Whose Body? A Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, Book 1

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by Dorothy Sayers, novel first published in 1923, Audiobook narrated by David Case, 2015, Blackstone Audio 2.0 stars

This book is Dorothy Sayers first novel and it was received with critical acclaim when it was published in 1923. Most of the detective novels in those days were authored by male authors, so it was a phenomenon when female authors arrived on the scene. I found out about Dorothy in the novel Queens of Crime which used the person of Dorothy to be the primary character in that historical crime novel. I decided to check out some of Dorothy’s books to experience her writing firsthand.

The book is about a body discovered in a bathtub that wasn’t immediately identified. Lord Peter Wimsey, an amateur detective with some personal ties to individuals in Scotland Yard, decides to investigate. The police initially make some assumptions about the identity, but they are hasty, and Peter suspects that they are not correct.

The issue with this book is not the book itself, but the narration. David Case has a high, somewhat irritating voice. The plot is fairly complicated, and Peter Wimsey’s deductive thinking is hard to follow because the tempo is so high. I am currently reading Sayer’s second book in the series to get a better sense of Wimsey’s character and Sayer’s writing. I suspect I will get a different impression. I wouldn’t recommend the book in audio format, but I think it might be a lot better in print.

Shelterwood

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by Lisa Wingate, 2024, Audiobook narrated by Christine Lakin, Dan Bittner, and Jenna Lamia, Random House Audio 2.5 stars

The book is about a woman who is a National Park Service ranger in a fictional national park in Oklahoma in the late 1990’s. She is recently widowed and has a young daughter. She has accepted the assignment to this park to get a fresh start. She becomes curious about some old bones that are discovered in a cave and wonders if they might be related to the disappearance of young Indian children in the area at the beginning of the century. She wonders why there seems to be reluctance to further investigate until she discovers what is actually going on.

The book flips back and forth between the earlier time of the young children and the time of the young woman park ranger. It’s somewhat confusing, but the author ties it all together in the end. The book didn’t fully engage me although I liked the plot, the characters, the setting, and the narration. There just seemed to be something missing for me.

Double Whammy (Skink Book 1)

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by Carl Hiaasen, 1988, Audiobook published in 2004 narrated by George Wilson, Recorded Books 3.0 stars

This is the first “Skink” book written by Hiassen so it provides information about this character who subsequently appears in many of the author’s novels. The book probably isn’t Hiassen’s best book, but it is humorous and has some very unique (crazy?) characters.

The book is about a bass fishing tournament and a real estate developer in Florida. The developer is a fraud, and the fishing tournament is rigged. Sounds like Florida?

If I had any criticism of the book, some of the events and characters are just a bit too much over the top. He needs to dial it back.

Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them,

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by Timothy Eagan, 2023, Kindle Edition. 3.5 stars

The book relates the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana starting in 1923. A man from Oklahoma abandoned his wife and child in Oklahoma and moved to Indiana where his charisma allowed him to recruit numerous followers into the KKK and became the leader of the Klan in the Midwest and Western states. His depravity eventually caused his downfall and the demise of the Klan, but prior to that it was penetrating every segment of society, including the schools, the females, the children, the schools, the judiciary, and the state and local governments.

The value of the book to me was to reinforce the understanding that we have to actively guard against any resurgence of racism in our country. There are definitely bad persons who can lead others down a very destructive path if not thwarted. The current attempt to whitewash our history by our political leaders can quickly lead to the return this situation.

The narrative was somewhat disjointed at the beginning as it depicted incidents around the country that seemed to be unrelated, but the book then focused on the story of the individuals and incidents in Indiana. The author brought it al back together in the closing chapters.

The Queens of Crime

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by Marie Benedict, 2025, Audiobook narrated by Bessie Carter, Macmillan Audio 4.0 stars

The book is a form of historical fiction where the author uses the character of an historical figure and uses the character in a reconstructed situation. I ordinarily don’t care for this as the dialogue often seems contrived. In this case, the author uses nor one, but five figures from the past in this novel. The five characters were all women mystery writers from the 1920’s and 1930’s. The main character, Dorothy L. Sayers, wrote a series of crime novels centering on the amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wiimsey. Benedict uses actual facts to frame this novel. Sayers was considered one of the four Queens of Crime that included herself, Agatha Christi, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh. She was a founding member of the Detection Club. Benedict adds another character to the group, the Baroness Emma Orzcy to make five of the Queens. They embark on solving an actual crime to prove the skills they employ with their fictional characters actually work to solve a real crime.

As I mentioned, I’m not a fan of creating fictional dialogue for real-life historical characters. In the case of this novel, I really like it. The dialogue between these characters really brought them to life, particularly for Dorothy Sayers. The crowning glory of this book, however, is the narration by Bessie Carter. When I first started listening, I thought this narrator must be an actress. As it turns out, that is exactly what she is as she played the role of Prudence in the series Bridgerton. Ngaio Marsh happens to be a New Zealander, and Carter nailed the New Zealand accent. I thought she could have applied a bit more of an accent for Emma as she grew up in Germanic Europe, but that was okay. I really liked the main character, Dorothy Sayers. Carter’s reading was perfect.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this audiobook as much as I did. The story was fine, but the production was superb.

