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Readingomnivore Reviews

SILENT VOICES is the fourth book in the Vera Stanhope series written by Ann Cleeves. It was published in 2011 but does not appear available in e-book format.

Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, ordered by her physician to lose weight or else, has taken up swimming. At the Willows Health Club she discovers the body of social worker Jenny Lister in the steam room; Lister died from ligature strangulation an hour or so before Vera finds her. As Vera and her team investigate the death, they discover Jenny to be well respected professionally but a very private person with few friends. She had been mentor and supervisor for Connie Masters, the social worker blamed in a media frenzy for failure to protect young Elias Jones whose mother drowned him, trying to keep her boyfriend. Now Jenny is planning to write a book that will include the Mattie Jones case and has interviewed individuals who do not want the case revisited. She is also involved with a new unsuitable boyfriend whose identity she has carefully concealed. There has been a series of thefts from staff and guests at the Willows. Can the death, and the subsequent murder of Danny Shaw, the cleaner suspected of the thefts, be related?

Cleeves is strong on many levels. She excels at characterization, creating a believable team of individuals, all with baggage, strengths, and weaknesses who manage to work together professionally despite personal problems and ambitions. I like that Vera is not the stereotypical pretty-woman cop (which Vera refers to as the Helen Mirren model): “[Vera] was so caught up in speculation that she didn’t realize the others were staring at her. She saw herself through their eyes: aging, ugly, slow. Felt their pity. And then experienced an energizing surge of confidence. I might not be young and bonny, but I’ve got brains, she thought. More than the pair of you put together.” (256) I like her mentor / mother-son relationship with Sergeant Joe Ashworth. Characters in SILENT VOICES are satisfyingly complex.

Sense of place and atmospherics are outstanding, often used to illuminate character: “Joe Ashworth liked Durham city. Only twenty minutes down the A1, he thought you could have been in a different world from the centre of Newcastle. This was an old town, classy, with its huge red sandstone cathedral and the castle, the smart shops and the fancy restaurants, the university colleges and the students with their posh voices. Like a southern city, he always thought, lifted up and stuck on the Wear. The prison was quite a different matter. Joe hated most prisons, but this was one of the worst. It was grim and old and made him think of dungeons and rats.” (302)

Cleeves provides a sufficient variety of suspects and motives often while hiding the killer in plain sight. The murderer in SILENT VOICES comes as a surprise because the motivation is not obvious. After a leisurely development, the conclusion feels rushed.

The Vera Stanhope series is one of the strongest I have read. SILENT VOICES is a worthy addition. (A-)
 
