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Readingomnivore Reviews

THE GOODNESS OF MEN is Anngela Schroeder's 2017 variant of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in a free or inexpensive e-book edition.

Several months after the ball at Netherfield, Elizabeth Bennet travels with her aunt to visit Madeline Gardiner's old friend Mrs. Amelia Anderson; while her husband is in America on business, Mrs. Anderson lives with her younger brother Phillip Turner at Chernowith in Derbyshire, near the home of his good friend Fitzwilliam Darcy. Darcy with his tenants and servants are at Chernowith helping harvest potatoes, and he is pleased to again be in Elizabeth's company. As they are in company together, their feelings for each other become clear, and by the time of Georgiana's ball, Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged. In the meantime in Cornwall, George Wickham with the aid of Mrs. Younge convinces young Margaret Anderson, orphaned distant cousin of Mrs. Anderson's husband, to marry him; she's now a pregnant widow, she thinks, having been told he was posted to the Continent where he was killed in action. Wickham is in Brghton with his militia regiment, having made Lydia Bennet his "special pet" while she's with Mrs. Forster. When she learns that Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner are to attend the ball, Lydia blackmails Wickham and Mrs. Younge to escort her to Pemberley. When they arrive at the ball to find Margaret Anderson. Georgiana, and a third woman wronged by Wickham, can any of them escape unscathed?

Attitudes in THE GOODNESS OF MEN are more modern than Regency. Schroeder's characters initiate grossly compromising behaviors--Elizabeth helping Darcy remove his cravat, their meeting in the portrait gallery in their nightclothes, Elizabeth's bedroom as one of a suite with a connecting door to Darcy's bedroom. They conspire to cover up Margaret Anderson's unmarried status and the illegitimacy of her daughter, attaching no shame to either. Colonel Fitzwilliam marries a woman who'd also borne Wickham a child disposed of in America (about the only person whose fate is not covered in the epilogue).

Schroeder's Darcy has more reason to hate George Wickham than Austen's original character, a cause so profound that it makes Darcy's forbearance with him at Ramsgate unrealistic. He is confident in his feelings for Elizabeth and suffers few doubts over her suitability. Elizabeth has much further to go in facing her own pride: "..I try not to fall prey to avarice or vain enticements. I take pains to surround myself with people of character and ensure all my associates have the same moral code as I." She's talking to Wickham, of all people, and not speaking ironically.

Some editing problems emerge: confusion between duties of a barrister and a solicitor; spelling of names (Gardiner, not Gardner; Markham's as plural of name); "not" instead of "naught"; a "hay penny" instead of "a ha'penny).

The plot moves briskly with shifts in focus between characters to indicate simultaneous action. Wickham's fate is appropriate, and it is most satisfying to see, for once, Lydia Bennet reap the consequences of what she's sown. Brava, Aunt Madeline! (A-)
 
"A Tender Moment" is P. O. Dixon's short story variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.. It was published in e-book format in 2017.

At a party at Lucas Lodge, Elizabeth Bennet overhears Fitzwilliam Darcy's comment disparaging Mrs. Bennet's wit and blasts him for ungentlemanly behavior. Darcy, who's deeply attracted to Elizabeth, meditates on her comments and decides to follow his original intention for the evening, to express to her his admiration. After dancing, he apologizes and receives permission to call upon Elizabeth at Longbourn.

The most important change or addition to Austen is Dixon's giving Darcy abandonment issues caused by his mother's early death and his never experiencing unconditional love. We really do not need to know that Darcy dreams of Elizabeth and wakes up with an erection.

Why bother? Time reading the original is better spent. (D-)
 
MISS DARCY'S BEAUX is Eliza Shearer's sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that incorporates characters from Mansfield Park and Persuasion. It was published in e-book format in 2017.

With Elizabeth Bennet Darcy heavily pregnant and confined to bed, with descent on Pemberley by the Bennets imminent, Georgiana Darcy is sent to Lady Catherine de Bourgh's home in Grosvenor Square for the remainder of the Season. Lady Catherine has emerged from seclusion following the death of her daughter Anne to present Georgiana at Court, introduce her to Society, and see that she is properly married before the end of the Season and her twenty-first birthday. Still dreaming about her lost love George Wickham, Georgiana becomes a social doll controlled by Lady Catherine. She meets appropriate people--Lord Elliot, Captain and Mrs. Frederick Wentworth, Don Cosimo Giovanni Ludovico, Prince of Rosiglia and Ponziano, Lady Dalrymple and her daughter Miss Carteret--and, at least to Lady Catherine, one inappropriate--Captain William Price of the Royal Navy. Can Georgiana escape both scandal and the matchmaking designs of Lady Catherine and Colonel Fitzwilliam?

While the Bennets, especially Lydia Bennet Wickham, are not much changed, I don't much like Shearer's take on the major canonical characters from Pride and Prejudice. Despite one successful pregnancy and delivery, Darcy demands that Elizabeth follow the orders of the new Lambton physician Dr. Robertson, an advocate of "modern" medicine, including forbidding exercise and fresh air to pregnant women and frequent bleeding by application of leeches. Darcy sends Georgiana to London without checking on her in any significant way until the Colonel sends news of her impending marriage. Elizabeth does not make her feelings about Dr. Robertson known to Darcy and simply submits to their dictates. Her only contribution (besides second son Charles) is a letter advising Georgiana to follow her heart in choosing whom to marry.

