The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

  Myfanwy (rhymes with Tiffani) wakes up in a park bruised and battered, surrounded by dead bodies, and no memory of who she is or how she got there. Fortunately there is a letter in her pocket to help her figure out who she is. The new MyFanwy will have to figure out the rest.

Myfanwy is an agent for her majesty's secret, secret service, the Checquy, whose job is to protect the UK from supernatural threats. Myfanwy has a supernatural power but her greatest power is administration and organization. She learns that she rose through the ranks of the Checquy based on her ability to efficiently run a large organization (which truly is a talent not possessed by many). If this all sounds crazy, well it does to Myfanwy too. She goes along with it because what else can she do? Someone tried to kill her and she doesn't know who or why or if they'll try again. She must figure out what happened to her without letting anyone know that she has her memory. After all, she was/is a high ranking member of a secret government organization and if her colleagues knew she had amnesia they might deem her a liability.

Half the story is told in letters written by the old Myfanwy to the new Myfanwy. As I read I couldn't help but think about the role memory plays in our lives. Who are we if we can't remember who we used to be? Can one truly become a new person?

This was not at all what I expected. I was expecting a more straightforward international spy story (and yes I realize a straightforward spy story is something of an oxymoron but maybe you know what I mean). It is rare to be truly surprised by a story and for that alone I recommend this book.

Daphne and Velma: The Vanishing Girl by Josephine Ruby

  I love Scooby Doo! I still watch the cartoons today when I get a chance, even the movies. They were so just so much fun. Now thanks to Josephine Ruby (or whatever his/her/their real name is since Josephine Ruby is apparently a pen name) I get to enjoy new Scooby Doo adventures with an interesting take. Josephine and Ruby reimagines the cartoon and makes Daphne and Velma a mystery solving duo. As a kids they were best friends. As teenagers they hate each other, but when Daphne's new best friend goes missing and people start seeing ghosts, Daphne and Velma find themselves working together once again. Shaggy and Scooby are there too, stepping in to help when called upon. Fred makes an appearance as well, although he's plays such a minor role in the story that I would not have remembered his character's name if not for the fact of the cartoon. The mystery is perfect with ghost sightings and mysterious disappearances - classic Scooby Doo stuff. It's serious and silly all at the same time. I hope there are lots more books in this series to come.

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

It's been a few years since I visited Inspector Gamache and Three Pines, a small village in Quebec. It was nice to revisit, even if it took a murder. 


There are two parallel mysteries in The Cruelest Month. The one Inspector Gamache is sent to investigate is the murder of a woman who appeared to have been literally scared to death during a seance. The second mystery is the Arnot case, a case alluded to in previous books. All that is known initially is that Gamache brought down a dirty cop, Arnot. Some in the police form praise Gamache for his actions, while others want to damn him for those same actions. The Arnot case is over in the sense that Arnot is in prison but it is not over because Gamache's enemies are still gunning for him. The theme uniting the two mysteries is jealousy. The murdered woman was a little too perfect for some and Gamache is a little too happy for others.

I adore this series. True it has been many years since I read book 2 in the series but that is simply because there are so many books all the time. The Cruelest Month starts slowly and then builds to a stunning conclusion. Penny's writing is beautiful and insightful. I am quite looking forward to the next book in this series.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Anthony Del Col and Werther Dell'Edera

  I read a few Hardy Boys books when I was a kid, but Nancy Drew the only teenage sleuth that mattered as far as I was concerned. I devoured Nancy Drew books. Of course the series had its problems. Even as a child, the racism was obvious. Non-white characters were inevitably described as swarthy and usually ended up being some sort of villain. Still, I loved the mysteries and that the fact that there was a girl who was smart and brave solving them.

The Big Lie is a spectacular noir update to both series. Nancy Drew is, of course, smart, brave and leading the trio as they try to solve the mystery of who murdered the Hardy boys' father. It's twisty and dark in all the right ways. From what I can tell, there are no sequels. The Big Lie is it which is a shame because I would totally read more Nancy Drew and her Hardy Boys sidekicks.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

  Ivy didn't get the magic gene. Her twin sister, Tabitha, did. Magic divided Tabitha and Ivy. Tabitha went off to magic school while Ivy lived in the regular world, which unfortunately included watching her mother die slowly and painfully from cancer. As an adult, Ivy makes a living as a private investigator, mostly investigating cheating spouses. Then Ms. Torres, headmistress of a nearby high school for magical teenagers walks into Ivy's office and offers her a job: find out who murdered Sylvia, one of the teacher's at the school.

