when I worked at an independent bookstores.  It's a book that whenever I look at it and read the description I think I really need to read this, it sounds so good.  The author has been compared to regional authors like Willa Cather and Wright Morris.  Marie Blythe is the protagonist living in Northern New England at the turn of the century.  It's a picaresque tale and Marie is a "truly memorable heroine".  See.  Doesn't that sound good?  Maybe I shouldn't put this one back yet either.

Milena: The Story of a Remarkable Friendship, Margerete Buber-Neumann.  I read this years ago.  I have quite a few books by Franz Kafka, though to be honest I've read little of his fiction.  It's his life that I've found so fascinating and I have a whole set of his letters.  Milena Jesenská and Kafka exchanged passionate letters, though the story of her own life is material enough for a book as you can see.  Unfortunately she died in a concentration camp but a close friend who was with her in the camp wrote this biography.  This sits on my shelf with all my Kafka books.

The Singing Sword, Jack Whyte.  This is one of a series of Arthurian books.  It tells a grittier story than many of the other Arthurian books out there.  I've yet to read any of these, but I think it's based very much on historical fact and not just myth.  The novels begin in Roman Britain just as the Romans were leaving.  A mix of historical fiction and adventure story!  

A Romantic Education, Patricial Hampl.  This is another book I read years ago, and I'm sorry to say it's pretty well faded from memory.  I do know that Hampl is from Minnesota and this is a travel narrative about her time in what was Czechoslovakia.  I believe I read this after I had lived in Austria and was very much into reading anything about that particular region.  Did you know Prague is farther west than Vienna is?  Prague is one of the most gorgeous cities I have ever seen (well, it's hard to choose in Europe as there are so many really lovely places).  Anyway, at the time (the early 1990s) I would have grabbed anything I could find on Vienna, Prague or Budapest.

The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro.  This was the first novel by Ishiguro that I had read.  I'm sure I discovered him when I was working at the bookstore and I knew from the start that he was an author who was something special.  Enough time has passed that I am sure I could read this again.  It is such an eloquent, elegant book.  The movie with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins is excellent, too.

The Moonlit Cage, Linda Holeman.  This is probably the most recent acquisition out of the group.  I lucked out and got this from Bookmooch and it even came from somewhere like Japan!  I don't usually request books from so far away as I hate to have someone pay international postage, but I do so on occasion.  Since I send my books anywhere I don't feel too guilty about it.  Holeman has written several books set in the Victorian period (I have her The Linnet Bird), and I think this might be a sequel.  You've probably already guessed it, I've not yet read it!  

So, what do you think?  Any surprises?  I think these books are pretty representative of me and my tastes.

I think I've used up all my energy on this post, so I won't tag anyone.  Please feel free to play along.  If you do, let me know so I can see your ten random books.

Teaser Tuesday: The Coral Thief

It may take me a while, but sooner or later I do get to those books I am constantly thinking and talking about.  I've checked out Rebecca Stott's The Coral Thief from the library several times, but it seems now is simply the right time to read it.  Paris in 1815 (warm, sunny Paris in July, too) is far more interesting than what I see outside my window today.  What I see is a sky filled with endless gray clouds and thick fog, which has unfortunately been going on for days and days.  Much better to escape into a novel, I think. 

The Coral Thief concerns a young student of natural history who is traveling to Paris after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.  After studying in Edinburgh he's thrilled to be going to such an exciting city to continue his research under the tutelage of the legendary Dr. Cuvier like so many other young men at the time.  However, he makes the mistake of falling asleep on the mail coach en route to Paris.  Sitting next to him is a beautiful young woman with a child who speaks perfect English and speaks to him of the new scientific thinking that's going on.  In the morning when he wakes he discovers his bag is missing.  His bag with all his notebooks, a manuscript, and rare coral fossils are gone.  And so is the beautiful young woman.  

"I tried to make out the full magnitude of what had happened.  Professor Jameson, I reminded myself, seeking to build bridges between British and French science now that the war was finally over, had entrusted me with gifts and a manuscript to take to professor Cuvier, probably the most important man of science in France.  The specimens and the manuscript were irreplaceable.  The loss was not only an embarrassment, it was a scandal.  This would almost certainly mean my return to the gray streets of Edinburgh, or to my father's house, shamed.  Even if I went to the police and could make myself understood, even if the specimens were found returned, the story would be the same: Daniel Connor had lost the rare and irreplaceable gifts entrusted to his care because he had dropped his guard and fallen asleep on the mail coach, seduced into a false sense of security by a beautiful woman.  It was pitiable."

