Agatha Christie, The Mirror Crack'd, 1962, 216 pages.
Miss Marple. Set in St. Mary Mead at a manor house recently bought by a movie star. This is ChrisAgatha Christie, The Mirror Crack'd, 1962, 216 pages.
Miss Marple. Set in St. Mary Mead at a manor house recently bought by a movie star. This is Christie at the top of her form. Another inventive premise. Quotes "The Lady of Shalott," 1832, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem... , by Tennyson (1809-1892).
One has to dare if one wants to get anywhere. p. 41, chapter 5.
Bossy women seldom get themselves murdered. I can't think why not. p. 63, chapter 8.
(view spoiler)[She did the worst thing to me that anyone can do to anyone else. Let them believe that they're loved and wanted and then show them that it's all a sham. p. 148, chapter 15. (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[Christie praises /A High Wind in Jamaica/, 1929, by Richard Hughes (1900-1976) for capturing children's experience of horror and excitement and fear. p. 189, chapter 21. (hide spoiler)]
This is about a serial rapist and murderer who gloats about his crimes.
LikeaBack to the Garden, Laurie R. King, 2022.
In every Eden there is a serpent.
This is about a serial rapist and murderer who gloats about his crimes.
Likeable characters otherwise.
Interesting flashbacks to a 1970s hippie commune.
This is not a Kate Martinelli mystery--it features a different San Francisco Police Department inspector whom SFPD Inspector Al Hawkin mentors.
Set in the palatial estate of a 19th-century California robber baron in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco. A fictitious one. But there is a real one: https://filoli.org/explore/the-garden/
A story about a serial murderer of six-year-old girls.
The /other/ characters are likeable and well-draA Grave Talent, Laurie R. King, 1993, 366 pages.
A story about a serial murderer of six-year-old girls.
The /other/ characters are likeable and well-drawn. This is the first of six books in the Kate Martinelli series. King paints a good picture of her protagonist, especially in her struggle to segregate her home and work lives, p. 263. There's a delightful precocious 10- or 11-year-old girl, pp. 290-296.
The title refers to an artist at the center of the story. Art as (view spoiler)[a weapon, pp. 288-289. (hide spoiler)]
The Lantern's Dance (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #18), Laurie R. King (1952- ), 2024.
This is one of the best.
The eighteen books:
Sherlock Holmes The Lantern's Dance (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #18), Laurie R. King (1952- ), 2024.
This is one of the best.
The eighteen books:
Sherlock Holmes with his new partner, Mary Russell. Good stories. Likeable characters. More fun than the Arthur Conan Doyle stories that inspired them. Each book is distinct: set in many and varied physical, social, religious, linguistic, and literary environments. World War I, anti-colonial struggles, natural disasters; prominent real people, occasional fictional characters of other authors. Insightful and fun! Eighteen novels plus short stories, and they keep getting more compelling:
Later books build on, and have spoilers for, earlier ones. Read them in the following order (the Arthur Conan Doyle canon is completely optional, with the sole exception that "The Gloria Scott" should be read before Laurie R. King's novel #14, The Murder of Mary Russell). And you don't have to have previously met the other authors' fictional characters that appear in King's books. If you have, you'll enjoy remeeting them here.
1 background, optional. A Study in Scarlet (novel, 1887, introduces Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John Watson), The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893, introduces Mycroft Holmes), The Adventure of the Final Problem (short story, 1893, introduces Professor James Moriarty), The Adventure of the Empty House (short story, 1903, set in 1894, explains Holmes' doings 1891–1894), and The Adventure of the Lion's Mane (short story, 1926, Holmes has retired to Sussex), by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).
1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994. Events 1915.04.08–1919.07, England, Wales, Palestine). Sherlock Holmes (b. early 1861), retired to the East Sussex Downs, meets young Mary Russell (b. 1900.01.02), who becomes his apprentice. Purported to have been written by Mary Russell in the late 1980s. Holmes on 1915.04.08 says he's 54, and on 1920.12.26 that he's 59. Holmes lives half a mile from the sea (book 9, The Language of Bees, chapters 1 & 8) near Birling Gap, in East Sussex, https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8,0.0... northeast of the mouth of the Cuckmere river: puts him about at the end of Crowlink Lane, southwest of Friston.