On Goodreads many have classified this as mystery and fantasy. I agree with the mystery part, but would place it in the category of magical realism rather than fantasy. There is the real world as most of us know it and then there is small group of people called who happen to be able to do magic. Most people don't know magic is real. Mages are not totally separate from the rest of the population. Ivy is chosen for the detective job despite being non-magical because she is one of the few who know magic exists.

The mystery itself is not that mysterious. I guessed the who, why, and how about half way through. Still I enjoyed the journey. There was a lot going on in this book. Ivy's life isn't quite what she wanted to be and this job among new people gives her a chance to try being a new Ivy. It also gives her chance to work on her relationship with her twin. While working on those two things and trying to solve a mystery, she also has to deal with a teenage drama. It's a lot but it all comes together nicely.

I don't know if this is this is a one-off or the start of a series. I hope for the latter. A non-magical female detective solving magical mysteries, I am down for that.

A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas

 
Charlotte is living mostly happily in exile form her family after the events from the first book. Her sister Livia is less lucky, still having to trudge through the (mating) season that is part and parcel of being an unmarried young woman in Victorian England. When not working on a way to help Livia and their other sister Bernadette, Charlotte is solving mysteries. After advertising his/her services for cases big and small, a Mrs. Finch shows up asking for Sherlock’s help in finding her first love. Sherlock immediately sees through Mrs. Finch’s ruse and recognizes her as Lady Ingram, the wife of one of Charlotte’s closest friends. Alas, Mrs. Finch/Lady Ingram is not the only one pretending to be someone she is not. 

I must admit to finding the plot slightly confusing. There was a dead body, Moriarty or at least people connected to Moriarty, and people pretending to be someone else. At various points I forgot what mystery Sherlock was trying to solve. Nevertheless, this was a fun and intriguing read. Lady Sherlock is the best Sherlock. In some renditions Sherlock is little more than a stock character with lots of annoying quirks that people put up with because he’s brilliant. Ms. Thomas makes her Holmes feel as if she could be a real person.

One of things I enjoyed most about A Conspiracy in Belgravia (and in the first book in the series, A Study in Scarlet) is how Ms. Thomas infuses the politics of being a woman in Victorian England into the story in a meaningful ways. One of those meaningful ways here takes the form of Inspector Treadles and his wife. Treadles admits that the learning Sherlock’s true gender identity was a shock. He is even more troubled when he realizes that at one time his wife had ambitions other than being a wife. He wonders why she must “desire power and unwomanly accomplishments."

It is such a treat to discover a new series and a new author. I am so glad Sherry Thomas is writing the Lady Sherlock series and that I get to read it.

The Trespasser by Tana French

  Detective Antoinette Conway is on the murder squad, just like she always dreamed, but at times it is closer to a nightmare. The only woman on the squad, Conway is constantly subjected to harassment. But she keeps going, solving cases with her partner Stephen Moran, the newest addition to the squad and the only person who seems happy she's there.

Conway and Moran are assigned a new case. At first it appears to be pretty cut and dry - a lover's spat going horribly wrong and ending with a young woman getting her head bashed in. They bring in the boyfriend for questioning because of course, the boyfriend, but something doesn't seem right. Something is missing. Conway and Moran insist on following up on loose ends, which seems like a reasonable and thorough way to conduct a case and yet another detective - a veteran detective at that - keeps pushing them to close the case and just arrest the boyfriend. Something is definitely up.

Tana French has written six books now for her Dublin Murder Squad series and I've read every one. What I have loved about her books, especially the last two and this one is that I feel like I'm getting a comment on something true about life or society in addition to the mystery. With Broken Harbor it was the housing crisis; with The Secret Place it was girls' friendships and how the world tries to tell girls who they should be. With The Trespasser it's sexism and harassment and the way that kind of treatment can twist a person up. Conway has good reason to distrusts her fellow detectives. People try to screw with her in ways that are not only disgusting but that potentially damage her cases, which is scary because she is a murder detective after all. Screwing up her cases means violent criminals could go free. It twists her up. Conway doesn't know who to trusts so she trusts no one, which in turn makes it that much more impossible to make friends with anyone on her squad.

