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Readingomnivore Reviews

TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS is Leenie Brown's 2017 seasonal novella based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in free or inexpensive digital format.

When her brother returns unexpectedly from Hertfordshire depressed and avoiding her, Georgiana Darcy worries that Caroline Bingley succeeded in trapping him into marriage. She determines to help Darcy find a wife and, from comments in his letters and Charles Bingley's report the previous day, thinks Elizabeth Bennet is the one he needs. Aided by Mrs. Annesley, Georgiana begins her campaign by convincing Bingley to return to Netherfield to learn Jane Bennet's feelings from her own mouth. Meanwhile in London Georgiana calls on Mrs. Gardiner to find Jane and Elizabeth visiting for three weeks before returning home when the Gardiners travel to Longbourn two days before Christmas. She shares Wickham's history with Jane, Elizabeth, and Mrs. Gardiner to begin Elizabeth's change of heart, even as Darcy reassesses his feelings at news of Collins's proposal.

Two small problems. Homophone "residence" slipped through instead of "residents." The other is an anachronism. Bingley had planned to give Jane Bennet a fede ring (a promise, or friendship ring) before asking for a courtship. This is modern, not Regency.

TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS contains little angst except Darcy and Elizabeth's regret for mistaken ideas about the other. Georgiana's determination makes obvious that they will reconcile their differences. Lord Matlock welcomes Elizabeth and promises to deal with Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Characters are faithful to he original. It's pleasant to see more of Mrs. Annesley's relationship with Georgiana; the introduction of Mrs. Verity, a wealthy widow who runs an orphanage, and Master Riley, one of its children, offers insight to Darcy and Mrs. Gardiner's personalities. TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS is comfortably predictable. (A-)
 
CHRISTMAS WITH MR. DARCY is a short novel by Victoria Connelly, set at a Christmas conference on Jane Austen. It was published in digital format in 2012.

While her earlier Austen conferences have been highly successful, this is the first noted actress Dame Pamela Harcourt has hosted at Christmas. Heavy snowfall has her worried about the guests' arrival and the probability that Purley Hall, near Church Stinton, Hampshire, may be cut off. Despite her doubts, lmost all the conference attendees, along with her uninvited, ne'er-do-well brother Benedict, arrive; fuel and food are laid in, and the conference begins. A good time is had by all, though small items--a gold watch, a surprise Christmas present, an engagement ring--go missing. As the high point of Christmas Eve dinner, Dame Pamela reveals her recent acquisition, a rare first edition of Pride and Prejudice, for which she'd paid £180,000. Christmas morning, the three volumes are missing. Who is behind the thefts?

CHRISTMAS WITH MR. DARCY is disappointing. Characters are not much particularized, all quite standard cozy-mystery types. Apparently several originated in books about earlier conferences. The villain is so stereotyped that there might as well be a sign about the neck saying, "I did it." And the first edition is not stolen, after all, just mislaid. The strongest element is the setting in Purley Hall, lavishly decorated and described, but somehow never seeming real.

CHRISTMAS WITH MR. DARCY is as gossamer as cotton candy and just as sticky-sweet. (D)
 
CHRISTMAS IN DERBYSHIRE is Wynne Mabry's 2017 seasonal novel based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in free or inexpensive digital format.

To Fitzwilliam Darcy's great surprise, George Wickham receives ordination and, when its elderly incumbent dies, claims the promised living at Kympton. Darcy, who cannot deny the legacy, finds Wickham's performance of his duties most unsatisfactory and, when the man begins paying too much attention to Georgiana, arranges to exchange him for Lady Catherine de Bourgh's newly appointed Mr. Collins. En route to Derbyshire, Collins stops to choose a bride from the sisters at Longbourn, where he's refused by Elizabeth Bennet but accepted by Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte Collins invites her sister Maria Lucas and Elizabeth to visit her during December and January. Elizabeth and Darcy meet and immediately become friends, quickly moving from friendship to love. When Lady Catherine announces she will celebrate the Christmas season at Pemberley, Darcy summons the Bingleys, Colonel Fitzwilliam, the colonel's friends, and others to make a large house party. He, naturally, includes the group from the parsonage in the festivities. As expected, the presence of Lady Catherine, complete with her solicitor to draw up marriage settlements for Darcy and Anne de Bourgh (neither of whom plans to marry the other), and the Bingley women with their anti-Bennet machinations, creates confusion.

This is a happy variant with almost no angst and that short-lived. Wickham is never in Meryton, Georgiana's summer by the sea is at Scarborough with Mrs. Annesley, Darcy and Elizabeth meet for the first time in Derbyshire under relaxed circumstances. Lady Catherine offers only token opposition. The story line plays out believably, including letters between Bingley and Jane Bennet to settle their situation.

