A Deadly Coincidence - Keith Finney Blog Tour

 I love the paradox of ‘cosy crime’ ! Always wondering how any crime can ever be cosy. But of course its not the crime that’s cosy, it’s everything else!

This story is apparently the first in a new series set in the fictional Norfolk village of Lipton St. Faith.  As well as nestling comfortably in the crime genre it also fulfils the historic fiction genre with its WWII  setting. Anna Grix is our feisty, no nonsense heroine with an insatiable curiosity. When her path crosses that of American serviceman, Eddie,  the two form an alliance that sees them sleuthing their way across the Norfolk Broads.

It’s an entertaining read with a credible plot and some well defined characters. There was a sense of the Golden Age of Crime about it. Old fashioned policing for a start, requiring DIY forensics from Anna and Eddie, but the narrative seemed to transport the reader effortlessly back to a previous age with authentic dialogue and attention to detail where the reader never doubts for a moment they are experiencing a small community dealing with war and all its implications.

For all its cosiness there are moments of intrigue and tension not to mention danger for both our protagonists. But it’s all neatly resolved by the end of the story with a promise of more on the horizon. I look forward the next Lipton St. Faith mystery.

Author Bio
Keith is British and was born in the United Kingdom; grew up playing the horn in Brass Bands, and earned pocket money delivering newspapers. Between leaving school and taking up his apprenticeship in carpentry, Keith sold ice cream at a drive-in tourist park.

Discovering construction sites involved working in the wind and rain, which he hated, Keith opened a joinery workshop. He ran this until becoming a college lecturer ten years later.

Over the following twenty years, he steadily rose through the ranks, ending up as an Assistant Principal at a large college of further & higher education in Norfolk.

Now retired, Keith divides his time between writing, volunteering for the National Trust and helping child-mind his two youngest grandchildren. However, his wife calls into question Keith’s definition of ‘helping’. 

Lean Fall Stand - Jon McGregor

 ‘When an Antarctic research expedition goes wrong, the consequences are far-reaching -  for the men involved and for their families back home

Robert ‘Doc’ Wright, a veteran of Antarctic field work, hold the clues to what happened, but he is no longer able to communicate them. While Anna, his wife, navigates the sharp contours of her new life as a carer, Robert is forced to learn a whole new way to be in the world.’

With this new story from Jon McGregor he continues to add to his impressive oeuvre of delicate, almost understated fictions that deal with so many human conditions, with grace and dignity. This deceptive volume, Lean Fall Stand opens with what seems as if it might be some kind of adventure story. The Lean sequence fools us into thinking we’re in for a protracted, subzero, survival story. It’s both exciting and interesting to read. The hallmarks of McGregors economy of language where he uses as few words as possible to say as much as he possibly can draws the reader in, anticipating more. But in fact that section takes up a bare 80 pages of the novel as a whole. And when you reach the second Fall section you begin to realise that the novel is going off at a completely different tangent. And yet that opening section sticks to the rest of the novel like glue synthesising the readers and the characters in the story. Clever. 

I’m unwilling to give too much away for I felt that another of the book’s strengths was for the reader to chance upon the unexpected. But crucial to the story is Robert’s struggles with language. How do you express yourself and explain the complexities of a pivotal event when your language is limited? I thought the book was examining how it is to have your life turned upside down so that just a mere act of surviving a day is a challenge. And so you have this incredible paradox of one person surviving in the Antarctic and surviving an ordinary, unremarkable day. Alongside that is how one event cannot only turn a suffering individual’s life upside down but those around him or her. The characters of Robert and Anna were so acutely expressed; the fragility of their existences so beautifully described.

I imagine that the author did some protracted and perceptive research to be able to write some of the Fall and Stand sequences so palpably and convincingly. And somehow I saw the frangibility of life in the snow and ice as a metaphor for the tenuousness of Robert’s situation. 

I’ve always admired how McGregor can take some seemingly bleak and unrelenting situations and  extract some redemption from them. Part of that is his prose style which is so controlled and considered, that as a reader you believe that absolutely nothing has been omitted. His ability to characterise  possesses that economy that gives us everything we need to know without overdoing it but also without underdoing it. We are allowed to actually get to know a character as we might a real person. I found my feelings towards Robert changed throughout the sections. And I liked him a lot better by the end of the book than I did at the beginning. And whilst Robert and Anna might dominate his characters the rest of the “cast“ are almost lovingly created and  depicted ensuring that the reader engages with them and roots for them in the challenging world that, through no fault of their own, they find themselves in.

Quite a unique story, unpredictable but thoroughly engaging. My thanks to Matt Clacher at 4th Estate books for my gifted proof. 

Animal - Lisa Taddeo

 

This is an emotionally brutal, searingly angry tale of trauma, survival, revenge  and, I guess,  a desire for female empowerment. I was bemused by the titular ’animal’  because this isn’t how most animals behave, excluding humans of course, but I felt ultimately it was more to do with the basic, animal, primeval instinct for survival at all costs.