It took me a little while to get into this one. The first half focused on an obvious suspect but I knew it couldn't be that easy. I kept waiting for the real story to start. Once it did, I was all in. One of the interesting things about the Dublin Murder Squad series is that each books is told from the point of view of a different detective. The last book was Moran's point of view and of course here it was Conway's. I wouldn't mind getting more books that center on these two detectives. They're a good team.

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

  Cocaine Blues is a mystery set in in late 1920s/ early 1930s Australia (so maybe it is a historical mystery). Phryne (pronounced fry-knee) was born poor in Australia. Thanks to the Great War several people in Phryne's extended family die, resulting in Phryne's father elevation to a title and wealth. And just like that, Phryne and her family are removed to London. Now an adult, Phryne has grown bored with flower arranging and whatever else wealthy women do with their time. When family friends ask her to check on their daughter back in Australia, Phryne welcomes the change of scenery.

Within hours of setting foot in Melbourne, Phryne stops a woman from stabbing the man who wronged her. From there Phryne finds herself involved in one mystery after another. She uncovers the identity of an illegal abortionist who has been butchering women, breaks up a cocaine ring, and enjoys the company of handsome Russian dancer. She is intelligent, fearless, and always fabulously dressed. Cocaine Blues is the first in a series with dozens of volumes, which means plenty more adventures for Phryne Fisher, lady detective.

Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle

  The publisher's description of Easy Motion Tourist grabbed me straight away. British journalist Guy Collins is at a nightclub, enjoying his first drink in Lagos, Nigeria when suddenly people come rushing into the club. They are clearly running from something. Collins goes outside to see what all the commotion is about and stumbles upon the mutilated body of a woman. Collins quickly learns that the reason people were running into the bar is because standard police protocol in Lagos is apparently to arrest everyone at the scene of the crime, regardless of whether they have done anything wrong or not. That is how Collins finds himself inside a Lagos jail cell. He isn't there for long. A mysterious women he has never met arrives and convinces the police to let the journalist go.

Amaka is that mysterious woman. The publisher described her as a Pam Grier-esque heroine. I'm not sure if I would agree with that but I will say she is pretty impressive. Author Leye Adenle depicts Lagos as a city of prostitutes, corrupt police officers, and a select group of wealthy residents who take advantage of both. Amaka is one of the few people who is trying to do something about it, running a charity for prostitutes, and punishing the men who like to take things too far. In Collins Amaka believes she has found a journalist who can broadcast the plight of women forced into prostitution. Whoa, things just got serious. Easy Motion Tourist isn't serious. It does tackle a serious a topic but mostly it is a fast paced thriller.

It wasn't a perfect book. The multiple perspectives got confusing at times. There is a completely unnecessary and unbelievable romance that makes no sense on either side. The casual way women are treated and talked about bothered me. Most of the female characters in this story are described as prostitutes. I don't think prostitute is the right word to describe these women since many of the women were forced into selling their bodies one way or another. Further, many of the women aren't women at all, but young girls. So that bugged me, but at least there is Amaka, fighting the good fight against the odds.

I couldn't find much information about the author Leye Adenle. I think this might be his debut novel, but am not a 100% sure. If it is then Easy Motion Tourist was a pretty good first book. The last line left me wanting more. If there is a sequel, I will read it.

Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty

Heather W. Petty's Lock & Mori is the sixth and final book in my Sherlock Holmes related reading tour. It is a contemporary, young adult novel set in London featuring a teenage version of the consulting detective. There is a Watson but he barely makes an appearance. Instead, the crime solving duo at the center of this story is comprised of a female James "Mori" Moriarty and a male Sherlock Holmes whom Mori nicknames "Lock". Although Lock gets top billing in the title, this is Mori's story.

Lock initiates their partnership by suggesting that he and Mori play a game. He takes her to a crime scene where the two observe from a distance as the police go about their investigation of a dead body and the area surrounding it. Lock challenges Mori to see which of them can solve the murder first. The only rule is that they must share information. At first Mori rejects his proposal with half-hearted protests about how murder shouldn't be a game. But when she spots of a photo of her own mother with the murder victim, Mori cannot help but investigate. And since Lock and Mori are in high school (or whatever the British equivalent of high school is) and are opposite genders, of course there is a romance added into the mix.

