CRIMSON PEAK

The haunted house is back, in time for Halloween, with the new movie Crimson Peak.  This film, directed and co-written by Guillermo del Toro, is a 19th century horror-thriller-mystery film that's almost painfully Gothic.

As a little girl Edith Cushing was visited by the skeletal ghost of her mother, who warned Edith to beware of Crimson Peak.  Jump ahead 14 years, and Edith (Mia Wasikowska) is a writer, often telling people that her story isn't a ghost story but "a story with a ghost in it."  She's not interested in romance or society, so naturally she catches the eye of two prominent gentlemen in society.  Dr. Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnan) has been interested in her for a while, but she considers him just a friend.

Then there's Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), a struggling aristocrat from England.  Thomas has come to America to earn capital from Edith's father Carter (Jim Beaver) to build a machine to mine the rare red clay from his family land.  Edith is entranced by Thomas, even while Carter is suspicious of the man.  Thomas' strange piano-playing sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) is also there.

Jump ahead, and Edith has joined Thomas and Lucille at Allerdale Hall, the family mansion of the Sharpe family.  The mansion is decaying, with rotting or missing boards, creaking at all hours, and the sound of rushing wind; even the red clay results in red oozing from the floors and making the tap water run red.  Thomas warns Edith not to descent beneath the main level, while Lucille keeps certain rooms locked from Edith.  The mansion is far from town, with Edith's only friend being a small dog the Sharpes thought would have perished.  And Edith investigates the mystery surrounding the Sharpes, as she gets sicker and sees more skeletal ghosts in the house...

I appreciate a supernatural movie that offers intelligence and investigation rather than simple spooks and scares, but Crimson Peak was disappointing.  While the movie had an interesting color scare, it felt like it was cramming element of the Gothic tradition into the movie, without it adding up to much.  The acting was adequate but not more, the surprises and revelations were easy to predict, and the movie quickly gave up on being scary early on, without replacing it with suspense or consistency.  (The ending also left the audience with some unnecessarily unresolved elements.)  Crimson Peak is too focused on being Gothic to be really entertaining.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch

VERONICA MARS dvd

Every fan of a cancelled television show likes to imagine what would happen if the show went on -- what would happen to the characters next?  Thanks to an extremely successful Kickstarter project, the three-season television show Veronica Mars got a new life with the full-length movie Veronica Mars.

Nine years after the end of the tv series, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) has created a new, better life for herself.  She left her hated hometown of Neptune, California for New York City.  She's in a loving, stable relationship with Stoch "Piz" Piznarksi (Chris Lowell), she's about to take the bar exam, and she's on the verge of getting a lucrative job offer from a big firm.  Then the past comes calling.

Veronica's bad-box ex-boyfriend Logan (Jason Dohring) has made national headlines when he's accused of murdering his famous pop-singer girlfriend -- and he wants Veronica's help.  At first, Veronica only agrees to help him choose a lawyer.  But then clues start surfacing, and before you know it Veronica is digging out her taser, pepper spray, and camera with telephoto lens to find out how a mystery from years ago is related to Logan's case.  There's also the police corruption and racial tension of Neptune, her high school reunion, her old friends Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and "Mac" (Tina Majorino), and her dad Keith (Enrico Colantoni) who's still a low-end P.I. and who's worried about Veronica avoiding her New York future to help Logan.

Veronica Mars is a nice return to the characters and world of the tv series -- but it suffers from not going beyond what the episodes of the series did.  There are Veronica's voice-overs and phone identities popping up on the screen, plus a reunion that is there to give the audience a "Where are they now?" answer to the characters from the show.  The movie can get self-referential (such as talking about a Kickstarter project or someone thanking someone else for "keeping it PG-13" -- the movie's rating) and shows how a place that's hated can still suck an intelligent, independent woman back to it.  Veronica Mars will certainly give the fans what they wanted -- or as close to what they wanted without a whole new series -- but it can't escape the feel of being a slightly longer episode of the show.  (The dvd extra is a making-of that talks a lot about the Kickstarter experience.)

