The Water Rat of Wanchai - Canadian mystery series

          The Water Rat of Wanchai  by Ian Hamilton is the first book in the Ava Lee series. It's a new to me Canadian author and mystery series.  And it's good.                                                

Ava Lee is a 2nd generation Chinese woman, who lives in Toronto and works as a forensic accountant.  She isn't just an accountant, however. She specializes in finding money that is stolen, and in retrieving it.  Most of her cases come through her uncle, an honorary title for any older man that is a friend in her family (and culturally an honorific title). Uncle is a mainland born Chinese who swam across the Chinese Sea when a young man, with a few others from his village. Those that made it, developed close ties, and help each other when they can in the ensuing years.  Now, far in the future, the nephew of one of the men who swam with Uncle, is in trouble.  The family fortune - 5 million dollars - has been stolen by the owners of a  food packing  business that they were doing business with.  Uncle calls Ava, and she talks with the sister of David Tam, the head of the household who was responsible for the family business, in Toronto, over dim sum, before deciding if she will take the case.

This isn't your average money is missing let's find it case, though that is what it is at its bare bones.  This a solidly-developed idea.  Ava Lee is an interesting character, a woman who is skilled at the secret art of bak mei.  It is normally reserved for highly skilled martial arts males, but Ava has shown so much talent and technical skill - advancing so fast in her ordinary classes - that she is offered to meet the Grandmaster in Toronto, who teaches this, one on one.  All this, and she is 5 foot three and weighs slightly over 100 pounds.   Ava can take care of herself, and as this mystery develops, she will have to, several times over.

The Tam family works from Hong Kong, so Ava travels to Hong Kong, Thailand, Seattle, Texas, Guyana, and West Virgin Islands in the course of this mystery. She is a character who is resourceful, clever, ingenious, and always at her back is the mysterious and frightening figure of uncle.  Mysterious because Ava herself doesn't know much about him, and frightening because he is a scary man.  Slight of figure, old, he has the triads at his disposal if he needs them.  Before Ava came along, he was using 'muscle', threats, and violence to get the thieves to return the money in past cases.  Even Ava has not dared to ask if they were triad links, or just favours owed to Uncle.  Ava was first hired to work to determine if the money was stolen.  Eventually, Ava developed a way of asking when she realized that she didn't like the violence, and that most of the perpetrators would eventually hand it back if given a choice - and there was no way out.  So she and Uncle work well together, though she is very careful in every dealing and talk with him.  Much if this is in flashback, which is short and does not detract from the story at all. It creates mystery and danger right from the start.  Uncle and Ava decide together if they are going to take a case, though Uncle does let his ties to the men from the village push him in this case to taking it.

The mystery itself is good - the money has been stolen, and it's fun watching Ava piece together what happened to it.  Who took it?  Where is it now?  How did they hide it?

It's a fascinating mystery.  Bangkok comes to life, as does Guyana in all it's terrible danger and poverty.  Watching Ava track the money, and eventually the two partners who stole it, and how dangerous the situation she finds herself in - and gets herself out of - is breathtaking. Ava is also gay, so if you are looking for a book for LGBTQ challenge, this is a good one to include.  It's not a big part of the book, though it is part of her character.  Watching how men respond to her, and how she has to decide to reveal who she is - or not - is fun.  She is very attractive and fit, and she finds it strange that so many white men are attracted to her. This gives another unusual perspective to this series.

This is a really good debut mystery. So good in fact, that I can't settle down to read anything else because I have to know what happens next to her.  There are 5 books now in the series, and I will be heading to the bookstore tomorrow to get number 2, The Disciple of Las Vegas. Highly recommended.
4.7/5

****edited to add:  I can't include this in the Double Dog Dare challenge, as I bought this just before my operation.  So far it's the only thing I've read that I bought since Jan 1!  Definitely worth breaking the double dare challenge for.

Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny is number 6 in the Armand Gamache mystery series.  It is also far and away the best one so far - I still have A Trick of the Light and The Beautiful Mystery to get to, both of which have won much acclaim and awards - A Trick of the Light won the Anthony Award in 2011.  Bury Your Dead won the Nero Award, the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Canadian Arthur Ellis Award, all in 2010.  It deserved every one of them, too. It is an outstanding mystery, weaving it's way between historical Quebec City, modern day Three Pines, Samuel de Champlain, the English and French in Quebec City, and redemption.

