The Missing Clue - April 2017 - Spring and Summer Reading Picks by Wendy

With the weather finally perking up a little, my thoughts gravitated towards summer and summer reading. This was in part due to the book that I was reading, Plum Sykes’ Party Girls Die in Pearls. This is Plum Sykes first mystery, launching the ‘Oxford Girl Mystery’ series although she has written a couple of other novels and writes regularly for Vogue magazine. The novel is set in Oxford in the late 1980s. The two main characters, Ursula Flowerbutton and American Nancy Feingold. Both are first year students from somewhat non-traditional backgrounds. It was a really fun read, and for those readers not familiar with 1980s clothing and popular culture the author provides footnotes explaining the reference, I am old enough not to need an explanation of references to various television shows like Dynasty. The book is due for release on May 9th in trade paperback just in time for a good Victoria Day weekend read.

Christina Kovac’s first novel is called The Cutaway. The novel is set in Washington D.C. a place that is probably higher in people’s consciousness these days. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a young female lawyer, she walks out of a fashionable D.C. restaurant and is never seen again. This disappearance catches the attention of a female news producer, Virginia Knightly, at a D.C. television station. Knightly becomes involved in the investigation when it seems that the authorities are not taking it seriously enough. Christine Kovacs was herself a TV journalist who worked on a number of political news shows including Meet the Press. A most enjoyable read with a very believable setting.

Sara Sheridan is a Scottish writer who has written many novels, including a series whose main character is Mirabelle Bevan. The first novel Brighton Belle was originally published in the UK in 2012 but was just released in North America in January of this year. Mirabelle Bevan had worked for British Intelligence during WWII now in 1951 she is living in Brighton, working as a secretary to debt collector, and mourning the death of her wartime boss and lover. When her boss is sick she becomes involved in a routine inquiry but as they say the plot soon thickens and nothing is what it seems. Book #2 in the series, London Calling, was just released in hardcover and is available to order.

Sally Andrew‘s first mystery Recipes for Love and Murder was published in 2015 and is now available in trade paperback. Set in Ladysmith, in the South-eastern part of South Africa, Andrew’s main character Tannie Maria writes the agony aunt column for the local newspaper. This advice column is slightly different as she always includes a recipe. The second novel in the series, The Satanic Mechanic, has just been released, also in trade paperback. It includes the same characters as the previous title. These books present a slightly harsher description of life in Southern Africa, than Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana series. Andrew herself lives in South Africa and has been an environmental and social activist, themes which are very clear in her books. These are not titles to read when you are hungry.

The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss is the first in a new series by Max Wirestone, available in store in trade paperback. Set in present day California Dahlia is an un/underemployed 20 something. Being chronically short of money she agrees to act as a private detective for a friend of a friend who is trying to recover a stolen icon in a video game. I enjoyed the character and the plot but I did find the intricacies of online gaming somewhat beyond me. But it is an enjoyable read. Book #2 in the series, The Astonishing Mistakes of Dahlia Moss, was just released in trade paperback and is available to order.

My book of the year for 2016, Susie Steiner’s Missing, Presumed, will be released in the mass market size on April 25th, ($12.50). Highly recommended. If I haven’t sold you a copy yet and you can’t wait for the mass market, we still have the trade paperback in stock. Also highly recommended Joanna Cannon’s The Trouble With Goats and Sheep, is now in a smaller size ($15.99). If you missed either of these the first-time round, great titles to slip into a beach bag or take on a plane.

The Missing Clue - April 2017 - What I'm Reading by Sian

I was lucky enough to spend several weeks in Winnipeg, and at Whodunit? in January and February and was delighted to be able to chat with many of you. I’m grounded now until the baby comes, but don’t worry, Mum is sending me care packages of books and we’ll be around a bunch in the summer and fall.

