Amy Stewart has continued to flesh out the wonderful lives of Norma, Constance and Fleurette Kopp and the world of Bergman County in Northern NJ during the early 1900s. I cannot get enough of the Lady Deputy Sheriff and how life was lived in my home county and state during this time period.
Not only is Stewart’s writing and plots intriguing, but her attention to historical details and facts are spot on. You can totally enjoy these mystery novels on the surface level of good plot development and destinctive characters through each book in the series. Then the added interest of the historical descriptions and finally there is the added enjoyment if you happen to be from Bergan County and recognize the names of towns and locations that are being mentioned thoughout the book.
Constance Kopp and her sisters have been left to fend for themselves when their mother finally passes away. Living in the family home, a big old drafty house with fields for farming and a few animals to care for, Norma, a lover of carrier pigeons is one who keeps the house running smoothly. Fleurette, the youngest sister, and unknown to her and the outside world really, Constance's daughter, is becoming quite the young lady. She has gotten a job as a seamstress to help support the family and also has dreams of becoming an actress.
Constance is the star of the series going out to work as a Deputy Sheriff, the first in the state of NJ. There are so many pitfalls and challenges to being a lady deputy. But Constance Kopp is tall, sturdy and quite capable of taking care of herself and catching any criminal. She is also very sympathetic to all the women who come under her charge in the jail. She is helping to change how law enforcement and women’s rights are being seen.
I look forward to continuing to read about the Kopp sisters and the world in NJ as the United States starts preparing to enter the first world war.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
The Word is Murder
I cannot say enough good things about Anthony Horowitz and his mystery novels for adults. I absolutely loved Magpie Murders. I have been using quotes from that book when I lead book discussion groups about other mystery novels. I willl be leading a discussion group about that book this summer and I have recommended it multiple times.
Horowitz has outdone himself with this new book, The Word is Murder. I really kept wanting to google the characters in the book, thinking they were real people. I was almost completely convinced that he was writing a non fiction account of following a detective as he solved a case. It is so convincingly written. Such clever prose and so entertaining at the same time.
I do not want to give too much away so I will just tease the plot by saying that in this novel, Horowitz places himself as the sidekick to the ex policeofficer, Hawthorne, who is extremely secretive, but wants to have Horowitz accompany him as he solves the murder of a woman who had just planned and paid for her own funeral that afternoon. The storyline just gets more convoluted as we go, but the reader is so drawn in you cannot stop reading.
I do not think I can say enough complimentary things about this book, but more importantly about this author in general. I said it when I reviewed Magpie Murders, that I needed to go back and House of Silk and Moriaty but now more than ever I must go back and read these while I wait for Horowitz to think up his next clever mystery novel.
Horowitz has outdone himself with this new book, The Word is Murder. I really kept wanting to google the characters in the book, thinking they were real people. I was almost completely convinced that he was writing a non fiction account of following a detective as he solved a case. It is so convincingly written. Such clever prose and so entertaining at the same time.
I do not want to give too much away so I will just tease the plot by saying that in this novel, Horowitz places himself as the sidekick to the ex policeofficer, Hawthorne, who is extremely secretive, but wants to have Horowitz accompany him as he solves the murder of a woman who had just planned and paid for her own funeral that afternoon. The storyline just gets more convoluted as we go, but the reader is so drawn in you cannot stop reading.
I do not think I can say enough complimentary things about this book, but more importantly about this author in general. I said it when I reviewed Magpie Murders, that I needed to go back and House of Silk and Moriaty but now more than ever I must go back and read these while I wait for Horowitz to think up his next clever mystery novel.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Her Royal Spyness
Another fun light and entertaining mystery series. This time written by Rhys Bowen, starting with Her Royal Spyness. Here we meet Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter of the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch. Georgiana is thirty four in line for the throne of England. She is after her half brother, Hamish , better known to his friends as Binky, the third Duke.
This novel starts off as just a fun light story of royal life when you have run out of money and you have never had to take care of yourself. When her father dies, Binky in an effort to save the family home has cut off Georgiana's allowance. He is hoping she will find a rich man, marry and settle down. Georgiana, of course, has other ideas. Off she goes to their London house without any servants and learns how to take care of herself. On her first night alone she finds out just how hard this can all be, "I found a kettle and I even found a tinderbox and a spill to light the gas. Feeling very proud of myself I boiled some water. I even located a tea caddy. Of course that was when I realized that there was no milk, nor was there likely to be unless I contacted the milkman."
But she gains experience as she goes along and about half way through the novel there is finally a murder. When her brother is accused of the crime, and Georgiana starts to realize there are just too many coincidences around her accidents, she begins to questions the friends who she is spending time with. They have all fallen on difficult times and are suspiciously happily crashing parties and gambling. Could there be something more sinister going on?
