Review: In The Shadow of Gotham (Stefanie Pintoff)

Greetings again! Can't truly express how glad I am that the week is over. I dread having to go back to the grind on Monday, but at least the commute gives me time to read the next book in my TBR file. I'll mention more about that later.

Finished In The Shadow of Gotham yesterday morning. Only took me a few commutes to read. It's really a fantastic book! Stefanie Pintoff totally deserved the awards she received for this mystery story set in turn of the 20th century New York.

Detective Simon Ziele, the protagonist, left New York City after the Slocum ferry disaster claims the life of his fiancee. He moves to Dobson, just north of the city, in the hopes of starting anew. It's a quiet town that finds itself to be the scene of a gruesome murder. Sarah Wingate is found in her bed one November afternoon with her neck cut and her face beaten beyond recognition. (I'm not giving anything away, so remain calm.) As Simon begins to investigate, a Columbia professor, Alistair Sinclair, goes to Dobson to help Simon. Professor Sinclair claims the murdered is Michael Fromley--a psychopath he has studied for three years that hasn't been seen in two weeks.

This begins a partnership that Simon doesn't seem to really want or care for, but Alistair provides the best leads in the case. Ms. Pintoff does a great job of pacing the story and of giving insight into how Simon's mind works. He's definitely a change from Aimee Leduc. She's always hiding information or lying to get people to cooperate and Simon is much more upfront. It makes sense, since he's an actual police officer, but it still felt a little weird to me.

Now, I had no idea when I picked up this book that it was the first in a new series. I really didn't. I used to be totally anti-series. However, reading mystery novels makes it difficult to stay away from series. And, actually, I think I have stopped hating series. That change of heart has come about more because of my own change in attitude towards reading in general than anything else. I used to force myself to read through a book whether I enjoyed it or not. No more! So, I can pick up any series I want now and not have to worry about finishing all the books.

Next up: By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan. I have two holds that have come in at the library and two books from the library, besides By Fire, By Water, sitting on my self waiting to get picked. The books on my shelf are: The Last Rendezvous, by Anne Plantagenet, and The Last Time I Saw You, by Elizabeth
Berg. The books I have to pick up are: The Hand That First Held Mine, by Maggie O'Farrell, and The Stormchasers, by Jenna Blum.

Review: Murder in the Palais Royal (Cara Black)

So first up, a review of the latest in the Aimee Leduc mystery series. I started reading the series about six months ago, but I tried to take breaks in between books to avoid Aimee fatigue. Of course, once I saw the finish line getting tantalizingly close (and with the books I had left to read in the library just calling out for me) I plowed through the last four books.

Murder in the Palais Royal has few surprises for readers that have followed Aimee's adventures throughout the previous nine books. She's still looking for her mother, still has a tense relationship with her godfather, still has her trusty sidekick helping her get out of trouble, and she still runs around Paris in stiletto heels. (Really? In one scene, she stubs her toe and decides to wear peep-toe heels because those were the only shoes her feet could stand. I've never heard of something like that!)

And this is why I've stuck with the series. It never felt like a chore to read these books. Indeed, I kept going to see what would happen to Aimee next time around. She manages to get away with breaking the law on a regular basis. But it's all for the sake of finding the truth, justice, and... the French way? No? Whatever.

This time around she doesn't have Rene, her partner at Leduc Detective, around to help her directly. He's shot at the beginning of the story by an Aimee lookalike. The cop assigned to the investigation, Melac, will hopefully have a more prominent role in the next book. Cara Black, the author of this fun series, has 10 more neighborhoods in Paris to have people murdered in.  Huzzah!

Again, if you have followed the series from the beginning, the resolution to the mystery will hardly surprise you. The villains practically have big red warning signs flashing over their heads. I don't care about that. It's entertaining and I love to live vicariously through this tough, smart, beautiful, and tall heroine. (I want to be tall!) She gets to kick ass while wearing vintage designer clothes. (Always flee market finds. Madmoiselle Leduc may live on Ile St. Louis, have an office on Rue du Louvre, and wear Chanel #5, but she is a girl on a budget.)

A fun read with plenty of action and plenty of Paris. The descriptions of 1990s Paris make this series totally worthwhile, even if you don't find the stories suspenseful. Black goes into the gritty side of Paris and it's totally worth the trip.

I look forward to seeing what Cara Black has Aimee do next.

Next up: In the Shadow of Gotham, by Stefanie Pintoff

Salutations!

Hello and welcome to my first post. Yes, I am late to the blog party, but I figure better late than never. Besides, I'm Latina and we don't believe in always showing up on time
:-)


Reading is a huge part of my life. The library is my second home and I have the great fortune of having access to two library systems in my area. My hubby works for a bookstore, so I also have access to a 30% discount. I try to use it sparingly, and so far have succeeded (with great effort!). I have the fortune/misfortune of living in the DC metro area and using mass transit. That gives me plenty of time to read.

Anyone that lives in the DC metro area knows that commuting here can turn perfectly normal people into a mass of murderous, passive aggressive, heathens. If you take mass transit, you have the oh so lovely fortune of commuting with the cranky, or the overworked and/or underpaid, or the clueless, or the sweaty, or the nasty, or the selfish... I could keep going, but this blog isn't about mass transit woes. Reading has made it possible for me to maintain my sanity during the 1:30+ hours it takes me to get to and from work. Yes, the idiot next to me might have his/her iPod on with the volume way too high, but I can concentrate on my book and pretend I'm elsewhere. And yes, I never get a seat on my commute back home, so I'm usually surrounded by a sea of armpits. But I can stick my nose in the book I have at hand, so there!

Sadly, I haven't participated too much in other book blogs. Hopefully, having this blog will change that. I do, however, frequent the New York Times Sunday Book Review and The Washington Post Book Review. The Book Studio is also one of my favorite sites. Amazon's book recommendations may not be the best, but that feature alerts me whenever there is going to be a book coming out that I would be interested in reading. Please do suggest places to find more books to pick up. I will try to find places to suggest, too.

Unlike the vast majority of people, I enjoy reading fiction more than nonfiction. That's just a heads up to people who don't like reading made up stuff. I do! I love reading stuff people make up! I love, love, love reading stories, especially if they are not true. For me, reading is about escaping. Yes, plenty of people read to learn or stay informed. That doesn't mean that I don't read nonfiction, but those books aren't usually in my urgent TBR pile. I read newspapers and magazines for that. Of course, I don't mind learning something from what I read, but that's not my main goal. I'd rather read something that is beautifully written and made up. Just the way I roll.

Also, I don't consider myself a book snob. I won't read romance novels just because the writing makes me want to get in a fetal position and cry. But I do enjoy popular fiction. I won't lie about that. My choices aren't based on literary merit. If I enjoyed it, I will say so. And if a book bored me, I will say so. And yes, sometimes I will enjoy a story even if the writing leaves plenty to be desired. Kind of why I also enjoy movies like Dirty Dancing. I don't really care that the dialogue could use some revision. So there!

So please leave book suggestions, opinions, where to find good books, and so on. I will give my honest impressions here. Please, be honest but civil! Reading is something to be enjoyed, end of story :-D