I had mixed feelings about this one. On the positive side, I read on Goodreads where the author mentioned that in Doyle's original stories no one but Sherlock ever meets Moriarty. That got her thinking about what if the two knew each other long ago and something happened that turned them into enemies. With that in mind, Lock & Mori could be seen as a prequel telling the story of how Lock and Mori became friends and then enemies. That is an interesting take on the Sherlock Holmes story that I haven't read before.

In the minus column, the identity of the killer is made clear pretty early on, which is rarely a good thing in a murder mystery. Once that mystery solved, the remaining questions to be answered were why and how the murderer would be stopped. That it would be Mori stopping the murderer was never really a question. That brings me to my next issue, is that this really isn't Lock's story. Which could be okay, but if there isn't a Sherlock solving a crime then it isn't a very Sherlock story. And Mori as a lead character was... frustrating. Despite her intellect she makes bad decision after bad decision. I had to constantly remind myself that Mori was only a teenager and that her bad decisions were exactly the kind of idiotic things a teenager might do (but not a teenage Sherlock because that just isn't how Sherlock works).

Mori and Lock were also too much alike. They were both very smart and observant. They were both moody. Neither seemed to have very many friends. They were both all about solving the puzzle. In real life two people who share similar interests and traits may make for an ideal partnership. On paper they make for a rather bland duo. I like that they were both smart but they needed to be smart in different ways. They needed to balance and complement each other rather than merely mirroring each other.

Despite my issues with the book I do want to know what happens next. We already know their relationship can't last. The only question is what will blow it up and how.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

A Study in Charlotte is a contemporary young adult mystery featuring a teenaged Holmes and Watson. They go by the names Charlotte and James (sometimes Jamie though he doesn't particularly like the nickname). The central conceit of A Study in Charlotte is that Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and James Moriarty were all real people whose respective descendants, with a few exceptions, don't get along. This is not particularly surprising in the case of the Moriarty family, but even Holmeses and the Watsons keep their distances from one another.

Charlotte and James are direct descendants of Sherlock and John. Charlotte mirrors her ancestor in her brilliance and habits while James has a bit of an anger management problem. Though both were both born to English parents for reasons the two teenagers now attend boarding school in Connecticut, where all the action takes place. That action begins with an obnoxious boy who turns up dead under suspicious circumstances. Given that James punched the obnoxious boy the day before after the boy made some very rude remarks about Charlotte, the two detectives quickly become the primary suspects.

A Study in Charlotte was entertaining but by no means a favorite. Much of the story revolves around various love related issues - unrequited love, first love, angry love. It's cute but not at all what I expected (or wanted) from a Sherlock Holmes story. There were also some serious issues (sexual assault, drug addiction) that were glossed over and could have been handled better.

This is the first in a series. Despite a few reservations I am intrigued enough to see where the story heads next.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

My Sherlock Homes themed reading series continues with A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas. It is the first in a new series dubbed The Lady Sherlock series. In this first book readers get an origin story as to how Charlotte Holmes, youngest of Lord and Lady Holmes's four daughters, becomes the famous and much sought after detective, Sherlock.

The Holmes daughters are Henrietta, Bernadine, Olivia (who goes by Livia), and Charlotte.  Like Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, Lady Holmes is most concerned about securing beneficial marriages for her daughters. So far she is one for four, Henrietta having successfully found herself a husband. Unfortunately for Lady Holmes her success rate is unlikely to improve. Bernadine has an unspecified disability that suggests she is unable to care for herself and Lady Holmes's two youngest daughters are both disinclined to marry. Charlotte outright rejects marriage because it is clear to her that marriage in nineteenth century English society is an inherently unequal and unfair institution in which the woman almost always loses. She does not entirely reject men or romance. There is at least one man who captures her attention, but more than anything Charlotte wants freedom.

When her father refuses to support her education - Charlotte had hoped to become a headmistress at a girls' school which would have given her some degree of freedom, financial and otherwise - Charlotte decides to make herself unfit for marriage by engaging in a dalliance with a married man. Charlotte's plan works a little too well and she finds herself not only ruined for marriage but also publicly disgraced. Livia comes to her sister's defense, accusing the mother of Charlotte's lover of ruining Charlotte's reputation. When the elderly woman dies shortly thereafter Livia becomes a suspect, at least in the court of public opinion. Charlotte realizes the best way to help her sister is to help the police find the real murderer. Of course the detectives of Scotland Yard would be skeptical of the opinions of a woman and so Charlotte adopts the persona of a man - Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Holmes writes lots of helpful letters to the police. Unfortunately he is too ill to ever meet anyone in person...

