Woman Chased by Crows by Marc Strange

Picked up this entertaining mystery as a used book sale in a library. Sadly, I learned after I finished it that the author, Canadian Marc Strange, a former actor, screenwriter and director, known for Beachcombers, died in May 2012.

He was the author of two mystery series, the Orwell Brennan series, and the Joe Grundy series.

Woman Chased by Crows is the second in the Orwell Brennan series. set in small-town Ontario. What I liked best about this police procedural was the presence of several strong female characters. Brennan has three daughters, and the upcoming nuptials of one is one element of the plot.

Detective Adele Moen ("Del") from Metro Homicide is just as cool as you would expect someone named after a beer to be, and her temporary partner is local Detective Stacy Crean ("rhymes with brain") who together are the two women assigned to a string of mysterious murders that afflict small Ontario town Dockerty. They're both really good detectives, and they're attracted to very interesting cases.

Another thing I really liked about this book is the author's evident interest in ballet. Ballet dancers, and their travels across the globe, are at the heart of this mystery.

At the heart of the mystery is a teacher and former almost-prima-ballerina, Anya Daniel. She's a survivor, but that's not what's most interesting about her, nor her former career as a dancer. It's her raw determination. (After you recover from your sense of shock, you might feel some admiration for her - and the two detectives who save her life.) If you're interested in this novel, you might want to read the first book in the series, Follow Me Down, first.

The Guards by Ken Bruen

(This image is from John Hinde postcard collection.)

I found this crime fiction novel delightful. Funny in a wry way, with lots of slang (not all of which I understood), plenty of drinking, plenty of action, and an interesting assortment of characters besides Jack Taylor, the ex-Garda.

Jack's a drunk - no doubt about it. But that's not all he is. After getting the boot from the Garda, he becomes an unofficial private detective. He views himself as a "finder" rather than a detective, and he holds court in his unofficial office, Grogan's, a public house in the old style. (Decorations limited to a blotchy mirror and crossed hurling sticks.)

Jack really loved his father, a peaceful man who gave Jack his love of reading, and who's recently passed away. Jack knows he needs a change, and he's dreaming of finding a flat in Battersea, and, as he says, "waiting." In the meantime, a woman approaches him in Grogan's and asks him to investigate the death of her daughter, ruled a suicide. Jack's adrift and this new case brings with it a number of complications.

What's so great about this novel is that it's funny and lively all the way through, and very easy to read. Its tone reminds me of that of Get Shorty, the film made of the Elmore Leonard novel. This novel's chapters often open with an epigram: three of them are from Elmore Leonard, T. Jefferson Parker and George Pelecanos, and Bruen name checks John Sandford for good measure. If you're a fan of these authors, I think you'll like Ken Bruen, too.

There are quite a few twists in the plot, right up to the end. Most, not all, of this twists have to do with unanticipated deaths. Yes, by the end of the book you could joke that Galway is the murder capital of the world but I will say these deaths seem organic; these deaths seem like a natural outcome of the surrounding circumstances and characters.

MY TBR list

Well, I was quite excited when my copy of The Longbourn Letters by Rose Servitova arrived in the mail the other day.

I'd read an excerpt on Twitter and that excerpt reminded me of Laurence Sterne. I felt that was reason enough to read it.

It's only 147 pages long. Just the sort of thing I like.

I felt I couldn't quite get started reading it, though, because I still had a book checked out from the library: The Guards by Ken Bruen. I've just begun it, and I must say, it sure starts with a bang:

"It's almost impossible to get kicked out of the Garda Siochana. You have to really put your mind to it. Unless you become a public disgrace, they'll tolerate most anything.

"I'd been to the wire. Numerous

    Cautions
    Warnings
    Last Chances
    Reprieves

"And still I didn't shape up.

"Or rather, sober up. Don't get me wrong. The Gardai and drink have a long, almost loving relationship. Indeed, a tee-total Garda is viewed with suspicion, if not downright derision, inside and outside the force."

I love the word derision.

And the first chapter is only four pages long.

I know I'm going to enjoy this book.

I've also lately been reading The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things. I'm loving it. Each chapter has a theme: an object from Jane Austen's life. On this framework, Byrne rests a great deal of biographical information. It's a clever structure: it's roughly chronological but allows her to move back and forth in time, offering themed biographical chunks without having to apologize for the things that are not known about Austen's life.

I went to a library book sale in October and picked up three Commissario Montalbano novels, safely stowed on the stairs; two culinary mysteries, a gift for a neighbor, Woman Chasing Crows by Marc Strange, and a book that got lost and was just rediscovered: Black Star Nairobi, by Mukoma Wa Ngugi. Also, have recently rediscovered my copy of the Wright 3 by Blue Balliett.

1/18/19

I also started reading Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know: The Fathers of Wilde, Joyce and Yeats, by Colm Toibin. I didn't start at the beginning (oh, yes, I did - I forgot), read all the way to the end, all while exercising care not to overlook anything salacious. But, I did read a good chunk of the chapter that interested me most, the chapter on John Butler Yeats. I suppose that was partly because I have the most nagging curiosity about the life of William Butler Yeats (if only I would apply myself), and naggingest little corner of that curiosity is Yeats' mother. She seems to have been an invisible woman. And John Butler seems to have been a biographer's dream: cantankerous, inconveniently, insistently independent, unembarrassed.

Sadly, did not get far before learning that my book club has selected Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life, by Jane Sherron De Hart. Very long: more than 700 pages. Clearly written, but slow reading for me: took me hours to read the first 100 pages. But very, very interesting.