Pattison is an Edgar-award winning author who created the character Shan Yao Tun, an ethnic Chinese exiled in Tibet. Shan is one of the more unusual sleuths in today's mystery genre, and I am really intrigued by him.
Shan is an undocumented worker in Tibet who could basically be imprisoned at any time. He is an expert mountaineer, who makes his living helping expeditions get to the top of Everest and the other peaks in the Tibetan Himalayas. His current focus is finding a way to get his son, Ko, released from the Chinese "yeti factory," a hospital prison where the mostly political prisoners are subjected to medical and biological experiments. Ko must be rescued before his brain or other vital organs are extracted or tested to the point of turning him into a vegetable.
In "The Lord of Death" Shan solves several puzzles of how to get the monks in a threatened monastery over the mountains and into Nepal or India safely. He must enlist the help of an American climbing leader, some of his Tibetan climbing team members, and even some Chinese officials Shan helps tit-for-tat in order to get the life-saving rescue done for his son.
Along the way Shan also solves the mysteries of who killed a Chinese Party Communist Party official, an American climber, and a Nepalese climber.
Pattison has an excellent grasp on Buddhist traditions, Chinese philosophy and how these can be woven into a very fresh and interesting plot for a mystery. The reader is carried in to the story and gets involved with characters who live in a very different world, think differently, and have very different experiences, and yet one ends up thinking about many of the people in this book like friends, enemies and acquaintances in one's own life. That is quite an achievement to make such a different world come alive for those of us with a western perspective.
I am looking forward to reading more of the Shan mystery series.
Liz Nichols
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
A Separate Country by Robert Hicks
It has taken me much longer than usual to read "A Separate Country" than the typical 424 page novel. It is tough to wade through 19th century journal writing, and that is what makes up the majority of this book. At times I found it dull, and at times things picked up considerably and got quite absorbing. I especially liked the sections narrated by Eli Griffin, the grifter who befriended the Hood family right at the end of their lives and tried to wind up the loose ends.
Most of the book is made up of fictional journals and memoirs of CSA General John Bell Hood and his wife, Anna Marie Hennen Hood, who were, of course, real historical figures. The story is set in New Orleans after the Civic War, where several former Confederate generals settled. Hood and his wife had 11 children in a space of about 12 years, and family life plays a big part in Anna Marie's journals, understandably. Hood tries and fails at business, and in the end reaches a point of salvation for his sins on the battlefield by nursing black New Orleaneans during the yellow fever epidemic of the late 1870s, an epidemic that also took Hood's life, and that of his wife and his oldest and youngest daughters.
The book is a reminder that New Orleans has always been a hotbed of grifters and corrupt government and politics. It was an especially dangerous place to live because of the people and the pestilence during the Reconstruction period. Hick's book is a graphic reminder of both the seamy and the somewhat more noble side of the great Creole city of the South.
Even though I found it slow-going, I did enjoy the book for the most part. I found some of the characters a little one-dimensional, but even these characters come up with a surprise or two. I want to go back to Hick's first novel, the highly acclaimed "The Widow of the South."
Liz Nichols
Most of the book is made up of fictional journals and memoirs of CSA General John Bell Hood and his wife, Anna Marie Hennen Hood, who were, of course, real historical figures. The story is set in New Orleans after the Civic War, where several former Confederate generals settled. Hood and his wife had 11 children in a space of about 12 years, and family life plays a big part in Anna Marie's journals, understandably. Hood tries and fails at business, and in the end reaches a point of salvation for his sins on the battlefield by nursing black New Orleaneans during the yellow fever epidemic of the late 1870s, an epidemic that also took Hood's life, and that of his wife and his oldest and youngest daughters.
The book is a reminder that New Orleans has always been a hotbed of grifters and corrupt government and politics. It was an especially dangerous place to live because of the people and the pestilence during the Reconstruction period. Hick's book is a graphic reminder of both the seamy and the somewhat more noble side of the great Creole city of the South.
Even though I found it slow-going, I did enjoy the book for the most part. I found some of the characters a little one-dimensional, but even these characters come up with a surprise or two. I want to go back to Hick's first novel, the highly acclaimed "The Widow of the South."
Liz Nichols
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Chambers of Death by Priscilla Royal
In college at Lawrence University I had a medieval history professor, Dr. Cheney, who we always said had one foot in the middle ages at all times. He lived and breathed it. We could picture how people felt, what they did and how they talked by his descriptions. I topped of my medieval experiences at Lawrence by taking a seminar class in medieval literature, which I also enjoyed very much.
When I get an opportunity to read history, or history in the form of an historical novel, set in the middle ages, I usually read it. Priscilla Royal's "Chambers of Death" is no exception.
