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Readingomnivore Reviews

PERSONS OF INTEREST is the fourth book in Peter Grainger’s Detective Sergeant D. C. Smith police procedural series set in Kings Lake, Norfolk. He’s a widower, nearing retirement age, with a special reputation: “Telling Smith to carry on as normal might not be wise, because normal for Smith was not the same as it was for other people. Last Saturday morning...having to come in for two hours and sort out something as odd as that would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience but it wasn’t for Smith--it’s normal for Smith.”

The unusual occurrence is the murder of convict Lucky Everett at Longmoor Prison, when police find hidden in Everett’s cell a defunct cell phone number issued to Smith a year before in a case involving a military intelligence agency. Why does Everett have it, and where did he get it? Since Smith had no contact with Lucky Everett throughout their careers, his curiosity is piqued and, despite the case belonging to another jurisdiction, he and DC Nigel Hinton delve into the mystery. Smith learns that the number had been supplied by a higher-ranked con whom Everett had asked for contact for a straight cop. In the meantime, the Regional Serious Crime Unit, who’s tried several times to recruit Smith to their branch, begins a serious intelligence-gathering operation on drug-dealing in the Kings Lake area--they with Kings Lake personnel determine that the number of arrests has halved in the past few months, the old dealers have disappeared or retired, with “in-comers” including Albanian muscle now running the distribution. Then the investigations converge as Smith meets Everett’s sister and learns that his niece has been kidnapped with her boyfriend Cameron Routh, brother of the former Kings Lake drug kingpin. Who are the new dealers, and can Smith hope to recover the kidnapped teenagers?

I like this series. Grainger has a believable continuing community of police personnel, some excellent, some mediocre, at least one bent, with individual personalities, lives, and emotions. Smith is a mentor to younger members of his team, notably Chris Waters, the bright young Uni graduate in the fast track program, who faces the decision in a few months about staying on, and DC Serena Butler, who’d blotted her copybook with an indiscreet affair with a superior officer at her previous posting. He also has a unique relationship with his immediate boss, Detective Inspector Alison Reeve, whom he taught all she knows. Their relationships develop and change as in real life. Secondary characters are well-drawn. I especially like the way that Grainger portrays them as mixtures of good and bad qualities, as most of us are. My only complaint is that the number exceeds that strictly necessary to the story.

The plot is a bit slow to develop, though in fact the immediate action occurs over the period of a bit more than a week. Grainger shows, step by step, a realistic linking of bits of information to form a coherent whole.

Grainger is good with use of setting, especially atmosphere: “It was almost seven o’clock, but the sun was still shining over Lake when he went out into the corridor and looked from the second floor window. There was a haze that softened the more distant parts of the view, blurring it impressionistically. It was almost beautiful, but it was only the day’s traffic fumes, hanging over the city like a thin, silvery pall.”

PERSONS OF INTEREST is well done. I highly recommended both this entry and the series as a whole. (A-)
 
A CONSTANT LOVE is another sequel to Jane Austin’s much-beloved Pride and Prejudice. It begins with wedding of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy and follows them from March 1814 through April 1815, ending with their ball at Pemberley to celebrate the upcoming marriage of Georgiana Darcy and Captain Matthew Stanton, Royal Navy. It was published in e-book format in 2015.

A CONSTANT LOVE is one of the best sequels to Pride and Prejudice that I’ve read. Turner is unusually faithful to the original characters and judicious in her introduction of most new ones. Her shifts in viewpoint between characters add to their individuality, as does he revealing personalities through their actions and their own words. The number of characters exceeds the demands of the plot. Turner uses letters skillfully for exposition and character development. Her handling of the reaction of the ton to newly-wealthy naval officers without proper social connections reflects Sir Walter Elliot’s in Austen’s Persuasion.

One of the strengths of A CONSTANT LOVE is its grounding in realistic reactions to historical events. Napoleon has been defeated, so the Army is coming home and the Royal Navy being decommissioned. Both Colonel Edward Fitzwilliam of HM’s 33rd Regiment and Captain Matthew Stanton are greatly concerned about what will happen to their soldiers and sailors cast upon shore with only what money they’ve saved. Darcy is worried about the effect on Pemberley and on Great Britain as a whole with the passage of the Corn Laws that will end free trade in grains, forcing up the price of food. Darcy House in Curzon.Street is menaced by a mob in the Corn Law riots. Then Napoleon escapes and returns to Paris to renew the war, with Fitzwilliam, Stanton, Wickham, and Kitty’s fiance Captain Andrew Ramsey all recalled to the services.

The women must confront their fears for the safety of their loved ones as well as more ordinary social uneasiness. Elizabeth Bennet Darcy is uncertain about her ability to function as a proper hostess for Darcy House and Pemberley; when she’s not conceived after thirteen months of marriage, she’s convinced she’s barren. Living with the Darcys and taking advantage of good masters, both Kitty and Mary polish their accomplishments while Charles Bingley and Darcy raise their dowries to £5,000 each, greatly improving their chances for good marriages. After her debut, Georgiana Darcy must deal two further fortune hunters before meeting Stanton. Lydia is a source of great worry because she’s followed Wickham’s regiment to the Continent; he’s missing and presumed dead following Waterloo.

I find a few problems with A CONSTANT LOVE. One is with use of apostrophes in plural and possessive names. Word choice is sometimes anachronistic; ”upfront” is first used in 1937. I question whether a naval officer would be wearing his uniform hat indoors at a ball, as well as a thief being punished by having his hand cut off. But these are small matters when compared to the real strengths of A CONSTANT LOVE. (A-)
 
Paul Wornham’s THE PHILANTHROPIST’S DAN$E is a mystery set in upstate New York. It is available in e-book format.

William Bird, attorney for multi-millionaire philanthropist Johnston C. Thurwell II, has called together twelve guests at his client’s country home with a unique charge: they are to decide who among them is to share in Thurwell’s estate, and how much each of them will receive. Deliberations must be completed within a week; for each day the estate is not settled, twenty percent of the total estate will revert to the Thurwell Foundation. Delay will cost money. The guests include Thurwell’s friend from college Larry MacLean; his manservant Dennis Elliot and Dennis’s wife Janice, housekeeper; Mrs. Winnie Tremethick of Cornwall, who denies ever having known Thurwell; Camille Jolivet, his illegitimate French daughter; CEO Caroline Smith of the Thurwell Foundation; Judge Ronald Freeman of Macon, Georgia, and probable candidate for governor; Betty Freah, his longtime, former prostitute mistress; media magnate and rival Freddie Hagood; elder son Johnston Thurwell III (“Junior”); favorite child Bethany Thurwell; and younger son Philip Thurwell. Each is hiding some unsavory secret in their relationship with Thurwell. They are cut off from the world by both agreement to Thurwell’s conditions for the meeting and by being snowed in. Can they ever agree about the distribution of his estate?