DARCY’S WINTER WEDDING is a novella variant on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was publisllhed in e-book format by Jane Grix in 2015.

~~~SPOILERS~~~

Fitzwilliam and Georgiana Darcy are in London in late January, as is Charles Bingley, following the removal of the men from Netherfield in November. A Frost Fair has been erected on the frozen Thames and Georgiana is eager to attend this once-in-a-lifetime event. Checking out the Fair for its safety, Darcy and Bingley encounter Elizabeth and Jane Bennet with the Gardiners. Bingley arranges an outing for the next day, during which Georgiana Darcy falls through thin ice, and Elizabeth Bennet goes in while trying to rescue her. Elizabeth’s clothing catches on the ice, so she must be partially undressed to free and rescue her. She is hopelessly compromised when a broadsheet circulates, showing her partially clothed and with identification. She and Darcy must wed to save her reputation. As the wedding approaches, Elizabeth changes in her feelings for Darcy. It is his turn to be embarrassed by family when Lady Catherine de Bourgh interrupts the ceremony to claim his prior engagement to her daughter. Lydia runs away from the wedding breakfast to elope with George Wickham, but Darcy and Mr. Gardiner discover and return her to Longbourn without her being required to marry Wickham. So more than a week after their wedding, the Darcy and Elizabeth proclaim their love and depart for Pemberley for happily ever after.

DARCY’S WINTER WEDDING is unbalanced. The first half has all the direct action with the excitement of the Fair and the rescue and the suspense over whether Elizabeth is compromised. The second half is reported only except for the Lady Catherine episode, which is too brief and ineffectual to balance the earlier drama. One sketchy letter from Darcy to Elizabeth and a couple of paragraphs cover the hunt for and recovery of Lydia. I distinctly dislike that nothing punishes Lydia following her escapade. Instead for returning to Longbourn, she is promised a Season in London with Georgiana and her sisters. :buttrockI cannot imagine Austen accepting this conclusion. (C)
 
THE SEMESTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by Cynthia Kuhn is the first book in her Lila MacLean mystery series. It was published in free or inexpensive Kindle format in 2016.

Lila MacLean is fresh out of NYU with her PhD, a new-hire Assistant Professor of English at Stonedale University near Denver. Just before fall semester begins, she and her assigned faculty mentor Judith Westerly discover the stabbed body of department chair Roland Higgins, charitably described as “a pompous a** on a power trip.” Lila had already crossed swords with him about her proposal for a new course on the mystery novel. Lila’s cousin and colleague Calista James is up for tenure, which Higgins had opposed. A distinctive ornamental knife is missing from Calista’s office. Detective Lexington Archer of the Stonedale Police Department is in charge of the investigation.

I usually enjoy books with an academic background, but I am giving up at about fifteen percent of THE SEMESTER OF OUR DISCONTENT. I cannot get interested. It reads like a high-school composition. Lila as the first person narrator has no distinctive voice, and the bits of her and Calista’s back story do little to characterize either. Other characters are stereotypes. More than a week passes with no mention of the murder case and no sense of the level of activity involved in beginning a new semester of college classes. Sense of place is not developed. My impression of THE SEMESTER OF OUR DISCONTENT is blurred beige monotone.

No grade because not finished.
 
AFTER THE LETTER is a novella continuing the story of Persuasion by Jane Austen, published in 2016 by Meg Osborne. It begins after Frederick Wentworth and Anne Elliot have resumed their engagement and secured consent and settlements from Sir Walter Elliot.

The characters are faithful to the originals, and the action is a reasonable outgrowth of the Austen story. The major change comes through the unspoken conspiracy of Lady Russell, Sir Walter, and his heir William Walter Elliot to delay the wedding and again convince Anne to break her engagement to Wentworth. Sir Walter sets the wedding for a year from June, when his family will be back at Kellynch and the weather will be better! William Walter Elliot flatters Anne and presents himself as devoted to her, fostering the widespread expectation that they will form a connection. Lady Russell tries to undermine Anne’s confidence in Wentworth, and she preys on his insecurities about Anne as a Navy wife. When Wentworth goes to his brother Edward in Shropshire without telling her, Anne fears that he is disappearing from her life as he had done in 1806. Can she assert herself to overcome the obstructions?

The most satisfying scene in AFTER THE LETTER is the confrontation in which Anne denounces Lady Russell’s interference in her relationship with Wentworth both years before and currently. It is good to see that Anne does have the spine to think and to act decisively in her own interest. It bodes well for the Wentworths’ happy marriage. (A-)
 
THE RETURN was published in 2015 in print edition by Timothy Underwood. It is a variant on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

THE RETURN opens with Caroline Bingley in a screaming fit in which she tries to attack her brother Charles physically for daring even to consider marrying Jane Bennet. When Bingley determines to return to Netherfield to ask Jane directly if she loves him, Caroline fears Darcy’s attraction to Elizabeth Bennet will lead to a second match. She decides to prevent it. To this end, she lies to Elizabeth about Darcy’s dealings with George Wickham; she claims to have overheard a conversation in which Darcy confessed to withholding his father’s legacies out of jealousy because his father loved Wickham best. At the wedding breakfast for Jane and Bingley, Elizabeth and Darcy have a loud public argument covering in detail Darcy’s attitudes toward the newlyweds and the neighborhood, the behavior and connections of the Bennet family, and George Wickham. As time passes, Elizabeth realizes she had been tricked by Caroline and regrets her behavior but is convinced that she has ruined any chance she might have had with Darcy. Both see their faults and change, so that when they meet again at Rosings, they are ready for a reconciliation.

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS~~~

Underwood modifies characters from the original. Some he coarsens--Mr. and Mrs. Bennet both demonstrate appalling public manners, with Mr. Bennet deliberately provoking Mary into a jealous display over Georgiana Darcy’s superior talent on the piano. He does not attend his oldest daughter’s wedding breakfast. Underwood has Elizabeth accept Caroline’s story without question to make the much-talked-about scene, when the original Elizabeth, well aware of the other woman’s attitude and intentions, would not have been duped. Elizabeth in THE RETURN weeps at the drop of a handkerchief, while Darcy cherishes his superiority for months.

I do like some of the character changes. Elizabeth takes the lead at Rosings by apologizing to Darcy at the first opportunity, to set up their courtship. When Darcy tries to convince Mr. Bennet to forbid Lydia’s sojourn in Brighton, he is told literally to mind his own business, yet Darcy rescues her from Wickham without saying, “I told you so.” When he learns the Gardiners’ plans to travel in Derbyshire with Elizabeth, he sets up their visit to Pemberley by inviting them to a three-week house party along with the Bingleys. I appreciate that both are active to bring about their happy ending, rather than its being a matter of chance.

Despite Elizabeth’s conviction that her family’s shameful behavior will drive Darcy away, there is no opposition to their courtship after Rosings. Underwood leaves it unclear whether Lady Catherine recognizes their attraction, and the supposed engagement to Anne de Bourgh never becomes an issue. After her initial outburst against Bingley and setup of Elizabeth, Caroline Bingley disappears from the story.

Underwood carries one of my pet peeves into THE RETURN. A current trend in Jane Austen fan fiction is the use of “smirk” as universal synonym for “smile.” While the words may be listed in dictionaries as synonymous, their connotations are not interchangeable.

THE RETURN is enjoyable but more sedate than its opening leads one to expect. (B)
 