The characters from Austen are faithful to the originals; the ones Mabry sketches fit with them well. One of the strengths of CHRISTMAS IN DERBYSHIRE is the common sense and open communication shared by Darcy and Elizabeth. I do have two small reservations about Mabry's Darcy. One is his scheme to switch Wickham for Collins, when neither he nor Lady Catherine has met Collins. While he considers anyone better than Wickham, Darcy first would have checked Collins's qualifications. The other is Darcy's assumption that Lady Catherine would not announce his alleged betrothal to Anne to the house party. He should know her better.

Word choices sometimes sound anachronistic: "upfront about engagement," "waylay" someone, "off putting." At a coronation, a ruler is crowned or invested, not "coronated." These minor glitches do not prevent CHRISTMAS IN DERBYSHIRE from being the best Christmas variation read this season. (A)
 
MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS was originally published in 1949 by Francis Duncan and reissued in digital format in 2017. A Christmas house party and especially the Christmas tree are essential elements of the story.

Benedict Grame, wealthy owner of Sherbroome Hall, is famous for his Dickensian Christmas house parties, annually attended by the same group of family and friends. This year, two new guests are included: Professor Ernest Lorring, a government research scientist, and Modecai Tremaine, retired tobacconist and amateur criminologist. Tremaine is barely acquainted with Benedict Grame and his secretary Nicholas Blaise, but his rampant curiosity prompts him to accept the invitation. Blaise had included a postscript asking him to attend as an observer, since he senses something wrong going on. The house party includes a mixed lot of guests, all of whom seem more stressed than celebratory. In the early morning hours of Christmas Day, Charlotte Grame finds of a man dressed as Father Christmas under the Christmas tree, shot to death. Thought at first to be Benedict Grame, whose custom is to dress as Father Christmas before placing presents for his guests in the branches of the tree, it is his close friend Jeremy Rainer who's dead. Mordecai Tremaine works with the police to uncover the motive and the killer.

Martin Edwards, who wrote author's notes, praises Duncan as a prolific master about whom literally nothing was known in 2015 when Vintage Books decided to reprint MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS. It shares many elements of Golden Age mysteries. A puzzle plot complete with the murder weapon concealed in the Christmas tree, rigged to fire when a specific gift is removed, dominates the story. Practical doubts about its working must be abandoned. Foreshadowing is heavy-handed in places though largely missing for the identity and motive of the killer. The surprise ending feels rushed. Characters are standard Golden Age house party guests, including among others young lovers, a repressed spinster, a femme fatale, a politician, a ne'er-do-well, a faithful employee, a host with a hidden agenda, and, most importantly, an amateur detective.

Duncan's style of writing feels dated; for example, "It was all wrong that the cold winter beauty upon which [Mordecai Tremaine] was gazing should be marred by man's inability to live in charity with his neighbors and that murder should lie like an evil smudge across perfection. He liked to feel that the sun shone always upon lovers. He liked to feel that God was in His Heaven and that all was right with a world in which there was no false note. Perhaps it was a sign of weakness in him. Perhaps it was a shrinking from reality, a refusal to face the bitter truths of existence. But it was an integral part of him, and he could not change it." (177) This brief excerpt is typical, featuring a pontificating unreliable narrator. Duncan uses direct characterization throughout, with little back story or insight into Tremaine's personality or thought processes. (His most frequently mentioned trait is his reading Romantic Stories magazine.) Duncan always uses Modecai Tremaine's full name or refers to him as "he," which seems an affectation.

I do not much care for MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS and do not plan to continue with the series. (C)
 
TWELFTH NIGHT AT LONGBOURN is Maria Grace's 2013 seasonal novella, volume four in her Given Good Principles series of variants on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in free or inexpensive digital format.

Following the advantageous marriages of her three older sisters--Elizabeth to Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane to Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, Mary to Mr. Pierce the rector at Kympton--Kitty finds herself alone at Longbourn with her parents after Lydia's scandalous elopement and patched-up marriage to Lieutenant Harper. Mrs. Bennet literally has not left her rooms in the months since Lydia departed for the North, leaving all household management on Kitty; Mr. Bennet doesn't talk to her; she's been ostracized by Meryton society, her reputation utterly ruined by Lydia's behavior. Charles Bingley, with whom Kitty had been developing feelings, left Netherfield without warning and without news from Louisa Bingley. Is it any wonder that she's lonely, angry, and confused? When Elizabeth invites her to spend Christmas in London with Georgiana Darcyl, then to travel on to Pemberley for Twelfth Night and a long visit, Kitty resolves it will be a journey a new life for herself, becoming Catherine Bennet, a lady like her older sisters, instead of Kitty, a disgrace like Lydia. Her reunion with the Bingleys at Darcy House is marred by her doubts and sense of unworthiness. How can Kitty overcome them?