How long do you think it will take until the beautiful young woman shows up again?  Not long at all I expect.

The Greatest Knight

If historical novels are anything to go by, and I expect authors try and paint a truthful portrait of whatever period in question, royal courts must have been extremely inhospitable places.  Cutthroat politics were the name of the game in Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight, which begins in 1167 and is set primarily in Henry II's court.  Turbulent doesn't even begin to describe the life and times the people lived then including real-life figure William Marshal, a name I hadn't come across previously, but who Chadwick calls "perhaps the greatest knight of the Middle Ages."  In this case it was a power struggle not between kings of rival countries (where one might hold another ransom by the way), but within one royal family--father against son and brother against brother and a queen who was locked away so she wouldn't cause trouble.  That would be Henry II's court, the first ruler of the House of Plantagenet.

According to the author's note at the end of the book William Marshal is well known amongst academics and enthusiasts of the period.  He was born into a minor aristocratic family but rose from "obscurity to become a champion of the tourneys, the confidant of kings, a great magnate, and eventually regent of England (saving the country from bankruptcy and an invading army at the same time)."  This is all known thanks to a narrative poem written shortly after his death, which was rediscovered in the 1890s.  The Greatest Knight covers the early part of William Marshal's life.  The book is based on known factual events, though Chadwick notes she does fill in a couple of gaps with what she imagines might have happened.  It's obvious William Marshal is a subject she has a great interest in and affection for.  He's represented in a highly complimentary light, which isn't really a criticism, but this is a book with a truly heroic hero.

Since the story spans nearly thirty tumultuous years only the most significant events are covered in great detail.  At first I was a little disappointed that the story seemed to be racing along, but Chadwick still was able to develop the characters and give a sense of what life was like while still telling her story in a way that didn't become too unwieldy.  William begins as an insignificant hearth knight, but it's soon obvious he's a talented one.  It's strange to think of men going into bloody battle (and yes, it does appear they used lances--why did that seem to me like something only from the movies?--you'll forgive me for my ignorance as the Middle Ages isn't my period), yet also being learned in courtly, Chivalric manners.  I've always had this image of men in the Middle Ages as being ill-mannered louts, very bad and incorrect of me I see.  Knights like Marshal would follow the tourneys in Normandy (they seem to have been outlawed or in any case not held in England at the time) for practice and more importantly money.  According to Chadwick tourney champions were like today's popular athletes--well paid and with large followings.  It would have taken serious money for a knight to keep a horse and all the military trappings that were necessary until he could attach himself to a particular household.

Because of his prowess on the battlefield William Marshal was taken in by the Henry II to train his sons.  He found himself championed by Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and became her lifelong friend and confident.  William Marshal is a man serious in his loyalties and when he swears fealty he follows through to the end.  It wasn't unknown at this time for a King to crown his oldest son and rule jointly, which is what Henry II did.  Referred to as Young Henry, William Marshal became one of and perhaps his most important knight.  Young Henry is portrayed as somewhat spoiled and a spendthrift, wanting more power than it seems he could handle.  William Marshal was in a precarious position trying to serve him yet also perhaps rein him in.  There was constant jockeying between Henry II, Young Henry and his two younger brothers, Richard and John.  It is a fine line of diplomacy that William Marshal must walk to stay on the right side of so many large egos.  But William Marshal is true and honest, which makes him a valuable commodity in an environment where most are out to save their own skins or simply profit from the royal coffers.      

Although this is all based on history, which you may already be familiar with, I'm not going to go any further into the plot.  Mostly there's just too much packed into this 500+ page book.  I will say that by the end William Marshal marries, and I believe that Chadwick goes more into the domestic side of his life in The Scarlet Lion, which covers the reigns of Richard and John.  William Marshal is a fascinating study not only because of who he was but the period he lived in and how he managed to rise in power.  It's hard writing about a real person who is also a fictional character, so forgive me if I've switched tenses all over in this post.  I should really only be talking about the book, but I like reading about and learning all the other factual stuff as well.  I'll be starting The Scarlet Lion soon and may even have to dig through my books and see if I have something on the Middle Ages.  I'm sure I have one or two on my shelves.  This is apparently Elizabeth Chadwick's period and I know she's written lots of novels, so I expect I'll be reading more of them.  Hopefully the rest will be as interesting and entertaining as this was!

Once a Tramp, Always . . .

