Cozy or dark?
I love cozy mysteries; they're usually light, crisp reads, like eating an apple neatly cut up on the plate. But I love dark mysteries too, messy and sharp, like plums dripping juices like blood. Sometimes I just want an easy, quick read, then I'll pick up my kindle and start one of those easily downloaded cozies, or raid the library or bookstore for a pretty cover... And sometimes I want something meaty and long, to draw me away from the present day and trap me deep in someone else's problems. Those are the dark mystery days.
On a dark day, I'm too far from here to write reviews. On a light day, a couple of hours off from reading and imagining seem light as sun on flowers (yes, it's not yet winter), and book reviews get posted post-haste, before the weather can change. So here are some mystery reviews for your enjoyment. Drink more coffee!
Starting light:
The Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series: 1-3 by Anna Celeste Burke offers the first three in a series with middle-aged protagonists and a fascinating, somewhat zany, theme park background. New relationships are never easy, especially for someone wounded by love in the past. But dead bodies complicate things further. Backstage in the theme park, front stage in a glorious vacation resort, or searching for threats when everyone's wearing costume; it's fast, fun, and short. Enjoy with some lively easy-drinking two-star coffee.
Moving to the middle:
Thrones, Dominations by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh is, perhaps, old-fashioned cozy; not so quick a read, nor as openly romantic as modern cozies, but a delightful change of pace. Death occurs in slower, richer worlds too, and Jill Paton Walsh recreates Dorothy Sayers' writing style so convincingly I was never jarred. Of course, his lordship is married now, and Harriet, with some delightfully humorous scenes, is learning to be a "lady." It's not an easy task, especially when her new "friend" disappears. Enjoy good old-fashioned, well-shaded mystery with some elegant, complex four-star coffee.
Sex Drugs & Murder on the Frankenstein Set by Peter Joseph Swanson is dialog driven, darkly humorous, and vividly evocative of the swinging '60s. So, dark and light together--that qualifies as the middle doesn't it? One to enjoy with some bold dark five-star coffee perhaps.
And ending convincingly dark:
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) definitely starts darkly, with skin-crawling revelations of a truly evil character. In classic style, the antagonist's identity is kept secret while his actions continue to affect the life, relationships and business of Cormoran Strike. Suddenly all that was going well goes wrong. Meanwhile his assistant's marriage plans are falling apart. The past rears its head over everything, and wounds less visible than Strike's missing leg prove more fearful. The author deals with life's dark side convincingly and with sensitivity, making this a novel of broken relationships as much as one of broken lives. And mystery; it's also mystery, to be enjoyed with a dark five-star coffee.
On a dark day, I'm too far from here to write reviews. On a light day, a couple of hours off from reading and imagining seem light as sun on flowers (yes, it's not yet winter), and book reviews get posted post-haste, before the weather can change. So here are some mystery reviews for your enjoyment. Drink more coffee!
Starting light:
The Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series: 1-3 by Anna Celeste Burke offers the first three in a series with middle-aged protagonists and a fascinating, somewhat zany, theme park background. New relationships are never easy, especially for someone wounded by love in the past. But dead bodies complicate things further. Backstage in the theme park, front stage in a glorious vacation resort, or searching for threats when everyone's wearing costume; it's fast, fun, and short. Enjoy with some lively easy-drinking two-star coffee.
Moving to the middle:
Thrones, Dominations by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh is, perhaps, old-fashioned cozy; not so quick a read, nor as openly romantic as modern cozies, but a delightful change of pace. Death occurs in slower, richer worlds too, and Jill Paton Walsh recreates Dorothy Sayers' writing style so convincingly I was never jarred. Of course, his lordship is married now, and Harriet, with some delightfully humorous scenes, is learning to be a "lady." It's not an easy task, especially when her new "friend" disappears. Enjoy good old-fashioned, well-shaded mystery with some elegant, complex four-star coffee.
Sex Drugs & Murder on the Frankenstein Set by Peter Joseph Swanson is dialog driven, darkly humorous, and vividly evocative of the swinging '60s. So, dark and light together--that qualifies as the middle doesn't it? One to enjoy with some bold dark five-star coffee perhaps.
And ending convincingly dark:
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) definitely starts darkly, with skin-crawling revelations of a truly evil character. In classic style, the antagonist's identity is kept secret while his actions continue to affect the life, relationships and business of Cormoran Strike. Suddenly all that was going well goes wrong. Meanwhile his assistant's marriage plans are falling apart. The past rears its head over everything, and wounds less visible than Strike's missing leg prove more fearful. The author deals with life's dark side convincingly and with sensitivity, making this a novel of broken relationships as much as one of broken lives. And mystery; it's also mystery, to be enjoyed with a dark five-star coffee.
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