5. O Jerusalem (1999. Events 1918.12.30–1919.02, Palestine). Fifth-written and fifth-published Mary Russel/Sherlock Holmes novel, fleshes out an interlude in book one. It's also a prequel for book six. If you're reading the Kindle edition of /O Jerusalem/, start at the cover. Before the table of contents are: Map of Jerusalem and of Palestine; Arabic Words and Phrases; A Note about Chapter Headings; "Editor's Remarks," "Author's Prologue."
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995. Events 1920.12.26–1921.06, England.)
Mary Russel's War (2016. Events 1906–1925. Ten short stories. Stories #1–9 can be read after book 2, A Monstrous Regiment of Women. Story #10, Stately Holmes, should be read after book 12, Garment of Shadows.)
"The Marriage of Mary Russell" (2016. Events 1921.02), short story #4 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Mary's Christmas" (2014), short story #1 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/, (2016). Mary reminisces about her childhood (1906–1913.12)
Background for "Mary Russell's War," very optional. The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (short story, 1903), and The Valley of Fear (novel, 1915), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930); Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1899), E.W. Hornung (1866–1921) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
"Mary Russell's War" or "My War Journal" (2015. Events of 1914.08.04–1915.04.08), short story #2 of 10 in the collection, /Mary Russell's War/ (2016). Includes spoilers for The Valley of Fear.
"Beekeeping for Beginners" (2011. Events 1915.04.08–1915.05), short story #3 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Mrs. Hudson's Case" (1997. Events 1918.09–1918.10), short story #5 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"A Venomous Death" (2009. Set in October, in or after 1921), very short story #6 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Birth of a Green Man" (2010. Set sometime between June 1917--see book 10, The God of the Hive, chapter 52--and September 1924), very short story #7 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"My Story, or, The Case of the Ravening Sherlockians" (2009, Events of 1989–2009--note that Sherlock Holmes, born early in 1861, is 148 years old in 2009, and still alive. He must still be alive, as his obituary hasn't appeared in The Times of London. Conan Doyle tried to kill him in 1891, and his fans wouldn't have it.), short story #8 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"A Case in Correspondence" (2010, Events of 1992.05.03–1992.05.19), short story #9 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
3 background, very optional. Almost any Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) mystery.
3. A Letter of Mary (1996. Events of 1923.08.14–1923.09.08, England.)
4 background, optional. The Hound of the Baskervilles (novel, 1902), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).
4. The Moor (1998. Events of 1923.10–1923.11, Dartmoor, Devon, England.) Includes spoilers for The Hound of the Baskervilles. The moor is Dartmoor, in southwest England, setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles: (view spoiler)["a high, wide bowl of granite, some 350 square miles covered with a thin, peaty soil and scattered with outcrops of stone. ... The floor of the moor is a thousand feet above the surrounding Devonshire countryside, from which it rises abruptly." [p. 23 of 307, chapter 2.] Parts of Dartmoor get up to 80 inches (2 meters) of rain per year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmoor Here's a photo of Aune Mire: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmoo... A map of Dartmoor is at the front of the print book, but at the back of the Kindle version, just before the "praise for other Mary Russell mysteries." Here's google maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dar... Effects of acidic bog water: Holmes says few skeletons have been found in the bogs, and speculates that the acid dissolves them [21%, Chapter 5]. Could be. However: Acidic bog water destroys plants but preserves animal skin and leather, hair and wool, horn and fingernails. Alkaline lake mud destroys animal remains, but preserves plant material such as wood and flaxen thread. —Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, pp. 86, 90. We learn that Holmes' friend Dr. John Watson is 5 years older than Holmes. (hide spoiler)]
6 background, very optional. The Purloined Letter (1844), Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
6. Justice Hall. (2002. Events 1923.11.05–1923.12.26, England, France, Canada.) Includes spoilers for O Jerusalem. Introduces (view spoiler)[ William Maurice (Lord Marsh) Hughenfort, b. 1876, and Alistair Gordon St. John Hughenfort, b. 1881. (hide spoiler)]
7. The Game. (2004. Events 1924.01.01–1924.02, Northern India: Simla in Himchal Pradesh; Khalka in Haryana; Khanpur in Punjab.) The game is international espionage, called the Great Game by Kipling in Kim. Introduces Kimball O'Hara, b. 1875. (view spoiler)[The text tells us that our border kingdom is north of Pathankot, Punjab--which would put it in Jammu and Kashmir, maybe in the direction of Srinagar. But the map in the book shows it in the vicinity of Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4,74,...(hide spoiler)]
8 background, very optional. The Maltese Falcon (novel, 1930), Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961). Sam Spade short stories: "A Man Called Spade," 1932, "Too Many Have Lived," 1932, "They Can Only Hang you Once," 1932, all collected in A Man Called Spade and Other Stories, 1944, and in Nightmare Town, 1994; and "A Knife Will Cut for Anybody," published 2013. Continental Op stories: The Big Book of the Continental Op, 2017, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... 8 background, optional. Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882–1943 (1994), Sucheng Chan (1941–). 8 background, entirely optional but well worth reading: Right Ho, Jeeves (novel, 1934), P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975), online at: http://www.online-literature.com/pg-w... Or any similar Wodehouse--Right Ho, Jeeves, is particularly good.