I'm most seriously displeased with Shearer's Georgiana. At almost twenty-one years old, she is still as infatuated with Wickham as she'd been at fifteen: "...Lydia, like all naturally lucky people, took her good fortune for granted. She had beauty, the affection of her parents and sisters and the hand of the only man I had ever loved. I, on the contrary, was doubly an orphan, and a plain-looking one at that, who had loved and lost for want of courage, and may never love again. How can life be so unfair? Why should all fortune be hers?" Having learned nothing from Ramsgate, she becomes involved with a fortune-hunting rake precisely because he reminds her of Wickham. This self-pity and her almost catatonic passivity are distasteful.

William Price, Fanny Price Bertram's brother, is the only on-stage character from Mansfield Park. He is introduced as the son of a Miss Bertram, though in Austen, Mrs. Norris, his mother Mrs. Price, and Lady Bertram are sisters. His personality and career are believably developed from Austen's original. Inclusion of the Persuasion characters is more problematic. Captain and Mrs. Frederick Wentworth are a plot device to introduce Captain Price to Georgiana and to serve as his character witnesses. They are also authentic Austen. The other Persuasion characters serve no essential function.

Two things about the canonical figures bother me. Shearer develops Sir Walter Elliot faithfully, but she consistently refers to him as "Lord Elliot." The other problem involves the Darcy-Fitzwilliam family tree. Lady Catherine tells Colonel Fitwilliam, talking of Georgiana,"She takes after my father's side of the family, you know. Your grandfather, Sir Lewis de Bourgh, was an extraordinary man."

MISS DARCY'S BEAUX is pleasant enough if you don't find the "poor helpless female who must be rescued" motif off-putting. (B)
 
Sandra Grimes's discussion of CIRCLE OF TREASON: A CIA ACCOUNT OF TRAITOR ALDRICH AMES AND THE MEN HE BETRAYED on CSPAN prompted me to buy the book she co-authored with Jeanne Vertefeuille. It was published in 2016 to give the CIA account of the process which identified Aldrich Ames, the KGB mole who betrayed many CIA agents to their imprisonment and death.

The subtitle summarizes the contents of CIRCLE OF TREASON, and I frankly do not have a sufficient frame of reference to make a precis of the book or to form a fair assessment of its content. For those reasons I do not assign a grade.

CIRCLE OF TREASON is dense, replete with Russian names, aliases, code names, acronyms, places, and multiple movements of agents. It is profoundly dry reading, more report than story, even when relating suspenseful events. Besides the text, it contains an Honor Roll of the authors' CIA colleagues who impacted their careers, a fourteen-page selected chronology, only five pages of chapter notes, and a scant six-page select bibliography listing mostly secondary sources and public trial records. Photographs are limited in number and not always sharp. Indexing is rudimentary, and there is no listing of individuals for quick reference.

I am not sorry that I read CIRCLE OF TREASON, but I do not recommend it unless it is a special interest topic.
 
Jennifer Kay calls BEFORE A FALL a re-imagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in recently released digital format.

When Elizabeth Bennet flees Longbourn in fury after her cousin's inept proposal of marriage, on the grounds at Netherfield she finds George Wickham, intent on blackmail and molestation, attacking Georgina Darcy. Driving him off with rocks, Elizabeth befriends Georgiana, who offers transportation to London with her and her brother. Elizabeth goes to visit the Gardiners in Gracechurch Street, and the acquaintance between the families grows. When Lydia Bennet elopes from Longbourn with Wickham, Darcy and Elizabeth go alone to recover her; a newspaper gossip column publishes the compromising story, forcing Darcy and Elizabeth to marry immediately by special license to save Elizabeth from greater scandal. Then they must come to terms with what Elizabeth believes their loveless marriage.

Kay uses limited third person narration so that Elizabeth Bennet Darcy is the best developed of the characters. Her Elizabeth is consumed with self-doubt, constantly questioning her own actions and attitudes, certain that the Darcys, the Fitzwilliams, her own family, even the servants, all look down on her as grossly unsuited to be his wife. Elizabeth seems to go out of her way to misinterpret Darcy's comments, to fuel her doubts. Darcy largely ignores Elizabeth except for brief marital relations. isolating her at Pemberley with himself and indifferent servants. While Kay adds no new major characters, she maintains the Austen originals.

The plot, especially after Darcy and Elizabeth's marriage, is believably slice of life. It seems doubtful that Darcy does nothing to punish Wickham for his attack on Georgiana at Netherfield. We don't need step-by-step details on the Darcys' wedding night foreplay. The widowed Lydia living at Pemberley with son George, as detailed in the epilogue, seems improbable. The newspaper story is modern in its tell-all printing of full names and addresses for Darcy and Elizabeth; the announcement of Henry Crawford's elopement with Mrs. Rushworth in Mansfield Park is much more circumspect, using only initials.

Editing problems grate: plurals and possessives of names, word choice (reign-rein, aww-awe, confidant (male)-confidante (female)-female confidante (redundant). Quotation marks are misplaced or missing. Colonel Forster is consistently named as Foster.

BEFORE A FALL is a comfortable quick read. (B+)
 
LAST LAUGH is the newest to date, the eleventh book in Ben Rehder's Blanco County mystery series featuring John Marlin, Texas game warden. It is available in print and digital formats published in 2017.

