A Book Savor Chat with Fiction Author Flora Solomon

Jul 25, 2013 | #friends

The Book Savor series is new to this blog and grew out of my passion for good books, good friends, and great discussions about what we are reading.

And what is the best way to get those great book discussions going? With some thought-provoking questions of course!

This week historical fiction author Flora Solomon shares the books she savors.

1.  Carmen Amato: What was the first book you read that marked the transition from reading kids’ books to grown-up fare?

HiroshimaBookFlora Solomon: When 12 years old and in the 7th grade, my science teacher recommended the class read Hiroshima by John Hersey. I took him up on it and borrowed his copy. The shocking book introduced me to the unknown and violent world I was on the cusp of entering.

2.  CA: You are shipwrecked with a crate labeled “Books.” What 3 books do you hope are in it?

FS:  Tops on my list would be the thick and detailed book, How to Survive a Shipwreck by I.M.A. Survivor. Then for comfort, oldies but goodies such as Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, and Watership Down by Richard Adams.

3.  CA: What book would you give as a housewarming gift and why?

FS: My own book, of course, A Pledge of Silence, a World War II novel based on the nurses who served in the Philippines, were captured by the Japanese and held prisoners of war. Alternatively, if the residents were new to the area, I might take a book on regional gardening, local cuisine, or native wildlife.

4.  CA: You can invite any author, living or dead, to dinner at your home. What are you serving and what will the conversation be about?

FS: I have neither talent nor interest in cooking, so I would take Louise Steinman, author of The Souvenir, A Daughter Discovers Her Father’s War, to the best restaurant in town. After her father died, Louise found hundreds of his World War II love letters to her mother, and an inscribed Japanese flag hidden in an old trunk. She writes of two journeys—one of realization and healing, and the other a trip to Japan to return the flag to the fallen soldier’s family. Both journeys are beautiful and moving. Conversation between us would not be a problem.

5.  CA: Can you leave us with a quote, a place, or a concept from a book that inspired you?

FS: I have two college degrees, yet the nuances of grammar and the capriciousness of punctuation baffle me. Though it’s not an inspiration, I like this quote from Mark Twain:“Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.”

Tell us about yourself in 3 sentences or less.

FS: My husband and I relocated from Michigan’s water, winter, wonderland to the beautiful North Carolina coast. Besides reading and writing, I enjoy visits from my children and grandchildren, a hard-won tennis match, and an occasional round of golf. My website: www.apledgeofsilence.com.

A Pledge of Silence book coverMore about this week’s guest: Flora is the author of WWII drama A PLEDGE OF SILENCE, the moving and authentic story of an Army nurse caught up in the Pacific war.

 

Cover of Cliff Diver

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A Book Savor Chat with Thriller Author Khaled Talib

Jul 18, 2013 | #friends

The Book Savor series is new to this blog and grew out of my passion for good books, good friends, and great discussions about what we are reading.

And what is the best way to get those great book discussions going? With some thought-provoking questions of course!

This week Singapore-based thriller author Khaled Talib shares the books he savors.

1.Carmen Amato: What was the first book you read that marked the transition from reading kids’ books to grown-up fare?

Bourne IdentityKhaled Talib: Answer: Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. I was fascinated by the idea of someone losing his memory, and yet knows how to deploy survival skills when required to do so. For me, it was a new kind of thrill. A unique thriller that does away with the cliches.

2. CA: You are shipwrecked with a crate labeled “Books.” What 3 books do you hope are in it?

KT: The Quran for hope, Robert Fulgham’s All I Really Need To Know, I learned In Kindergarten for humor, and Nick Schade’s Building Strip-Planked Boats for getting out of the island. There’s an old Arab saying: Have faith in God, but tie your camel. Besides, the idea of staying too long on an island and ending up with my very own ‘Wilson’ scares me.

3. CA: What book would you give as a housewarming gift and why?

KT: The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz. It’s always politically incorrect to talk about chocolates, even if someone doesn’t like chocolates. Hopefully, it might entice the host to bring out some sinful delights for me on a plate.

4. CA: You can invite any author, living or dead, to dinner at your home. What are you serving and what will the conversation be about?

