Quit: Tangled Up in Brew by Joyce Tremel, 2016, 9780425277706.
I like beer so I tried out this cozy. I did not enjoy the book and quit.
Set in Pittsburgh with the main character owning a recently opened brewpub and dating her restaurant chef. I did not like the cutesy stuff with her and the boyfriend. Way too annoying for me.
I like beer.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Comic Novel: "Britten and Brulightly" by Hannah Berry
Comic Novel: Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry, 2009, 9780805089271.
Mystery set in - I think - London in the 1930s. I really enjoyed the artwork. Main character Britten is a private detective who only takes on murder cases. He has worn out on following married people to catch them cheating.
Berry's draws Britten with a white face and dark brown shadows around this eyes. As if he is a mutilated war veteran wearing a porcelain face mask. Britten's partner, Brulightly, does not get much ink at all. That is because Brulightly is a tea bag. Brulightly only talks to Britten, of course, and Brulightly as on the racy side.
Anyhoo. A young lady comes into Britten's office saying her fiancee would never have committed suicide. "He was happy, We were engaged!" Britten warns her that the outcome may not please her and takes on the case. Young Lady thinks Fiancee may have been helping her wealthy Publisher Father with a blackmail problem. Britten starts digging.
As in any comic book novel the images are as important as the description and dialogue. As mentioned above I really enjoyed the artwork.
I've not much else to say except that in the pursuit of the case Britten recognizes a name from a case he had a couple decades ago. He digs around and discovers what happened.
Comments:
1. I finished this in 2017 so I am backdating the post.
Mystery set in - I think - London in the 1930s. I really enjoyed the artwork. Main character Britten is a private detective who only takes on murder cases. He has worn out on following married people to catch them cheating.
Berry's draws Britten with a white face and dark brown shadows around this eyes. As if he is a mutilated war veteran wearing a porcelain face mask. Britten's partner, Brulightly, does not get much ink at all. That is because Brulightly is a tea bag. Brulightly only talks to Britten, of course, and Brulightly as on the racy side.
Anyhoo. A young lady comes into Britten's office saying her fiancee would never have committed suicide. "He was happy, We were engaged!" Britten warns her that the outcome may not please her and takes on the case. Young Lady thinks Fiancee may have been helping her wealthy Publisher Father with a blackmail problem. Britten starts digging.
As in any comic book novel the images are as important as the description and dialogue. As mentioned above I really enjoyed the artwork.
I've not much else to say except that in the pursuit of the case Britten recognizes a name from a case he had a couple decades ago. He digs around and discovers what happened.
Comments:
1. I finished this in 2017 so I am backdating the post.
Novella I Heard: "Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon" by Delilah Dawson
Novella I Heard: Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon by Delilah Dawson,
I think this was called a short story. I say, "Bullshit, this is a novella and I am marking it down as a separate audiobook."
Bazine Netal is a hired gun and very minor character from The Force Awakens. She'll do most any mercenary, assassination or bounty hunter work and she is very skilled. Netal was taken in as an orphan by a mercenary who ran his own training school. Fighting, killing and sneaking is all Netal has ever done. She is a master of disguise, always on the alert, always on the move, never trusting anyone. She gets a mysterious job offer to go and look for former Stormtrooper TK-1472 and recover some files TK-1472 owned.
Netal takes on the job. Meets up with her old trainer. Kills some things. The old trainer asks her to take along a protege of his named, Orrie. Netal has been warned their is a competing mercenary after the files. Netal worries is Orrie is the competitor. Netal travels through space. Netal uses disguises. Netal sneaks around. Netal ends up going to an abandoned military retirement home that is covered in huge killer bees.
Comments:
1. I enjoyed the story. Netal is the of the "loveable rogue" variety of Star Wars characters. Which, of course, overlooks that she is a hired killer without conscience.
2. This also has all the sound effects and music of the Star Wars audio productions. I really like the music and sound effects. Bzz. Whish. Click whir. Hmmmmmm.
3. Backdating this entry since I finished the audio in 2017.
I think this was called a short story. I say, "Bullshit, this is a novella and I am marking it down as a separate audiobook."
