Stargazey

I thought Stargazey was a well-crafted mystery, and liked how the author mentioned starry things throughout. The red herrings were low key and didn't scream out at you, and the ones that didn't amount to anything worked out as coincidence. I liked how Melrose was involved and how he and Jury knew where the answer to the mystery was long before they untangled everything. I liked the descriptions of the men at Melrose's club and the bit where Melrose finds out they were true heroes back in the day. That spoke volumes of how our different generations act and view life and loyalty.

An adjunct suggestion before our next discussion

A lovely book, and perhaps a nice read after Out Stealing Horses, is this, by Tove Jansson. Kathryn Davis has written the introduction to the one published by the NY Review of Books that we can get in the United States, but I'd love to read the intro by Esther Freud (follow the link). Esther Freud wrote the great Hideous Kinky, partly based on her own childhood, and Kathryn Davis wrote one of my favorite books, The Thin Place



I'm furiously finishing Stargazey, but I thought you'd like to have another thing in the stack by your chair or bed . . .

Stargazing...and more!

I finally finished up the book "The Stargazey" to-day. Won't divulge any-thing here, as yet( that'll all be in my review when I get back, which will be late ). A lot of questions I did have, were answered in this book. Now if I can just get in some more reading time...

I also managed to track down a copy of "Send Bygraves"( also by Martha Grimes ),which is a novelette set to verse. Got hooked on the first page! And Megan was kind enough to send me a copy of "Belle Ruin"( looking forward to that ). Many thanks to Megan...

The topic of reading books from another culture( and author of such ) has always intrigued me. Like "OSH", it gives one a glimpse into another world. Hence, I'm still struggling through "The Portable Nietzsche"( Walter Kaufmann~~Princeton University`1954( 3rd printing April 1959 )-Viking Press. Nietzsche being a German philosopher in the latter half of the 19th century. 'Tis too long a read for a month; more like a year! This is one big book! And deep...

Instead, I submit for consideration( for a possible July read ) "Dee Goong An" or "The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee". It's a translated 18th century novel, based on a real Chinese Judge from 7th century A.C.E.( or A.D. ), Judge Dee( b.630-d.700 ). A fantastic tale not only of an era from long ago, but how things were done, as far as the criminal element went, back then. Except for the harsh punishments, the tale can be time-less. Don't know how easy a copy would be to get hold of. I've an old Dover edition from 1976( based on a privately published edition from Tokyo in 1949~~under the title "Dee Goong An: Three Murder Cases Solved by Judge Dee ). And it's probably not for every-one, so beware if you do find a copy. But then again you've all probably seen worse on CNN( which I still boycott ).