More new reads...More Sherlock...Deb Crombie...Amelia Peabody...

Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye (2009) No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie (2012)

Gallows View by Peter Robinson (1990)

Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A compendium by Elizabeth Peters, Kristen Whitbread and Dennis Forbes (2003)

Lyndsay Faye's new and highly acclaimed novel The Gods of Gotham is set in 1840's New York during the early days of the police force in that city. A future read but I wanted to read her 1st novel, Dust and Shadow,  more Sherlockiana (see some of my recent blogs). I read her novel with a map of London and a "Ripperology" website at my side. Her novel is well-researched and enjoyable. It is tightly plotted but as in all of the recent Sherlockiana novels, Downey/Law movies, and the BBC TV series (2nd series airing in the US in May), they are interested in giving Sherlock a lot of emotions, sometimes a wife or girlfriend, and perhaps more physicality than is canonical. Now I need to re-read the originals to see what is or is not canon.

I was looking forward to Deb Crombie's new novel and it did not disappoint. There is a ripping mystery involving rowing, posh Henley rowing clubs, and the power hierarchy and sexism at the Met (London Police). Detectives (and new spouses) Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James must combine work and family life as they try to make a good life for themselves and their children while solving dastardly, complex crimes (try that, Ann Romney!) and navigating the tricky waters of the Yard politics. 

In my last blog, I discussed Peter Robinson's latest Before the Poison. I wanted to read his Inspector Banks series, starting with the first, Gallows View. Since the first, he's written a lot of this series, 20 books or so. In the first, Banks and his family have just moved to small town in Yorkshire, where a peeping Tom, angry local feminists, a gorgeous psychologist, and a nasty sociopathic youth gang lead to all kinds of crime - including murder. The small town is full of interesting characters - like an updated Miss Marple would find in council flats and posh new estates. It's good stuff.

Last, Amelia Peabody's Egypt is a fun companion to Elizabeth Peters' archaeological mysteries set in 1880's to 1920's Egypt. It is great fun reading about the actual investigators like Flinders Petrie and Howard Carter and puts some more meat on the bones of Peters' backstories of Egyptology, fashion, suffrage, and espionage. 

New Deborah Crombie coming soon

No Mark Upon Her
Coming out in the US: February 2012
http://www.deborahcrombie.com/

I'm really looking forward to it. Her previous outings with Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, police procedurals set in the UK were enjoyable and the setting so convincing you'd never know that Crombie is a Texan. She does spend a lot of time in the UK. Good stuff.

As I point out in a previous post, she explores many different parts of London in her novels ~ http://hitormystery.blogspot.com/2010/03/deborah-crombie-cant-believe-she-lives.html.

And here's an article by Ms. Crombie where she explains what areas of London her novels explore and how she feels about it:
Http://www.mysteryreaders.org/Issues/london1.html#crombie 

I kind of agree but  never figured out a way to spend half my time in the UK. I'll have to write my own novel set on the Ridgeway or do something complicated with the Thames or tides like in Sayers' Have His Carcase.

Sub-genres

I try to talk about the sub-genres of crime fiction in my reviews. I  never thought about the definitions of these  before I started this blog (although I had heard the terms bandied about). I only knew if I liked it or not. this blog has really changed my thought process about what I read and why I like it and I never really thought about that before.  It's  niche, sub genre, a tiny part of the reading public we fit within (and can be marketed to!)

With that in mind I did a little research into the sub-genre category and found these handy and neat definitions in the for mystery addict listserve:

Fred Runk's definitions on 4MA. All of these have substantial followings.

I present this here and add  a little (see italics):

1. Police procedurals: police officers, sheriffs, FBI, law enforcement officers in general. PD James' Dalgleish for example, King's Kate Martinelli.  
Martha Grimes' Richard Jury, J.D. Robb's Eve Dallas, Deborah Crombie's Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid, Louise Penny's Armande Gamache, J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady. This is one of the most popular types - some are set in the past, future, or an exotic locale.


2. Talented Amateurs: Like Emma Peel! Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple," Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael, Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey, or anyone who ends up stumbling over an inordinate number of dead bodies. This also includes non-human detectives.   
I hate dog and cat mysteries; let me say that again! There are lots of these like Diane Mott Davidson's caterer Goldy Schultz, Hank Phillippi Ryan's Charlotte McNally, Sarah Graham's Jacobia Tiptree, Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper, Carolyn Hart's Annie Darling, Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles, David Skebbins' Warren Ritter, C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr. Some of these are cosies if they feature minimal violence, cute settings, bunch of friends, and warm community. Some have a recipe or craft component. Historical mysteries often have these kind of detectives.

