The Pilgrim Conspiracy

The Pilgrim Conspiracy is a tantalizing story about the lives of the Mayflower Pilgrims while they were still living in exile in Leiden, Netherlands. What made me excited about this novel is the author's use within the story of historians' methods for reconstructing and interpreting the past.   In addition, the question of what makes historical fiction is part of the plot.  A historical fiction writer's job is to deceive the reader into believing that the false world created in the novel is a real world while also showing a chronological history, culture and people.  The novel is also part epistolary as the plot is slowly revealed by characters reading a newly discovered set of letters written by one of the Leiden Pilgrims.  This newly discovered set of letters are real and they were newly discovered as well.

The publisher's summary of the book: 

"The normally quiet Dutch town of Leiden is horrified when the chairman of the local Masonic lodge is brutally killed.  Almost simultaneously, an old manuscript is discovered in which an anonymous author tells the hidden story of the Pilgrims - the Founding Fathers of the United States.  From 1609 to 1620 they lived in exile in Leiden, after which some of them left for America.

University teacher Peter de Haan is drawn into the mystery.  Why did so many of the Pilgrims stay behind in Leiden?  What involvement do the Freemason's have?  And what relationship did Peter's girlfriend have with the murdered chairman?

At breakneck speed, this story sweeps you away to the narrow alleys of Leiden to the vast waters of Cape Cod to the scorching hot Sinai desert in Egypt.  And every step of the way, you'll discover that history is never the way the books want us to believe."

An engrossing plot is just one of the factors that set this book apart from others.  The characters are interesting and given that there is a an unusually flamboyant villain, I couldn't wait to read the chapters where he appeared.  The story is told alternately between the past, written in letter format, and the present, written as fiction.  

While the book is not a treasure hunt, fans of Dan Brown will love this book.  In fact, Robert Langdon would have been helpful to the characters who are trying to figure out what a particular symbol means.  Also, fans of religious fiction will likewise love the book.  The religious controversies of the era are discussed in detail.  In addition, the current political atmosphere in the U. S. to question our past by offering alternative facts can be seen to be something that has been on-going in our history.  I was rather uncomfortable with some of these alternatives while believing others.  I must admit, however, that changing history to suit the author's beliefs annoyed me.  

5 out of 5 stars.

Favorite Mystery Series

Mysteries have been my favorite genre ever since I began reading.  It is wonderful that many sub-genres have evolved since the beginning of the mystery novel.  Political and spy mysteries used to be my favorite sub-genre but the medical mystery, psychological thriller, historical and treasure hunts have taken over my top spot.  My favorite authors include:

Michael Palmer - medical mysteries

Robin Cook - medical mysteries

Brad Thor - spy novels

Steve Berry - treasure hunt mysteries

Dan Silva - spy novels

Vince Flynn - spy novels
Mary Higgins Clark - suspence
Clive Cussler - military mysteries
Tom Clancy - military mysteries
Peter May - murder mysteries
Chris Culver - Ash Rashid detective mysteries
Preston and Child -  action/technothrillers

James Rollins - action and adventure 

There are 32 sub-genres that I have counted.  They include straight murder mysteries, cozy mysteries, medical mysteries, historical mysteries, military novels, spy novels, political mysteries, treasure hunts, police procedurals, private detective stories, forensic mysteries, supernatural/fantasy mysteries, action, adventure, hard-boiled, noir, classic/golden era, western, techno thrillers, magic realism, gothic, amateur sleuth, legal, paranormal/urban, suspense, thriller, romance, science fiction, locked room, psychological thrillers, young adult and religious thrillers.  Newer sub-genres are still being created by authors who combine sub-genres, i.e., medical treasure hunts, cozy amateur sleuths, etc . . .  The most recent sub-genre was created by Dan Brown when he wrote The DaVinci Code. It is a treasure hunt novel and has sparked other writers to write their own treasure hunts.  The mystery novel is always evolving.

What are your favorite mysteries?

