Mercury: Halloween Scrooge

Three things I find particularly distasteful. Giving out my phone number [except to the elect]; surprise parties [what if I've been digging in the dirt or reading in my pj/s-- see entry, July 3]; and Halloween.

Not that I object to donning a good costume for a worthy event. A I donned the garb of the Fourth Doctor WHOse mind boggles. Ah, that was a masterpiece of fancy dress and how it brings fond memories with it.

Back in the day, Halloween was the provenance of dogs and kids only. Kids roamed neighborhoods trick-or-treating for candy. Dogs roamed the neighborhoods looking for houses with rolled yards. [You remember the rolled yard. Kids, armed with rolls of toilet paper, threw those rolls high into the trees of the houses of scolding old ladies, sworn enemies, etc.] There's nothing a dog likes more on Halloween than scampering from rolled house to rolled house.

Increasingly, however, older folks crept in on our innocent fun.

First the 'tweens who still wanted the candy even though they were really too old for kids play. Generally they didn't bother with a costume [being scary enough without].

Then, the older teens looking for an excuse to play spin the bottle while in disguise.

Next college students-- any excuse for partying [concommitantly inventing the verb: to party].

Finally, the death knell. Adults climbed on the lets-get-dressed-up-and-act-like-children bandwagon, effectually burying the holiday by turning it into an opportunity to act like kids. [or perhaps like dogs?]

If you share my Halloween beliefs, feel free to make a comment in the section provided at the end of this entry. Also collecting like minded comments on phone privacy and the abolition of surprise parties.

Mysterious Mercury and the Lone Inspectors

At your right, a photo of me. Although this picture reflects no credit upon Mama's photographic skill [note the singular noun], it does illustrate, however partially, some relevant points of interest. For example, behind me, a few of my books arrayed in their proper place, a bookcase. The chair on which I'm posed and the partial view of the bed to the front are two favored places for reading mysteries. And finally, note the turquoise "j" behind me and to the left. Believe it or not, that's my yard chair where, weather permitting I relax & read, either on my screened in porch or in my vast, if unkempt, yard.

Now, let's consider the British mystery series in which the protagonist, a male policeman of the CID, tends to work alone or in a fruitful partnership that yet doesn't quite fit the Professional Marriages category. Most of these novels are written by men, unlike the previously reviewed Grandes Dames of British mysteries [previous entry], written by and "starring" women. Some reviewers refer to the Lone Inspectors series as "police procedurals" a designation that, not unlike the "English cozy" [October 23 entry], serves as a banal marketing niche rather than a genre worthy of consideration.

Listed, described & Mercury Rated below:

Author, Colin Dexter; Inspector Morse series.

Author, Michael Innes [aka John Innes MacKintosh Stewart]; Inspector Appleby series.

Author, Edmund Crispin [aka Bruce Montgomery]; Gervase Fen series.

Author, Caroline Graham; Inspector Barnaby series

Author, Graham Thomas; Detective-Chief Superintendent Erskine Powell

Author, Christopher Fowler, Bryant & May of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit

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Colin Dexter, in the US perhaps the best known amongst these authors, created Inspector Morse, college drop-out [yet eriudite], brooding [thoughtful], solitary [with the possible exception of his partnership with Detective Lewis], clever ["Cleverest bugger I've ever met....He usually seems to be able to see things...half a dozen moves ahead of us."]. Each of 13 novels is set in Oxford [that's England, not Mississippi]; so clearly is Oxford (re)created that a book Morse's Oxford provides a mystery-loving traveler's week or two worth of day trips about town. Perhaps enough to add that the last novel, The Remorseful Day, is, if anything, the most brilliant of all. Mercury Rating: First rate; highly recommended

Michael Innes [1906-86],who under his real name taught English and published work on Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy, created Inspector John Appleby and we follow Appleby's career as he moves up the ranks of Scotland Yard and into retirement [from his career if not from his metier, solving mysteries]. In 1975 Appleby is joined by a light-weight chap but talented and acclaimed painter Charles Honeybath. Occasionally Appleby's wife and son, both of whom age as the series develops, drive the story, dragging Appleby into confusing and dangerous [and murderous] situations. Innes is credited with inspiring a "penchant for donnish detective fiction" of which our next author provides another outstanding example. Mercury Rating: First Rate; highly recommended

Edmund Crispin [1921-78] read Modern Lanugages at Oxford and served as organist and choirmaster at his college, St John's. Eschewing an academic career, Crispin was a career writer [of the Gervase Fen mystery series amongst other writing/editing activities] and composer. Crispin [writing in the 3rd person] describes himself thusly:

He is of sedentary habit--his chief recreations being music, reading, church-going, and bridge. Like Rex Stout's Nero Wolf[n.b.] he leaves his house as seldom as possible, in particular minimizing his visits to London, a rapidly decaying metropolis which since the was he has come to detest.