BUBBA AND THE WACKY WEDDING WICKEDNESS is the seventh book in the Bubba Snoddy mystery series written by C. L. Bevill. It was published in e-book format in 2016. Bubba is a good ole boy from Pegramville, Texas. All of the action of the story occurs the night before and the day of his wedding to Willodean Gray, Deputy in the Pegram County Sheriff’s Department, at the Snoddy Mansion and Estate.

Willodean, to avoid the bad luck accrued if the groom sees the bride in the last day before the wedding, stays in a motel with her sister, while most of her and Bubba’s relatives are housed at the Mansion. Bubba’s mother Miz Demetrice, Willodean’s mother Celestine Gray (like all her daughters, a highly skilled police officer), and the wedding planner Peyton have planned an up-market, high society wedding ceremony and reception, but things begin to go wrong by the time the family eats breakfast, well lubricated with mimosas and made much larger than expected by the early arrival of guests. Cohorts in looking for trouble, Brownie Snoddy and Willodean’s niece Janie Regrave are prowling, and Bubba somehow winds up with Browinie’s infant sister Cookie strapped in a carrier on his chest through most of the day. Unable to find his cell phone, with the land line dead, and the televisions missing, Bubba has the distinct feeling that something is being kept from him. Then a body starts appearing and disappearing from various locations in Bubba’s house. He eventually discovers that he is the target of an escaped killer who is in the Pegramville area. The only trouble is, Bubba is pretty sure the mobile corpse is Morgan Newbrough, the escapee. Who helped him escape, and why did they kill him on Bubba’s wedding day?

I must confess that I paid little attention to the murder in BUBBA AND THE WACKY WEDDING WICKEDNESS. I did not pick up on much foreshadowing and did not remember the killer when Bubba finally identified him. The murder is definitely secondary to the general insanity of the events of the day. It was easy to relax and enjoy the flow of the craziness.

Bevill amply displays her Southern story-telling voice and humor: “Birds, insects, and humans all halted in turn, and went silent waiting for it to repeat, which it did after about ten seconds. The sound was a high-pitched cackling laughter that reverberated over the entire area. Bubba would have thought it was a wayward mad scientist or possibly a hyena, if he wasn’t completely positive he was in Pegram County, Texas, where mad scientists were rare, and hyenas were unknown, unless one was prone to count politicians.”

The characters vary from charmingly eccentric all the way to over-the-top kooks like Bubba’s best man David Beathard, formerly superhero The Purple Singaore Sling, whose current persona is the steam punk arch villain Baron Von Blackcap the Revenger, a longtime resident of the Dogley Institute of Mental Well-Being. Easily the most intriguing is Miz Demetrice: “Miz Demetrice wasn’t a tall woman. She wasn’t more than two inches above five feet... Her hair was snowy white and typically kept in a bun at the base of her neck. Her eyes were the same cornflower blue as her child’s. To underestimate her because of her unassuming size and age would be a tremendous mistake. It was sometimes said she was so intimidating that she could stand by the side of the tracks and make a freight train take a dirt road. (Whoever had said it first had rapidly vanished so it could be traced back to them, which had probably been a wise decision.”)

This is by no means an objective review. I enjoyed BUBBA AND THE WACKY WEDDING WICKEDNESS too much to be critical. (B+)
 
REACQUAINTED is the first book in the Love Remains trilogy written by Meg Osborne as variants on the Persuasion of Jane Austen. It was published in 2016.

REACQUAINTED opens with Anne Elliot at Uppercross Cottage on a prolonged visit to her sister and brother-in-law, Charles and Mary Musgrove. Newly arrived in the neighborhood are Admiral and Mrs. Croft who have rented Kellynch Hall, the Elliot family home. Residing with them is Sophia Croft’s brother Captain Frederick Wentworth, to whom Anne had briefly been engaged in 1806. Both Anne and Wentworth try to convince themselves that each has lost all feeling for the other, that there can be no renewal of their relationship. Despite his sister’s warning, Wentworth flirts with Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove, arousing expectations that he will offer Louisa marriage. On a visit to Lyme with the Musgroves, he and Anne tentatively explore the possibility of friendship.

I like Osborne’s character development as she shifts focus between Wentworth and Anne. She shows explicitly the lack of respect accorded Anne by her family, especially by Mary, and Anne’s patient acceptance of her servant-like status. Wentworth obviously cares still for Anne. To this point, Osborne has introduced no new characters, and her depictions are faithful to the originals. The events and sequence of the plot are unchanged.

What I dislike is that this is the first part of the trilogy, the introduction and problem of a much longer work. There is no resolution. The novella ends with Anne caught in the rain in Lyme. I am unfamiliar with the advantages of serial publication in the electronic age, but I resent having to buy three books to get to the resolution of any story.

Two grades for REACQUAINTED--for writing and characterization (A); for plot structure (D).
 
REDISCOVERED is the second volume in the Love Remains trilogy of novella variants on Persuasion by Jane Austen. It was published in e-book format by Meg Osborne in 2016.

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS~~~

REDISCOVERED begins in Lyme with Anne Elliot caught in a rainstorm that causes her to catch a dangerous chill. Captain Frederick Wentworth takes charge of arranging for her medical care. Her illness forces him to acknowledge to himself his continuing love for her, just when he realizes that his casual flirtation with Louisa Musgrove has raised expectations of marriage which he may be honor-bound to fulfill. Lady Russell is away on prolonged visits to friends, Uppercross Cottage is too crowded and noisy, and Sir Walter Elliot does not want her in Bath, so Anne must recuperate with Admiral and Mrs. Croft at Kellynch. Wentworth departs for Shropshire to visit his newly married older brother Edward. Captain James Benwick, a good friend to Anne during her illness and recovery, proposes marriage before she leaves Lyme and, when Mrs. Croft writes him about it, Wentworth assumes Anne and Benwick are engaged. In the meantime, a handsome young curate John Allen has come to Monkford, and both Musgrove girls are entranced with him. Wentworth learns his mistake about the engagement; the Wentworth family will spend Christmas at Kellynch. Anne refuses to be moved around at others’ pleasure, deciding not to accompany Lady Russell to Bath before or even after Christmas. Instead she will spend Christmas with the Musgroves at Uppercross Cottage as originally planned.

As in REACQUAINTED, REDISCOVERED simply ends. There is no conclusion, no resolution except the end of Wentworth’s self-delusion that he no longer loves Anne. Notable changes involve Anne becoming ill rather than Louisa falling; Benwick devotes his time to Anne’s recovery and proposes to her; Louisa’s love interest is the new curate; and William Walter Elliot, heir to Sir Walter, is not in Lyme.

Characters remain well-drawn from the originals, with only the curate added; he is alluded to only. William Walter Elliot is referred to as being in Bath, reestablishing his relationship with Sir Walter. Neither appears in the action. Benwick as well as Anne and Wentworth become more perceptive about others’ emotions, with Benwick realizing that Anne still loves Wentworth and withdrawing his proposal. She and Wentworth each realizes true feelings, but neither has any sense yet that they may still come together.

The most encouraging change of all is in Anne Elliot, who stands up to Lady Russell and declines to follow plans made without her consent. Anne hates Bath, knows she is unwanted there, and prefers Uppercross Cottage with all its irritations. This decision to follow her own inclinations shows strength of character much more pleasing than Anne’s previous passivity.

As with REACQUAINTED, characterization and action in REDISCOVERED are well done. (A) Plot structure (D).
 
REUNITED is book three in the Love Remains trilogy of novellas written by Meg Osborne, who uses as their basis the characters and events of Persuasion by Jane Austen. It was published in 2016. The three volumes of the Love Remains series can be bought separately or as a Kindle bundle.