Most elements of TWELFTH NIGHT AT LONGBOURN are strong. Grace's Kitty is firmly based on Austen's original, her growing maturity believable. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are a bit exaggerated but plausible; the Gardiners are faithful. Charles Bingley is decisive and quick to act, Louisa is a good friend to Kitty, while Caroline comes into the story only by report. The story line involves enough change to stimulate interest without requiring a suspension of disbelief.

Two things bother me in TWELFTH NIGHT AT LONGBOURN. One is the reference to the Gardiners' children as Kitty's nephews and nieces, an error of fact. As the offspring of siblings, Kitty and the children are first cousins. More important is the change in the character of Georgiana Darcy. Grace makes her an upper-class Lydia, self-centered, entitled, beau-mad. She's not attractive. (A-)
 
'Gone Before Christmas" is Charles Finch's seasonal short story featuring Charles Lenox, published in digital format in 2017. It is set in and around London during Christmas week 1877.

Private detective Charles Lenox and his elder brother Sir Edmund Lenox, together to choose between Christmas trees sent to London from Lenox House in Sussex, discus the unexplained disappearance of Grenadier Guards Lieutenant Ernest Austen from Charing Cross Station. He disappeared from a cloak room with only one door and no window, in which the police found the contents of his pockets, a spray of blood, and an open heating duct leading to the steam room of the station. Since Austen's duties include military intelligence and French spies are active in London, the police conclude that he's been kidnapped and possibly tortured for information. When Inspector Larchmont of Scotland Yard calls Lenox in on the case, his theory becomes vastly different.

Charles Lenox has some features in common with Sherlock Holmes: occupation, close relationship with an older brother, work with Scotland Yard detectives, a keen deductive mind, a tendency to enigmatic statements, and willingness to conceal facts when necessary to serve justice. On the other hand, he is happily married with an adored five-year-old daughter Sophia; he enjoys socializing. He is a one-third partner in an agency where he works with other detectives and expert consultants, not a loner. There's no Dr. Watson.

Finch uses limited third person narration and glimpses of Lenox's history effectively in making Lenox as a believable individual: "Christmas had always had a sacred feel about it in their family. Growing up, it had been their kind but rather stern father's month of generosity, when he loosened himself slightly. By tradition each of the boys had received some present for which they had been yearning all year (often it was a pet, though Lenox never did receive a rabbit), an orange, and an enormous slab of Harrod's chocolate wrapped in its magical red wax paper. With skill the chocolate could be made to last till mid-January." Christmas permeates the story and helps shape Lenox's actions.

I like Finch's use of humor. "Arriving in town, he went to the train station and discovered that the next train was in ninety minutes. He set out to sees the wonders of Ipswich for himself. When this was finished he had eighty seven minutes left." One minor problem is Austen's name--introduced as Ernest, he's later referred to as Allen Austen. Still, "Gone Before Christmas" is an excellent short story. (A)
 
Fergus Hume's "The Ghost's Touch," is the first short story in the anthology CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES edited by Martin Edwards. The collection was published in digital format in 2016.

The narrator Lascelles, an Army doctor stationed in India but home to England on leave in December 1893, is invited by an old friend from Melbourne Percy Ringan and his cousin Frank Ringan to a Christmas house party at the family home Ringshaw Grange. Percy, who suffers a severe heart condition, is wealthy, the son of a younger son who made a fortune in the Australian gold rush; Frank, head of the family, owns the family estate without having the funds to support it. Both bachelors, each is the other's heir. Lascelles accepts their invitation because he's intrigued by the Ringans' story of the haunted room at Ringshaw Grange. Those who sleep in the chamber and are touched by the ghost suffer early deaths. When Percy's room is damaged by fire and he moves into the Blue Chamber, Lascelles, compelled by worry over Percy's heart condition and the probable result should he experience a touch and by rampant curiosity, arranges to take his place. And, as expected, a man dies that night in the Blue Chamber.

"The Ghost's Touch" reads much like a Sherlock Holmes story, especially in the explanation behind the crime. An experienced reader should have no trouble discerning what is happening. Characterization is sketchy, even for Lascelles. There's no foreshadowing of the identity of the accomplice in the plot. Setting is minimal. Christmas is important only as a plot device for having the house party; none of the story's action hinges on the specific period. By far, the most interesting element is the twist in the identity of the killer. (B)
 
"The Chopham Affair" is an Edgar Wallace Christmas short story included in the CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES anthology edited by Martin Edwards in 2016. It is available in free or inexpensive digital format.

