The Silence by J. Sydney Jones

I'm delighted that J. Sydney Jones sent a PDF of this book to me for review. It is the third in a series of mystery novels set in historic Vienna, a city Jones lived in for some time years ago. The fact that I hadn't read the first two was no barrier to enjoyment of this one, but certainly convinced me that I must read the others very soon. They are, in order: The Empty Mirror and Requiem in Vienna, both published last year. I should add that these are print books with gorgeous covers appropriate to the setting.

Attorney and private inquiries agent (private detective) Karl Werthen is the protagonist but by no means alone in his investigations. His wife Berthe is one of my favorite characters, so level-headed, patient, and fully invested in each case. She gives him fresh eyes and good ideas. Another partner in solving the crime is a real person, Dr. Hanns Gross who was the father of criminology. He is gruff and abrupt with people but has a better grasp of the issues than anyone else.

In addition to his case, Werthen is beset by family squabbles involving his orthodox father-in-law, and his snobbish parents who apparently don't credit Werthen and his wife with the good sense to take care of their baby daughter, the apple of Werthen's eye. Leave it to the grandparents to muddy the waters when the first grandchild is born.

Werthen is at first hired to find a wealthy family's oldest son. As he goes to their mansion we learn one of the many things about 1900 Vienna that make this book so charming and interesting to read. The wife has a migraine, so city workers have been dispatched to spread straw on the street to muffle the sound of horses' hooves. There are descriptions of homes, the architecture of city buildings, the sounds and smells of the city, and the Vienna Woods. We also learn of the anti-Semitism rampant in the city so long before WW II, and the great gulf between the rich and the poor.

At the same time, a councilman who is second in power only to Mayor Karl Lueger (who has visions of undermining the rule of Emperor Franz Josef) has apparently committed suicide in his office. Werthen becomes involved in that case as well and finds himself and his family in great danger.

Two of my favorite characters are two young boys, one a son of the wealthy family, the other a street urchin that Werthen's legal assistant wants to adopt. The boys become unlikely friends. I liked both of them immensely.

I find it difficult to tell you much about the story, partly because there are several plotlines, but also because I don't want to give anything away. Let me just say that it is a great story told by an author who is capable of putting the reader in 1900 Vienna (so much so that I was startled when a horn honked outside my house), and the characters are ones that you will enjoy getting to know. My next job is to order the first two books. Highly recommended.

J. A. Jance's Sheriff Joanna Brady

Sheriff Joanna Brady is another of my favorite crime solvers, but in Paradise Lost she's a prime example of why I would never attempt to write about a crime solver who is married and has a child. In this novel Brady is newly married to Butch Dixon, her second husband, and her daughter Jenny is now 12 years old. Both are struggling a bit with issues that are the result of being married to or the daughter of a county sheriff.

This story begins with Joanna and Butch attending an Arizona Sheriff's Association convention. She is sneaking back into their room at the hotel at 1 am after playing poker with other sheriffs and beating her least favorite one out of about $700. Butch understands but later admits the convention was difficult for him as the only husband of a sheriff. Wives of course have gone through this since the Stone Age but it's different for a guy.

Then Jenny has problems camping with the Girl Scouts and trying to be just one of the kids. Then she and her pup tent mate find a body and the plot is off and running and so is Joanna. It's one of those novels that leaves you breathless because it goes so fast, there's so much danger, and Joanna is also dealing with family issues.

By the way, Joanna's mother, Eleanor, is the most aggravating character ever devised by a novelist. I'd say more but you just have to meet her yourself.

Actually that's the best feature of Jance's novels - the characters. They're unique and they're understandable in their lives and their actions, if a little quirky at times but aren't we all? The characters are really busy in this tale with a short-handed sheriff's department, three murders, and a lot of miles to cover during the investigation. Meanwhile, Butch is in the wedding of one of his former employees, Jenny is upset, Eleanor is very upset, and Joanna needs to be in about three places at once. What a crazy mess, but of course it all tends to work out.

I can't tell you any more without spoiling the book for you, except that a recurring theme is motherhood. I hope you'll read this one. It's a keeper.

