This year I read 59 books, the shortest being 160 pages and the longest being 634 pages.
Fiction
'Tomorrow's Crimes' by Donald E. Westlake
Though he wrote across genres, I had not come across Westlake before. This is a science fiction anthology by him of stories published 1961-1984. Some, like 'Girl of My Dreams' are rather pat, more like a tale of the unexpected. 'The Winner' is a very grim dystopian story about future prisons. There is certainly a grittiness to Westlake's stories which I imagine he has brought over from his crime fiction. A couple of stories stand out. 'The Risk Profession' is a story of a loss adjuster going to investigate an asteroid mining camp, almost like in a Western but in space. The other is the novella at the end 'Anarchaos' about a man going to the eponymous planet which is tidally fixed to face its red sun to find out about the murder of his brother. It is very much a story about corporations and prospectors and for all the science fiction setting, also feels at times like a Western. Still, both are effective crime stories and also explore different science fiction concepts well. Again there is violence and suffering that makes the stories darker than you might expect even in a collection from that era. It is clear that there are quite a few books out there by Westlake but if I found one I would check it carefully to see what type it was, but if satisfied I would then give it a try.
'The Confessions of Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc
I imagine like a lot of British readers I was drawn to the original Lupin stories, published 1905-23 (though with loads of follow-ons) by the French TV series, 'Lupin' (2021). That is the way 'Elementary' (2012-19) (and not 'Sherlock') was to the Sherlock Holmes stories, i.e. a modern take influenced by (late 19th Century/)early 20th Century stories. Unlike Holmes, Lupin is a thief, though one who is supposedly renowned even in his own time and loved subsequently as the TV series made clear. The Lupin books actually reference Holmes, but his closest British rival would be A.J. Raffles in stories by E.W. Hornung (brother-in-law to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), 1898-1909. There is no indication who translated this particular collection into English.
This book was first published in 1913. The 10 stories show Lupin as amoral, with him as often stealing from other criminals as from ordinary people. Sometimes he comes up against his prime antagonist, Inspector Justin Ganimard of the Sûreté, though in 'The Red Silk Scarf' ends up effectively helping the police. In 'Two Hundred Thousand Francs Reward! ...' he tracks down a murderer and a disappeared woman after he catches sight of signals being flashed in his neighbourhood. He works out various mysteries such as 'The Invisible Prisoner' a thief who seems to have disappeared after raiding a house and for the benefit of others, 'The Sign of the Shadow' in which a strange painting is a sign towards a treasure of diamonds. There are stories which remind us of Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' (1892) though perhaps not quite as bleak, such as 'Lupin's Marriage' with a very long con involved.
Overall the stories are brisk and successful conjure up a feeling of the late 19th Century France. Though there are some grim elements, at times the tone is playful. Certainly with this collection, the reader feels that Lupin is a hero more than a criminal. If I find any of the other Lupin books, especially ones in which he is more straightforwardly carrying crimes I would certainly pick them up.
'The Cornish Coast Murder' by John Bude [Ernest Carpenter Elmore]
This book, one of two that Elmore published in 1935, is another from the British Library Crime Classics series. As Martin Edwards who curates much of the series notes, Bude rooted his novel, his first crime one, in a locale rather than a fictional county, in this case on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall. Saying that, the town of Greystoke which is featured, is fictional as the only Greystoke in England is far further north in Cumbria. Still you really get a real feel for the headlands and coves of northern Cornwall.
An unpopular local magistrate and landlord, Julius Trethgarthan is shot dead standing at the French windows of his living room during a storm. There are few suspects beyond the man's niece, Ruth, an author in the village, Ronald Hardy; a local midwife, Mrs. Mullion, and a local poacher Ned Slater; perhaps Trethgarthan's two servants, Mr. and Mrs. Grouch. The clear clues, especially footprints, restrict the number of suspects but also allow for a range of speculations about how the murder was carried out. The behaviour of Ruth, Ronald and Mr. Grouch all further muddy the waters. Some readers might be irritated by how additional information keeps on shifting the perspective on the crime. However, in some ways, for a 'cosy' crime, it actually feels authentic and with its clear context maybe why it appealed to readers at the time.
There are effectively two detectives, the local uniformed Inspector Bigswell and the vicar Reverend Dodd who lives near the scene of the crime and knows the Trethgarthans well. Dodd along with his friend Dr. Pendrill, are eager consumers of detective fiction, meeting up each month to share novels. There are references to genuine contemporary authors and while a latecomer to the genre (he also wrote science fiction and was theatre producer and director) Elmore was a founder of the Crime Writers' Association.
Effectively having two detecting protagonists is a bit unusual. Their paths overlap at times and close to the end they are looking for clues in exactly the same place. Again this might irritate some readers, especially in terms of flipping point of view, but in fact it allows the author to bring in different bits of evidence from different places without having a single character having to hare all over the place. Both men also work out explanations which have to be discarded in time and it is quite refreshing for them not to lock on to the correct one quickly. For all its cosiness, the motive for the murder turns out to be as bleak as any in a crime novel.
I have four more Bude books to read set in different parts of England and I am quite looking forward to his slightly quirky approach which rather makes his writing distinct from some of his contemporaries.