I don’t know and I won’t find out, because I’m giving up at sixteen percent. The plot seems dated, reading like something out of an Agatha Christie mystery, highly improbable. It seems to be setting up a situation like her And Then There Were None, but the story is slow to develop. So far few details of the guests’ relationship with Thurwell have emerged, and there’s no indication of why he set up such an outre means of distributing his estate. Plotting and maneuvering to control the votes have only begun, and the book is 408 pages.

The only sympathetic characters are Winnie Tremethick and Jeremy, major domo at Thurwell’s country home. All the others are selfish, self-centered, rude, disrespectful, downright nasty, much more concerned with his money than with grief at his death. Characters are introduced by name and a factoid or two of information, with shifts in point of view between them providing only vague reference to their relationship with Thurwell. I don’t want to see any of the characters, including Thurwell’s children, get a red cent.

Editing problems include correct usage of commas with nouns of direct address and sometimes word choice that doesn’t fit the context--a “baleful” look when “approving” or “appreciative” might be more in order. Little is done with the setting. It’s definitely modern day, with Blackberries and laptops; THE PHILANTHROPIST’S DAN$E reads as if Wornham is trying to update one of the country house mysteries from the 1920s. No grade because not finished.
 
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GREYFRIARS SCHOOL MYSTERY is another of Val Andrews’s novella continuations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal Sherlock Holmes canon. It was originally published in 1990 and issued in e-book format in 2015.

When Dr. John H. Watson, former Head Boy at the Greyfriars School receives a letter from its long-time Headmaster Dr. Locke, he is not surprised to learn it’s really Sherlock Holmes who’s needed. Dr. Locke reports that Lower Fourth Form Master Henry Samuel Quelch’s manuscript history of Greyfriars School has been stolen. He’s worked on it for years, only to discover it missing days before a London publisher has asked to see it. This is unusual enough to interest Holmes who, despite being retired to Sussex and keeping bees for almost a decade, is still not sixty years old but alert, fit, and enjoying Watson’s company. Quelch is fixated on Herbert Vernon-Smith, one of his pupils, as the thief. Holmes isn’t so sure. The night Holmes and Watson arrive at Courtfield Junction, local jeweler H. Silverman is shot to death and his store robbed; Inspector Grimes, who’s not handled a murder in thirty years, calls on Holmes for help. He solves the murder the next day, with Vernon-Smith assisting in the capture of the armed killer. Holmes promises that he’ll prove the boy innocent of the theft and does so, learning Quelch’s closely-guarded secret in the process.

As sequels and “lost cases” go, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GREYFRIARS SCHOOL MYSTERY is above average. Holmes and Watson are much as presented by Conan Doyle, though Andrews’s Watson gushes about Holmes and their friendship. The boys at Greyfriars are not greatly individualized except for Vernon-Smith and the fat, greedy, dim Bunter, who always gets caught. Quelch’s secret has been used by many writers.

As one would expect of a Holmes story, the solution to the murder depends on the detective’s specialized knowledge, in this case of exotic water plants, leaves and stems of which he’d found in Silverman’s jewelry store. The murder case seems almost an afterthought, tossed in to add drama to what is otherwise the story of a petty theft.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GREYFRIARS SCHOOL MYSTERY is a good quick read. (B+)
 
Christopher Fowler’s WHITE CORRIDOR is the fifth book in his Peculiar Crimes Unit series featuring the longest-serving officers in the Metropolitan Police Force, Arthur Bryant and John May. It was published in print and e-book formats in 2007.

Four story lines make up the plot of WHITE CORRIDOR. The first involves abused wife and mother Madeline Gilby, who flees to France to escape her husband and his vicious brother, only to fall in with damaged soul Johann Bellocq who as a child had murdered his mad, abusive mother and been hospitalized for years. He tells her about his past, but Madeline concludes he’s a serial killer who will kill her and son Ryan. She flees for her life back to England with Johann’s passport and photos of a dozen dead women. He follows. The second involves the body of a young drug user Lilith Starr and, following upon his initial examination of it, of the death of PCU coroner Oswald Finch. It’s apparently an inside job by a member of the PCU.

The third story line has Bryant and May en route to Plymouth to attend the International Spiritualists’ Convention, traveling in the teeth of a February blizzard that closes the road and leaves them stranded in a half-mile line of stalled cars. Weather blocks rescue efforts indefinitely, and there’s a murder in the cab of one of the stalled trucks. The fourth involves Home Office Internal Security Chief Oskar Kasavian’s continued campaign to close down the PCU, this time using a Royal visit to the PCU from his second cousin once removed, HRH Princess Beatrice of Connaught, aka “Princess Poison,” as his tool.

As always, Fowler pulls together the diverse story lines, though his surprise twists in two seem contrived. WHITE CORRIDOR depends for success on the reader suspending disbelief and not over-thinking the plot. The title comes from white witch Maggie Armitage who wells May, “White corridors always spell danger because they represent conduits through which evil can pass.” (244)

More than most, WHITE CORRIDOR focuses on the relationships between individual members of the PCU, acting under Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright in London, with Bryant and May stranded on Broadmoor, linked only by cell phones. Fowler has created a cast of continuing characters who range from the comparatively normal (Sgt. Longbright) to the unusual (DC Brimley, who’s spatially challenged and frequently finds himself on the floor) through the eccentric (May) to the barking (Bryant). Unusual as they may be, they are all believably individual. Humor enlivens them: “...the ancient detective [Bryant] also grew plague germs in [his housekeeper’s] baking things and ruined her best kitchen knives putting stab wounds in sides of beef to determine methods of death. He had also rewired the toaster to see if it could be made to electrocute anyone walking across a wet kitchen floor in bare feet, and had been able to answer in the affirmative after nearly setting fire to a Jehovah’s Witness.” (20)

Fowler’s ability to depict London neighborhoods and history is outstanding, using setting and atmosphere to foster verisimilitude and to develop character. “A grey veil of rain descended over the grime-crusted gas lamps of Old Montague Street, where the ‘light of heaven’ brought safety to the pavement Saucy Jack had walked only fifty years earlier. The rolling amber fogs that dripped down walls and slicked cobbles were pierced with fiery mantles that burned until the break of dawn, when daylight dissipated the miasma. Another fifty years passed, and now the wrecking balls swung into row after row of mean terraced houses with a chink and clatter of bricks and mortar, tearing down Durward Street, Buck’s Row, Hanbury Street, blasting so much brightness into the dark canyons that no shred of London’s shape-shifting history remained. Now there was only the roar and glare of the approaching future....” (290)

While not the best book in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series, WHITE CORRIDOR is a solid read. (B+)
 
BECOMING ELIZABETH is Ivy May Stuart’s 2016 contribution to Jane Austen fan fiction based on Pride and Prejudice. It is available in e-book format.

Stuart makes several fundamental changes that affect both plot lines and characters. The first is her giving Charles Bingley a backbone. No longer a spineless wonder, Bingley refuses to allow Darcy and his own sisters to remove him from Netherfield following the ball at which Lydia, Kitty, Mary, and Mrs. Bennet so disgraced themselves. He’s in love with Jane, he know she loves him, and they are immediately engaged. His discourse with Darcy first sets Darcy to thinking that perhaps the obstacles to marrying into the Bennet family are not unconquerable.

