Monsoon Reading with THEBOOKJEANIE

July has mercifully brought us monsoon rain in the desert and there's no better time to sit on your windowseat with a good book, glancing up every now and then to catch the flashes of lightning and to appreciate the brief but intense afternoon downpours . Many thanks to my talented artist friend for sending me this dramatic photo taken just before a recent storm. Wherever you are, enjoy the gift of rain this summer.

A perfect mingling of water and books at the Cincinnati Public Library.  And a cool refreshing spot for summer reading. . .

And now for some reviews

It is 1939 and war is on the horizon but British freelance journalist John Russell is determined to stay in Berlin near his son Paul and his longtime German actress girlfriend Effi, despite the dangers that he faces. The past 15 years he has reported on the rise of the National Socialist Party and the emergence of its current leader, Adolph Hitler, but now he is forced to report on human interest stories in order to maintain his status as an state approved journalist. Paul, who lives with his mother and her second husband, a member of the Nazi Party, has already been lured into joining the Hitlerjugend and John struggles to present a more balanced world view to his son while being careful not to jeopardize his own position in the country. Although he aims to present himself as a neutral observer of events, John is appalled by the direction that Hitler is moving the country and by the treatment of its Jewish citizens but he is only able to voice his opinions in the company of other weary foreign journalists waiting in Berlin for the war to begin.  In order to supplement his income, he has agreed to give English lessons to the daughters of a Jewish businessman who has been denied his income and has made plans to escape with his wife and children to Great Britain. Meanwhile, as a former communist party member, John has been approached by a Soviet agent who involves him somewhat unwillingly in a Nazi disinformation campaign instigated by the Soviet government that quickly comes under the scutiny of the Germans as well as the British. Playing the different powers off one another, John attempts to secure British visas for the Jewish family, as well to smuggle damaging information about the Nazi government out of the country for a fellow journalist who was murdered because of the shocking story he was about to break. This quietly suspenseful novel captures the tension as well as the cynicism of pre-World War II Berlin with well-researched historical detail and intelligent, thoughtful characters. This title is the first in a series of Berlin mysteries featuring John Russell, the sequel being titled The Silesian Station. 

This intruging first novel opens with a brutal murder in Worcester College, Oxford and follows the husband of the victim in his quest to find the individuals responsible for the death of his beautiful wife only months after their wedding. Alex and Rachel met as students during their first year at college and later engaged in a brief affair but a decade passed before they were reacquainted at a wedding and fell passionately in love. In a complex narrative structure, Dymott creates subplots, flashbacks, and numerous interpretations of past events by various characters that our conflicted narrator Alex tries to untangle. The plot moves at a sometimes interminable pace, in the manner of a 19th century novel, yet it is pleasingly seductive and grips the reader in the examination of love, loss, and grief, as well as revenge. Lovely Rachel is of course not as she seems and Alex must struggle to reconcile his image of her with the disturbing revelations that he uncovers from her two seemingly closest friends, her cold and elusive guardian, and her devoted Oxford tutor. A perfect summer read, particularly since it always seems to be snowy and cold in Oxford as this story unfolds -  and you won't be disappointed with the chilly ending!    

With more murder in mind . . .

I picked up these 1930's paperback copies of Rex Stout's classic mysteries from the "free bin" at my local library. What a great find! Stout was best known for creating the fictional detective, Nero Wolfe, who was a larger-than-life character with superb powers of reasoning and deduction. Can hardly wait to get started. . .  

  

HAPPY READING ALL. . .UNTIL NEXT WEEK