Photo Finish (Ngaio Marsh)

I love this genre and even though Ngaio Marsh is generally considered one of the Queens of Crime, I have to (embarrassingly) admit that this is my first book by her. Perhaps its because she doesn’t seem to be very popular in India, atleast to the extent that Agatha Christie & even Dorothy Sayers are. Perhaps its also that she hasn’t written very many novels and has only the one detective creation – the likeable Roderick “Rory” Alleyn, the supposedly Handsome Sleuth.

Being a New Zealander, many of her works are set in that lovely country, including this one. When his artist wife Troy gets an invite to paint a portrait of the famous opera singer Isabella Sommita, Alleyn is also encouraged by his boss to accompany her to observe the singer & her companions. Little does he realise that he will soon be involved in a murder case, as the idyllic calm of their private island retreat in New Zealand is shattered by the murder of the Sommita, even as a local storm cuts them off from all access to the mainland. Alleyn has a tricky murder to resolve, a kind of closed-room case. Marsh builds up the case nicely, her writing is literature quality, the English is unapologetically British and the characters – most of them atleast – seem to have refined backgrounds. But murder is murder and Alleyn sets about unravelling each thread in this well-paced novel.

If this is the kind of stuff she has written, I am hooked.

 

Ripley Under Ground

For all those who thought that crime thrillers are serious stuff, here’s a book to make you change your mind. Tom Ripley returns as the audacious crook now living the good life in France, married to a rich & beautiful girl. There is reference to his past life as Dickie Greenleaf’s friend but the story starts with the dust having more or less settled on that affair. Instead, we learn of Ripley’s discrete involvement in a long-running forgery scam which shows signs of unravelling when a rich American connoisseur becomes suspicious of a painting by the famous Derwatt which he feels is a forgery. It is indeed a forgery, for Derwatt has long been dead and all his paintings are the works of a minor painter – which is the basis of the scam architected by Ripley & his friends, which includes the guilt-ridden painter Bernard Tufts. Tom Ripley, however, doesn’t want the beans to be spilled on a financially enriching scheme that’s been working well. The book takes us on a hilarious yet thrilling journey from France to London and around Europe as Riple resorts to all means to justify his ends.

Ripley is a rogue, street-smart made rich, amoral and free from the trials of guilt or conscience, yet very likeable, to the extent that one keeps wishing – secretly perhaps – for him to succeed.

Ideally this book can be better enjoyed were one to read the series in order, but even otherwise its fun. This was my first Ripley book and not having read the first one made no difference. I can’t wait to start on the next though.

 

The Disappearing Spoon

What a fascinating and enjoyable book this is! The periodic table is something that we all learn about first in school and then for most of us, its relegated to a corner of the brain hardly ever figuring in our daily lives.
We know the table exists but it barely registers on the surface. In this brilliant book, Sam Kean brings it back with a bang and takes us on a journey across the rows and down the columns of the table, giving us a view of its history, how the table got its present shape and the elements that make it up. In the process, we are re-introduced to the elements, their characteristics & general properties, how they relate & intermingle with other elements, what makes them interesting or unique, etc. The chapters in the book group elements by properties that we can relate to, for instance their use in money or in medicine. The author has also avoided repeating the same elements in chapters, so each chapter presents a new set of stories & incidents around a fresh set of elements. Sam Kean’s writing style is light, easy & witty and he avoids getting into too much technical detail, so the lay person who last came across the periodic table in school can still enjoy this book and share the thrill of the early chemists & scientists in their discoveries & inventions.

This book deservedly made it to the shortlist for the Royal Society’s award for Science books in 2011.

A Murder of Quality

John Le Carre’s likeable and intelligent detective George Smiley is requested to investigate a murder in one of England’s leading schools. The victim seems to have foreseen her own murder but as Smiley finds out when he gets there, everything is not as straightforward as it seems. The police are unable to penetrate the upperclass snobbishness of Carne’s masters to conduct a regular investigation and it requires Smiley’s ingenuity & easy charm to get to the bottom of the puzzle. The quality of writing is excellent and the atmosphere of a leading public school is captured brilliantly in this relatively slim work.

 

My Friend Maigret (Mon Ami Maigret)

The Maigret series had been a conspicuous omission from both my collection and the list of books that I have read, so when I came across this English translation of Mon Ami Maigret, I couldn’t wait to start on it and judge for myself how good this much-written about French detective is. I enjoyed the book. Maigret is a little similar in his style and approach to the Colin Dexter creation Inspector Morse. He’s easy-going, not too particular about procedures and sharp but without giving the impression of smartness. This particular story is about the death of a trampish character in a sunny French island. The evening before his death, he announces to all that he is a friend of Maigret’s and that night he is killed. Maigret is called in because of this connection and he’s only too happy to escape from a rain-drenched Paris to sunny Porqueroles. He is accompanied by a Scotland Yard inspector who has come over to study Maigret’s methods. The location is exotic with a good mix of colourful characters. Simenon conveys the atmosphere of the place very well. The mystery itself is light but its enjoyable to keep company with Maigret as he progresses it at a steady pace to a satisfactory conclusion.

Good, light, enjoyable read.

 

Crime

This is a very good collection of short stories by some well-known authors, including Graham Green & Robert Barr. I feel short crime stories are a difficult genre. In this collection, we have such gems as The Case For the Defence by Graham Greene, which is a powerfully written tale that ends with what seems to be a case of divine justice being enacted but still leaving a loose end open. A Retrieved Reformation by O Henry is a popular heartwarming crime story – the day I read it in this collection, I also happened to spot it in my nephew’s school text book. There’s The Lost Special by Arthur Conan Doyle which refers in a roundabout way to his famous creation Mr Holmes without directly naming him, but which in itself is a very good tale of a locomotive that mysteriously vanishes. Finally, I liked An Alpine Divorce by Robert Barr where a wife pays the ultimate price to get one-up over the husband she hates. There are other stories too and by not naming them I don’t imply they are any less effective in presenting the thrill of the chase.

 

An Unsuitable Job For a Woman

This novel introduces P D James’ other detective creation – the young Cordelia Gray, who becomes the sole owner of the Pryde Detective Agency after the suicide at the start of her partner. Even as she is just getting to grips with the changed scenario, she has a case thrust on her which takes her away to Cambridge to find out why young Mark Callender committed suicide. Armed with her wits and an unlicensed gun left to her by her late partner and aided by his plentiful advice, she sets about getting to the bottom of the mystery. As she starts unravelling the threads, she finds out the hard way that it will take all her wits & ingenuity to solve the puzzle.

This is a light easy detective story. It has none of the heavy atmosphere that P D James creates very effectively in her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. Incidentally Mr Dalgliesh makes an appearance in this book too, at the end for a couple of pages. The action is much faster and the mystery quotient a little less. Cordelia Gray comes across as an intelligent & likeable person, closer to normal than the very perceptive Adam Dalgliesh. However, its hard to reconcile with her quickly-developed affection for the subject of her investigation.

Overall this book is a passable read. The detection levels are sub-par for P D James and all the threads tie up too nicely at the end. For Adam Dalgliesh fans, this book is best avoided or to be read at a reduced expectation level.