Popular Book Series That I Have Never Read

I am always looking for my next read. Friends give recommendations and become shocked when learning that I have never read their favorite series or favorite authors. I am a fan of many series in the cozy, mystery and historical fiction genres. However, I seem to have bypassed these twenty popular ones:

Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum Mysteries
Anne Perry - Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Mysteries
Elizabeth Peters - Amelia Peabody
Tana French - Dublin Murder Squad
Sue Grafton -.Alphabet Series
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael
Patricia Cornwell - Kay Scarpetta
Faye Kellerman - Decker/Lazarus Series
MC Beaton - Agatha Raisin Mysteries
Laurie R. King - Mary Russell Mysteries
Elizabeth George - Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Alexander McCall Smith  - Ladies Detective Series
Rhys Bowen - Her Royal Spyness
Ruth Rendell - Inspector Wexford
Diana Gabaldon - Outlander
Nancy Atherton - Aunt Dimity
Donna Leon - Commissario Guido Brunetti Series
Bernard Cornwell
Toni Morrison
Louise Penny

I make no apologies here. I am just too busy reading other books to get involved in these popular serieses. With my favorite authors publishing a new book every year it is unlikely that I will ever have the time to read them. Ciao!

The Sadist

The Sadist is one scary book.  It is described as a dark, psychological thriller.  This is an understatement. Carol McMahon is now one of my favorite authors and I cannot wait to read her earlier three novels.  The blurb:

"Things are going well for Sara.  She's starting to get lots of followers on her new You Tube series, True Crime Tea, where she does makeup tutorials while discussing true crime cases.  At first she isn't sure it will work.  It's just an idea to stand out from the crowd.  But her channel blows up, and she's thrilled. 

But stories are never anywhere near as frightening as reality.  Sara finds that out when her own life starts to fall apart, and the darkness she's always talked about seeps in.  Her life is starting to feel just like the stories she tells in her videos.  Along with the followers she gets unwanted attention.  She knows that's expected for a woman on the internet these days, but things are getting weird. Strange messages, a picture of her boyfriend's car at home when he's usually at work.  Then suddenly, she is willed a house by a father she never knew. 

In a desperate attempt to keep her career and life from falling apart, Sara moves into the musty, cluttered house.  As she goes through her father's possessions to clear space to do her work, she uncovers dark secrets she never wanted to know. Secrets about her father, mother, and about herself."

The twists and turns in the plot were unbelievable.  I was shocked by most of them as the truth was slowly revealed in the latter half of the book. The ending was as much a surprise as I have ever read in any book.  As I began reading the book I thought to myself that the author dreamed up one heck of a plot.  To come up with a main character who does makeup tutorials on You Tube along with true crime stories was creative.  How did she visualize a character who combined two different types of You Tube channels into one?  I couldn't imagine how that character could be involved in a dark, psychological mystery either.  Reading chapters that alternated between the points of view of three characters whose lives did not seem to be related only enhanced my curiosity.  I could not figure this one out.

I highly recommend this thriller but take my advice and don't read it in the evening.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Queen of Paris

This Coco Chanel historical novel covers her life in Paris during the Nazi occupation.  I thought that I knew a lot about her life but I was wrong.  I was shocked to read about her collaboration with the Nazis as well as how her company was run.

The blurb:

"Legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel is revered for her sophisticated style - the iconic little black dress - and famed for her intoxicating perfume Chanel No. 5.  Yet behind the public persona is a complicated woman of intrigue, shadowed by mysterious rumors.  The Queen of Paris, the new novel from award winning author Pamela Binnings Ewen, vividly imagines the hidden life of Chanel during the four years of Nazi occupation in Paris in the midst of WWII - as discovered in recently unearthed wartime files. 

Coco Chanel could be cheerful, lighthearted, manipulative, even cruel.  Against the winds of war, with the Wehrmacht marching down the Champs-Elysees, Chanel finds herself residing alongside the Reich's High Command in the Hotel Ritz.  Surrounded by the enemy, Chanel wages a private war of her own to wrestle full control of her perfume company from the hands of her Jewish business partner, Pierre Wertheimer.  With anti-semitism on the rise, he has escaped to the United States with the confidential formula for Chanel No. 5. Distrustful of his intentions to set up production on the outskirts of New York City, Chanel fights to seize ownership.  The House of Chanel shall not fall. 