Bazine Netal is a hired gun and very minor character from The Force Awakens. She'll do most any mercenary, assassination or bounty hunter work and she is very skilled. Netal was taken in as an orphan by a mercenary who ran his own training school. Fighting, killing and sneaking is all Netal has ever done. She is a master of disguise, always on the alert, always on the move, never trusting anyone. She gets a mysterious job offer to go and look for former Stormtrooper TK-1472 and recover some files TK-1472 owned.
Netal takes on the job. Meets up with her old trainer. Kills some things. The old trainer asks her to take along a protege of his named, Orrie. Netal has been warned their is a competing mercenary after the files. Netal worries is Orrie is the competitor. Netal travels through space. Netal uses disguises. Netal sneaks around. Netal ends up going to an abandoned military retirement home that is covered in huge killer bees.
Comments:
1. I enjoyed the story. Netal is the of the "loveable rogue" variety of Star Wars characters. Which, of course, overlooks that she is a hired killer without conscience.
2. This also has all the sound effects and music of the Star Wars audio productions. I really like the music and sound effects. Bzz. Whish. Click whir. Hmmmmmm.
3. Backdating this entry since I finished the audio in 2017.
Heard: "Standing in Another Man's Grave" by Ian Rankin
Heard: Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin, 2012, Overdrive.com download.
Rebus is retired from police work but has no life. What's a retired copper to do besides drink too much and wait for a heart attack? Well, for Rebus it means going to work as a civilian with the cold case squad. Rebus gets a call from a insistent woman who says her missing daughter's case follows the same general facts as several other woman who went missing in Northern Scotland. All the young women went missing along a remote stretch of the A9 highway which runs across northern Scotland to Inverness and up to the North Sea.
Rebus may be a civilian but he is the same old person as usual. He ends up helping with the latest missing person's case and finding commonalities among the missing women. At one point he and his former partner, Siobhan, interview several member of a road construction crew. Rebus recognizes one of the men as someone Rebus sent up once before. Rebus puts the screws to him and the guy says, "You were a bastard back then, too. Just not so fat and old."
That is Rebus all right, a real bastard. At least he is a equal opportunity bastard: crooks, politicians, business people, mobsters, co-workers, shop keepers, partners, commanding officers. I seem to recall he is almost always pleasant to barkeeps. At least until he gets served. Heck, Rebus is barely in touch with his grown daughter. She lives in the north and he drops by her house when he is in the area for work. He doesn't call ahead to make sure his daughter will be there though - something that is pointed out by himself and Siobhan.
Anyhoo. The police procedural parts are fun like usual. Rebus talks to possible witnesses. Rebus talks to friends and family of the missing women. Rebus has reapplied to join the police force and the Complaints are digging into his background and his regular coffee meetings with a mob boss. Rebus antagonizes the smaller time crime boss who is connected to the latest disappearance. Rebus drinks too much. Way too much. Rebus loves his old Saab. Rebus breaks plenty of rules and acts like a cop, even though he is not a cop.
Rebus is the hero of course. Even though he is an A-grade jerk he also figures out their is a serial killer and forces the police to follow the case and he presses to find the killer and get a confession.
Comments:
1. Yes. You will try to follow along on a map as Rankin drives around Northern Scotland.
2. The Scottish narration had me thinking, and almost, speaking with a bad Scottish accent.
Backdating this post since I finished the book in 2017.
Rebus is retired from police work but has no life. What's a retired copper to do besides drink too much and wait for a heart attack? Well, for Rebus it means going to work as a civilian with the cold case squad. Rebus gets a call from a insistent woman who says her missing daughter's case follows the same general facts as several other woman who went missing in Northern Scotland. All the young women went missing along a remote stretch of the A9 highway which runs across northern Scotland to Inverness and up to the North Sea.
Rebus may be a civilian but he is the same old person as usual. He ends up helping with the latest missing person's case and finding commonalities among the missing women. At one point he and his former partner, Siobhan, interview several member of a road construction crew. Rebus recognizes one of the men as someone Rebus sent up once before. Rebus puts the screws to him and the guy says, "You were a bastard back then, too. Just not so fat and old."