When Dub Kimble fails to return from a night pig hunt, Game Warden John Marlin organizes the search. He finds broken headlight glass, a piece of plastic off a vehicle, and a large pool of blood on the seldom-used county road near Dub's ranch. The night of Dub's disappearance, Red O'Brien had a near-personal interaction in Johnson City with Dickie "I'm so White Trash..." Loftin (think Ron White), one of his heroes; Red's poaching partner Billy Don Craddock posts the encounter on Facebook, as does Danny Ray Watts, whom Dickie flipped off at a stop light. Dickie's brother Creed, eager to conceal their presence in the area, calls in psycho former cellmate Alan Bricker to help him deal with Craddock and Watts. Mix in Dub's potential lawsuit against Red, Dub's cheating girlfriend Mandy, her lover Tino who has a foot fetish, the banker's unfaithful wife and her assorted lovers (including Dub), and millionaire car dealership owner Skeeter Carrusco who parties hard, just to add to the confusion.

Rehder's Blanco County plots always appear messy and out of control until the elements begin to coalesce into a pattern. Shifting focus between characters, including the bad guys, produces not a "who done it" but "how will they catch and convict" plot structure as well as strong indirect characterization. Humor often lightens the action, though LAST LAUGH contains less than in earlier books. Action tends to be over the top, though Rehder makes it easy to suspend disbelief and go with it. Sense of place is good.

It's best to read the series in order because one of its interesting developments has been the evolution of Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock from cartoon Texas refugees from Dogpatch into more realistic individuals, both now showing some potential as decent human beings.They are no longer simply comic relief. The Blanco County Sheriff's Department feels like an authentic community of professionals. Hints that Marlin is considering retirement may foreshadow interesting new directions for the protagonist.

LAST LAUGH is solid. (B)
 
COMPROMISED! is J. Dawn King's variation on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published in digital format in 2015.

When Elizabeth Bennet discovers Fitzwilliam Darcy distraught over a letter from his sister Georgiana, despite their isolation and her dislike of the man, she holds him as he weeps. A footman discovers them; they are effectively compromised. Darcy, already in love with Elizabeth and convinced her vivacity and compassion are what Georgiana needs to bring her out of the depression over Wickham and Ramsgate, proposes. Elizabeth, desperate to avoid scandal that would end Jane's developing relationship with Charles Bingley, accepts. Mr. Bennet consents but refuses to bless their marriage in two months. Darcy heads for London for marriage settlements and a special license and to Pemberley to bring Georgiana to Hertfordshire to meet her new family. In his absence, Caroline Bingley conspires with George Wickham to compromise Elizabeth so that Darcy will end the engagement. Foiled by Mary Bennet and Charlotte Lucas, she writes Lady Catherine de Bourgh, bringing the wrath of that lady, Lord and Lady Matlock, and Mr. Collins down on Longbourn.

King's characters are reasonably faithful to Austen's originals. Her Darcy's anguish over Georgiana's project to live in isolation on the Darcy estate in Scotland is overdone, especially since it never becomes an issue following the initial letter. eThe change in Elizabeth's feelings from disdain for Darcy to regard to love is too rapid to be believable. Their discussions and correspondence about his activities that never specifically name Wickham are a necessary plot device that is otherwise unlikely. I applaud King's giving Jane Bennet the backbone to refuse to deal with Caroline Bingley, though King undercuts this by having Jane change her mind when Caroline is still manipulating her weak brother. Bingley's newfound maturity never rings true. The King nasties are openly nefarious. An over long epilogue details happy endings for all the deserving and satisfying karma for the undeserving. An enjoyable variant. (A-)
 
Nicky Roth's A NUDGE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION is a novella variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in digital format. I found no publication date.

Driven to desperate measures by Fitzwilliam Darcy's continuing indifference toward herself and his growing attention to Elizabeth Bennet, Caroline Bingley schemes to compromise him at the Netherfield ball. Darcy's honor will require their marriage. To this end, Caroline plots carefully, planning the site and cover story, enlisting her sister Louisa Hurst to maneuver Darcy into the garden and to witness the compromise; she hires Lieutenant George Wickham to entice Elizabeth Bennet into inappropriate behavior that will disgust Darcy. Caroline's disdain for her older sister and her hateful remarks about Mr. Hurst cause Louisa to modify her sister's plans. Caroline is compromised most efficiently, but by Mr. Collins. Mr. Hurst in the meantime lures Elizabeth and Darcy into a bedroom and locks them in over night, forcing a compromise that neither minds in the least.

Editing problems include changing the militia colonel's name to Forester and the usual misuse of apostrophes in plural and possessives of names. Several word uses are questionable. Roth uses "despiteous" when "spiteful" or "disreputable"
better fits the context (86) and "ungraciously" when "ungracefully" seems indicated. (92) "The way they had moved together had been much d'accord..." (116) is awkward.