The plot is simple. A blackmail victim refuses to continue paying Alphonso Ribiera for his silence. Ribiera's letter pressing her is intercepted by the woman's husband who, in her name, arranges a meeting in London. On Christmas morning, Ribiera is found dead on Clopham Common, along with Joe Stackett, a car thief and acquitted killer lately released from prison, each dead of a gunshot wound to the head. Superintendent Oakington of Scotland Yard calls on noted lawyer Archibald Lenton, author of an authoritative criminology text, for assistance on the case, which becomes w-a-y stranger.

Wallace gives no foreshadowing to the identity of the killer in "The Chopham Affair." The first person narrator is neither named nor given any standing in the case. Only Ribiera is much characterized, all of it in direct statement. Minimal sketches of Christmas decorations establish the season, which is otherwise irrelevant to the story. Wallace in no way foreshadows the identity of the killer. The ironic conclusion to "The Chopham Affair" is based on a coincidence so far out in left field that it's a home run. (F)
 
The Man With the Sack" is Margery Allingham's Christmas short story chosen by editor Martin Edwards for the 2016 CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES anthology. The collection is available in free or inexpensive digital format.

Albert Campion's first instinct is to refuse Mae Turrett's invitation to Christmas at Pharaoh's Court in Suffolk, but a separate plea from her daughter Sheila changes his mind. The Turretts have the Welkins--Edward, Ada and their horrid son Kenneth--as house guests for the holidays because Lady Mae is recouping gambling losses by charging a fat fee to introduce Ada to Society. Ada insists on bringing a £12,000 diamond necklace for a quiet Christmas in the country, and Sheila's guest Mike Peters is the son of a man in prison for fraud. Dishonesty is inheritable, isn't it? The whole Welkin family is pushy, so Campion is interested when Edward Welkin orders Kenneth not to play Father Christmas at the Christmas Eve celebration for the tenants' children. When Campion finds a Father Christmas with a heavy sack upstairs during the party, he knows something untoward is happening.

"The Man With the Sack" was originally published in 1936, and it has aged well. Characters are more developed than in most short stories; its plot is dependent on the Christmas setting; the clue that allows Campion to thwart the criminals' scheme is depicted in detail. Its conclusion is satisfying--Campion and George Turrett sharing a bottle of Cockburn '68--without being sentimental. (A+)
 
DEATH IN DECEMBER is Victor Gunn's 1943 Christmas novella included in CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES, a holiday anthology edited by Martin Edwards. The collection was published in digital format in 2016.

Chief Inspector Bill "Ironsides" Cromwell grumbles and complains but attends a Christmas house party hosted by General John Lister, father of his assistant Sergeant Johnny Lister, at Cloon Castle in the Derbyshire Lake District. Arriving on Christmas Eve, they see an apparition on the driveway, a man dressed in clothing of an earlier era who leaves no footprints in the falling snow. After dinner, talk turns to ghosts and the "Death Room" at Cloon; supercilious Ronnie Charton determines to sleep in the haunted chamber to prove that ghosts are figments of the imagination. He awakens from heavy sleep to see the body of a man clad in antique style, dead on the floor in a pool of blood, stabbed through the heart with an iron stake. Panic-stricken, he rouses the house but, when Cromwell and Lister examine the room, there's no body and no blood. Did Charton dream or hallucinate the body, or is something diabolical going on? Completely cut off by deep snow and drifts with telephone lines down, Cromwell must determine what's happening at Cloon Castle.

DEATH IN DECEMBER is somewhat dated. Characterization is minimal, and that mostly of Cromwell. Others named are standard house party characters: bluff, genial host General Lister; the Charton brothers, Gerry reliable and personable, Ronnie the "young bounder"; shady stockbroker Howard Drydon; suspicious-acting Philip Bayle; eminent "nerve specialist" Dr. Spencer Ware. More guests are mentioned without being named; no women take direct part in the action of the story. Gunn does not foreshadow the identity of the murdered man, the motive(s) for his death, or the reason for the elaborate charade enacted against Ronnie Charton, so the "reveal all" conclusion is not satisfying. The Christmas house party, a plot device to gather the suspects and victim, is otherwise not important. The December blizzard that isolates the castle is essential.

DEATH IN DECEMBER impresses me enough to check for other books in the series. Since shipping cost from Amazon.uk for a £0.63 secondhand paperback of the only available title is £3.50, I forego the pleasure. (B)
 
"Murder at Christmas" is Christopher Bush's short story included in the CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES anthology edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. The collection is available in free or inexpensive digital format.

