Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

In Bury Your Dead, book six of Louise Penny's excellent Three Pines mystery series, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Surete du Quebec is on leave from the Police Department.  He is trying to recover emotionally and physically in the aftermath of a tragic police raid that went very wrong.  Gamache in an effort to recover is staying in Quebec City spending his time at the Literary and Historical Society doing research and trying to forget.

But then a murder happens.  Augustin Renaud, a historian obsessed with finding the burial site of Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec, turns up dead in the basement of the Literary and Historical Society.  Gamache realizes he will have to begin iinvestigating who killed Renaud since the Literary and Historical Society is an old English institution and tensions are high in Quebec between the French and English populations.

There is also a separate investigation involving Gamache's second in command, Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir.  He is in Three Pines trying to discover whether Olivier Brule, who runs the local bistro with his partner Gabri, really did kill the reclusive antique collector he was convicted of killing.  Gamache is having doubts and wants Beauvoir to look into it.

And so in Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny juggles three separate story lines: who killed Augustin Renaud, the guilt or innocence of Olivier Brule and finally the police raid that continues to haunt Gamache.  Louise Penny handles all three of these stories beautifully.  Bury Your Dead won the Agatha and Anthony Awards in 2010 and 2011 for best mystery novel and I have to agree.  I have really enjoyed all of the books I have read in this series and Bury Your Dead is the best yet.

1940 Club: - The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich

Simon at Stuck In A Book has an interesting challenge where he picks a year and then readers are encouraged to read a book published during that year.  This year Simon chose 1940 and so I decided to go with The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich which has been gathering dust in my kindle for some time now.

The Bride Wore Black begins in the 1930's and in the prologue we meet a young woman named Julie who has suffered a tragedy of some kind that we are not told about.  Julie lets her family know that she needs to get away and sort things out and so she boards a train to Chicago.  But Julie gets off the train at the next stop and remains in NYC.   Her family is unaware of this.

The novel then switches to a different scene in which a wealthy young man named Bliss is celebrating at his engagement party.   A beautiful mysterious woman shows up at the party and is able to get Bliss alone on the balcony of the high rise where the party is taking place.  She pushes him off the balcony to his death.  The young woman leaves the party before any of the guests find out what has happened.

It's the beginning of a killing spree that will span over two years in which four men turn up dead in NYC and always a young woman is reported as having been around the scene at the time.  But who is this woman and who are these men since they don't appear to have known each other and have led very different lives?  There is Bliss, the wealthy young man who is engaged.  There is Mitchell who is down on his luck and living in a dingy apartment.  Moran a businessman with a wife and young son and Ferguson a successful artist.

A detective named Wagner is assigned to the case and he is pretty sure that the same woman is responsible for all of these killings.  His supervisors are not so sure since witnesses describe the woman at each crime scene in different ways but Wagner knows its not hard to change one's appearance after each killing.  Wagner is sure that somehow these four men must have been connected in the past.  Some event must have happened involving all four and once he finds out what that event was it will lead him to the killer.  

The Bride Wore Black is a gripping novel but disturbing and I had a problem with the ending which I can't go into without revealing too much.  But now having read a prior short story by Cornell Woolrich and The Bride Wore Black I plan to continue with this writer.  

Crime noir novelists like Cornell Woolrich, David Goodis, Dorothy Hughes, Chester Himes etc were popular in their day.  They wrote in a similar vein about betrayal, bad breaks, alienation, guilt and settling scores.  And though a steady diet of their books is probably a mistake, I do plan to read more by these authors.  They are talented and had important things to say about life and I am glad to see that their novels are having a revival. 

Later - I did it!  I finally figured out how to paste the cover of the book I am reviewing onto my blog!  Now the trick is to remember how I did this when I post my next review.

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

"When we wish to decide upon the merits of a governess, we naturally look at the young ladies she professes to have educated, and judge accordingly.  The judicious governess knows this: she knows that, while she lives in obscurity herself, her pupils’ virtues and defects will be open to every eye; and that, unless she loses sight of herself in their cultivation, she need not hope for success.  You see, Miss Grey, it is just the same as any other trade or profession: they that wish to prosper must devote themselves body and soul to their calling; and if they begin to yield to indolence or self-indulgence they are speedily distanced by wiser competitors"  

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (1847) is a reread.  I must have read it over twenty years ago and I was uderwhelmed at the time possibly because I had just finished Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights which is brilliant and Agnes Grey is not in that league.  But since then I have read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Anne Bronte's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall and I have become a big Broute fan not only in terms of their writing but the courage these three sisters had in living their lives with death all around them and yet never giving up on their dreams.  

So with that in mind it was time for a reread of Agnes Grey and I was pleasantly suprised.  I liked the book the second time around.   I found Agnes Grey to be a good first start to a novelist's career.  Anne Bronte had talent and promise and she was ahead of her time in dealing with issues like what being a governess was really like and it was not an easy job.