Before the holidays I brought home a book of essays by M.F.K. Fisher.  Unfortunately that's one book I didn't get to, but I'm interested enough in it I might just be persuaded to buy a copy of my own sometime this year.  I was pleased to see she is included in The Art of the Personal Essay, so I'll get a taste of her writing after all.  She's best known for her writings on food, though she didn't consider herself a food writer.  She was quite prolific, too, as she wrote more than twenty books during her lifetime.  Lopate writes:

"Certainly food was her primary subject matter, and her achievement was to use this seemingly mundane concern as a metaphor for the analysis of human appetite, disappointment, and rapture."

Her essays are not chatty and confessional according to Lopate.  Her writing shows restraint yet can be "disarmingly and alarmingly honest."

Fisher may show restraint in her writing but she is not without humor.  In "Once a Tramp, Always . . ." she writes about gastronomical cravings and asserting control over them.  "There is a mistaken idea, ancient but still with us, that an overdose of anything from fornication to hot chocolate will teach restraint by the very results of its abuse."  She gives an example of a son caught by his father smoking who then has to smoke to the point of illness in order to teach him how to "smoke properly".  (Keeping in mind Fisher's dates are 1908-1992 and I'm guessing this essay was written sometime in the 1960s!).  People will smoke and drink according to their own needs, but good manners usually have to do with "innate taste than of outward training."  Cravings are something altogether different, and whether anyone can feel really and fully satiated either physically or spiritually.

"Somewhere between the extremes of putative training in self-control and unflagging discipline against wild cravings lie the sensual and voluptuous  gastronomical favorites-of-a-lifetime, the nostalgic yearnings for flavors once met in early days--the smell or taste of a gooseberry pie on a summer noon at Peachblow Farm, the whiff of anise from a Marseille bar.  Old or moderately young, of any sex, most of us can forgo the analyst's couch at will and call up some such flavors.  It is better thus.  Kept verbal, there is small danger of indigestion, and in truth a gooseberry pie can be a horror (those pale beady acid fruits, the sugar never masking their mean acidity, the crust sogging . . . and my father rhapsodized occasionally about the ones at Peachblow and we tried to recapture their magic for him, but it was impossible)."

Simply thinking or fantasizing about these cravings is enough, since there is no saturation point when the body screams-help!  For Fisher just knowing she can indulge in her favorites, potato chips and beluga caviar, is enough to stop her from doing so.  She goes on to talk about savoring these delicacies with a certain fondness recalling her first tastes.  

"I am a mouse amongst elephants now, but I can say just as surely that this minute, in a Northern California valley, I can taste-smell-hear-see and then feel between my teeth the potato chips I ate slowly one November afternoon in 1936, in the bar of the Lausanne Palace.  They were uneven  in both thickness and color, probably made by a new apprentice is the hotel kitchen, and almost surely they smelled faintly of either chicken or fish, for that was always the case there.  They were a little too salty, to encourage me to drink.  They were ineffable.  I am still nourished by them.  That is probably why I can be so firm about not eating my way through barrels, tunnels, mountains more of them here in the land where they hang like square cellophane fruit on wire trees in all the grocery stores, to tempt me sharply every time I pass."

It's not just pleasant former experiences with food that she thinks back on.  Sometimes the cravings are for the things she wasn't allowed.  Raised in a conservative house she laments the fact that she was never able to eat real mayonnaise.

"My maternal grandmother, whose Victorian neuroses dictated our family table tastes until I was about twelve, found salads generally suspect but would tolerate the occasional serving of some watery lettuce in a dish beside each plate(those crescents one still sees now and then in English and Swiss boardinghouses and mansions of American Anglophiles).  On it would be a dab or lump or blob, depending on the current cook, of what was quietly referred to as Boiled Dressing.  It seemed dreadful stuff--enough to harm one's soul."

Fisher was never quite able to match a recipe, or receipt as her grandmother would surely have called it, with what she and her family were subjected to eating.  In the end she decides that the contents didn't include all the things that make mayo such a pleasant thing to eat, like eggs, milk, sugar and mustard.  Rather her grandmother's had to consist of cider vinegar, enough flour to make a thin paste and salt to taste.  This, she says, is one recipe which has never been nor ever shall be tested!