 Much of the novel occurs in the deepest part of winter in Quebec City, in the deep freeze which descends on the city in February.  The Carnivale d'Hiver - Winter Carnival- plays a background role in the setting. The Winter Carnival is one of the biggest festivals in winter in Canada (and the US), drawing in tourists from all over the world to celebrate winter. In the midst of all this revelry, Armand Gamache gets up at 3:30 am, and wanders in the deep heart of the winter night, unable to rest.  He has come to Quebec City to heal, staying with his former mentor Emile from the Surete de Quebec, who has long been retired. Gamache cannot forgive himself for a mistake in judgement he made, a judgement that had terrible consequences for some of his team.  Much of the story is told in an unfolding chapter switching sequence, with Armand dipping back into painful memories, finding his way to the central image that has so devastated him. It's the way the mind works with something painful, and it is fascinating to watch him make his way back to and through the events.  He is trying to find some way to live with the memories. At the same time, this question of judgement has caused him to look back on the case he solved just previous to the events of this novel, in The Murder Stone, where Olivier from the Three Pines was discovered to be guilty of a terrible crime. He sets his second in command  Jean-Guy Beauvoir, who is also recovering in his way from the events that torment the Chief,  to discover if Olivier is innocent, if Gamache's team overlooked some evidence.  This is all because Olivier's partner Gabriel refuses to believe Olivier did it and sends a letter every day to Armand that says only, Why did he move the body?  This kind of faith also moves through this book - faith that people have to sustain them, faith in the face of adversity, faith that something can be found that is good and worth protecting.

This is a book about uncovering the evidence to lead to the truth, and about the dead.  How the dead are venerated, how they are kept alive in our memories, how they can shape a place and a time, and even a province - Samuel de Champlain was the discoverer and founder of Quebec City, helped by the aboriginal peoples in the area (the Huron mainly) to survive the first winters. While Gamache is recovering, a laughable mad man who is determined to find Champlain's body somewhere under the earth in Quebec City, is murdered. In the unlikeliest of places, in a hidden corner of the English community that still survives in Quebec City.  So  in order to find out who killed him and not set of hysteria and chaos in the media, Gamache is asked to lend unofficial assistance as he is there and can speak better English than the officers in the Quebec City police force investigating the crime do. Gamache is able to speak to the tiny English community where the murder took place.  The English in Quebec city are an endangered minority, and the book delves into some of the reasons why, dating back to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, when Montcalm lost to Wolfe. Gamache wonders through the book, how did Montcalm feel, when the English did the impossible, the unexpected, and climbed the cliff walls to surround the much larger French army on the Plains?  When he sent for reinforcements, but they never came? While a small part of the novel, it is this interest in the history around him that makes this mystery stand out. Gamache ponders Wolfe, Montcalm, and how the battle was won and lost, and how the English came to rule Quebec City and Canada, against the odds. He compares the battle Montcalm lost, with the errors in judgement he made himself. How can he bury the dead if he can't forget what happened?  Much of this book is about characters who can't forget what happened, and how they have to learn to let go and bury their dead, or they get stuck and can't move into what is good in life. Powerful thoughts in this mystery.

This setting, in the heart of old Quebec City, where Samuel de Champlain is thought to be buried, where the battle of the Plains of Abraham was fought that decided the course of a country, is unique in major mysteries published. I can't think of another mystery that covers this kind of politics and history and murder, set in Canada.  It makes for fascinating reading - plus a bit of homesickness for me, for I spent three years as a teenager living in Quebec City, graduating from high school (secondary school in Quebec) there.  It is a beautiful city, and reading this book took me back to Winter Carnivals I had attended long ago, and the old walled city, and the Plains of Abraham, that my school bus drove by every day to and from our high school. I went to one of the three English high schools then in Quebec City.

 Bury Your Dead is a very good title for this book.  It's like a book of Gamache thinking over what happened to him, and this grief gives a kind of purity to his thoughts. We get a glimpse of how he thinks, and sees the world, and of what a kind, gentle, thoughtful man he is - and yet finds so difficult to forgive himself his failures.  There are all kinds of acts of faith in this book, from Renaud, the man digging for Champlain's burial place, to the faith of  Reine Marie and Emile in letting Armand have his space and heal at his own pace, to the Literary and Historical Society deep in the heart of the city, the last bastion of English language books and history that still survives, and the faith of the people who keep the library going against all odds. It's also the faith of Gabri in his partner, and the faith that Jean-Guy places in the Chief, that the whole team places in him.  And how Armand finds his way to peace so he can rejoin life again.  It's a  beautiful mystery,

I read this a few weeks ago, and I have not been able to forget it.  It is an outstanding mystery.  It is one of my books of the year, too, I know that already. 

My first reviews of the year

I have decided among my personal goals, to review every book I read this year.  So in keeping with the newness of the year and that I've read 4 books only so far, here for review are:

1. The Unstrung Harp - Edward Gorey.  Can I just say, if you are a writer or want to be one, run to your nearest second hand bookstore and start hunting for this book?  It's perfect, and perfectly describes everything we go through as writers, from the way we do anything but put pen to paper, to the way we react when we see our book in the sale bins.  Fabulous and funny.  One of my favourite quotes:

"Mr Earbass belongs to the straying, rather than the sedentary, type of author. He is never to be found at his desk unless actually writing down a sentence.  Before this happens he broods over it indefinitely while picking up and putting down again small, loose objects; walking diagonally across rooms, staring out windows, and so forth."