8. Locked Rooms (2005. Events 1924.03–1924.05, San Francisco.) Eighteen years after the San Francisco earthquake and fires, April 18, 1906. (view spoiler)[The police feared riot and disorder so much, it was ordered that any person caught looting would be shot on sight--with no suggestion as to how the soldier or policeman might tell if the person in his sights was a looter or a rightful home-owner. (chapter 8.) (hide spoiler)]
9 background, optional. A Scandal in Bohemia (short story, 1891) and The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). 9 background, very optional. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902, William James (1842–1910).
11 background, optional. The Pirates of Penzance (comic opera, 1879), W.S. Gilbert (1836–1911)
11. Pirate King (2011. Events 1924.11.06–1924.11.30, Lisbon; Morocco.) Heath Robinson (a kind of British Rube Goldberg): https://www.pinterest.com/drumseddie5...
12. Garment of Shadows (2012. Events 1924.12–1925.01, Morocco.)
13. Dreaming Spies. (2015. Events 1925.03–1925.04, 1924.04, Japan & Oxfordshire). This one ends in confusion: it's unclear what happens. Thomas Carlyle: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
14 NECESSARY background for The Murder of Mary Russell: THE GLORIA SCOTT (1893): online here, in print and audio, https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/40/the-mem... 8400-word short story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle. The story, its characters and events, are the foundation of the Mary Russell book, which gives a different perspective on them. Holmes says it's his first case. (In Conan Doyle's telling it's set in about 1885; yet he's been in Baker Street since about 1881. Conan Doyle is careless about dates. Laurie R. King takes trouble to make them as self-consistent as she can.) 14 background, optional. His Last Bow (1917), The Five Orange Pips (1891), A Scandal in Bohemia (1891), The Man with the Twisted Lip (1891), The Sign of the Four (1890), The Adventure of the Final Problem (1893), Arthur Conan Doyle. (Events and/or characters of these stories are mentioned in The Murder of Mary Russell.) 14 background, entirely optional, but good stories: the Horatio Hornblower stories by C. S. Forester: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio... 14 background, optional. Oliver Twist (1838 novel), Charles Dickens (1812–1870) 14 background, optional. The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
14. The Murder of Mary Russell. (2016. Events 1925.05.13–1925.05.18 and backstory 1852–1915.04.08 Britain, Atlantic, Australia.) Has spoilers for The Gloria Scott and The Five Orange Pips by Conan Doyle, and for The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe. We find out more about Holmes' housekeeper, Clara Hudson, b. 1856.05.09 (chapter 39), and Billy Mudd, b. about 1872 (chapter 27: age 8 in October 1880), and (view spoiler)[Sam Hudson, b. 1879.08.20. (hide spoiler)] Clara Hudson meets Sherlock Holmes 1879.09.29 Sunday (chapter 19). Dr. John Watson comes to Baker Street, 1881.01. 1891.04 Holmes disappears at the Reichenbach Falls. 1894.04 Holmes reappears. 1901.01.22 Queen Victoria dies. 1903 Holmes relocates to East Sussex.
15 background, optional. The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (1911), Arthur Conan Doyle. 15 background, optional. Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887), Nellie Bly (1864–1922) 15 background, optional. The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), H.G. Wells (1866–1946)
15. The Island of the Mad. (2018. Events 1925.06 Venice, and backstory 1922–)
16 background, optional. The Purloined Letter (1844), Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
16. Riviera Gold. (2020. Events 1925.05–1925.08; backstory 1877.04) Has spoilers for The Gloria Scott by Arthur Conan Doyle and The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe. Continues the story of Mrs. Hudson from novel 14, The Murder of Mary Russell.
