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Many Paths to Murder Monday
Oct. 2nd, 2017 11:44 amWhat I've Finished Reading
I was going to say that Aristotle Detective picks up steam in the second half, but what's the fourth-century Athens equivalent of steam? Just a bunch of guys who don't want to be there rowing really hard. Just when Stephanos is starting to enjoy the investigation, his hapless cousin turns up, destroying the alibi that everyone thought he had. Could he be guilty after all?
This book does a pretty good job of evoking a different place and time without being totally illegible, though I have no idea if its Athens is "accurate" or not. I can say that it doesn't "feel" false, despite the very accessible first-person narration, and that's probably good enough for a detective story starring Aristotle. Since my only picture of Athenian life comes from two or three Socratic dialogues (where everyone is always having their conversations in public, and if you try to have them in private Alcibiades crashes the party anyway) the surprising detail for me was how easily and often Aristotle and Stephanos were able to send the slaves away and close the door without anyone getting too suspicious.
Aristotle Detective was a stand-alone novel for over twenty years, but Wikipedia tells me that there is now a series, resumed in 2000 with Aristotle and Poetic Justice. Am I going to read it? Sure, if it turns up. Aristotle Detective was not so good that I need to start a hunt for every book in the series, but it was enjoyable and reasonably well-written.
I also finished the missing dogs book from 1945 (The Black Spaniel Mystery). It was cute and harmless. The well-off Intrepid Teens help a poor girl repaint her kitchen, because poverty is no excuse for a tacky kitchen. It turns out the girl was bequeathed the purebred puppies by an eccentric elderly dog breeder, and the other local dog breeder switched them out for some inferior specimens thinking she wouldn't notice. In the end, all the puppies get suitable homes and the teens go out for ice creams and talk about how nice dogs are. I agree, Intrepid Teens! Dogs are nice.
It's too bad I hadn't developed a taste for mysteries when I was about eight, because there's a lot here I would have liked: wholesome adventures in the countryside, sudden rainstorms, one of the characters fainting in the woods in the middle of the night, and lots of affable infodumping about a subject I was already interested in (dogs being delightful). But I spent half my childhood bouncing off Nancy Drew, and the other half bouncing off Agatha Christie, for reasons now lost in the fog of time.
What I Gave Up On After A Few Chapters
I don't know if I can blame Mighty Old Bones for my total failure to pay attention to its characters or cut it any slack, or if I ought to blame myself. Evidence in favor of myself: I was feeling kind of swamped at the time. I bought it because it was a "local" setting, but just couldn't keep my eyes on the page. The narrator kept introducing characters with vague appeals to Central Casting, e.g., "Her personality might be described as that of a typical redhead," which, as a non-subscriber to Redhead Stereotypes Monthly, tells me nothing at all. Sometimes I have patience for that sort of thing and sometimes I don't. This wasn't Mighty Old Bones' week - I never even made it to the body.
What I'm Reading Now
Atlanta Noir is a brand-new collection of creepy, cynical, regret-filled or otherwise unsunny short stories about Atlanta by Atlanta authors, most but not all of which involve a crime of some kind. The opening story by Tananarive Due, in which just a few small circumstantial changes turn a woman's dream house into a nightmare, is excellent. So far the others range from ok to very good. More on this book next time, I hope.
What I Plan to Read Next
No idea! Some Helen Reilly paperbacks, probably.
I was going to say that Aristotle Detective picks up steam in the second half, but what's the fourth-century Athens equivalent of steam? Just a bunch of guys who don't want to be there rowing really hard. Just when Stephanos is starting to enjoy the investigation, his hapless cousin turns up, destroying the alibi that everyone thought he had. Could he be guilty after all?
This book does a pretty good job of evoking a different place and time without being totally illegible, though I have no idea if its Athens is "accurate" or not. I can say that it doesn't "feel" false, despite the very accessible first-person narration, and that's probably good enough for a detective story starring Aristotle. Since my only picture of Athenian life comes from two or three Socratic dialogues (where everyone is always having their conversations in public, and if you try to have them in private Alcibiades crashes the party anyway) the surprising detail for me was how easily and often Aristotle and Stephanos were able to send the slaves away and close the door without anyone getting too suspicious.
Aristotle Detective was a stand-alone novel for over twenty years, but Wikipedia tells me that there is now a series, resumed in 2000 with Aristotle and Poetic Justice. Am I going to read it? Sure, if it turns up. Aristotle Detective was not so good that I need to start a hunt for every book in the series, but it was enjoyable and reasonably well-written.
I also finished the missing dogs book from 1945 (The Black Spaniel Mystery). It was cute and harmless. The well-off Intrepid Teens help a poor girl repaint her kitchen, because poverty is no excuse for a tacky kitchen. It turns out the girl was bequeathed the purebred puppies by an eccentric elderly dog breeder, and the other local dog breeder switched them out for some inferior specimens thinking she wouldn't notice. In the end, all the puppies get suitable homes and the teens go out for ice creams and talk about how nice dogs are. I agree, Intrepid Teens! Dogs are nice.
It's too bad I hadn't developed a taste for mysteries when I was about eight, because there's a lot here I would have liked: wholesome adventures in the countryside, sudden rainstorms, one of the characters fainting in the woods in the middle of the night, and lots of affable infodumping about a subject I was already interested in (dogs being delightful). But I spent half my childhood bouncing off Nancy Drew, and the other half bouncing off Agatha Christie, for reasons now lost in the fog of time.
What I Gave Up On After A Few Chapters
I don't know if I can blame Mighty Old Bones for my total failure to pay attention to its characters or cut it any slack, or if I ought to blame myself. Evidence in favor of myself: I was feeling kind of swamped at the time. I bought it because it was a "local" setting, but just couldn't keep my eyes on the page. The narrator kept introducing characters with vague appeals to Central Casting, e.g., "Her personality might be described as that of a typical redhead," which, as a non-subscriber to Redhead Stereotypes Monthly, tells me nothing at all. Sometimes I have patience for that sort of thing and sometimes I don't. This wasn't Mighty Old Bones' week - I never even made it to the body.
What I'm Reading Now
Atlanta Noir is a brand-new collection of creepy, cynical, regret-filled or otherwise unsunny short stories about Atlanta by Atlanta authors, most but not all of which involve a crime of some kind. The opening story by Tananarive Due, in which just a few small circumstantial changes turn a woman's dream house into a nightmare, is excellent. So far the others range from ok to very good. More on this book next time, I hope.
What I Plan to Read Next
No idea! Some Helen Reilly paperbacks, probably.