After the ball at which Kitty and Lydia are both drunk on champagne, Mr. Bennet is forced to see that they must be corrected. Lydia goes to the Gardiners for at least a year, returned to the schoolroom for education and placed under Madeline Gardiner’s tutelage in manners and deportment. Without Lydia’s influence, both Kitty and Mary improve; Mrs. Bennet in the calmer home becomes less nervous and better behaved. Without trying to impress Darcy, the Bennet family becomes more socially acceptable to him. It helps when Lady Catherine publicly cuts Elizabeth at church at Rosings on Easter Sunday, and Darcy sees that the Bennets are not the only family with embarrassing members.

The biggest change involves the characters. Darcy comes to realize his feelings for Elizabeth, if not her suitability to be his wife, early on. He’s worked on by both Bingley and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam to recognize that his personal happiness is more important than his social obligations as a basis for marriage. Elizabeth goes through a much longer period in which she tries to determine her feelings for Darcy and whether she can trust them. Both Jane Bennet and Mrs. Gardiner advise Elizabeth to accept courtship from Darcy, pointing out that she essentially has no other choice. Unfortunately, the language in which the protagonists are advised is much more twentieth century than Jane Austen; fear of intimacy, displacement behavior, desire for autonomy are all modern concepts and terms.

There are minor problems also. Apostrophes are not always correctly used in plural possessives of names. The Gardiners are given the Tudor Suite at Pemberley but in less that four screens, they’re in the Renaissance Suite. Since the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice it’s obligatory to include at least one dawn meeting between the lovers, so Stuart adds several. Enough already.

BECOMING ELIZABETH is okay, but nothing special. (C)
 
THE MATCHMAKER OF PERIGORD is Julia Stuart’s e-book published in 2008 in print and e-book versions. Its protagonist is Guillaume Ladouette, master barber in the tiny (population 33) village of Amour-sur-Belle in the Perigord region of France. He notices that his earnings have decreased because his customers are aging and going bald. Something must be done. Realizing that the villagers are almost all single, Guillaume Ladouette decides to close his barbershop and become the village matchmaker. He begins Heart’s Delight, his dating service.

Two story lines intertwine in THE MATCHMAKER OF PERIGORD. One is Guillaume Ladouette’s 26-year love for Emilie Fournier, his childhood friend who moved away as a teenager. She left her beloved hunting knife for him to keep from her, and wrote him from her uncle’s in Bordeaux, but he never wrote in reply. She married someone else unhappily, divorced, and now returns to Amour-sur-Belle to purchase the derelict chateau. Can Guillaume overcome his guilt at never replying to her letter and finally achieve his happiness with Emilie?

The second story line is the daily life of the various villagers as they exhibit their prejudices and feuds, examining each other in a new light as they look for love under Guillaume Ladouette’s “expert” guidance. Long-lasting drought complicates life for the villagers as the Council decides to ration water by establishing a communal shower and imposing draconian fines for anyone bathing at home. Back stories are sometimes heart-breaking, as with Denise Vigier’s grandmother who had been disgraced and abused after World War II for being a “horizontal collaborator” with the Nazis, when in actuality she was the victim of a sadistic repeat-rapist solder, who’m she’d stabbed to death. Others are humorous, as with the 31-year feud between Madame Ladouette and Madame Moreau over tomatoes as a proper ingredient of cassoulet, heightened by Madame Ladouette’s dropping a large live eel down Madame Moreau’s decolletage and by Madame Moreau’s pelting Madame Ladouette with over-ripe tomatoes. The one-upsmanship practiced by Guillaume Ladouette and his best friend baker Stephane Jollis over the contents of their supposedly “impromptu” baskets of “snacks” for their monthly fishing trips is worth the price of THE MATCHMAKER OF PERIGORD.

THE MATCHMAKER OF PERIGORD should come with a warning label that reading it may lead to weight gain. Descriptions of food, its enjoyment, and its effect on those partaking are frequent and lavish: “Several [villagers] sat silently praying for a mini-tornado every year as members of the committee placed on the tables platters of blushing beef; pork infused with white wine, garlic and thyme; spit-roasted ducks wrapped in bacon; whole golden plump chickens and chunks of mutton coated in garlic, rosemary and ginger mustard. As the villagers picked up their knives and forks and started to eat, a rare moment of tranquility fluttered through Amour-sur-Belle.” (312) Sense of place is outstanding.

Characters in THE MATCHMAKER OF PERIGORD, except for the very elderly, are always referred to by full name, which helps to keep them straight. They are all eccentric up to and over the line of madness, but they’re amusing and touching, believable. Another repetition, however, becomes tiresome. Stuart uses the exact same phrases each time she mentions many items. For instance, Guillaume Ladouette wears “supermarket leather sandals”. There’s “the field with ginger Lemoisin cows that winked.” Enough, already!

THE MATCHMAKER OF PERIGORD is well worth the time. (A-)
 
NAVAJO AUTUMN is the first in R. Allen Chappell’s Navajo Nation mystery series featuring Charlie Yazzie, special investigator for the Navajo Nation tribal legal department. The book was published in e-book format in 2013.

When Bureau of Indian Affairs official Patsy Greyhorse is found dead at the confluence of the La Plata and the San Juan Rivers, Charlie Yazzie answers the call as the closest available tribal representative; he arrives to find the FBI in the person of Agent Robert Davis and local Farmington, New Mexico, police in charge. Charlie’s friend Thomas Begay, a notable drunk in a land of heavy drinkers asleep under the nearby bridge, is arrested immediately; he manages to escape. Specifically warned off the case by his boss and by Agent Davis, Charlie does not believe Thomas capable of the murder. So he pokes around, discovering that Greyhorse had uncovered a kickback scheme involving the Navajo Tribal Council’s lease of water rights for a proposed irrigation project. She was murdered before she made her findings public; her laptop and its data is missing. Her information exists only on one back-up computer disk that her husband Edmund LaFore gives to Charlie. LaFore’s subsequent murder opens the case to include reputed Skinwalker Freddy Chee and the mysterious “white man” who gave the orders for Patsy Greyhorse and LaFore’s deaths.

NAVAJO AUTUMN shows good promise. The characters are individuals set up hints of back stories. Charlie Yazzie is an attractive protagonist, a man caught between the traditional Navajo way and the modern white culture to which he’d been exposed through years of BIA boarding school and law school. “He was still two, maybe three miles from the camp when the truck finally gave up, lurching to a choking halt in a slight depression in the wash. Charlie cursed in English, as there are no really good Navajo curse words... Charlie had always preferred Chevrolets, and his resolve was now strengthened in that direction. He kicked the truck in the driver’s side door and scooping up a rock, flung it through the open window. Some people thought Charlie Yazzie a little high-strung for a Navajo.” (17-8) He’s ambitious and willing to risk his job to catch a murderer. Chappell has the nucleus of a good supporting cast, particularly in Thomas Begay and in Sue Hanagarni, receptionist at the legal department. I admire Chappell’s economy in restricting the number used.