~~~SPOILERS~~~

REUNITED opens with Anne Elliot reestablished at Uppercross Cottage after her refusal to accompany Lady Russell to Bath. She looks forward to a quiet country Christmas with the Musgroves, the season to be highlighted by the senior Musgroves’ Boxing Day party for friends and family. The Wentworth family assembles for Christmas Eve at Kellynch, where the Crofts host a dinner to introduce Edward’s new wife Mary. Anne and Wentworth attempt to talk but are repeatedly interrupted by his family; enough is said for each to be aware of the other’s unchanged feelings. At the Musgroves’ party, they discuss their past and agree to wed. Doubting their news will be well-received by the Elliot family, they write to Sir Walter. Shortly after Christmas, Lady Russell posts Anne great joy over the engagement, offering Sir Walter’s praise of the Navy and his command that they come to Bath forthwith, to receive congratulations and to arrange marriage settlements. Both Anne and Wentworth are suspicious of Sir Walter and Lady Russell’s changed attitude. Settlements are quickly agreed, and they learn the cause of the family’s new approval of Wentworth. Anne and Wentworth are married before the end of January despite the possibility of Wentworth and Admiral Croft being recalled to the Navy when Napoleon escapes from Elba.

REUNITED contains more changes in the action of Persuasion than either of the two preceding novellas. Anne does not go to Bath until she and Wentworth are summoned by Sir Walter. William Walter Elliot never appears directly in the story, but he is reported as engaged to marry Elizabeth Elliot in the spring. Mrs. Clay and Mrs. Smith are not included. Henrietta’s understanding with Charles Hayter is restored, and Louisa Musgrove and the new curate John Allen make a match. Wentworth and Anne and the Crofts plan to spend time with Edward and Mary in Shropshire and possibly buy property there.

Osborne makes few changes in the original characters in Persuasion, using shifts of focus between Anne and Wentworth to explicate their personalities. She is adept at revealing bits of indirect characterization that keep continuing characters individual. John Allen (or is his name Alan?) is the only addition, not much described. Even Sir Walter is consistent. The change in his and Lady Russell’s attitude toward Wentworth comes from the Dowager Countess Lady Dalrymple’s expression of admiration for the men who used the Royal Navy to make their fortunes and achieve distinction. Wentworth is now a useful tool for Sir Walter’s social climbing! I like that Wentworth tries to make peace with Lady Russell for Anne’s sake. I especially like that Anne confronts Lady Russell directly and refuses to allow her to lie about her attitude and behavior about the 1806 engagement. I love it when Anne refuses to allow Sir Walter to use them to enhance his social status.

I am not sure if Osborne’s use of Dowager Countess Lady Dalrymple’s title is correct. She is a Vicountess in Persuasion. Wiki implies that she should be addressed as Lady Dalrymple informally or as the Dowager Vicountess Dalrymple formally.

REACQUAINTED, REDISCOVERED, and REUNITED together make up the best variant on Persuasion that I have found. I still, however, resent having to purchase three books to complete one story. Characters and writing (A); plot structure (D)
 
AN UNSETTLING CRIME FOR SAMUEL CRADDOCK is the sixth book in the police procedural series written by Terry Shames. It was published in e-book format in 2017. Its protagonist and first person narrator is Samuel Craddock, chief of police in Jarrett Creek, Texas. It is his first major case, early in his career during the Vietnam era,. It is important to remember the state of race relations during the period.

AN UNSETTLING CRIME FOR SAMUEL CRADDOCK opens with the discovery of five bodies in a burned-out house hidden in Cato Woods in Bobtail County, Texas. The victims, an adult woman, three teenaged girls, and a preteen boy, had all been shot to death before the fire. Craddock has no jurisdiction but, since it happened on the outskirts of the African-American section of Jarrett Creek, he becomes involved. The identity of the victims is not known, and their neighbors are not talking to the authorities. The case becomes personal when Texas Highway Patrol officer John Sutherland arrests Truly Bennett. Craddock has known Truly all the younger black man’s life and employs him occasionally. He knows Truly is innocent. Craddock faces daily problems of being young and untried, leading a department of three deputies, all more experienced than he. He had been hired to end the drug problem emerging at Jarrett Creek High School, a situation that becomes more pressing when a student overdoses. He also carries much emotional baggage from his childhood with an abusive, alcoholic father, a verbally abusive mamma, and disreputable older brother Horace. Can the murders be connected to someone local? Who is behind the drug dealing?

AN UNSETTLING CRIME FOR SAMUEL CRADDOCK is interesting on several levels. Craddock had been recruited for chief of police and, not having anything better to do, accepted the job, drifting along in it until this case forces him to decide if he means to be a lawman. “I have to decide what kind of man I am. I don’t have any idea whether Truly Bennett is worth getting myself in trouble for--maybe even killed. But I know that someone connected with the drug trade in Houston committed these murders. John Sutherland knew it, too, and yet he still isn’t willing to let Truly go. It would hurt his pride and maybe smear his arrest record. If I don’t work to free Truly, I’m no better than Sutherland... I’m no hero. I’m not taking on the whole issue of black versus white. I’m just working to free one man I know is innocent.” His perseverance elicits the information he needs to cut the Jarrett Creek drug connection and to assist the Rangers with the situation in Houston.

Shames effectively uses first person point of view to show Craddock as a believable individual, strong enough to reveal his own insecurities and strong enough to do his duty despite them. The back story with his family explains much about the forces that made him. Characterization is a strong point throughout the series. My only complaint is that the number of characters far exceeds those required to move the police procedural plot.