Genevieve Cogman’s ‘Invisible Library’ series had been on my radar since it was first released, but I never dipped into it, despite it residing on the shelves of Whodunit. I finally picked up a copy of The Invisible Library when I was home in February and I was hooked! I instantly bought The Masked City and The Burning Page and well…burned through them. Librarian/spy Irene’s job is to collect important books from alternate dimensions to house them in the Library. The first book has her sent to a new dimension, an alternate London, with a new assistant in tow but before she even makes it out the door another Librarian is trying to steal her mission. I would classify this series as less literary and whimsical than Jasper Fforde’s ‘Thursday Next’ series, so a little more serious but easier to read. Book #4, The Lost Plot, will be available in November. All available in trade paperback.

Speaking of libraries, I also tried Rachel Caine’s new ‘The Great Library’ series, which begins with Ink and Bone. This one is classified as YA, which is good news as it means the books are cheaper, although the content (and violence) are fairly adult. In this series, the Great Library of Alexandria still exists, personal ownership of books is forbidden, and only the most special young people have the opportunity to test to enter the Library’s services. The main character is a young man and this is a dystopian universe, both of which would often be huge turnoffs for me, but I found myself really enjoying the book. Book #2, Paper and Fire, will be available in trade paperback in May with book #3, Ash and Quill, coming in hardcover in July.

Darcie Wilde’s A Useful Woman was one of my books of the year for 2016 and I’m heartened that many of you took my recommendation (and hopefully enjoyed it). The second book in the series, A Purely Private Matter, is due May 2nd (just a few days before my daughter), so I’m looking forward to receiving it in a post-baby care package (hint hint, Mum).

I’ve eagerly read the first seven books in Benedict Jacka’s ‘Alex Verus’ series, but each book ends of such an increasingly massive cliffhanger than I’m not sure I have the nerve anymore. It feels like poor Alex just can’t catch a break and much like Jim Butcher’s ‘Dresden Files’ it can feel like one catastrophe after another without a pause to develop the characters or story. Still, if book #8 Bound arrived in a care package, I’m pretty sure I’ll read it. Can’t blame a girl for wanting a happy ending once in a while, can you? You can pick up your copy in mass market on April 4th.

I am really looking forward to another 8th book in a series though, May’s release of Caro Peacock’s 8th ‘Liberty Lane’ book Fool’s Gold. This can be a frustrating series to track because the book releases are erratic (often two years apart) and usually in a very expensive hardcover that sometimes take forever to get into trade paperback and sometimes are released in both formats nearly simultaneously. So I can’t suggest you buy the hardcover, although I will, and I’ll be sure to let you know when the trade paperback is available. This is such a smart series with a woman getting by on her own brains and ingenuity, rather than her looks and husband, the same reason I like the Darcie Wilde series.

I am, as ever, open for recommendations on what I should read when I’m on maternity leave. I’m going to have lots of time to read, right?

The Missing Clue - April 2017 - Nain's Book Club Reviews

Turns out having a Nain (Welsh for Grandmother) who owns a bookstore is pretty awesome, especially if she starts a book club for you and sends you books in the mail on a regular basis. Here are a few reviews for her recent picks.

The Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Reviewed by Henry R.

We have been reading a mystery called The Greenglass House. It is set in a big house that is an inn. It is winter vacation but the inn is filled with mysterious guests. Milo, the son of the innkeepers, decides to snoop with the daughter of the cook, Meddy. They want to solve the mystery of a map that Milo finds outside in the snow. We don’t want to spill the beans any more but we are loving the book and think you will too.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Reviewed by Joenna D., age 9

My book is called Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. It’s about a girl that lives in a village with her family. They are poor the only money in the house are two copper coins. The girls name is Minli. Minli wants to change her families fortune. So she goes on a adventure to try to change it. Minli meets creatures that tell her stories about where she is going as she tries to get up to the mountain. I liked the story of the village of the moon rain. In the story there was a village, everybody worked as hard as they could but nothing would grow. Then something happened. It started to rain!! But the rain wasn’t water it was little white balls. The villagers thought they were pearls and started to collect them in baskets. But the other white balls they didn’t collect started to grow into trees, then the villagers realized they weren’t pearls they were seeds! So they planted the seeds to make trees. I think other children my age might like this book.

