I moved, I started a new job, and I've been consumed by that transition.... but I've still found time to read! After the semi-success of reading Gladys Mitchell's Speedy Death on a busted old ereader, I went ahead and purchased a new one!. I opted for a kobo clara black and white over the amazon ecosystem and couldn't be happier with it: it's light and small, it has great battery life, and best of all it is much better on my eyes than regular screens. So while adding in eye reading with ear reading has increased the number of books I've been reading, a majority of them have been outside of the mystery genre: romance, sci fi, YA. Those are all outside the scope of this website for now; I just don't feel the same urge to capture my thoughts on the books in those genres. In mystery in May, I read:
- The Guest List (2020) by Lucy Foley: I may or may not write a longer post on Foley when I inevitably read more of her books. I enjoyed this, with an asterisk. I'm not sure I enjoyed it as a mystery, and I wouldn't fully consider it one. It's more of a thriller, made a mystery by its gimmick of hiding the identity of the victim by switching between past and present tense. I found the various plot revelations very easy to predict, to the point that I wondered whether or not they were intended to be twists or if it was just a straightforward novel in thriller clothes. I had the impression that Foley was more of a mystery writer because I'd heard her compared with Christie, but that is because she apparently tends to write closed circle stories in remote settings. Despite feeling rather misled by genre, I did enjoy the book, or, more accurately, the audiobook. As is common with British audiobooks, it has a cast of narrators for the different rotating POV characters. I always enjoy this approach, and there was one narrator (for wedding guest Hannah, iykyk) who I found particularly good. It was a good listen! And it was fairly well written, with several characters I found interesting and a pretty well drawn setting. I'll read more of Foley.
- Colour Scheme (1943) by Ngaio Marsh - On the opposite end of quality for the audio format is Colour Scheme. I mentioned back in March that I was having trouble finishing this book, and boy howdy did I. I usually don't force myself to read things I'm not enjoying, but I was, actually, enjoying the book in many ways. It has a wonderful setting (mineral springs in New Zealand during World War II!!!!) and the small, zany family unit that Marsh is particularly good at writing, similar to my favorite of her works. (That would be A Surfeit of Lampreys). I'm on record for loving mysteries set during wars, and I generally like Marsh and think her New Zealand set books are particularly vibrant with a sense of place. The mystery itself was rather slow to start, but the problem was mostly the audio recording. I found it almost impossible to get through; the narrator of my version, who I think is Ric Jerome, tended to yell and bellow and screech, to the point it often hurt my ears. The New Zealand accent was a grating shriek, and the accents of the Maori were odd. It was so unpleasant that I failed to pick up on the incognito detective until almost the end. Not my finest reading hour, and a prime example of how a bad reading can ruin an audiobook. I'm not giving up on Marsh, but I plan to switch to an ebook for the next one!
- The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (1929), Gladys Mitchell - I almost skipped this in favor of the book of hers I'm currently reading now (book three), but went for it, and I'm glad I did even though it was a wild ride. I had fun and don't have much to say for it other than that at the moment. I'll save what thoughts I do have for a combo post with at least book three in the Mrs. Bradley series (reading it now!).
I'm reading The Saltmarsh Murders with my eyes and have returned to the Summer of Sayers to listen to Murder Must Advertise. I'm enjoying having a book going in each format, and having a good time with both of these ones. Maybe now that I'm getting more settled I'll be able to make more time both for reading and for jotting down my thoughts! I miss it!