Reading in Reykjavík

I went on a reading spree over the weekend and finished three books, all of which I started and read from cover to cover with only short breaks. One was the Katie MacAlister book I quoted from in the previous post, which turned out to be good, mindless fun, full of steamy sex, violence and hot vampires, and another was a Regency romance by Loretta Chase, Viscount Vagabond , which I enjoyed despite, or perhaps because of, the improbable plot. The last was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , which makes it 7 books I have finished in the Bibliophilic Book challenge . Not only is it about a book club, but each member of the club has his or her favourite book or author, which they frequently mention. Year published: 2008 Genre: Novel, epistolatory Setting & time: London and Guernsey, Britain, 1946 Writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, Dawsey Adams, telling her about a book he owns that was once in her possession and sparking her curiosity with a men...

Today we Icelanders wish each other a Happy Summer. The third Thursday in April is the designated First Day of Summer in Iceland, and a public holiday, one of the few that are non-secular. In the era when people only had experience and superstition to rely on for weather forecasts rather than scientific meteorology, one of the ways in which the weather the coming summer was predicted was by putting a bit of water in a shell on the eve of the First Day of Summer, and going out just before dawn to check if the water had frozen over. If it had, the summer was supposed to be a good one. If not, then God help us. I am pleased that today is a holiday, because while I have a cold and a sore throat and feel rather tired, I am not really sick enough not to go to work. Having today off is going to give me a chance to rest and hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow. I have already finished two books today, both, I hasten to add, ones that were already half read. Below is the review for one...

Year of publication: 1903. Genre: Thriller, espionage novel. Type of mystery: Military secrets. Type of investigator: Amateur. Setting & time: (mostly) the Frisian Islands, Germany, around he turn of the 20th century. Story: The narrator, Carruthers, is invited by Davies, an old acquaintance, to join him on a yachting trip in the North Sea. When he arrives, Carruthers discovers that the “yacht” is in fact a small boat, with no crew, and that Davies is hiding something from him. As they make their way down to the Frisian islands, Davies eventually reveals that he has started an impromptu investigation of possible nefarious doings by a man he suspects of being a British defector working with the German military. To complicate matters, Davies has fallen in love with the man’s daughter. The book is in the public domain, and here is a link to an online edition: The Riddle of the Sands . Review: The Riddle of the Sands was one of the earliest spy novels, and has had immense influe...

Year published: 1997 Genre: Crime, thriller, comic Setting & time: (mostly) the Caribbean island of Saint Martin; 1990s. The Story: Between hits, laid-back professional assassin Henry lives an idyllic life on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin with his wife Frances, but things get complicated when an assignment goes wrong and one of the intended victims survives. The injured capo agrees to bear witness against his former Mafia associates and is moved to Saint Martin by the authorities to keep him out of harm's way. However, their idyll is about to be disturbed because the mafioso who ordered the hit has sent out people to track down the capo and Henry and kill them both. Technique and rating: This is a better put-together book than the previous thriller I read by Bourdain ( Bone in the Throat ) in that it focuses on fewer characters and there are no extraneous storylines here that interfere with the main story, making it more focused and streamlined. It is loosely connecte...

Genre: Mystery thriller Year of publication: 1941 No. in series: 7 Series detective: John Appleby Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: An unnamed island in the Pacific during World War 2 Story: Appleby and six others are shipwrecked in the Pacific when their passenger ship is torpedoed. They end up on an island that at first seems deserted, but then one of them is murdered and it really seems impossible that one of them could have done it. Shortly afterwards, one of the group discovers a hotel at the other end of the island, and Appleby meets an archaeologist on the beach. At the hotel another murder is committed, and a group of natives attack the hotel. Appleby has by now figured out what is going on, but I will not go into it as it would be a spoiler. Review: This is my first Appleby book. I have read one other Innes book, The Journeying Boy which I enjoyed, but found a bit confusing because halfway through it shifted genres, from a mystery to a thriller...

I think it was Maxine who first recommended Donna Leon to me, and after that I got several more recommendations for her books, so I decided to include her in the challenge. Series detective: Commissario Guido Brunetti Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Venice, contemporary -- Title: The Death of Faith (alternative title: Quietly in Their Sleep ) No. in series: 6 Year of publication: 1997 SPOILERS ahead Story: A young nun who has left her order comes to Commissario Brunetti with a story of some deaths at a nursing home where she worked that she finds mysterious but that at first appear to be perfectly normal. She seems to suspect that members of her order or of the Catholic church may be involved. When Brunetti starts digging, the nun is attacked and Brunetti’s boss tries to have him stop the investigation, which just makes him more determined to get to the bottom of the case. Review: The writing and characterisations in the book are very go...

Title: Death in the Andamans Year of publication: 1960 Type of mystery: Murder, whodunnit, romance Type of investigator: Amateurs Setting & time: The Andaman Islands, 1950s Story: Copper Randall is visiting her friend in the Andaman Islands. On Christmas Day they attend a picnic and they and the guests barely escape over to the small island where they live, before a tropical storm hits the islands. Some of the guests end up in the sea on the way there and one of them goes missing, later to be found dead on the beach with a suspicious head wound. When another man is found dead, clearly murdered, fear sweeps through the group and the young people, Copper, her friend and their love interests, begin to investigate the deaths. Review: This is an entertaining little "limited location" mystery where the possible killer is one of a small group of people who are stuck in one place, thus giving the amateur investigators time to solve the case without the intervention of the ...

Title: Death on Demand Series detectives: Annie Laurance and Max Darling No. in series: 1 Year of publication: 1987 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateurs, murder magnets Setting & time: USA, S-Carolina, 1980’s Number of deaths: 4 Some themes: Books, blackmail, malice, secrets, having to prove one’s innocence Story: Annie has recently inherited Death on Demand, a specialist mystery bookshop on the small S-Carolina island of Broward’s Rock. She has been holding regular ‘Sunday Night Specials’, a gathering of crime writers who live on the island, but when one of them threatens to expose the other’s dirty secrets, he is murdered. One of them did it, but who? Police chief Salter’s bet is on Annie, and she has to scramble to find the real killer before he arrests her. Fortunately her ex-boyfriend from New York, Max, has tracked her down and is more than willing to help. Review: This is the sixth crime magnet story I read for the challenge, and the second bibli...