I failed to get this posted in time for a Friday Book Blog, but I do want to recommend this week, the Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery Hunting Shadows by Charles Todd. I love everything by Charles Todd: all of the troubled Inspector's books and all the ones featuring WWI nurse Bess Crawford who, for my money, is more honestly drawn that her more famous literary twin, Maisie Dobbs (of the Jacqueline Winspear novels).
(In case you missed it, I really like Charles Todd novels.)
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query charles todd. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query charles todd. Sort by date Show all posts
September 6, 2014
January 29, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
This week was a bit of a rerun. I picked up books by authors who have all been tipped here on the Friday Book Blog. Of the five books I read, one was a Dorothy L. Sayers, one a Charles Todd, and one a C.J. Sansom. All three were well worth the search at the library. Sayers is always good. Todd's was grim, but compelling. And Sansom's was full of intrigue.
I'm choosing as my favorite of the week, Charles Todd's A Cold Treachery, partly because, as I got to page 20 or so, I was convinced I would hate it but by the time I hit page 50, I was hooked.
I'm choosing as my favorite of the week, Charles Todd's A Cold Treachery, partly because, as I got to page 20 or so, I was convinced I would hate it but by the time I hit page 50, I was hooked.
December 27, 2010
Friday Monday Book Blogging
Sorry about not giving you a Friday book blog pick for the week, but, you know it was Christmas, right?
Things are kinda getting back to normal here. I did read some books last week in between baking and visiting and wrapping presents and last-minute shopping and pigging out. I stuck with mostly old favorites this week: authors I know I love. The top honors have to go to Charles Todd for An Impartial Witness.
Although Nicola Upson does wonderful work fleshing out her characters in her second Josephine Tey mystery, and Elizabeth Peters can't write a bad novel, Todd really delivers with the second Bess Crawford story, even though I guessed the bad guy. The Todd writing team really have a gift for capturing WWI England. Between Todd and Jacqueline Winspear, WWI has a great showing in current mystery fiction.
Things are kinda getting back to normal here. I did read some books last week in between baking and visiting and wrapping presents and last-minute shopping and pigging out. I stuck with mostly old favorites this week: authors I know I love. The top honors have to go to Charles Todd for An Impartial Witness.
Although Nicola Upson does wonderful work fleshing out her characters in her second Josephine Tey mystery, and Elizabeth Peters can't write a bad novel, Todd really delivers with the second Bess Crawford story, even though I guessed the bad guy. The Todd writing team really have a gift for capturing WWI England. Between Todd and Jacqueline Winspear, WWI has a great showing in current mystery fiction.
August 13, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
So here's the deal. This week I only read four books due to the fact that I quit smoking and I have had to remain almost manically busy in order to keep from going insane with desire for a cigarette. The bad part of all this is that I don't really have a decent recommendation this week.
I read the latest Molly Murphy mystery by Rhys Bowen, The Last Illusion and Charles Todd's A Fearsome Doubt. Both were enjoyable. Neither one is the author's best effort. I also read a completely formulaic remake of Pygmalion called The Overnight Socialite.
Nothing was inspiring. I'm going to have to choose the Todd if only because the writing and characterization is outstanding.
I read the latest Molly Murphy mystery by Rhys Bowen, The Last Illusion and Charles Todd's A Fearsome Doubt. Both were enjoyable. Neither one is the author's best effort. I also read a completely formulaic remake of Pygmalion called The Overnight Socialite.
Nothing was inspiring. I'm going to have to choose the Todd if only because the writing and characterization is outstanding.
May 28, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
This week's haul back to the library was seven books, but one of them I didn't finish. (I did get to page 75.) The non-finisher was a surprise disappointment because I really enjoyed a previous book by the author.
First place, however, goes again to Charles Todd. This mother-son writing team score with the latest Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, The Red Door. Pitch-perfect male and female characters, an honest sense of history, and a complicated but believable plot make this series one that never disappoints.