Definitely written in a fun style of first person, royalty. I will look into reading more the books in this series.
This novel starts off as just a fun light story of royal life when you have run out of money and you have never had to take care of yourself. When her father dies, Binky in an effort to save the family home has cut off Georgiana's allowance. He is hoping she will find a rich man, marry and settle down. Georgiana, of course, has other ideas. Off she goes to their London house without any servants and learns how to take care of herself. On her first night alone she finds out just how hard this can all be, "I found a kettle and I even found a tinderbox and a spill to light the gas. Feeling very proud of myself I boiled some water. I even located a tea caddy. Of course that was when I realized that there was no milk, nor was there likely to be unless I contacted the milkman."
But she gains experience as she goes along and about half way through the novel there is finally a murder. When her brother is accused of the crime, and Georgiana starts to realize there are just too many coincidences around her accidents, she begins to questions the friends who she is spending time with. They have all fallen on difficult times and are suspiciously happily crashing parties and gambling. Could there be something more sinister going on?
Definitely written in a fun style of first person, royalty. I will look into reading more the books in this series.
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Just when you have thought all the stories that could be told about life in one of the concentration camps have been told, you find an incredible story of bravery, fortitude, inner strength and endurance.
Antonio Iturbe has interviewed Dita Kraus, who now lives in Israel and when she was a fourteen year old girl was the Librarian of Auschwitz. This book has been labeled a young adult book but I found it as intense, and both heartbreaking and inspiring as any of the adult fiction books about the Holocaust that I have read. This book uses the fictionalized plot line to fill out the story of Dita but does not soften the horrors of life in the death camp. There are a few very graphic scenes described in this novel.
Dita and her parents are forced to leave their lives behind in 1944 when they are sent from their home in Prague to the model camp Terezin. There the prisoners are treated in a more human style to show the outside world that the Germans are just holding people in ghettos and work camps.
The family is then transferred to Auschwitz, where their life becomes much worse. In the beginning because there is a chance that the Red Cross may come for an inspection, a fellow prisoner, Fredy Hirsch is allowed to run a "school" for the children. Though at 14, Dita is too old for the school, she becomes the librarian and caretaker of the eight books that have been brought into camp clandestinely. Books are banned in the concentration camp. There was also the living library of teachers who would tell stories. Dita is in charge of lending out the books and scheduling the teachers to tell stories. "Dita caressed the books. They were broken and scratched, worn with reddish brown patches of mildew; some were mutilated. But without them, the wisdom of centuries of civilization might be lost - geography, literature, mathematics, history, language. They were precious. She would protect them with her life."
As Dita escapes into the book about the Count of Monte Crisco, she finds herself comparing his suffering to her own. "She wonders if she'll manage to get away from where she is, as the protagonist of the novel did. She doesn't think she is as brave as him, although if she had an opportunity to run toward the woods, she won't hesitate. ...She asks herself, Can you really choose, or do the blows dealt to you by fate change you no matter what, in the same way that the blow of an ax converts a living tree into firewood?"
She feels hatred for the SS guards and officers, who are torturing her, her family and all the others. She worries that she will become a person swallowed up with hate and seeking revenge. She thinks about the injustices with which the Nazis have themselves in their obsession with death.
"As she thinks about this she feels her temples throb with rage and an insatiable hunger for violence. But then she remembers what Professor Morgenstern taught her: Our hatred is a victory for them. And she nods in agreement. If Professor Morgenstern was mad, then lock me up with him."
As a passionate reader, it is easy to see how books can save a soul when they need an escape from reality. Though life was hard and those in the camps could never relax and be happy, the books I can image could give those in the "school" a chance to escape in their imaginations for just a little while.
Antonio Iturbe has interviewed Dita Kraus, who now lives in Israel and when she was a fourteen year old girl was the Librarian of Auschwitz. This book has been labeled a young adult book but I found it as intense, and both heartbreaking and inspiring as any of the adult fiction books about the Holocaust that I have read. This book uses the fictionalized plot line to fill out the story of Dita but does not soften the horrors of life in the death camp. There are a few very graphic scenes described in this novel.
Dita and her parents are forced to leave their lives behind in 1944 when they are sent from their home in Prague to the model camp Terezin. There the prisoners are treated in a more human style to show the outside world that the Germans are just holding people in ghettos and work camps.
The family is then transferred to Auschwitz, where their life becomes much worse. In the beginning because there is a chance that the Red Cross may come for an inspection, a fellow prisoner, Fredy Hirsch is allowed to run a "school" for the children. Though at 14, Dita is too old for the school, she becomes the librarian and caretaker of the eight books that have been brought into camp clandestinely. Books are banned in the concentration camp. There was also the living library of teachers who would tell stories. Dita is in charge of lending out the books and scheduling the teachers to tell stories. "Dita caressed the books. They were broken and scratched, worn with reddish brown patches of mildew; some were mutilated. But without them, the wisdom of centuries of civilization might be lost - geography, literature, mathematics, history, language. They were precious. She would protect them with her life."