'Excession' by Iain M. Banks
As readers of this blog probably know by now, I am not a big fan of Iain M. Banks's Culture novels, rather feeling that their all-powerful civilisation is rather tedious. Perhaps I hoped for something a little different from this one. It features the appearance of an immensely powerful object in space which attracts the attention of Culture spaceships and another squid-like race, the Affront. A lot of the interaction in the book is between sentient spaceships, something Banks seemed to really like doing. However, for many readers, or maybe I am alone, it does seem all a little impersonal, especially given how powerful these vessels are, one literally manufactures a warfleet within itself. The object, the 'Excession', which may allow access to multiple universes, becomes part of a conspiracy by a cabal of spaceships. The novel basically covers a whole assortment of vessels and a few humans and Affront beings sent towards it. A war between the Affront and the Culture breaks out when the Affront seizes a Culture storage asteroid holding many vessels from the last war.
The skipping between the various characters so much, reduces our engagement with each, even the two humans, Dajeil Gelian a woman who has remained in a pregnant state in a replica of a planet she last worked on inside a spaceship for forty years and her former lover, fellow scientist and philanderer Byr Genar-Hofoen who is obsessed with the Affront. The ship holding Gelian wants them to reunite and for the child to be born. On the way, Genar-Hofoen encounters people set up to resemble Gelian, though they like some of the other characters such as Leffid and Gestra Ishmethit, the warden of the storage vessel Pittance for 150 years, seem to serve no purpose.
With so many characters, the narrative is really fragmented and you do feel as if you are going through the motions as the different groups and individuals work their way to the Excession, some directly, some getting very distracted. In fact the portrayal of some of the places along the way are far more interesting than what happens towards the end. As it typical with Banks, there is a lot of info dumping as if he really wants every reader to know everything about the Culture and other species. The ending is a real anti-climax and further reduces the value of what has gone before. There are some engaging scenes but too much of the book reads rather like a flight manifest.
'Hombre' by Elmore Leonard
I realised coming to this, an out-and-out Western that it was a genre that I had not read in since 'All the Pretty Horses' (1992) by Cormac McCarthy who is now in disgrace but was acclaimed at the time. I have read Elmore Leonard books, but more usually his 20th Century crime novels. This edition was produced by Orbit books to make available to people familiar with various movies, the books that they were based on. I assume this was why my late mother, a movie fan as well as an avid reader throughout her life, bought it. The movie 'Hombre' was released in 1967 and starred Paul Newman. The novel was published in 1961.
It is a very contained story set in 1884. It mentions Florence but that is in South Carolina and the book also mentions Bisbee so seems to be set in Arizona, certainly close to the Mexican border and near to where the Apache tribes had been forced to live. With the rise of railways a stage coach company is being closed down. One employee, Carl Allen, a young man who surprisingly speaks no Spanish, is the narrator of the story. Along with his former boss, Mr. Mendez, as driver, Allen accompanies five other people in a specially hired coach out of the small town of Sweetmary. One of them is the 'Hombre' ['Man' in Spanish], John Russell who is perceived as part-Apache having lived with a tribe as a child and then with a Mexican before becoming part of the Apache Police. The others are Dr. Alexander Favor, an Indian Agent, i.e. liaison between the US government and tribes, his wife Audra; Kathleen McLaren who had recently been released from being captured by the Apaches and Frank Braden who proves to be a criminal.
The coach is held up by confederates of Braden looking to steal the money Favor swindled on supplying food to the Apaches. The rest of the novel is about the passengers trying to get clear without being killed by the bandits. Russell is very much in the mould of the strong, silent, rather cold hero, who always knows what to do that is right. Probably reflecting discussions around civil rights, there is much discussion about whether he should even be allowed to travel in the coach. Different perspectives on the Apaches and their treatment are aired in the tense periods when the passengers are trying to stay clear of the bandits. The book almost becomes philosophical at the end in discussions about what one should risk to help others and what defines a 'man' and a 'hero'.
Overall, then, this has many of the elements of a classic Western. It really portrays the harsh landscape very well. In some ways it sticks to the archetype of the lone gunman, but in others especially in the discussions between the passengers, looks to engage with broader issues around race and though touched on euphemistically, violence towards women. While different to the other Leonard novels I have read, this one is as equally as engaging as those.
Non-Fiction
'Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries' by Denys Hay
This is another of those Longman General History of Europe books that I have picked up down the years. Unlike the last one I read, by Franklin L. Ford, back in May 2020: https://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2020/05/books-i-read-in-may.html which covered only 50 years, this one as the name suggests straddles two entire centuries. In general Hay handles it well, starting with social and economic structures which can be referenced no matter which period or region he is focusing upon and this forms a sound basis. Religion, perhaps unsurprisingly gets a lot of attention and he is generally sound on the multiple Papacies and the often forgotten precursors to the Reformation which appeared in the preceding decades. The book is good on Eastern Europe, Russia and the Ottoman Empire which all tend to get neglected in terms of general histories. It is not bad on 'Italy' sensibly breaking this down into separate regions. It struggles a bit more with 'Germany' and really fails to communicate the Hundred Years War any more effectively than any other account I have read. However, the writing is brisk and explains mostly with sufficient detail yet without bewildering the reader with too much which can be the case with such a long time period with many complex especially geopolitical developments.
