A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Deborah Crombie for the Valley News Dispatch (Trib Total Media). She will be making a stop in Oakmont, PA, on her book tour for the latest book in her mystery series, To Dwell in Darkness. Her book signing is hosted by Mystery Lovers Bookstore and will be held at the Carnegie Library in Oakmont on October 8 at 7 p.m.

I was nervous about the interview, as she is my first famous author - but "Debs" put me at ease immediately and made me feel like I was a long-lost friend. We had a great 20-minute conversation while I was in my car, pulled over to the side of the road on my way home from work. She talked about everything from her books to traveling to her dogs and cats. I hardly had to ask her any questions! So thanks for that, Debs!

In preparation for the interview, I read the first book in her series, A Share in Death, which was published in 1993. Since then, she has published 15 more books and is working on another.

For a first novel by someone with a Biology degree and no writing background, A Share in Death is quite impressive. It is an Agatha Christie-style mystery, set in a time-share house in Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The book introduces Duncan Kincaid, Scotland Yard Superintendent, who is on holiday at the Followdale House and doesn't really want the other guests to know what he does for a living. Until an employee of the house is murdered, that is. The local officer-in-charge has an attitude with Kincaid but is inept, so Kincaid pulls some strings and gets on the case, along with the help of his assistant, Gemma James. Then one of the guests is also murdered, and the plot thickens. There is a cast of characters, each with their own little secrets and quirks. With Gemma working on the outside and Kincaid working from the house, they begin to solve the puzzle, piece by piece.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves mysteries, and I plan to read the other 15 books in the series. I am currently reading the new book, To Dwell in Darkness, but I'll go back and read them in succession after that.

Crombie has a blog, Jungle Red Writers, that she shares with six other female mystery writers - find it at www.jungleredwriters.com.

Adultery by Paulo Coelho

Linda has it all – a great job in journalism, loving husband, beautiful children, a nice home in Geneva, Switzerland – but she is unhappy. Nothing new here. She becomes obsessed with Jacob, an old high school boyfriend who is now a big-time politician. When she interviews him for the newspaper, she suddenly decides to give him a blow job before she leaves. What? This was the point where I started wondering about Linda’s mental health. It gets worse.

They meet again, for sex. But instead of the erotic encounter Linda is expecting, Jacob turns her over onto her knees and practically forces anal sex on her, then very unemotionally tells her how to clean up so her husband won’t find out. The sex is painful and degrading, yet Linda convinces herself she is in love with him. She begins a journey into deep darkness, harassing Jacob by text message even after he rejects her, and even going so far as to try and frame his wife for cocaine which Linda purchased from a drug dealer.

When Linda discloses that she once tortured her boyfriend’s dog as a teenager, I see that she has psychopathic tendencies. As she goes down this path, she says she feels comfortable in her madness, and that’s exactly what it is. She is completely bonkers.

I find it very odd that the only characters who are named in the book are Linda, Jacob, and Jacob’s wife, Marianne. Linda’s own husband and children are never named, even though her husband is mentioned throughout the book. The children seem like they are just there, and she has no real connection to them. I don’t see any love there.

I won’t give any spoilers, but Linda resolves her issues in the end. However, I found the ending implausible given her obvious mental illness. And when she talks about love, I don’t feel anything. It’s like she is talking about clouds. Linda seems robotic to me, devoid of human compassion and emotions.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review - thank you!

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

I was excited to receive a copy of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami, as I loved Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood. This book, though not quite on the same level, did not disappoint.

Tsukuru Tazaki, whose name means "to make things," is one of a closely-knit group of five friends in high school. His four friends, two boys and two girls, all have names whose meanings incorporate a color - red, blue, black, and white. Tsukuru feels "different" from his colorful friends, not only because his name has no color in it, but also because he is a studious, quiet kind of guy, and they each have a notable trait. Ao is a rugby jock, Aka is at the top of his class, Shiro is tall and beautiful like a model and is a skilled pianist, an Kuro is funny and outgoing. Each friend is very different, but as a group of friends they flourish and do everything together. Tsukuru rounds out the group as the steady, solid one. "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki."

After high school, Tsukuru is the only one in the group who leaves Nagoya, to attend college in Tokyo and study to be an engineer. He has always dreamed of building railroad stations. After two years in college, he returns home and tries to get in touch with his friends, who do not answer his calls. Finally, one of them calls and tells him not to call any of them any more. When Tsukuru asks why, the response is only "You should know why." He doesn't have a clue what is wrong, but does not press the issue.

This moment shapes Tsukuru's life from this point on, and is always hanging over him. He goes into a deep depression and loses a lot of weight, even considers suicide. Eventually he comes back to a normal life and has the job he always wanted, but there is still the sadness and confusion from losing his friends. He has girlfriends occasionally, but the relationships are superficial.

Tsukuru develops one male friendship in Tokyo with Haita, whom he meets at the swimming pool while doing his laps. Haita spends a lot of time at Tsukuru's apartment, even cooking meals and sleeping over. One wonders about Haita's motives and if he is in love with Tsukuru. Then suddenly, after Tsukuru has a very strange dream (was it a dream?) involving Haita, he also disappears from Tsukuru's life.

Tsukuru does not display or even feel emotions much - but his dreams are wrought with them. He has frequent erotic dreams involving Shiro and Kuro, even though their relationship never goes beyond friendship. In a dream he feels jealousy for the first time. Murakami describes Tsukuru's jealousy as "the most hopeless prison in the world...not a place he was forced into by someone else, but a jail in which the inmate entered voluntarily, locked the door, and threw away the key." Indeed.

At age 36, Tsukuru's girlfriend Sara tells him he must go back to his friends and resolve whatever happened 16 years ago, or he will never be able to move forward. This sets him on a journey to contact his four friends, which he does, traveling halfway around the world for one of them. What he learns makes one think about how others can affect your life so deeply, even from a misunderstanding.

There are a few loose ends I would like to have seen tied up, especially the side story about the sixth fingers. What is that all about? However, Murakami is a master at making his characters real and conveying their emotions. He writes simply, yet so very beautifully. I will be looking forward to reading more Murakami books.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review - thank you!