Hugh Greene. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971)

     Hugh Greene. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971) Collection of stories published at the same time as the Holmes tales. Generally not up to Doyle’s standard, very formulaic, and derivative, i.e., the writers are imitating each other, not writing from experience and knowledge. Most are at about Boys Own Paper level, which is not a bad thing, but does mean they are for enthusiasts only. The detection is either of the pure ratiocination kind, or the action-hero-winner kind. Romance, IOW, but generally of a mediocre standard. Despite Greene’s claims, these writers don’t merit a wider audience. 'tec story enthusiasts will find some pleasure in these tales, and some grad student working on a thesis about Edwardian pop culture will find it a useful source text. * to ** (2004)

John Lescroart. Nothing but the Truth (199x)

     John Lescroart. Nothing but the Truth (199x) John Hardy’s wife is jailed because a hot-shot careerist DA doesn’t get the answers he wants about a murder. I read about the first 1/6th of this written-for-TV tome, and couldn’t care enough about the characters to keep reading, even on the plane. Cliched characters, cliched writing, cliched scenes, and just a draft or two away from a shooting script. Junk, in other words, but not my kind of junk. (2004)

Brendan Gill. Late Bloomers (1996)

     Brendan Gill. Late Bloomers (1996) Gill provides one-page biographies to accompany photos of famous old people, ones whose achievements came late in life, sometimes after early success in other fields. Interesting, not least because of Gill’s ability to put much information into few words, and to convey the quality of a his subjects’ performances, a skill he honed as theatre critic for the New Yorker. **** (2004)

Sarah Paretsky. Guardian Angel (1992)

     Sarah Paretsky. Guardian Angel (1992) Victoria Warshawski drifts into investigating a disappearance for her friend. It turns into a murder investigation, then widens to include corporate fraud and junk bonds, and scamming the elderly out of their savings. She’s nearly killed, has several run-ins with her ex, and so on. Nicely plotted, with characters you care about. Chicago feels like any other modern city with its rotting centre, decaying former suburbs, gentrification of run-down neighbourhoods, and glitzy new-money properties on the fringes. Not a keeper, but worth getting more of (at yard sale prices, that is). **½ (2004)

Andrew Taylor. Caroline Minuscule (1982)

     Andrew Taylor. Caroline Minuscule (1982) A grad student discovers his tutor’s body, is approached by a mysterious stranger who wants him to translate a medieval manuscript, and what happens after that I just didn’t care to find out. The protagonist is an unpleasant dimwit, the author’s voice is pseudo-witty, and the plot wasn’t developing fast enough to overcome these flaws. I didn’t finish this one. (2004)

Martha Grimes. The Case Has Altered (1997)

     Martha Grimes. The Case Has Altered (1997) Two women are murdered within a couple weeks of each other. Eventually, the real murderer is found, but in the meantime Jury and Plant have to do all kinds of stuff, and neither is lucky in love. I just can’t care for these people. This is the third Grimes I’ve read, and it’s no better than the first two. I can’t see why she has the rep the blurbs give her. * (2004)

Dorothy Sayers. Unnatural Death (1927)

     Dorothy Sayers. Unnatural Death (1927) Wimsey is attracted by what may have been a murder of an old lady. His investigations startle the murderer into more crimes, and eventually Wimsey and Charles Parker are able to arrest the woman responsible. She commits suicide in custody, and the book ends on a darker note than usual. Sayers is here playing with the motif of successful (undetected) versus unsuccessful (detected, and usually solved) murders. Wimsey isn’t quite as much of a Bertie Wooster type as in other books, except when he deliberately acts the part. Parker is a faithful sidekick; Sayers later develops his character and makes him Wimsey’s brother-in-law. This is a pre-Harriet Vane story, and so follows the formula and adopts the conventions more faithfully than the later books, but Sayers already shows her interest in character rather than event, and the acute moral and psychological observations that Christie, for example, could never quite equal. *** (2004)