While Chanel struggles to keep her livelihood intact, Paris sinks under the iron fist of German rule.  Chanel - a woman made of sparking granite - will do anything to survive.  She will even agree to collaborate with the Nazis in order to protect her darkest secrets.  When she is covertly recruited by Germany to spy for the Reich, she becomes Agent F-7124, code name:  Westminster. But why?  And to what lengths will she go to keep her stormy past from haunting her future?"

The is an engrossing novel with plenty of political intrigue.  While I was reading I wondered what part of the book was true.  The Note From the Author at the end of the book explained all of that. Chanel's life was much more interesting than I could have ever imagined.  From her lowly beginning in life she always had to fight in order to survive.  I believe that this sense of needing to always fight made her make decisions that she shouldn't have made.

I have always been encouraged to look to her  for inspiration because she was a successful woman. However, after finding out about her involvement with the Nazis I don't know why anyone could ever believe that she was an inspiration to women.  After a lifetime of needing men for a place to live, she naturally fell into an affair with a Nazi soldier for four years.  The soldier resided with her at the Ritz where the Germans had taken up occupancy.  She did it for a place to live.  I find her decisions to be repugnant.  A woman should be able to stand on her own.

I do not want anyone to feel that the book was bad because the primary character was bad.  The writing was crisp and the chapters ended with suspense, which resulted in my reading the novel in one sitting.  Chanel's life was fascinating to say the least.  It is unfortunate that she made such bad choices in life.

5 out of 5 stars.

Viking: The Plains of Althing

I enjoyed reading this historical novel of tenth century Iceland. It is the first book in a norse adventure trilogy.  However, there were a few problems that affected my enjoyment of the book. The blurb:

"A corrupt chieftain plots to rule all of Iceland and his steward Kel Coessen may be the only man who can stop him. But there's a catch: if Kel dares to defy his leader, Kel's love Aldis will be killed. A fearless slave called "The Black Mountain" starts Kel down the treacherous path of treason-and when the chieftain commits a loathsome crime, Kel snaps.  An unforeseen force draws Aldis to a place she vowed never to return, forcing her to confront her past-and a long buried secret threatens her future.  As strife grows, others meddle: a bishop eager to convert pagans, and a foreign jarl's furtive agent with her own designs on the country's young democracy."

The first third of the book was enchanting. I loved the characters and looked forward to reading more about them. However, the middle of the book was about additional characters instead and I quickly lost interest. I finished the book to find out what happened with Kel, Aldis and Tor, the "black mountain" slave. I am curious about their future stories, which makes me want to read book 2. Tor's story in particular is compelling but I am not yet sure whether I will take the plunge.

Favorite Bookstores

When I was young, I used to spend hours browsing the stacks at the now defunct Kroch's and Brentano's. There were many locations throughout Chicagoland and I regularly visited several of them. I remember on one occasion my mother remarked to me that Mr. Duncan Hines had just walked past us as he roamed the store at Randolph and Wabash in downtown Chicago. I said "who?" I didn't know that he was a famous art and food critic for one of our local newspapers or that the Duncan Hines cake mixes were named for him.  I remember following him because my mother said he was a famous person and all the customers stopped browsing to watch him. In my mind he was just another old man with a cane. When I grew older and wanted to learn a foreign language, I was introduced to 2 ladies who managed the foreign language tapes section. For each language there were between 5 and 10 companies who made the audiotapes. These ladies knew the ins and outs of each product within each brand. Their knowledge was unparalleled and I cannot think of any other bookshop providing service as Kroch's and Brentano's did.

After Kroch's went out of business in 1995 we were lucky to get a Waterstones to open in the gold coast neighborhood.  The main thing that captured my attention with Waterstones was the prevalence of poetry books. I spent alot of time picking out which ones I would buy during each visit. Waterstones carried types of books that I had never seen before as well as categorizing them in different ways. I remember a section on medieval books.  I always spent time perusing this section.  It was a pretty busy area too. This store was huge, three stories I think. I was devastated when it closed.

