Mystery Loves Company

Our mystery book club at One More Page Books meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 7 PM. We select the books a few months in advance, read them, and talk about characters, plot, setting, etc. Oh, and especially the solutions to who did it, and why?  We’re not all praise, either. Some books are stinkers, and we talk about that as well.

The club was reading Blue Monday by Nicci French the month I joined. I fell for the group and this author, or maybe I should say authors since it’s a husband and wife team. I love this well-written series set in London that features a fearless psychotherapist named Frieda Klein and her trusty Ukrainian repairman, Josef. The husband and wife writing duo can’t write them fast enough for me.

For March, we read Fred Vargas’ The Chalk Circle Man, a mystery written in French and translated into English by Sian Reynolds. This was Vargus’ first Commissaire Adamsberg mystery. The group appeared to like it all right. Adamsberg doesn’t solve mysteries the way common detectives do, using boring clues and witnesses, etc. The French must be different, n’est pas? He uses his intuition, which means the reader doesn’t get to try and figure things out since Adamsberg does all this in his head. So the novel is character-driven, a problem for me since most of the characters are as hard to believe in as Adamsberg’s method of solution. So what did I like about this far-fetched Frenchie mystery?  The writing—mai oui—has lovely flowing syntax. That’s why I mentioned the translator. Also one of our book club members pointed out that the solution Adamsberg came up with violated a basic rule of mystery writing: he solved by way of something not mentioned earlier. Shame on you, Fred Vargas.

For April we read Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. This is the first book in the many Phryne Fisher Mysteries and recently featured in a series on PBS. I felt the TV screenwriter made a more cohesive story for Phryne than the author. Set in Melborne, Australia during the ‘20s , the story has Phryne solving mysteries in gorgeous clothes and driving a terrific car. Yes, she’s wealthy, beautiful, clever, and promiscuous. What’s not to like? But I wouldn’t have enjoyed this as much if I hadn’t seen the television show first. Lots of Aussie slang from the day.

What mysteries are on our horizon? We’re reading Aaronovitch’s Midnight Riot for May and Enigma for June. Come join us.