My particular favorite of the Gervase Fen series describes that Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford chasing down a toy shop [The Moving Toyshop] which disappeared after the poet Cadogan finds a dead body in it. The novel was described by one critic as "...a rococo classic." Mercury Rating: First rate; highly recommended

N.B. Rex Stout created the famous American duo, extraordinary, hugely overweight detective Nero Wolf and his general run-about Archie Goodwin. Interestingly, and unlike many mystery series writers, time stands still across the novels so neither protagonist ages although Stout creates a mysterious international past for Wolf. Although I won't assign a Mercury Rating to the Stout collection, suffice it to say I've read them all with great pleasure.

Caroline Graham creates Chief Inspector Barnaby, a likeable softspoken police official who exposes the dark inside of the brightly quaint English in which these stories are set. Barnaby explores the darkness of love-hate, greed and murder with a contrasting quietness that I find particularly engaging. Try Faithful Unto Death or A Place of Safety. Mercury Rating: Very Good

When I first met Detective-Chief Superindent Erskin Powell and first read Graham Thomas' Malice in the Highlands, I was briefly inspired to take up fly fishing [a difficult though not impossible sport for a dog]. In this particular book of his series, Thomas sends Powell away from the miscreants of London and his [somewhat] troubled marriage and annoying teenagers off on a salmon-fishing vacation in the Highlands. However, murder lurks in Powell's haven and Powell is [somewhat] reluctantly recruited into solving the mystery. Other titles in this series also begin with "Malice in..." such as Malice in London, etc. Mercury Rating: Very good

Finally [perhaps inappropriately as it doesn't really fit the "Lone Inspectors category--well, not at all actually-- but after all, it is my blog] author Christopher Fowler, self-described "author of urban unease [and] dark comedy mystery..." entered the mystery series genre with A Full Dark House, last case of parnters Bryant & May. A very nice touch, that. Its setting is London, the Blitz, in and around the Palace Theater and present-day terrorism aware London. Four books in this series follow; I'm curently reading Seventy-Seven Clocks, setting Edward Heath's time [1974]. And finding it difficult to put down. Bryant is cranky, May, a charming womanizer, both rather brilliant when working together; apart their character flaws serve them ill. A supporting cast of characters provide amusing continuity and insights into the two protagonists without distracting from the moving forces of Bryant and May. I prefer not to recommend author's web sites, but Fowler's is an exception:

http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/cf/index.php

For an exciting, imaginative, innovative example of the genre, Fowler's Bryant & May series is highly recommended and I've assigned it a Mercury Rating equal to the classics reviewed above: First rate; highly recommended

Mysterious Mercury et les Grandes Dames

The British mystery tradition has been blessed by a few outstanding women authors whose names [or pen names] are recognized world wide. Below you'll find the few whom I believe meet the criteria of a British Grande Dame [and in parantheses their best known detectives]. Here are the authors whose books have wiled away the many hours of a dog's life, empty of fulfilling work, devoted only to sleeping, eating and other carnal pleasures.

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Josephine Tey [Allan Grant; including The Daughter of Time] The First of the Group & often considered The Greatest.
Dorothy Sayres [Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane]
Agatha Christie [Hercule Poirot & Miss Marple]
Ngaio Marsh [Inspector Roderick Alleyn]
Patricia Wentworth [Miss Maud Silver]

Introducting the Grandes Dames and their protagoniststs, the women who have written carefully plotted mysteries peopled by characters who seem to live & breathe and always full of surprising turns of plot, carefully revealed insights -- and loads of character! Let's examine them one by one.

Josephine Tey [aka Elizabeth MacKintosh]; also wrote as Gordon Daviot.