First place, however, goes again to Charles Todd. This mother-son writing team score with the latest Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, The Red Door. Pitch-perfect male and female characters, an honest sense of history, and a complicated but believable plot make this series one that never disappoints.
January 26, 2013
Friday Saturday Book Blogging
I have tipped Charles Todd no fewer than EIGHT times in my Friday Book Blogs, and here is number nine. This week I read the Todds' latest effort featuring Bess Crawford, WWI British nurse. Her character is reminiscent of Maisie Dobbs of Jacqueline Winspear creation (or maybe it's vice versa). Bess's adventure in An Unmarked Grave is darker and more battle-hardened.
October 5, 2012
Friday Book Blogging
Trying to get back to some semblance of normal this week leads to an actual Friday Book Blog pick. Charles Todd tops the week with the latest installment of the Inspector Ian Rutledge series, The Confession.
Rutledge is a remarkable lead in all the books, and in each, he becomes more fleshed out. The setting is strongly evocative with sinister whispers and a small xenophobic town. My only (minor) complaints are that the book finishes quickly in the manner of Sherlock Holmes stories in which we are told the master detective had discovered the key, but must wait for the author to share the insight with us lowly readers. And that the female characters are weak.
Still, the writing is excellent and the mystery is entertaining.
Rutledge is a remarkable lead in all the books, and in each, he becomes more fleshed out. The setting is strongly evocative with sinister whispers and a small xenophobic town. My only (minor) complaints are that the book finishes quickly in the manner of Sherlock Holmes stories in which we are told the master detective had discovered the key, but must wait for the author to share the insight with us lowly readers. And that the female characters are weak.
Still, the writing is excellent and the mystery is entertaining.
November 15, 2013
Friday Book Blogging
This was another three-book week, but this time, Charles Todd easily won the top spot. With his latest Inspector Rutledge mystery, the crimes are getting more complicated and Rutledge is getting less haunted. Both circumstances work to the advantage of the reader. In earlier novels, the horrors of the war and the "shell shock" were almost overwhelming (to the character, but also for the reader). Proof of Guilt is complex and odd and missing the ultimate justice of seeing the bad guy pay for his crimes, but it is gratifying nonetheless.
February 8, 2015
Friday Sunday Book Blogging
I had a Friday Book Blog, but I've been fighting something nasty and didn't post it in time.
Here it is Sunday:
My favorite book this week was Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver. She isn't going to win any awards for detective fiction, but it was a fun read. Once a person has consumed all the Inter-War British period detective stories that were written contemporanously, one has to accept newer "historical" fictions. And since I'm all caught up on Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, Laurie R. King, Anne Perry, Will Thomas, etc, etc, etc. I have to make due with new authors. I will allow that I liked the story and the characters have a lot of potential should she choose to make a series.
Here it is Sunday:
My favorite book this week was Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver. She isn't going to win any awards for detective fiction, but it was a fun read. Once a person has consumed all the Inter-War British period detective stories that were written contemporanously, one has to accept newer "historical" fictions. And since I'm all caught up on Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, Laurie R. King, Anne Perry, Will Thomas, etc, etc, etc. I have to make due with new authors. I will allow that I liked the story and the characters have a lot of potential should she choose to make a series.
January 31, 2014
Friday Book Blogging
Of course the winning book this week is one of my favorite authors, Charles Todd. A Question of Honor takes us back to India in 1908 and then 10 years later to the last summer of the war. The story is complicated and the characters are nuanced. Bess Crawford makes a likable protagonist, especially in her moments of doubt. She is reminiscent of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, but more decisive and sure of her footing.
July 16, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
I impressed myself by reading six books this week. This may seem like my usual average, but you have to take into account that we threw Punkinhead's graduation party last Saturday and spent a whole day "company cleaning" the house, so six is pretty good.
