Several crime titles

I'm behind with my crime fiction reviews - nothing new there - so this is a three-book post today, starting with A Death in Door County by Annalise Ryan.

Morgan Carter is a cryptozoologist (those who search for legendary animals like The Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot) who lives in Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan. She owns a bookstore there but it's not your usual bookshop, it also sells weird and macabre items. Morgan is enlisted to help the local police when a dead body is washed up that has some huge bite marks on it. There's always been rumours of something Nessie-like in their area of the lake and, although the police chief doesn't really believe it, he needs an expert to advise him. When a second body, likewise mutilated, turns up, the police chief has no choice but to seriously review his beliefs. So this mystery had an excellent sense of place, the lake where it joins Green Bay, known as Death's Door, the islands, cliffs, forests, beaches... beautiful. I liked the budding relationship between Jon Flanders and Morgan, and the dog, Newt, was lovely. I wish there had been more of the cryptozoologist element though because that was why I picked it up. But it seemed like not even the cryptozoologist herself took that seriously. Anyway, a good start to a new series, book two is out already, Death in the Dark Woods, and I may pick that up when the price comes down a bit. 

Next, Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie. 

So, this is number 42 in Christie's Hercule Poirot series but for me it was as much an Ariadne Oliver mystery as a Poirot one. She goes off to a literary lunch, which is not really her thing, but while there she's approached by an obnoxious woman whose son is engaged to a girl whose parents died in mysterious circumstances, 15 years ago. They were found dead at the top of a cliff in Devon, both shot, but the police had no idea who shot whom first and have never been able to discover the answer. The woman wants Ariadne to try to find out as the fiance is Ariadne's God daughter. At a loss, the writer enlists the help of Hercule Poirot to help her find some 'elephants' who might recall some pertinent clues as to what happened. This one has got some rather poor star ratings on Goodreads, people seem to think it's not great because Christie was approaching the end of her life when she was was writing it and maybe losing some of her faculties. Be that as it may, I still enjoyed it very much. I like Ariadne Oliver as a character anyway and always think she brings quite a lot to a Poirot mystery. I liked how, between the two of them, they eventually managed to tease the truth out of people, Ariadne using her doggedly determined questioning skills and Poirot his little grey cells. Not the best Christie I've read but still an enjoyable read.

And finally, my first book for February, The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott.

Jordan Bingham is back in her home-town of Harrison Falls, in the north of New York state. She's looking for a job that doesn't involve living with her uncles, who she adores but who exist on the wrong side of the law a lot of the time. She answers an ad from Vera Van Alst, an elderly invalid who lives in a huge house on the outskirts of town. Vera is a serious book collector who got wind of a possible secret manuscript of a play Agatha Christie might have written during her eleven day disappearance. Jordan gets the job and sets about her search only to dicover that her predecessor died in mysterious circumstances in New York City. Then people around her start to get attacked and Jordan realises this is not the cushy number she was hoping for. So, this was a fun 'Cosy', I suppose you would call it, which is not always my thing, but this was well written and engaging with some interesting characters. I liked cranky Vera, and the uncles, and was very intrigued by the cat coming and going. Also I had no idea until the end what was going on and why. There was a very nice sense of place too, made more so by the fact that I have been to the area. All in all, a fun read and likely as not I'll read on. There are only 5 books, all concerning famous crime authors such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Rex Stout etc. The mother and daughter team seem to have written these 5 and then stopped. I always wonder 'why?' when that happens.

Anyway. I hope your February is going well, and that you're finding some good books to read.