The Daughter of Time brought the controversy surrounding Richard III and the Princes in the Tower to a wide public audience and is perhaps the most popular defense of Richard. This mystery novel addresses the issue of historical truth. Inspector Alan Grant, trapped in a hospital with a broken leg, is bored senseless. ..This mystery demonstrates that once an idea, right or wrong, becomes "fixed" in a culture, people resist changing their opinions on the matter, even in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence." Her book A Shilling for Candles was the basis for Alfred Hitchcok's Young and Innocent.

http://www.r3.org/fiction/mysteries/tey_butler.html

Dorothy Sayres wrote 14 Lord Peter Wimsey novels before devoting herself writing, first for the stage and secondly to Christian discourse. My favorite, Murder Must Advertise. Explore the Dorothy L. Sayres Society website:

http://www.sayers.org.uk/

Agatha Christie "remains the most popular novelist in history, with over two billion of her books sold at a conservative estimate. The rejacketing of her books and new adaptations of Poirot and Marple on ITV have all ensured that e magic of her storytelling continues to reach a contemporary audience and that she continues to be recognised as the undisputed "Queen of Crime." I find her infinitly re-readable. See her official website:

http://uk.agathachristie.com/site/home/

Ngaio Marsh, although a New Zealander, is considered a British Grande Dame. A few of her stories are situated in New Zealand, but for the most part, England is the backdrop and often the theater provides the mise en scene. Frankly, I find Marshs' books pleasurable upon first reading, but lacking the re-readable Mercury Rating evaluation.


Patricia Wentworth [aka Dora Amy Ells], forgotten even by many for whom the Grandes Dames, birthed the wonderful Maud Silver, sleuth, spinster, eccentric dresser, former governess, and altogether a woman of keen insight and the ability to put one over. I enjoyed Miss Silver Comes to Stay.

Although their Mercury Ratings vary by author and title, I can wholeheartedly recommend each author's works to novice readers as yet ignorant of the Grandes Dames of British mystery. And I extend that recommendation to all for whom a good mystery is the bed-rock of civilized life.

Coming Soon: The Lone Inspectors of the current British mystery world and their Mercury Ratings.

Please check out the preceeding 4 mystery authors' entries. And check back soon for upcoming lists, descriptions and evaluations of other mystery series.

Happy reading from your friend, Mercury Murphy Roushanzamir

Mysterious Mercury & Professional Marriages

Marriage between a man and a woman, same-sex marriage, liaisons, menage-a-trois. Amongst humans the myriad of relations intimate seem creative & endless.

The same can be said for a certain set of British mystery series [re-read the first paragraph], at the very center of which is some kind of coupling [or tripling, whatever]. Here I've listed some of the better of what I call the Professional Marriages genre of mystery, each with a selected title, beginning with the best writer and craftsman/predominantly woman of the field.

Author: Reginald Hill: Peter Pascoe and "Fat Andy" Dalziel [actually not a couple per se, both of CID] and the third, Sarge Edgar Wield of the "fragmented face," initially in, then out of the closet. (Dialogues of the Dead) Mercury Rating: Very good

Author Ruth Rendell: Inspector Wexford with prissy, but very straight Michael Burden [Wexford supported by his wife, Dora, and periodically thrilled and annoyed by his daughters]. (A Sleeping Life) By the way, Rendell also writes under the name Barbara Vine. (The Blood Doctor) Mercury Rating: Very Good.

Author Elizabeth George: Thomas Lynley, Barbara Havers & Winston Nkata [of Scotland Yard] and a confusing cast of other characters all of whom sleep with each other at various points [in time and space] throughout her large oeuvre. (Payment in Blood) Mercury Rating: Good

Author Jill McGown: Dectective Chief Inspector Lloyd and Detective Judy Hill [first illicit non-lovers, later boyfriend and girlfriend. (Murder at the Old Vicarage) Mercury Rating: Not Bad

NOTE: McGown and Crombie styles are similar enough that one can become confused about whose in a couple with whom, for example, is Lloyd breaking up his marriage of Jemma or what combination of overlapping illicit relationship. But no matter; these humans.