17 background, optional. The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire (1924), Arthur Conan Doyle; Dracula (1897), Bram Stoker; The Monkey's Paw (1902), W.W. Jacobs, online here: https://www.kyrene.org/cms/lib/AZ0100... .
18 background, optional. A Study in Scarlet (novel, 1887, introduces Sherlock Holmes), A Scandal in Bohemia (1891, Introduces Irene Adler), The Man with the Twisted Lip (short story, 1891, introduces a Lascar), The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893, introduces Mycroft Holmes), The Adventure of the Final Problem (short story, 1893), The Adventure of the Empty House (short story, 1903, set in 1894, explains Holmes' doings 1891–1894), and The Adventure of the Lion's Mane (short story, 1926, Holmes has retired to Sussex), by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930); The Moonstone (1868), Wilkie Collins (1824-1889). 18. The Lantern's Dance. (2024. Events 1925.09.10- , France.) Has spoilers for 1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, 5. O Jerusalem, The Marriage of Mary Russell, 9. The Language of Bees, 10. The God of the Hive, and for A Scandal in Bohemia.
Background for "Stately Holmes," optional. A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823), Clement Clark Moore (1779–1863): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem... . A Christmas Carol (1843), Charles Dickens (1812–1870): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-... (control-+ to make it readable). A Scandal in Bohemia (1891); The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone (1921), Arthur Conan Doyle.
"Stately Holmes" (2016. Events 1925.12), short story #10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016). Includes spoilers for 6. Justice Hall, 9. The Language of Bees, 10. God of the Hive, and 12. Garment of Shadows, and for A Scandal in Bohemia (1891), Arthur Conan Doyle.
It's November 2004. chapters 8, 15. The cold dish is revenge, for something that happened in 2002. chapter 7.
Our hero is the sheriff.
As boss of the deputies, he has a "violence is not the answer, so I'm going to beat the shit out of you" management style. chapter 10.
He thinks it's macho to search a mountainside in a blizzard with bare ears and bare fingers.
All the unattached women want him.
Walt and his Native American sidekick are Vietnam War veterans in their fifties. They are capable of improbable feats of strength, endurance, and marksmanship.
We get details of long-range rifles, high-caliber ammunition, and fatal wounds.
Turns of phrase:
"That Powder River country, there's a good-looking woman behind every tree. …" "There just ain't any trees." chapter 3.
1964.06 Douglass Everett and Mike McKenzie graduate high school. Mike McKenzie becomes a deputy sheriff. p 135.
1969.05-1969.08 Faye Longchamp born (born 5 years after 1964.07; age 16 in 1986.04, age 34 in August 2003, "pushing" age 36 in November 2004). Grows up in Tallahassee. Book 1 pp. 23, 71, 116-118, 125, 170. Book 2 p. 1 chapter 1, p. 38 chapter 4.
1975.04.30 Fall of Saigon: Vietnam War ends. book 1 p. 125.
1976 Deputy Sheriff Claypool born. Age 27 2003.08. book 1 p. 220.
1977.11.05-1978.11.04 Joe Wolf Mantooth born. Oklahoma. Book 1 p. 228. Age 26, 2004.11.04. Book 2 p. 2 chapter 1.
1978-1979 Faye's Pontiac Bonneville manufactured. "25" years old in 2003.08 and in 2004.11. Book 1 p. 67-68, 107. Book 2 p. 2. chapter 1. https://www.google.com/search?q=1978+...
1983 Faye, age 14, takes after-school job to help pay mom's medical bills. book 1 p. 24.
1985.09-1986.04 Faye, age 16, is popular with boys in her junior year. book 1 p. 116.
1993 protagonist Faye Longchamp is in college in Tallahassee, studying archaeology under Dr. Magda Stockard. book 1 p. 4. Has 3 years credit toward a degree. book 1 p. 39. Faye drops out to care for sick mother and grandmother until they die. book 1 p. 38. Takes 5 years to pay medical bills. book 1 p. 38. Faye breaks her engagement to Isaiah, spends 2 years camping on her boat while restoring her house. book 1 p. 48.
