A Short Personal Update

     I don't want to get into too many details, but I wanted to give an explanation to my loyal readers.  May 22 I went to the Emergency room and within the hour was in surgery under going brain surgery.  After nine days in ICU, I finally got to return home.  The last several months have been intense healing and daily antibiotic treatments.  I went through physical and speech therapy, but the general outlook is I will make a full recovery and have made tremendous progress already.

     I share this to explain my lack of posts, but also to stress that getting treatment quickly was key.  My speech suddenly became unintelligible after a serious headache for many days from what I thought was my sinuses (I was even on antibiotics).  If you or anyone you know experiences garbled or difficulty speaking, get them to the hospital pronto.  

     I can't thank the surgeons, neurologists, and nursing staff enough for their care and diligence.  I was fortunate to have a highly regarded neuro-surgeon in a hospital that is recognized for their neurological care.  But again, getting treatment so quickly was key.

     I'm just now getting around to my normal levels of reading, and I'm finally writing again and wanted to share with my faithful blog readers why I've not shared much lately.  I'm jumping into the third Accidental Vampire PI draft.  I'll keep you updated on its progress.

     Stay healthy my friends.

Review - Killers of a Certain Age

 Deanna Raybourn is the New York Times bestselling author of the Edgar Award–nominated Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, as well as the Lady Julia Grey series and several stand-alone works.  Her latest series features a group of women in their 60s who worked as elite assassins. But retirement can be deadly.  

“This Golden Girls meets James Bond thriller is a journey you want to be part of.” -Buzzfeed

"... pits men against women, age against youth, technology against old school know-how.” -Amazon Book Review

Naturally it has been compared to "The Thursday Murder Club" and the 2010 movie "Red."  Read this review to understand how it differs from both.

Author: Deanna Raybourn

Copyright: August 2023 (Berkley) 368 pgs

Series: 1st in Killers of a Certain Age thriller series

Sensuality: violence, mature themes, language

Mystery Sub-genre: Thriller, intrigue

Main Character: Billie Webster, recently retired from forty years in an elite female assassination squad.

Setting: Modern day, global locations

Obtained Through: Library

Book Blurb: "Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire—it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age."

My Thoughts:  

I like the four diverse women who make up the squad.  Billie is the main point-of-view character through the book. She is particularly good at fighting and is a tad impulsive. The others are: Helen, a widow who's a smooth pickpocket and handy with a gun while also taking detailed notes on everyone she meets;  Natalie (Nat), and Mary Alice. I like these gals and how they work so well together.

Many scenes are told via flashbacks.  Those scenes actually provide some clues, but a few times it felt disorienting to jump to the past. This book has multiple global settings, but initially starts on a luxury cruise. The settings have just enough description to place you in each local. You really feel like your seeing each place through the eyes of a trained killer.  

The plot leads you through some twists and turns and the pacing speeds along.  The climax reveals more than I expected, making it very satisfying. The writing and plot are enjoyable and well done.

It isn't like "The Thursday Murder Club" (see review of book 2 here) since Richard Osman's series has ordinary people, except one character, making it a bit of a rag-tag amateur sleuth group.  The 2010 movie "Red" (short for Retired Extremely Dangerous) is closer since I can see Helen Mirren's character as inspiration for Billie in the book, and both the movie and this books series are about retired deadly agents.  But I think that is where the similarities end. 

I absolutely love the "technology against old school know-how" theme. Their ability to use low-tech or no-tech actually keeps them alive while giving them an upper hand.  So well done. Plus the age and experience beats younger and less experienced theme was golden as well. In an age where over fifty makes it harder to find a job, this had me routing for them.

There is a paradox at work through the book where the four women are shown to maintain their humanity and feelings while being efficient killers, which makes the characters more interesting.  I like how they learned to rely on each other for each one's skill set and not be competitive.  They have become like sisters in some ways.