Sense of place is excellent. “All the black people in town live across the tracks in a place that’s been called ‘Darktown’ since before I can remember. After I cross the tracks, I turn south and speed along the gravel-and-dirt road that borders the railroad tracks... To my right, the fenced-in property is strewn with equipment and leavings from the abandoned railroad-tie plant that kept this town thriving when the railroads were big. Ties dark with creosote preservative lie scattered among knee-deep weeds. A few old railroad cars lie rusting alongside the fence. On the other side, shacks are lined up close to one another. Most people who live here can’t afford paint, so the houses are whitewashed and weathered. They’re small but mostly kept up, although a few lean as if they are tired from the effort to stay upright. Many have late-season flowers blooming in the yards--zinnias and climbing roses.”

AN UNSETTLING CRIME FOR SAMUEL CRADDOCK is excellent. (A)
 
THE SUBSEQUENT PROPOSAL is a variant on two novels by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. It was published in e-book format by Joana Starnes in 2013.

THE SUBSEQUENT PROPOSAL opens some three months after Fitzwilliam Darcy’s disastrous proposal to Elizabeth Bennet at Hunsford, with his proposal of marriage to Miss Anne Elliot, who accepts him. It then flashes back to April and Darcy’s rage and depression over Elizabeth’s refusal, when his relatives force him into attending a house party in which he meets the Elliot family and comes to value Anne as a dear friend. Since he cannot marry for love, he decides to marry Anne for companionship, the necessary heir for Pemberley, and her protection from the slights of her family. In the meantime, friends since school days Sophia Wentworth Croft and Mrs. Gardiner reconnect, and their families form a large party to tour Derbyshire, including Lambton and Pemberley. This throws Elizabeth and Captain Frederick Wentworth together, with Wentworth much taken with Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy is devastated at the idea of Elizabeth marrying someone else.

This is about 25 percent of the story, but where I am giving it up. Too many things bother me. Why is Darcy suddenly so driven to marry and produce an heir? Nothing has changed in his circumstances since his proposal to Elizabeth. He positively wallows in his emotions and fails to see how similar his condemnations of Elizabeth’s family and connections , even more bluntly spoken than in the original, are to the snobbery and social climbing of Sir Walter and Miss Elizabeth Elliot. Except his writing to Bingley about Jane Bennet, Darcy shows no change in his perception of himself. Prolonged self pity is not an attractive attribute for a romantic hero and, to this point, everything has been shown from Darcy’s point of view. He emotes like a drama queen. Elizabeth Bennet has been mentioned but is not yet active in the story; Anne Elliot has played no role beyond her acceptance of Darcy’s offer, based on her own broken heart from her engagement to Wentworth. This is not consistent with the original Anne Elliot.

There is no foreshadowing of the means Darcy will use to extricate himself from a formal, though not yet announced, engagement to Anne Elliot, if he does so. Pace of movement is glacially slow. Setting consists of place names only.

Starnes adds many characters, most of whom are not essential to the plot, with few of them developed. I have not been able to identify Lady Wortham despite my literally taking notes on characters as I read THE SUBSEQUENT PROPOSAL. This is too much work for negligible satisfaction. No grade because not finished.
 
MR. DARCY’S RESOLVE is a variant on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was published in e-book format in 2017 by E. Bradshaw.

MR. DARCY’S RESOLVE opens after Mr. Collins’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, which she refused, when she is harangued by Mrs. Bennet and literally ordered to leave the house. She encounters Fitzwilliam Darcy on the road to Meryton and, in her fury, confides in him; he recommends that she go to the Gardiners until the situation at Longbourn calms. Mrs. Bennet is further incensed when Jane receives the letter announcing the Bingleys’ permanent return to London and when Mr. Collins immediately becomes engaged to Charlotte Lucas. Mr. Bennet withdraws to his library and does nothing to control his wife’s verbal and emotional abuse of his older daughters. They are welcomed by the Gardiners and introduced to a wider social circle, including Darcy. Darcy rectifies his interference between Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet and engineers the invitation for Elizabeth to visit Charlotte at Hunsford. Convinced that Darcy is engaged to Anne de Bourgh, Elizabeth perceives his courtship of herself as attempted seduction, while Lady Catherine de Bourgh determines to force Anne’s marriage to Darcy by whatever means necessary.

Bradshaw writes an interesting alternative plot, developing Darcy’s back story to explain his uneasiness around people, his apparent arrogance, and his complex relationship with George Wickham. Mr. Bennet is weaker and more objectionable than in the original, but he recognizes his error and comes to fulfill his paternal responsibilities. Edward Gardiner reveals himself as devoted to his nieces’ welfare and an astute man of business. He and Mr. Bennet deal with Lydia’s elopement without allowing Darcy to pay Wickham to marry her. Bradshaw’s Elizabeth is more rash and less self-confident than in Austen; despite her pride in her skill at reading character, she fails to see Wickham’s nature for too long, and she fails to see Darcy’s attentions as growing out of love for her. She’s quick to believe what she’s told by everyone except Darcy. Point of view is through Elizabeth and Darcy. No characters of any importance are added.

I do have some objections to MR. DARCY’S RESOLVE. Some involve editing. Paragraphing, both from the conversion to e-book format and in the original text, is strange. Beginning a new paragraph when the speaker changes in dialogue is largely ignored. Disorientated is not the proper adjective form of disorient. Use of exclamation points is positively Victorian. Court martial, not court marshal, is a trial for members of the military. The book is much longer than the effective story, with the final chapters leading up to the marriage as anticlimax.

I especially dislike that Mrs. Bennet is not confronted about her behavior, which she never acknowledges, much less apologizes for, to Elizabeth and Jane. Even worse, Lady Catherine de Bourgh in effect gets away with her scheme to prevent Darcy’s marrying Elizabeth. I cannot go into detail without doing a spoiler, but she deserves at the very least a thorough blessing-out face to face with her nephew. Darcy and Elizabeth are more quick to forgive and forget than is realistically human.

MR. DARCY’S RESOLVE is an above-average adaptation. (B)
 
FOUNTAIN OF SORROW is the third book in the Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy series written by Paul Charles. It was published in 1999 and is available in print and e-book formats. Its action occurs in Camden Town in April 1998.

