A Kind of Grief by A.D. Scott is set in the Scottish Highlands in the late 1950's during the Cold War. I read the first in this series in 2010 and enjoyed it. Although I thought I would continue with the series, it didn't happen (best laid plans "gang aft agley" -- thank you, Robert Burns), and Scott's latest offering is the sixth book featuring Joanne Ross. So...I have missed the four books in between, and thus was unfamiliar with some important events that are referred to in this one. Maybe that is part of the reason I wasn't as taken with this book as I was with first one, but I also found the style a bit off-putting and don't remember feeling that way when reading A Small Death in the Great Glen.
What I did like is the connection to the Cambridge Five. (I read A Kind of Grief in May, but am scheduling the review for September. In May, I also read 3 fiction and 1 nonfiction books about espionage during WWII and later during the Cold War, so there was a nice fit in subject matter which also included watching Granite Flats, a Netflix series that also had the espionage and Cold War angle. None of this reading/watching was deliberate, and I love it when happenstance creates a synchronicity in subject matter and/or characters.)
I also love the setting. The highlands fascinate me in fiction and fact, and the late 1950's are
so removed from our current global inter-connectedness and our technology. The differences between the 1950's and 2015 are almost Brigadoon-ish.
Would I read more in the series? Yes, but I intend to check with the library to see if they have the second in the series. I would like to catch up on at least some of what I've missed.
Read in May; Blog post scheduled for Sept. 30, 2015.
NetGalley/Atria Books
Mystery. Oct. 6, 2015. Print version: 368 pages.
Ordered the first book from the library just now :-) I'm so interested in everything about Scotland. Even though DD didn't end up there permanently, it got me started on my love and fascination. And I'm very glad she lives close by me haha!
ReplyDeleteI love Scotland, have visited twice, and loved Edinburgh and the highlands. I remember when your daughter was there and some of your photos you shared. :) I still haven't caught up with the other books in the series, but the books I've read, I've enjoyed.
DeleteI actually saw the first in this series in Barnes and Noble a few months ago while browsing for new titles, and picked it up and hesitated and put it back because I'd never heard of it nor seen it reviewed. Thanks for pointing it out! I think I want to give the series a try. I'm a child of the '60s but born in '58 so I enjoy reading stories from "so long ago". Wow, I feel old now, lol. Anyway, thanks and I think I will scout my library first or perhaps order an e-book of it if I can't find it.
ReplyDeleteI want to go back and pick up the ones I've missed. The author does a great job in creating a community from another time and place!
DeleteYou've my curiosity piqued on the first book, Jenclair. I quite like the Scotland setting and any other things about it so I may want to read the book at some point.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed A Small Death in the Great Glen and am surprised I failed to keep up with the series.
DeleteAh and this is why I love to read series in order. I hate feeling "left out of the loop" if I read books out of order. I've had this series on my list for a while but haven't check it out yet. I think I would definitely enjoy the setting and the historical aspects too.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer to read in order and am often surprised that I've missed a book (or more!) in a series. Life in the 1950's was so different, especially considering all of the technological advances since then, and life in the highlands of Scotland at the time is quite foreign to our own lives in 2015.
DeleteI keep thinking I need to read a bit about the Cambridge Five! I don't know a thing about them (except that they exist), and I'd really like to.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting group, The Cambridge Five. Especially the identity of the "fifth man" -- who could have been Victor Rothschild, Klaus Fuchs, or the most popular suspect, John Cairncross.
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