What I Have Been Reading
Mary Higgins Clark, I Heard That Song Before: I've read so many of her books now that when she's trying to hide her villain(s) I can usually make two or three guesses and be right. My second guess was correct here.
As for exploring a crime possibly committed through a particular medical circumstance (sleepwalking in this case; once before it was a split personality), this one fell sort of flat. Clark never really let us get close enough to the person suffering the sleepwalking, I thought--so much of his story was told in the chapters that were from his wife's point of view. I also tend to dislike it when Clark jumps from first person to third person. I think her stories run much more smoothly when it's entirely omniscient narration; in this case there were a lot of engaging secondary characters (one of Clark's strengths) that got short-changed. A decent beach read.
Dorothy Sayers, Strong Poison: One of the good things to come out of my HP obsession was seeking out some of the authors that Rowling admires, who are overall excellent to read. What I particularly liked about the introduction of Harriet Vane in this, the fourth or fifth Peter Wimsey mystery, is how suddenly what Wimsey is doing really matters to him. Detecting isn't just a game anymore; even in a previous book where Wimsey's own brother was a suspect, Wimsey still maintained his devil-may-care attitude through most of that book. I am very much looking forward to the rest of this storyarc. I also enjoyed how Wimsey set up the murderer at the scene of the reveal. If you enjoy older English mysteries in general, this is a good one.
Paul Gallico, Manxmouse: This is a pleasant children's book, a story of a mouse created in a drunken joy by a ceramist who comes to life and hasn't the faintest idea why he's there. It's a charming tale as Manxmouse learns that he "belongs to" Manx Cat and eventually goes from blind courage to fear to trying to run away to acceptance of his "fate". I can see myself sharing this one with Little Bead in a year or two.
As for exploring a crime possibly committed through a particular medical circumstance (sleepwalking in this case; once before it was a split personality), this one fell sort of flat. Clark never really let us get close enough to the person suffering the sleepwalking, I thought--so much of his story was told in the chapters that were from his wife's point of view. I also tend to dislike it when Clark jumps from first person to third person. I think her stories run much more smoothly when it's entirely omniscient narration; in this case there were a lot of engaging secondary characters (one of Clark's strengths) that got short-changed. A decent beach read.
Dorothy Sayers, Strong Poison: One of the good things to come out of my HP obsession was seeking out some of the authors that Rowling admires, who are overall excellent to read. What I particularly liked about the introduction of Harriet Vane in this, the fourth or fifth Peter Wimsey mystery, is how suddenly what Wimsey is doing really matters to him. Detecting isn't just a game anymore; even in a previous book where Wimsey's own brother was a suspect, Wimsey still maintained his devil-may-care attitude through most of that book. I am very much looking forward to the rest of this storyarc. I also enjoyed how Wimsey set up the murderer at the scene of the reveal. If you enjoy older English mysteries in general, this is a good one.
Paul Gallico, Manxmouse: This is a pleasant children's book, a story of a mouse created in a drunken joy by a ceramist who comes to life and hasn't the faintest idea why he's there. It's a charming tale as Manxmouse learns that he "belongs to" Manx Cat and eventually goes from blind courage to fear to trying to run away to acceptance of his "fate". I can see myself sharing this one with Little Bead in a year or two.