Envious Casca by Gerogette Heyer is one of her mysteries, not a Regency novel. I have to admit that I didn't have the same feeling about this novel as I have about some of her Regency Romances which delighted me as an adolescent. A Manor House mystery: a Christmas celebration turns disastrous when the irascible host is murdered. Although there are a number of red herrings, the guilty party seems obvious from even before the murder. I didn't find the characters as charming as in some of the Regency novels and the repartee wasn't nearly as witty. Which doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it--just not as much as I hoped.
Love the cover, though.
Fiction. Mystery. Originally published in 1941; current 2010. 396 pages.
Outwitting Trolls by William Tapply is part of the Brady Coyne series, and the first in the series that I've read. Coyne, a Boston attorney, finds himself hired by the wife of an old friend who has been murdered. Although a fast read, I wasn't much impressed. My favorite part is when a character is described as having a "meandering nose." Not enough to tempt me to read more in the series. The descriptions of Henry the dog's trips to do his business got old quickly. The book is very short, and an alarming percentage of the text has to do with Henry. I love dogs, but frankly, if the dog is discussed mainly in terms of his feeding and bathroom habits, I'm just not interested.
Fiction. Mystery. 2010. 273 pages.
The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi is another "new to me" author. While the book had an interesting detective and a mythic undercurrent, I didn't find it all that entertaining. Zouroudi does an excellent job of describing an insular society on a small Greek island, but I found the culture (and the opinions about women) too oppressive to get much pleasure from the mystery. I really liked the
idea of "detective" Hermes Diaktoros, but somehow his character never really worked for me.
Fiction. Mystery. 2007. 324 pages.
Well, I am beginning to catch up with some of my reviews.
The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi is another "new to me" author. While the book had an interesting detective and a mythic undercurrent, I didn't find it all that entertaining. Zouroudi does an excellent job of describing an insular society on a small Greek island, but I found the culture (and the opinions about women) too oppressive to get much pleasure from the mystery. I really liked the idea of "detective" Hermes Diaktoros, but somehow his character never really worked for me.
It's too bad these books didn't work a bit better...
ReplyDeleteKailana - Sometimes things go in cycles, and I've had several disappointing books lately. And when I went to the library, they only had one of the books I wanted from a long list. Ah, well--maybe things will turn around soon.
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