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

PASSION dvd

The business world can be cutthroat -- but in the hands of Brian De Palma it also becomes a virtual cesspool of betrayal, kinky sex, drugs, madness, and even murder.  This is the world of Passion, which despite its title is a flat mystery-drama.

Christine Stanford (Rachel McAdams) is the boss at a European ad agency, with Isabelle James (Nooni Rapace) as her protege.  But things aren't good between them: Christine takes the credit for Isabelle's daring new ad campaign, while Isabelle is sleeping with Christine's boyfriend Dirk (Paul Anderson).  And Isabelle's assistant Dani (Karoline Herfurth) hates Christine and may have a crush of Isabelle.

Christine is highly narcissistic and manipulative, from a kinky sex life (including a white mask that looks like her) to alternating between seducing and humiliating Isabelle.  Isabelle has her own secrets and problems, which aren't helped by the stress of the job.  And soon there's a murder...

Passion may be trying to be daring and risque (it's a remake of the French film Love Crime), but it comes off more melodramatic that either enticing or suspenseful.  De Palma has often been accused of copying Hitchcock's style, and that's certainly true here; it especially shows near the end, as the shadows and lighting are used to show Isabelle's darkened state of mind.  Both McAdams and Rapace are stuck in one-dimensional roles that don't give them much room to stretch, and the movie's final twists and turns aren't satisfying.

Passion isn't a terrible movie, but it is terribly routine.  For a movie trying to be risque, it's pretty ordinary.  (Dvd extras consist of interviews with the director and two stars.)

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011 movie)

Stieg Larsson's novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a brilliant, brutal, and popular mystery. It makes sense that the American film adaption would be directed by David Fincher, whose work includes Seven, Fight Club and The Social Network. This film of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo loses none of the tough hits of the original book -- though some of the changes lessen the final impact.

The film follows the format of the book closely. In Sweden, financial reporter and publisher Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) has just been convicted of libel against businessman Wennerstrom (Ulf Friberg), resulting in his reputation and finances being ruined. At the same time, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) is an asocial, possibly insane punk -- who's a brilliant researcher and hacker -- who prepared a background check on Mikael. This leads both of them to the Vanger family.

Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) is the elderly patriarch of the declining, but still powerful, Vanger industrial organization; he hates most of his family, yet lives with most of them on their private island. Forty years ago, during the Vanger family board and family meeting, an accident completely blocked the bridge that is the only way onto and from the island. At about the same time, Henrik's beloved niece Harriet (Moa Garpendal) vanished. No body was found, nor was any sign she was still alive. Henrik was obsessed with her disappearance, and he is convinced someone in his family killed her during the accident and snuck her body away. In addition, someone has sent Henrik a pressed flower in glass every year on his birthday -- something Harriet did before she disappeared. So Henrik hires Mikael to live on the island, ostensibly writing the history of the Vanger family but actually investigating what happened to Harriet. If Mikael can solve the case, he'll get twice as much money as if he doesn't; he'll also get the evidence proving Wennerstrom is corrupt.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth has do deal with a truly disgusting lawyer who controls her money, as well as her personal demons. She eventually gets drawn into the Harriet case, as a research assistant for Mikael. They find the Vanger family is truly corrupt -- from the greedy to a former Nazi -- and the case goes well beyond what happened to Harriet.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a solid adaption of a mystery that began forty years ago and has a firm impoct on the present. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara are both very good as the leads, two very different types of people who actually mesh well together, both personally and professionally. Fincher does a good job creating an atmosphere of degeneracy, whether in Lisbeth's life in the city or in the isolated Vanger homes. While the movie is pretty faithful to the novel, some of the changes weaken the story somewhat (like an image in the window in Harriet's room on the day she vanished; that is forgotten about quickly), and the final revelation is blunted by an unnecessary foreshadow. There's also an unfomfortable juxtaposition of erotic nudity in the latter part of the movie with some brutal sexuality in the former part. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is flawed, but it is also intense and entertaining.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson

How do you solve a murder that happened 36 years ago -- if it happened at all? What distinguishes retribution from revenge -- or is there a difference? And just how dysfunctional can one family be? These are the ingredients of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the insanely popular mystery novel from late authir Stieg Larsson.