Author Deborah Crombie: Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Jemma James [on-again, off-again]. (Mourn Not Your Dead) Mercury Rating: Not Bad

Author Ann Granger: Meredith and Markby [girlfriend and boyfriend]; Meredith of the FO [Foreign Office], Markby [law enforcement]. (Murder Among Us) Mercury Rating: OK

All the above are good-spend-the-day-in-bed books. Today, the sky is gray, rain soaks the world,thunder is imminent. Nothing more satisfying than spending my time in bed, surrounded by favorite toys, waiting for food and drink to appear, and a very good [good, not bad, or even OK] mystery.

Mama agrees. She suggests that my next two entries review the Grande Dames of British mystery [such as Tey, Sayres, Christie & Marsh] and the Lone Inspector type [no tiresome emphasis on human coupling--just a good mystery] of which Mama is especially fond.

So please stop by again soon for the lists, descriptions & awards of the prestigious Mercury Rating evalution.

Mysterious Mercury, Cozy

Sometimes I like to read in bed. I've illustrated that activity with pictures, of Me in Bed and [a long shot of] My Loft.

Reading in bed is usually an excuse for selecting less demanding mysteries [see 2 previous entries]. But plots, characters and the writing skills of the authors must still be held to a high standard. Below I review three authors' works that fall into a rather strange, twee sub-genre: the British Cozy.

I've identified 3 types of British Cozies [No one's quite sure what actually counts as a British Cozy, itself a sub-set of the Cozy style. Essentially "Cozy" appears to be a recently coined marketing term.]

The 3 types are identified by their Mercury Rating: excellent, good & all-too-arch & rather sickening. Below examples of each type are described.

Excellent: The Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton. Here is the first sentence of Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wykhadden:

"There is nothing more depressing for a middle-aged lovelorn woman with bald patches on her head than to find herself in an English seaside resort out of season."

What more can I say? With titles like Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage, Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death, the series, set in the Cotswolds, is a jolly romp through the life of its heroine and her unlikely group of quirky friends. Note that M.C. Beaton also pens the Hamish MacBeth series situated in the Scottish Highlands. [Hamish is Lochdoub's town bobby whose penchant for solving murders is only equalled by his joi de vivre & utter lack of ambition. Try Death of a Dustman.]

The most recent Agatha Raisin: Love, Lies and Liquor: an Agatha Raisin mystery

Good: The Dorothy Martin series by Jeanne M. Dams, relates the tales of a widowed American expat living in Southern England. There she acquires a wonderful 17th century house and a husband and finds a whole lot of dead bodies each following one after another as surely as one novel in the series succeeds its predecessor. If you read Sins out of School, you'll find our heroine preparing a traditional [American] Thanksgiving feast and "discovering the body of a man whose death was really a blessing for his wife and daughter." Dorothy Martin is engaging and fun, but she doesn't have the charisma, vulnerability or raunchy charm that characterize Agatha Raisin.

All-too-arch: The Mrs. Malory series by Hazel Holt really isn't actually the worst of the worst. I've read several Mrs. Malorys and they pass the time. Mrs. Malory lives in Taviscombe, a British village. The series is not as bad as those with names like A Tea Room Mystery series, or stories [and titles] structured around scrap-booking, wedding planning, or soap operas. [For an example of arch-beyond-all-too-arch consider this title: Murder Most Frothy: a Coffee House mystery.]

But Mrs. Malory's life is so ordinary, so unutterably dull--other than her penchant for stumbling over cadavers--as to be a great cure for insomnia. If you read in bed to fall asleep, perhaps chose one of this series, for example Mrs. Malory and the Silent Killer.

I read in bed to heighten the lovely luxury of reading!

Please check back soon for another mystery books review & look for the highly prized Mercury Rating evaluation.

Mysterious Mercury and MacDonald

" 'My name is Archer, Lew Archer ... call me trouble, looking for a place to happen in ....' The place turns out to be Southern California, the trouble takes archer in search of a girl who jack-knifed too suddenly from high-diving to high-living and leads him on to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a big-time gambler, the ghost of an eighteen-year-old girl whose murder was never solved, and finally to an answer he would rather not have known." [see The Barbarous Coast, cover illustration to left]





Meet Ross MacDonald, pen name for Kenneth Millar (1913-1983), M.A., University of Michigan--Ann Arbor. Although writing in the hard-boiled private eye tradition, MacDonald's protagonist, Lew Archer is a thoughtful inconoclast, a southern California native (like MacDonald), well-read and ready for exploring the seamier sides of the rich and powerful as well as the underclass--whose lives in any case are usually symbiotic.