This also has the benefit of being accompanied by Gorey's wonderful pen and ink drawings.

This was a Library book so I have one completed already on my Library Challenge! Recommended, recommended, recommended!

2. Lifelode - Jo Walton.  I couldn't  figure out why I couldn't find this book anywhere, until I found it at the library and discovered it had been written expressly for Boskone, the Boston Science Fiction convention held every year.  The New England Science Fiction Association are the publishers of this book, a limited hardcover edition of 800, of which Ottawa Public Library holds # 589. All this to say, it might be hard to find, but if you see it, grab it.  For anyone who likes fantasy, this is a fantasy book quite unlike any other, sort of like every other book Jo Walton has written recently.  It's fantasy, set in a medieval invented world, with a different kind of religion and making of the world, and the story is small: an ancestor comes back to her ancestral home and her actions threaten to destroy it.  One of the particular beauties of this story is that it is set in the domestic domain: much of the magic comes from Taveth, who's lifelode (life path) is to keep the house of her lord.  It is a path she has chosen willingly, as any does in the world of this book.  Everyone has the right path that fulfills them, and one of the fun and interestng ways in which this is domestic fantasy, is that hardly anyone is doing what they were meant to do.  They have given up their lifelode to do what is demanded of them by family, by relationships, by circumstances.  The wonder of this fantasy tale is that so many people find a way to step into their right path anyway.

I really enjoyed this fantasy.  The religion, the gods, the setting of the manor house, the way in which the harvest is depicted, the villagers helping the lord out in return for his protection, and most of all, the long look  at the heart of the manor, which is the kitchen and all that goes on there.  Taveth is the main heroine. Part of her magic is that she can see all the past and future of a person by the shadow selves that pop out around someone.  Everyone in this world has a gift, and part of their growing up is learning about it as well as about what they are to do in the world.  It sounds simple, and it's not.  It's magic, and what life is about - happiness, love, choice, where guests are going to sleep, is there enough food, and making sure everyone is cared for.  Even though Teveth can see the future selves, she can't prevent or even act to change the future because she doesn't know what leads to it.

Very fun, and a little bit different, and recommended.

This is part of the Library Challenge, and the Canadian Challenge 4.

3. Hypothermia - Arnaldur Indridason.  Detective Erlendur investigates a suicide that isn't quite normal - just the slightest intuition that something is off.  He also goes back over one more time two old missing person cases, because it's been over 20 years now, and the parents are dying in one case.

Hypothermia is a state that Canadians grow up being cautioned about from the earliest days in childhood: what the danger of extreme cold is, what the signs of freezing are, and when you should come in from the cold.  Hypothermia is the state of slowly growing colder, of the body parts shutting down until you freeze to death.  Hypothermia is also what almost killed Erlendur when he was lost in the blizzard when he was a boy.  It still affects him today, the nearness of death and escaping when his brother didn't, and in this book we see Erlendur talk about what it has done to him, and why he couldn't stay in his marriage.  It is fascinating and sad, and even if you have never experienced cold, you will have suffered loss at some point in your life and so this becomes a story about grief and loss, and how people never really recover from tragedy, though they do find ways to move on.  In the end, I was most surprised to discover that I think Erlendur is a romantic, because he won't, he can't, give up on these cases.  He is not a flowers-and -cards romantic, far from it!  It's in his soul though, the ability to care and keep caring long after all hope is gone. This series, and the writing also, keep getting better and better. If I didn't already have my love Harry Hole, Erlendur would be a close competitor.  I must have a thing for lonely police detectives who stand guard against the darkness of the world. 

4. The Serpent Pool - Martin Edwards.  This is the 4th Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind mystery novel.  I have to admit up front that I found it disappointed me in one area, though overall it is good.  The problem I have with this mystery is that Hannah's partner, Marc Amos, should be questioned when it turns out he has a link to an old case Hannah is investigating.  Hannah decides she doesn't want to question him that night, and then the action takes over.  Not only do I have a problem with Hannah's decision, but I found myself distracted, thinking that Hannah should at least go to her superior and let her know of her conflict-of-interest and have someone else assigned to questioning Marc, if not get herself removed from the case. She doesn't, and I don't like this, because wouldn't normally the first accusation be that she was hiding information about him from the investigation? Impeding it? Otherwise, it is quite an interesting mystery, with gruesome killings and the slow falling apart of Hannah's and Marc's relationship.  Despite the flaw this is still a good mystery and given the high quality of the previous books, I hope it's a one-off.  Recommended, with reservation.

This leads me to the last review for tonight, another mystery I read last year from a favourite author who also had a problem with her mystery, I thought.

