Yesterday was the official start of Spring and - of course - it snowed. Today, thankfully, was warm enough to melt whatever fell (at least where I live) so I will welcome Spring with open arms. Here are the books that held my interest over the last month.
Series
The Instant Enemy - Ross MacDonald - ($4.50/$.50, copyright 1968, 212 pages, Paperback)
I haven't read one of McDonald's Lew Archer novels in over 30 years so I was very happy to come across this one in a library in Metuchen. He's summoned to the Woodland Hills home of Keith Sebastian and his wife Bernice. Their 17 year old daughter has run away and they want him to find her without involving the police. He wends his way up and down much of the California coast looking to unravel the truth behind the shocking series of events that rapidly ensue. MacDonald paints a vivid picture of California - both the sunny and the seamy side. I enjoyed it.
Miscellaneous
Confessional - Jack Higgins ($6.99/$.50, copyright 1985, 293 pages, Paperback)
The main character in this book is Liam Devlin who is semi-retired from the IRA and working as a professor of English literature at Trinity College in Dublin. The KGB has placed a deep-cover operative in Ireland (code name Cuchulain), where he's killed both Protestants and Catholics at
key times, in order to maintain the state of strife and distrust that exists in Northern Ireland.
Now, the jig is up and they decide to put him out of commission. They fail, and now he has no
where to run and nowhere to hide. In a last act of desperation, he sets his sights on the Pope, who'll soon be visiting England. Devlin, working in conjunction with the IRA and Brigadier Charles Ferguson, must stop him. It's slow going at first, setting things up, but the action picks up near the end, Cuchulain is unmasked and his romp through Great Britain, one step ahead of Devlin and Ferguson, is the best part of the book. I enjoyed it.
Non-fiction
101 Greatest Films Of Mystery & Suspense - Otto Penzler ($14.00/$.50, copyright 2000, 304 pages, Trade Paperback)
This is, of course, one man's opinion. However, when that man is the owner of The Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the founder of The Mysterious Press and The Armchair Detective Library his opinion carries a lot of weight. Since this book was copyrighted in 2000, there are no recent movies. The ones here date from 1929 ("Bulldog Drummond") up to 1997 ("L. A. Confidential") and Penzler does a great job of listing the actors, directors, etc. as well as thumb nailing a synopsis. What I found enjoyable was what he's called a "Did You Know?" section where he goes into some of the background of how and why the movies were made and he ends each entry with what he considered to be the "Best Line" in the movie. I enjoyed it.
So, the mornings are starting to get brighter, the days warmer, and the sunsets later. It's time to forget this past winter and look forward to the summer. And don't forget to ....
Keep reading!