Roth's major figures from Pride and Prejudice--Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane, Bingley, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Mary, Collins--are fundamentally unchanged. Elizabeth recognizes the truth in Darcy's account of his history with Wickham and rapidly revises her attitude toward both men. The lovers' angst is minimal.

~~~SPOILERS~~~

Roth's Caroline Bingley is more vicious than Austen's original, amazingly unperceptive about people for one with her social ambitions and ridiculous in her demands (mare's milk in which to bathe before the ball, so her skin will be perfect for exposure to Darcy). Her running away with Wickham rather than marrying Collins is believable (who wouldn't?), but the change in her personality is not. Roth has her decide immediately to establish a teashop in Fenchurch Street, an overnight success due to her business acumen and Wickham's charm with the lady customers. She's happy in her new role, and Wickham's enough taken with her to promise to cut back on gambling. I can't believe either's change.

Louisa and George Hurst are also decidedly different from Austen. Knowing the fury unleashed when Caroline's narcissism is thwarted, to keep the peace Louisa submits to her sister's demands but decides it's time for a change. Her own plans are subtle and effective. Mr. Hurst drinks only when bored and pretends to sleep to avoid unwanted company; he's intelligent, well aware of Caroline's opinions, with a Puckish delight in moving Darcy and Elizabeth toward happiness while frustrating his sister-in-law. I like both the Hursts.

The most unbelievable change is in Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Summoned by the sniveling Collins, she descends on Longbourn and Elizabeth like the Wicked Witch of the West but, when Elizabeth stands up to her, metamorphoses into Glinda the Good Witch. As in the 1940 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, she pretends, to test Elizabeth's love for her nephew; she heartily approves their marriage. She enjoys her rector as comedy, explaining she only gave Collins the living at Hunsford because she'd lost a bet with the archbishop. Her sense of humor is bawdy. Her advice to Jane, Mary (on whom Lady Catherine relies to correct Collins's shortcomings), Elizabeth, and Caroline on methods to insure pleasures of the marital bed is worth the price of the book.

A NUDGE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION is fun, yes. Jane Austen, no. (A-)
 
THE HISSING OF THE SILENT LONELY ROOM is the fifth book in Paul Charles's Inspector Christy Kennedy mystery series set in Camden Town. Originally published in 2001, it was reissued in digital format in 2017.

When singer-songwriter Esther Bluewood is found dead of gas poisoning, Inspector Christy Kennedy is involved on both professional and personal levels. As officer in charge, he must determine if Bluewood's death is the suicide everyone associated with her presumes; introduced to Bluewood's music by his sometime lover, Bluewood's friend ann rae (always lower case, like kd lang and e.e. cummings), he's a longtime fan of her music. Bluewood's life had been in turmoil--deserted by husband Paul Yeats, single parent their children, with psychological problems since childhood and few friends, under pressure to give over control of her career and finances to Yeats and his sister--but Kennedy doesn't see the devoted mother endangering her children by gassing herself in the flat where they slept. As the investigation continues, Kennedy discovers that Bluewood had been surrounded by people now scrambling to profit from her death.

I like the characters in the Christy Kennedy mystery series. The protagonist is attractive, a dedicated and successful professional who does not take himself too seriously, a man with a life and interests outside his work. The group at Camden CID--Sergeant James Irvine, WDC Ann Coles, Dr. Leonard Taylor, Super-intendent Thomas Castle--is a believable community. My major complaint about the characters, Kennedy's long off-and-on relationship with journalist ann rae, seems finally resolved, which is satisfying.

Charles keeps Bluewood's scumbag husband Paul Yeats in central focus while all sorts of machinations go on around him. Several components make the story read long. One is extensive quotation from Esther Bluewood's journals as a means of exposition. Prolonged discussion of creativity and the psychology of suicide bog the story down. Musical criticism circa 2000 adds verisimilitude to Bluewood's history but grows tedious. Sense of place is good but not particularly emphasized.

I have some common sense objections to the plot. Kennedy discovers the murder contrivance some days after Bluewood's death, by interpreting marks that would have been equally visible to the SOC technicians who originally searched the crime scene. Kennedy completely ignores Judy Dillon's comment about being in danger if she does not have the journal she'd purloined from Bluewood's flat. This as a common plot device, yet Dillon's murder adds little to the main story line. The ease with which Kennedy is persuaded he's not to blame for her death is distasteful. Possession and control of the estate, especially the rights to Bluewood's journals and music, are vital motivation for the murder suspects, but Kennedy only hears the legal arrangements several days later when her solicitor Leslie Russell calls him while making provision for reading of the will.

I will continue to follow the series, but I found THE HISSING OF THE SILENT LONELY ROOM weaker than its predecessors. (B-)
 
LONGBOURN'S DISTINGUISHED GUEST is Emily Russell's variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2017.

On the afternoon of the Meryton assembly, Elizabeth Bennet sees Fitzwilliam Darcy, unconscious from fever, fall from his horse and brings help from Longbourn. The apothecary pronounces Darcy too ill to be moved, so he becomes the guest of the Bennets, tended during the crisis of the fever by Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth. The Bennets are careful to see that neither Elizabeth nor Darcy is compromised during his convalescence. They enjoy each other's conversation and companionship, with each developing unexpressed feelings. Rumors of their imminent engagement spread despite Elizabeth's denials. Complications include Caroline Bingley's disrespect for the Bennets and attempts on Darcy, Mr. Collins's uninvited arrival to examine his future inheritance and to inspect the Bennet daughters, George Wickham's attentions to an unsuspecting Elizabeth, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh's descent to rescue her nephew from a fortune-hunting nobody.