I love a book that entertains me and makes me think on multiple levels. A Study in Scarlet Women definitely did that. One of the many things that I found interesting were the gender and sexual politics. Most of couplings are unhappy, forced, or otherwise result in some sort of misfortune: an unplanned pregnancy, social and financial ruin, hopelessly mismatched husband and wives. Not surprisingly it is usually the women, though not always, who suffer the brunt of these couplings. I'm not sure which is a more damming commentary on the institution of marriage and gender inequality: that the way Charlotte escapes the institution is by not being a virgin or that another character thinks the best way he can help Charlotte after her disgrace is by offering to make her his mistress and thereby save her from financial ruin. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first introduced Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet in 1887. In that story Sherlock Holmes and John Watson set out to figure out how a man was killed when there is no visible wounds on the corpse, who that man was, and what he was doing in London. It comes out that the man, and a second who is later killed, were from Utah. There was woman whom they thought should marry one of them. The woman, however, was in love with a third man. The woman's father supported her choice in husbands. (Or maybe supported is too generous. Let's just say the father had reasons for not wanting his daughter to marry either of the first two men.) So the two men killed the father in order to get to the daughter. The daughter eventually dies too. Holmes figures out that the death of the two men in London is tied to their pasts in Utah. This is a long way of saying that I loved how Sherry Thomas incorporated elements of Doyle's original story - namely the marriage plot point and the issue of consent - and re-imagined it in her equally compelling novel.

I really loved this! Of the four Sherlock Holmes inspired, re-imagined or otherwise related novels I've read in the last month, this is my favorite. It managed to be both modern and yet fitting for its Victorian time period. I'm so glad this is going to be a series. Sherry Thomas - I'm ready for book two in the Lady Sherlock series, and while you're at, books three, four, five, and so on.

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse

A few weeks ago I was reorganizing my unread pile and discovered I had several books inspired by or otherwise related to the character of Sherlock Holmes. So I decided to make February a (mostly) Sherlock themed month. The third one in my queue was Mycroft Holmes by NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse. In this Sherlock related book, the detective on the case is Sherlock’s older brother, Mycroft Holmes. 
 

Mycroft’s friend, Cyrus Douglas and Mycroft’s fiancée, Georgiana Sutton both happen to be from Trinidad, though from different sides of the island. Both Douglas and Sutton hear rumors about mysterious deaths of children in their home country. Locals fear the killer is supernatural. Neither Douglas nor Georgiana believe the supernatural excuse, and for that matter, neither does Mycroft. Nevertheless, Georgiana immediately bolts for home, insisting that she must go alone and find out what's going on. Before Mycroft can stop her Georgiana is gone. Mycroft decides to follow her, convincing Douglas to go with him. Almost as soon as the two men set foot on the ship that is to carry them to Trinidad, Douglas and Mycroft are attacked. Someone doesn’t want them poking their noses around in Trinidad.

I read this book for character more than plot. I wanted to know more about Mycroft. Let me pause here and admit that I am no expert on the character of Sherlock Holmes. Although I have read about half of the original tales by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, my frame reference comes primarily from the BBC series Sherlock. When I think of Mycroft, I think of Sherlock’s smarter, older brother with the non-specified but very important government job. Here, Sherlock isn’t yet brilliant and Mycroft isn’t yet very important. Mycroft is, however, much happier and well-adjusted than his younger brother. I mean, he’s engaged for goodness sake. Can you imagine Sherlock ever marrying? I think not.

My favorite part of Mycroft Holmes was Cyrus Douglas – a strong, smart Black man in 19^th century England. He’s not Watson; he’s better. He is not as in awe of Mycroft as Watson is of Sherlock. Douglas has a life, a history, and a viable business apart from Mycroft. The two seem like equals in a way that Sherlock and Watson often don’t. In terms of plot, overall this was a pretty good mystery. If Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse right another Holmes and Douglas mystery I'd read it.