5. The Murder Stone - Louise Penny.  Normally I love Armand Gamache and the Quebec woods setting.  The Murder Stone is no different - set in an historic hunting lodge deep in the Quebec woods, Armand and his wife Reine-Marie have gone to celebrate their wedding anniversary, as they do every year.  Only this time a whole other family have also come at the same time, and when one of them turns up dead, and it's plainly not accidental or suicide, the Surete du Quebec must be called in.  So far, so good.  But stop me if I'm wrong, shouldn't Armand and his wife be investigated?  This is a 'locked-room' mystery, where there is a known set of guests, hotel workers etc in the remote countryside.  Even though Armand and his wife have no obvious links to the murdered victim, they should still be investigated and cleared.  However, Armand is put in charge of the investigation!  I really think he wouldn't be allowed to lead it.  He should have been side-lined and worked from the inside (because he is Armand and Chief Inspector, he would never stand idly by, but get involved anyway) to find the killer. So once again, I am left wondering, is it me? do both of these mysteries seem to have a fairly large hole in the investigative process?  Despite this, this was a very good mystery.  I enjoyed the locked room feel, the setting of the hotel in the far woods, the closeness of nature (there is a violent thunderstorm the night of the murder), the mosquitos that torment his second in command Guy Beauvoir, and the writing is excellent.  I really enjoyed this mystery over all, except for the blip.  We find out more about Armand's father and see much more of Reine-Marie than normal, and I quite like her, and them together, also.  Overall, this is still a wonderful mystery series, very well written.  Highly recommended, with one reservation.

This counts for the Canada Challenge 4.

I hope you are enjoying your first books of the year, my Gentle Readers.

3 Canadian Mysteries - Canadian 3 Eh! Challenge reviews

I have been busy reading mysteries for the past few weeks. With Carl's Once Upon a Time IV Challenge about to begin, I wanted to catch up a little on my planned 'read 50 mysteries this year', before plunging into fantasy for the next several weeks.

I didn't plan on reading 3 mysteries for the Canadian Challenge, though as this is my third year with the challenge, I am finding that reading spontaneously works best for me with this challenge. So, when I found myself dropping by the tiny used bookstore in my neighborhood two weeks ago and coming home with three books, one of which was Prized Possessions by LR Wright, I thought, right, time for more spontaneity.


Prized Possessions - L.R. Wright (#5 in the Karl Albright mystery series)
I first read an LR Wright mystery two years ago for the first Canadian Challenge, A Touch of Panic . I didn't know that Prized Possessions follows in the series, until just now when I went hunting for my review! So, with two years between books, how does Prized Possessions hold up? Very very well. Now that I've read two books in the series, I can say that Wright does a wonderful job of getting in the head of her criminals. Eddy, the criminal in this mystery, falls into crime almost by accident, but the set-up and why he does, is chilling. He is every innocent person's nightmare. He can't let go of a slight, and it snowballs into terrible crimes. As with A Touch of Panic, there are two main storylines that intersect, and while it could seem forced, it doesn't. Everything about the other person, Emma, and how she crosses paths with them, makes for a breathtaking ending. Emma is my personal nightmare of what I call the 'empty woman', someone who exists only for her man. Ugh! LR Wright makes her believable, and how she finds herself on a country road late at night with a gun in her pocket, sad. This is a mystery about choices, and how even those with no idea of crime, can find themselves contemplating breaking the law.

The detective in this series, RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg is on leave for this mystery, bereavement leave because his father has just passed away. As a favour, he investigates the disappearance of Emma's husband, who drives away one Saturday morning and never returns. Alberg has a girlfriend, Cassandra, who is facing her own mid-life crisis, and how they work through and resolve changes in their relationship, makes a lovely counterpoint to Emma and Charlie's marriage.

This is a satisfying mystery on its own, enhanced by its setting in the lovely BC Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast really exists, as does the towns of Sechelt and Gibson's Landing, the two principal towns in this mystery. I've only ever seen Gibson's Landing through the lens of tv, as one of Canada's longest running series, The Beachcombers, was set there in the 1970's and '80s. The way Wright describes these towns reminds me of small-town BC, where I have lived before, and I get homesick for the mountains and forests, and especially, the Pacific Ocean. There is definitely a cosy mystery feel to this series, which makes a change for me from the police procedurals that I normally read. 4.7/5

The Red Fox - Anthony Hyde.