LONGBOURN'S DISTINGUISHED GUEST is a believable variant with characters mostly faithful to the originals. Elizabeth's not self-confident, more aware of the social distance between Darcy and herself than he, naive about Wickham. Darcy knows he's in love with Elizabeth and minimizes the difference in their status but, when he sees her held and kissed (against her will) by Wickham, he concludes she prefers his enemy. He departs for London the next morning without farewell, leaving Elizabeth to face gossip about the meaning of his absence. Darcy requires straight talk from Colonel Fitzwillliam before he corrects his attitude.

Change in Mr. Bennet strengthens LONGBOURN'S DISTINGUISHED GUEST. Russell makes him active in managing and protecting his family. When Mr. Collins announces his plan to marry a Bennet daughter, Mr. Bennet refuses consent to any marriage unless it is his daughter's free choice. He will permit no family pressure. He rebukes Collins's anticipation of authority at Longbourn, gives Caroline Bingley well-deserved set downs, and he refuses to accommodate Lady Catherine. I like this Mr. Bennet.

Outstanding editing also strengthens LONGBOURN'S DISTINGUISHED GUEST. I noted no errors. Thank you, Emily Russell. (A)
 
BILBURY CHRONICLES is the first in Vernon Coleman's The Young Country Doctor series. Originally published in 1992, it was reissued in digital format in 2014.

Opening in early autumn 1971, BILBURY CHRONICLES tells the story of newly-qualified Dr. Coleman's first six months as assistant to Dr. Brownlow. "I realised with a sudden, cold wave of horror that I was afraid. In hospital I'd felt secure in the knowledge that even when I didn't know something I could get help quickly. It had all been more of an intellectual game than anything else. When I got a diagnosis right I got points. Here it was all for real. Life or death. Sitting there, in Dr. Brownlow's chair in Dr. Brownlow's surgery, I felt terrified, alone and totally incompetent. I was a qualified doctor but I had no idea what to do. I was legally entitled to ask thee trusting souls to take their clothes off and subject themselves to the most intimate of examinations but I no longer had any confidence that I would know what to do if I spotted a symptom. Pressing that button [to admit first patient] was the most courageous thing I'd ever done."

Coleman's good at sketching character. "Miss Johnson looked at a small, wooden, framed clock on her desk, looked at me and then looked back at the clock. I still can't describe that look, though I got to know it well. It wasn't rude or even overtly critical. It was tinged with sadness, disapproval, disappointment and despair. But there was a strong element of contempt in there too." Bilbury's inhabitants are distinct individuals whom I look forward to getting to know.

Sense of place is outstanding. If the village of Bilbury does not exist in North Devon, it should. Coleman establishes the locale with atmospheric vignettes and flashes of humor: ",,,[Hurling] is a game that has some passing similarity to hockey, it is played, apparently, without rules and at the end of each match every man on the field is invariably bloodied for there seems to be no constraints n the hitting of opponents with sticks. Hurling is a game that makes rugby, American football and Australian Rules football seem effeminate in comparison and only the Irish seem to play it."

BILBURY CHRONICLES appeals to the same centers of reading pleasure as James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small. Highly recommended. (A)
 
MEANT TO BE is Andreena Catana's variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Fitzwilliam Darcy's running away seems the dominant motif in MEANT TO BE. With Georgiana still angry at his interference at Ramsgate isolating herself, he leaves Pemberley for London, then Rosings. There he first meets Mrs. Collins's friend Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth's attracted but confused about his character; after he explodes over her accidentally overhearing a private conversation and leaves Rosings without farewell, she returns to Longbourn with no expectation of seeing Darcy again. Encouraged by his attentions when he arrives at Netherfield with his friend Charles Bingley, Elizabeth is disappointed by Darcy's disappear-ance after her mother's disastrous picnic and George Wickham's arrival in Meryton. Darcy and Elizabeth meet again in London when she and Jane visit the Gardiners; their reunion is cut short when he departs on unexplained business. Elizabeth is again uncertain until he and Bingley return to Neherfield.

Since Catana uses limited third person through most of MEANT TO BE, Elizabeth's thoughts and feelings are central. Elizabeth creates much of her own angst by over thinking every nuance of her and Darcy's behavior, seeming to look for reasons to doubt. Despite his declaration of loving her at first sight, Darcy demonstrates his lack of respect for Elizabeth by repeatedly singling her out for attention, then abandoning her without explanation, causing her pain and arousing gossip. A brief shift to Darcy's point of view and a prolonged omniscient third person epilogue weaken the focus.

Catana's handling of the Lydia-Wickham situation is unique and appropriate, and her vision of Lydia and Kitty's futures is believable. Mr. Bennet's indolence makes his investment decision improbable. The venture itself adds nothing essential to plot or characterization. While most fan fiction depicts Charlotte Collins as improving her husband's character, in MEANT TO BE she descends to his level to share his reverence for their esteemed patroness. Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Caroline Bingley are nasty to and about Elizabeth and the Bennets without causing major problems.

Editing problems include the usual mistakes with plurals and possessives of names and word choice (e.g., implacable rather than impeccable manners, discreet-discrete, "show your effusion"). Lady Catherine begins a public rant with "My God." Spellings of names change. Is Mr. Gardiner's former business partner named Crampton or Compton, and is it Aunt Philips or Phillips?

MEANT TO BE offers distinctive but not fully developed changes. Another revision could have improved the final proved the final product. (C)
 
NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY is the third book in the French Winemaker mystery series written by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noel Balen. Originally published in French in 2004, it was translated by Sally Pane and issued in digital format in 2014.