At the book's opening in December 2002, things are very rough for Swedish financial reporter and magazine publisher Mikael Blomkvist. His story about corrubt businessman Wennerstrom backfired, leading Blomkvist to be convicted of libel and costing him his reputation, his money, possibly his magazine's future, and three months in jail. Things turn around -- for better or worse -- with an offer from Henrik Vanger, the 84-year-old patriarch of the Vanger family, a once-powerful and still-important group of industrialists.

Henrik hates most of his family, which ranges from the selfish to the misanthropic to a supporter of the Nazis. During a family gathering in 1966 on the Vanger's home on an island, a truck accident blocked the bridge that was the only connection between the island and the mainland. At about the same time Harriet Vanger -- Henrik's 16-year-old niece, and one of the few family members he liked -- vanished. No body was found, and no sign of her appeared afterwards. Henrik believes someone, probably a family member, used the accident as an opportunity to kill Harriet and smuggle her body out in a car before the search was fully underway. Henrik also believes Harriet's killer is the one who has sent him a rare flower in glass every year on Henrik's birthday -- something Harriet did until she disappeared.

Blomkvist's job is to spend a year among the Vanger family on their island, ostensibly to write their history but really to find out what happened to Harriet. Blomkvist will be well paid if he finds nothing, but twice as much if he solves the mystery. In addition, Henrik has promised that if Blomkvist figures out what happened, he'll give Blomkvist proof of Wennerstrom's corruption.

Then there's Lisbeth Salander. The title character, Lisbeth looks like a typical punk -- tattoos, piercings -- who seems almost psychotically asocial. She's also a brilliant researcher, a talented hacker, and -- despite her slight build -- devastating when dealing out vengeance against those who wrong her (which happens, graphically and brutally, here). She starts out investigating Blomkvist and winds up helping him investigatge the disappearance of Harriet Vanger.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is, as several characters mention, a mystery of the "locked room" variety: What happened in the seemingly inaccessible location? As a mystery, this is extremely well written. We go along with the Blomkvist as he goes from seeing his assignment as an old man's obsession to a possibly real crime, to something far more sinister and going beyond Harriet. The main characters are both admirable and flawed: Blomkvist may be noble, but he's also a notorious womanizer (including with one of the suspects in the Vanger family); Lisbeth has a history of horrors, which may be why she has trouble relating to the world -- and responding with calculated ferocity. The Vanger family proves to be a truly twisted intertwining family unit, and there are amazingly disgusting -- and suspenseful -- scenes on the way to unravelling the mystery of Harriet's disappearance.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo veers at times into very brutal territory (though doubtless inspired by the statistics about how many women suffer abuse in Sweden), but it's a tense, surprising, and extremely involving mystery. Larsson has two other books with these protagonists -- The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest -- and I look forward to reading these as well.

Overal grade: A-

Reviewed by James Lynch

Murder in Grub Street - Bruce Alexander (1995)

Murder in Grub Street is a "Sir John Fielding Mystery," set in 18th century London. Our narrator is a man recalling his service as a lad in the household of John Fielding, "the Blind Beak," a magistrate at Bow Street. It falls, therefore, into that loose sub-genre, the historical mystery.

Ironically, it is not really a mystery. From very nearly the outset, it is clear who the villain will be, and there are no real red herrings to speak of. Further, the conclusion is of a type which I find to be the least satisfying of all in the genre, the "we can't prove it, so we'll lay a trap," type of ending.

And yet ... it's a pretty good book. Reviewing this book hard on the heels of my recent review of The Forge of Mars, I found myself considering why I have such divergent opinions of the two. The answer, or part of it, lies in the question of setting. For a novel to be effective, the setting, the world if you will, must be believable. That is not to say that it must real, but that it must be consistent. On some level, it must make sense to us. The premise can be ludicrous, sparkly werewolves live in our kitchen cupboards, but we'll go along with it, until for no reason whatsoever all the werewolves suddenly become zombies. Even if they continue to sparkle.