This mystery thriller first came out in 1985. It was Hyde's first novel, and received widespread acclaim, althougth I had it on my shelf for over 20 years to read because a friend's husband loved it. So, last month, I finally read it. The good thing about books is that they will wait until we are ready to read them. The bad thing is, occasionally, they become dated, and that is what has happened to The Red Fox. Most of the tension in the book is because of the Iron Curtain, because of the tight grip that Communism had over much of Eastern Europe at that time. I'm old enough to remember how hard it was to get any news out of the East, how restricted getting in even to visit was, and how dear everything from the west was to those who lived behind the Iron Curtain. So reading The Red Fox brought this all back to me. Now of course, there is no Soviet bloc, there is no blackout on news, there is no Us and Them, as there was while I was growing up. I'm glad, but this book shows just how much has changed since the Wall came down in Berlin. As a historical book, funnily enough, it is very well done - for anyone who wants to know how the Soviet bloc looked to us, in the 1980's, this book is one of the best for capturing the fascination and fear we had towards the east. As a mystery, it is also satisfying. The ending has a twist that is very much about the fascination we had in the 1970's and 1980's about the change of power at the turn of the century, when Russia went from a royal family to Trotsky and then Lenin and Stalin and communism. As a thriller, this is unputdownable. I found the middle of the book a bit slow, mostly because I didn't care for the character of May's father Harry, so I didn't care if he was alive or dead. There is a reason for this distance from the character, however, and by the ending, we know why idealism and politics always lead to disillusionment, and now secrets from the past always catch up, sooner or later. It's a well-done mystery, and I certainly enjoyed and liked Robert Thorne, who is clever and resourceful while not being a spy. This was also refreshing in a thriller!

There are several layers of story here, from the ex-girlfriend, May Brightman, of the hero, Robert Thorne, as he searches for the disappeared father of the ex-girlfriend, to how he ends up learning why his own father committed suicide. World War II, and some history of Communism in Canada as well as in Paris as the Germans marched on the city, are all entwined with present day Canadian settings as Robert looks for clues as to why his girlfriend's father has disappeared. Who was Harry Brightman? When he learns that May was adopted, this leads him to a discovery that changes everything and leads him on a path of death and destruction as a hidden group search for something Brightman has hidden, and will do anything to remove their traces, while Thorne races to uncover what might be threatening May.

This is a well-written novel, very enjoyable, and it is extra-delightful that it is written by a Canadian author! This is an intelligent thriller, along the lines of Le Carre, and nothing at all like Dan Brown. 4/5


Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs

I read this last summer, when the Canadian Challenge 3 had just started, and then lent the book to a friend because it was so good. I haven't received it back, so I will have to write my review from memory.

I had read the first three in the Temperance Brennan mystery series when they first came out - Deja Dead was published in 1997, and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. But I found the series got too bloody and brutal for me, and I put the series aside for a while. I kept hearing good things about the latest books in the series, and finally my friend at work who also reads mysteries (we are always giving each other books to read and talking about authors) said Bones to Ashes was very good, as was the next in line, Devil Bones, which she couldn't put down. so I picked Bones to Ashes first - it was in paperback, and I loved the cover with the tree, which kept catching my eye. It wasn't as gory as I remembered! In fact, this one had a sad air to it, as Temperance is handed a girl's skull that she wants to uncover the forensic secrets to as well as historical. She discovers many sad things about the Indians of New Brunswick and how they were treated historically, and how her childhood friend who has long since disappeared from her life, possibly suffered from the same disease that the girl whose skull she holds died from. How she finds her childhood friend, and what has happened to her, make for a very satisfying mystery. We also see the appearance of Temperance's sister, who is a breathe of Texas fresh air and pure feminine delight in this series! I like Temperance very much as a character, but I find her moody and too self-contained sometimes - broody almost, and her sister is a nice counterpoint to Tempe's seriousness. There is a very satisfying shoot-out at the end of the book, and resolution to both Tempe's childhood mystery, at the same time. I'm definitely continuing with this series.

I did find that her affair with Detectifve Andrew Ryan is one I want to continue, and was depressed that Tempe let herself get dragged back into her ex-husbands life so easily. I found myself saying no more than once to all three of these characters as they walk into and out of each other's lives - they were well-written scenes and the understanding that Reichs shows of the human heart in this love affair that has its up and downs makes this series richer and satisfying for me. 4.7/5

I am even more delighted that this series is doing so well. Though I do have a question: Kathy Reichs is not a native Canadian, she was born in Chicago, and works and lives in both Charlotte North Carolina and Montreal. Since the books are set in Montreal, where Temperance works out of the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec, just as Kathy herself does, my question is, does this make this a Canadian book? I think it does, so I'm counting it towards Canadian books read for the Canadian Book Challenge 3. What do you think? Does it count as a Canadian mystery?

I also admit that I don't watch Bones, the Fox tv series based on these mysteries. Even though Reichs is now listed as one of the producers of the show, and this year has Booth and Bones drawing closer together, I like the books better. I have difficulty separating the tv characters from the books, which is why I'm picky about what I see. I loved Roy White as Dalgliesh, the portrayals of DCI Frost, Morse, Dalziel and Pascoe, to which I find the tv casting is perfect and enhances my reading of the mysteries. Who could forget Hamish McBeth as portrayed by the wonderful Robert Carlyle? I haven't seen enough of the Elizabeth George series on tv (they came over in a jumble, out of sequence, and so I like my mysteries shown properly!) to know how the actor did with the portrayals, although I like the lead actor very much anyway. So I'm not against mystery series being translated to the screen. I've just had a problem with David Boreanz replacing Andrew Ryan in my mind, because Andrew Ryan in my mind is slightly dangerous and intensely loyal, and no matter how I know Boreanz is a good actor, I always find him just a little boring. But that's just me, apparently 10 million plus people in the US disagree!! I'll stick to reading the series, though.