KT: Mary Shelley. I’ll be serving saffron-based beryani rice with mango chutney, salad, stuffed chicken and various accompaniments. This would be followed by custard cake for dessert with chocolate sauce and Turkish coffee. I’d like to probe her mind about the soul of man, and on the light side, we’ll talk about her travels and adventure. The conversation will be electrifying!

5. CA: Can you leave us with a quote, a place, or a concept from a book that inspired you?

KT: “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.

This is so true. Many people in the world tend to see, but they do not observe. They hear, but they do not listen. I suppose that’s why magicians,  illusionists, and politicians are still in business.

Khaled TalibTell us about yourself in 3 sentences or less.

I was born and raised in Singapore. I am a former journalist with local and international experience.My debut novel, Smokescreen, a political thriller, is scheduled to be published early 2014. I never wake up grumpy in the morning.    

More about this week’s guest. Khaled Talib’s novel SMOKESCREEN is due out in January 2014. Connect with him on Twitter  @KhaledTalib.

Book Review: Inferno by Dan Brown

Book Review: Inferno by Dan Brown

Jul 12, 2013 | #reviews

I wasn’t the first to buy much-hyped thriller INFERNO by THE DA VINCI CODE author Dan Brown but I’m glad I eventually did. But you’ll be surprised why.

The Kindle verson of the book was pricey these days when great books can be had for $2.99. So I waited to read some reviews before deciding.

The reviews for INFERNO were a mixed lot. Some raved, others were lukewarm. And one was entitled “Meh.”

That bugged me. Whether the book is good or bad, Mr. Brown is a master art historian and he has the best support network that traditional publishing can buy. Tom Hanks stars in the movies. This superpower combo only earned a “meh” as a measure of reader satisfaction?

I had to judge for myself.

INFERNO is equal parts art history and thriller. As in Brown’s 3 previous books, Harvard professor Robert Langdon finds himself in an improbable situation (this time in Italy) that his vast knowledge of art and religious/historic symbols give him the unique ability to decode.  He picks up a female sidekick; this time it is an American doctor who saves his life but guards her own secrets. And as in the previous books, Brown gives us a dramatic global issue with a big moral punch and leaves us wondering if it could be true. The antagonist, a mad scientist (depending on your political views) is sight unseen through 99% of the book although his horrible creation is seen by various characters and is the item Langdon eventually realizes he must find.

In one point in the book, maybe because the clues weren’t exactly coming together, there is a tiny logic leap. There’s also a nagging wonder why the mad scientist set up this bizarre trail for someone to follow–never really got a good explanation of the motivation, but the book is so engrossing those points are forgivable. Excellent twist at the end.

Far from being a “meh,” the book has great moments of action, characters who are shape-shifters in how they are perceived by both the reader and Langdon, and big doses of art and history. Readers who forget that Langdon is a Harvard professor might get impatient with the descriptions of the Italian masters, the history of buildings in Florence, and the architecture in Istanbul, but I really enjoyed the background information.

The only real knock I have is that the pre-launch book hype led me to believe that Langdon would be pursuing clues rendered by the poem by Dante of the same name. Instead, Langdon follows clues provided by artwork and music inspired by the poem. There’s a subtle difference and although Langdon needs a copy of the poem at one point to decipher a clue, the book is more of an art hunt than an immersion into the poem itself. THE DA VINCI code seemed to have more meat on it when it came to the source material Langdon had to work with.

No spoilers here, but I will say that INFERNO’s ending leaves us wondering if the events could be true, not nowhere to the extent of the end of the DA VINCI CODE. But I wonder if in a few years we won’t hear some techies talk about just such possibilities.

One other thing. As I said, Dan Brown is a big name in publishing and I would have thought that his book production team would be the best that money can buy. But the Kindle version of the book was poorly formatted and included lots of junk at the beginning that the reader had to click through. Probably the biggest ebook launch of the year and the publisher hadn’t a clue how to properly format an ebook!? This is why traditional publishing is putting itself out of business.

Dan Brown

A Book Savor Chat With Mamiverse.com Editor Lorraine C. Ladish

Jul 11, 2013 | #friends

The Book Savor series is new to this blog and grew out of my passion for good books, good friends, and great discussions about what we are reading.