While spending Christmas weekend with his friend Bob Valence, Chief Constable in Worbury, amateur criminologist Ludovic Travers becomes involved in the murder of convicted swindler John Block Brewes. Brewes has lived in nearby Rendham since his release from prison a year before, despite strong opposition from villagers who suffered financially from his fraud. The actions of both major suspects are accounted for. Can Travers put together two minor oddities to identify the killer?

"Murder at Christmas" is economical in its cast of characters, most of whom are barely sketched. Travers, as first person narrator, tells the story as if conversing with the reader. The plot hinges on an oft-ignored fact about alibis. Until Travers's "reveal all" conclusion, the motive and hence the killer are not foreshadowed. Golf is more important than Christmas in "Murder at Christmas." Though a holly berry is significant, any distinctive plant material could as easily serve a different season. The story is a quick read, not especially memorable. (C)
 
"Off the Tiles" is Ianthe Jerrold's short story included in CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES, a collection of short fiction edited by Martin Edwards. The anthology was published in 2016 in digital format.

Inspector James Quy of the Chelsea Police answers the call of Mrs. Flitcroft that reports the death of Miss Lillah Keer, her next door neighbor in Chain Street. Mrs. Flitcroft, locked out of her house and unable to rouse her nephew Peter Crangley on the fourth floor, asked to walk along the edge of the shared mansard roof to his window. Since she's dressed in working clothes and Mrs. Flitcroft is in dress clothing, Lillah volunteers to go in her stead. According to her sister, Lillah had done this roof-walking before, safely, since the wide gutters are inside a parapet over two feet in height. Rachel Keer accuses Mrs. Flitcroft of murder because the women had quarreled over Lillah's encouragement of Peter's desire to quit his Post Office job to become a painter. Did Lillah fall, or was she pushed?

Jerrold's characters, including Quy, are not much particularized. Setting is November, so the story fits the collection's theme, but it could easily have be almost any month. The murder method is most unusual and should have worked, except for one circumstance unforeseen by the killer. A neat little story. (B+)
 
Julian Symons's short story "The Santa Claus Club" is one featured in CRIMSON SNOW: WINTER MYSTERIES, edited by Martin Edwards. The anthology was published in digital format in 2016.

Lord Acrise, self-made, wealthy, receives threatening letters from his early business partner James Glidden, who served five years for fraud. Acrise is widely known as a member of the e Santa Claus Club, whose ten members annually dress as Santa, stage a raffle among themselves that raises 10,000 guineas for a Christmas charity, and enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner. Glidden's last letter says he will watch Acrise die in agony after the dinner. Acrise hires private detective Francis Quarles to find Glidden and to serve as guest/bodyguard to the Santa Claus Club meeting. Quarles keeps watch, but everything Acrise eats or drinks comes from communal dishes or bottles, though Acrise seems to be unusually susceptible to the wines. When he collapses and dies, Acrise smells of bitter almonds. Quarles concludes he'd been poisoned and then solves the case without leaving the dining room.

I am disappointed in "The Santa Claus Club" on several levels--bare-bone characterization of Acrise only, one person with opportunity to set up the murder, no foreshadowing of motivation. Setting at Christmastime is mandatory for the premise of the club, though its spirit is missing. (D)
 
UNWILLING is a variant by Elizabeth Adams on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2016.

When Thomas Bennet is diagnosed with progressive heart failure the week after the Netherfield ball, he sets in motion major changes without disclosing his medical condition to anyone. Determined to see his daughters married or qualified to ear their livings and to provide as much as possible for their future support, he organizes his business affairs, cuts household expenses, provides his daughters lessons to polish accomplishments and household skills, and restricts Lydia and Kitty's being "out." To ensure the family's compliance, Mr. Bennet offers a summer by the sea at Margate. He's particularly anxious that Elizabeth and Jane marry soon. Elizabeth visits Charlotte Collins at Hunsford and again spends time with Darcy, not recognizing his escorting her to the parsonage after her daily pianoforte practice at Rosings and their meetings during her morning walks as his courting her. When the Bennets arrive at Hunsford to take Elizabeth with them to Margate, Darcy asks and receives Mr. Bennet's consent to marry her. Mr. Bennet knows that Elizabeth does not love Darcy but feels their marriage is her best safe provision; Bennet uses his daughter's love for him to secure her agreement to the marriage. Can Darcy change Elizabeth's opinion of him and gain her love?

The action is slice of life, believable daily activities carried on by characters reasonably faithful to Austen's original. There's no high drama, no significant opposition to the marriage, despite the introduction of a host of Darcy and Fitzwilliam relatives. Internal conflict predominates as all the characters--but especially Mr. Bennet, Darcy, and Elizabeth--face the need to change attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. The epilogue contains a major but foreshadowed surprise.