Anthony Boucher of The New York Times Book Review wrote of one of MacDonald's early Archer novels that it was:

"....the most human and disturbing novel of the hard-boiled school in many years." He was more earthy in his direct praise to author Millar [sic]: "You can write like a son of a bitch...."

A personal favorite, The Galton Case, is MacDonald's most autobiographical work. As MacDonald found his voice, the mysteries began to explore intergenerational family sagas, with the setting always southern California, a locale that, in its MacDonald evocation, exists no more. As such the drama and romanticism of post-war California come alive, a lesson in recent social, cultural, ethnic relations and class history.

Bottom line, however, the Lew Archer novels have taught me that the mystery genre can be held to the highest literary standards while at the same time presenting an engrossing murder mystery.

To learn more about Ross MacDonald try this web site:

http://www.bastulli.com/Macdonald/Macdonald.htm

***Mercury Rating: First rate; all highly recommended***

Remember to check back during the next week as I continue to list and describe other mysteries, current and classic. Each will include the highly prized Mercury Rating evaluation.

Mysterious Mercury and Maigret

Reading is my hobby. Although as a dog I also enjoy chewing furniture, playing fetch-the-ball, gnawing on socks & shoes and other traditional past-times, I found that reading books is on a par with eating books.


And my favorite genre: detective stories, i.e. mysteries.


If I had to recommend a Favorite Author, I'd choose Georges Simenon, a prolific Belgian writer of "demi-novels" which include his world-famous Maigret series.

Above is a picture of Inspector Jules Maigret, that Paris fixture whose wisdom & compassion extends to the criminal class even while he remains committed to the rule of law. The quote below annotates the lot; read much more at this wonderful Maigret website http://www.trussel.com/f_maig.htm

"The Maigret stories are unlike any other detective stories — the crime and the details of unraveling it are often less central to our interest than Maigret's journey through the discovery of the cast of characters... towards an understanding of man. Simenon said he was obsessed with a search for the "naked man" — man without his cultural protective coloration, and he followed his quest as much in the Maigrets as in his "hard" novels."

Paris is Maigret's city. Although his origins were rural (see Maigret Goes Home), he lives and breathes the city, familiar with all the nooks and alley ways, with the crooks, the wealthy & politicos alike. Maigret's First Case [not the first published] recounts the story of a young, new-to-city life and recently married Maigret who unmasks the secrets of a wealthy, powerful family. My personal pick: Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine. The plot concerns a formerly unreported murder which a condemned prisoner boasts of witnessing; Maigret will solve this 4-year old crime. Miagret explores the world of petit-bourgeouis young marrieds, their often numbing work and home lives, their play times (Maigret inadvertantly participates in a mock wedding), their escapes from each other (Maigret befriends James who allows himself 1 hour a day after work to drink Pernod and more Pernod at the Taverne Royale). And perhaps the sweetest Maigret novel: Madame Maigret's Own Case.

In all there are 75 Maigret novels, 28 short stories and each a master piece of elegant simplicity and an intriguing mystery in which the bad guy is caught and the reader participates with Maigret/Simenon in exploring the vaguaries of human nature.

***Mercury Rating: First Rate: all highly recommended***

Remember to check back during the next week as I continue to list and describe other mysteries, current and classic. Each will include the highly prized Mercury Rating evaluation.

Birthdays and Beauty

Dear Faithful Fans,

Pictured above are only two of the numerous shots in my portfolio. Tomorrow I travel to Philadelphia to try out my modeling skills. Assuming all goes as expected, I'll move on to shows & shoots in NYC, London, Paris & Milan.

My hotel is amongst the most posh Philadelphia has to offer. [no jokes please] Catering specifically to highly prized canines, it creates a wide-open country ambiance right in the heart of the city. Impeccable service, fine cuisine, fashion-forward decor, and an exclusive guest list combine to satisfy the most discriminating visitor.

This first foray into the whirl of modelling lasts only for a long weekend. However, during that time, the rush of events & plethora of parties preclude additional blog entries [plus: Mama won't let me take the laptop]. Check back mid-week, say October 19th.

The roses were presented by me to Papa. He celebrated his birthday two weeks ago, his 38th apparently.

Ciao & au revoir.