Agnes Grey takes place in the North of England during the mid-nineteenth century where Agnes lives with her parents and sister Mary.  It's a happy family but poor and when Agnes's father loses money in a bad business deal Agnes offers to apply for a governess  position.  She is excited about the idea.  How wonderful to earn one's own money and be with children and teach them what they need to know.

The first family Agnes goes to work for are the Bloomfields.  The children are a nightmare and the oldest son enjoys torturing small animals.  Agnes soon leaves that situation and gets a new job working for the wealthy Murray family. They have two daughters, Rosalie and Matilda.  These young women are not the terrors the Bloomfield children were but they are spoiled young ladies who are used to getting their own way. 

Rosalie is beautiful but vain and a flirt.  She is set on marrying Sir Thomas Ashbury but in the meantime why not have fun with other suitors, particularly the rector Mr. Hatfield who Rosalie actually cares about.  Agnes tries to tell Rosalie that toying with the feelings of Mr. Hatfield is not a good thing to do.  And Agnes has worries that Rosalie is making a mistake with Sir Thomas Ashbury who she senses is not a great catch.  But Rosalie is set on marrying him and being the mistress of his great estate.  

As for Agnes there is a love interest as well, the local curate Edward Weston.  Agnes meets him when she is visiting Nancy Brown, a poor elderly woman with failing eyesight.  Agnes enjoys talking with Nancy and Edward regularly checks in on Nancy as well.  As Bronte heroes go Edward Weston is different.  He is not violent like Heathcliffe or brooding and hiding a secret like Mr. Rochester.  He's a good man, smart and he knows that religion is not simply words but deeds.  

And so I am glad I reread Agnes Grey and a bit sad too because I have no further Anne Bronte novels to read and it's clear had she lived she would have had alot to say about Victorian society, religion and the role of women.  But I am grateful for all of the Bronte novels we do have.

Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

"I don’t write all this so anyone will feel sorry for me—I write these words because they are true. I write them because someone else may be confused by the fact that they know they should stop drinking—like me, they have all the information, and they understand the consequences—but they still can’t stop drinking. You are not alone, my brothers and sisters. (In the dictionary under the word “addict,” there should be a picture of me looking around, very confused.) - Matthew Perry

I have never been a regular viewer of Friends but on those occasions when I did watch the show the character that always stood out for me was Chandler. I found Chandler handsome, charming, funny and I felt the same for Matthew Perry who portrayed him. I've been aware of the decades long drug and alcohol addiction problems Matthew Perry has had and when his memoir Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing (2022) came out to critical praise I wanted to read what he had to say. I was curious why Perry's addiction to drugs and alcohol started and what he has learned along the way.

And so when Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing begins we are at a crisis moment in Matthew Perry's life. It was 2018 and as he tells us his colon exploded due to years of opioid use. It was a life threatening situation and after this dramatic opening some readers may decide they've had enough. But that would be a mistake.

I know for myself that I learned alot not only about Perry's struggles with substance abuse which is the major part of the book but also about his childhood growing up in Ottawa and Los Angeles. He had plans as a teenager to become a tennis pro but realized he was good but would never be great. And so following in his father's footsteps he decided to give acting a try. He loved it and was great at it. We learn about Perry's audition for Friends and he continues to be extremely grateful for his time on the show and remains close with the cast and crew to this day.

And that is what is so admirable about this memoir because as hard as Matthew Perry can be on himself, he is very generous when talking about his parents, siblings, friends, girlfriends, co-stars. This is a serious memoir about addiction and I finished the book wanting the best for Matthew Perry and if a reader is a fan of Chandler I think knowing about the actor who portrayed him will not disappoint. I recommend Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing and I believe its a book that will help people.

Later - I decided to shorten the above review from my original post.  I felt the first review was a bit too long and that I gave away too much detail.  It's always better for the reader to discover what's in the book themselves.  But I stand by my initial thoughts which are that Friends Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing is a brave and very honest memoir and well worth your time.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (2018) is a bestselling domestic thriller that bears a strong resemblance to The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins.  Once again we have a 30 something ex-wife named Vanessa who could not get pregnant, started drinking and is now divorced from her handsome ex-husband Richard who has taken up with Nellie, Vanessa's 20 something replacement.  Vanessa has started following the happy couple determined to stop the marriage. Vanessa appears to be jealous, unbalanced and desparate to get Richard back. 

But all is not as it seems and around page 150 of The Wife Between Us we are hit with a twist that is quite well done.  The problem though is that after page 150 we still have 230 more pages to go and for me the book dragged.  The authors after the twist spend the rest of the book focusing on Vanessa as she tells us about what went wrong with her marriage to Richard.  As expected he is far from the prince she thought she was marrying.  He's abusive and controlling.  He spies on Vanessa and when she becomes aware of who he is she wants out but Richard is very wealthy with connections and has made it clear that no one walks out on him.