I do have some caveats with my praise. The "Museum" organization, and thus the four women, operate on a vigilante assassination philosophy that the ends justify the means.  They don't just skirt the law, they toss the law out the window to be judge (the Museum), jury (the Museum), and executioner (the assassins).  It is stated this way in the book: "I'm interested in justice, not law."  But justice is subjective and often handed out based on grudges or emotions like revenge when the law isn't the bedrock.  

I know it took me awhile to get to this book so many of you may have read it already.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the book.

Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now and put this author on your watch list.

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Musings - Shakespeare's Lasting Impact

 

    When many people think of William Shakespeare, they think of a long ago time where life was harsh and cruel, illness wiped out hundreds of thousands, and the wealthy lorded it over the struggling working-poor.  But times haven't changed all that much, really. The main themes of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets are universal.

     Our modern day, with its texting, movies on demand, communication across the world in seconds, and flying through the skies in hours that took weeks in Will's day, is still influenced by the Bard. His themes of love, death, ambition, power, fate, racism, and free-will still resonate with people today. Shakespeare was also a master at creating characters rich in personality and traits. These detailed characters never go out of style, with their faults and frailties of jealousy, ambition, naivety, power, kindness, nobility, and so on.

     The great Nelson Mandela once said that "To be taken seriously as a politician, one must always quote from Shakespeare," and a lot of his speeches when he was president quoted the Bard. While he was a political prisoner for over 20 years in jail, he found inspiration in a smuggled-in copy of Shakespeare's complete works. There is one passage from the play "Julius Caesar" that Mandela signed while imprisoned: "Cowards die many times before their deaths/ The valiant never taste death but once."  

     But Shakespeare has influenced more than a luminary social justice beacon.  The American English language is filled with words, phrases and expressions that Shakespeare coined in his writings (37 plays and 154 sonnets that we know of). 

     He penned one-tenth of the most quoted lines ever written or spoken in English, and he is the second most quoted writer in the English language. He introduced nearly 3,000 words to the English language--many of which we use regularly every day, such as: addiction, assassination, courtship, eyeball, impartial, luggage, swagger, hoodwinked, bedazzle, and tranquil for a short list.

     Plus phrases we use regularly like: all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players, Knock, Knock! Who's there?, in a pickle, tongue-tied, heart of gold, faint-hearted, good riddance, lie low, cruel only to be kind, fight fire with fire, baited breath, send him packing, come what may, wear your heart on your sleeve, not slept a wink, laughing stock, naked truth, out of the jaws of death, too much of a good thing, break the ice, wild goose chase, heart of hearts, seen better days, dead as a doornail, love is blind, breathed his last, vanish into thin air, makes your hair stand on end, for goodness' sake, off with his head, a sorry sight, the green-eyed monster, brave new world, the world is my oyster, and be all-end all. 

     As a writer, many of the tropes we have today came from Shakespeare. Forbidden Love from Romeo and Juliet, hidden identities and disguises from "Twelfth Night", revenge and betrayal from "Hamlet" and "Othello," coming of age with "The Tempest" and "Hamlet," the prodigal son in "Henry IV" and "The Merchant of Venice," and he regularly wove power and corruption throughout his plays.      

     Some other tropes he generated were the affable or charming evil person, the ambiguously gay character, the double entendre he used a lot, evil versus evil, love triangles, rags to royalty, prophecy twist ("no man or woman born"-reused particularly well in JRR Tolkien's Return of the King), the slap-slap-kiss or "shut-up" kiss, the sub-plot to keep interest, the truly evil villain, and a woman disguised as a man (nicely employed in Disney's "Mulan".) This is only his plays, for his sonnets contain even more tropes we see regularly today.

     Even in the realm of psychology, Shakespeare was recognized. Sigmund Freud thought the Bard was the greatest poet and quoted him often. Freud greatly appreciated his insights and use of the unconscious. Macbeth is practically a psychiatrist's textbook of guilt and self delusion and a roadmap to insanity.