The plot needs work. When there’s only one white man in the story and the mastermind behind the kickback scheme and the murders is described as a white man, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to identify him. Neat details of Navajo beliefs and history aren’t well integrated into the narrative. The plot ends abruptly almost as if Chappell reached his page requirement and wound it up as soon as possible. Sense place is good but not developed fully.

My biggest reservation about NAVAJO AUTUMN is in Chappell’s handling of Thomas Begay’s alcoholism. Although he’s only 29 years old, Thomas has been a heavy drinker since a teenager; after his escape and subsequent “capture” by Charlie, he has no alcohol for several days and begins the shaking and pain of cold-turkey drying out. Chappell doesn’t mention his symptoms again, and Thomas functions normally, sober, for the remainder of the story. I don’t think alcohol detoxification is that fast or that easy.

NAVAJO AUTUMN isn’t Tony Hillerman. It’s not even Anne Hillerman. But it shows enough potential that I will follow up on the second book at least. (B-)
 
MR. DARCY TO THE RESCUE is Victoria Kincaid’s fan fiction variant on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It was published in e-book format in 2015.

When Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth Bennet and she goes to her father to support her refusal, Mr. Bennet reveals that his doctor has warned him of rapidly declining heath with death not long off. Since Bingley departed Netherfield without his expected betrothal to Jane, Elizabeth (and Mr. Bennet) feel it necessary to protect her mother and sisters following his death by her marrying Mr. Collins. When Darcy learns via Jane’s letter to Caroline Bingley of Elizabeth’s engagement, his attraction and ambivalent feelings about her family’s social status and manners solidify into a determination to prevent the marriage and to marry Elizabeth himself.

Darcy makes use of his aunt Lady Catherine de Burgh, convincing her to invite Elizabeth and Jane for a visit to Rosings so that she may get to know her parson’s wife-to-be before the wedding. Elizabeth is insufficiently subservient, and Lady Catherine requires Mr. Collins to renounce the engagement. Darcy, in the meantime, strives successfully to change Elizabeth’s feelings about himself. When the Bennets are ejected from Rosings, he invites them to Pemberley to meet Georgiana; there he proposes and expects to be accepted. Before Elizabeth gives her answer, the Gardiners arrive to escort the Bennet women to Longbourn, whence Lydia has eloped with George Wickham. The story then continues fairly unchanged, though Kincaid adds a significant confrontation between Mr. Collins, Elizabeth, and Darcy.

MR. DARCY TO THE RESCUE is one of the better fan fiction variations. My main complaint is with changes in the original characters. Kincaid makes Mr. Collins even more repellent, willing to sacrifice his honor (a gentleman would never break an engagement, though the woman might) in obedience to Lady Catherine; at her instruction, he even renews the suit and attempts to compromise Elizabeth into accepting him. Elizabeth seems to change her mind, or not to know her mind, for an excessive portion of the story; much of her angst could have been avoided through a simple frank conversation with Darcy in any of the frequent opportunities he sets up.

The biggest change is in Fitzwilliam Darcy. After months of resisting his attraction to Elizabeth, the news of her engagement instantly solidifies his feelings. He resolves that she must marry only him, and an unattractively manipulative nature emerges as he sets up Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine, Mr. Bennet, Wickham and Lydia, even Elizabeth herself. He compromises Elizabeth at Pemberley with a midnight stroll through the house and gardens, he partially dressed and she in night clothing; he even kisses her. Should this become known, they’d be forced to marry, regardless of her wishes. which he does not yet know from Elizabeth. This attitude does not bode well for a happy marriage.

Homophones strike again. “Rein in” and “reign” are not the same. Still, MR. DARCY TO THE RESCUE is one of the better variants. (B+)
 
Alexis Koetting’s ENCORE was published in e-book format in 2015, one of her Bella James mystery series.

ENCORE’s protagonist is actress Bella James who’s working in the George Bernard Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. With her long-running series Port Authority cancelled and new television roles scarce, she and her agent decide to explore the legitimate theatre. Bella is cast in the lead of Major Barbara. Following a major windstorm in the night, she and her rescued dog Moustache discover the bones of a young woman under an uprooted tree. The bones have been in the ground about thirty years, from approximately 1982 when Canadian theatrical legend Olivia Childries was beaten almost to death while living in the house and starring as Major Barbara. Can there be any possible connection? Detective Sergeant Andre Jeffers decides to investigate on his own, his immediate boss Skip Raines having taken over the bones case himself; Jeffers invites Bella along based on his admiration of her as Detective Samuel in Port Authority.

This is as far as the story has reached at 30 per cent, where I’m giving up. I do not like Bella James. She’s in her thirties, but she seems to be drifting along. Bella carries emotional baggage from the death of her parents when she was eight years old, then being raised by her grandmother Terri-Mai. When her grandmother dies suddenly of an aneurysm, Bella leaves it to a neighbor to make funeral arrangements, pack up her house, and deal with settling her estate. Bella doesn’t even attend Terri-Mai’s funeral. She has no reason to become involved in the investigation except blatant nosiness. She’s languid in dealing with her career. Her biological clock is ticking, but she makes no effort to find an acceptable mate, despite definite interest from the hunky veterinarian (“Dr. Gorgeous”) who treats Moustache for poisoning.

At least we are spared the cozy cliche of the female protagonist and the cop in lust. Sergeant Jeffers is happily married with his wife pregnant with their first child. Two things about Jeffers bother me. One is the likelihood that he would decide to investigate the cases clandestinely, especially in the face of Raines’s hostility. The second is that, having decided to investigate covertly, he would invite Bella James along for the ride. It hardly seems probable.

Characters are not well-developed, most of them stereotypes and cliches. Plot is glacially slow moving. Sense of place is not much developed. I find nothing to justify continuing. No grade because not finished.
 
DEATH BECOMES HIM is the tenth in J. J. Salkeld’s Lakeland Murders mystery series set in Kendal in Northern England, Detective Inspector Andy Hall and his professional and personal partner in life, Detective Inspector Jane Francis. Their other team members include Detective Sergeant Ian Mann, late of HM’s SAS, and Detective Constable Abla Khan, young, eager, one of the first Asian female officers in the district. DEATH BECOMES HIM was published in e-book format in 2016.

When the call comes in on a suicide, DI Francis and DC Khan respond. SOCO head Sandy Smith sees nothing amiss at the scene; DI Francis sees nothing suspicious, and the death is ruled suicide, no investigation needed. However, DC Khan picks up an unguarded response from Peter Thornthwaite, husband of the death research chemist Amy Thornthwaite, that makes her suspect foul play on his part. Her suspicions are confirmed when she snoops and discovers that Thornthwaite is not only on the verge of financial ruin (so desperate for cash that he sells Amy’s car the day after her death) but there’s a £250,000 insurance policy on her life; he’s also been involved in several affairs. Major problem. Thornthwaite was playing golf with Detective Superintendent Roy Martin at the time Amy ingested the cocktail of drugs that killed her, and his current lover Dr. Debbie Jones is alibied by the activity on her home computer at the same time. The story unfolds slowly as Khan gradually interests both Hall and Francis in the case.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

The plot is police procedural, but the suspense is not in who committed the crime but in whether the police can prove it. The conclusive evidence turns up through a police maneuver that, at the very least, borders on entrapment which the Crown Prosecutors plan to ignore. It involves a neat twist on who’s involved with whom. The secondary storyline involves DS Mann with smalltime, unsuccessful burglar Brian Baker (793 convictions), whose life becomes the subject of a documentary film; Mann becomes a star of reality TV.