That is Rebus all right, a real bastard. At least he is a equal opportunity bastard: crooks, politicians, business people, mobsters, co-workers, shop keepers, partners, commanding officers. I seem to recall he is almost always pleasant to barkeeps. At least until he gets served. Heck, Rebus is barely in touch with his grown daughter. She lives in the north and he drops by her house when he is in the area for work. He doesn't call ahead to make sure his daughter will be there though - something that is pointed out by himself and Siobhan.
Anyhoo. The police procedural parts are fun like usual. Rebus talks to possible witnesses. Rebus talks to friends and family of the missing women. Rebus has reapplied to join the police force and the Complaints are digging into his background and his regular coffee meetings with a mob boss. Rebus antagonizes the smaller time crime boss who is connected to the latest disappearance. Rebus drinks too much. Way too much. Rebus loves his old Saab. Rebus breaks plenty of rules and acts like a cop, even though he is not a cop.
Rebus is the hero of course. Even though he is an A-grade jerk he also figures out their is a serial killer and forces the police to follow the case and he presses to find the killer and get a confession.
Comments:
1. Yes. You will try to follow along on a map as Rankin drives around Northern Scotland.
2. The Scottish narration had me thinking, and almost, speaking with a bad Scottish accent.
Backdating this post since I finished the book in 2017.
Friday, December 29, 2017
Listened: "The Philadelphia Quarry" by Howard Owen.
Listened: The Philadelphia Quarry by Howard Owen, 2013, Overdrive download.
Second in the Willie Black series . Willie is still a newspaper reporter in Richmond, VA. Philadeplphia starts a year after the last novel and the newspaper is still in financial trouble. Richard Slade has been freed from prison after 28 years. DNA evidence cleared Slade's rape conviction and Black is there at the courtroom with everyone else.
Black knows the showboating defense attorney and wrangles a ride in the attorney's car along with Slade and Slade's mother. Well, the interview with Slade starts going OK - Slade is more interested in looking out the open car window than talking - until Black has to admit the paper he works for. The problem with that is that Black's newspaper not only beat the drum against Slade 28 years ago, but it's editorial vitriol was damn near lynch-worthy. Black gets kicked out of the car.
Missing among all the furor over Slade's release is the presence of the rape victim whose eyewitness testimony sent Slade to prison. That same woman is shot dead a week later during her 7AM drive home from her gym. Uh-oh. Sure enough the police look real hard at Slade. That hard look leads to an arrest.
Black starts looking at this new case but gets big pushback from the newspaper owners who, it just so happens, are buddy-buddy with the dead woman's influential, old-money family. Things happen. Black looks into things. Black gets suspended from his job. Black has to defend his story from the newsroom vulture who swoops in to get a shared byline. Black has trouble getting people to talk. Black drinks way too much. Black gets busted for a DUI. Black thinks, "I'm not an alkie. I can stop drinking whenever I want. I just don't want to stop." Black thinks with his dick.
I've been enjoying this series and the narration is quite good. Owen does not build a complex plot of whodunit. You can figure out the bad guys without too much trouble. Heck, the last novel had Black chasing the same guy all the way through the story and Willie just had to collect enough evidence. The strength of the novels have lain in Richmond's history of old money, mixed feelings about race, and Black's own personal issues and history.
This novel has Black more directly addressing his own heritage. Black's father was black but died before Willie was born. His white mother is a long-time pothead and very flighty. She never spoke much about his father or his father's family and Willie never tried digging much deeper. Willie is taken aback when his mother offhandedly mentions that Willie is related to Slade. Later on Willie is having lunch with his college age daughter and she mentions taking a African American history class and Black realizes his daughter does not know her own grandfather was black.
Willie does not tell his daughter anything about his family. It's kinda weird. Willie passes for white - as his newfound cousin points out - and he has never denied his blackness. In fact Willie's kinda counted on his blackness keeping him employed since the newspaper can tally him in their staff diversity profile.
To me this is an interesting aspect about Willie. Owen has kinda danced around it over the past two novels and it will be interesting in how he addresses the topic. Does Willie think he is "post-racial"? Hell no, he's witnessed the disparity between black and white every damn day.
Anyhoo. I liked the novel. Straightforward and fun reading.
Backdating the post since I read it in 2017.