That is where Grub Street succeeds and Forge of Mars fails. Alexander has an historical setting, but that doesn't mean his job is necessarily easier. In some ways, historical settings are more difficult to carry off effectively, since they must not openly contradict history. In the case of Grub Street even though the mystery is thin and the ending a bit cliché, the writing is evocative and draws you effectively into the world of the story. Even the lack of mystery qua mystery can be forgiven somewhat if you think of the story as a thriller rather than a puzzle.

Forgive me if I have rambled somewhat. The point of all this philosophy is to say that the Murder in Grub Street (and, for that matter the preceding book, Blind Justice) is an entertaining and well-written book, that captures the feel of a time and place at some remove from our own. The characters are engaging, and if the plotting is more thriller than mystery there are far worse crimes.

Overall Grade: B+

Enigma - Robert Harris (1995)

A good mystery novel has much in common with a good cipher. It should be difficult to penetrate, and yet, once solved, should demonstrate a clean elegance. Both the Enigma machine, and Enigma, the book, succeed in this task.

Robert Harris has chosen the code-breaking center at Bletchley Park, north-west of London, as the setting and backdrop for this novel. In World War II, Bletchley Park was the place where the famous, or rather infamous, German Enigma code was broken. Rather than walk us through the history, fascinating though it may be, Harris has chosen to create a fictional cast of characters and put them through their paces in a fictional mystery-thriller. He carries off this task admirably.

Our hero, Tom Jericho, after having a nervous breakdown, is summoned back from his recuperation at Cambridge to work on the latest crisis at Bletchley. The Germans have suddenly changed all the Enigma settings and unless they can crack the code, Allied shipping will suffer greatly at the hands of German U-Boats in the Atlantic. The code-breaking is an interesting side-plot, as the real plot centers around the question of why the Germans changed the codes. Is there a leak at Bletchley? And what can explain the strange behaviour of Tom's ex-girlfriend, the "arctic blond" Claire Romilly?

Harris writes well, and with an excellent sense of the time and place. The feel of wartime Britain pervades the pages, and is contrasted with the abstract world of the intellect in which the cryptanalysts labour. The plotting is intricate, and yet, when it resolves, it all seems so clear.

I won't claim that this is great literature, but it makes for a very pleasant few hours reading.

Overall Grade: B+

SHERLOCK HOLMES

The Sherlock Holmes archetype of the flawed genius is popular on many television shows -- Monk, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, House -- so why not reboot the actual character? The result is Sherlock Holmes, a somewhat faithful but hyperactive treatment of the world's greatest detective.

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Watson (Jude Law) are facing professional and personal challenges. Their case involves Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), an occultist who was hanged and apparently returned from the dead -- after being pronounced deceased by Watson. At the same time, Holmes is having trouble dealing with Watson's upcoming marriage to Mary (Kelly Reilly), which will deprive Holmes of his roommate and friend. Adding to the mix is Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), Holmes' love interest and deceptive criminal; her involvement creates many twists and turns.


I was skeptical when I heard Guy Ritchie was directing Sherlock Holmes -- and this feeling was fairly justified. While Ritchie does capture the sometimes rough but deep friendship between Holmes and Watson, he's far more interested in action: Holmes engaging in shirtless bare-knuckle boxing; explosions; chases; etc. You'll leave with less of an impression of Holmes' genius and more of him as an action hero.

This is a pity, as the cast is pretty good in their roles. Downey Jr. portrays Holmes' brilliance and decadence, making him as unstable as he is smart. Law's Watson is smart and serious, admiring Holmes as much as watching out for him -- and not taking his manipulation. McAdams is more attractive than intriguing, though she does what she can with what she has, and Strong has little to do but appear mysterious and menacing.

