Mistress of the Art of Death

by Ariana Franklin

Yes, I stumbled into another series, but at least this time from the beginning. In the midst of the second crusades, Cambridge England finds itself in a battle of another kind, to find who is killing their children. When four bodies turn up badly mutilated, King Henry Plantagenet solicits assistance from Salerno's medical school to investigate. What they get is the Mistress of the Art of Death, Adelia Aguilar, one of the only women trained as a doctor, let alone an investigator of the dead. As a mystery goes this is a pretty good story and although you might figure out the culprit ahead of time, there are some unexpected twists to throw you off. Up until the time when the killer is discovered I liked the book, but after that it started slipping. Without spoiling, I just could not accept that Adelia's defense in that pit stopped this crusader of a madman. The other thing that put me off was the little romance thrown in, which seemed out of line for the character and took the story a bit off course.

If you're a fan of historical fiction I wouldn't put too much stock in Franklin's information. Much of the time I questioned its validity particularly relating to medical facts and sometimes doubted attitudes and actions of characters. I've been known to really berate books for attributing details to times in which they don't belong, but for some reason I wasn't as bothered by these... maybe because I was listening to it and not reading?  I might even go so far as to read the next one, but it'll be a while.

The Bone Orchard

by Daniel Judson

I'm not sure how I started reading "book 2 in the Gin Palace trilogy" which was clearly added as a subtitle, but it wasn't until about a third of the way through when I realized the book was referring to things of which I knew nothing, but it assumed I was fully aware. By that time I was already in the midst of the action so I just kept on reading. In hindsight, what I missed in book one didn't make too much difference.

For me, reading The Bone Orchard was like reading a James Bond script, heavy on action, light on substance. This is very much crime fiction noir with the cynical and unlikeable characters and the dark and seedy backdrop. The main character, "Mac" joins up with the small town's heavy in an effort to get his friend out of trouble. Just as in all Bond movies, you know from the start how it ends, which eliminates the suspense and the mystery. And just as in all Bond movies there are run-ins and fights galore. This book lives up to that as well. The bigger problem for me was that each fight was literally reading a blow-by-blow that went on for pages, which made this more like a movie script than a novel.

If you're a Raymond Chandler fan and enjoy hard boiled crime you would probably like this series and you might like to start with book 1. 

The Light Between Oceans

by ML Stedman

It's easy for me to think I'd always do the right thing in the face of a tough decision. I tend to be a rule follower and I want others to follow the rules or face the consequences of not doing so, but sometimes what's right isn't always clear and some situations call for rule breaking. The Light Between Oceans presents a dilemma in which doing the right thing will hurt someone but doing the wrong thing will hurt someone else; so who do you choose to hurt?

The reader's digest version of the controversy is over keeping an infant who was found drifting in a boat with a dead body. Tom Sherbourne and his wife have tried repeatedly to have a child but instead have suffered repeated miscarriages and still births, now this baby seems like an answer to prayers, but where did she come from?

For those of you who like a good catch-22, you should enjoy this book. It is well written and believable, if not a bit of a downer, but would provide for a lively book club discussion. In fact, my kids and I had a good debate over the subject on our return from St.L. I was a little surprised that my daughter expressed such a strong opinion and her viewpoint and reasoning was very sound. The problem for me in these type of books is that there is no good answer. I can see both sides of the coin and either heads or tails leads to pain. 

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

by John Boyne

I don't read a lot of YA literature, but this book was recommended from a friend who had just read my Auschwitz post a few days ago. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is also a concentration camp story told from a different perspective, that of the son of the Commandant of Auschwitz. Bruno is a very naive and immature nine year old boy. He is angry about all the changes happening in his life and family, one of which is a move to a place he thinks is ugly and lonely. In his lone wanderings, he comes upon another lonely young boy who is trapped on the other side of a fence. These two boys (one German one Jew) strike up an unlikely friendship..... and thus the story proceeds.