Benjamin Cooker, the protagonist, is in Vougeot, Burgundy, to be inducted into the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (Knights of the Tulip) and to wine-tastings for the next Cooker's Guide. He is intrigued by the sudden outbreak of graffiti on local buildings. It's spray painte.d in black, in Latin, quotations from Psalms. The situation turns deadly when two teenagers thought to be vandalizing the post office are shot by an elderly neighbor. Shrewish widow Adele Grangeon awakening to find her bed covered in snow and her house vandalized, complete with black Latin graffiti, adds a new dimension to the problem; it becomes more complicated when the shooter's brother Honore Mancenot is found dead in a ditch beside a deserted country road. Cooker pokes about, using his local contacts to investigate who or what is responsible.

I read and reviewed the first two books in the series without being much impressed but, because sometimes an author takes longer to hit his stride, and because sometimes I lack the proper frame of mind to appreciate the work, I decided to try again.

There's no solvable mystery in NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY. The boys' killer is arrested on the scene. By the next day it's public knowledge they had not been the graffiti artists. The third death is an accident. The graffiti artist, not even a character until the penultimate chapter, is caught by sheer accident. The poltergeist element and the local shaman who exorcises the demonic spirit from Cooker's bottle of wine prolong the story being germane to the mystery.

NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY is a guy lit book with much brand-naming of Cooker's preferred classic cars, gourmet food, superb wines, exclusive cigars, and glorious music (Maria Callas in La traviata). Ever faithful to his beloved wife Elisabeth, lighting candles to pray for Virgile's sister, reading to dying Brother Clement, Cooker is too perfect to be believable. His assistant Virgile (his family name is not given) serves as the vessel into which Cooker distills his wisdom and as his proxy for sex scenes.

Setting, especially atmosphere, is by far the strongest element in NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY. "They both stood at the window, arms crossed, gazing over the seas of grapevines where the silvery sparkling of the trellis met with the luminescence of the sky. The field hands, in groups of three or four, were bending over the rows, straightening the wooden stakes, and stretching wires to attach the branches. Others were burning armfuls of vine shoots pruned over the winter. The plumes of white smoke skimmed the earth, refusing to rise."

Sorry, but NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY is another miss for me. Three strikes, the series is out. (D)
 
Hile asks, "Was there ever a snob like Sir Walter? He fairly leaps from the pages of Jane Austen's Persuasion. With one eye n the looking glass and the other on Who's Who, Sir Walter is Regency England's high society expert. Who better to give advice to the modern young woman wishing to improve her worth through marriage?"

Laura Hile's MARRYING WELL FOR FUN & PROFIT: PERSUASION'S SIR WALTER ELLIOT ADVISES THE UPWARDLY MOBILE MISS is a how-to book of letters to "The Dear Vulgarian Miss." It was published in digital format in 2017. Sir Walter's rules for the genteel art of social climbing are humorous and sometimes practical:

"If you mean to marry well, you must come to terms with the notion of Debt. For the well-born, Debt does not constitute a Crisis. Nor does it call for Drastic Measure. Debt is a fact of life--like death or taxes or the need to wear a topping hat for Opening Day at Ascot."

"Avoid very large gems if you're young. People will assume they are false. Go ahead if you're old, unless the hair is cheaply dyed and the skin tattooed."

"Gaming is an indicator of character, useful in assessing potential husbands. Wouldn't you rather spend his money on clothes instead of on his gaming debts?"

"The best Sunday service combines religious exercise with haute couture."

"New clothes are in harmony with the Christian idea of Spiritual Renewal."

"Convenience store coffee--'Cheappaccino'--is to be avoided at all costs. If you are desperate, ditch the ugly paper cup. Use a svelte thermal flask."

"No more than one glass of champagne or punch. Make it last the evening. The drunken antics of the other guests are best forgotten, of course. Unless you have a penchant for blackmail!"

"An unhappy fact of life is this: upon occasion, one is obliged to Apologize. Not or having wrong actions or opinions, mind, but because one's fellow creatures are hopelessly stupid and they misunderstand."

"Pretend to lose your cell phone and ask him to call it--giving him your number."

"A mother-in-law who is deceased is one of the benefits to marrying a much-older gentleman."

MARRYING WELL FOR FUN & PROFIT is good fun, with some of Sir Walter's edicts echoing Jeff Foxworthy's fashion advice for rednecks. The excerpts above illustrate its major flaw. Sir Walter's voice (and capitalization) is inconsistent, veering between Regency notions and modern slang. (B)
 
A MOST HANDSOME MAN is Suzan Lauder's comic novel loosely based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Her changes to the canon's story line and characters are too extensive to call her text simply a variant. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Elizabeth Bennet is happy that her sister Jane who's been ill at Netherfield is sufficiently recovered for them to return home. Longbourn's pandemonium is preferable to Caroline Bingley's sniping and Fitzwilliam Darcy's disdain. Life becomes more chaotic with the arrival of William Collins to inventory and appraise his eventual inheritance. Lydia is so overcome by his devastatingly good looking face, figure, voice, and movement that she literally swoons at his feet. Collins is vain about his looks and situation, talking constantly about himself and his desirability to women. He's highly judgmental, offering harsh public censure for others' shortcomings, feeling entitled to do so as a clergyman favored by Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He's determined to marry Jane despite Mrs. Bennet's assurances that she's committed, if not already engaged, to Charles Bingley. Elizabeth and Mrs. Bennet are both intent on promoting Jane and Bingley's romance, Collins on disrupting it in his own favor. Elizabeth wants to clarify her feelings about Darcy, especially after George Wickham arrives in Meryton to spread his stories.

Lauder's changes make for slapstick comedy scenes. but it's easy to relax and enjoy the silliness. I do not want to spoil it by revealing too much. Though Lauder modifies all the characters to varying extents, the major plot changes grow out of her revised William Collins. Too stupid about people to be a full-blown narcissist, he's well-along in the spectrum. His constant self-promotion and demands for attention remind me of Professor of Dark Arts Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) in 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A MOST HANDSOME MAN's humor is much more Saturday Night Live (complete with male slapping fight) than Austen, but it's good fun. (A)
 