By the way, the title of this essay  was inpsired by the Mark Twain book, Tramp Abroad.  In it he lists the foods he misses while he is on his travels, which consists of something like eighty items.  In that lists Fisher finds one unusual mention.  She finds she shares a natural affinity with Twain over it and reminisces over her one indulgence of it as a child.  I won't tell you what it is, as this is a wonderful essay that is well worth searching out, so you can find out for yourself!  Fisher writes in a clear, crisp and simple style and knows how to tell a good story.  I really like her "voice" and will definitely be looking for that missed book of essays and maybe some of her other work as well.  You can read more about her here.  

Library Loot

When it comes to library books I am far more willing to take chances on books or authors I know little or even nothing about--all I need is to have my curiosity piqued just a little bit.  However this week every book I checked out has come with careful consideration and I really do want to read all of them (famous last words).  And if I don't get a chance to read them it's likely I'll end up buying them for later.  This week's finds:

Becoming Jane Eyre, Sheila Kohler - I have a few of Kohler's earlier books on my wishlist at the moment.  The blurb calls it " a beautifully rendered tale of the Bronte sisters and the writing of Jane Eyre."

Havana Fever, Leonardo Padura - Yet another Bitter Lemon Press crime novel.  What I can't borrow I will have to start buying as I really do like international crime fiction.  This book is set in Cuba and retired police man, Mario Conde, now dabbles in antique books.  What an interesting combination.   

The Witch Doctor's Wife, Tamar Myers - I've never read this author before but she's already written lots of mysteries.  From what I've read she's really excelled with this one, which is set in the Congo.  Myers was born in raised in the Belgian Congo.  I am an admittedly very Euro-centric reader, and I want to try and broaden my reading horizons.  Although Myers now lives in the US, I am hoping there is an authenticity to the story's setting.

Sorry, Gail Jones- I read an earlier novel by Australian author, Jones, years ago (Sixty Lights), which I really enjoyed.  This is set in the remote outback of Western Australia during WWII.  I read a few reviews that praised it highly.  This is the second time I am checking it out, so hopefully I will actually read it.

The Anthologist, Nicholson Baker - After reading Dorothy's very enthusiastic post on the book I had to check it out.  Baker is an author I always mean to read (I've got lots of those sorts of authors on my reading lists) but never seem to actually get around to.  The passages Dorothy shared were were funny and interesting, so I already knew I was going to like the 'voice' of the character.  The book starts: "Hello, this is Paul Chowder, and I'm going to try and tell you everything I knew.  Well, not everything I knew, because a lot of what I know, you know.  But everything about poetry.  All my tips and tricks and woes and worries are going to come tumbling out before you.  I'm going to 'divulge' them.  What a juicy word that is, 'divulge'.  Truth opening its petals.  Truth smells like Chinese food and sweat."  Don't you just want to keep reading?

Now, the usual question.  Which to start first? 

January 15: Reading Notes

Since we're at the mid-point of January it's time to pull out Stevie Smith's Novel on Yellow Paper for The Slaves of Golconda.  The discussion is starting January 31st so there is plenty of time to grab a copy if you'd like to read along.  We'll be chatting about it here.  I've been really looking forward to starting this one.

Although I've been trying to stay on the straight and narrow with my reading, I'm already feeling urges to start new books.  (Without first having finished one I'm currently reading that is).  Actually I've pulled out two books that will both be rereads.  January is a rough month, this year particularly with the lousy weather, so I'm ready for some tried and trusted friends.  I've pulled out Chocolat by Joanne Harris (one I pick up very often and have already read multiple times) and In a Good Light by Clare Chambers.  I think I'll start with In a Good Light as Chocolat is the perfect read for Lent (the story begins in February and is set in a Chocolaterie).  Clare Chambers is an especial favorite of mine when it comes to comfort reads.  You're probably tired of me mentioning her.  There are a couple of ladies in my online reading group indulging in her books at the moment and I hope they find her as enjoyable as I have.    

I'm nearly finished reading Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight, which has been as good as everyone said it would be.  It reads very easily and I've been so absorbed in the story that I take it with me to the gym.  I love a book that catches my attention so fully that I don't constantly look to see how much time I have left in my workout!  I'll be picking up the sequel, The Scarlet Lion, soon.  For my next library read, though, I've already started (am jumping the gun a bit) Rebecca Stott's The Coral Thief.  From first impression I think I'm going to like it.  I must have checked this book out at least three times now and had to return it for other readers.  I can't possibly return it again unread.

As for what else I'm reading, I'm sticking pretty closely to the books on my sidebar. The only book I've not yet started is M.J. Farrell's Taking Chances.  I'm waiting until I can properly spend time with it and I also want to read a bit from these books and articles when I do so.  Maybe this weekend.