And what is the best way to get those great book discussions going? With some thought-provoking questions of course!

This week Mamiverse.com Editor-in-Chief Lorraine C. Ladish shares the books she savors.

1.Carmen Amato: What was the first book you read that marked the transition from reading kids’ books to grown-up fare?

Lorraine C. Ladish: One of the “Tropics¨ by Henry Miller. I was still a kid, but I read everything that my father left lying around. I come from a family of readers and writers.

2. CA: You are shipwrecked with a crate labeled “Books.” What 3 books do you hope are in it?

LCL: A novel, a book on leadership and a collection of short stories. Something I haven’t already read.

 3. CA: What book would you give as a housewarming gift and why?

LCL: I wouldn´t give a book as a housewarming gift. A book is as personal as perfume.

4. CA: You can invite any author, living or dead, to dinner at your home. What are you serving and what will the conversation be about?

LCL: Stephen King, because he says it like it is. We´d have Spanish tapas and beer or wine. I´d ad lib. I´d love to hear how he cranks out the word.

Linchpin book cover 5. CA: Can you leave us with a quote, a place, or a concept from a book that inspired you?

LCL: Lately I read more non-fiction, and a title that stuck with me is: ¨Linchpin! Are You Indispensable?” by Seth Godin.

Tell us about yourself in 3 sentences or less.

LCL: Curious, inspired, determined, eager, passionate, relentless. Woman, mother, partner, daughter, friend.

More about this week’s guest: Lorraine C. Ladish is Editor-in-Chief of Mamiverse.com. The mother of two young girls, Lorraine is bilingual and bicultural. She has authored 15 books of non-fiction on the subject of women’s issues and empowerment and 2 novels. She has contributed to People en Español, Redbook, Babycenter, The Palm Beach Post, and BlogHer. She is based in Sarasota, FL with her blended family. www.lorrainecladish.com – Follow her on Twitter at @lorrainecladish

10 Twitter Voices on Mexico and the Mystery Series that is Listening

Jul 9, 2013 | #noticed

Twitter Voices on Mexico

Twitter logoInspiration for the Emilia Cruz mystery series’ sharp edges and complicated plot lines comes from two sources: my own experiences living in Mexico and Central America, and the authentic and multi-faceted stories about Mexico told by some of today’s most articulate voices trending on Twitter.

Here are 10 “Tweeps” I routinely read to get up-to-date information about Mexico. They’re a mix of cultural observers, expatriates, journalists, and writers. Their viewpoints don’t always coincide and they may have differing agendas when it comes to Mexico, but their Twitter trending content is always interesting and thought-provoking.

@AllAboutPuebla  Rebecca Smith Hurd writes the All About Puebla blog; a happy compendium of life, art, culture, and events in and around Mexico’s 4th largest city. Incidentally, Puebla is the hometown of protagonist Eduardo Cortez Castillo in THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY.

@MexicoInstitute  The Mexico Institute is part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan, non-advocacy forum engaged in the study of national and world affairs. Tweets link back to articles on the Institute’s website which deal relations between the US and Mexico and events and issues which impact them.

 @ajcorchado  Alfredo Corchado is the Mexico Bureau Chief for The Dallas Morning News and a Harvard Nieman Fellow. His memoir, MIDNIGHT IN MEXICO, was released earlier this year.

@AndrewChesnut1  Andrew Chesnut is a professor of Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and writes extensively on the Santa Muerte phenomenon for Huffington Post and other current events outlets. He explores Santa Muerte and more on the site skeletonsaint.com.

@shannonkoneil  Shannon K. O’Neil is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of TWO NATIONS INDIVISIBLE about the US and Mexico. Her tweets and retweets focus on strategic views of what is happening in Mexico and with the bilateral relationship.

@el_reportero  David Agren is a Canadian freelance journalist in Mexico City whose reporting has appeared in USA TODAY, Catholic News Service and Maclean’s magazine. He is on top of numerous issues and is a prolific tweeter, managing to get loads of information—such as voting results–and local flavor into 140 characters.

@foxnewslatino  Fox takes a neutral tone when reporting on many issues about and affecting Mexico. Tweets all link back to the Fox News Latino news site and besides regional reporting include broad-based current events i.e. flavor of the day.