I can see this as a good introduction to children regarding the atrocities of Nazi concentration camps, it is extremely surface level and always dancing around the terrible truths, which would be perfect for mid to late elementary age students. However this book is marketed to "grade 9 and above" and I just can't buy that. The writing style is as simple and immature as the coverage of the subject matter. The childishness of Bruno is almost beyond belief for his age. He has no idea what his father does or what is happening on the other side of the fence. He can't ever pronounce Auschwitz or Fuhrer correctly, calling them "out-with" and "fury" despite constantly being corrected by family (although neither term is ever stated/written in the text), but at the same time he's aware enough to keep his new friendship a secret.

I don't want to totally dismiss this book because I do think it would be great for the right audience, I just think they overshot their target. If you have a 4th-6th grade kid, this is a good read that would get them thinking and questioning. 

The Murder of the Century

by Paul Collins

I think this book was trying to be too many things and therefore couldn't be any of them very well. The Murder of the Century is a true crime murder mystery, a courtroom battle and the history and evolution of the newspaper in New York City all wrapped in one. Independently each of these stories could be a very good book in its own right, but all together it is too much information to do justice to any one of the subjects, but still it's pretty good.

The murder happened in the summer of 1897 when some boys discovered a torso floating in the river. Shortly afterward, the lower half of the body was found across town in a ditch and so begins a search for the head, the identification of the hacked-up person and capturing the person who committed this heinous crime.

At the time of the discovery of the dismembered body, William Randolph Hearst was breaking in to the newspaper business with his NY Journal and his fiercest competitor was the NY World headed by John Pulitzer. This was the battle that ushered in a new type of journalism known as "yellow journalism" where the headlines did all the talking and the articles themselves contained little factual information. It also produced a journalist who was out to MAKE news rather than report news.

Shortly after the identity of the body is discovered two suspects are named and brought to trial, Martin Thorn and Augusta Nack. Theirs is a love triangle gone wrong and now they will have to pay. But that is only if the prosecutor can do his job!

Overall, I liked this book. It has lots of interesting information and a writing style that captures your attention. The biggest problem is that it lacks focus because too much is being covered. I'd say this would appeal to you more if you like history than if you want a good true crime or murder mystery novel. The facts of each subject are well researched and Collins does make it interesting and readable.

The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

by C.W. Gortner

If you've followed me long you'll know my penchant for historical fiction, and particularly when it inclines me to do some digging on my own. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici was that kind of book for me and not only to get more facts on Catherine, but her husband, children allies and enemies. There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings surrounding this queen, but a few things are definite, she was passionate about power, she had exact ideas and did not tolerate those who might not align with her perspective, she was ruthless, she was controversial and as long as she was behind the scenes there was no peace in France.

Written from a first person narrative, this story covers the entire life of Catherine de Medici, which is unusual as her own death approaches. This perspective allows much sympathy toward her decisions, which cost the lives of thousands of Protestants, some of her friends and possibly her two eldest sons. She explains away her involvement in astrology, her close ties to Nostradamus, her dabbling in sorcery and uses of poison all as means of protecting the country and children that she loved. True history buffs may be frustrated at how glossed-over her schemes, betrayals, murders and massacres are in this book, but it is in keeping with the frame of reference (her own).

If you are a fan of Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Withe Queen, etc) you will like this read. The writing styles and approach is very similar. It leans a bit more to the romance than is my preference, but easy to read and interesting history. 

Testing

I am going to try something a little different for a while on my book postings, I'm going to drop the star ratings. I have had several of my followers mention they would only read a book that is rated 5-star because they don't read a lot and only want to read the good stuff. While I can appreciate that, I also have to say that I tend to be tough when rating. When I was participating in book club one of the things we each did was rate the book on a 1-10 scale and mine was invariably the lowest rating (except for Wicked, which I liked but none of the others did). 

The thing about books is that people are drawn to and enjoy so many different things in a story that the rating system really isn't an effective method of recommendation. I know plenty of books that weren't my favorites, but as I was reading knew people who would really enjoy it. What I will try to do is a better job of mentioning who might like the book based on others that may be similar. 

I'm not sure how this will work, but want to give it a try. If you have an opinion, please let me know though, because this isn't set in stone.