One last bookish note.  I received Clare Langley-Hawthorne's email newsletter a couple of days ago.  She writes a mystery series set in Edwardian England featuring a suffragette.  I've read the first two books and have been anxiously awaiting the third, Unlikely Traitors.  In her newsletter the author mentions the book is out on submission.  That sounds somewhat ominous, and I guess that must mean she's looking for a publisher to pick up book #3.  Penguin published her first two books.  I can only say Boo to you, Penguin.  Things were left hanging in the second book, so it seems particularly cruel of Penguin to do this to readers.  Hopefully some other publishers will snap up her next book.  She's been busy writing a YA novel, but more interesting (for me anyway) another mystery called Lady Coppers, which is about the first women police.  It takes place in 1915, so you can be sure I'll be watching for that as well.  You can check out Clare's newsletter here.        

Monday is a holiday here, so I'll have a long weekend, but I decided to expand it a little bit more and take Tuesday off, too.  More greediness on my part, since I just had a break from work, but I can't help myself.  I plan on getting in as much extra reading as I can.  Have a nice weekend everyone.

A Duty to the Dead: A Bess Crawford Mystery

I can think of a handful of authors who use the years surrounding WWI as a backdrop for their mysteries.  Each puts their own spin on the story, and quite often the sleuth is a woman.  If you visit here regularly you already know I have a great interest in this era (and am fond of strong women protagonists), so I'm always on the lookout for a new series to join the ranks.  My most recent find is Charles Todd's A Duty to the Dead featuring WWI nurse Bess Crawford.  Todd is already author of nearly a dozen Inspector Rutledge mysteries and at least one standalone novel.  All are set during or just after the Great War.  Ian Rutledge is an interesting study as he's a former soldier battling the effects of shell shock while back at his job at Scotland Yard, and he often hears the voice of a soldier he was forced to execute on the battlefield.  It sounds quirky, but from what I recall (admittedly it's been a few years since I've read any of that series) it works.

Bess Crawford, on the other hand, reminds me a little of Maisie Dobbs, at least superficially.  Both are strong, independent and intelligent women who served, or in the case of Bess serves, as nurses in France.  But from there I think the two series diverge in both the greater outlook and smaller trivialities. Bess is quite practical minded thanks to her upbringing, which is unusual for an upper-middle class young woman.  Raised and educated in India rather than returning to England, she's the only daughter of long standing military man, a Colonel (who she affectionately refers to as the Colonel Sahib).  Bess has had the concept of "duty" ingrained on her conscious since birth.  It's that sense of duty that causes her to become a nurse at the outbreak of the war, and that sense of duty that compels her to carry a private message to the family of a dying soldier.

The novels opens with the sinking of the Britannic off the coast of Greece.  The ship had been refitted as a hospital ship where Bess has been serving, though at the time there were no wounded soldiers aboard.  After an action packed beginning with the sinking of the ship, which sees Bess end up with a nasty broken arm, the story moves along at a nice clip.  Nurses are meant only to tend to their patients not become emotionally involved with them.  Sometimes the lines become blurred, however, especially when the patient is a charming and agreeable young man who appears on the mend but takes a sudden turn for the worse.  It's not so much that Bess fell for him romantically than the pair simply clicked and given time there might have been potential for a relationship. 

Instead she finds herself making a promise to a dying soldier that she knows she really shouldn't.  It's a simple yet cryptic message that she's entreated to carry to the Graham family.  "I lied.  I did it for mother's sake."  She promises to travel to Kent and give this message to one of the remaining three Graham bothers.  It's a promise she finds she's reluctant to carry out even as she is recuperating back at home with her parents, yet her sense of duty means she must travel to Owlhurst and carry out this last wish whatever the consequences for the family.

The Grahams are a distinguished and wealthy family living in the great house known as Owlhurst.  Arthur was the favored son, so his death has been particularly difficult for Mrs. Graham, a widow.  Although welcoming to Bess, the Graham family is cold and the brothers somewhat dismissive of the message Bess brings with her.  Whatever the meaning of the message she believes that Arthur's desire to make peace with his family and fix any prior wrongdoings is going to be ignored, though she's at a loss of what to do to set things to rights so Arthur can rest in peace. 

