The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Review by Mirah Welday (mwelday)

I was recently able to attend a book event with Kate Morton, the New York Times bestselling author.  I thoroughly enjoyed her books The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden and was excited about this event. The event was sponsored by a local independent bookseller and Morton discussed her writing and research process and took a few questions from the audience.

During the discussion Kate said she had been working on a novel and about 60,000 words in she just had to let it go and write a different story.  She had characters in her mind that wouldn’t leave her be; these characters would become the Blythe sisters who would later be the prominent characters in The Distant Hours. I had The Distant Hours on my bookshelf but hadn’t gotten to it yet.  After hearing from Kate that these characters were so insistent in her mind, I thought I really wanted to read this book sooner rather than later.

The novel started out very strong.  In the beginning, Morton gives us the start of several story lines that will converge together: long lost letter delivered, questions about a mother’s past, mysterious castle and the sisters who live there, a troubled writer who experiences great loss.  Edie is one of the main characters whose story blends the past and present. In her efforts to uncover her mother’s secrets from her teenage years during World War II, she encounters the Blythe sisters.  The three Blythe sisters (twins and a younger sister) are living alone, isolated in their castle, careful not to let anyone get too close.  Rumors and stories about the spinster sisters are passed around in the local town.  Edie manages to break through their self-inflicted isolation and the truth of past events will eventually be discovered.

True to Morton style, secrets are slowly unraveled and the reader gradually learns the truth of what happened but there are some twists and turns to get there.  When we think we know what happened and understand the motivations of the characters, things get turned on us again.  I normally don’t mind this but I felt the middle of the novel seems to lose some of its momentum.

However, even with that bit of disappointment at the middle, I still believe this is a great book for those who enjoy mysteries, romance, and tales of familial woe.  And with the dark castle full of secrets, there’s a tribute to the classic gothic novels from the past. The Blythe sisters are memorable characters; I can understand why they were insistent for Morton.  Their multiple heartbreaks and how they each changed because of those heartbreaks create their isolation, both mentally and physically.  I would give The Distant Hours a solid 4 out of 5 stars and a hearty recommendation.

Minute for Murder by Nicholas Blake (Cecil Day-Lewis)

Review by Matt B. (buffalosavage)

Day-Lewis, poet and translator of Latin classics, supplemented his income by writing detective novels under the pen-name of Nicholas Blake.  As we’d expect from a professor of classics, his writing is erudite, witty, and lucid enough to put up with the usual British whodunit machinery of red herrings, beautiful blondes, and wacky characters.

The upside of Minute for Murder (1947) is that it is probably based on Lewis’ wartime experience working in the Ministry of Information, which Orwell satirized in 1984. Series hero Nigel Strangeways is working at the “Ministry of Morale” in the Visual Propaganda Division. He captures the tensions among different grades of staff and the problems of supervising talented but temperamental people.

The material on the human factor and red herring combine to make this rather longer than the typical old-time whodunnit, but he’s such a charming writer that we don’t mind.

Maigret and the Madwoman by Georges Simenon

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Le Folle de Maigret (1970) was translated as Maigret and the Madwoman in 1972 by Eileen Ellenbogen.

A little old lady asks Maigret to visit her apartment and listen to her concern,  but she is smothered to death before he makes the time. Angry with himself, he questions three suspects – a middle-aged mannish masseuse, her sleazy boy toy, and her boho son.

Lots of plusses make this one a better than average Maigret. The old lady is a more vivid character than the typical victim. Simenon skillfully gets across the spring in Paris and Maigret’s thought processes. The reveal is a genuine surprise. Madame Maigret has more than her usual cameo appearance. We have to conclude that his wife makes Maigret a better cop, a better leader, a better man.

The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands by Erle Stanley Gardner

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

This 1962 Perry Mason novel is readable enough for a lazy Sunday afternoon in late summer. But the story is so-so. We’ve seen before the victim that nobody will mourn and the attractive client lying such that her pants catch fire.

A point in its favor is that Gardner shows that he did his homework when it came to keeping current in the field in that he uses a law, newly passed in California in the early 1960s, that allowed a DA to grant complete immunity for committing a crime in exchange for testimony that would incriminate the witness.

Some critics and readers – like me – dislike the Perry Mason novels written in the 1960s. Others say that the mysteries written in the 1950s represent a falling off. Still others say the novels written before WWII are better than the ones written after.

Me, I can read them all, as long as there are heat and humidity that make it impossible for me to read harder novels. Any excuse not to do yard work on a summer Sunday will click with me.