I really liked Charles Todd's A Duty to the Dead featuring Bess Crawford as a WWI nurse, but top honors this week go to Ayelet Waldman. I've been reading her Mommy-Track mystery series the same way I sneak gumdrops from the candy dish. Death Gets a Time Out is the one I finished this week, and it was suitably complicated (I didn't guess the answer.) and not too angsty which was her tendency early-on in the series. Maybe I'm completely lacking in empathy (not impossible --ask my kid), but I never worried as much as her mommy, Juliet Applebaum, does. I'm also far enough away from the toddler period (see above reference to graduation) that I can remember that time fondly. At any rate, Juliet is getting more sleep by book three and the mystery is a bit juicier. Candy-read for summertime. Yum.
I really liked Charles Todd's A Duty to the Dead featuring Bess Crawford as a WWI nurse, but top honors this week go to Ayelet Waldman. I've been reading her Mommy-Track mystery series the same way I sneak gumdrops from the candy dish. Death Gets a Time Out is the one I finished this week, and it was suitably complicated (I didn't guess the answer.) and not too angsty which was her tendency early-on in the series. Maybe I'm completely lacking in empathy (not impossible --ask my kid), but I never worried as much as her mommy, Juliet Applebaum, does. I'm also far enough away from the toddler period (see above reference to graduation) that I can remember that time fondly. At any rate, Juliet is getting more sleep by book three and the mystery is a bit juicier. Candy-read for summertime. Yum.
January 15, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
This week I finished seven books, one of which I have been meaning to read for decades. I finally read the Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, and, while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I don't think a "top pick" in my puny book blog is a meaningful accolade for this classic.
Besides, I liked better the psychological twists of Charles Todd's The Murder Stone. Set in 1916 England at the height of WWI, Francesca Hatton survives the wartime deaths of her five cousins who were like brothers to her and her grandfather who raised them. Upon her grandfather's death she is presented with a mystery and through her grief she grasps at bits and pieces of her life and memories to solve it.
The wounded (physically and mentally) men and mourning women of the story provide depth. The confusion of emotions comes through evocatively in the writing without being morose. And the ending is great.
Not a true "whodunit," this book is much more than tracing clues from a dead body. Even non-mystery lovers will enjoy this story.
Besides, I liked better the psychological twists of Charles Todd's The Murder Stone. Set in 1916 England at the height of WWI, Francesca Hatton survives the wartime deaths of her five cousins who were like brothers to her and her grandfather who raised them. Upon her grandfather's death she is presented with a mystery and through her grief she grasps at bits and pieces of her life and memories to solve it.
The wounded (physically and mentally) men and mourning women of the story provide depth. The confusion of emotions comes through evocatively in the writing without being morose. And the ending is great.
Not a true "whodunit," this book is much more than tracing clues from a dead body. Even non-mystery lovers will enjoy this story.
January 27, 2012
Friday Book Blogging
Since I skipped last week's to bring you the alarming news of Squirrel Appreciation Day (mark your 2013 calendars now, folks!) I'm adding last week's three to this week's three for a humiliating total of six books in 14 days.
The clear winner is Charles Todd's A Lonely Death. Inspector Ian Rutledge is back with his WWI ghosts and his indefatigable sense of justice. The Inspector Rutledge novels are always more than the sum of their parts. The murder investigation is completely secondary to the interplay of the characters and the story of Ian himself as he struggles with his shell shock, survivor's guilt, love, death, and police politics.
I'm a big fan of this mother-son author team, as evidenced by how many times they have made the Friday Book Blog.
The clear winner is Charles Todd's A Lonely Death. Inspector Ian Rutledge is back with his WWI ghosts and his indefatigable sense of justice. The Inspector Rutledge novels are always more than the sum of their parts. The murder investigation is completely secondary to the interplay of the characters and the story of Ian himself as he struggles with his shell shock, survivor's guilt, love, death, and police politics.
I'm a big fan of this mother-son author team, as evidenced by how many times they have made the Friday Book Blog.
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