Moriarty

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Harper (December 9, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0062377183

Amazon

The game is once again afoot in this thrilling mystery from the bestselling author of The House of Silk, sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate, which explores what really happened when Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty tumbled to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls.

Internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s nail-biting new novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of detective Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty—dubbed the Napoleon of crime” by Holmes—in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.

Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.

Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.

A riveting, deeply atmospheric tale of murder and menace from one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate, Moriarty breathes life into Holmes’s dark and fascinating world.

I guess after having read The Fifth Heart, which concerns Sherlock Holmes that when I saw this book I decided to give it a read.  It helped that long ago I had read the authors other Holes book House of Silk.

The book was very well written.  It engages you in much of the Holmes traditions and actions, which leads you to believe that this might be the beginning of another duo such as Holmes and Watson and would have other stories to follow.  It seems that Jones is a big admirer of Holmes, and as the story begins it would seem that both Holmes and Moriarty have died during the struggle at Reichenbach Falls.

So much in the tradition of Holmes and Watson the two dive into finding the leader of a group of criminals that have taken over London.

A good mystery.. one that I never suspected would end the way it did, so this could be a book you too would enjoy.

Enough said.. I don't want to give away anything more then Amazon has!

Ape House

Ape House by Sara Gruen.

Publisher: Hardcover (December 7, 2010)
303 pages
ASIN: B006F47OJU

Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn't understand people, but apes she gets—especially the bonobos Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena, who are capable of reason and communication through American Sign Language. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she's ever felt among humans—until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter writing a human interest feature. But when an explosion rocks the lab, John's piece turns into the story of a lifetime—and Isabel must connect with her own kind to save her family of apes from a new form of human exploitation.

I read this author once before: Water for Elephants, and totally enjoy her writing and the story she told. So I've know of this book for a while but now even the 4 dollar shipping on used books from amazon is limiting my buying and sending me more and more to only what I find at thrift stores.

It was quite some time ago I remember some news stories about Apes using sign language so this book always was on my wish list.. finally found it at a thrift store!

It's a pretty quick read, and very interesting because there are a number of true facts in with the fiction.  I enjoyed reading it and remembering about the Apes using sign language..now I will have to do a little research and see how that, or if that, is still continuing to be a study.

I enjoy Sara Gruen's writing and so yet another of her books went on my wish list!  It seems that, like the books already in my limited living area, the wish list gets longer and longer!

When Gods Die

When Gods Die :A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery, by C.S. Harris.

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL Hardcover; (November 7, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0451219686

 

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Fans of quality historical suspense who mourn the end of the late Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel mysteries and the late Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding novels should find solace in the work of promising newcomer Harris, whose series (beginning with 2005's What Angels Fear) is set in Regency England. The ability of Harris's detective, Sebastian St. Cyr, the Viscount Devlin, to mingle freely with the cream of society leads to his receiving a highly sensitive commission. Given the perilous state of the English monarchy in 1811, the discovery of the dissolute Prince Regent with a murder victim in his arms makes the death of the beautiful young wife of an aristocrat even more scandalous. St. Cyr is charged by the powers that be with solving the crime and absolving the royal suspect. The author deftly combines political intrigue, cleverly concealed clues and vivid characters for a fast-moving story that will have readers eagerly anticipating future volumes in the series. (Nov.)
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I am guessing this would be called historical fiction/ murder mystery. And I quite like the protagonist, Sebastian St. Cyr the Viscount Devlin.  A man integrity and tenacity not to give up no matter what.  Also with a background of a love story and a mystery of his long gone mother.

Very pronounced differences with the aristocratic rich and the poorer then poor, Devlin deals fairly with them all.

The story is written so that you really are not sure who did the murder until the end.  Really well written.  Now I want more of him.  Not sure if I am happy or not that there are quite a few books about Sebastian St. Cry!  Really hope I find some at the thrift shops!  Many are very cheap on "used" Amazon but when you add the 3.99 shipping it can add up quickly.

Loved the time period and the historical references in this book.  Without a doubt I will be reading more of C.S. Harris's books of this series!