The biggest problem with UNWILLING is its sexual content. None of it is graphic, but it's way too much information. We do not need to know the details of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's renewed sex life, Elizabeth's menstrual cycle, her first orgasm, or her mother's obstetrical advice. Miss Austen is rotating in her grave. (B-)
 
THE FOURTH STRING is the seventh book in Jill Paterson's Fitzjohn mystery series set in Sydney, Australia. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Detective Chief Inspector Alistair Fitzjohn is on leave when he's recalled to work the high-profile murder of Crispin Fairchild, resident of the Claremont Apartments and conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Fairchild had been at odds with the other owners collectively over upgrading the foyer and security system, and with each individually. He'd insisted that crime novelist Elvira Travers ghostwrite his autobiography; he started legal action too have sculptor Morris Elliott evicted for noise and threatened the same for voice teacher Pearl Ambrose. He meant to replace neighbor Eleanor Reed as first violinist in the orchestra, and he'd been so upset that he'd ended regular chess matches with Hector Lombard. Crispin Fairchild had been at odds with his brother Edmund, who now stands to inherit much-needed money from their mother's estate. Crispin is involved in an affair with Rhodes Lambert's wife, both of whom were at the building around his time of death, along with an unidentified man. A Stradivarius violin is missing, and the unidentified man demands entrance to Crispin's apartment to retrieve business documents. Fitzjohn must uncover past secrets and current crimes to solve the murder.

The plot in THE FOURTH STRING does not feel unified. The motive for Crispin Fairchild's murder is not foreshadowed, so the identity of the killer is least likely suspect. Paterson's describes Fitzjohn's investigation leisurely, then she rushes the conclusion as if eager to "get 'er done." Setting is not developed.

Fitzjohn's interfering sister Meg, his neighbor-enemy Rhonda Butler, and his would-be nemesis Superintendent Grieg provide continuity with earlier stories. Paterson introduces an appealing character in Chief Superintendent Peta Ashby, seconded to Day Street Station to replace Grieg, who's under investigation for professional misconduct; she's a respected professional to whom Fitzjohn is attracted. Fitzjohn's professional relationship and personal friendship with Detective Sergeant Betts is believable, though characterization is sketchy.

Two editing problems eluded correction. No possessive pronoun contains an apostrophe. It's is a contraction of it is; its is the pronoun. A speaker or a writer implies something (conveying information without stating it explicitly) while the listener or reader infers ("reads between the lines.")

THE FOURTH STRING is disappointing. (C)
 
"Last Dance" is Maria Grace's short story variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in free or inexpensive digital format in 2015.

Elizabeth, Jane, and Lydia are married; Kitty and their parents are away on a visit, while Mary stays with Aunt and Uncle Philips in Meryton. Aunt Philips is determined to find Mary Bennet a husband, preferably soon. To that end, she invites Giles Lacey, a handsome young farmer new to the Meryton area, and his cousin Mr. Parris, Uncle Phillips's new clerk, to dinner and thrusts Mary on Lacey. Mary, usually ignored or criticized in looks, interests, and accomplishments, feels inadequate but recognizes her only options--marriage or spinsterhood as a dependent. Lacey is sociable and attractive but superficial and somewhat boorish; Parris has a deformed foot, limps, and uses a cane, but he's intelligent, sensitive, and a gentleman. Who is her choice?

"Last Dance" is a neat little story. Aunt Philips is truly Mrs. Bennet's sister in her attitude toward marriage and treatment of Mary. The young men contrast susceptibility to attention and peer pressure with genuine character and understanding. Canonical figures are faithful derivations of Austen's originals. Mary's personality grows naturally from her position in the hierarchy of the Bennet girls. She does, however, stand up for herself when slighted at the Michaelsons' ball. Brava, Mary! (A)
 
"Not Romantic" is Maria Grace's short story variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2015.

Set in 1811 after Charles Bingley is installed at Netherfield, while Mr. Collins is visiting the Bennets, "Not Romantic" explains Charlotte Lucas's unsentimental attitude about marriage. In 1804, another tenant of Netherfield, Roger Courtney, handsome, sociable, charming, well-to-do, paid special attention to 21-year-old Charlotte, who fell in love and expected to marry him. Instead, he moved to London to live with a distant cousin, a baronet whose daughter he married a year later. Charlotte, devastated, concludes that men like Roger, and the love they inspire, cannot be trusted. By 1811, she is under intense pressure from her parents to marry, the sooner the better, and she's desperate. Bingley is too much like Roger to consider, leaving Mr. Collins the last available man. She sees him not as a pompous buffoon, as does Elizabeth Bennet, but as a man of substance and good character whose social skills may be improved with gentle guidance. He's Charlotte's only hope, and she goes after him.