As Dita escapes into the book about the Count of Monte Crisco, she finds herself comparing his suffering to her own. "She wonders if she'll manage to get away from where she is, as the protagonist of the novel did. She doesn't think she is as brave as him, although if she had an opportunity to run toward the woods, she won't hesitate. ...She asks herself, Can you really choose, or do the blows dealt to you by fate change you no matter what, in the same way that the blow of an ax converts a living tree into firewood?"
She feels hatred for the SS guards and officers, who are torturing her, her family and all the others. She worries that she will become a person swallowed up with hate and seeking revenge. She thinks about the injustices with which the Nazis have themselves in their obsession with death.
"As she thinks about this she feels her temples throb with rage and an insatiable hunger for violence. But then she remembers what Professor Morgenstern taught her: Our hatred is a victory for them. And she nods in agreement. If Professor Morgenstern was mad, then lock me up with him."
As a passionate reader, it is easy to see how books can save a soul when they need an escape from reality. Though life was hard and those in the camps could never relax and be happy, the books I can image could give those in the "school" a chance to escape in their imaginations for just a little while.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Boob Job: Confessions of Professional Bra Fitter
It is always so interesting how different women react to their bodies. Body image is so important to women. They diet and exercise and have plastic surgery to achieve what they think is the perfect body. And then they continue to agonize over it.
Natalee Woods is going through a difficult time in her life. She is at the cusp of adulthood. She is about to go out on her own and find out who she is as a n adult when her mother dies. Though she feels bad leaving her father, she feels it is important to get away and start a job in a new place. As she establishes herself as the grow up she feels she should be. She gets her first job, quite by accident, as a sales person in the lingerie department of a clothing store.
In a narrative that takes the reader through her experiences with the women who come into her department and her dressing room, Natalee learns from these women how to navigate life without her mother. Then her father becomes ill and she goes through a few love interests. Each time she questions herself, someone comes into the dressing room and shares a story about their bodies and their lives that makes Natalee either feel better about her situation or helps her understand herself better.
The stories of the women who come through her lingerie department are fascinating. I think that is really the most interesting part of this book. Though Natalee is somewhat interesting, I do not think this book would be as good if the women who come through and tell their stories did not share their experiences. It is kind of amazing that women feel so open when stepping into a dressing room and trying on bras.
Natalee Woods is going through a difficult time in her life. She is at the cusp of adulthood. She is about to go out on her own and find out who she is as a n adult when her mother dies. Though she feels bad leaving her father, she feels it is important to get away and start a job in a new place. As she establishes herself as the grow up she feels she should be. She gets her first job, quite by accident, as a sales person in the lingerie department of a clothing store.
In a narrative that takes the reader through her experiences with the women who come into her department and her dressing room, Natalee learns from these women how to navigate life without her mother. Then her father becomes ill and she goes through a few love interests. Each time she questions herself, someone comes into the dressing room and shares a story about their bodies and their lives that makes Natalee either feel better about her situation or helps her understand herself better.
The stories of the women who come through her lingerie department are fascinating. I think that is really the most interesting part of this book. Though Natalee is somewhat interesting, I do not think this book would be as good if the women who come through and tell their stories did not share their experiences. It is kind of amazing that women feel so open when stepping into a dressing room and trying on bras.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
The Last Watchman of Old Cairo
Written by Michael David Lukas, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo tells the story of beautiful interactions between the Jewish and Muslim communities of Egypt one thousand years ago, then it shows the change in climate as the years pass.
First we are introduced to the famous Ezra Synagogue when a Muslim orphan, Ali ibn al-Marwani becomes the night watchman. We follow the generations of his dependents who stay loyal to the synagogue and in generation after generation there is a watchman who is descended from Ali bin al-Marwani. Each watchman has a story which is passed down to the current descendent, who is now Joseph, a Berkeley graduate student. Joseph is the son of the last watchman of the Ezra Synagogue. He fell in love with a Jewish girl and followed her to Paris, but this was a match that could not last, so Joseph, the son has been raised in America by his Jewish mother, with very little connection to his Egyptian father. When his father dies, Joseph receives a package that takes him across the world to Cairo. He reconnects with this father’s brother and family. He searches for the story of his father’s life.
Intertwined with the history of our fictional character is the true story that surrounds the Ben Ezra Synagogue. This famous synagogue has sometimes also been referred to as the El Geniza Synagogue. This is the geniza that was discovered by the English twin sisters, Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson. They were very helpful to Solomon Schecter in acquiring ancient scrolls and papers that were stored in the synagogue’s storage attic.