Characterization is the strongest element of DEATH BECOMES HIM. I particularly like Salkeld’s continued development of the returning characters and in focusing story lines on different team members. In this case DC Abla Khan centers the action: “Abla smiled at her and Jane noticed it. The smile of the still young woman never touched by death beyond that of a family pet, perhaps, and the smile of a career copper, keen to impress. That smile was trying to tell Jane that Abla had seen worse, and would see worse again, and that it didn’t affect her professional judgement. It was the copper’s lot, dealing with all the sadness, the pain and the stupidity, and she could cope. In fact, that smile was saying that she could thrive.” Irascible Sandy Smith faces a personal health crisis that she’s keeping secret from the team. Three-year-old Grace, Hall and Francis’s daughter, emerges as a distinct personality.

My major complaint is lessening of the sense of place. Otherwise, DEATH BECOMES HIM is an excellent read. (A-)
 
RUMOURS & RECKLESSNESS is Nicole Clarkston’s variant on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; it was published in e-book format in 2015. It opens the morning after the Netherfield ball at which Mrs. Bennet and the younger three daughters behaved so poorly. Mr. Bennet meets Fitzwilliam Darcy on an early horseback ride, converses with him, and begins to change his opinion of the younger man. Returning to Longbourn, Mr. Bennet’s horse falls, throwing him and leaving him unconscious. With Mr. Bennet in a coma and with Mrs. Bennet’s enthusiastic support, Mr. Collins tries to coerce Elizabeth into an engagement, announcing their betrothal without having proposed to her. To save Elizabeth from a clearly inappropriate and unwanted marriage, Darcy shuts Collins off by saying that she’s already promised to himself. When Lydia and Kitty spread the news over Meryton, Elizabeth knows she has no choice except to accept Darcy, at least until her father recovers. As Jane and Elizabeth deal with their father’s injury and uncertain prognosis, chaos descends on Longbourn.

Clarkston exaggerates some of the major characters significantly. Her Elizabeth Bennet is much more a tomboy than the original, outspoken almost to indiscretion, passionate (though not carried past light romantic petting), willing to take physical action when necessary. Darcy is more socially inept. His alterations between despair of ever convincing Elizabeth of his genuine love, and euphoria at the slightest evidence that she may see him more positively, seem almost bi-polar in speed and intensity. Charles Bingley has a spine. He refuses to leave Netherfield while Mr. Bennet lies incapacitated; he continues his courtship and proposes to Jane; he’s pro-active in helping Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam deal with George Wickham, who’s actively plotting against Elizabeth, Darcy, and Georgiana. He kicks Caroline out of Netherfield, cutting himself off until she apologizes to Jane and the Bennets and demonstrates her submission to his house rules. Both Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine de Bourgh are delusional about Darcy. Caroline would now be termed a stalker. Lady Catherine becomes so enraged that she literally foams at the mouth and later uses her cane to belabor her brother, James Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Matock, when he opposes her plans. Anne de Bourgh emerges from the background to a major position as secrets about her are exposed. Mr. Collins is an even more loathsome slug in his attendance on Lady Catherine, and Mr. Wickham more comprehensively evil.

In arranging appropriate outcomes for so many of the characters in Pride and Prejudice and by focusing on Elizabeth and Darcy’s every nuance of changing feelings, Clarkston carries the story in RUMOURS & RECKLESSNESS on far too long. The plot seems divided into three sections: the high drama of Mr. Bennet’s accident and the engagement situation, followed by the slow-moving reversal of Elizabeth’s feelings for Darcy as they deal with gossip and minor machinations of those opposed, and a final emotional fireworks of Lady Catherine and George Wickham’s direst plans. Wickham’s plot involving Mary King and revenge on both Darcys and Elizabeth and Anne de Bourgh’s secret each could have formed the nucleus of a novel.

Clarkston is, naturally, no match for the wit and irony of Jane Austen, but she has flashes of humor that illuminate character. Austen’s works abound in discussion of scenery of various parts of England, it being one of the few socially acceptable, neutral topics of conversation. I especially appreciated Clarkston’s parody when the Earl of Matlock describes Derbyshire to Elizabeth: “It is harsh and unforgiving, the rocks break the plowshares and the blistering cold nips the buds from the trees. The only blasted things that grow are brambles and burs. The game is scarce, save for some half-starved coneys and rats. Rats the size of felines, Miss Bennet! Every home in Derbyshire is ramshackle and replete with the pests. The only saving grace is the mongrel dogs that roam everywhere at liberty, eating them almost as fast as they can breed. It was a shame last year when the rats ran out, but we only lost one or two farm hands to the feral pack.” (278)

RUMOUR & RECKLESSNESS is one of the best variants on Pride and Prejudice that I’ve read. (A-)
 
THE VICTORIA VANISHES is the sixth book in Christopher Fowler’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, late of the Metropolitan Police, now under the oversight of the Home Office. Its protagonists are the two longest serving detectives in the Force, Arthur Bryant and John May. It was published in both print and e-book formats in 2008.

On the way home from Oswald Finch’s wake, Bryant sees an inebriated woman in a street in Bloomsbury outside The Victoria Cross pub; naturally he’s interested when she’s found dead the next morning, apparently from falling and striking her head on the curb. Closer investigation and toxicology tests show she’d been injected with a fast-acting anesthetic. Bryant’s doubted because the site where he saw her is c occupied by a small store, the Victoria Cross pub having been demolished almost a century before. Then in quick order, four more deaths involving the same MO convince Bryant and May that some great iconspiracy is afoot. That their prime suspect was released from longtime institutionalization for kidnapping and imprisoning his girlfriend just before the killings started and secrecy about Tony Pellew’s release add to their certainty. Then, when Pellew dies in traffic trying to escape the PCU, Bryant and May realize the conspiracy goes to the highest levels of the Ministry of Defense. They face the closure and disbanding of the Unit and John May’s cancer surgery during the case.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

The two parts of the plot of THE VICTORIA VANISHES--the murders of Naomi Curtis, Carol Wynley, Jocelyn Roquesby, Joanne Kellerman, and Jazmina Sherwin, and the underlying conspiracy--are only loosely connected through the person who organized the method of murder and Pellew’s release. It involves a reliquary said to contain the blood of Christ taken from the crown of thorns, hidden in the Clerkenwell area by the Knights Hospitallers centuries before. It’s tenuous and improbable when considered objectively, but Fowler as always makes it easy to suspend disbelief.