@MexicoRetold  Susannah Rigg is a British freelance writer based in picturesque Oaxaca who uses the tagline “There’s more to Mexico than Meets the Media.” She is very active on Twitter discussing cultural issues and promotes the hashtag #fortheloveofmexico.

@mexicoguide  Suzanne Barbezat is a travel writer living in Oaxaca who is the host of the Mexico Travel sub-site for the About.com news channel. She is a #MexChat co-host, which brings those interested in Mexico together for moderated twitter discussions.

@TheMexLondoner  The Mexican Londoner offers a totally unique take on Mexico—one that is seen from a distance and flavored by life in the UK. The Twitter stream is a mix of interesting news retweets, events in London with a Mexican flavor, and a bilingual newsletter for Mexicans living in London.

Finding the Missing in Mexico: New Effort or Whitewash?

Jul 2, 2013 | #booknews

flg printIn HAT DANCE, the latest Emilia Cruz novel due out later this summer, Acapulco detective Emilia Cruz is on the hunt of a missing local girl. The plot line is straight from the headlines coming out of Mexico. These headlines have reported—but struggled to actually document—the high numbers of the missing in Mexico as a result of the country’s drug war.

During the last years of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s administration most commentators were saying at least 60,000 were missing due to drug violence over the past six years. Most of the news about Mexico focused on drug violence.

Related post: Lost in Mexico Has Nothing to do With Translation

But the administration of new president Enrique Peña Nieto is trying to create a different narrative, it seems to me, one that highlights Mexico’s emerging economic power, focuses on the country’s rich cultural offerings, and emphasizes reform and stability rather than cartel arrests.

In an interview in the May edition of my favorite magazine, Monocle, President Peña Nieto—or EPN as pundits call him—discussed drug violence and Mexico’s disappeared by saying he was focusing on “the root causes [of violence which are] inequality, poverty and the absence of opportunities for the population.”

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve written before about how Mexico’s unequal social system keeps people from being able to move up in society and encourages youth to look to the drug cartel lifestyle as a way to obtain the goods and respect that they cannot get in Mexico’s formal economy. I think EPN and his team have been fairly successful so far in getting attention away from drug violence and on to economic and cultural issues. Heck, when Thomas L. Friedman writes glowingly about your economic prospects, you know the message is getting out.

But what about the missing and the continuing unacceptable levels of violence? In late May the new Interior Secretary reported that a new review suggested that there aren’t as many as everybody thought and that drug violence-related deaths have dropped significantly since December 2012 (when EPN was inaugurated). Non drug violence-related deaths are up, however, leading some to wonder if this is a convenient whitewash.

Not to worry. Shortly after announcing that there might not be as many disappeared as thought for years—and after families of the missing camped out in front of his office continued a hunger strike–EPN’s attorney general formed a federal missing persons unit. The unit will include 12 federal investigators and a unit of the federal police.

As things stand now, many families conduct their own investigations to find out what happened to missing family members. The cost to find missing family members is high, however, both in terms of danger and monetary costs. Local authorities are either fearful of cartel reprisals or simply too overworked to vigorously pursue cases. A notable exception is Nuevo León. It is “one of the only states where you see prosecutors actually doing the due diligence of conducting investigations, meeting with families, going to the crime scene, taking common-sense steps to advance the investigation,” according to Nik Steinberg, an investigator with Human Rights Watch.

As a mystery author one of the things I do best is to ask questions:

1. How successful can EPN’s new unit be? The federal police have been implicated in many disappearances, according to a report released in February by the Human Rights Watch. “President Peña Nieto has inherited one of the worst crises on disappearances that have occurred in Latin America throughout history,” said José Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director of the international watchdog organization. The report details numerous cases directly tied to Mexico’s military and law enforcement agencies.

As long as the unit stays clean, they’ve got a chance to restore faith in government institutions. But their numbers are a drop in the bucket when it comes to the manpower needed to tackle the problem.