Sherlock Holmes ends with a clear setup for a sequel. The leads would certainly be welcome again -- but a calmer director would be a nice change.

Overall grade: C+
Reviewed by James Lynch

WHITEOUT

If you take a murder mystery and set it in Antarctica, you get... a murder mystery with a lot of ice and snow. Whiteout is a routine whodunit in a new setting.

U.S. Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is the law at a remote Antarctic research station that's days from being evacuated in several days due to an oncoming storm. Stetko has a haunted past (shown in flashbacks), a friend in elderly doctor John "Doc" Fury (Tom Skeritt), and a desire to leave law enforcement. When recent pilot Delfy (Columbus Short) sees a body on the ice, Stetko investigates.

Soon Stetko is immersed in a mystery. Who killed a scientist from another base -- and why was he in the middle of nowhere with no gear? Can agent Pryce (Gabriel Macht) be trusted -- or did he turn up near another victim because he's the killer? And what does all this have to do with a Russian plane that crashed 50 years earlier?

Whiteout is most illuminating when it gives glimpses of living in a part of the world where below freezing is the norm. Guide ropes link buildings so people don't get lost and freeze to death dozens of feet away from safety. Touching metal with a bare hand can have terrible consequences. And everyone is a suspect.

As a mystery movie, Whiteout offers little new beyond the location. A mystery figure dressed all in black pops up now and then to swing an ice axe at people, the aforementioned guide ropes serve to offer up chase scenes set in a very small area, and characters voice what they see and think in case simply showing it to the audience isn't enough. None of the actors really stand out (and I think it's sexist that Beckinsale is shown stripping down to her underwear, then showering, before her character even speaks) and the mystery's revelation is neither disappointing nor thrilling. Once you get past the blinding snows in Whiteout, you realize you've seen it all before.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

Majestrum - Matthew Hughes (2006)

Majestrum, subtitled "A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn," is the first book in a series of tales featuring "the foremost freelance discriminator" of a far future "Old Earth." The setting is at a point where technology is about to enter a period of decline and magic is about to return to ascendancy, part of a cycle which has been repeated numerous times we are told. Hapthorn is a detective in the classic vein with more than a simple nod to Sherlock Holmes, although less than a full pastiche.

The plot, as one would expect, revolves around the tension between the "highly calibrated mind" of a scientific detective faced with the possibility of magic involved in a case. The ground covered here is something of an inversion of the idea covered by quite a few authors over the years - "The Magic Goes Away" by Niven comes to mind - and a look at the cycle coming back around to magic is refreshing. Hapthorn has, in a backstory which is never fully explained, faced a thaumaturge with the result that his intuitive faculty has been split off into a separate sort of consciousness sharing his head. The adventure also caused his "integrator,"a sort of programmed hardware/software agent and AI, to turn into a familiar which serves the same function.

The story is essentially a mystery, which means that it can not be too fully explicated without giving away the solution. Hapthorn is drawn into a complicated plot when an aristocrat, Lord Afre, hires him for what seems like a straightforward investigation into his daughter's suitor. Afre fears that the suitor is a gold-digger and wishes him investigated. Hughes starts from this well-trodden ground and develops a complicated and devious plot. Some of the twists and turns will be no surprise to those familiar with the mystery genre, but they are handled deftly enough.

Hughes style is consciously artificial; it reads like someone writing in a mock Victorian style, which is part of the reason why there is a Holmesian feel. It is affected, but works well with the plot and setting. The first chapter or so took a little getting used to, but then it settled down and was actually quite delightful. Hughes handles his characters moderately well, although to be fair, the only ones who truly matter are Hapthorn himself, his "other self" and his integrator/familiar. All the others are mere supporting characters, sketched in sufficiently for the short time they are present in the narrative.

The book, thus, is concerned almost exclusively with Hapthorn as articulated in Hughes' style. Readers who are not engaged by Hapthorn will find little else to distract them; although the plot is sturdy enough, the true meat is Hapthorn and his inner conflicts. Fortunately, that's enough.