Grace gives Mr. Collins more depth than the Austen original. Marriage to one of the Bennet girls is his idea, not Lady Catherine's; having decided, determined pursuit of his goals requires that he propose to Elizabeth, even though the Netherfield ball convinced him that they do not suit. He's attracted by Charlotte's kindness and attentions during earlier meetings and at the ball, which makes his immediate proposal somewhat less disconcerting.

Though it is well-written, "Not Romantic" is ultimately a depressing little story because it shows Charlotte's talking herself into settling for far less than she deserves. Lady Lucas belittles her constantly and displays Charlotte like a commodity whose sell-by date has expired. Charlotte has no choice except to marry any man who asks, which makes her willingness to accept Collins more understandable. But it's sad to see a kind, able, sensible woman like Charlotte forced into a marriage in which her best hope for happiness is that Lady Catherine will help her manage and correct her husband's defects. (A)
 
SERVICE OF A FRIEND is Kate Speck's variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in digital format but gives no publication date.

Speck's major change from the canon is in her handling of the initial meeting of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy at the Meryton assembly. He'd been delayed in joining Charles Bingley's party at Netherfield; Bingley and Jane Bennet are already officially courting. Darcy tests Jane's feelings by offering himself as a better match, to be rejected. When she learns of Darcy's presumption, Elizabeth denounces his behavior, including his "only tolerable" insult, to his face. Fascinated by this attractive, uncommonly outspoken woman, he drops his defenses, apologizes, and the two become friends. Both are acutely aware of the difference in their social standing that makes marriage out of the question. The action consists of their gradual recognition of romantic love, not just friendship, their engagement, and a summary of their marriage.

SERVICE OF A FRIEND is well edited. Writing style and word choice are appropriate. The problem is that it's dull. The story moves in geologic time, and the epilogue covers all the canonical characters regardless of any significant role in the action. That George Wickham makes a relatively happy marriage with Caroline Bingley and that Mr. Collins suffers an injury that leaves him impotent are irrelevant. Almost all the conflict is internal as Darcy and Elizabeth wrestle with their feelings. Lady Catherine de Bourgh provides only token resistance to their marriage, while Lord and Lady Matlock welcome Elizabeth with open arms. Elizabeth and Darcy's prolonged declarations of love become tedious with repetition and unvarying content.

A bigger problem is the modern attitudes reflected in SERVICE OF A FRIEND. The kind of intimate platonic friendship with which Darcy and Elizabeth begin their relationship is very much a twentieth-century development, particularly the sense of intellectual and emotional equality. Even more modern is Mr. Bennet's behavior as a parent. In the name of their friendship, he allows privacy between Elizabeth and Darcy that would otherwise be considered compromising; he agrees to the exchange of Christmas gifts when there is no courtship; he grants Elizabeth freedom in London with Georgiana and Darcy, even permitting her to move into Darcy House to facilitate her friendship with Georgiana. He's unconcerned when newspaper gossip columns speculate on Darcy's lovely brunette companion at the theatre. This style of parenting is not Regency. (B)
 
THE SINGING OF THE DEAD is the eleventh book in Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak mystery series. Originally published in 2001, it was reissued in digital format in 2013.

Following the death of Kate Shugak's lover Jack Morgan, his divorced wife Jane assumes custody of their fourteen-year-old son Johnny and plans for him to live with his grandmother in Arizona. She doesn't want Johnny, but she hates Kate. Johnny runs away and hitchhikes back to Alaska to join Kate. Knowing she needs money to fight Jane for legal custody, Kate takes a security job in the campaign of Anne Gordaoff for the Senate District 41 seat that covers the Park. Anne has received a series of worrying anonymous letters from a stalker. Most action deals with the developments of the campaign, including the murders of Anne's finance manager Jeff Hosford, who's also engaged to her daughter Erin, and researcher Paula Pawlowski, hired by Anne's campaign manager Darlene Shelikof for background checks on opponent Pete Heiman and on Anne herself. Running parallel to modern action is the story of prostitute Angela Beauchamp, the "Dawson Darling," working the Yukon Gold Rush from her heyday in 1897 through her murder in Niniltna in 1915. Can events nearly a hundred years old really affect a modern election?

While the campaign and the Alaskan history story lines are both interesting, somehow they don't form an integrated whole. Disunity comes because Stabenow conceals the identities of descendants of those individuals involved with the Darling. It's also difficult to believe a modern person would murder to conceal their distant ancestry, political candidate or not. Though Kate and the Park Rats devise means to conceal Johnny temporarily, the conflict with his mother is unresolved, which adds verisimilitude.