The relationships between members of the PCU continue to evolve as personnel and personalities change. Meera Mangeshkar reassesses her feelings for spatially-challenged Colin Bimsley; Giles Kershaw replaces Oswald Finch as PCU coroner, at the price of Jack Renfield, who despises the Peculiar Crimes Unit and its members for not following procedure, becoming Duty Sergeant. Renfield and Janice Longbright begin to develop a professional working relationship; April May, John May’s former agoraphobic grand-daughter, gains confidence that her appointment to the PCU is based on her ability to collate data and see patterns, not nepotism. Keeping continuing characters in a series fresh is one of Fowler’s strengths.

To me, the most interesting character in the Peculiar Crimes Unit is Arthur Bryant, described by Acting Unit Leader (since 1973) Raymond Land: “I know you use various undesirables to give you information and that you wander off the beaten track a lot, that you won’t stick to established procedures and that you once threw a sheep carcass out the window of your old office at Bow Street to measure skull fractures. I know your methods are obscure, unsavoury and probably illegal, but somehow you seem to get the job done...” (98)

Part of what makes Bryant unique is his knowledge of the history and geography of London, as well as of various esoteric subjects. Fowler skillfully uses this information to establish both characters and setting. “The Angersteins made their home in Greenwich, the birth-place of Henry VIII and the home of time itself. Woodlands, their house in Greenwich Park, was built to house [John Julian Angerstein’s] growing collection of Rembrandts and Titians, and a great Victorian hotel commemorated his name. But part of the maritime town had been allowed to die. Away from the splendours of the Royal Naval College, the Royal Observatory, the Queen’s House and the Cutty Sark, East Greenwich grew dusty and rotted apart, its community shattered by the roaring motorway flyover that split the quiet streets in half. Here, the great Angerstein Hotel, now just another shabby pub, was situated. Like so many other public houses of its era, it had been repaired with thick layers of pant, blue-grey this time, and its windows were rainbowed with the lights of gambling machines and posters for karaoke nights.” (202-3)

Though not strictly necessary, the Peculiar Crimes Unit series is better read in order. THE VICTORIA VANISHES isn’t one of the best, but it’s still a worthwhile read. (B)
 
LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE, Vintage 2006, is the latest DVD set issued for the long-running British comedy series written in its entirety by Roy Clarke and released in 2016. Vintage 2006 consists of nine regular season episodes plus the 2006 Christmas special. Nothing much happens; three elderly men mooch about to occupy their hours of free time in retirement, get themselves caught up in the affairs of their neighbors, and produce chaos when their schemes fall apart.

“Follow That Bottle” has two main story lines. One involves Clegg, Truly, Alvin, and Billy finding a bottle with a note inside floating down the river; the second introduces Clegg’s cousin Aubrey (Col Farrell). Both involve fitted kitchen cabinets. (A-) “How to Remove a Cousin” has Aubrey moved into Clegg’s house to run his life more efficiently, much to the men’s disgust; Billy and Alvin use pubs and pints to win a bicycle hill race with Aubrey to get him out. Barry’s encounters with the golf club captain (Trevor Bannister) escalate. (B) “Has Anyone Seen Barry’s Mid-Life Crisis?” has Barry obsessing about mid-life crisis. Everyone else has them, so he wants a mid-life crisis of his own. Other running jokes include Entwhistle’s dog and the group’s trying to get Howard out of an upstairs bedroom where Pearl has confined him, stripping wallpaper. (B) “The Genuine Outdoor Robin Hood Barbi” focuses on Billy’s determination to have a real outdoor barbecue like his ancestor Robin ‘Ood in the greenwood; most of the story is the search for an appropriate spot and efforts to get a fire started. Barry also returns to golf, determined not to be intimidated by the captain. (B+) “Barry in Danger from Reading and Aunt Jessie” has Miss Davenport pretending to believe that Barry’s intensely attracted to her. Pearl and Nellie (June Whitfield) find a personal ad setting up a date for “Golden Boy” and decide to check out if Howard has assumed a new identity. Alvin tricks Nora thoroughly with Billy in a frock and a blonde wig. (A-)

In “Who’s That Merry Man with Billy Then?” Billy gets a volunteer, a middle-aged woman who’s stronger and a better archer than Billy and doesn’t mean to be turned away. Miss Davenport continues to frighten Barry with her ardor, while Howard decide to learn to fly planes to improve his sex appeal. (B+) “Who’s That Talking to Lenny?” brings back Lenny from the pickle factory, aka the Swan Man of Ilkley (Bobby Ball), who’s hearing a voice telling him to prophesy, with the men helping to set up his ministry. Barry attempts to find something to replace golf in his life. (B) Howard in “O, look! Mitzi’s Found Her Mummy!” gets Clegg to keep Mitzi the dog he’s dog-sitting, then she decides not to let anyone else into Clegg’s house, that is until Barry, en route with Glenda to a costume party, shows up costumed as a mummy. (B+) “Plenty of Room in the Back” has miserly Auntie Wainwright finally replacing the venerable wooden handcart Smiler (Stephen Lewis) and Tom use for deliveries; the succession of alternative transport is the running joke, while Howard and Marina head for a secluded spot to search for relics of military history. (B+)

The 2006 Christmas special “A Tale of Two Sweaters” puts Howard in a quandary. Pearl gives Howard a sweater that Truly says makes him look like an electric banana, while Marina gives him a slightly more subdued but still distinctive sweater. Howard’s plan is to wear both, with the one outside from the woman whom he expects to be around. As the various characters move about on Christmas Day, coming together to eat, drink, and celebrate, Howard’s day becomes a comedy of errors as he must constantly change sweaters. Good fun. (A)

The Vintage 2006 edition includes series regulars Norman Clegg (Peter Sallis), Truly of the Yard (Frank Thornton), Billy Hardcastle (Keith Clifford), Alvin (Brian Murphy), Entwhistle (Bert Kwouk), Tom (Tom Owen), Barry (Mike Grady), and Howard (Robert Fyfe). Female regulars are Nora Batty (Kathy Staff), Ivy (Jane Freeman), Pearl (Juliette Kaplan), Glenda (Sarah Thomas), Miss Davenport (Josephine Tewson), Marina (Jean Fergusson), and Aunty Wainwright (Jean Alexander). Some of the newer characters were added following the unexpected death of Bill Owen, who played the irrepressible Compo Simmonite. None of the new characters came close replacing Compo.

LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE, Vintage 2006, is still consistently better than most current series. (B+)
 
FATAL PURSUIT is the latest to date in Martin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police mystery series set in of St. Denis is the Perigord region of France. It was published in 2015 in print and e-book formats in the United Kingdom as THE DYING SEASON, then issued in the United States in 2016.

