Belle Ruin (Emma Graham series) by Martha Grimes

Belle Ruin
By Martha Grimes

This series really started for me back in 1992 with The End of the Pier. Emma Graham does not appear in that mystery but the location is the same and the style of the stories is very similar.  The main detective in that novel is Sam DeGuyn, the sheriff, who returns in the Emma Graham mysteries. 
 
The End of the Pier is a little more gruesome in descriptions of murders and murder scenes, something the author stays away from in subsequent books of the Emma Graham mysteries.  In fact, it is not at all necessary to read that novel in order to enjoy the Emma Graham series. 

The sheriff returns in Hotel Paradise, which was released in 1996 and features Emma Graham. Emma is intrigued by the story of Mary-Evelyn Devereau, a 12 year old who died on a pond 40 years ago, after her Aunt Rose ran away with Ben Queen. Was it murder or negligence? Rose herself was murdered some years ago now, supposedly by Ben Queen. Now Ben Queen is released from prison and their daughter, Fern, is found murdered. In between waiting tables at her family's once popular resort hotel, Emma asks questions and pokes around.

The mystery continues just a week later in Cold Flat Junction, (though the book wasn't released until 2001.) Then comes the story of Belle Ruin, released in 2005, with the added mystery of the kidnapped baby. 

The Belle Rouen was once a sumptuous resort hotel near Spirit Lake but since the fire it is now truly the "ruin" that most locals pronounce it to be.

Emma Graham has had more than her fair share of excitement in her life.  At just 12 years old she is made the youngest member of the local newspaper, The Conservative, so she will write up her account of what happened when she was shot at by a madwoman.  Now that she has discovered the ruin of the Belle Rouen, she seems to be on to a new mystery.  

Emma is deeply intrigued by the story of a kidnapped baby in the heyday of the Belle Rouen.  It is the night of a dance party and the parents hire a local woman to watch the baby in their hotel room while they go to the dance.  The father tells the babysitter to let the baby sleep, as she has been sick. When the father returns to check on the baby a couple hours later, the baby is gone.  A ladder next to the window of the bedroom suggests that someone used it to climb up and snatch the child.  However, as Emma questions the events, more and more, things don't add up.  She sets about interviewing all the people who might have been around during that time.  With each discussion, some small piece of the puzzle emerges.

The character of Emma Graham seems real to me, at times an independent young lady who is mature beyond her years and at other times reacts childishly to something that upsets her. 

Perhaps it's a mistake to look at this as a mystery rather than a literary novel.  The actions and observations are enjoyable in themselves even though there has been little resolution in the mysteries.  There are elements of magical realism as well, as elements of the time setting are totally distorted to make us wonder when it is taking place. 

Will the questions finally be answered in Fadeaway Girl, released in 2011, or will it remain a mystery, as things sometimes do in life?  Reviews by readers suggest that while many answers are given, just as many are left unanswered.  Perhaps this is deliberate.  The pace of the books is slow and deliberate, thought provoking, with shades of darkness relieved by lighter moments.

The only thing that really bothers me at this point about the series is the rehashing of material from the older books.  I can understand trying to keep the books readable as a stand alone but if we're going to defy mystery conventions, why not go the whole nine yards and just let people read the others if they want to know the back story?  For my part, I'm looking forward to reading Fadeaway Girl, whatever it brings.

Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

Corduroy Mansions

By Alexander McCall Smith

I was looking for a nice relaxing book on CD to listen to on my ride to and from work this past week when I saw an Alexander McCall Smith that had been recently returned to the library.  I’ve really only followed his Isabel Dalhousie series set in London but this looked promising, with the picture of a small dog on the front, Corduroy Mansions.

It has been a little different than I expected.  There is a fairly large cast of characters, unlike the Isabel Dalhousie series.  It’s quite civilized and pleasant then something startling happens, sometimes even something rather ugly.

It all centers around an apartment building called Corduroy Mansions.  The book is set up in a series of 100 short scenes moving from the people in the apartments out to all those they are involved with. 

There are four flats in Corduroy Mansions.  The top floor is where William and his son Eddie live, the girls are on the first floor and the ground floor is occupied by Mr. Wickramsinghe.

Here is a rundown of the tenants and their major relationships in the story -

William – Wine merchant who is trying to get his 24 year old son Eddie to move out.

Eddie – William’s son, rather ungrateful, he steals Freddie de la Hay to put in a dog fight.
Marcia – Caterer and friend of William but she would like to be more. 
Freddie de la Hay – Vegetarian Pimlico Terrier that William is “sharing.”. 

Dee – First floor neighbor, works in a vitamin shop.

Martin – works with Dee at the vitamin shop.

Jenny – First floor neighbor, Personal Assistant to the odious MP, Oedipus Snark.