2. If there aren’t as many disappeared as initially thought and drug related violent deaths are on the wane, is this unit just lip service? Given the continuing drumbeat of headlines such as: Cancun Drug Murders: 6 Strangled, 1 Decapitated In Mexico Resort Town and No Clues Yet in Case of Mexico City’s Missing 11, I’m wondering if the new statistics won’t be quietly revised upward at some point. Keep in mind that these are headlines from a US national level news outlet–how much more of Mexico’s news stays local?

It remains to be seen if this new unit will help local investigations that are closest to the locus of crimes and could be much more effective. Local authorities need to be both honest and protected so they can pursue investigations.

As long as this new unit honestly and vigorously pursues the cases of the disappeared I’ll keep the faith. Meanwhile, Acapulco detective Emilia Cruz will keep looking for the women she calls las perdidas.–the lost ones.

Related post: The Girl on the Cutting Room Floor

Finally, may all those who seek the missing in Mexico find what they seek. While they may not find their loved ones, I pray they find answers. And peace.

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missing in Mexico

Book Review: The Forgotten Affairs of Youth

Book Review: The Forgotten Affairs of Youth

Jun 21, 2013 | #reviews

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is the eighth novel in the charming Isabel Dalhousie series by the prolific  Alexander McCall Smith. Better known for the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series set in Botswana, the Isabel Dalhousie series is set in Edinburgh and has a more contemporary feel.

I actually feel it is the better written series, as it takes on many moral issues, and am often surprised that people know of the No 1 Ladies series but not about Isabel.

The series centers around Isabel, an attractive woman in her early-40’s who has a surprising affair in the early books with her niece’s ex-boyfriend, a much younger professional musician named Jamie. The brief union produces a child. Jamie moves in with Isabel—who is independently wealthy and also edits a philosophy journal—and much of upper Edinburgh society is genteelly shocked. In this novel Isabel and Jamie are still planning their wedding.

Besides the personal story, the Isabel Dalhousie novels each are a mystery, usually having to do with art, music, or Edinburgh society. Isabel is always helping out folks who have big life questions. In The Forgotten Affairs of Youth, Jane is a visiting professor who is trying to find her biological father. He was a student in Edinburgh years ago and Jane seeks help from Isabel, a longtime resident of the city. As Isabel looks into the past, unpleasant secrets are revealed. Jamie doesn’t want her to pursue inquiries into other people’s lives and the reader cannot help but hope the friction doesn’t damage their careful relationship.

Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh is a gentler, more beautiful and cozy city than say, Ian Rankin’s Edinburgh. The mystery and drama are revealed in Isabel’s philosophic musings and walks around the city. I love the descriptions such as: “They reached the bottom of Candlemaker Row and turned into the Cowgate itself. Directly under the high arches of George IV Bridge the street became tunnel-like. The passed the Magdalen Chapel, a sixteenth century almshouse, in shadow and darkness.”

The ending is a nice twist, like most of the books in the series. I actually wished it could have gone on a bit longer.

Each book in the Isabel Dalhousie series is a small gem, to be savored and re-read when life gets hectic.

alexander mccall smith

Book Review: Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage

Book Review: Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage

Jun 14, 2013 | #reviews

BLOOD OF THE WICKED is the first book in the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series by Leighton Gage. I’d never heard of the series before stumbling upon a reference to it in a Goodreads group. I was trying to see if I was the only one writing a mystery series set in the Americas and a fellow mystery lover had listed it in a thread. In addition to discovering the Mario Silva series, I also discovered that besides myself, Leighton Gage, and Jerry Last, there aren’t many writing mysteries set in the Americas for the English-speaking audience.

Related post: In Memorium: The Unsung Influence of Mystery Author Leighton Gage

Goodreads didn’t steer me wrong. Silva is an enigmatic protagonist with a disturbing but understandable backstory. I liked the way Gage wove in the backstory but didn’t try and force-fit it into the plot. The story starts as a whodunit murder mystery that Silva and his federal police team has to solve but they quickly find out that there are underlying problems in the smallish town where the murder occurred. Local civil authority is totally corrupt, however, and resent the intrusion by Silva and his small team of federales.