After a few years with no bookstores in my area, Borders came to town.  It was the first bookstore to have a cafe inside it and it was always packed. The only way to guarantee finding a seat was to run up the escalator when it opened up in the morning. The few leather seats were always taken and folks spread out their coats and bags to save the seat when they used the restroom or searched for more books. This bookstore sold items other than books and the fancy paper section always drew me in. The primary Borders that I shopped at was at Randolph and State in downtown Chicago. It was close to where I worked and I could shop there on my lunch hour. On weekends I would shop at the Clybourn Corridor location. This location had half of the first floor devoted to magazines. Being a magazine addict, I spent way too much money there.

The only bookstore left after Borders went bankrupt was Barnes and Noble. I particularly liked the branch in Old Town. It carried many types of art books that the downtown store didn't sell. Last October the Old Town store lost their lease and closed. The downtown store remains open for business but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it only offers curbside pickup services. Barnes and Noble was already in fiscal trouble before the pandemic. I doubt it will survive.

It is depressing to consider that the era of bookshops is over. There is always Amazon but it just isn't the same.

Lisbon Sketchbook

I have all of Fabrice Moireau's travelogue sketchbooks. His Lisbon Sketchbook was published last month and I couldn't wait to receive it in the mail.  When it finally arrived I was delighted to view its pages, printed on actual watercolor paper as were all of his earlier watercolor sketchbooks. This fantastic book is just like his Paris, Provence, Loire Valley, Brittany, Gardens of Paris, Rooftops of Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Sicily, New York, and Berlin sketchbooks.

The bucolic scenes of Lisbon are described in written word by Gonzalo Tavares. Moireau always has a 2 page spread showing the colors of the city he has drawn.  It is interesting that Lisbon is the most colorful of those cities, something that I wasn't expecting. As an artist myself, I view his books frequently as I learn alot from them concerning perspective and how to draw details in architecture. Moireau is the most detailed watercolor artist I am aware of. Britain's Graham Byfield and Malaysia's Chen Voon Fee and Chin Kon Yit as well as Singapore's Gretchen Liu all have looser watercolor styles. Moireau's detailed sketching style is perfect for drawing his native France with all of the intricate features of its buildings.

Lisbon Sketchbook is a wonderful book to display on a coffee table. I have several of them on my coffee table and visitors always love flipping through them. I highly recommend this book for artists and art lovers. 5 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month - July

I have two favorite books for this month. I could not select just one. Both books stayed with me for days after reading them. Singapore Sapphire and The Stone Doors are fantastic reads that satisfy the your reading soul. Both books take place in settings that are new to me in historical fiction. Singapore and Iceland could not be more different but it was nice to read something other than English, French or Italian stories.

I Know Your Secrets and Becoming RBG were close seconds which makes the month of July one of my better months for reading. Now that I am back to work full time I won't be able to read as much as I have since March when the coronavirus shutdown began. It's been a fun time. I have read 57 books as well as finishing several art projects. 

I Know Your Secret

Ruth Heald has written a gripping psychological thriller with her 4th novel I Know Your Secret.  It is a tale of two women, Danielle and Beth. Danielle is separated from her husband Peter and Beth is her marriage counselor.  Beth is also separated from her husband Richard and has custody of their young son Charlie.  The chapters alternate between Danielle's story and Beth's story. Both women have secrets, hence the title of the book.

The publisher's summary:

"She thinks she knows me.  She believes my marriage is falling apart at the seams, that my husband can barely look me in the eyes.  She thinks I'm desperate for a baby, that my longing for a family keeps me up at night.  As much as I hate to admit it, all of this is true.  She thinks I listen to her advice, that I care about her opinion.  That couldn't be further from the truth. Because she has no idea who I am, she has no clue that I know everything.  I know her secret. I know that she did the unforgivable. I know how many lives she ruined.  I know exactly what she did.  And I'm here for her."