DI Christy Kennedy and his bagman DS James Irvine are called to Regent’s Park in Camden Town to investigate the suspicious death of Neil Burton, found with his throat and lower face ripped off. Police surgeon Dr. Bella Forsythe, whom Irvine fancies, finds Burton had been mauled to death by a wild dog. End of case. Then John Stone’s battered body turns up under the Fountain of Sorrows statue in the park, beaten with fists, then finished off with a baseball bat. The locations suggest a connection, but what? Stone has enough enemies within his own family (he had raped his sister-in-law at his mother’s funeral reception) to keep the police busy, and he had been involved with old-school criminal Hugh Anderson in business. In helping his lover ann rae* locate her elderly friend Daniel Elliot’s estranged daughter, Kennedy discovers that Burton, Stone, and two other teenage boys some 24 years before had been accused of raping Anna Elliot. Does his death grow out of Stone’s sexual predator past? A major secondary story line details the changing status of the relationship of Kennedy and ann.

Strengths in FOUNTAIN OF SORROW include appealing, believable continuing characters; realistic relationships between professional colleagues; excellent sense of place; and a complex plot that may provide a major surprise ending. Humor leavens the story. Charles is adept at shifts of focus that enhance characters and minimize repetition.

Writing style is modified stream of consciousness with minimal use of commas, which sometimes requires reading a sentence more than once to get its meaning. Use of verb forms and tenses is inconsistent. Charles occasionally uses an intrusive narrator: “All things considered, this case was developing quite well. And pigs might fly! Kennedy should have known that the only time pigs fly is when rashers are thrown into the frying pan.” In places he uses the rhythm of writing style to reinforce the action it relates: “...[Kennedy] ran down Oval Road, took the first right into the arc of Gloucester Crescent, first right into Inverness Street, first left along Arlington Road, first right down Jamestown Road, first left into a packed Camden High Street, over the canal bridge and under the railway bridge to the start of Chalk Farm Road at Castlehaven Road. Once he reached the High Street, Kennedy’s running was hampered, as everyone seemed to be walking against him and the pavements were packed with punters and traders selling everything from pirate cassettes to leather jackets, shoes and boots...”

Editing problems include word use: nether, not neither, regions of the body and it’s instead of its as a possessive pronoun. In most of the book, the electronic formatting results in a left justified margin with every other line falling far short of the right margin; occasionally whole chunks are indented as if a prolonged quotation. Paragraphs are seldom indented and are not set off by a vertical space. In many places quotation marks replace apostrophes in possessive nouns and contractions. These difficulties make the text difficult to read.

*ann rae consistently uses all lower-case letters in her name, a la e. e. cummings.

FOUNTAIN OF SORROW writing and story (A-); edit and formatting (D
 
SNOWBOUND AT HARTFIELD is a novella variant of Pride and Prejudice that incorporates characters from Persuasion and Emma, by Jane Austen. It is written by Maria Grace and was published in e-book format in 2017.

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy, and Mr. Bennet are en route to Highbury to inspect Listingbrook, the estate Colonel Fitzwilliam recently inherited from a distant cousin, when a blizzard forces them to seek shelter. The inn is full, but George Knightley, a newly married school friend of Darcy who lives nearby at Hartfield, offers hospitality to the party, as well as to Sir Walter Elliot and his eldest daughter Elizabeth. The Elliots travel to visit the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple and her daughter the Honorable Miss Carteret; incensed at his heir’s taking Penelope Clay as his mistress, Sir Walter is determined to marry Miss Carteret and beget a son to preclude William Elliot from inheriting Kellynch. Colonel Fitzwilliam has sold out of the army, but he still suffers from physical wounds and PTSD; he’s jealous of the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth and hopes now that he has the means, to marry. Elizabeth Elliot is deeply unhappy, on the shelf as a candidate for marriage, disappointed in her betrayal by Mr. Elliot and Mrs. Clay, disgusted by her father’s social pretensions and financial irresponsibility, and jealous of her sister Anne’s happiness with Captain Wentworth. With all their emotional baggage, can Colonel Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Elliot form a happy future?

I like this variant. It avoids the common mistake of trying to include too many happy endings. The characters are reasonably faithful to the Austen originals, but Grace follows the trend in Austen fan fiction to give the Colonel at least mild PTSD. Her handling of Elizabeth Elliot is less authentic, minimizing her sense of entitlement by making her responsible for managing the finances that support Sir Walter’s life style while he is endlessly critical of her efforts. I particularly enjoy the interaction of Mr. Bennet with Sir Walter who is too obtuse to understand that he is being insulted. Plotting is straightforward and believable.

SNOWBOUND AT HARTFIELD is the best of the mixed-Austen fan fiction variants I have read to date. (A)
​
 
THE MAN WITH THE DARK BEARD is the first in the Golden Age Inspector Stoddart series written by Annie Haynes. Originally published in 1928, it was reissued in e-book format in 2015.

Dr. John Bastow asks his friend Sir Felix Skrine, the noted KC, a hypothetical question: if he discovered a crime that had not been suspected, with the criminal free and unsought, what should he do? Skrine tells him to go to the police but, before Bastow can do so, he’s shot to death inside his locked study. The major clues to his murder are a note “It was the man with the dark beard” and a missing Chinese lacquer box. He had just sacked his assistant Basil Wilton, whose engagement to Bastow’s daughter Hilary he opposed. Bastow haid quarreled with Dr. Sanford Morris, a fellow cancer researcher who coincidentally wears a black beard; pretty parlormaid Mary Ann Taylor disappears. Detective Inspector William Stoddart has little success in discovering Bastow’s killer. Basil Wilton suddenly marries Iris Houlton, formerly secretary to Bastow but since his death living an expensive life without visible means of support; when she is found dead in their flat, Wilton is the immediate suspect, despite evidence that Iris may have been involved in Bastow’s murder and that she had been blackmailing someone. Throughout the external events, Hilary Bastow is courted by Sir Felix, a childless widower, her godfather and her guardian until she turns 21; she is pressured to accept him by her aunt Miss Lavinia Priestley, as well as by his promise to fund her younger brother’s needed medical treatment and to represent Wilton in his upcoming murder trial. But Stoddart has doubts about Wilton as a murderer.