It can be dangerous to leave an abusive spouse since the abuser may come after you and so Vanessa comes up with a plan to make herself as undesirable as possible so that Richard will be the one who wants out.   She lets her appearance go.  She embarrasses him at company functions by pretending to be drunk.  She notices that Richard has a beautiful young assistant and goes about trying to bring them together so that Richard will have even more incentive to leave.   She fills a notebook with her interactions with Richard and the different ways he is trying to gaslight her and by the end of the novel I was wondering who is crazier, Richard or Vanessa.  And of course Vanessa's plan works too well.   Richard does leave her but now her replacement is in danger. 

I think the domestic thriller genre has gone overboard these days with unreliable narrators and "twists, twists and more twists" as one reviewer described it.  And The Wife Between Us ends with a final twist which in my opinion added nothing.  That said, this novel did receive a starred review from Publisher's Weekly.  But for me the domestic thriller, at least the books I've read, needs to get back to writing straightforward and plausible dramas which in the right hands will not need as many gimmicks to keep the reader hooked.

Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy by Letty Cottin Progrebin

I don't read as much non-fiction as I should but when I do I am always on the lookout for a good memoir.  And so when my friend Iris recommended Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy by Letty Cottin Progrebin (2022) I was interested.  Iris has never steered me wrong and I found Shanda to be a very honest, well written, and thought-provoking memoir in which the author reveals much about the role that fear, shame and thus keeping secrets has played in her life and the lives of her family members going back generations.  

Shanda is the yiddish word for shame and Letty grew up during a time when people did not talk about divorce, addiction, teen pregnancy, depression, financial matters and so many other topics.  What would the neighbors think or one's employer if they found out you had gotten divorced or were seeing a therapist or if you were a single parent or if you were gay etc etc. 

Letty says that her family was particularly prone to secrets partly because of the times they lived in, the 1940's and 1950's, but also because as Jewish immigrants leaving lands with terrible histories of anti-semitism and oppression keeping secrets was often necessary to survive.  Even in better times one had to be careful:

"The Elightenment enabled European Jews to live and work among their country’s majority population, though not always in comfort or safety. Their social status and religious liberty continued to depend on the whims of the powerful and the kindness of their neighbors. In good times, they could display their Hanukkah menorahs in their windows as tradition decrees; in bad times, they lit their candles behind closed doors"

Letty's grandmother at age 19 living in Ukraine did not want to marry the much older man her parents had arranged for her.  And so on her wedding night, before the marriage was consummated, she climbed out of the window and ran off with her true love, Letty's grandfather.  But her relatives here in America kept it silent that their  grandmother, however briefly, had a first husband.  Back then it would have been shameful to reveal even though today we rightly see it as courageous.   Letty discovered this secret as a young woman when her aunt accidently referred to grandma's first marriage.

And that's the thing about secrets.  Sometimes they are necessary but other times they do more harm than good and nowhere is that more true than in the secret Letty's parents kept from her and which she only discovered when she was 12 and a cousin blurted it out at a family gathering.  It forms the core of the book and as Letty writes: 

"Learning the truth about my family on the beach in Winthrop reordered my world. Betrayal became my burden, gullibility my shame. If those closest to me could lie without conscience or consequence, then anyone could misrepresent anything, and everything was up for grabs. I’m not saying I became pathologically suspicious, just inclined toward doubt. I ask a lot of questions .... a psychologist friend once overheard my conversation with a new acquaintance and likened it to “an intake interview.” If that’s an insult, I’ll cotton to it rather than be blindsided ever again"

I won't reveal the secret because I don't want to spoil the element of suprise in the book.  But what I will say is that the secret that Letty's parents, Ceil and Jack, were keeping is not shameful at all and nowadays no one would care.  But to keep their secret other secrets had to be constructed and that's where the damage occurred. 

I may be giving the impression that Letty spends all her time in Shanda focusing on her relatives and their secrecy and is tight lipped about her own life.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  She is very honest about her life and reveals quite a number of her own secrets and it makes for a memoir that is fascinating and will cause the reader  to think about their own families and what's been hidden  I know it did for me.

Thank you Iris for recommending Shanda.  

John Jakes and the Kent Family Chronicles

I was sad to hear about the death of the novelist John Jakes who passed away on March 11, 2023.  He was a prolific writer best known for his Kent Family Chronicles series of historical novels. There were 8 books in this series where we follow the fictional Kent Family and their descendents from the American Revolution to the 1890's Gilded Age. 

I read Jakes' first novel The Bastard (reviewed on Feb 19, 2019).  It was well written and I learned a good deal about the lead up to the American Revolution.  John Jakes worked history into his novels seamlessly knowing that the characters and the plot were key and it is fascinating to follow a family like the Kents through many generations and see how their grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren turned out.

It was always my plan to read deeper into the Kent series and now I plan to.  John Jakes will be missed.