Where the Posh Suspects Can't Stand Each Other

The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this quite a bit. I'm already a sort of Heyer fan, so I was prepared to approve of it.

This book, for me, reads like an Agatha Christie novel, but with characters slightly more sympathetic. (I sometimes hate everyone in an Agatha Christie novel. I kinda liked a few of these characters here.) The setup is very similar: a murder has been done in such a way that a group of disparate people in company together (here it's the traditional country house) are all suspects, and all have a decent reason to want the guy dead. There's an emphasis on times, compiling the comings and goings of many people down to the minute, locating every character in time and place, to identify who had opportunity to commit murder. There's the cool, level-headed investigator getting testimony from everyone, deciding nothing until he has all the facts, while fuzzier thinkers accuse the wrong person again and again. And there's the surprising reveal with a twist.

A lot of this is very conventional, and that's fine as long as it's well-written, and IMO this is. The characters are varied and speak with their own unique voices, and the mystery is complex enough to be a puzzle but clear enough to make sense to the reader--without giving away the solution. You might guess what's up, or maybe half of it, but you can't really be sure until the very end. It works.

I'm pretty far from my starting point here. I started at Jane Austen, got directed to Georgette Heyer's somewhat similar Regency novels, and then found myself sliding into Heyer's mysteries. I'm a bit of a visitor here, genre-wise; I don't speak mystery like a native. But I enjoyed this, and I'll read others in a similar vein. I think I have another of her mysteries on my shelves.

Recommended for traditional mystery readers. Most of those folks probably already read this, but I'll recommend it anyway.

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Where I Embrace Yet Another Sherlock-type Series

The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book and thought to find everyone else thought the same, but I saw a lot of super negative reviews. So I dunno. Anyway, I'm sticking with my score, because it's how much I personally liked it. Well, I liked it a lot. 5 stars.

As a rule, I like all the Sherlock Holmes stuff: pastiche, sequels, fan fiction, reimaginings, graphic novels, and crossovers, so this is right up my alley. I especially like it with a female lead, as in Brittany Cavallaro and Sherry Thomas's series. (Serieses? Serii?) This novel, and apparently this series, fits right in that groove, and I liked it.

I also like novels where capable main characters like and respect each other and are impressed with each other. Awesome characters being awesome, clapping one another on the back for it. We've got that here, and I'm ready for it.

I can't really account for the negative reactions other readers have, but I suppose we have different expectations. Weird.

The setting is London, just prior to WWI. Doctor John Watson is still alive, though obviously getting on in years, and his adult son is also a doctor. They are investigating a death which seems suspicious. Both play their part in the story and are a pleasure to follow, but it is Joanna Blalock who is the hero. (Can we dispense with "heroine?" Does anybody want to keep that? I'm always double-checking the spelling...)

Joanna Blalock, the unacknowledged daughter of Sherlock, is brilliant, confident, brash, and brave, so right in the Sherlock tradition. She also has an emotional life, showing genuine warmth in places, which is staking out different territory from her "father." To me, that only adds to the story, and I like how it was managed. In many other ways, though, this novel is true to the original, particularly in tone.

The plot is remarkable for not being remarkable. It was reminiscent of many Sherlock stories, similar enough to be a pleasure for fans but not seem out of place. As always, this is IMO. And the pace seemed about right, with little slowing down the action.

So, yeah; I liked it.

Anyway, I'm looking for the sequels. A good amount of my fellow readers enjoyed it as much as I did, so maybe you're one of us and will love it. Maybe not. Whatevs.

Conditionally recommended. Not for grumpy people. LOL. :)

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Where Jeeves Saves Bertie From Some Foolishness or Other

The World of Jeeves: by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first collection of short stories about Jeeves & Wooster. The stories were selected by the author in 1931 and published again in 1967, and the earliest of the stories would be over 100 years old now.

I enjoyed these well enough. There is (as many note) a sameness to the stories, a repeated pattern with plot and conflict, which is part of their charm in small doses and deadly in larger doses, but it's the language that amuses most in any case. Well, IMO. I'm sure others enjoy the almost slapstick nature of some of the exploits, but I liked the silly wordplay and dialogue.

I like Aunt Dahlia (the aunt he likes, and who likes him) telling him how helplessly foolish he is (ivory from the neck up--comments of that sort) while he refers to her as "aged relative." It's funny when he repeats some Shakespeare that Jeeves has quoted him without having a clue where it comes from. Bertie's frustrations and privileged view of life and intolerance for small inconveniences are amusing, in a way, especially when he complains and it sounds super petty but he makes a huge deal out of it in his posh, rather idiomatic way. "Dash it all!" and "Jeeves, this is a bit thick!" followed by a diatribe against children or country girls or dogs.

I suppose some of author's point is to skewer the pointlessly rich. Clearly, men like Bertie Wooster need something to fill their time, because the nonsense he could fill his days with was annoying--betting on everything one could imagine, plotting ridiculous practical jokes, constructing absurd lies and hoaxes to get out of difficulties, drinking and overeating like it was a part-time job--but we're still supposed to be sympathetic to him. And I am. He's not a bad sort, but I'd hate to hang out with him, or most of his friends. His uselessness is part of the humor, I guess.

Jeeves, of course, is the hero, though he's also judgmental and manipulative. I'm not sure how much of that the author intended us to overlook. It is comedy, after all. But almost every idea Jeeves has works out, like he's Sherlock Holmes to the spoiled leisure class. He's still funny, though he never jokes; his dry responses are probably the best part of the book.

Part of the reason to read this, for me, was to become somewhat familiar with a name I'd heard frequently over the years. That accomplished, I'm not sure there's enough fun in the stories to draw me back. I hear he has other characters that might please more, so maybe I'll think about trying one of them in the future. 50/50 that happens. Maybe 40/60.

I'll let you know.

Recommended, anyway, for those who haven't read Wodehouse before and maybe would enjoy comedic writing. One might check it out at the library, though, first time. If you like it, there's a ton more....

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