A geniza was usually a storage area that was used for discarded religious papers that Jewish people would not throw away. Today these papers are buried in a grave in the cemetery, but at that time they were just left in an attic. This geniza had a treasure trove of documents that are now housed in Cambridge, England.
This is a wonderful story that shows how people could get along and work together between different religious beliefs . It is also a delightful way to read the story of the sisters, Agnes and Margaret and how they worked to bring the contents of the Geniza back to England for the pure love of history and study. The sisters were not Jewish but strongly wanted to make sure the papers were not sold on the black market when they were discovered.
First we are introduced to the famous Ezra Synagogue when a Muslim orphan, Ali ibn al-Marwani becomes the night watchman. We follow the generations of his dependents who stay loyal to the synagogue and in generation after generation there is a watchman who is descended from Ali bin al-Marwani. Each watchman has a story which is passed down to the current descendent, who is now Joseph, a Berkeley graduate student. Joseph is the son of the last watchman of the Ezra Synagogue. He fell in love with a Jewish girl and followed her to Paris, but this was a match that could not last, so Joseph, the son has been raised in America by his Jewish mother, with very little connection to his Egyptian father. When his father dies, Joseph receives a package that takes him across the world to Cairo. He reconnects with this father’s brother and family. He searches for the story of his father’s life.
Intertwined with the history of our fictional character is the true story that surrounds the Ben Ezra Synagogue. This famous synagogue has sometimes also been referred to as the El Geniza Synagogue. This is the geniza that was discovered by the English twin sisters, Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson. They were very helpful to Solomon Schecter in acquiring ancient scrolls and papers that were stored in the synagogue’s storage attic.
A geniza was usually a storage area that was used for discarded religious papers that Jewish people would not throw away. Today these papers are buried in a grave in the cemetery, but at that time they were just left in an attic. This geniza had a treasure trove of documents that are now housed in Cambridge, England.
This is a wonderful story that shows how people could get along and work together between different religious beliefs . It is also a delightful way to read the story of the sisters, Agnes and Margaret and how they worked to bring the contents of the Geniza back to England for the pure love of history and study. The sisters were not Jewish but strongly wanted to make sure the papers were not sold on the black market when they were discovered.
Baltimore Blues
Laura Lippman has been writing the Tess Monaghan series of mystery novels for quite awhile. I had read one of them a few years ago from the middle of the series but never went back to start at the beginning. Now with my Female Detective book discussion group we read the first book in the series, Baltimore Blues.
Tess Monaghan it turns out is a frustrated journalist, who like her creator, Lippman, lost a job on the newspaper in Baltimore where she lives and is looking for a new job. She is a young adult, out on her own for the first time, living in an apartment above her aunt's bookstore. She is exchanging work in the bookstore for rent and also working for her uncle in the city records office. It turns out that he is paying her personally to do part of his job.
Tess is the product of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father and was brought up with no real religious practice, but interestingly, the topic of Judaism seems to come up in a few of her books. It is mentioned in this book, when a friend of hers is killed and she attends the Jewish funeral. In the only other book I read so far, By A Spider's Thread, she is working with an Orthodox group to find a missing family. So I am interested to see how Lippman continues to weave Judaism into her msytery novels.
In the first book, Baltimore Blues, we learn about Tess and how she backs into being a private detective. The book is clever, entertaining and holds your attention to the end. But I have read reviews that Lippman continues to develop her writing style as the series progresses.
Looking forward to following the exploits of Tess Monaghan as she grows as a private investigator and also learns more about Jewish and Catholic roots and her family background.
Tess Monaghan it turns out is a frustrated journalist, who like her creator, Lippman, lost a job on the newspaper in Baltimore where she lives and is looking for a new job. She is a young adult, out on her own for the first time, living in an apartment above her aunt's bookstore. She is exchanging work in the bookstore for rent and also working for her uncle in the city records office. It turns out that he is paying her personally to do part of his job.
Tess is the product of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father and was brought up with no real religious practice, but interestingly, the topic of Judaism seems to come up in a few of her books. It is mentioned in this book, when a friend of hers is killed and she attends the Jewish funeral. In the only other book I read so far, By A Spider's Thread, she is working with an Orthodox group to find a missing family. So I am interested to see how Lippman continues to weave Judaism into her msytery novels.
In the first book, Baltimore Blues, we learn about Tess and how she backs into being a private detective. The book is clever, entertaining and holds your attention to the end. But I have read reviews that Lippman continues to develop her writing style as the series progresses.
Looking forward to following the exploits of Tess Monaghan as she grows as a private investigator and also learns more about Jewish and Catholic roots and her family background.
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