#booklook — Public Fediverse posts

#MurderEveryMonday Maps, Maps here, there and everywhere

When I saw today’s #MurderEveryMonday theme, created by the wonderful Kate Jackson from Cross Examining Crime, was crime fiction with a map on the cover or in the inside, my first thought went to this collection of short stories, Manhattan Mayhem, edited by Mary Higgins Clark and published in 2015 to celebrate the 70th of the Mystery Writers of America.

Not only the cover has a map of Manhattan, but each story starts with a street map: for this anthology, Mary Higgins Clark invited authors to choose a Manhattan neighbourhood and set a story there.

I read it many years ago, probably when it came out, and while I can’t remember all the stories (I still have a recollection of some of them), I really liked it. Maybe it’s time to re-read it. It’s also a beautiful edition with the slip cover and all the iconic photos inside.

And if you like classic or golden age crime fiction, there is no shortage of maps, so (yes, you’re right) I turned to Agatha Christie. First, with the map on the facsimile edition of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and then with the same map in a Portuguese edition.

Then I remembered there was a map of the plane in Death in the Clouds:

This is an edition from a Portuguese collection called The Golden Scarab and the previous owner inscribed it with the year 1952. The book also indicates it was translated from the original – sometimes Portuguese translations would be made from other translations – and the final pages have ads about flying insurance and an airway company.

Miss Marple is back! Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley #BookReview

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel is a new murder mystery with Miss Marple as detective, written by Lucy Foley.

Miss Marple and Mrs. Bantry (Dolly) go on an holiday to a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. And, of course, murder happens!

There were many things I liked about the book. If you read Agatha Christie, you are in for a treat: you will spot many references to other Christie books. I think these references combined with descriptions and dialogues of Miss Marple give Christie’s readers a sense of familiarity and known territory. If you are new to Miss Marple, these references will help you by giving you context to the characters.

I think the choice of the setting is really impressive, not (only) because a more or less isolated place can turn into a closed circle with the possibility of snowstorms, that we recognise from other Christie’s books, but more so because Lucy Foley decided to put Miss Marple in a setting that feels much more like James Bond, which give us something new to the character: we know this frail, old lady is much tougher than she looks, but how will she navigate a so different setting?

I did guess some things about some of the characters, but did not guess the murderer (bonus points to Foley!). I must confess that I probably got too invested in the story because at some point I was rooting for one of the characters to be the murderer, thinking it could be (another) wonderful homage to Christie. Still, I appreciated more the twists and turns.

I noticed Foley was careful in tying the loose ends, which is something important for me in this type of story. During the reading, there will be information that can be clues or not and at the end it is important to go back and explain them, it does not need to be “Poirot revealing the murderer in a room with all the suspects”, a Christie trademark, but it needs to be done and it is something that adds up to the comfort of reading.

The book starts in a slower pace, but will get quicker and with more action towards the end, so don’t let that put you off.

Except for the short story in “Marple, Twelve New Stories“, titled “Evil in Small Places” and one of my favourites, I didn’t read other books by Lucy Foley, but I did like her writing style. The only thing that didn’t work as well for me was the structure: each chapter is narrated by a different character in the present tense, which makes you feel like the scene is developing in front of your eyes, almost like a film. Maybe this could bring younger generations of readers to the Miss Marple world (that would be awesome), but for old Christie re-readers like me it felt a little bit too different.

The book will be out on the 8th of September and we can already pre-order it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy.

It’s Weekend, Let’s Read: 100 years of The Blue Castle

Today I’m bringing you a suggestion I have on my TBR, The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, the same author of Anne of Green Gables. Contrary to Anne, this book was written for adults, so check its trigger warnings.

The Blue Castle was first published in 1926, so it’s a good excuse to read it this year and celebrate its centenary. You can get the book through Project Gutenberg or, if you have a Kobo, through the specific format at Standard Ebooks.

What are you reading?

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction title with the word sleeping

Without surprise, my choice for todays’s #MurderEveryMonday is Miss Marple’s last case, Sleeping Murder. The book was written during the Second World War and given as a gift (its copyright) to her husband Max. Curtain, the last case of Poirot, was also written around the same time and given to her Daughter, Rosalind. in her autobiography, Christie adds the manuscripts were put into a bank vault. Sleeping Murder was published in 1976, after Christie’s death.

