Agatha Christie Peril at End House (1932)

     Agatha Christie Peril at End House (1932) One of Poirot’s most famous cases, in which he almost fails to solve the puzzle The story is set in a Cornish resort town with the usual cast of vaguely upper-middle-class characters and their servants. Christie allows herself a little wit and character development, but as in all her earlier books, she focusses on the plot. This one works well, in part because a couple of subplots are well integrated into the main story. As in most of her early tales, Christie tries a variation on a standard plot, the murder by mistake. In this case, the intended victim is in fact the murderer, and almost gets away with it. Since Christie’s time, this variation has itself become a standard plot. The TV adaptation was especially well done, as I recall, with a satisfying amount of period detail, and the kind of acting that hints at hidden depths in the characters, which made them more engaging than Christie's originals. **½ (2005)

Nick & Helen Mika. Canada’s First Railway (1985)

     Nick & Helen Mika. Canada’s First Railway (1985) A history compiled as commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the first train on the Champlain and St. Lawrence Rail-Road. It consists of narrative, the few pictures (all conjectural) of the Dorchester and the carriages it hauled, a couple of sketchy maps, and reprints of newspaper articles and other documents. Clearly a labour of love, and very good as such. But one does want to know more, and Mika’s limited research makes those questions acute. Still, worth having and reading. **½ (2005)

John Mortimer. Clinging to the Wreckage (1982)

     John Mortimer. Clinging to the Wreckage (1982) A paradoxical memoir, mixing pain  and happiness, gloom and laughter. Mortimer knows  the frailties of human beings, including his own. I found this memoir moving, and, despite its melancholy, oddly uplifting. I think he wrote a continuation; if so, I’ll want to read it, too. *** (2005)

John Mortimer. In Character (1983)

     John Mortimer. In Character (1983) The first book of interviews, and reading it one sees why a second collection was published (see above). Mortimer is above all a humane man. Even when he disagrees with his subject’s politics or taste, his disagreement is tempered by his attitude of live and let live. His harshest criticism is directed at a self-righteous chief constable, a truly terrifying man, whose belief in an absolute moral code would be acceptable, just, if he also had a sense of his own sinfulness. He doesn’t. At the end of this man’s profile, Mortimer quotes Cromwell: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.” That’s an injunction I’d have directed at others on Mortimer’s list, too.
     Mortimer arranges his account of his interviews so that they read like passages from a novel. One wants to know how it all turned out. Did the hero learn his lesson? Did his legacy survive, or did his followers betray his vision? In a few cases, Mortimer knows the answer, but in most he shares our ignorance. He also expects his readers to know a good deal of the back story, which makes it harder for North American readers to get all his references. Nevertheless, a pleasure to read. Mortimer clearly believes that public life matters, and hence the people in the public eye matter. *** (2005)

John Mortimer. Character Parts (1984)

    John  Mortimer. Character Parts (1984) A collection of interviews done for The Sunday Times. Mortimer tells the story of the interview, describing his subject’s appearance and reactions as well as their answers to his questions. The general format is the same: parentage, early life, influences, successes, and so on, and a few questions relating to whatever makes the subject newsworthy. The result is that I feel I know the characters more intimately than a mere question and answer format would permit. Most of the interviews were done in the 80s during Thatcher’s interregnum, which now seems more than a generation ago. Fun to read, and thought-provoking. *** (2005)

Rudy Wiebe. The Angel of the Tar Sands and Other Stories (1982)

     Rudy Wiebe. The Angel of the Tar Sands and Other Stories (1982) Just what the title says. I didn’t read the title story, I didn’t read any story all the way through. Wiebe writes what once passed for realism; I thought of it as such, too, once. But now, it’s clearly just another style of writing fantasies, of rewriting the past so that one cuts a much better figure in it than one ever did in reality. Set in the prairies, or in the urban or academic middle classes, or in the time of armed conflicts with our aboriginal peoples, the stories present themselves as authentic accounts of what really happened. They belong to a period, the middle decades of the 20th century, when many people still took fiction seriously, when they expected fiction to be unrelentingly tough and uncompromisingly truthful. Too often, such fiction turns out to be merely gloomy and depressing. * (2005)

Stanley Ellin. The Blessington Method (1966)

     Stanley Ellin. The Blessington Method (1966) Ellin made a small splash in the late 50s and early 60s as composer of macabre confections with a twist. The title story has been anthologised several times: Blessington invented a way of getting rid of inconvenient people (usually relatives) in ways that appear utterly natural or normal, if occasionally somewhat tragic. Other tales have similar twists. Hitchcock did much of this better on his half-hour TV show, but in both cases, the shtick stales rather quickly. That’s because the characters exist entirely to carry the joke. I completed no other story in this collection, although I started most of them. (2005) *