The Missing Clue - August 2016 - Mysteries in Alternative Histories by Michael

My intention for this issue of the newsletter was to write about a number of new alternative history novels. The one that had originally caught my attention had been The Book of Esther by Emily Barton. Set in a history in which the Khazar Empire of Central Asia maintained its hold on territory, and on its Jewish faith, into the twentieth century. Faced with the growing power of Hitler's Germany, and its eastern expansion, Esther bin Josephus, one of the few to recognize the real danger, journeys to have a mystical conversion to become the man her culture requires her to be to join military service.

Barton's novel, while well crafted, takes so long to get onto the track of its longer narrative. As a result, it was quickly interrupted by the arrival of the other book I wished to compare it to, Underground Airlines by Ben H Winters. Winters, notable for his ‘Last Policeman’ Trilogy, has created a world in which the American Civil War is stopped by an early assassination of Lincoln, and a compromise written into the constitution of to permit slavery to continue. Jumping into the present, escaped slaves, as well as those who are attempting to aid them, are the responsibility of the Marshall Service. His nameless ex-slave protagonist finds himself an agent of laws many, including himself, do not agree with, but are largely helpless to change.

Winters', who allows his alternative to history to feed into dribs and drabs, creates a narrative that makes it much harder to put his book down. To the point, in fact, where it sucked me in so deeply that I didn't manage to finish Barton's work by the time of printing. While The Book of Esther evoked a world in which I was interested in reading more, it failed to pull me in the same way that Underground Airlines has. That said, once I am finished, I would be happy to let anyone is interested know how the two compare.

The Missing Clue - April 2016 - REVIEW: The Courier by Gerald Brandt – reviewed by Michael

We are always interested in the publications of new Winnipeg authors.  Of especial interest, of course are those that would fit into the mystery/thriller genre. Gerald Brandt’s debut novel, The Courier, was released in March, and covers a lot more genres than just thriller, being a cyberpunk/espionage/quasi young-adult novel about a teenage woman caught up in a larger conspiracy.

Brandt has created a dynamic world, where corporations rule a dying planet from satellites, while cities are built in classist layers down below. Power plays, corporate espionage and reliance on non-planetary resources make for a complex web of overlapping dead-drops, false flags, and other elements of the spy game. 

Brandt has spread the umbrella of his creation wide by making a number of interesting choices. The perspective switches regularly between the protagonist, Kris, and the agents seeking to protect or capture her, for example. What is notable about this shift is that it does so from first person, in the case of Kris, to third person, in the case of everyone else. This gives a mix of limited perspective and omniscient narration that creates some dramatic irony and foreshadowing, while at the same time generating suspense through the narrow lens of the protagonist. It does however, make for a chink narrative.

And while I concede that I am not necessarily the target audience for the damaged female teen fighting the larger universe novel, I have to say that I am curious as to what Brandt will do next. The world he has built is worth visiting, even if the protagonist may not be.  This novel has proven that Brandt is capable of writing in a wide-range of styles, and I look forward to him refining his voice and hopefully, creating stories in this world that are not limited by such a wide umbrella.

The Missing Clue - April 2016 - The Age of Treachery by Gavin Scott and Real Tigers by Mick Herron – reviewed by Jack

As those who know me well are aware, I am fond of well-crafted spy novels, and prefer those set in the immediately post-war Cold War period. A recent lucky dip in the pile of “arcs” (advance reader’s copies) that is constantly in our store turned up Gavin Scott’s The Age of Treachery, billed by its publisher as the first in a “brand new post-war mystery series”. The author is a Brit who has honed his skills in Hollywood writing for commercial television; this is his first novel, and I found it impossible to put down. It is a combination of mystery and spy novel, with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. The author has done his research, and I found the section set in Berlin immediately after the war easily the best part of the book. In any event, I think our customers will really enjoy this book, and will clamour for the promised sequel. (The Age of Treachery, on sale April 19th, TP $19.50)

One more spy book while we are at it. This one is Real Tigers, by Mick Herron, number three in his series set in Slough House, the dilapidated building in London where MI5 buries its screw-ups. This time one of their number is kidnapped; the kidnapper wants information as ransom. The story gets beautifully complicated. Most readers like this series a lot. (Available in hard cover $26.95, no date for paper version yet.)