     But what Shakespeare gave us, the lasting quality of his work, was insights into humanity at our best and worst presented in memorable fashion with equal parts laughter and tears. He knew how to tap into large universal themes and understand his audience and give them what they wanted, an escape for a few moments and to feel seen at the same time.  

     What is your favorite Shakespeare work and why?  Do you see echoes of his influence around you today?  Reply and let me know.

Here is a short piece with the amazing Dame Judy Dench giving us an impromptu bit of Shakespeare.

Review - Murder in the Ranks

 When I read: "In this World War II debut mystery filled with spies, murder, and a touch of romance, newly minted squad leader Dorothy Lincoln is caught in the crosshairs of a devious plot, perfect for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal and Ashley Weaver" I knew I had to read this debut novel in a new series.  

If you have followed my blog for long, you know I enjoy historical mystery novels and particularly WWII era or Regency. Plus this author being compared to two of my favorite historical mystery authors made it a "must" read for me.  Find out what I thought of this new entry in WWII mystery novels.

Author: Kristi Jones

Copyright: Nov 2024 (Crooked Lane) 294 pgs

Series: 1st in Dorothy Lincoln Mysteries

Sensuality: Mature topics, realities of war w/out gory details

Mystery Sub-genre: Historical Amateur Sleuth

Main Character: Dorothy "Dottie" Lincoln, Women's Auxiliary Corps Squad Leader 

Setting: 1943 Algiers, North Africa during WWII

Obtained Through: Publisher via Netgalley for honest review

Book Blurb:  "Algiers, North Africa, 1943. After her abusive German husband left her for dead and took their daughter with him behind enemy lines, Dottie Lincoln learned that it’s better to be a trained soldier rather than a victim. As a newly minted squad leader in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, she spends her days moving men and materials to the front and her nights attending mandatory dances to boost the morale of the men. Despite the grueling nature of her job, she has found a sanctuary amongst the women in the Army. When Ruth, a member of her squad, is murdered, she’s devastated and determined to get to the bottom of the murder. 

Dottie’s company is the first group of American women assigned to a combat theater, and with Ruth’s death, the entire operation is being questioned. Determined to do everything she can to help win the war, bring justice to her friend, and hopefully reunite with her daughter, Dottie must rise to the occasion before the killer strikes again. 

But when her past comes back to haunt her, Dottie must prove she’s not a German spy and put a stop to a deadly conspiracy that threatens the entire American war effort."

My Thoughts:

"Dottie" Lincoln is a great main character with her abusive past and personal secret to hide of a German connection. You feel her mother's heart ache for her daughter. But her determination and grit see her through.

Captain Devlin of the military police is the one assigned to investigate Auxiliary Ruth Wentz's death, which he immediately assumed was a suicide. The horrors of war are just too much for weak women. It would have been closed as suicide if not for Dottie's persistence that it had to be something else.  Captain Devlin and Dottie end up working well together after a rough start. There may be a romantic angle in later books, but it will likely be a slow burn from these early indications.

The other women in the squad are very different and provide a couple of suspects. Each character is crafted so well, you felt like they were real.

I particularly liked the location. Most WWII novels are in the Pacific or England, occasionally behind the lines in Germany or occupied France, but rarely in Africa and the fighting there.  

The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps really existed and had women in combat zones and this has great historical tidbits.  The fact that the women were considered more for the morale of the men and not useful in their support roles is important to remember and is a wall these women pushed against while their lives were at risk . This had just enough realism to bring the war to the reader without it haunting you with horrible details.

The mystery itself is why would somebody murder Ruth? She wasn't into trouble and took her role very seriously.  The investigation shows the seedy side of what happens around a combat zone. The answers aren't easily detected but make complete sense after the reveal.  The killer reveal was very good -- tense and thrilling while believable and heart-pounding. Kudos.

The wrap-up leaves Dottie in a position to be on investigations with Captain Devlin in the next books, so this will be a series. Nicely done how that is maneuvered.

