Tag Archives: reviews

The Alpine mysteries

I’ve talked before about my mother-in-law and her propensity towards mysteries. Every time I visit, she has a new one that I am always welcome to pick up–this is how I got addicted to Diane Mott Davidson and Joanne Fluke. So fluffy . . . so wrong . . . and yet so right. Yes, I am a conflicted person. My brain tells me that I should constantly be ingesting Great Literature and churning out amazing thoughts about how the power of the woman/goddess figure is in direct contradiction with her liminality, and how the psychology of the stock figures . . . blabbity bla . . . well, something-or-another super smart, but let’s be real here. Sometimes all I want is a predictable story with a sure-fire resolution.

A few months ago I got started on Mary Daheim’s Alpine series. Beginning with “The Alpine Advocate,” there is a mystery for each letter of the alphabet. Cut me some slack on the above picture–I know those covers are kind of grim–but these books are seriously enjoyable. And not nearly as fluffy as the books mentioned above! Hence the reduction of my guilt factor . . . and hence my increased pleasure while reading them.

First of all, the main character, Emma Lord, is not your run-of-the-mill mystery-book heroine. She is a 40-something big-city transplant to a small town in Washington; she’s a single mom, a Catholic, a career woman, a smoker who’s always quitting, and a snappy tongue with a soft heart underneath. In the mountainous, frequently snowy community of Alpine, she runs the local paper: the Alpine Advocate. Grumpy at times, full of good intentions at others, generous, and often lonely, Emma makes for a very three dimensional character.

She has a small staff at her newspaper office–the flaky college grad Carla who is both full of the energy of youth and full of rampant typos, ad manager Ed who Emma just doesn’t have the heart to fire (though he’s possibly the Worst Employee of All Time), and finally her strong-willed House and Home editor, Vida, who always wears a hat and unfailingly acts like she’s the boss.

Not all the mysteries are solved. And I don’t mean that there are frustrating loose ends left or holes in the plot–just that the books are more true to life than other mysteries I’ve read, which tend to wrap things up in such a nice and tidy package that it leaves you almost . . . disappointed. When comes out a little too nicely, it’s just not as satisfying, you know what I mean? Not so with this series. The disappointments, relationships, twist and turns, are much more fleshed out than your average cozy mystery.

The books are sometimes suspenseful but mostly character-driven. They are rarely gruesome (though you wouldn’t guess by the covers of the older edition) and just dark enough to be realistic while still being satisfying and an overall happy read.

So in conclusion: if you’re hankering for a nice, long series that doesn’t require too much emotional investment and yet still has enough depth that you don’t feel embarrassed just picking it up, check these books out!

I Capture the Castle

I discovered this fantastic book through Netflix instant play, where I watched what I assumed just to be a pretty cool indie movie. I didn’t realize that it was based on a novel until I was checking out some books at the library and saw it in its forest-green jacket in a pile of returns. “Um, could I grab that book too?” I asked the librarian, who kindly added it to my stack.

I love this book.

This book was first published in 1948, and British author Dodie Smith weaves what can only be called a classic tale. The narrator, 17-year-old Cassandra, starts a journal which morphs into the story of her family’s past and present. “I am writing this journal partly to practise my newly acquired speed-writing and partly to teach myself how to write a novel–I intend to capture all our characters and put in conversations. It ought to be good for my style to dash along without much thought, as up to now my stories have been very stiff and self-conscious.” And let me say–there is nothing stiff or self conscious about this delightful novel!

Cassandra Mortmain’s family is penniless, artistic, and entirely unique, living rent-free in a crumbling English castle with virtually no furniture, a funny old bathroom in a tower, and a real moat. Her father, a brilliant but long unfruitful writer, has been languishing idle for years. Topaz, Cassandra’s stepmother, is a famous artists’ model whose hard work keeps the household afloat and who from time to time communes with nature in the nude. The book encompasses a 6 month period in which the family undergoes drastic changes–Cassandra’s elder sister Rose may have found a way out of poverty via the age-old method: a rich suitor, the American Simon Cotton.

Cassandra as a narrator is endearingly honest and candid–sometimes poetic, sometimes practical. She speaks with absolute, unjaded sincerity. The story that emerges is so fresh and captivating in part because she comes to the page with her emotion and excitement still glowing from whatever event has just transpired. It’s impossible not to get wrapped up in her story, her emotions, her fantasies, and her disappointments.

Cassandra experiences confusing feelings towards the different men in her life: her father as a failed artist, their young hired hand who has the looks of a Greek god, Simon Cotton even as he woos her sister–and as she gradually shakes off her childhood, she starts learning what she wants out of life.

I can’t resist giving you a taste of the writing, so here’s a small excerpt–after falling into the tempestuous clutches of young love, Cassandra ponders “Surely it isn’t normal for anyone so miserably in love to eat and sleep so well? Am I a freak? I only know that I am miserable, I am in love, but I raven food and sleep. Another great luxury is letting myself cry–I always feel marvellously peaceful after that. But it is difficult to arrange times for it, as my face takes so long to recover; it isn’t safe in the mornings if I am to look normal when I meet father at lunch, and the afternoons are no better, as Thomas is home by five. It would be all right in bed at night but such a waste, as that is my happiest time.”

Everyone should read this book. And for your added enlightenment, if I’m reading this correctly on the ‘other books by Dodie Smith’ page, this author also wrote “The Hundred and One Dalmatians.” What!?!? Perhaps Disney took great liberties with the story? Anyway, this enchanting book is seriously not to be missed.