3. P. I.: private investigators who are professionals (they get paid, or are supposed to, anyway), and not connected to police--Philip Marlowe; Sam Spade; Kinsey Millhone; or Steven Saylor's Roman PI, Gordianus the Finder; or Precious Ramotswe of the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency.
Sharon McCone, Sherlock Holmes, V.I. Warshawski, Spenser, Tess Monaghan...

4. The Accidental Detective: one who accidentally comes across a murder or goes to the funeral of a deceased friend or relative and inds out there are some strange elements connected to that death.
Agatha Christie's Anne Beddingfeld (about my favorite of her books), Dick Francis one-time heroes, BTW), gosh, it's really hard to think of these...
Note: accidental detectives are one time only. Either they solve the mystery and are never seen again, or they end up in the "Talented Amateur" category when they show up in book 2.

5. Judicial Detectives: anybody connected with the legal system who spends more time doing the cops' job than their own. This includes various judges, lawyers, DA's, bailiffs, bounty hunters.  
Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, Linda Fairstein's Alexandra Cooper.

6. Technical professionals: medical examiners, pathologists, coroners, CSI types, SOCO's, etc. Many of these also spend an inordinate amount of time doing police work, interviewing suspects, etc.  
Lisa Black's Theresa McClean, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, Ariana Franklin's Adelia Aguilar.

7. the historical detective--Brother Cadfael, Crowner John, Gordianus the Finder, etc.  
Fred thinks this fit in the above categories - and they do - either as police procedurals (Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt), professional PIs (Anne Perry's Thomas Monk), amateur detectives (Sebastian St. Cyr, Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily, Rhys Bowen's Lady Georgiana, Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody, Adelia Aguilar) but I think it's a significant sub-category.

8. the "real person" detective--Jane Austen, Queen Elizabeth, Charles Dickens, etc. (Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen series, Queen Victoria, and Virginia Woolf mysteries were terrific, I've read ones that featured Bertie the Prince of Wales, Charlotte Bronte, Abigail Adams, Ed Ifkovic's Edna Ferber; I'm waiting for novels with Lord Byron, Eleanor Roosevelt, Al Gore, Elizabeth Taylor... I don't know... Winston Churchill, Bismarck, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Lincoln...


9. the retired "detective": retired cop, judge, lawyer, FBI profiler.....(see above...)

Any other categories I've missed?

10. Spy novels mysteries (like recently reviewed Sally Sin)
11. Others? Zombie Hunters, Supernatural (Vampire) - Anita Blake

Deborah Crombie- Can't believe she lives in Texas....

Just finished Necessary as Blood (2009), the highly praised Dreaming of the Bones, and her first novel, A Share in Death. In my last blog I mentioned reading And Justice There is None in February while the snow was falling. So I've really jumped around in the series! but now I plan to read the rest.

Her London and UK - Dreaming is set in Cambridge-seem so believable I was surprised that she was not a Brit but a Texan. However, one of the book jackets says she's married to a Scot and spends a lot of time in the UK. And Justice There is None's Notting Hill setting made me want to call British Airways on the spot and spend some time at the Portobello Market. I think she may be creating a montage of different parts of London in different books. It is not just the tourist London but a London of slums, yuppies, immigrants, and secret treasures down back streets.

They are really good. The plots are tight and quick moving, the setting is detailed and rings totally true, and unlike many series, her books get better with each one. True, they are following a serialized story of the growing romance and the careers of Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James but at the same time can be read as stand alone novels as I have done far.

The relationship between the protagonists Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James is pretty believable and supporting characters like their kids Toby and Kit, Gemma's friends Hazel and Tim, Betty, Wesley, the families, their police associates Melody and Doug - they are interesting and far from one-dimensional. The dialogue also rings true.

The police procedural part- both Gemma and Duncan are with Scotland Yard- does seem well researched but is actually very familiar to all of us anglophile imbibers of Prime Suspect and other shows and movies.

Highly recommended. Can't wait to read the next one!

http://www.deborahcrombie.com/