Overall Grade: B

Life On Mars

Police dramas and police mysteries are nothing new to television -- unless the mystery is what's going on with the police! The very British series Life on Mars defies easy classification with its protagonist's mysterious situation.

In 2006, detective Sam Tyler (John Simm) is on a case when he's hit by a car (as David Bowie's "Life on Mars" plays in the background). When Sam wakes up, he's all better, wearing a leather jacket -- and in 1973. He has a life there -- car, apartment, history -- and a new job: the new Detective Inspector for a local police precinct. His boss Gene (Philip Glenister) is an old-style policeman who's not averse to beating up or framing suspects to get the "right" thing done. His friend Annie (Liz White) is the attractive friend who's Sam only confidante as to where he came from.

But what's happened to Sam? Sometimes signals seem to leak in from 2006: voices of relatives, people speaking about Sam as if he's in a coma. A creepy little girl shows up from time to time, offering cryptic clues. And at the start of the second and final season, Sam is getting messages claiming that "they" are working on bringing him home. In the meantime, Sam doesn't know if he's in a coma, insane, or a time traveler -- but he keeps trying to do the right thing, in the hopes that it'll bring him home.

Life on Mars is a very clever show. There are plenty of anachronisms uttered by Sam, but there's also a sense of desperation as he tries to figure out what's happening to him and how to get back. Many of the situations in the past parallel what's happened to Sam in the present, and John Simm makes Sam a rich character: a decent guy trying to survive and figure things out in a world that may not exist. Most of the other characters are pretty one-dimensional (except for Gene, a brutal flawed man who still believes he's doing good) and exist to support Sam's plight. And with Life on Mars wrapping up after only two seasons, the show resists becoming too gimmicky or wearing out its novelty -- a lesson the people behind Lost should take to heart.

Overall grade: A-

Reviewed by James Lynch

The Plutonium Blonde - John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem (2001)

This is not a great book. That said, it's a pretty good book and a lot of fun. The Plutonium Blonde (and the sequel, The Doomsday Brunette) follow the adventures of hard-boiled 21st century detective Zachary Nixon Johnson, the last last licensed PI on Earth. That, and the title, should tell you if you are going to like this book.

The style is light and breezy; it's pun-laced sci-fi comedy, with nods to classic noir and pulp, and occasional bits of sly social commentary (such as the predilection of the current administration to label everything with "New", causing confusion when talking about "New Mexico." Or does one mean "New New Mexico?") The characters are fun, if not particularly deep. The plot is not terribly complex but has a number of cliffhangers appropriate to a pulp serial, and a momentum that keeps one reading rapidly to the end.

Ultimately, it's not the kind of book that will change your life or stick with you for years and years. It is, however, exactly the kind of book that one reads and enjoys over a Thanksgiving Holiday when one wants to relax and doesn't want anything too deep.

Overall Grade: B

Carioca Fletch - Gregory McDonald (1984)

The Fletch series of books runs to nine novels, this book, Carioca Fletch, is the seventh. The writing style in all the books is rather odd, and it may take the usual reader a little while to both figure out what makes it odd and to warm to it. Essentially, McDonald eschews the usual literary devices of internal monologue or extended passages describing a character's thoughts or rationales. In some ways, the books read more like plays than novels. It is a little disconcerting.

The lack of insight into the interior life of the characters makes it a little hard to warm to them (a problem avoided in drama, usually, since an actor is there to interpret for you), although it does paradoxically render them more realistic since we rarely find ourselves privy to the thoughts of other people in real life. This asks more of the reader, then, since they must provide the interpretation themselves.

That said, the characters are interesting and appealing. The plot in Carioca Fletch is rather bizarre, more so than most of the Fletch books. Fletch is in Brazil where an old woman claims that he is her murdered husband back from the dead to expose his killer. How Fletch would or could solve a murder forty years old is an interesting puzzle and the resolution hinges on McDonald's use and understanding of the psychology of his characters - just because he doesn't share their inner life with us does not mean that they don't have one. The resolution is, ultimately, quite satisfying.