It’s Weekend, Let’s Read: Who is the author with more works in the Guardian’s list of 100 greatest novels of all time?

The Guardian made a list of the 100 greatest novels of all time. You can see the list here, with links to how Guardian’s made it. First place of the list is George Eliot with Middlemarch, but I thought to check which authors had more works in this list. And it’s Virginia Woolf with five books!

Second place in the number of the novels in the list are Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, both with four books.

Best part? There all in public domain, so you want to start with any of these four authors, right here, right now, head to Project Gutenberg and let’s read!

Books by George Eliot – https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/90

Books by Virginia Woolf – https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

Books by Jane Austen – https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68

Books by Charles Dickens – https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/37

Happy Birthday, Anthony Trollope! It’s Weekend, Let’s Read! & A New Series by Katie Lumsden

Anthony Trollope was born on this day in 1815. I’ve only read five novels and a short story collection. I’m on the fifth volume of Chronicles of Barsetshire and I’m loving it so much that my recommendation for this weekend goes for the first volume in the series.

The Warden – Read or download at Project Gutenberg, if you have a Kobo, I recommend the Standard Ebooks version. Librivox also has three versions in audiobook, if you prefer. It’s the smallest of the series and maybe not the most loved, but I do recommend starting with it.

If you like satirical dystopian, you can go for The Fixed Period, that I recommended before.

Katie Lumsden is making a new series about Trollope, after reading all the 47 novels and the first episode (10 Reasons to Read Anthony Trollope) is out now on her YouTube channel. I watched it yesterday and it was a delight. And although I didn’t read much Trollope yet, I can relate with all these reasons (just from the Barsetshire Chronicles).

It’s Weekend, Let’s Read: Anthony Trollope’s Christmas Stories #PublicDomain #Books

You know I have been reading the Barset Novels (loving them) and I have also read recently The Fixed Period (loved it), so my recommendation for this weekend is again works by Anthony Trollope that I intend to read and you can also read right here, right now.

According with the The Trollope Society, Anthony Trollope has eight stories related to Christmas and I’m making a list here and try to find them online so you can also read them.

• Catherine Carmichael; Or Three Years Running
  I only found this story in a pdf format which is not very good to read on a mobile or ereader so last year I transformed the pdf into an epub, corrected the typos, and made it available here, where you can read it on the browser or choose to download the epub format.

• Christmas At Thompson Hall
• Christmas Day At Kirkby Cottage
• The Mistletoe Bough
• The Two Generals
• The Two Heroines of Plumplington
• The Widow’s Mite
  These six works can be found at Standard Ebooks. You can download the whole ebook here or go through the table of contents and choose the stories you want to read directly on the browser. The only story that is not a short story is The Two Heroines… that has around 100 pages

• Not if I Know it
  I couldn’t find this short available online without restrictions, I will be continuing my search and update this post accordingly. If you know where we can find it online and accessible by anyone, do add it in the comments. Trollope’s works are in public domain.

The book in the photo does not have three of the stories: Catherine Carmichael; The Two Heroines of Plumplington; The Widow’s Mite.

#AmReading #AnthonyTrollope #BookLook #books #ChristmasBooks #ChristmasShortStories #livros #publicDomain #readings #ShortStories

It’s Weekend, Let’s Read: The Secret Garden #ProjectGutenberg #PublicDomain

Today I’m sharing a book that it is widely known, but I never read it, can you believe it? The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The story is about Mary Lennox that is sent to live with her uncle in a manor house in the Yorkshire Moors. There’s a locked walled garden and a secret about it (not a spoiler, it’s in the title).

You can download an illustrated edition from Project Gutenberg right here, right now.

If you are also going through a hell of a heatwave like we’re having, maybe reading about a garden helps. Have a wonderful and relaxed weekend full of reading.

#BookLook #books #ClassicBooks #FrancesHodgsonBurnett #readings #TheSecretGarden #WeekendReadings