When I read one of the Golden Age mysteries, I try to evaluate it by the standards of its contemporaries, not by the conventions of modern crime fiction. THE MAN WITH THE DARK BEARD uses many of the early motifs: obscure clues, murder among the professional and upper classes, a renowned detective, a multiplicity of suspects, and a complex plot. It is stronger than many in its character development. Hilary Bastow, Inspector Stoddart, and Lavinia Priestly are all appealing. Brief descriptions create vivid pictures of locales. Haynes uses shifts in focus between characters effectively.

The plot leaves more to be desired. The locked room feature of the Bastow murder is not developed. Haynes uses somewhat of an unreliable narrator in giving newspaper stories as evidence, later to be revealed as false. She leaves many loose ends. The identity of the killer and the motive for the murders are foreshadowed so obviously that an experienced reader should recognize both well before Stoddart. This cuts suspense. We read a report of the action much more than experiencing the action itself.

In an important contemporary review of early Golden Age crime writing by women, only two British writers were mentioned: Agatha Christie and Annie Haynes. THE MAN WITH THE DARK BEARD is a good example of this early period. (B)
 
THE LIGHT OF DAWN, written by Madeline Kennet, is a novella adaptation of the Pride and Prejudice of Jane Austen. It was published in e-book format in 2016.

THE LIGHT OF DAWN opens with Fitzwilliam Darcy deeply depressed, self-exiled from Pemberley and considering selling the estate, isolated from all society in his London townhouse. The only friend he has seen in months is Charles Bingley. When Bingley leases Netherfield in Hertfordshire, his need for instruction in estate management leads Darcy to agree to visit him there, but Darcy emphasizes his determination not to socialize. He arrives in Meryton the day of the assembly and tries to avoid attending, but Caroline Bingley nags and insists until he agrees to attend. At the assembly where Darcy makes a poor impression with his withdrawn behavior and refusal to dance, Elizabeth Bennet overhears a snatch of his conversation with Bingley and concludes that he is in emotional pain. Her compassion leads her to intervene when Caroline badgers him to dance. When they accidentally meet while walking the next morning, Darcy and Elizabeth begin a friendship that deepens into love while she is at Netherfield nursing Jane. Darcy reveals the source of his grief and depression, and they reach an understanding for marriage in the future.

At first Darcy’s depths of despair seem excessive, and Kennet prolongs the suspense before revealing exactly what produced it, but the explanation (which is the true climax of the plot) makes it believable. There’s angst aplenty, but there’s no misunderstanding between Elizabeth and Darcy, no interference (except from the Bingley sisters) to separate Jane Bennet and Bingley, no elopement of Lydia Bennet and George Wickham, no interference from Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The story is simple slice of life action, as Darcy, with love and support from Elizabeth, comes to terms with his grief and loss and begins to heal.

Kennet uses atmospheric description more than usual in Austen fan fiction, most notably to reinforce characterization of Darcy. Her shifts in focus between Darcy and Elizabeth reveal them both. My only complaint is that Kennet provides so many reformations and happy endings that they seem forced; the one overt episode of religiosity rings particularly false but is necessary for one of the happy (unlikely, IMO) endings. (B)
 
HEADCASE is a Chris Honeysett murder mystery by Peter Helton, set in Bath, England, and published in 2005. It is unusual for me to read 165 of 252 pages and not finish the book, but I cannot hack Honeycutt any longer. I make no attempt at a formal review, but here are some of the problems that put me off.

Helton is still introducing new characters who seem tangential to the plot. Most of the secondary characters are not much developed. I dislike the menage a trois that Honeycutt develops with his private investigation partners Annis Jordan and Tim Bigwood. Helton has begun to draw the disparate strands together, but so far they do not form any believable pattern.

What I object to most is Chris Honeycutt. He is the first person narrator, so everything is from his perspective. He is convinced he is better equipped to investigate a murder case than the Bath police, and he deliberately conceals information from Superintendent Mike Needham, the OIC whom he knows to be a skilled detective. He makes illegal entries, puts himself in danger, has and uses an illegal handgun, and, worst of all, repeatedly makes poor decisions. He’s attacked and beaten, with cracked ribs and head injuries that include swelling of the brain, but he discharges himself from hospital against medical advice. Like old-time Western heroes and hard-boiled detectives of the 1930s, he carries on as if nothing happened. When he has a major episode of limited vision and/or visual hallucination a day or so later, he doesn’t even go to a doctor to be examined. Too much already! There’s only so much TSTL that I can take.:buttrock

No grade because not finished.
 
DARCY’S DEAL is a novella variant on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It was written by Zoe Burton and published in e-book format in 2016.

Incensed at the uncontrolled behavior that has caused Georgiana Darcy to be removed from her exclusive school on the verge of scandal, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her brother the Earl of Matlock demand that Fitzwilliam Darcy marry to provide an appropriate chaperone and mentor for his sister. Otherwise, Lady Catherine promises to bring a court suit to have Darcy and his cousin Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam removed as her guardians. Darcy agrees that, if he has not found a suitable candidate by the end of the current Season, he will marry a woman chosen by his uncle. In the meantime, Lord and Lady Winthrop entertain their goddaughter Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of Lord Winthrop’s Cambridge friend Thomas Bennet of Longbourn. She has been driven from home by her mother’s abuse. Elizabeth and Darcy recognize the necessity to marry and, after an initial meeting in which both are suitably impressed, agree to do so. By the time they are wed, they are deeply in love.

