june-july 2023 books…

The Company Of Heaven (Catherine Fox): This is the fifth Catherine Fox book I’ve read over the past eight years or so. As with the previous books, it’s based in the fictional diocese of Lindchester and, once again, follows some of its beloved characters. It was originally written in real time (more or less) in the form of a weekly blog and continues (from the writer’s previous book) on Easter Monday 2021 – just as the pandemic’s third lockdown draws to a close. Fox is a wonderful writer and she manages to convey the uncertainties of the incredibly challenging times with heart, humour and insight… as well as providing us with a compelling, powerful reminder of what we all went through (with some pertinent political ‘digs’ and observations). At times (as with her previous Lindchester books), it almost felt as if we were following the characters from BBC radio’s ‘The Archers’ (except that I haven’t actually tuned in for more than 30 years, so how would I know?!). Frankly, such thoughts would have put me off from reading Fox’s books… but, ridiculously perhaps, she does have the ability to make you want to know more about the story’s characters as well as leaving you with a sense of hope and a reminder of the goodness of people, even in the darkest times. Another enjoyable read.
The Clocks (Agatha Christie): More ‘comfort reading’ (from our huge pile of Christie books)! This one first published in 1963. For the first 100 pages or so, I was utterly intrigued by this ‘mystery novel’… a blind woman; an unidentified dead man found in her house; four strange clocks all showing the same time left in the house; a woman from a typing agency specifically asked to meet at the house – only to find the body. As ever with a Christie novel, it’s a clever, intricate plot but, for me, the storyline became a little too far-fetched (and with some unnecessary romantic tangents) with eventual revelations about A being linked to B… who was subsequently found to be associated with C etc etc (and, of course, with various red-herrings along the way). Clever, but not altogether 100% convincing in my view (by 1963, she was 73… so might have been losing her touch?!) but, hey, another enjoyable read nevertheless.
Take Two At Bedtime (Margery Allingham): I think I’ve previously read three Allingham books and, while I’ve enjoyed her writing style, I have to say that I found her ‘Albert Campion’ character a little ‘wearing’! This book (first published in 1950, but originally published in US magazines in the 1940s) does NOT feature Campion(!) and takes the form of two novellas/short(ish) stories: ‘Wanted’: Someone Innocent’ and ‘Last Act’… and, I have to say, I really enjoyed them. Two stories of tension and suspense. One concerns a young woman hired as ‘a sort of social secretary’, but who has no idea of the atmosphere of evil that goes with the job. The other relates the last act in the career of an old French actress, who names her murderer before the final curtain. Unfortunately, both stories included romance at the heart of the mysteries – but, hey!
Lessons In Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus): This is our next Storysmith bookgroup book (theme: debut books). The story starts in the early 1950s, in the world of the Hastings Research Institute, Southern California – where we follow the relationship of a brilliant, prize-winning scientist (despite his grudge-holding grumpiness) and a very determined research scientist (who found it almost impossible for people to take her seriously – because of her sex). In the words of the novel’s opening chapter: “Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought…”. Chemist Elizabeth Zott’s all male team at the Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Ridiculously, she is forced to resign and, very reluctantly (without any experience of such things), she signs on as a host of a 6pm television cooking show… and “so a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo” (according to the book’s cover). I really enjoyed this book (despite its too-good-to-be-true positivity). It’s funny, very readable and ridiculously joyful (it WILL lift your spirits!)… and I loved the characters – especially the dog (named ‘Six-Thirty’!).
Seven Dead (J Jefferson Farjeon): I bought this book (first published in 1939) while we were away in Oxford – having finished the one book I’d taken with me. The story tells of an amateur thief who discovers seven dead bodies in the house he’s chosen to rob. A detective inspector takes on the case with the help of a passing yachtsman (as you do!). The search for the absent owners takes the yachtsman across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds “more than one motive to stay and investigate” (in the words of the book’s flysheet… note: there’s an attractive woman involved!). I’d previously read one of Farjeon’s books and enjoyed it – but that’s more than I can say for this one! I found the characters here one laughably wooden; the dialogue utterly appalling (it seems that all thieves and police constables are basically ‘thick’, while the inspectors and yachtsmen are frightfully well-educated and middle-class); and the plot implausibly concocted for my liking. Clearly, it’s a book of its time and is very ‘dated’ accordingly – but I really did think it was pretty awful.