Happy November! It is the perfect month to give thanks for the bounty of wonderful books coming out. This month we have a new mystery, a book of humorous essays by a successful cartoonist, and a biography of a beautiful American woman who married into the British aristocracy and became the mother of arguably the greatest English statesman of the 20th century.
Die With Me by Elena Forbes is a debut mystery that takes place in present-day London. Our protagonist is Mark Tartaglia, a homicide detective whose newest case involves a series of presumed suicides (including suicide notes) that are actually meticulously–planned murders. Complicating the investigation are the appointment of a new, inexperienced supervisor eager to assert her authority, the addition of a supremely confident crime profiler whose interpretation of the crimes is diametrically opposed to Tartaglia’s, and the recent dissolution of his affair with Fiona Blake, the forensic pathologist assigned to the case. Tartaglia’s partner in crime-fighting is Sergeant Sam (short for Samantha) Donovan, an appealing character whose slight crush on her partner is kept firmly in check. When a young girl is found dead after a fall from a church balcony, the death is ruled a suicide, until a witness who saw the girl with an older man shortly before her body was discovered comes forward with information. Acting on a hunch, Tartaglia investigates recent suicides to see if any others fit the profile and finds out that they have a diabolically clever serial killer on their hands. Scenes of painstaking police work are interspersed with scenes of the murderer meeting up with his next victims and reflecting on his past kills. As Tartaglia and Donovan get closer to their quarry, tension mounts and the climactic scene is thrilling. The politics of the homicide squad and the criminal investigation are deftly handled; the characters are interesting and multi-dimensional. Fans of police procedurals will enjoy Die With Me and will be happy to know that Elena Forbes is currently working on a sequel.
Is there anyone who works in an office that doesn’t have at least one Dilbert comic strip posted on their cubicle wall? Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert and author of several management books, has just published a collection of his short essays entitled Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!: Cartoonist Ignores Helpful Advice. You should be very happy he ignored that helpful advice because this is a laugh-out-loud funny book. Not every essay is a winner, but enough hit the mark to make this a fun book. Some standouts include “Winning,” a moving piece about the comeback of tennis player James Blake; “What Would Trump Do?”, in which Adams wonders how wealthy Christians rationalize having so much, while other people are struggling to survive; and “Small Pleasures,” in which the cartoonist expounds upon the simple joys of life after recovering from the flu. Other topics he touches upon are Dilbert cartoons that never made it into the newspaper and why, his preparations for his wedding, and why the choice of some citizens not to vote is not the worst thing in the world. If you do not suffer fools gladly, possess a geeky/nerdy side and can handle a certain amount of vulgarity, this is your book. And even if it isn’t your cup of tea, I bet you know someone who would love to have this book in his bathroom library. It will appeal to cubicle dwellers and non-cubicle dwellers alike.
During the second half of the 19th century, the British aristocracy was beginning its financial downslide. Keeping up the ancestral estates was an expensive proposition and revenues were falling. Enter the “dollar princesses”—young American heiresses eager to marry titled husbands. One such woman was Jennie Jerome, whose story is chronicled in American Jennie: The Remarkable Life of Lady Randolph Churchill by Anne Sebba. This is not a dry, scholarly biography; it includes excerpts from Jennie’s letters and gives a broad picture of the society in which this independent American woman found herself after her whirlwind courtship and marriage to Randolph Churchill. At first her marriage is a happy one, but when her husband’s political fortunes fall and their finances become strained, Jennie focuses her energy on her son, Winston, and encourages him in his military and political endeavors. After her husband’s death, Jennie’s career became more colorful; she was rumored to have several lovers, remarried, started a magazine, became a nurse during the Boer War and continued to be a controversial figure in London society. Her championing of the special British-American relationship influenced her son’s views, and thus the course of World War II. Jennie Churchill was a woman ahead of her time and this biography gives her her due.
And just a brief mention: If you are looking for something to read now that Jan Karon’s Mitford series is concluded, I highly recommend Gail Fraser’s Lumby series. She is not only local, she is a terrific writer of small-town drama and humor. The first two titles are The Lumby Lines and Stealing Lumby, and the third one, Lumby’s Bounty, will be out in January. Happy reading!
Susan Taylor has been in the book business, in one aspect or another, since 1982. She recently returned to the Capital District after 14 years in the Boston area (which included stints at the Harvard Bookstore and the Wellesley Booksmith), and is happily re-employed at the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza. Stop by the store if you are looking for a good book—she’s read a lot more than she can talk about here!