1996 Joe Wolf Mantooth, age 18, moves to Georgia, learns to knap flint. book 1 p. 78.
2003.04 Joe Wolf Mantooth shows up at Faye's house on Joyeuse Island. Faye lets him stay. Book 1 p. 45.
2003.08 Book 1, /Artifacts/, action takes place. Book 1 published 2003. Book 1 pp. 68, 167.
Relics (Faye Longchamp murder mystery #2), Mary Anna Evans, 2005, 467 pages large print, ISBN 1590581202
Book 2 is supposed to take place in 2004. p. 222. But the days of the week listed are those of 2005. p. 1. 2004.09 Magda and Faye plan the dig in Alabama. p. 128. book 2 Chapter 10.
2005.06 Rachel Stockard-McKenzie born. (Magda 2 months pregnant, 2004.11.04, Book 2, p. 22, chapter 3).
Book 3 Effigies:
2005.07 (late July)
book 3 Chapters 1-2 Thursday book 3 Chapters 3-4 Friday, Neshoba, Mississippi county fair book 3 Chapters 5-6 Saturday, 2nd day of fair. book 3 Chapters 7-8 Sunday, 3rd day of the fair. book 3 Chapters 9-13 Monday, 4th day of the fair. Magda Stockard-McKenzie and baby Rachel home from hospital. book 3 Chapter 12. book 3 Chapters 14-17 Tuesday, 5th day of the fair. book 3 Chapters 18-20 Wednesday, 6th day of the fair. book 3 Chapters 20-25 Thursday, 7th day of the fair. book 3 Chapters 28-32 Friday, 8th day of the fair. book 3 Chapter 33 Friday, August, 3 weeks after close of fair
1969.05-1969.08 Faye Longchamp born (born 5 years after 1964.07; age 16 in 1986.04, age 34 in August 2003, "pushing" age 36 in November 2004). Grows up in Tallahassee. Book 1 pp. 23, 71, 116-118, 125, 170. Book 2 p. 1 chapter 1, p. 38 chapter 4.
1977.11.05-1978.11.04 Joe Wolf Mantooth born. Oklahoma. Book 1 p. 228. Age 26, 2004.11.04. Book 2 p. 2 chapter 1.
1978-1979 Faye's Pontiac Bonneville manufactured. "25" years old in 2003.08 and in 2004.11. Book 1 p. 67-68, 107. Book 2 p. 2. chapter 1. https://www.google.com/search?q=1978+...
2003.04 Joe Wolf Mantooth shows up at Faye's house on Joyeuse Island. Faye lets him stay. Book 1 p. 45.
2003 /Artifacts/ action takes place, and book 1 published. 2003.08: Book 1 pp. 68, 167.
Book 2 is supposed to take place in 2004. p. 222. But the days of the week listed are those of 2005. p. 1. 2004.09 Magda and Faye plan the dig in Alabama. p. 128. Chapter 10. 2004.10.26 Carmen Martinez interviews Leo Smiley book 2 pp. 47-52, chapter 4. 2004.10.27 Carmen Martinez interviews Dovey Murdock book 2 pp. 117-127, chapter 9. 2004.10.29 CJM interviews Brent Harbison book 2 pp. 321-327, chapter 19. 2004.10.30 CJM interviews Jimmie Lavelle and Irene Montrose book 2 pp. 264-269, 301-306. Chapters 16, 18. 2004.11.02 Wednesday Carmen interviews Elliott & Margie Young book 2 pp. 167-175, chapter 12. 2004.11.04 Friday book 2 pp. 1-31. Chapters 1-3. 2004.11.05 Saturday book 2 pp. 32-90, 222-229. Chapters 4-7, 14. 2004.11.06 Sunday. A suspicious death. book 2 pp. 91-127. Chapters 7-9. 2004.11.07 Monday book 2 pp. 128-160. Chapters 10-11. 2004.11.08 Tuesday book 2 pp. 161-229. Chapters 12-14. 2004.11.09 Wednesday. Another suspicious death. book 2 pp. 230-270. Chapters 15-17. 2004.11.10 Thursday. book 2 pp. 271-337. Chapters 17-20. 2004.11.11 Friday. book 2 pp. 338-443. Chapter 21-29. 2004.11.12 Saturday. book 2 pp. 444-453. Chapter 30. 2004.11.13 Sunday. book 2 pp. 454-459. Chapter 31. 2004.12.16 Friday. book 2 pp. 460-465. Chapter 32. 2005.06 ________ Stockard-McKenzie born. (Magda 2 months pregnant, 2004.11.04, Book 2, p. 22, chapter 3).
Amanda Lynne was named after her mother's bluegrass instrument. book 2 p. 58, chapter 5. (hide spoiler)]
Thomas Ray
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