Belated September mini-reviews

[troisoiseaux]

Finished Since Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen, a 1940 social history of the U.S. from September 3, 1929— the day the stock market peaked, before it crashed— to September 3, 1939, the day that Britain declared WWII. I was not expecting to like this book more than Allen's previous book on the 1920s, and I would have said I knew more about the 1930s, going into this, than I had about the 1920s, but I found myself surprised on both counts. I found this book even more fascinating than Only Yesterday, in part because it seems like the 1930s are when a lot of things changed to the way they currently are: the shift from small family-run farms to industrialized agriculture, for example, or the idea that the government is responsible for economic prosperity. I also learned that my mental timeline of the Great Depression was skewed— e.g., the slide from stock market crash to widespread bank failure was longer than I'd thought— and about events I'd never even heard of, like the "Bonus Army" protests in 1932.

Read The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson: in 1740s England, an orphaned fortune-teller ingratiates herself with a wealthy family to assert her claim as their long-lost heir, and finds more intrigue and dark secrets than she bargained for. Confession: a third of the way in, I skipped ahead to the end and read the last few chapters before continuing. I'm really glad I did! I enjoyed reading this book while In The Know as to, say, who was lying to whom and what skeletons were hidden in which closets.

Read An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James, which kore recommended for James' descriptive writing about Britain— specifically, in this one, Cambridge. There are mystery novels and there are novels that happen to have mysteries in them; this strikes me as one of the latter, thinly disguised as the former. (I mean this in a good way!) At one point, I found myself thinking of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, partly because I suspect it will always be my personal touchstone for college campus murder novels, but also, something in Cordelia's near-seduction by the victim's group of wealthy friends rang that particular bell.

Read Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie, whose flippant amateur detectives— Bobby, a vicar's son at loose ends, and Frankie, a Bright Young Thing-type socialite— felt so much like a prototype for Tommy and Tuppence that I was surprised to discover this book came out a full decade after The Secret Adversary (1922). Tremendously fun, with multiple elaborate schemes to go undercover for information and a reveal about the significance of the title that genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Comments

[kore]

Aw, I'm glad you liked it! I hadn't thought of it -- probably because I read Unsuitable Job long before Secret History -- but it does really have that same feel. Also, yes, James definitely writes novels-with-mysteries-in, sort of like later Sayers. (And Raymond Chandler too.)

[troisoiseaux]

On a wildly tangential note, I wonder if anyone's written The Secret History fic framed as a true crime article/podcast/etc.? Something about Cordelia's interactions with Mark's friends made me realize that an outsider POV of the Greek class gang would make for an interesting fic...

Anyway, my library has the other Cordelia Gray mystery, so that's on my list! I hadn't realized that Dalgliesh (sp?) was her main detective until I looked into what other P.D. James books my library has, after finishing this one.

[kore]

Oh yeah, everything she wrote was Dalgliesh except two (2) books, and she did do Pride and Prejudice as a murder mystery near the very end of her life, God knows why. I really love Unsuitable Job, but Skull Beneath the Skin didn't wow me at first, although I've reread it a bunch of times and grew to love it. But it's longer and darker and kind of gruesome. I believe James said that if she'd started writing later, or if she had been younger in modern times, she would have done a Cordelia series.

Hah, Secret History as a murder investigation podcast would be something! Certainly someone must have already done something similar? I can't think of anything tho.

[mrissa]

Have you read any of MA Carrick's fantasy series, and if so did the Shepherd-Robinson seem in any way similar in a mimetic setting?

[troisoiseaux]

I have not, but there was a kind of mental itch of familiarity that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I found myself thinking, at various points, of Imogen Hermes Gowar's The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock and Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, but neither felt quite right...?

[oracne]

That's one of James' best novels, I think, though the murder itself is so sad and painful.

[troisoiseaux]

What really struck me— and I think this is what put it in the "novel with a mystery in it" vs. "mystery novel" category for me— was how Cordelia's actions at the end echoed the crime at the center of the mystery plot, for such different reasons. And the plot thread about the child who drowned in the well, that trails off in the saddest way possible, because Cordelia just Does Not Want to deal with it...

[oracne]

It was the first James book I read, and I was either a tween or a young teenager; it made me feel sad, but I continued to read her books, some of them several times. I understood the book a lot more when I reached college age.

[chestnut_pod]

This is maybe a mismatch recommendation, but the book I have read that is the most to-do with the Bonus Army protests is actually Bea and the New Deal Horse, an absolutely classic Horse Girl Book updated for the modern horse girl. One of the secondary characters is a Black WWI veteran who is involved in the local organization of a march contingent, and it figures fairly prominently in the plot.

[troisoiseaux]

Intriguing! I actually hadn't realized until just now— reading a review for this book that describes "the racially integrated Bonus Army’s 1932 march to Washington"— that it was integrated??

[skygiants]

I've not yet read Why Didn't They Ask Evans but I really enjoyed the recent miniseries with Will Poulter (of the "you guys are getting paid?" meme) as Bobby.

[troisoiseaux]

I haven't seen the miniseries but I did know that Hugh Laurie was in it, which added to my inclination to suspect that character...

I would recommend the book! It's not quite as much of a roller coaster as Christianna Brand's Cat and Mouse but Frankie (and to a lesser extent, Bobby) definitely went to the Katinka Jones School of Detecting. :P

[lirazel]

The Square of Sevens sounds really compelling! I haven't heard of that one before!

I have heard the recent adaptation of Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is very good, though I haven't watched it yet. You've inspired me to reread the book before I do--it's been many years!

[troisoiseaux]

I'd be curious to compare thoughts on The Square of Sevens if you read it unspoiled!

[lirazel]

I will definitely remain unspoiled and if I read it, I will report back!