It’s hard to warm to Joan until you are furnished with the facts and details of her life which fill you with horror. Only then do you begin to understand why she does what she does, and is who she is. And how hard it can be for others to interpret what someone else has been through and understand what effect trauma has on an individual, mentally.

‘I drove myself out of New York City where a man shot himself in front of me. He was a gluttonous man and when his blood came out it looked like the blood of a pig.

That's a cruel thing to think, I know. He did it in a restaurant where I was having dinner with another man, another married man.

Do you see how this is going? But I wasn't always that way.

I am depraved. I hope you like me.

MEET JOAN: SUMMER 2021’

As blurbs go that’s pretty minimal but it’s enough surely to whet your appetite? A set of paradoxes to intrigue a reader. Yet they subtly offer clues. Somehow you know it’s going to be an uncomfortable, harrowing read. So if you’re looking for some rom-com, chick-lit, then run away now for this will bend the framework of your comfort zone irrevocably out of shape.

There’s an element of mystery to the narrative, the key to Joan lies in seeking the answers to her unanswered questions. There are subtle hints that probably lead the astute reader to the correct conclusions regarding identity and relationships. Obliquely nestling within the narrative  are considerations of nature versus nurture. And the question of whether to understand trauma you have to have suffered trauma went through my mind. And from there, of course, individual understanding of trauma may differ. Such is the introspection of the human animal that there may be many who might aver that their behaviour would differ widely from that of Joan’s. But trauma doesn’t come with an instruction manual or novels like these would not be written.

Alongside experiencing individual trauma and dealing with it are broader observations on a male dominated society and gender attitudes towards sex. It’s book probably destined to provoke many discussions because it deals with uncomfortable  subjects head on. So it’s not a book to entertain, it’s a book to make you think. Life can be uncomfortable. Dreadful things happen and people have to deal with them and continue their lives. Creativity can offer us a lens into different states. However for all its ferocity there is a redemption in the conclusion. It’s a well written, well paced narrative  of nuanced substance.

My thanks to Georgina Moore at Midas PR for a gifted proof.

The Woman in the Purple Skirt - Natsuko Imamura translated by Lucy North

There is something about the Japanese writing style that always seems slightly off centre, slightly surreal. I find it in Ishiguro and Murakami so I was not surprised to find it here. It is by no means a bad thing! There is something hypnotic about such narratives that drive the reader on, floundering in an almost abstract world. Lucy North’s translation allows little to be lost. And yet there was one powerful sequence where the titular woman is engaging with some children that reminded me of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant which seems very English!  It’s consummate story telling, nuanced and enigmatic to the end.

Thematically I guess it’s a story of obsession and voyeurism beginning innocently enough but gathering a darker momentum as the story progresses. It is told from one person’s point of view completely (the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan) so there is often the nagging sense of questioning perspectives and accuracies, something I find fascinating. The reader is encouraged to question our purple skirted lady’s normality (another interesting device is the constant referral to the Woman in the Purple Skirt using initial capitals as if that were her name)  by our narrator, referred to in the same manner, who may not be quite as stable as she would have us believe?! But the author skilfully uses the story to explore wider issues of the female condition, hierarchies and power struggles in the work environment together with issues of loneliness and vulnerability.

Perhaps  the most revealing paragraphs in the book as to the ultimate motivation of our lady with the yellow cardigan are these;

‘Unfortunately, no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That’s the difference between her and the Woman in the Purple Skirt.’

‘When the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan goes out walking in the shopping district, nobody pays the slightest bit of attention. But when the Woman in the Purple Skirt goes out, it’s impossible not to pay attention. Nobody could ignore her. ‘

It’s a short book but it’s well paced and easy to read with a deal of humour amongst the darkness. In one sense not much happens! It’s an everyday life story of people dealing with their problems about money and employment, relationships and routines.  Yet it’s open ended and leaves the reader with many questions, and a sense of doubt as to whether one’s interpretations of events is correct? It’s really quite unnerving. One is left with an almost fable like or fairy tale sense of the story of these two women. A most enjoyable reading experience!

The Nocturnals - Aleksandra Rychlicka

 

Possibly one of the more unusual fictions I’ve read in recent months. I had a sense of being in a Salvador Dali painting! But I also found it most refreshing to see a challenging of convention.

’In the secret community of sleepless tenants on the mysterious Estate, new arrival Liv soon realises that escape is impossible, not just from the past but from the building itself. The Nocturnals is a noir mystery, daring and visceral, when nothing is what it seems.’
Thus runs the Amazon blurb……

The significance of the insomniac characters fuels the sustained theme surrounding, sleep, night, risk of dreaming. There is a dreamlike quality to the narrative and to the writing. Events and the bare bones of everyday occurrences seem distorted, off  balance as if the reader is viewing it all through a cracked lens. It’s unsettling yet compelling. And it seems the residents of the Estate feel a similar way,

‘This exclusive address feels like a facade. The residents don’t seem to really live here; they all dwell among the empty, hostile walls that refused to be claimed. Even Maro’s situation appears tentative. After all these years, it still looks like he’s crashing here.’