DARCY’S DEAL is a comfortable short read. It is satisfying to see both Mrs. Bennet and Lady Catherine told where to get off. Burton moves the action along briskly and, in the marriage arrangements handled by Lords Matlock and Winthrop, reflects the bases for many Regency marriages. She is admirably economical in her introduction of new characters, developing them well within the novella length.

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS~~~

Problems with DARCY’S DEAL involve exaggeration of negative traits in characters from the canon and anachronistic attitudes. Georgiana Darcy is a modern out-of-control teenager, slipping out at night to meet and flirt with officers stationed near her school, getting drunk repeatedly on brandy concealed in her room and encouraging others to drink, appearing in Hyde Park clad in men’s breeches. She reads romance novels and finds lessons and pianoforte practice boring. Elizabeth shows Georgiana the possible consequences of her unbridled behavior with the officers through visits to the workhouse, where she gets serious talk from a girl impregnated by an officer, and the Foundling Hospital, where she sees the conditions for illegitimate children. Shades of Scared Straight!

Burton gives no reason for Mrs. Bennet’s vitriolic dislike of her second daughter , though her attitude clearly pre-dates Elizabeth’s foiling of the Collins marriage plan. She verbally abuses Elizabeth and pinches her until her arms and body are covered in bruises. Mr. Bennet responds to his wife’s mistreatment of Elizabeth by sending her away rather than by controlling Fanny Bennet. At least the original Bennets meant well. Lady Catherine is so infuriated that she attacks Elizabeth with her cane, hitting her arm and causing a fall in which Elizabeth cuts her head and suffers a concussion. When Darcy removes and breaks the cane, Lady Catherine physically attacks him. Burton lets her off much too easily.

DARCY’S DEAL explores well one theme of marriage as practiced in the Regency period. (A-)
 
A BURNT OFFERING is the latest to date in the Natural Detective mystery series written by J. J. Salkeld. It was published in e-book format in 2016. The series features Owen Irvine, now a mechanic and hill farmer but former policeman, along with Detective Inspector Andy Hall and his team at Kendal CID in Cumbria.

Somewhat uneven in quality, the books in the series are all strongly characterized. Salkeld has created a believable group of professionals in which the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Relationships and people evolve, they carry authentic emotional baggage, and they work hard to protect the public and catch criminals while faced with ever-shrinking resources and personnel. Detection is very much a team effort, not individual grandstanding. I like that each book tends to focus on one or two of the continuing characters to create a sense of intimacy that helps to keep them fresh.

In A BURNT OFFERING, veteran Police Constable Kathy Stone, local officer in the small village of Staveley and Owen Irvine’s lover, searches for a serial arsonist whose escalating burns have moved from dust bins to an allotment tool shed. Stone quickly identifies teenager Ryan Watson as the likely fire starter, but before he can be charged, Pete Sinclair dies from inhaling toxic fumes in a fire that seems the next step in the progression. Is Watson guilty of manslaughter, or has someone else used his arsons to cover a premeditated murder? Owen provides the clue that allows Andy Hall to solve the case. Owen is also involved with the police when thieves specializing in farm Land Rovers steal his beloved old Landy, inherited from his father and destined to be passed to his son. Can he recover it before it is dismantled and the parts exported?

The plot is believable and adequately foreshadowed. Salkeld does an excellent job of hiding the killer and motive in plain sight while disclosing information and evidence as the police receive them. Sense of place is good, more through place names and directions than by atmospheric description.

A BURNT OFFERING is a substantial addition to a good series. I like Andy Hall and the whole crew. (A-)
 
FATED TO MEET is another fan fiction variant on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was written by Madeline Kennet and published in e-book format in 2016.

~~~SPOILERS~~~

Kennet makes two major changes in the story. When Charles Bingley takes Netherfield, Elizabeth Bennet is in London with the Gardiners for an extended visit, while Fitzwilliam Darcy travels between London and Meryton. Elizabeth and Darcy observe each other several times in London--at the theatre, walking in Hyde Park, in the shops--without meeting. Each is favorably impressed, definitely interested and fantasizing about the other. Jane Bennet keeps Elizabeth aware of her growing feelings for Bingley and of the actions of Mr. Darcy, the close friend of Bingley who sighted Charlotte Lucas at the Meryton assembly by refusing to dance with her. Elizabeth forms a negative impression. When she returns to Longbourn to support Jane’s refusal to consider marrying Mr. Collins, she and Darcy are introduced at the ball at Netherfield, where Elizabeth meets and immediately mistrusts George Wickham and changes her opinion of Darcy, beginning when he dances with Charlotte. Initially Elizabeth cautions Jane to be cautious about falling in love when she does not know what Bingley intends; Darcy, far from opposing Bingley and Jane, is outspoken in his belief in marriage for love and actively encourages his friend to propose. Both couples are married before the New Year.

Changes in Elizabeth and Darcy do not violate the canonical characters. Darcy is less rigid in his superiority, revealing his inexperience in romance with his yearning over the unknown girl in London, more accepting of people. Common sense says he could have secured an introduction in London, but it is easy to accept Kennet’s premise. Likewise, Elizabeth’s sensible advice to Jane does not offend.

Longbourn is misspelled at least once as Longbourne. A sledge and a sleigh are both vehicles for transportation through snowy conditions, but they have distinctly different connotations. Letters between Jane at Longbourn and Elizabeth in London convey most of the exposition, sometimes awkwardly. Plot structure is unbalanced, Elizabeth and Darcy do not meet or interact in any meaningful way for literally two-thirds of the story. Then the pace quickens unrealistically--they reach a tentative understanding before the end of the ball at Netherfield and, by their remaining together after dancing, have advertised their status as a couple. Their subsequent courtship is sketchily summarized, and they are married within about a month of their formal introduction. The only suspense in FATED TO MEET is when and how Elizabeth and Darcy will meet. (B+)
 
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