Bruno is busy when FATAL PURSUIT opens. To extend the tourist season, he, the mayor, and the council have organized a classic car rally and race as the centerpiece of a celebration honoring St. Denis’s sister-city relationship to one in Alsace. Sylvestre Wemy brings a 1928 Type 35 Bugatti racer to the rally and also hopes to settle a long-running feud with his cousin Fernand Oudinot over division of family property in the area. In the meantime, Bruno works the death of retired archivist Henri-Pierre Hugon, apparently from a heart attack; Bruno, however, finds it suspicious that all the notes and research reports for Hugon’s past two months’ work are missing. The brigadier, high in the Ministry of Interior in anti-terrorism and security, seconds Bruno to an investigation headed by Commissaire Isabella Perrault in Eurojust into money laundering used to finance terrorist networks. Wemy and his Indian-born Muslim partner “Freddy” are the chief suspects. Wemy and Englishman George Young compete obsessively to find a famous 1936 Bugatti Type 57C, one of only four ever made, that went missing in the Perigord during World War II. Hugon’s autopsy reveals that he had been murdered by cyanide poisoning, and investigation shows that he’d been hired by Wemy to research the car’s presence in the area. Did Wemy and Freddy kill him? If so, who later drowns Wemy in his pool? Does the Bugatti, the most expensive car in the world, still exist?

Some general observations about the plot of FATAL PURSUIT. One is that it is very slow to develop, particularly in drawing the disparate strands together. After the leisure pace for the bulk of the story, the conclusion and epilogue seem rushed. Walker, however, is excellent at keeping attention focused away from the killer and the motive for both murders.

Characters are strong, mostly developed indirectly with little change since the introduction of the series. Bruno’s penchant to be attracted to ambitious women who are just passing through in pursuit of careers continues. FATAL PURSUIT introduces a sympathetic bi-racial teenager on the verge of a criminal record, Felix Boulier, whom Bruno helps to straighten out.

Walker excels at using atmosphere, much of it involving food and/or history, to establish the sense of place and to develop character. “,,,Madame Vinh called to [Bruno] from the glass-fronted stand where she kept the samosas and the lumpia, the prawn curries and rendang beef, for all of which the people of St. Denis had developed a taste. Takeout containers were stacked beside the vast cauldron of pho soup heating on the portable gas stove. It would be empty by noon. In the decade that Bruno had been the town policeman, the usual radishes and cucumbers had been joined by mangoes and papayas, heirloom tomatoes and pomelos. Sausage rolls and Cornish pasties now stood beside the quiche Lorraine. But the cheese and the charcouterie stalls were still the most thronged. The people of St. Denis were prepared to experiment and the stall-holders were ready to adapt, but all of them always returned faithfully to the foie gras and smoked duck sausage, to the Brie de Meaux and Vacherin Mont d’Or, emblems of a nation that still liked to define itself by the way it ate.” (234-5)

FATAL PURSUIT is a good read, though it’s not among the stronger books of the series. (B)
 
Jane Ridley’s THE HEIR APPARENT: A LIFE OF EDWARD VII, THE PLAYBOY PRINCE is a full-length reappraisal of the Edward VII’s long career as Bertie, the overeating, womanizing (aka “Edward the Caresser”), traveling, gambling, sporting scandal maker, whom his mother Queen Victoria blamed for her husband’s death. Already ill with typhoid fever, Albert exposed himself in inclement weather to confront Bertie when he received news that the twenty-year-old Bertie had lost his virginity. After years of being kept out of government affairs on Victoria’s direct orders, during which Bertie acted as her surrogate in keeping the monarchy before the people, he reigned only ten years. Ridley contends that he was the main force moving England into a modern constitutional monarchy.

THE HEIR APPARENT is the first biography of Edward VII in which the writer had unrestricted access to his papers archived at Windsor Castle and on the letters of his queen Alexandra of Denmark (“Alix”) to her sister “Minna” (Maria Feodorovna, wife of Alexander III of Russia). Ridley concludes that Bertie’s reputation as a womanizer and father of illegitimate children is greatly exaggerated. She concludes that Bertie’s personal diplomacy on trips abroad succeeded in maintaining peace with Germany for many years, building the alliance with Russia and France as World War I approached. His interest in military affairs and his knowledge of nephew Kaiser Wilhelm II led to building the Royal Navy’s superiority. It is abundantly footnoted and depends on primary documentation.

My complaint is that it is too much. THE HEIR APPARENT is a good place to begin historical research on Edward VII, but it is not an enjoyable read. In modern terms, Victoria and Albert were neglectful, if not abusive parents. They kept him socially isolated throughout his childhood, educated by tutors chosen for their social standing and willingness to spy and report on his activities, refusing him any official duties that might have built self-esteem. Even at Oxford and Cambridge, he was not allowed to live in college but attended with acquaintances limited to a few individuals chosen by his parents; he was not subject to examinations. He had no say in his choice of bride or in the education of his children. So his life became a round of pleasure, with a social calendar that must have been as boring as it was repetitious to read. I finished the book only because my stubborn button had been pushed.

Two grades on THE HEIR APPARENT: thoroughness, quality of research, writing style (A); readability, enjoyable experience (C).
 
Leenie Brown’s THROUGH EVERY STORM is a novella sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It was published in e-book format in 2015. It’s the first fan fiction that I’ve read to focus on George and Lydia Wickham some ten years after their patched-up wedding and on Colonel Nathaniel and Kitty Bennet Denny. Darcy appears in only one brief scene, with other original characters only referred to.

George Wickham has changed dramatically since his marriage. He’s left the militia and become a successful shop owner, he’s a devoted and loving father to children Louisa and Thomas; he no longer gambles or chases women; he’s repaying Darcy the money that bought his marrying Lydia; Wickham’s even fallen in love with his own wife. Unfortunately, Lydia is still silly, selfish, impulsive, and ill-mannered. She’s left their home in the company of one of Denny’s officers and gone to Pemberley without consulting Wickham, to borrow money from Elizabeth to cover her over-spending. Wickham goes after her, convinced by Denny that he must require Lydia to learn the appropriate social behavior, housekeeping skills, and self-control missing from her rearing. Though not cruel or malicious, Wickham’s tough love treatment of Lydia forces her to examine herself and her feelings. She changes, misunderstandings are cleared up, and they live happily ever after.

Some general comments about THROUGH EVERY STORM, in no particular order. According to Brown, Lydia had not known that Darcy had anything to do with Wickham’s marrying her or that he’d repaying Darcy the money. There’s really not much to account for the magnitude of change in Wickham. The speed with which Lydia’s attitude and behavior change casts doubt on the depth of her transformation. So much misunderstanding and angst between Wickham and Lydia could have been cleared up by a frank conversation. The first month of Wickham’s agenda for Lydia is covered in great depth while the last months are sped through. Brown tells the reader of Lydia’s change rather than showing it.

With all this, THROUGH EVERY STORM’s focus on Lydia and Wickham and both’s growth in maturity and wisdom make for a pretty good read. (B-)
 
WHEN MARY MET THE COLONEL is Victoria Kincaid’s novella telling of the courtship of Mary Bennet and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, who meet at the wedding breakfast celebrating the marriage of Fitzwilliam Darcy to Elizabeth Bennet. It was published in e-book format in 2016.