Devoured

Devoured by D.E. Meredith.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books;(October 26, 2010)
ISBN-10: 031255768X

 

From Booklist

Like the Victorian era that provides its setting, Meredith’s first novel is a carefully contrived surface, hiding dark things. For a while. The MacGuffin here is a series of letters the botanist Benjamin Broderig sends from steamy Borneo to his wealthy benefactress in London. She is murdered. The letters are stolen. The scientific establishment is even more desperate than the police to get back the letters because, we’re told, their contents would rock the known world. But excerpts will have readers scratching their heads. This is soft-core Darwinian stuff. Surely more is going on? There is, and fear of disclosure precipitates a series of murders whose details are comprehended only by the overworked pathologist Hatton and his assistant, Roumande. Their investigation goes from morgue to sweatshop to drawing room, all told in a polite, muted style that would seem to make this a lap-robe and pot-of-tea sort of novel despite the horrors that finally emerge.

This was certainly something different.  It seems there are two things going on here...it's the beginning of forensics, and the second story is about botanist Broderig's trip to Borneo and while there winds up doing searching in some of Darwinian's theories.   As always I get somewhat confused flipping back and forth between the two story lines and it takes me time to finally see how they are meshing together.  Once that happened the book got very interesting!

Much more of the pathology and forensics then in normal mysteries, probably because there are a number of deaths to deal with and the mystery of how they would ever come together.

It's not a long book.  I wouldn't have minded it being a bit longer to be honest.

As always I've used the Amazon review for telling what the book is about.. 

The Road from Gap Creek

The Road from Gap Creek by Robert Morgan.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: A Shannon Ravenel Book;(March 25, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1616203781

Review:

One of America’s most acclaimed writers returns to the land on which he has staked a literary claim to paint an indelible portrait of a family in a time of unprecedented change. In a compelling weaving of fact and fiction, Robert Morgan introduces a family’s captivating story, set during World War II and the Great Depression. Driven by the uncertainties of the future, the family struggles to define itself against the vivid Appalachian landscape. The Road from Gap Creek explores modern American history through the lives of an ordinary family persevering through extraordinary times.

From the Inside Flap

“This is a story I seem to remember like it was yesterday . . . The day we moved to Green River, the road from Gap Creek was froze stiff as chalk. I wasn’t even five, but I remember that morning was cold. We got up in the dark and Papa built a big fire in the fireplace, burning up the things we didn’t need. All the stuff we had would fit in that one wagon, or it had to be left behind. I thought Velmer and my older sister, Effie, and me was going to ride on the wagon too, but Papa said there wasn’t no room. We’d have to walk.”
Strong-willed Annie Richards Powell, a preacher’s wife raised by hardscrabble dirt farmers, begins her story on the worst day in her family’s life: a day that arrived years after her family’s trip—by wagon and on foot—from Gap Creek, South Carolina, to Green River, North Carolina, and into the home where she would grow up with her siblings, Effie, Velmer, and, finally, Troy, the baby and golden boy. A resilient and clear-eyed narrator, she lets us watch as one-by-one the Richards children create their own histories, which include both triumphs and terrible losses in the face of the Great Depression and then World War II and its aftermath. Through the Richards family, Morgan explores modern American history as it played out in the Blue Ridge Mountains—a region cut off from mainstream life until World War II took those mountain boys to fight in far-off lands and changed their world forever. The rough-hewn beauty of the land and its people are visible on every page of The Road from Gap Creek—a tribute to an ordinary family persevering through extraordinary times. This is Robert Morgan at his finest.
The saga of the Richards family began in Robert Morgan’s 1999 novel Gap Creek, an Oprah Book Club Selection that attracted hundreds of thousands of readers to its beguiling tale of the first year and a half of Annie’s parents’ marriage at the turn of the twentieth century. Now, in a masterful weaving of fact and fiction, Morgan introduces a new generation looking ahead to the uncertainties of the future, the struggle to define oneself, and the rediscovery of enduring love.

 

So... I find out after I read this book that there is a book before this one.  I checked it out on Amazon and decided this was ok as a "stand alone"

I guess when I found it at a thrift store and read where and when this story occurs I decided to give it a try.  The where was in the Appalachian Mountains (where I had just visited) and many mountains and towns I knew of from my trip.  The time was just before and during WWII.  The family was very poor and yet I found it almost appealing.  I was poor as a child and it was not fun, but looking back, before technology and many inventions, I  am glad of the time when I was born.

This book is not a great adventure.  It isn't a mystery.  It's just the life of Annie Richards as a poor girl being raised in the country and the hardships and good things that happened to her.

Having just come from the area in which the book takes place I found myself compelled to read it. 

We all have a life story. How it reads depends on when and where your life story is.

I can't say run out and read this book. But historically, regionally, and just plain growing up.. I found it a good read.