"The Dancing Monkeys" is Sherwood Smith's short story sequel to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park that incorporates some of the Royal Navy men from Persuasion. It is available in digital format.

A year after the scandal with Maria Rushworth, Henry Crawford wanders Europe, regretting his choices. At overcrowded Gibraltar, Lieutenant William Price offers him accommodations on H.M.S. Laconia, captained by Frederick Wentworth. At sea, he experiences a naval battle with a French ship and is wounded while acting as a powder boy for the guns commanded by Price. He even earns £200 prize money for his part in the battle. Shipboard observations and conversations with Price about Fanny lead Crawford to discuss with Wentworth expanded ideas of honor, duty, and strength that include a woman.

This is my first exposure to Sherwood Smith's Austen fan fiction, but it will not be the last. Smith's writing is accomplished. Working within the constraints of the short story genre, she creates characters who are believable versions of Austen's originals. Crawford acknowledges his turpitude: "The Laconia was fighting to stave off French incursions as the allies prepared to encircle Boney from all sides. What could Henry Crawford lay claim to in achievement? Debauching another man's wife, and losing the one woman he had ever loved. Nor were these two actions related to the same woman, so he had not even the excuse of devotion." William Price continues to fulfill his early promise. Smith implies that Crawford influences the introspection that returns Wentworth to Anne Elliot.

Sense of place, both of Gibraltar and aboard the Laconia, is outstanding. Use of naval jargon and slang reveals extensive research. The text is refreshingly well-edited. (solid A)
 
NETHERFIELD PROPOSAL is Campbell Davies's variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Fitzwilliam Darcy has struggled with his love for Elizabeth Bennet for a month and, convinced that she cares for him, proposes to her at the ball at Netherfiield. Discovering them on a dark balcony with Darcy kneeling at her daughter's feet and holding her hand, Mrs. Bennet declares Elizabeth compromised. As dictated by honor, Darcy asks and receives Mr. Bennet's consent to their marriage; But she had refused his proposal. Now Elizabeth must marry him or be cast out of Longbourn. Calling the banns gives Darcy one month in which to win Elizabeth's love before their wedding.

Davies shows the story mostly through Elizabeth's eye, driving the action with her confusion about Darcy's character. Can she believe his professed love and devoted behavior, when Darcy remains aloof and disdainful of her neighbors and family? She's influenced by George Wickham's stories about Darcy and even more by Darcy's habit of making decisions affecting them both without consulting her. Can she expect him ever to treat her as a partner, not a puppet?

In NETHERFIELD PROPOSAL, both parties are at fault in the ongoing angst. Darcy loves Elizabeth because of her independent spirit and honest expression of ideas, yet he repeatedly disrespects her by acting first and explaining later. His obstinate secrecy about George Wickham adds to her unease. Elizabeth, in turn, goes out of her way to find reasons to doubt Darcy. She takes offense, then refuses to explain what's wrong, creating tension. These behaviors do not bode well for happy marriage.

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILER~~~

Davies tacks on Georgiana's attempted abduction and Elizabeth's serious injury as padding more than an integral part of the plot. Davies does not explain how Wickham manages to deliver a letter to Georgiana or to obtain a servant's livery and admission to Netherfield. TSTL decisions set up the episode. Assuming him ignorant of Georgiana's whereabouts, Darcy destroys Wickham's standing in Meryton without making provision to protect either her or Elizabeth. When Elizabeth finally learns of Darcy's actions, she does not reveal that she'd told Wickham of Georgiana's presence at Netherfield. Most TSTL of all, Georgiana meets Wickham on the outskirts of the garden as darkness falls, an unsuspecting Elizabeth her only protection.

Reworking the plot structure in NETHERFIELD PROPOSAL could greatly strengthen the work. (C)
 
THE TRICKSTER'S LULLABY is the second book in Barbara Fradkin's Amanda Doucette mystery series. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Amanda Doucette, former international aid worker who now runs Fun for Families charity tours, takes a diverse group of needy immigrant students into Mont Tremblant National Park north of Montreal. Monsieur Zidane, Algerian-born counselor at College de La Salle, chose all but one of the students; Amanda overruled him to include Luc Prevost, whose mother had accused Zidane of anti-Canadian, pro-Muslim discrimination. The students will spend five days exploring wild Canada and bonding with each other. Zidane and backcountry outfitters Sylvie and Sebastian Laroque are guides, with Amanda as leader. Amanda picks up unexplained tensions in camp, but she's surprised when Luc snowshoes away from the camp during the second night. Tracking him to the trailhead, Amanda discovers that he'd been picked up by an all-terrain vehicle. Where is he going, with whom, and why? Until the body of a murdered man is found some miles away, Luc's mother refuses for Amanda to call the police. Then the girl Yasmina goes missing, and Zidane clandestinely returns to Montreal. Amanda's questioning of the students and her journalist friend Matthew Goderich's investigations in the city reveal both students with ISIS connections.

I give up at 48 percent. One reason is Fradkin's treatment of the students. She is explicit that there are six young males, three of whom are Arab, on the trip. However, she names five, leaving the third young Arab man unidentified. Of the nine students, only four emerge as distinct personalities. I expect more of Fradkin as a writer. A second problem is the theme. I understand that ISIS has successfully recruited many young Westerners to Islamic jihad, but I choose not to read about it.