I will say that the beginning takes a few chapters of setup before the murder happens and the pace picks up. But pay attention because clues are dropped in all the initial action at a social where the Auxiliary ladies are meant to dance with the soldiers and entertain them. I grew impatient with so much time on the dance, but ended up going back to it later.

I have to say I am in love with this book and I'm excited to read the next. I highly recommend.

Rating:  Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend. 

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Here is a short recruitment piece from the era for 

women to join.

Review - A Hopeless Case

 When I noticed that the Hallmark series "The Jane Mysteries" was from a book series by K.K. Beck, I had to read at least one of the books.  This is the first book in the Jane da Silva Mysteries, originally published in the 1990s by Hachette Books. 

Author: K.K. Beck

Copyright: May 2001 (Mysterious Press) 271 pgs

Series: 1st in Jane da Silva Mysteries

Sensuality: Medium, mature topics, occasional swearing, woman attacked

Mystery Sub-genre: Amateur Sleuth

Main Character: Jane da Silva-37 y/o Singer and widow returned from Europe

Setting: 1990s, Seattle, Washington

Obtained Through: Library

Book Blurb:  "Jane da Silva knows a Cole Porter tune and a silky voice will only carry you so far through the urbane cabarets of Europe. So when the young widow's "eccentric" Uncle Harold dies, she jets back to the States to claim the fortune she dearly needs to ransom her Visa card. Unfortunately, Jane finds her inheritance conditional and her situation critical.

It seems Uncle Harold and his old-codger cronies are part of a secret society dedicated to aiding and abetting offbeat lost causes, and Jane must carry on her uncle's "work" if she expects to see anything resembling a windfall. But just how far will the chic expatriate go when her "hopeless case" forces her to mingle with a sleaze-ball lawyer, a scheming psychiatrist, a sinister New Age cult, a stone-cold corpse -- and a ruthless murderer?"

MY Thoughts:

Jane da Silva is worldly-wise, slightly jaded, a survivor, tough, and determined. The book version has more layers and complexity. I like her.

Police Detective John Cameron ends up on a related murder investigation and doesn't think much of Jane's wacky inheritance setup and thinks there isn't any value in the old suicide. In this first installment of their working together, they are rocky and rapport develops over the course of the story.  

Calvin Mason is the sleaze-ball lawyer who finds her first case for her. He is an interesting character with touches of Don Quixote with his pro-bono cases because he can't turn down the hard-luck cases.

The Trustees, 6 white-haired men, who oversee whether her cases (2 per year required) fulfill the terms of the will to inherit the fortune are named and described in the book, but the show doesn't even have trustees holding the reins of the fortune.  The trustees are:  lawyer George Montcrieff, Bishop Barton, Judge Potter, Professor Grunewald, retired banker Franklin Grendinning, and retired Navy Commander Kincaid. I appreciated the brief introduction to these men.

The hopeless case she begins investigating, that Calvin Mason brings to her, is the 16 years old suspicious suicide of a woman who was in a cult, The Fellowship of the Flame, and mere hours after turning over her inheritance to the cult she dies.  Her daughter is a talented musician and hopes Jane can prove the inheritance was swindled and can be returned to pay for her tuition to a music school. But mostly her daughter wants to understand her mother and why she died.

I enjoyed the Seattle setting and Vashon Island in the Puget Sound that gets featured in the investigation. In my early teens, I lived around that area and visited the Puget Sound once. If I go back, I want to visit Vashon Island.

The killer reveal was tense but seemed too quick. The wrap up leaves it open for Jane's ongoing investigations.

Overall a solid mystery with tense moments, an independent sleuth with common sense and grit. She does take a few risks that put her in danger. I liked the book Jane more than the show's character.

Rating:  Good - A good mystery read. It wasn't great, but it has definite good qualities. I recommend for a beach read. 

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Here is a short video with tourist info on Vashon Island featured in the novel.