I heartily encourage readers, especially mystery fans, to try a Fletch novel, although this one might not be the best first choice. If the style appeals, read others, if it doesn't give the rest of the series a miss.

Overall Grade: B

Blind Justice - Bruce Alexander (1994)

Historical mysteries exist as a sub-genre of mystery fiction. By "historical mysteries" I don't mean, "What happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste?" or "Who was Jack the Ripper?" Rather I mean novels which are essentially contemporary detective novels set in eras other than the present. The most famous example is probably the "Brother Cadfael" novels set in and around medieval Shrewsbury. However, if one is so inclined one can read about murders in Victorian London, Republican or Imperial Rome, Pharonic Egypt and more. There is a further sub-genre (a sub-sub-genre?) which uses actual historical figures as detectives. If you've ever felt that Jane Austen would have made a better detective than novelist, there's a series of books out there for you.

As one might expect, the results of these attempts to recast modern detective novels, especially those with actual historical figures, vary a great deal. In Blind Justice, Bruce Alexander (a nom de plume for Bruce Cook) has had a reasonable amount of success. He avoids many of the jarring anachronisms of many of these series (the convolutions required to do forensic medicine in the 12th century are fairly elaborate) by setting his book in Georgian England and taking the historical Sir John Fielding as his detective. Sir John was a London magistrate and instrumental in founding the first professional police force in England.

The book itself is well-enough written. It captures the spirit of the time adequately; although it is not an era with which I am particularly well-informed, there were no obvious anachronisms. Good research is essential if one is to write a believable historical novel, and Alexander has clearly done his homework. The characters are interesting and engaging, a diverse lot of rogues and villians providing a nice contrast to the more upright citizens who are the protagonists. A nice touch is provided by the fact that Sir John, being blind, requires an assistant in his investigations, thus providing a better rationale for a young sidekick than one usually finds.

The plot is decent enough, although unexceptional; if one reads a lot of mysteries, the twist ending is apparent well before the climactic scene. That is not, however, a fatal flaw in a mystery if the pacing, characters and incidents are compelling enough - as is the case here. To summarize: Lord Goodhope dies in the classic locked room. It is, naturally, not a suicide. Suspicion falls on the half-brother, the mistress and the creditor to whom the victim owes money. In the end, after appropriate twists and turns, truth outs and evil is punished.

If I sound a bit lukewarm, that is not my intent. Mystery novel plots tend to be rather formulaic. The appeal lies in the writing style and the characters. For historical novels, there may also be appeal in the setting. In all of those respects, this book does a better job than most; while I did not feel the need to run out purchase the remaining nine books in the series, I will certainly pick them up if I see them at my usual street-side vendor, and that is decidely not the case with many mystery series. In short, while this book is not truly exceptional it is well above average.

Overall Grade: B

In the House of Secret Enemies - George C. Chesbro (1990)

In the House of Secret Enemies is a collection of short stories featuring "Mongo the Magnificent", the hero of a fairly extensive series of mystery books (including The Fear in Yesterday's Rings previously reviewed here.) Several of the stories were later expanded or incorporated into Mongo novels. The result is that this is probably not a good introduction to Mongo or the books. Which is not to say that they aren't good stories, because they are, rather Mongo lends himself better to novel length works, and the stories give away plot bits that Chesbro recycles. If, however, you've already read the novels (or at least An Affair of Sorcerors which is where most of the stories end up), the book is a fascinating insight into one man's artistic process. You can read and see how the ideas are born, mature and change, and eventually grow into a novel.

As with most Chesbro, the writing is good and the characters interesting. The plotting here is not his strongest, though, another reason why it is more for the Mongo completist than the newcomer.

Overall Grade: C

The Fear in Yesterday's Rings - George C. Chesbro (1991)

The "Mongo" series is an odd duck. The books aren't pure mysteries, but they aren't quite horror, nor thriller, nor fantasy. What they are is weird and jolly good fun. This book is the tenth in the series of fourteen, and all of the books are worth checking out.

