Mother-Daughter Murder Night

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When Beth finds out Lana, her fiercely independent real estate mogul mother has brain cancer, she moves her from L.A. into her home near Elkhorn Slough, a nature preserve in northern California below Monterey. After the surgery, Lana is recuperating when her granddaughter Jack comes home one day shaken, having discovered a dead body while on the water leading a kayaking tour. Since the police don’t have any other suspects, the two detectives focus on Jack, accusing her, since the man was supposedly on her tour. This infuriates Beth and Lana, and Lana decides to investigate to clear Jack. Along the way Jack joins her, and eventually the three of them put their heads together to try and find the murderer. This is Simon’s first novel, and I look forward to reading her next one…

Love & Other Crimes

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Sara Paretsky had published a compendium of her short stories in 2020, and I just stumbled across it. Many of the stories, but not all, feature her crime-solving private investigator, V.I. Warshawshi, a tomboy who grew up in a tough neighborhood in Chicago and has chosen to remain near her roots. I enjoyed Paretsky’s brief notes after each story, that give some background and her motivations for writing it. I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but this came in handy on a recent trip to Maine by car. I’m still waiting for her 22nd novel in the series to be released next month, Pay Dirt…

Shantaram

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My niece recommended this title to me, so I decided to give it a try. The novel’s protagonist facing a long jail term in a maximum security Australian prison for armed robbery, which prompts him to plan an escape. He succeeds, eventually finding himself in Bombay, India, where he meets a long cast of characters. Giving them a false name, Lindsay, he quickly becomes “Linbaba”, a nickname given to him by a close acquaintance and soon to be best friend, Prabaker. He travels with Prabaker to his family home in a small rural village, and wins over the family. His new surrogate mother renames him “Shantaram”, which means man of God’s peace. This soon becomes a tale of personal redemption – Linbaba returns to Bombay and establishes a free clinic out of his tent in a slum, and realizes how greatly the experience enriches him, by serving others. He later follows another path. joining the Bombay mafia, growing close to his boss, Abdul Khader Khan, who becomes a surrogate father to him. I realized after I finished the 900 plus pages that the novel is actually based on the author’s life. I found it very difficult to put down once I began reading it, so allow yourself enough time if you decide to give it a go. I do recommend it; it’s a fascinating story which gives insight into how life is lived in India…

Babar

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Laurent de Brunhoff, the french author-illustrator who created the elegant elephant, Babar, died this week at age 98. Along with Paddington bear, Miffy, and Peter Rabbit, and Winnie-the-Pooh, Babar stands out as a perennial children’s favorite children’s book animal character. Created almost 100 years ago by his father, Babar the elephant was a childhood favorite of mine as well as my daughter. Whether wearing a suit in Paris, or wandering the plains of Africa, Babar is always fascinating and exotic as well as accessible for his well-mannered speech and gentlemanly ways. Be sure to discover or revisit Babar on your own or with a child soon.

The Crowded Grave

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This title is number 3 in the Bruno, Chief of Police series by Martin Walker. Bruno Courreges is a police chief in the small fictional village of St. Denis, set in the Perigord region of France. A skeleton was found buried in the region, more recent than others being excavated from the Cro-Magnon era. Bruno must find the identity of the dead person, along with providing back-up security for a meeting of the French and Spanish ministers in a nearby chateau. Add in vandals damaging locals’ property over the foie gras debate (geese being force fed to create the delicacy) and you have a picture of a typical day in the life of the police chief. If you like French cuisine, descriptions of Bruno’s gourmet cooking skills are plentiful throughout the novel. It’s the next best thing to being there…