The Blacklist, by Sarah Paretsky (A V.I. Warshowsky Mystery, Book 11)

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by Sarah Paretsky, 2003, Audiobook narrated by Sandra Burr, Billiance Audio 2.0 stars

A body of a Black man is discovered in a pond near an unoccupied mansion by private investigator Warshowsky, and it appears that he committed suicide. The circumstances, however, don’t seem to support suicide and she proceeds to uncover some unsavory facts about the families that live in the community.

The book has some potential, but the plot gets bogged down with too many characters, too much old history, too much politics, too much cultural divide, and just too much detail. I was too far into it to put it down, but the ending wasn’t very satisfying either. The narrator was good at times, especially when doing the voices of the other characters, but the voice of the main character, V.I. Warshowsky, was annoying at times. Bottom line, I don’t think I will be doing any more of Paretsky’s books.

A Long Time Dead (A D.I. Duncan McAdam Mystery)

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by J.M. Dalgliesh, 2023, Hamilton Press 4.0 stars

While on cruise this summer we had a lecture on noir crime novels. One of the elements of this genre is a sense of place. The itinerary of the cruise included some stops in Scotland, and our lecturer mentioned several Scottish authors, and while he didn’t mention Dalgliesh, I found this book on Amazon Unlimited and decided to give it a try. The story takes place on the Isle of Sky (which we didn’t visit this summer but did back in 2016). The plot was about a body that had been buried in the peat 20 years prior. The case was reopened as a result of the discovery as the deceased girl was thought to have been murdered.

The novel includes an investigator (Duncan McAdam) who is deeply damaged by his youth on the Isle of Sky, and a dark secret uncovered by McAdam in the course of his investigation. The plot is actually a bit slow, but the characters are genuine, and the sense of place is well defined.

While I am on the topic of “place”, our cruise left us disappointed. Most of the on-board lectures (the one on noir crime novels being an exception) and excursions dealt with the ancient history of each of the places we visited. When we went to Africa a few years ago, I read a number of books about the countries we visited, including histories, novels, biographies, etc. In preparation for this recent trip, I failed to do that and, as a consequence, didn’t feel the attachment to the places we visited. We had toured Scotland on our own many years ago and I felt that I had a much deeper understanding of the place than I did popping in for a visit of only a couple of hours. My conclusions are that the best way to travel to a country and really understand it is to do it on your own if you are able and to read as much as possible about it.

Going back to this book, I really enjoyed it. I liked the characters, the sense of place, and the plot was okay. I may read more of the series.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

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by Jonathan Haidt, 2024, Kindle Edition, Penguin Press 2.0 stars

This book focuses on the causes of the heightened anxiety of the young persons of Generation Z.

The author basically makes three points in this book:

  • Smartphones with social media are rewiring the brains of our children, especially in the ages of 10 to 14, and not in a good way. The “Great Rewiring” as he calls it, is destroying the ability of kids to develop the social skills that enables them to transition into well-adjusted adults.
  • Parents are overprotecting their children in the real world while allowing them to have unfettered access to social media online. Children need to have unstructured and unsupervised play time with other children with actual physical presence rather than hours on social media.
  • Cell phones and social media affect girls in different ways than boys.

Haidt makes a compelling case that these three phenomena are having profound and frightening effects on the development of Generation Z individuals. Unfortunately, he repeats these points over and over (and over and over) again (and again) to the point that reading the book becomes a real chore. I wish he had structured the book to complete the discussion on each of one of these points before going on to the next rather than bringing his points up again and again.

I have a grandchild who is 12 years old who doesn’t have a cell phone yet. The information Haidt provides reinforces some of the ideas I already had about our grandchildren’s’ access to cell phones. I was planning to recommend the book to his parents, but the organization of the book is such a mess that I am reluctant to recommend it. Too bad.

James

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by Percival Everitt, 2024, Audiobook narrated by Dominic Hoffman, Random House Audio 4.0 stars

This book is based on the novel Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, but it is told from the perspective of Huck’s companion, the slave Jim. Jim is actually an educated person who poses as a simple Black slave in order to please the white people whenever he is in contact with them. The book suggests that this is a common behavior of slaves in those times.

The book follows closely to the events in Twain’s book with Jim (who decides he should be addressed as James) reflecting on his many interactions with white people. He maintains a very close relationship with Huck throughout the book.

I recommend listening to the audiobook version of this book as it highlights the difference in tone that Jim/James takes when he is conversing with other Blacks or white persons. Also, the narrator, Dominic Hoffman, does a great job.

I am somewhat skeptical that such a highly self-educated Black person would have even been possible in those circumstances, but it is a work of fiction which highlights the intelligence and grace of Jim as a human being.

The Dentist (Detective Sergeant George Cross Mystery, Book 1)

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by Tim Sullivan, 2025, Atlantic Crime 3.5 stars

George Cross is an autistic detective who lives alone and is not valued by his superiors. Nonetheless, he solves crimes using his dogged methods. His partner Josie, who is a single Black mother, tries repeatedly to be assigned to another officer because she is exasperated by George’s anti-social behavior.

This case involves the death of a homeless person. The death is initially attributed to another homeless person who confesses. Cross isn’t convinced that he did it and discovers that there is more to it than it seems.

The book sometimes is a bit slow, and Cross’s behavior can be trying, but the author does a good job of portraying the detective and his partner.