Sunday, July 14, 2019

One Bear's Opinion on: Murder on Trinity Place

Murder on Trinity Place
by Victoria Thompson

Ahh, I've caught up with the series. It's always a bit sad to finish the last book in a series and have to wait for the next one to come out. The wait is so much longer when there is not a book to read in between. I try to set the series up so that I am one book behind so I always have one to read while waiting for the next, but I was so excited by having two new books in this series that I read them both back-to-back. It meant a nice long visit with Sarah, Frank, Maeve, and Gino, but now there will be a long time between visits.

The Century has turned in Sarah's world (or has it?) and someone got murdered during the festivities. That's the set up for the book and it was a fun ride to the end.

I had the murderer picked out pretty early, but it was fun read along and discover how and when Sarah and the gang figured it out as well.

The information on "swill milk" was interesting, and I wish the author have done an epilogue to follow up with that plot point.

But the real star of this visit with the Malloys, et al. was the sub-plot. No spoilers here, but it's a fun and rewarding part of the story. Read this for the sub-plot if nothing else.

One Bear's Opinion: Five glasses of brandy and a plate of funeral potatoes

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: Murder on Union Square

Murder on Union Square
by Victoria Thompson

Sarah Brandt Malloy and Frank Malloy are some of my favorite characters. I always enjoy my visits with them. This one was a fun outing with them. Saying too much will spoil it for readers who have not read the rest of the series, so I won't say too much.

It was obvious this mystery was crafted specifically to plug a plot hole from earlier books in the series, but that does not make it any less enjoyable a read. It was a fun visit to the world of turn-of-the-century Broadway theaters with all the sniping, jealousy and grease paint that brings with it.

This is one series where it really is important to read them in order, so if you haven't started from the beginning, I think it's best you check out Murder on Astor Place and come back to this review when you have read the intervening 19 books. You won't regret it.

One Bear's Opinion: Four Cups of Tea with some popcorn at the theater

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: Over My Dead Body

Over My Dead Body
by Rex Stout

I had seen an adaptation of this book as part of the Timothy Hutton Nero Wolfe Mysteries series before I read it. That is both good and bad.

Seeing it first meant I knew the plot and whodunit before I read the book so the denouement was not as surprising as it would have been otherwise. But it also meant I could pick out the parts the adaptation chose not to include. And I understand that tv adaptations cannot include every minute point in the book, but the parts that were left out or adjusted left me scratching my head.

Seeing it before reading it meant that I had someone's idea of what the characters should look like before I could meet them and imagine them on my own. Having seen the Timothy Hutton productions before we started reading the series did influence my mental image of Archie and Saul, though my image of Nero Wolfe and other other characters does not necessarily match the casting director's.

Anyway, about the book. Over My Dead Body filled in some background on Nero Wolfe before the reader meets him in Fer-de-Lance. That portion of the story is interesting but secondary, or even tertiary, to the main plot. That teaser bit of information just serves as the impetus to get the story moving. I am hopeful that it will come back around in future books, but I am not sure it does.

The mystery was quite interesting, and if I had not already seen the production, it would have been clever. But knowing the ending going in meant I read it on the lookout for information that led to the ending, rather than trying to solve it along with Nero and Archie.

On the whole it was an enjoyable read, and much better than the television production made it seem that it would be. Nero Wolfe mysteries are always worth a read (or a watch), and this one is no different.

One Bear's Opinion:  Five Bottles of Beer and followed by one of Fritz's dinners, including a chocolate cake

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver