The Mistress of Kings

I have been reading Alison Weir's book, Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings, a biographical historical study of the sister of Anne Boleyn. It's fairly interesting, not a novel, but a factual study. Alison Weir points out inconsistencies in the story of Mary Boleyn, and why she differes from the modern version. It is not like Philippa Gregory's book, The Other Boleyn Girl, which is based on rumors and is a novelization of Mary's life. I like the historical details of the times, what was considered appropriate behavior of the players. Weir explains why it was common for kings to take mistresses during their wife's confinement during pregnancy. Although it was common to take mistresses, King Henry VIII was discrete and therefore there is little real evidence that Mary Boleyn was his mistress as his enemies claimed. Although he claimed Elizabeth Blount's child, Henry Fiztroy as his bastard child, Henry never claims the daughter by Mary Boleyn, Katherine, even though she resembles him, because Mary Boleyn was married to his cousin William Carey at the time. An engrossing study.

The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek was a fun read. Two half-sisters are united at their dead aunt's house to settle the estate. It's in the Hamptons, and the story is about the parties, the social manners, the love connections that take place in the summer of 2008, Everyone is critiqued, from their style to their entertaiment engagements. A painting is stolen on the first night they give a party and this only adds the the wild and crazy summer they are having.  Made me want to read her first novel. Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him. A long way off from some of the thrillers I have been reading. I only hope she writes more.Witty and literate. Loved it.

A Ruth Galloway Mystery

Elly Griffiths has written another Ruth Galloway mystery, A Dying Fall, published 2013. Ruth Galloway loses one of her friends from college, a Dan Golding, by a fire in his home. After she hears the devastating news, she receives an letter from him, saying that he is scared. He has uncovered the archaeology discovery of his lifetime, and wants Ruth's help in the identification.  She gets an invitation from the head of the department to help  with the discovery, as she is a forensic archaeologist. She decides to take her daughter with her and make a vacation of it. She also invites Kate's godfather, Cathbad, to go along and help with her eighteen month old. This a a good read as I always enjoy the adventures of Ruth Galloway. Elly Griffiths is the 2011 winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award and longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library award 2012. I like to see the advancement of the series as I started with the first, The Crossing Places, shortlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The House at Sea's End was shortlisted for the Barry Award for best British Crime Novel (US). I can't wait for the next one in the series. Elley Griffiths lives in Britian.

A Kurt Wallander Mystery

     Henning Mankell wrote The Dogs of Riga after the Soviet Union was breaking up. It was originally published in Swedish in 1992, then translated by Laurie Thompson in 2001. Like the character Kurt Wallander I know very little about Latvia, but this novel gives a grim picture of its history. In the afterword Henning Mankell writes, "The revolutionary events that took place in the Baltic countries during the last year were the basis for this novel." In the novel Wallander is a police inspector who gets drawn into a strange case when a life-raft drifts ashore on a Swedish beach with two dead men who have been murdered in it. Trying to locate where the raft has come from and what is the identity of the men is completely baffling to Inspector Wallander. Because of the currents and the various countries along the Baltic sea, its any one's guess as to which country these men have drifted from. The raft proves to be made in Yugoslavia and used by the Russians, so Interpol is notified and a police officer from Latvia is arriving to help identify the bodies. The mystery becomes more complicated and the suspense becomes greater and I am reminded of Alan Furst's novels of spy thrillers in early World War II era, only this is 1991 and the reality of the hardships is difficult to read. This is the second in the Kurt Wallander series.

Agatha Christie

Just finished reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Very engaging, quite different than some of her later books. Featuring Hercule Poirot in a small village as the investigating detective, the book is written in first person, with the local doctor introducing the story from his point of view. As friends with the victim, Dr. James Sheppard is at the scene of the discovery of the body found in the victim's own home. One of the few Christie novels that has drawing of the actual scene of the crime, reminding me of the Clue game. A well done mystery, from the cover of the book, " the book became a landmark in its field. In their invaluable reference work, Twentieth Century Authors, Stanley J Kunitz and Howard Haycraft call it a ' brilliant tour de force...one of the few undoubted classics of the modern detective story.'" This book was first published in 1926 and probably one of her earliest of Hercule Poirot. Must find them in order, my passion. I must say that I don't always like seeing him in the films, but the reading of this novel was enlightening as to his character.