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

Earlier this week I was trying to decide to what to read and realized I had a half-dozen books that were related to, reminiscent of, or inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous character. These included A Study in Charlotte, A Study in Scarlet Women, Mycroft, Beastly Bones, Lock & Mori, and Moriarty. So I thought why not make Sherlock Holmes the theme of my reading for the next few weeks and see how they compare. Since Anthony Horowitz's Moriarty was officially authorized by the Doyle estate and thus would likely be the closest to the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I decided to start there. My plan is then to make my way through the other novels and see how Doyle's most famous character has been interpreted and adapted.

The story begins in Switzerland at Reichenbach Falls where Holmes and Moriarty fall to their (supposed) deaths. One body is recovered. Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard goes to Switzerland to ascertain the identity of the recovered body. There he meets Frederick Chase, one of the Pinkerton Detective Agency's senior investigators.

Chase tells Jones that he has been chasing after Clarence Devereux an infamous American criminal. Chase warns Jones that with Moriarty gone a power vacuum has emerged in London's criminal world and we all know how nature abhors a vacuum. A violent group of American gangsters has already started making trouble in London. According to Chase, Devereux and Moriarty were planning an alliance. With Moriarty having gone over the falls, that just leaves the devilish Devereux. Chase and Jones hurriedly return to London, determined to stop the Americans from taking over in London. With Jones doing his best Sherlock Holmes impression (turns out he's a super fan) and Chase playing his Watson, the two men test their wits against the men who would try to fill the hole left by Moriarty.

I thoroughly enjoyed Moriarty although strictly speaking it is not a Sherlock Holmes story. Except for the early pages at the Falls, neither Holmes nor Watson makes an appearance. Instead we get two very good imitators. The more I think about it, I am hard pressed to call this a mystery. Instead I might place Moriarty in the category of a suspense. Jones and Chase find the man (men really) they're looking for fairly easily. The question is more how to lure them out into the open. I suppose there is a bit of a mystery in that there is some confusion over who killed who, with different characters each thinking someone else is responsible. The ending was half surprising. Half because I knew something was off about certain characters but I wasn't able to precisely predict the manner in which they were off (though I was close).  In any case I enjoyed the journey, especially the last hundred pages.

Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara

  I love mysteries. The clues, the puzzles, the dark alleys, and shadowy informants - I can't get enough of it. It's fun, challenging, and strangely comforting. Most of the mysteries I've read feature a white person, usually male but not always, as the main detective. One of my ongoing reading goals is to read more diversely. Since mystery is one of my favorite genres I have been looking for mysteries where the main detective - be it police, private, or amateur detective - reflects something other than a white male perspective. I will continue to read and enjoy that perspective, I simply want to experience some others too. On a separate but related note, one of my goals is to read more books of any genre written by Asian and Asian-American authors. For whatever reason I have read relatively few books written by people of Asian descent and I would like to change that. So when I stumbled across Naomi Hirahara's Murder on Bamboo Lane at the Japanese-American National Museum gift shop in Los Angeles I thought this is kismet: a mystery written by an Asian-American women where the primary police detective is also an Asian-American woman. It was just what I have been hoping to find.

Eleanor "Ellie" Rush is a fresh-out-of-the-academy bicycle cop. She spends her days riding around downtown Los Angeles mostly handing out tickets to jaywalkers and listening to neighborhood residents complain about this and that. One day she happens to be nearby when a woman is gunned down - a woman Ellie went to college with. From there Ellie falls in and out of rabbit hole after rabbit hole trying to figure out who killed the woman while not upsetting her superiors too much. She is a bicycle cop after all, not a homicide detective, at least not yet.

Murder on Bamboo Lane was a solid mystery with enough twists to keep things interesting. The story is grounded not just in Los Angeles but in a part of Los Angeles many Angelnos rarely see, let alone non-Angelenos. (I don't recall one mention of a palm tree, the beach, or celebrities.) It features a diverse cast of characters. Ellie isn't the only person of color in a world of white. One of things I appreciated most was the insight into Asian-American cultural politics. For example, one of the main suspects in the murder investigation is a Vietnamese-American artist who courts controversy by making art that is pro-North Vietnam. A group of South Vietnamese people protest the artist's exhibition, with one character claiming that Ho Chi Minh is their Hitler. In another example Ellie notes how her ex-boyfriend, whom she dated for two years, never told his grandmother that his girlfriend (Ellie) was half-Japanese because he didn't want to "rock the boat." This is partly what I meant about getting a different perspective, a different story.

I did have a few minor/medium complaints. Ellie's knee jerk anger to any criticism of the police was annoying but then again perhaps that reflects the attitudes of actual police officers. Ellie's self-pity and inability to accept responsibility for her part in the deterioration of some of her relationships was equally annoying. Cortez, Aunt Cheryl, and other characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. Notwithstanding these issues, overall I enjoyed the story.

Murder on Bamboo Lane is the first in a series. I look forward to following Ellie's further adventures.

Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon

  Pasadena bookseller Adrien English has a problem. His high school friend and current employee has been brutally murdered. Someone has ransacked his shop and is sending him threatening messages. The police seem to consider Adrien a suspect in the case of the former, and are dismissive of the latter. And then there is the matter of his heart - sudden excitements tend to send poor Adrien's heart into a tizzy.

This was a lovely little mystery. Little because it is less than two hundred pages. Lovely because Adrien is adorable. He is what I like to call an accidental detective. He runs a bookshop and is working on publishing his first book. It is mystery of course. Notwithstanding his love of  mysteries Adrien doesn't have any particular interest in being involved in an actual mystery. Nevertheless Adrien must become a detective if only to save himself. When his friend Robert is killed, the police seem ready to arrest Adrien, thinking perhaps it was some sort of lover's quarrel gone terribly wrong. Adrien thinks this might be a hate crime, perhaps a serial killer who's stalking and killing gay men. Whoever the culprit is, Adrien has to figure it out before he ends up in jail or dead himself.
 
Fatal Shadows wasn't a perfect mystery. There were a few holes and I figured out the culprit pretty easily. I was expecting a bit more romance. On Goodreads this was tagged as both a romance and a mystery. The romance was pretty scant here. This being said, this is the first in a series. Hopefully the romance that is hinted at in Fatal Shadows takes shapes in the next book.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Every day Rachel rides the commuter train from the suburbs into the city. Along the way the passes the street where she used to live with her now ex-husband Tom. Anna now lives in that house with Tom. As she rides the train Rachel can't help but gaze at her old street. If she is not staring at her old house, she is staring at another a few doors down where the cute couple she has nicknamed Jess and Jason live. Rachel likes to imagine their idyllic life.

I have this system for tracking books that come into my home. Newly acquired books are added to my handwritten "Books as of Yet Unread" list and are placed in the unread pile, which is literally a pile of books in one corner of my living room. After I have read a book one of two things happens: either I add it to my electronic catalog and find a home for the book on one of my bookshelves or it goes into the donation pile and eventually out of my home. For the first half, maybe even two-thirds of The Girl on the Train I thought it was definitely going into the donation pile.

The Girl on the Train is told from the points of view of three women: Rachel, Anna, and Megan (the actual name of the woman Rachel has nicknamed Jess). Rachel is the primary storyteller and she is an alcoholic. I'll give Paula Hawkins this much - she made Rachel's alcoholism feel real. She didn't pretty it up or minimize it. Rachel is a sloppy mess who does stupid, gross alcoholic things that hurt her and other people. It was annoying and hard to read, but again, it did read as real. Further because Rachel is an alcoholic who regularly gets blackout drunk, nothing she says or thinks can be totally trusted.

Anna and Megan are perhaps slightly more trustworthy than Rachel, but only just barely. Before becoming Tom's wife Anna was his mistress, and she admits to never feeling the slightest bit bad about that. Rachel was never real to her and the thrill of being part of a secret affair was just too much fun. Now Anna is living in the house where Rachel used to live and she finds being wife isn't always as much fun as being a mistress. She's smug, bored (and boring), and paranoid. Admittedly her paranoia is not entirely undeserved. Rachel just won't stop coming around.

Of the three women Megan is the one we hear the least from. She is also the one with the most secrets - one of which might be the end of her. She's troubled and it is awhile before we start to learn the reasons why.

I found it hard to relate to or care much any of the three narrators. They were all annoying in their own way. I don't have to like a character to enjoy a book but there must be something compelling about them, something interesting. For much of the book that was sorely lacking.

The story didn't get interesting until the last third. Something bad happens and Rachel thinks she knows something. She goes to the police. The problem is she isn't sure what she knows. No one takes her seriously. And why should they? With her multiple alcoholic blackouts she can't trust her memory and no one else can either.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep this book. The ending was good but I can't imagine spending any more time with any of these characters again, although I might watch the movie.