This brings my total to 8 books read for the Canadian Book Challenge 3. I'm delighted. Only 5 left to go, and I still have 3 months and some very good books on my list: Three Day Road, Monkey Beach, Moonheart, The Rez Sisters, The Murder Stone, Bluenose Ghosts, Late Nights on Air.......

Happy last day before Spring arrives!!

Monday Mystery Spotlight - Louise Penny

As promised in my post last week, I've decided to start a series of reviews featuring Canadian mystery authors. Even to dedicated Canadian mystery fans, there seems to be a whole field of our own authors that are sadly neglected, except in the occasional write-up in a local newspaper. I also had quite a few comments from last week's post that many of you, my dear Gentle Readers, are interested in reading Canadian mysteries. So I am thrilled and delighted.

My first author is Louise Penny. She is fairly new to the Canadian mystery scene; her first book was published in 2004. Since then she has put out a book a year, to ever-increasing acclaim and mystery award nominations. Her official site is here, Louise Penny. On here you will find her books listed, and the awards for each of them. I'm going to list them all here anyway, since I want to make this part of the regular features that I do. Her site is very friendly and welcoming, and she is giving a free draw away for her latest book, A Brutal Telling. Here is a link on CBC Canada to Louise talking about her books, here.

I saw A Brutal Telling this past Saturday at Collected Works (one of Ottawa's best indie bookstores), and it looks very good. A Brutal Telling is the fifth in the series, however, I don't have the fourth - or I didn't until Saturday. I looked with big eyes at my husband as I held The Murder Stone in my hands, the 4th one, just out in mass market size. Because I'd had a particularly difficult Friday at work, my husband said, "Go on, you know you want it," after I murmured about her being a Canadian author. The tricks I use to get books in the door sometimes!!! So I can't give a review on The Murder Stone yet, but I will give a brief synopsis on the last two books - including a very brief (one line! but the best ever for ) synopsis for The Brutal Telling.

I will advise here that if at all possible, no spoilers will be given away. I hate knowing what happens in a mystery before I've had a chance to read it! So I'll do my best to do the same for you.

I also have a confession to make: I didn't hear about Louise Penny until I read the review in the paper about her, and if I recall the article, it was featuring The Cruellest Month, and gave the titles for the previous two books. I also chose Still LIfe over another mystery because it had a big red sticker on it proclaiming it was a Winner for the CWA for Crime Fiction, and I thought, ok, it can't be that bad then. See how hard our Canadian mystery writers have to work to get read?

THE BOOKS
The series features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec, which is the provincial police force. This means he is assigned to major crime outside the main cities - he covers the rural and village territory, where only a local police force exists in the larger towns, which don't investigate serious crime. When a violent crime occurs, the Surete are called in to investigate. He has a team of detectives under him, featuring Jean Guy Beauvoir, who has been his second in command for more than a decade; and starring a new recruit to the team, Yvette Nichol, and an officer from the local police force, Robert Lemieux. Enough about the team. The real star of the books is Three Pines and the people who live in it.

Three Pines is a fictionalized village in the province of Quebec, in the Eastern Townships. The Eastern Townships do exist, east of Montreal, south-east of Quebec City, just north of the border with the US. If you find the village of Sutton on a map, that is where Louise Penny lives, in the Eastern Townships. Here is a link to a description of the area. So for anyone afraid that there wouldn't much familiar - ie mostly French words or names, the Eastern Townships were settled by the Irish, Scots, English as well as the French and other nationalities. Most of the principal characters are either English, or bilingual. This is a mystery written for anglophiles, set in Quebec. which, seeing as that is endangered now (many, many Anglophiles left Quebec in the 1980's and 1990's; I was one of them), makes this a heritage series! What you will find is local Quebec flavour, from the descriptions of the woods, to the seasons, to the different festivities celebrated in each of the books.

One of the charms of the mysteries is that we see the characters, the village, the police, and the crime, through both the villagers eyes, and the police team's. There are many different points of view offered in each book, which gives a complete view of life in Three Pines, as well as allowing Penny to show the effects of the murders on different villagers and members of the investigation team.

One of the other elements is that Gamache has earned some enemies in the Surete, and the first three books is discovering that one of the team, if not more, are planted there, to watch and record his moves, and eventually to find a weakness to bring him down. This adds to the claustrophobic feeling as Gamache is unable to trust anyone outside the village in the police force, or depend on support, as well as having to suspect everyone in the village while investigating the crimes.


Still Life - The first book in the series. Nominated and runner-up for CWA Debut Dagger, 2004. Winner of the New Blood Dagger in Britain, Arthur Ellis Award in Canada for best first crime novel.