Maro presents as a ‘main’ character possibly because he seems to have been there the longest, although that is my interpretation! The characters seem afraid to sleep, afraid of what might fundamentally change when they wake. They are not especially likeable characters. I felt the reader was encouraged to view them objectively, unsympathetically rather than engage in any way. It’s almost as if the writer were manipulating the readers’ emotions and responses. The Estate, too, is a character. It feels like it drives the situations whilst also standing back and watching as events unfold.

‘It is the Estate’s right granted to its residents; to decline any responsibility for past actions.’

And that is a clue to the book's ultimate intention, maybe, to ponder past and memories and how they relate to the present if not the future. For if you don’t sleep you are forever in the present…..

It’s certainly a book to make you think, not to everyone’s taste I imagine, but the writing is almost mesmeric, hypnotic even, a collections of images and metaphors that brand themselves into your brain, certainly a novel that is out of the ordinary.

My thanks to Librarything for a gifted copy.

The River Between Us - Liz Fenwick - Blog Tour

 ‘Following the breakdown of her marriage, Theo has bought a tumbledown cottage on the banks of the river Tamar which divides Cornwall and Devon. The peace and tranquillity of Boatman’s Cottage, nestled by the water, is just what she needs to heal.
Yet soon after her arrival, Theo discovers a stash of hidden letters tied with a ribbon, untouched for more than a century. The letters – sent from the battlefields of France during WW1 – tell of a young servant from the nearby manor house, Abbotswood, and his love for a woman he was destined to lose.
As she begins to bring Boatman’s Cottage and its gardens back to life, Theo pieces together a story of star-crossed lovers played out against the river, while finding her own new path to happiness.
The River Between Us beautifully explores the mystery and secrets of a long-forgotten love affair, and will be loved by fans of Kate Morton.’

This book attracted my attention because the summary suggests it  ‘will be loved by fans of Kate Morton’ . Since I am a fan of Kate Morton I thought I might like to see if that accolade could be justified!

It’s a ‘big house’ story and it’s set in Cornwall which always brings Daphne Du Maurier to mind. With a dual time chronology we yo yo between present day and the cusp of WW1 and beyond. In a sense it’s a tried and tested premise - chance finding of some old letters opening up mysteries and secrets of forgotten love. But it works. It’s entertaining and immersive. Escapism at its best. The historical research is detailed and convincing and the reader is drawn back to a different era.

The metaphor of the river endures throughout and the concept of division on several levels and becomes more poignant as the story unfolds. It is a story of duality;  people, times and places. The characters are accessible, none of them perfect which makes them more real and you find yourself questioning their actions and reactions at times. But you’re always rooting for those elusive happy endings.

In both time frames lives are tangled and require unravelling to gain full effect. And I felt the book offered entertaining escapism. But I can imagine people on their ‘staycations’ devouring this book on, hopefully, sunny beaches and on leafy, woodland picnics.

dem - William Melvin Kelley

I am in awe of William Melvin Kelley. I feel excited when I have a new work to experience and a certain sense of loss when I’ve finished it! He’s permanently on my ‘reread ’ list.

I’ve just finished dem and something that struck me is how Kelly skilfully sustains a sense of continuity and commitment throughout his work. dem features Mitchell Pierce who Kelly readers might remember from the short story in Dancers on the Shore -  “The Servant Problem”. And we’re also reacquainted with Opal and Cooley. Not to mention Carlyle Bedlow who was also featured in Dancers on the Shore and is related to Wallace Bedlow who first appears in A Different Drummer!! Phew!

So all of that adds substance and understanding when you encounter these characters in a “new” work. It reinforces Kelly’s ability to raise awareness and consciousness to enduring issues of race in 60’s America and insist we confront these issues however uncomfortable they may be.

As displayed in A Different Drummer Kelly is master of satire, subtle and nuanced, and that’s one thing to be but he is also master of prose and dialogue so his narratives flow with a comfortable ease no matter how hard hitting his message and observations are. His style is so accessible and he allows his readers in and trusts them to reach the right conclusions from his work. There is no sense that he is preaching, or even that he has an axe to grind which make his works all the more powerful since he uses the art of story telling to make his points most forcefully.

dem begins with a dark occurrence for Mitchell and his wife Tam to experience. I had to re read several paragraphs because initially I just couldn’t believe what I’d read! There’s a sense of the absurd in it yet it also serves to illustrate the intrinsic arrogance of the protagonists. And the situation first introduced to us in the short story ‘The Servant Problem’ is further developed in dem to a powerful conclusion. As in A Different Drummer Kelly uses white people as his main protagonists. His understanding of mind sets and motivations display acute perception.

The novel progresses with an almost obsessive zeal on the part of Mitchell to achieve a certain outcome but ultimately reveals his sustained inadequacies and lack of understanding. I’d prefer not to give too much else away.

Whilst I’m not sure if dem reaches the perfection of A Different Drummer it is a powerful work and will leave you thinking long after the last full stop. Sometimes dubbed “the lost giant of American literature” Kelley will surely never be lost again and he will remain a giant not just of American literature but of literature, full stop.

My thanks to Elizabeth Masters and Ana McLaughlin of riverrun for a gifted copy.