Innocent Blood by P.D. James

I would have thought I had read all of P.D. James' books but I spotted this paperback at a book sale and realized it was new to me. I have never, ever disliked a P.D. James book and this one is just as good as all the others.

The wonderful characters and the setting are what make her stories come alive. The reader feels like a mouse in the woodwork watching every move and somehow privy to every thought. The heroine in this one is Philippa Palfrey who lives in style in London with her adoptive parents, Maurice and Hilda Palfrey. Maurice is not affectionate and Philippa believes he has used her as a sort of experiment, making her a posh sort of girl despite her background. She thinks she was the daughter of a maid on an estate and the aristocrat who lived there. She thinks her mother is dead. By law, on her eighteenth birthday she is allowed to request a copy of her birth certificate and learn how to contact a surviving parent.

What Philippa learns on that birthday astounds her. Her actual birth parents were exactly the opposite of what she thought and it is her mother who survives. She determines to get to know her mother in order to know who she herself really is. This sets her on a journey of discovery that will change her life forever.

Many other secrets are revealed in the course of the story as well, some of which greatly surprised me, and there is a final secret at the end which may or may not surprise you as much as it did me. Yet when I gave it some thought, it was inevitable.

I really can't tell much more without ruining the story, but I must recommend this one for anyone who loves a good character-driven mystery. Be warned that once you get into it, you won't be able to put it down.

I am an Amazon Associate if you decide to buy it.

BORDERLINE by Nevada Barr

I just spent the weekend with Nevada Barr through her book Borderline. I've been a fan of her Anna Pigeon series for years. Anna, a National Park Service ranger, appeals to me because she's brave, gutsy, loves the outdoors, is curious, and when the occasion calls for it she's decisive in the face of danger. Along the way through the series she has changed quite a bit as she's gotten older, but the biggest change happened when she married Paul, a Mississippi sheriff who is also a minister. He seems to be perfect for her, and she has learned to rely on him somewhat instead of only depending upon herself.

That love and trust has never been so evident as in Borderline. Anna had been forced to kill a man in her last posting. No question it was self-defense and warranted, but she is sent to a shrink and ends up having a breakdown. Sent home to recover, she finally feels better and she and Paul go on a rafting trip down the Rio Grande through Big Bend National Park.

There are four teenagers along plus a young woman who is their guide. Anna still struggles to rid herself of the effects of her breakdown but the trip seems to be helping. Then they see a cow named Easter halfway up a cliff. Easter has been there barely surviving for quite a while and will surely die. They decide to rescue her and that's when the trip turns into a tragic adventure.

Many characters in this story are troubled, others genuinely wonderful human beings and as usual Barr fleshes them out and brings them to life. Anna learns things about herself that she never expected and in the process she heals. I think this is possibly the best Nevada Barr ever. I certainly recommend it.

Borderline is available from amazon.com. I am an Amazon Associate.

Malice in the Highlands by Graham Thomas

At this time of year many of us like to read what other bloggers have called "comfort reads." Some go back to old favorites; I am drawn to books that are set in places I love. That's why I picked up Malice in the Highlands, a mystery set in my beloved Scottish Highlands.

The hero is a New Scotland Yard detective who occasionally retreats to an inn in the highlands for salmon fishing and an ongoing contest with a Scottish detective as to who will catch the largest fish. His wife stays in London, unable to understand that he gets burned out sometimes and that this restores him. No sooner does he arrive for this particular vacation, though, than a body is found in the river. The inn sits at the edge of an estate owned by an American who has an agreement with the innkeeper that guests can fish in the river on the estate. However, the body turns out to be that American.

Detective-Chief Superintendent Erskine Powell has brought along a friend who recently had been despondent hoping to restore his spirits as well. The friend appears to have a wonderful time fishing, while Powell spends his time trying to solve the murder, frustrated that the whole thing seems to have been dumped on him.
There are several suspects, twists and turns of plot, and a surprising end. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and Thomas' descriptions of the area. I could almost feel I was there.

This is an old book, from 1998, but perhaps your library has a copy. If you love Scotland as I do, it's worth the time to look for it.