The biggest problem in THE TRICKSTER'S LULLABY is with the protagonist Amanda Doucette's poor decision making. Despite multiple misgivings--Zidane's alleged favoritism for Muslim students, Luc's drug use and criminal record, Muslim challenge to the woman guide, the Laroques' motive for suggesting the trip--she ignores her instincts to continue the trip as planned. She assumes responsibility for nine students, one of whom she's met, winter camping (-15℃ = 5℉) in wilderness not accessible to vehicles, with three other adults with whom she's only acquainted. Amanda goes where regular cell phone coverage ranges from spotty to nonexistent with only one satellite telephone, which is not in her possession and without means to recharge. She allows Luc's mother to decide when to report Luc to the police as missing and Zidane and the Laroques to persuade her to continue the camp after discovery of the murdered man. Her idealism about Luc and Yasmina's motives is unbelievably naive, given that she still suffers from major PTSD after her experience in a Nigerian atrocity carried out by young jihadi.

I'm much disappointed in THE TRICKSTER'S LULLABY. No grade because not finished.
 
PRIDE AND PERSISTENCE is Jeanna Ellsworth's novel using characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in e-book format in 2014.

The morning after his disastrous proposal to Elizabeth Bennet at Hunsford while delivering his letter of explanation, Fitzwilliam Darcy is severely injured when his horse takes fright in a powerful storm. He suffers a broken foot and a severe blow to the head. Elizabeth organizes his rescue and nursing; with Darcy responsive to her presence even when unconscious, she becomes even more important when he awakens with partial amnesia and recurring short term memory loss. His last memory is his intention to propose to Elizabeth. Each morning on awakening, he has forgotten the previous day's explanations, but he is obsessive with his proposals of marriage to Elizabeth. Both his doctor and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam ask that she not agitate Darcy by outright refusal but to ask for more time to decide, giving him hope and time to heal. She agrees reluctantly, with the story unfolding the change in her feelings toward Darcy and Lady Catherine de Bourgh's attempts to use of his memory problems for her own purpose.

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS~~~

PRIDE AND PERSISTENCE changes so much that it's really a contemporary novel using the names of Austen characters. Medical treatments are more current than Regency, including a private duty nurse experienced in tending physical therapy and head trauma patients. Ellsworth explicitly develops Darcy's determination not to relieve himself in a chamber pot. Lady Catherine's move to have Darcy declared mentally incompetent follows mid-twentieth century practice. On the other hand, Ellsworth includes several long prayers exceedingly pious even in nineteenth-century terms.

Other time-period problems involve anachronisms. Collins refers to Charlotte as "happy as a gorilla with bananas" when the term "gorilla" was not applied to the primate until the species was described scientifically in 1847. He runs about the parsonage in his nightshirt in Elizabeth's presence. Charlotte, when she introduces herself to Georgiana Darcy, asks to be called "Charlotte." In Austen's time, this informality is inappropriate; until the higher status person initiates the intimacy implied by use of Christian names, formal address was expected, especially of a young unmarried woman to an older married one.

Changes coarsen Austen's characters. Collins is completely repulsive--hairy except on his head, with tongue too big for his mouth, constantly drooling or spattering his listener when he talks. Lady Catherine is perverse and actively malevolent far beyond Austen, though her plots against Elizabeth and Darcy are feeble in comparison to her past actions. Most of the story is seen through Elizabeth, an inconsistent mixture of modern and antique attitudes. Knowing that Colonel Fitzwilliam is limiting his aunt's access to Darcy and details of his medical condition, Elizabeth's gluttony for tea-time goodies at Rosings distracts her into providing Lady Catherine full information on Darcy's memory problems. Darcy takes advantage of Elizabeth's compassion and confused feelings to manipulate her into accepting his proposal.

I am most bothered by inclusions of motifs from television and films. Darcy's meeting Elizabeth to hand over his explanatory letter recalls the 1999 miniseries adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, in which Molly Gibson and Roger Hambley stand in drenching rain to clarify their feelings to each other. Darcy's short-term memory loss compensated for by a written explanation which he reads every morning upon awakening equates use of the VHS tape in 2004's Fifty First Dates. Darcy's daily proposal and his unwavering belief that this time Elizabeth will accept him, with Elizabeth as the character who evolves to get it right, echoes 1993's Groundhog Day.

Though PRIDE AND PERSISTENCE could benefit from further revision, it's not a bad story. It's just not very Austen. (B)
 
BILBURY GRANGE is the second book in Vernon Coleman's Young Country Doctor series set in Bilbury, Kent. Originally published in 1993, it was reissued in free or inexpensive digital format in 2014.

BILBURY GRANGE opens in May 1972 with newlyweds Vernon and Patsy Coleman on honeymoon in their recently purchased, nearly derelict country house. The story line is slice of life as they face the realities of life in and financing for its renovation with aid from friends Thumper Robinson, who instructs them about builders and estimates, and Patchy Fogg, who teaches them about auctions. Eager for income, they learn from the first two parties who rent their holiday flat and find markets for their organic produce. Vernon has a variety of quirky patients, including two women addicted to Angipax, a new drug being widely prescribed as part of pharmaceutical trials. A 500-home development project threatens to change the village completely. Still under attack by young Dr. Brownlow, in Barnstable, the local National Health Service administrator determines that the Blbury practice is too small to be economically viable, leaving Vernon the choice of the health centre for the new development, a new job elsewhere, or leaving the profession.

The characters in BILBURY GRANGE are mostly appealing, though Coleman has little sympathy for the pompous and pretentious, I especially like Thumper Robinson who's so adept at working the system, and Mr. Yardley, the DYI who stitched his own barbed-wire lacerations and, even though he'd not had sex in 23 years, refused blood pressure medications that might cause impotence because, as he says, you never know when you might get lucky. Love of the Devon countryside and people shines through.

BILBURY GRANGE is ideal for a cozy read with a cup of tea. (A-)
 
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