Oedipus Snark – Odious MP.
Berthea Snark – Oedipus Snark’s mother and a psychologist, who is writing an unauthorized biography about her son.
Terence Moongrove – Berthea’s new age hippy brother
Barbara Ragg – Literary agent and Oedipus Snark’s girlfriend.  She breaks up with him then immediately picks up a young man in the car park.
Hugh Macpherson – young man Barbara picks up.
Rupert Porter – partner at literary agency with Barbara – annoyed that his father sold Barbara’s father a flat at market value that he wanted.

Caroline – First floor neighbor, doing a masters course at Sotheby’s in Fine Art.

James – Caroline’s friend in classes at Sotheby’s, who may or may not be gay.
Tim Something – photographer who once took Caroline’s photograph for a magazine.

Jo – First floor neighbor, Australian ex-patriate, first girl in the flat at Corduroy Mansions.

Mr. Wickramsinghe – Ground floor neighbor, an accountant who only shows up a few times, but he feels like a major character.  Hopefully he will be back in future books.

Though the book is character driven there is a thread of plot that ties things together very neatly with some intelligent and interesting observations.  I highly recommend it and look forward to the next one.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

 

 

The Four Agreements

By Don Miguel Ruiz

A lot of people have very favorable things to say about this book.  They like the style and the information.  I think I would have appreciated the style more several years ago.  At the same time the four “agreements” are things that I believe are important and good guidelines for living. 

It feels rather contrived for me.  Like someone was trying to take a few simple truths and give them a frame that would show that this was “ancient wisdom.”  Aren’t the ideas important enough?

 “Everything in existence is a manifestation of the one living being we call God…

Human perception is merely light perceiving light…. Matter is a mirror… The world of illusion, the Dream, is just like smoke which doesn’t allow us to see what we really are… I am God.  But you are also God.  We are the same, you and I.”  

Yes, but… it’s just so overwrought.  Maybe I’m just not in the right frame of mind right now but it doesn’t work for me.

 “The dream of the planet is the collective dream of billions of smaller, personal dreams, which together create a dream of a family, a dream of a community, a dream of a city, a dream of a county, and finally a dream of the whole humanity.”

Okay, I’m with you, there’s a collective consciousness at work creating reality.

“We never had the opportunity to choose what to believe or what not to believe.   Children believe everything adults say.”  

Well, I don’t believe that.  Not my child.  How many times a day do I make a statement and my 3 year old tells me, “No, silly!”  And what about criminals who go against societal beliefs?

“The outside dream may hook our attention, but if we don’t agree, we don’t store that information.  As soon as we agree, we believe it, and this is called faith.  To have faith is to believe unconditionally.”

I believe those two statements contradict each other.  We couldn’t choose what to believe but we had to agree in order to store the information?  So we did have a choice.

“We try to please Mom and Dad, we try to please the teachers at school, we try to please the church, and so we start acting.  We pretend to be what we are not because we are afraid of being rejected.”

Yes, we see that all the time, in ourselves and teens.  Ah, but you see, many have been rejected from the start for something that they couldn’t control, so where does that leave them?  Perhaps with more freedom to reject that which they do not believe.  Creative people are survivors.  Perhaps they are creative because they weren’t afraid of being punished because they were being punished no matter what they did.

The author talks about self-fulfilling prophecies as spells we cast with the word and the power of the word. 

“An example: I see a friend and give him an opinion that just popped into my mind.  I say, “Hmmm!  I see that kind of color in your face in people who are going to get cancer.”  If he listens to the word, and if he agrees, he will have cancer in less than one year.  That is the power of the word.”

Or is it just self-fulfilling prophecy?  We are all probably walking around with cancer cells, some grow fast and some grow slow.  If we are worried about it and go to doctors insisting they look for it, they will.  But if we only look for problems caused by it, maybe they never will. 

So the wisdom boils down to four pieces.

Be impeccable with your word. – I think this is probably the easiest one.  Think before you speak, mean what you say and be kind with your words. But maybe it’s not that simple for everyone.  And I’m not perfect at it either.

Don’t take anything personally. – Hah!  Easier said than done, but definitely good advice.

Don’t make assumptions. – So very true. Don’t put subtext to what people say.  Ask and clarify.

Always do your best.  He acknowledges that it’s a relative statement.  At any given time, I might feel I could have done something more.  I often feel that way.  However, given the time constraints on our lives and various factors, I really couldn’t have done more.  Plus, we all fail sometimes.

Okay, this is a good book to give someone graduating from high school.  It has some important truths but the framework is so contrived that it’s bound to annoy a lot of people who already know these things.  You’ll have to decide for yourself on this one.  I only made it part way through.