Quickish:"Kill My Mother" by Jules Pfeiffer
Quickish: Kill My Mother by Jules Pfeiffer, 2014, 9780871403148.
Meh. I have never enjoyed Pfeiffer's art style. This is plugged as a noir tale and I brought it home from Fitchburg Public Library when I checked the shelves during their holiday party. The story was alright but not very believable. Spoilers ahead.
1933 and teenager Annie Hannigan lives with her widowed mother, Elsie, in the Bay Area. Annie's best friend is a apartment building neighbor, Artie. Elsie's cop husband was murdered a couple years ago and she took an assistant job with the husband's former partner is now a PI. The PI is a drunk and has done little to nothing to solve the husband's death. Annie hates her mother and wants Elsie dead.
PI takes on a rich client looking to find a woman. PI ends up taking the job, things happen, the client wants PI to murder the missing woman. Things happen and we advance to 1943. Annie has created a massive radio hit called Shut up, Artie. Elsie works for a movie studio to quash bad press. Artie is a Marine in the Pacific.
More happens with jealous actors, radio show sponsor trouble for Annie, blah blah blah. If this were a shorter book I would have probably bailed. I didn't much care about the characters and I consider the artwork to be sloppy. Yeah, I wrote sloppy. I don't care how many awards Pfeifer has, I think the artwork is sloppy. Sloppy. Sloppy. Sloppy.
The story has a noir feel but did keep me interested. There is a second volume, Cousin Joseph, that is a prequel. I might try that one out. I'm not sure.
Meh. I have never enjoyed Pfeiffer's art style. This is plugged as a noir tale and I brought it home from Fitchburg Public Library when I checked the shelves during their holiday party. The story was alright but not very believable. Spoilers ahead.
1933 and teenager Annie Hannigan lives with her widowed mother, Elsie, in the Bay Area. Annie's best friend is a apartment building neighbor, Artie. Elsie's cop husband was murdered a couple years ago and she took an assistant job with the husband's former partner is now a PI. The PI is a drunk and has done little to nothing to solve the husband's death. Annie hates her mother and wants Elsie dead.
PI takes on a rich client looking to find a woman. PI ends up taking the job, things happen, the client wants PI to murder the missing woman. Things happen and we advance to 1943. Annie has created a massive radio hit called Shut up, Artie. Elsie works for a movie studio to quash bad press. Artie is a Marine in the Pacific.
More happens with jealous actors, radio show sponsor trouble for Annie, blah blah blah. If this were a shorter book I would have probably bailed. I didn't much care about the characters and I consider the artwork to be sloppy. Yeah, I wrote sloppy. I don't care how many awards Pfeifer has, I think the artwork is sloppy. Sloppy. Sloppy. Sloppy.
The story has a noir feel but did keep me interested. There is a second volume, Cousin Joseph, that is a prequel. I might try that one out. I'm not sure.
Finished: "A Blind Goddess" by James R. Benn
Finished: A Blind Goddess by James R. Benn, 2013, 9781616951924.
Benn takes a turn aware from some of the more obscure battles and episodes of WWII. Instead he takes us to rural England, gives us some murders, a child killer, German spies, racial turmoil in the U.S. Army, and the surprising British welcome for black U.S. troopers.
I write 'surprising' because I've read plenty about racism in England from the 1950s to today. Maybe that racism came with post-war immigration from the Caribbean and Africa. I'm not sure, I do recall learning there was an influx of POC immigrants in the 1960s. Anyhoo.
Billy Boyle is on leave with his hoity-toity girlfriend is on leave and she still recovering from her torture by the dirty, rotten, stinking, no-good filthy nazis. Boyle and his two co-workers Kaz and WhatsHisName are sent off by Colonel WhatsHisFace in military intelligence to investigate a murder in a a small canal town. The murdered man was a English civilian and Boyle questions the Colonel, "What the hell am I going there for? I'm in the U.S. Army."
The Colonel says, "The boarding home of the victim is regularly visited by a U.S. soldier dating the owner's daughter."
Boyle replies, "So what?"
Colonel tells Boyle, "Shut your fucking mouth. Do what you are told. Do not involve the German immigrants who own the place. If you fuck up I'll send you to prison for violating the secrets act."