Royal studied medieval literature at San Francisco State University and continues to live in Northern California. She has five other novels set in that period, specifically the end of the thirteenth century. The Afterword in the book hints that she will be tackling the considerably more troubled 14th century next with her cast of characters from the Tyndal Priory. The 13th century was comparatively enlightened compared to the century after with its frequent Black Death scourges, harsh politics and mini-ice age.
"Chambers of Death" is set on a road trip away from the Priory. Prioress Eleanor, a high born woman who preferred to run her own domain from inside a convent, has gone to settle some disputes about the priory's far flung lands and has with her a young novice and a monk who is normally involved in the work of the infirmary in the Priory, Brother Thomas. The young girl, Mariota, takes deathly ill in a storm and the group stop to tend their sick companion at the manor that is stewarded by a gentleman named Master Stevyn. We meet his strange family at the door of the manor, and not everyone is very welcoming.
The groom is murdered shortly after the arrival and in the course of the book others die. Several members of the staff and family have either motive, means or opportunity, but Eleanor and Thomas are hard pressed to find anyone with all three at the time of each of the murders. I must say Royal had me fooled until shortly before the chapter where the murderer is revealed. The sheriff, Sir Reimund, never has a clue and is inclined to accuse and hang the first convenient low-born member of the household.
There is much to like about this book. It is very well researched. We have accurate descriptions of manor life in the thirteenth century. We get inside the minds of people of different stations. We find out what people thought about affairs and the inequality of treatment between husbands and wifes caught cheating. We find out about the rules of illegitimacy and what being born out of wedlock meant for the future of that child. We get inside the minds of not only the main characters, but also many of the people from the manor. The descriptions and the characterizations make this book so much more interesting than a mystery that is mainly plot and action. In fact, this book evolves rather slowly, but the complexity of it and the large cast of characters demands a little attention to detail.
"Chambers of Death" is a good choice of a mystery read for those who enjoy historical and medieval mysteries. Fans of Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas will not be disappointed.
Liz Nichols
P.S.: For those who have wondered about my son and his retinal surgery, it went well. He has to wait a week or so before much activity until a gas bubble inserted in the eye disappears. At that point the eyesight should have returned to around 20/30 and we can get his glasses adjusted.
When I get an opportunity to read history, or history in the form of an historical novel, set in the middle ages, I usually read it. Priscilla Royal's "Chambers of Death" is no exception.
Royal studied medieval literature at San Francisco State University and continues to live in Northern California. She has five other novels set in that period, specifically the end of the thirteenth century. The Afterword in the book hints that she will be tackling the considerably more troubled 14th century next with her cast of characters from the Tyndal Priory. The 13th century was comparatively enlightened compared to the century after with its frequent Black Death scourges, harsh politics and mini-ice age.
"Chambers of Death" is set on a road trip away from the Priory. Prioress Eleanor, a high born woman who preferred to run her own domain from inside a convent, has gone to settle some disputes about the priory's far flung lands and has with her a young novice and a monk who is normally involved in the work of the infirmary in the Priory, Brother Thomas. The young girl, Mariota, takes deathly ill in a storm and the group stop to tend their sick companion at the manor that is stewarded by a gentleman named Master Stevyn. We meet his strange family at the door of the manor, and not everyone is very welcoming.
The groom is murdered shortly after the arrival and in the course of the book others die. Several members of the staff and family have either motive, means or opportunity, but Eleanor and Thomas are hard pressed to find anyone with all three at the time of each of the murders. I must say Royal had me fooled until shortly before the chapter where the murderer is revealed. The sheriff, Sir Reimund, never has a clue and is inclined to accuse and hang the first convenient low-born member of the household.
There is much to like about this book. It is very well researched. We have accurate descriptions of manor life in the thirteenth century. We get inside the minds of people of different stations. We find out what people thought about affairs and the inequality of treatment between husbands and wifes caught cheating. We find out about the rules of illegitimacy and what being born out of wedlock meant for the future of that child. We get inside the minds of not only the main characters, but also many of the people from the manor. The descriptions and the characterizations make this book so much more interesting than a mystery that is mainly plot and action. In fact, this book evolves rather slowly, but the complexity of it and the large cast of characters demands a little attention to detail.
"Chambers of Death" is a good choice of a mystery read for those who enjoy historical and medieval mysteries. Fans of Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas will not be disappointed.
Liz Nichols
P.S.: For those who have wondered about my son and his retinal surgery, it went well. He has to wait a week or so before much activity until a gas bubble inserted in the eye disappears. At that point the eyesight should have returned to around 20/30 and we can get his glasses adjusted.
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