Revenge is sweet. This slowly evolving story becomes unputdownable as each chapter unveils how twisted these two ladies are.  The tension is addictive. This story has just as many twists as the ladies have.  Upon finishing the book I felt that I had missed many clues and need to reread it to fully appreciate them as well as appreciate how twisted the characters are. The author created amazing characters in Danielle and Beth. Their husband's had such small roles that it is hard to consider them secondary characters. I Know Your Secret is all about the women and they are both strong enough to carry the plot.

This story is one for the movie producers. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Stone Doors

Brendan Baker's Stoneborn trilogy begins with this novel in the year 1013. It is an Icelandic tale of love, loyalty and law.  After finishing this fantastic tale I tried to find the next two books in the series. With The Stone Doors publication date of 2016 I expected to find them. Sadly, there are none.

The story begins with Kvelduf Thorbjornsson and his young son Tryggvi working on their Brauoavatn horse farm. Tryggvi's horse Orri was beloved by him so when 2 men approached the farm and were seen stabbing Orri, Kvelduf ran to the horse to try to save him. Unfortunately, Orri was dead and in an angry fit Kvelduf killed the man who stabbed Orri. The other man ran away in order to save himself. The dead man was buried on the farm and Kvelduf met with his gooi, Gunnar Ingolfson, to discuss whether he broke the island's law. Gunnar said that technically the law was broken but promised to help him if an accusation was made against him at the next annual Althing. Althing was the young country's Parliament where every citizen was required to attend. Keeping a low profile at Althing, Kvelduf felt that he was safe from prosecution. However, after Tryggvi got involved in a fight he and his father became noticed and an accusation was made against Kvelduf. Gunnar represented him. If found guilty he could be banished from Iceland and lose all of his possessions.

I loved this story. It was so engaging that I could not put it down and read it in one sitting. The pace was fast. The characters were strong. In fact, the secondary characters were just as compelling as the primary characters. Of course, the beauty of the Iceland setting was wonderful to read about.
While the dialogue was written in contemporary language, there were a few words that I had to look up in the dictionary as I was reading. They were mostly used in setting descriptions. This story has remained in my mind after reading it. It was difficult to begin another book. I tried 4 new books but abandoned them quickly and worked on art projects instead.

5 out of 5 stars.

Paying the Land

Paying the Land is a phrase that means to offer something to the land. It is also the title of Joe Sacco's newest reportage comic about the history of the indigenous tribes of Canada's Northwest Territories during the twentieth-century.  The Canadian government pursued a policy of taking the Indian out of the child by sending young children to residential schools far from their homes for 10 months of every year. This is also a story concerning extracting oil from native lands at their expense. By getting the tribes to accept money or modern conveniences they became less dependent on their natural environment and more dependent on the government for survival.

Sacco traveled to northern Canada to interview members of the Deni tribe, a First Nations tribe who primarily live in the Northwest Territories. He wanted to find out why they were disengaged from their culture. Fracking is the main issue addressed in the book. It has divided the tribe. While it brings in jobs and money, fracking destroys the environment. Another issue is alcoholism and drug addiction. Those who attended the residential schools no longer fit in with their families or the tribe anymore. The result is excessive drinking and an increased death rate from it.

Paying the Land is another great graphic novel from Joe Sacco. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Low Road

The Low Road is the fifth book in A. D. Scott's Highland Gazette Mystery Series. It takes place in the 1950s in Scotland. I have read all of Ms. Scott's earlier books in the series and loved them. However, The Low Road falls short with a poorly written plot and heavy usage of the Scottish language that made it unreadable.

The series amateur sleuth is Joanne Ross, a reporter for the Highland Gazette. In this installment of the series she is inactive. Joanne is recovering from brain surgery and has nothing to do with the investigation of the murder. Her boss and fiance John McAllister was the sleuth. The murder did not occur until page 200 of this 328 page book. The first clue came on page 250.  With no action and every page heavy with Scottish sayings, The Low Road was awful reading. I have to wonder if A. D. Scott actually wrote it. The writing style was different from earlier books and she did not use much Scottish language in them.

For the third time in this blog I am rating a book 0 out of 5 stars.