Owlhurst is a sleepy little village veiled in secrets and lies, many of them swirling around the Graham family.  Because of her training as a nurse Bess becomes involved in a few medical emergencies in the village that call for her expertise and means she becomes privy to a few things the family would rather she not know.  And small towns always have their gossips.  So, to sound totally clichéd Bess is soon to become caught up in a web of intrigue and deception that will end in murder.  The unraveling of the mystery does become a little complicated.  It's not so much who the culprit is rather how things are resolved.  I have a feeling that some readers might be critical of this aspect of the story.  Frankly I liked Bess enough to overlook any wrinkles in the plotting. 

I really enjoyed this book.  She's not Maisie (which is actually a good thing as I'd hate to think the author was simply trying to play off an already established character), but Bess Crawford is someone I'd like to know more about, and I have a feeling there is going to be lots more to learn.  This story was set smack dab in the middle of the war, so it will be interesting to see where the author takes it from here.  In a weird way being a nurse is a little like being a detective in that the character has access to private information and is often in the middle of the action.  It helps that she's from a military family with a lot of good connections, too.  She's not a formal detective by any means, but I suspect she's going to find herself in the middle of just a few scrapes.  So I am adding Bess to my list of sleuths to watch and will be looking forward to her next adventure. 

Mexico 2010 Reading Challenge

A good decade or so ago I went through a huge reading phase of Latino literature including sociological studies and general nonfiction.  I still have a full shelf (you can see part of it here) dedicated to the subject. The books are even double stacked.  So when I came across Sylvia's Mexico 2010 Reading Challenge I gave in to temptation.  I try and stay away from reading challenges for the most part as I get easily distracted and don't always follow through.  But I thought this would be a nice way for me to read outside my current comfort zone and pick up a few unread books off my shelf.  

 

The idea is to read three books of Mexican literature, history or art (in honor of the tricolor).  I don't absolutely guarantee that I'll read all three books, or even these three books, but I'd like to give it a try.  I'm cheating a little as two of the authors are actually Mexican-American (though in the case of Josephina Niggli, she was born in Mexico).  On a quick perusal of my shelf this is what I came up with:

Mexican Village, Josephina Niggli - This is a collection of interrelated short stories set in post-revolutionary Mexico.  Niggli incorporates Mexican folklore, legends, traditions, and songs in her stories.  It was first published in 1945.

Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera, Norma Elia Cantú -  This is a fictional biography of growing up on the border in the 1940s, 50s and early 60s. 

Tinisima, Elena Poniatowski - This is novel based on the life of photographer and revolutionary, Tina Modotti (one of, if not my favorite photographers).  Modotti was actually born in Italy, was a silent film star and the muse of Edward Weston.  They both lived in Mexico.  She became a photographer in her own right, but in the end she gave it up in favor of politics.  I've wanted to read this for such a long time.  I can't think why I've never gotten around to it, but maybe now's the time. 

So, now two challenges (this and the Women Unbound--am reading the first book for that one right now) plus my own little reading projects as well as  my library's reading club.  I think I'm good for the forseeable future! 

Teaser Tuesday: The Mapping of Love and Death

I'm feeling the tiniest bit guilty over having a copy of Jacqueline Winspear's The Mapping of Love and Death already.  Just a tiny bit mind you.  Mostly I'm feeling really greedy and want to read the book in one big gulp, but I'm going to make myself slow down.  Once I've read it, I'll have no more to look forward to for another year, but I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?

This mystery actually begins in America, along the coast of California in 1914.  A first generation American of a British born father will return to his father's birthplace when war breaks out.  He's only allowed to enlist as he's a cartographer, a job necessary for the war effort.  I don't want to tell too much (and I don't actually know too much yet), but years later the young man's parents will turn to Maisie Dobbs to help in locating a young woman who knew their son during the war. 

My teaser is from that initial meeting between  Maisie, Billy and the Cliftons.

"When her guests were settled, Maisie took the seat closer to her desk, while Billy handed cups of tea to Edward and Martha, and in those precious seconds without conversation, she was able to gauge their mood and feelings toward each other.  They were, as might be imagined, somewhat tense, though Maisie could detect a connection between them that she found rare in a man and wife of their generation.  They leaned towards each other in a way that a pair of ancient oaks might seem as one, their branches laced together as the years passed.  Yet at the same time there was an independence and, Maisie thought, profound respect.  She could see that there had been no secrets in the household, and decisions had never been made alone, until the day Michael left for England."

I suspect I'm breaking all the rules by posting a quote.  Does it not count if this isn't actually a review.  Although I'm not going to gulp I don't expect it will take me long to read The Mapping of Love and Death, so more about the story later.