The prize in this book is the absolute authenticity. From the descriptions of the locations to the issues that create much of the drama to the characters who are so truly Brazilian, you’ll be surprised at the end that the book wasn’t in Portuguese.  Gage’s style comes right at you, nothing flowery or extraneous. Good plotting, pacing and characters. But there is violence and gore and the disregard for human life that hemisphere-watchers read about in the newspapers or see on Blog del Narco. I would have liked more of Silva’s personal life; he’s not as well-rounded as he might have been. But overall this is a book written with grit, talent and an insider’s view of Brazil. If you like mysteries, this is a series to investigate.

leighton gage

Book Review: The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch

Book Review: The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch

Jun 7, 2013 | #reviews

THE HANGMAN’s DAUGHTER by Oliver Pötzsch is a medieval murder mystery set in Germany. It is post-plague 1659, a few years after the end of the Thirty Years War, and children are being murdered in the small village of Schongau.

It’s the first in a series by the author, all dark, medieval mysteries with deep plots, authentic atmosphere, and touches of superstition.

The local hangman—responsible for carrying out civil punishments like executions and torture as well as trash pickup—is Jacob Kuisl. He’s a self-educated man shunned by the town’s respectable folk, all except the young doctor in town who is smart enough to realize that Kuisl knows more about the human body than the so-called educators at the university who are prevented by religion and superstition from knowing the true healing arts. The doctor is also in love with Kuisl’s daughter, who despite the title of the book is a secondary character.

This isn’t my usual reading fare but I was given the book by a friend and intrigued enough to finish reading to the end.  To the author’s credit, the descriptions of medieval Germany were excellent; you are really dropped into the setting and it is wholly believable. The townspeople think that the children are dying as the result of witchcraft and that the devil is walking about. The bad guys are stinking bad, an innocent   woman accused of witchcraft is caught in the middle, Kuisl is determined to avoid having to kill her as part of his job, and a couple of secondary characters are sufficiently painted gray to get you wondering if they aren’t somehow involved.

And then we have the end. There is a great climax which pits Kuisl against the worst bad guy. Then there’s a mopping up of small details that serve as a warning for authors not to get too caught up in the arcane. Supposedly a tapestry was a clue but it showed someone pooping gold? The bad guy’s mentor was a virtually invisible character? My apologies to the author if I didn’t understand all the nuances along the way but I might have gotten bogged down in the constant reminders that Kuisl is the hangman, that he’s shunned by other villagers, that the townspeople are simple and superstitious, and that everyone is afraid of the devil.  Every once in a while I was reminded of the scene in Young Frankenstein where the villagers come to the castle . . . Did you make a yummy noise?

For all that, it is a unique book and gives a great sense of life in medieval Germany. It is based on the author’s own family history, which gives it an added element of interest.

the hangman's daughter

A Lesson from The Great Gatsby

A Lesson from The Great Gatsby

Jun 5, 2013 | #truestory

I never gave much thought to how families talk. How different conversations might be from house to house until we had this little episode in ours.

The argument grew heated. I wanted no part of it.

Theories were picked apart. Voices were raised. Sneers were more than implied.

The Aha Topic

The participants in this discussion were my husband and my daughter. The topic of debate was whether or not THE GREAT GATSBY should be considered one of the iconic books of the 20th century.

I carried the dirty dinner dishes into the kitchen and listened to them talk. I was glad my high school daughter could hold her own in the discussion. My husband, a fairly brilliant man, made no allowances for her age.

They called it a draw, agreeing to disagree, although my husband was less than chivalrous when my daughter and I came home after seeing the new Gatsby movie.

“Aha! You see my point,” he said, or words to that effect. This was a reference to his view that the boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-moons-after-her-for-five-years-and gets-shot-for-his-trouble plot was nothing new. My daughter’s defense of the book was undimmed but our opinion of the movie was that there was too much CGI, too much stylized imagery. It was like too much sickly sweet icing on a good cake.

In short, we agreed with Philip French’s review that appeared in the UK Observer online newspaper.

Back Talk

The Gatsby episode made me think about the way we talk to each other.

Growing up, my extended Italian family talked about people, many of whom were related. It was a mostly closed loop of family gossip and interdependence. We talked about each other, we helped each other, and we talked about helping each other. To this day if my mother has a computer problem she  waits for the family member who works in the IT field to come help and then gives me the details over the phone. No Geek Squad for her.