Boyle says, "*gulp*"
Boyle arrives at the bucolic town and starts asking some questions. Quite a few things are going on. The dead man was murdered outside his canal side boarding house and dumped down the outside stairs to the cellar. A teen girl from a nearby home for refugees has gone missing. Boyle's high school pal shows up and tells Boyle that H.S. Pal and other black troops are treated like dirt and one of them is on the hook for the murder of a local constable. The German couple running the rooming house are supposed to be ardent anti-nazis who fled Germany. Military Intelligence is keeping a close eye on Boyle's investigation. A dead teen girl is found in the canal during a search for the first missing girl. So on. So forth.
Benn writes a good mystery plot and police investigation but that stuff just lays the groundwork for the topics Benn enjoys exploring about WWII. Benn focuses a lot on the treatment of black soldiers and their contrasting experiences between service in the U.S. and England. How troops based in the U.S. South could be quickly lynched by civilians and the lynchers get away with it because the Army wants to keep the peace. How some white U.S. troops bring that prejudice along to England and break all the glassware in a English pub rather than use the glasses used by black men.
Benn also touches a bit on German spies in England. How the krauts had both short and long term spies. Many of those spies were turned by Brit Intelligence and England would dictate the spies messages to Berlin. If just one of the spies got through an accurate message that could have derailed the whole invasion of France.
I greatly enjoy these novels. I'd been trying to red them in order and that delayed my getting back to the series. Reading is order is not necessary.
Benn takes a turn aware from some of the more obscure battles and episodes of WWII. Instead he takes us to rural England, gives us some murders, a child killer, German spies, racial turmoil in the U.S. Army, and the surprising British welcome for black U.S. troopers.
I write 'surprising' because I've read plenty about racism in England from the 1950s to today. Maybe that racism came with post-war immigration from the Caribbean and Africa. I'm not sure, I do recall learning there was an influx of POC immigrants in the 1960s. Anyhoo.
Billy Boyle is on leave with his hoity-toity girlfriend is on leave and she still recovering from her torture by the dirty, rotten, stinking, no-good filthy nazis. Boyle and his two co-workers Kaz and WhatsHisName are sent off by Colonel WhatsHisFace in military intelligence to investigate a murder in a a small canal town. The murdered man was a English civilian and Boyle questions the Colonel, "What the hell am I going there for? I'm in the U.S. Army."
The Colonel says, "The boarding home of the victim is regularly visited by a U.S. soldier dating the owner's daughter."
Boyle replies, "So what?"
Colonel tells Boyle, "Shut your fucking mouth. Do what you are told. Do not involve the German immigrants who own the place. If you fuck up I'll send you to prison for violating the secrets act."
Boyle says, "*gulp*"
Boyle arrives at the bucolic town and starts asking some questions. Quite a few things are going on. The dead man was murdered outside his canal side boarding house and dumped down the outside stairs to the cellar. A teen girl from a nearby home for refugees has gone missing. Boyle's high school pal shows up and tells Boyle that H.S. Pal and other black troops are treated like dirt and one of them is on the hook for the murder of a local constable. The German couple running the rooming house are supposed to be ardent anti-nazis who fled Germany. Military Intelligence is keeping a close eye on Boyle's investigation. A dead teen girl is found in the canal during a search for the first missing girl. So on. So forth.
Benn writes a good mystery plot and police investigation but that stuff just lays the groundwork for the topics Benn enjoys exploring about WWII. Benn focuses a lot on the treatment of black soldiers and their contrasting experiences between service in the U.S. and England. How troops based in the U.S. South could be quickly lynched by civilians and the lynchers get away with it because the Army wants to keep the peace. How some white U.S. troops bring that prejudice along to England and break all the glassware in a English pub rather than use the glasses used by black men.
Benn also touches a bit on German spies in England. How the krauts had both short and long term spies. Many of those spies were turned by Brit Intelligence and England would dictate the spies messages to Berlin. If just one of the spies got through an accurate message that could have derailed the whole invasion of France.
I greatly enjoy these novels. I'd been trying to red them in order and that delayed my getting back to the series. Reading is order is not necessary.
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