On Thanksgiving Sunday, the village awakes to find the body of one of the long-time residents in the woods. Who killed her? And most of all,why? Introduces the permanent residents of the village who we also see the mystery through, particularly Clara, an unconfident artist. She was one of the closest to Jane Neal, the victim, and her death has hit her hard.
Here is
my original review.




Dead Cold - Book 2.
Set in winter, through the Christmas holidays. This is a good mystery to read during winter time, if only so you can experience just how cold our winters can get! And the suddenness of snowstorms. Curling is one of Canada's winter hobby sports, and in this second mystery,it is highlighted. A spectator at the annual Boxing Day curling match is electrocuted, but despite the crowd, there are no clues and no witnesses. This was a thoroughly good mystery to read, with a mystery that was a real who-dunnit and why. So many people wanted the victim dead. At the heart of the village all the regular villagers are there, and we are getting to know them better, particularly the marriage of Peter and Clara, and how these two artists struggle to support each other's work. I find this theme of creativity very interesting to watch, and fully pull for Clara to gain some confidence in her work. I also really enjoy seeing how the village celebrates Christmas. There is a real sense of community with this book, and this series, that I think sets it apart and is part of its charm.
Dead Cold and The Cruellest Month were reviewed by me at the same time, link here. By the way, the Christmas window at Ogilvie's in Montreal does exist.



The Cruellest Month - Book 3. Winner of the Agatha Award for Best Novel. Nominated for the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards in the US. (notice the absence of any Canadian awards for this book?)

The ghosts from the first book are still not settled. The old Hadley house, the house that is key in book one, the house belonging to the victim from book two, is still empty in Book Three, and everyone is beginning to think it is haunted. They are right; they are all haunted by the events of the past two years, so they decide to hold a seance. But something goes wrong during the seance, and someone dies.

I have to say the scene of the seance is a little chilling. And the village does try to heal from all the deaths it has experienced. Gamache too, also has a time of reckoning; the person behind the whispers, the betrayer, is finally revealed. I will say that I suspected who it was before the Inspector did, though I think this was the author's intention; she wanted to show that even the best of the best (and Gamache is generally taken as the best Chief Inspector the Surete has)has a blind spot, which is echoed by the murder investigation itself. What is the cost of love? And the fear of loneliness? When love comes into your life, in whatever guise, would you protect it no matter what?

This book is set in April, at Easter time. There is featured one of the most delightful Easter Egg hunts ever put into a book. I so want to move to Three Pines and raise my children there!! I'd run Myra's bookstore!!



The Murder Stone Book 4. Named one of Booklists Top 10 Mysteries of the Year.
Set in a hunting lodge not at Three Pines, the Gamaches - Armand and his wife Reine-Marie - have taken their annual summer holiday in late June. Another, very wealthy family, The Finneys, have taken up most of the rooms at the lodge, and when one of them is discovered dead, the Inspector is the logical choice to investigate.....that's all I know since I haven't read it yet! I read about 10 pages, just to get a feel, and now I want to read it all, but I have two other things on the go I promised myself I'd finish first. And Three Pines does show up, though how they connect, I am most curious to discover!



The Brutal Telling- Book 5. A Barnes and Noble Main selection for this fall, in the US. Also an ABA (made up of independent booksellers) choice also for this fall. (But other than being on the CBC book club list, will anyone in the Canadian Literary scene pay attention?)

I know nothing. But any blurb that includes " a trail of clues and treasures from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE” woven in it" has me hooked right away. I really want this one for Christmas! That I do know.

To end this, this is a wonderful interview in Canada's national book newspaper, The Quill and Quire, with Louise, here.

And no, Three Pines does not exist. I would go live there though, in a minute, despite all the murders!!! It sounds like a wonderful village, and I think that is why it is highly recommended as a traditional closed-setting mystery in the Agatha Christie tradition. I love the different characters, the artists, the poet, the gay couple running the restaurant/hotel and bistro - some of the food described in the mysteries sounds so delicious that I get hungry reading the books!! The shared traditions of the village, the close-knit spirit of the community. And the setting of course, the forest all around. This is an excellent series for getting to know some of rural Quebec - and rural Canada, and how we co-exist with the forest and natural wilderness.

Next week: Giles Blunt

Canadian Mysteries today - Louise Penny up for an award!!

This was supposed to be my Sunday Salon post, but I got sidetracked by sunny weather and took my daughter to the beach to look for things along the water's edge. I found some interesting rocks, and she collected lots of mussel shells. So I find myself today playing catch-up.
What I wanted to write about is the Canadian mystery scene. It was actually a new blog I just found, Crime Watch, that triggered this. I was fascinated to discover that he had posted about Canadian mystery writing! Here is the link to his post, and here is the link to the newspaper article by William Deverell in the National Post that he quotes from. William Deverell is a Canadian mystery writer, and a lawyer, and I thought his article expressed well the dilemma we have in Canada regarding mysteries: they are ignored by our judges and book committees and except for writing programs at universities, ignored by them also. Mysteries aren't worthy of literate discussion in Canada.