To escape the flirtatious attentions of Kitty Bennet, Colonel Fitzwilliam walks into the garden where he meets Mary Bennet. He discovers that, while not conventionally pretty, she’s attractive, and he’s drawn by her interest in and knowledge of the Peninsular War. After a second visit with her, Colonel Fitzwilliam realizes she’s the woman he wants to marry, but can’t. As a second son, he is not in line to inherit his father’s estate, he’s living on his army pay, so he must marry a wealthy woman. Then he’s recalled to his unit, where he’s wounded in battle, shot in the body and then his leg broken when his dying horse falls on him. When he’s brought back to Matlock to recuperate, Mary arranges an invitation for a month’s visit at nearby Pemberley, defying convention to spend time with Colonel Fitzwilliam. Despite his feelings, Colonel Fitzwilliam cannot propose to Mary until he knows how disabled his injuries will leave him. The presence of another suitor for Mary, Lord Louis DeVere, and Darcy’s generosity spur Fitzwilliam to action.

The character of Colonel Fitzwilliam changes little from the original in Pride and Prejudice, but Mary Bennet’s been a dark horse. It seems she’s been “borrowing” history and serious books from Mr. Bennet’s library, hiding them inside the large-sized Fordyce’s Sermons. She has a keen, inquiring mind and is able to converse intelligently on topics of which most women are ignorant. I admire the economy of character and the simplicity of the plot line. Movement from Fitzwilliam’s having to marry for money rushes to his proposal to Mary, with no information on events during their engagement. Still, WHEN MARY MET THE COLONEL is a satisfactory read, one of the better sequels. (B+)
 
PRINCES AT WAR: THE BITTER BATTLE INSIDE BRITAIN’S ROYAL FAMILY IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF WWII is Deborah Cadbury’s well-researched history of the four surviving sons of George V of England, beginning with the abdication crisis and following their activities through World War II to the death of George VI. It was published in 2015.

George V’s sons were “David,” who reigned briefly as Edward VIII until his abdication to marry a twice-divorced American woman Wallis Warfield Simpson, known thereafter as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; Albert, “Bertie,” Duke of York who succeeded his brother as George VI despite his perceived lack of ability and a horrific stammer that made public speaking agony; Henry, Duke of Gloucester, Royal Army, who spent much of the war as his brother’s eyes and ears, serving well as Governor of Australia; and George, Duke of Kent, Royal Air Service, a hard-living playboy before the war who also served as an information gatherer for George VI. The three younger sons, each of whom had personal qualities that beforehand made them questionable for serious royal duties, had what the British call “a good war.”

The Duke of Windsor spent the war on the Continent and in the Bahamas as Governor, where he continued the association with Nazi-allied businessmen he’d known in London during the early Thirties. Ample evidence of his sympathies for the Nazi party and his opposition to the war exists; it seems likely he was negotiating to return to the throne as the puppet king of England after the projected Nazi victory. At the best he was monumentally stupid not to see how he was being manipulated, especially by the Duchess, who was determined she should be at the very least styled “Her Royal Highness.” The timing of their actions and their selfish demands seems very suspicious, coming at critical junctures such as Dunkirk when Winston Churchill and George VI did not need arguments over the conditions under which the Windsors would be willing to serve the empire. Many crucial documents that deal with the Windsors’ specific activities known to have existed in the Nazi archives have conveniently disappeared, so there’s no smoking gun.

PRINCES AT WAR is well-written. It’s accessible, and Cadbury does an exceptional job of helping keep its multitude of people clear in the reader’s mind. A list of characters would be an aid. A brief family tree helps a bit, but I find its layout and legend confusing. Frequent footnotes document mostly primary sources of information, and there is a closely printed four-page “Select Bibliography” for those wanting more information. PRINCES AT WAR is a good summary of a fascinating period of English history. (A-)
 
SKET CHING CHARACTER is Pamela Lynne’s 2015 e-book entry into Jane Austen fan fiction based on Pride and Prejudice.

SKETCHING CHARACTER rings in many changes to the original story line. Following the ball at Netherfield, Lydia Bennet slips out of Longbourn to meet George Wickham, who rapes and impregnates her. When she can no longer conceal her condition, only Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet, and the housekeeper Mrs. Hill know. Mr. Bennet decrees she must leave Longbourn and refuses to help. Elizabeth contacts the Gardiners, who come up with plans for Lydia’s care. She is to stay with the Baines family, cousins of Mrs. Gardiner, who live in Lambton until her last month, then Elizabeth and the Gardiners will take a house there and be with Lydia through her confinement. Naturally, the plan does not go smoothly.

In the meantime, Jane is in London with the Gardiners, where Caroline Bingley conceals her presence from Charles Bingley. Jane meets Mr. Gardiner’s business colleague Samuel Burton, who owns a small but adequate estate in Yorkshire and who’s definitely interested. So is she. Elizabeth goes to Hunsford to visit Charlotte Lucas Collins; Colonel Fitzwilliam and Fitzwilliam Darcy are at Rosings to support their cousin Anne de Bourgh as she prepares to take control of the estate on her twenty-fifth birthday as provided in her father’s will. Despite Elizabeth’s secret involving Lydia’s ruin, she and Darcy move closer to an understanding, each aware of love for the other. Darcy hasn’t yet proposed when Colonel Fitzwilliam leads Elizabeth to believe Darcy means to marry Anne and keep Elizabeth as mistress. Getting their miscommunications straightened out takes months and much angst.

The change I most like in SKETCHING CHARACTER is Charles Bingley’s finally developing a spine and dealing with Caroline. Lydia’s put down of Caroline is comprehensive and satisfying. The change I least like is Lynne’s making Colonel Fitzwilliam a deliberate troublemaker between Darcy and Elizabeth, jealous of Darcy’s relationship with her, envious of Darcy’s standing as one of the wealthiest men in the country, and attempting to corrupt Darcy’s morals.

SKETCHING CHARACTER needs to include all of Lydia’s pregnancy and delivery, but judicious compression of the story line would be better than padding the story line. Chapters of Darcy pounding out his demons at a boxing club and chapters that detail his and Elizabeth’s heavy petting are gratutous. SKETCHING CHARACTER includes the two film cliches of Elizabeth’s being overwhelmed by seeing Darcy in dishabille and their early-morning meetings. The conclusion spreads out over several years, and the length of the epilogue lessens its impact.

Reality intrudes to cast doubt on the story line in a couple of places. One is the ability to keep everyone at Longbourn ignorant of the nature of Lydia’s illness. While considered an estate, the house is small in comparison with Rosings or Pemberley, with seven inhabitants plus servants. Privacy would be rare to non-existent. It’s hard to believe that only Elizabeth, who’s not the closest of the sisters to Lydia, would be the only one to notice she’s not having menstrual periods and is suffering from severe morning sickness. It isn’t clear that Mrs. Bennet ever knows of Lydia’s pregnancy. The second is the likelihood of Darcy, in his late twenties, as a virgin. Spell check does not catch errors in word use: idol/ idle; sent/ scent; context/ content; discrete/ discreet.

SKETCHING CHARACTER is a strong variant on Pride and Prejudice, worth the time. (B+)
 
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