Dr. Robert Frederickson, aka Mongo the Magnificent, is an ex-circus performer, a dwarf acrobat in fact, turned criminologist. His brother, Garth, is an ex-cop. His friends included other circus folk, Vietnam vets, secret government agents and assorted misfits and outcasts. They find themselves opposing US and foreign black-ops groups, con-men using the trappings of Satanism, and international cartels of various types of bad guys.

The Fear in Yesterday's Rings takes Mongo back to his roots in a small traveling circus. He's out to help out an old friend, the former owner, by buying it back for him to run. Coincidentally, there have been a number of lurid "werewolf" murders in the area. But Mongo has no interest in that. At first.

Of course, no one believes that he's just out looking to buy a circus, and there is something odd about the circus ...

The book builds tension nicely, and the climax is more thriller than mystery, but good thriller. Chesbro writes well, and his characters are engaging and Mongo himself is a delightful creation. The whole series is recommended.

Overall Grade: B

Bimbos of the Death Sun - Sharyn McCrumb (1988)

Bimbos of the Death Sun has become something of a cult classic in the last twenty years, more for its setting than for any other merit. Which is not to say that it doesn't have other merits, merely that they are overshadowed by the crisp and accurate portrayal of the sci-fi/fantasy con which forms the backdrop to the story.

The title of the book is also the title of the book written by the hero of the book - if that sounds a little self-referential, that could almost be a through-line for the entire book. The hero, Dr. James Owen Mega, has written a hard SF novel retitled by his publisher with an eye to titillation. He is a professor at the local college and unfamilar with the whole fandom scene, thus playing the role of ignorant newcomer to whom folks can explain things - not-so-incidentally providing explanations to readers to whom a large science-fiction and fantasy convention of the 80's may be a completely different and strange world. (Although to be fair, even to those of us who went to some of these in our misspent youth, the world remains strange just not as different.)

The mystery itself is rather pedestrian. McCrumb has written better, if more mainstream, mysteries. What makes Bimbos such a hit is the dizzying array of characters, almost all stereotypes, but lovingly drawn. As someone who did hit a few of these cons in the 80's, I recognized every character in the book. Indeed, I probably was at least one or two of them. The book captures a time and place very well, and was a wonderful nostalgia trip. McCrumb does write well, and if the plotting of this book is a little sub-standard, that's OK because that's not really the point.

For gamers or sci-fi/fantasy fans, especially those who came of age in the 80's, the book is a welcome blast from the past. Even without that background, it's a pretty good read, it just won't resonate as well. Still it's a fast, light read and recommended - although copies may be hard to come by.

Overall Grade: B

Iain Pears - The Raphael Affair (1990)

Iain Pears has written some very interesting books over the years, interesting both structurally and thematically. It came as a bit of a surprise to me, therefore, to find The Raphael Affair to be such a conventional book. Conventionality is not automatically a bad thing, anymore than esoterica is automatically a good thing. In either case, it is the execution that matters, and whether the form suits the purpose and intent of the author. In this case, a fairly straightforward structure suits the fairly straightforward story, and the execution is certainly adequate, if not exceptional.

The plot concerns a recently discovered painting by, surprise-surprise, Raphael. Or is merely a very clever forgery? The twists and turns to find out the means by which the painting could be forged, who would benefit and the like are handled well by Pears. The intricacies of the international art world provide a fine and somewhat unusual backdrop for what is, essentially, a competant but uninspired mystery novel.

Lest I seem to be damning wth faint praise, let me hasten to add, that the book is eminently readable and quite enjoyable. Not all books can be masterpieces, not even all works by masters are of equal quality (if you have any doubt about that read Shakespeare's Hamlet and Pericles back to back.)

But just because a book is not an eternal masterpiece does not mean it is without merit. Such is the case here. The book is a pleasant diversion. Fans of mysteries or of Pears' writing will certainly find it a good read, even if it is unlikely to end up on their top ten list.

Overall Grade: C+