I find this sad. I realize this is the state with all countries and their 'literature' vs mystery books being written. The US and England do a great job of promoting the best in crime writing though - the Edgars, the Agathas, the Crime Daggers. Sometimes I base my mystery reading on the award winners! And on the whole, this is excellence in mystery writing. The article and post got me thinking: what do we have in Canada? And why do we wait for others to recognize what writing is good here? And why is it so hard to break out of the genre world into the book world in general?

I don't have all the answers, of course! I'm a reader, a writer, and a former bookseller. I know something of how publishers promote books, I know a lot about people who read mysteries. However, I do not understand why our media pays so little attention to our own crime writers. Very occasionally is a piece done on the more popular writers, like Louise Penny - I found her because there was story on her in one of our newspapers. This was after of course she had won the Anthony and Crime Dagger for the first in the series, Still Life.

So what do we have in Canada? The Arthur Ellis Award. Haven't heard of it? I'm not surprised It's never promoted in the papers, or in the media. There is no spotlight for crime writing excellence in Canada. However, as soon as we are recognized outside our borders, then suddenly there is a newspaper article, or a tiny piece (maybe) on CBC, our national radio/tv broadcaster (but this is not likely), on the author. Here is a link to the Arthur Ellis Awards, from the Crime Writers of Canada site.

And here is something: I went to Louise Penny's website to get a list of her books for you, and she is nominated for another award!!! The Cruellest Month has been nominated for The Anthony Award and the Macavity Awards! Dead Cold (out as A Fatal Grace in the US) won the Agatha award last year, and this year The Cruellest Month won it. But do we celebrate this in Canada? Is it announced in the media? No. I had to go to her site to find this out!!

We write very good mysteries. We write some excellent fantasy and science fiction. But our authors don't get respected or acknowledged within Canada, by the media or by the Canadian Literature establishment.

Here is the link to the Agatha Awards, which are given for the best mystery written in the tradition of Agatha Christie. Fans of Maisie Dobbs will be glad to know Jacqueline Winspear won for Birds of a Feather in 2004. So it is quite an honour for Louise Penny to win for two books in this category, in two years.

So I've decided that as well as reading and talking about mysteries from other countries, I'm going to talk about Canadian mysteries. I thought I would spotlight some of my favourite Canadian mystery writers. I do have to caution you here: I too, had fallen victim to the view that Canada doesn't have good mystery writers. I was wrong. It's taken me a while, but I can finally say (and very happily and proudly): We have a really strong field of mystery writers, some of whom are among my favourite authors now. Every week I will post on a Canadian mystery writer. In honour of Louise Penny's nominations, I'm going to be spotlighting her next week.

One last thing: mystery is in the air. Nymeth over at Things Mean Alot has a post yesterday inquiring about what a good mystery would be to start with. If you have a favourite mystery that meets some of what she is looking for (atmosphere, not too graphic, good characters and not every questioned answered) please go and leave her a comment with your suggestion.

Thursday update - and new books!!

Middlemarch - p 134, still Chapter 16.

Missed one bus doing last minute decision this morning on when to meet teachers for both parent-teacher interviews next week.

Missed next bus because forgot purse at home.

Read five pages while waiting for bus at Chaudiere, 15 minutes before anything showed up. Because 50 mins late for work, had to work through lunchtime.

Made birthday cards for daughter's upcoming birthday party after children finally asleep.

pages read: 5. Time to read: priceless!

On the guilty book-shopping before Christmas front, I went to an author signing tonight! Mary Jane Maffini was signing her books. She is a local mystery writer, has published several books, and was part-owner of Prime Crime Books, which readers will know is Ottawa's primary mystery bookstore. I went to the signing with two friends who know Mary Jane through their book club. While we were standing there talking, Mary Jane looked at me and said she had seen me before. I told her in Prime Crime, and then she knew! It is so fun to be recognized by an author!! I bought books for my mother and myself, and they are each signed. The Cluttered Corpse is the second book in her second mystery series, starring Charlotte Adams, a professional organizer. Mom gets the first book in the series. It looks intriguing!



I also bought the latest collection of mystery stories collected by The Ladies Killing Circle, a group of local mystery authors. These stories are from authors around Canada. Going Out With A Bang is a crime and mystery collection.



This looks like a good introduction to new Canadian mystery writers.

I also found two very special books - The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries by Zsuzsanna E Budapest,



best described as a women's spirituality book on paganism and the Goddess, and I thought it had gone out of print, so I wasn't even looking any more!

And the last book is one that long ago, Nymeth picked for me when a meme went around asking the blogger to choose a book that would best describe what the blogging friend was most like. She had chosen Transformations by Anne Sexton for me, which funnily enough was a book I had long been looking for. Well,tonight, The Complete Poems Anne Sexton was on the shelf!



I am going to go spend a little time leafing through my lovely books now.