My husband’s family, on the other hand, talks about neutral externals. Presidential campaigns, the local school district, property prices.

Talking Our Own Talk

Somehow my husband and I have come up with our own family norm: in our household we talk Analysis.  Even when my kids were small, there was an emphasis on seeing things from different angles, thinking about a breadth of issues, and being able to support opinions.  For example, we’d get them to see how a news story is presented differently on CNN, on Fox News, or on BBC World.

It’s a constant steam of critique and debate on any topic. We all have a wide range of interests. More than once I’ve lamented that I live with a house full of lawyers and fact-checkers.

Related post: The Power of Daddy

Will my kids be more prepared than I was for the real world? Undoubtedly. My undergraduate college was full of people with similar backgrounds and college talk was mostly about each other. It wasn’t until I hit graduate school that I realized how exciting it was to be able to sift through information, create my own truly informed ideas and be able to support them.  That analytic bent has allowed me to become a mystery author; I can put myself in the shoes of a detective faced with a seemingly unrelated set of clues and do something with them.

If only Gatsby had figured that out. He might have lived to enjoy more cake and less icing.

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Book Review: The Golden Egg by Donna Leon

Book Review: The Golden Egg by Donna Leon

May 24, 2013 | #reviews

If ever there was a mystery author who I consider a role model, Donna Leon is it. Her Commisario Guido Brunetti series set in Venice has all the elements of a great mystery series:

  • a perfect cast of characters starring Brunetti himself–the thinking man’s detective who reads the classics
  • his sharp-tongued wife Paola who teaches English literature at the university and is a great cook
  • the boss who swings according to the day’s political wind
  • stout-hearted but highly individual colleagues
  • the police department’s beautiful hacker/secretary.

Add to this cast the food and wine of Italy, the sights and sounds of Venice, twisty plots, and you have an intellectual series rooted in Italian culture.

THE GOLDEN EGG brings together all these elements as Brunetti probes into the death of a deaf man who seems to have lived totally outside of Italian officialdom, something almost impossible to do. Brunetti pulls gossamer threads, one after the other, to try and find out the basics about him, despite the fact that his death looks fairly accidental. The book is peppered with his queries of various people in Venice as he takes to the streets and canals in search of answers. Paola and his children form a bulwark against the sadness of the situation (Brunetti is one of the few international mystery characters who is neither an alcoholic nor divorced.)

Italy’s political mire and hopeless bureaucracy is on display in the book, mirroring the country’s real problems.  It seems to be as much of the culture as the water lapping at the riva of the canal or the tramezzini that Brunetti has for lunch.

The ending, as in so many of Leon’s novels, is a satisfying twist you don’t see coming. The “egg” of the title means “nest egg” but other than that I won’t give it away. Anyone who likes the international mystery genre or Italy will love this book, as well as the others in the series.

Donna Leon

Book Review: False Impressions by Sandra Nikolai

Book Review: False Impressions by Sandra Nikolai

May 17, 2013 | #reviews

FALSE IMPRESSIONS by Canadian author Sandra Nikolai was a real gem, a nicely composed whodunit that shies away from gore and violence in favor of a dialogue-driven narrative in which the characters’ brainstorming sessions take center stage. Am I mixing metaphors? Maybe. Go buy the book.

I always like reading mysteries that are set in different places and Nikolai puts the reader right in downtown Montreal, giving us a sense of the French influence as well as the shops, restaurants, subway system, etc. She uses snippets of the French language accurately and to solid effect. Her writing style is strong on description and dialogue and is easy to read.

The plot doesn’t have bizarre twists and turns—it goes straight at the central theme which is Megan Scott’s discovery that her husband–for whom the word “cad” was coined–has been cheating on her with friends and strangers alike and suddenly ends up dead far from where he said he was going to be. She is the most likely suspect and nicely introduced details that Megan didn’t realize meant anything suddenly do.  There is a love interest who is handled adroitly, Megan’s husband is recently dead after all, and a nicely wrapped up ending.

I wondered if I would categorize this as a “cozy” mystery, a category that for me usually involves a cat and something knitted. Nikolai gives us more of a clean thriller and one which many should enjoy.

Sandra Nikolai

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