Stabenow keeps characters fresh with bits of the back stories that determine who they are. "Kate had come to [reading for pleasure] late, a gift from a gifted English teacher at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, which meant that she'd had a keen sense of time wasted, a reverence for the act, and deep respect for those who practiced it. She looked at all of Paula Pawlowski's books and realized that Paula had been a lifelong friend of hers before they'd even met. She found herself growing very calm. I will find out who did this to you, she said silently to the spine of The Death and Life of Bobby Z. I will find out, and I will make them pay." (148-9) Characters evolve realistically, especially Kate in THE SINGING OF THE DEAD. Stabenow is adept at using atmospheric description to illuminate personality.

Another of Stabenow's great skills is the ability to use references to local history that particularize locale. "Ahtna was a small town of two thousand, built where the northern reaches of the Kanuyaq River met the Kanuyaq River Highway, which connected the Glenn Highway with Valdez. It was one of the first communities of any size in Alaska, after Fairbanks and Nome, started by one of the smarter stampeders who had seen early on that while the miners themselves made little or no money, the businesses who sold miners their supplies made out like bandits. 'Mining the miners,' they called it." (60-1)

THE SINGING OF THE DEAD is a satisfying read. (B+)
 
Kate Speck's LESSONS N GRATITUDE uses the names of some figures from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but it changes them and the story line too much to be considered a variant. It is indeed something rich and strange. It was issued in free or inexpensive digital format in 2017.

~~~SPOILERS, FOR SURE~~~

Publisher's information gives 132 pages length for LESSONS IN GRATITUDE, though I felt as if I read for a month. Most of the conflict is internal; external conflict (Darcy's rescue of Elizabeth Bennet from drowning, the Collins story) is reported not shown. Changing attitudes involve interminable interior monologues, often repeated almost verbatim. Dialogue consists of a series of long set speeches rather than conversation.

LESSONS IN GRATITUDE opens after Elizabeth and Jane's stay at Netherfield. Elizabeth loses her bonnet, falls into a pond, and is rescued by Darcy. About the only element from Austen that is NOT changed thereafter is that Darcy and Elizabeth, Jane and Bingley do marry. Elizabeth and Jane have both received and refused proposals from very eligible men in London, unbeknownst to their mother. Mr. Bennet has saved £5,000 to better provide for his family after his death and will, under no circumstances, allow a daughter to be pressured into a marriage of convenience. The elder Bennet girls are well-acquainted with Darcy's Fitzwilliam relatives, the Matlocks, who are close friends of the Gardiners; they'd even hoped for their elder son Frederick Fitzwilliam to marry Elizabeth. Happy matches are made for each of the Bennet sisters, Georgiana Darcy, Anne de Bourgh, Charlotte Lucas, and assorted Bingley, Darcy, and Fitzwilliam children. Wickham saves Darcy from Caroline Bingley's attempted compromise and physically defends Elizabeth's reputation against Collins's lies. Most improbable of all, Darcy is heir presumptive to the Longbourn entail after Collins. I could go on.

Most of the characters are almost unrecognizable, bursting with epiphanies like corn popping. Darcy and Elizabeth recognize their faulty perceptions; Mrs. Bennet sees the effect of her behavior toward her daughters; Bingley acknowledges his role in Caroline's obnoxious personality; Lady Catherine acknowledges her culpability in Collins's behavior; Charlotte sees that life must go on even after loss of a fiance; Wickham sees the error of his previous ways. Again, I could list more. All characters instantly and effortlessly change their behavior to reflect the new understanding. I refuse to believe that Austen's Lady Catherine de Bourgh becomes "Auntie Cat" to Elizabeth Bennet Darcy.

Collins is the most changed of the canonical figures. Speck adds to his bumbling pomposity and toadying by making him a sexual predator with a long history of offenses that include several illegitimate children, an attempt to rape Elizabeth, repeated fondling of Anne de Bourgh, and rape of his maid. Collins's change is conceivable. Only Caroline Bingley remains her unregenerate self, though Speck does give her an appropriately ironic future.

Anachronistic elements are blatant. Modern words and ideas include cold-front, hypothermia, "wild child," role model, allergies, and "soul mates." Elizabeth's researches determine that a Vitamin B deficiency causes Anne de Bourgh's illness. Most off-putting is the interjected sexual content. That Darcy at 28 is a virgin, that Bingley and Jane anticipate their vows so that she's pregnant when they marry, that Darcy and Elizabeth have sex in their carriage, is too much information. The men's discussion of mistresses, contraception, and techniques, along with their boasts about prowess, is offensive.

I wonder if the text I read is the same as the book that received glowing Amazon reviews. LESSONS IN GRATITUDE is a messy hodgepodge that has Jane Austen turning in her grave. It's not good enough to deserve an F. (G)
 
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