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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Margaret Lin has commented on (4) products
The Man in Lower Ten
by
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Margaret Lin
, March 30, 2012
I thought The Man in Lower Ten was very well-crafted, with a number of quirky, interesting characters who really added to the story. Of the three Rineholt mysteries I've read (the others were The Circular Staircase and The Window at the White Cat), I thought this one the best. Like the others, it's not so much designed to solve the mystery along with some savvy investigator; instead, critical evidence - particularly confessionals - don't pull it together until the final chapters. The bulk of the story is involved following the rather bumbling main characters as they run down blind alleys, back-track, and start again, and the suspense and humor that accompanies the process. My plot synopsis: The Man in Lower Ten is narrated by Lawrence "Lollie" Blakeley, a 30 year old attorney. He's charged with transporting some important material evidence in a legal case, some forged papers, by train. There's a murder on the very same train he's traveling on, and he becomes implicated. To top it off, the papers he's carrying, along with his other possessions, are stolen. Just when it couldn't get any worse, the train is struck by another train; a number of people are killed and for a while details of the murder are lost in the larger tragedy. As news of the murder starts coming out, though, he tries to figure out the complex strands involving the stolen papers, the murdered man, and a number of mysterious characters who figure into the case, and at the same time escape being arrested for the murder. He falls in love while he's at it.
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The Circular Staircase
by
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Margaret Lin
, March 21, 2012
I thought this was dated but an enjoyable read. I think I started to enjoy it more once I figured out that Rinehart may not necessarily mean the reader to solve the murder and accompanying mysteries until the end (when there's a confession), and that the point is more to enjoy the suspense, thrills and chills. There were some unpalatable racial and class stereotypes (the book was originally published in 1908), but, thankfully, these eased off as the story progressed. The tendency of the female characters to swoon also rather dates the book. Here's my brief synopsis of the plot: Rachel Innes, well-to-do "middle-aged spinster" and the narrator, encounters murder and mystery when she rents a country estate for the summer. It is the no-good Arnold Armstrong, son of the absent owners of the estate, who is found murdered in the house. The fiance of the Rachel's niece, John "Jack" Baily, is implicated in the murder. He works as a broker for the bank owned by Armstrong's father, and was on poor terms with Armstrong. Things look even more bleak for Jack when he is also accused of embezzling and absconding with bank funds. Almost everyone else around Rachel seems to be entangled in the murder and harboring secrets that may be the key to solving the mounting mysteries. But the ultimate solution to the murder and the bank's troubles all seem to lie at the Armstrong estate, itself. Our intrepid narrator is determined to solve the mystery with or without anyone's cooperation. Of note, Rachel(according to herself)is supposedly intelligent and brave, but she struck me as a tad pompous and not as smart as she thinks she is based on the way she handles a number of situations (not to mention all the swooning). I wasn't sure if Rinehart meant to be straight about the reliability of the narrator or was also poking some fun at her. On the other hand, it's a fine line between trying to keep the mystery up without making the characters seem stupid; also, since Rinehart was writing over a hundred years ago, some conventions may have changed.
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The Window at the White Cat by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Fiction, Romance, Literary, Mystery & Detective
by
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Margaret Lin
, March 13, 2012
I found the book to be a charming, enjoyable read. Following the hapless but earnest narrator, Jack Knox, who's trying to solve the piling mysteries, does seem to drag the plot out at times. This is made up for, though, by the fun cast of characters and their interactions with each other. Ultimately, the characters carry the book more than the unraveling of the mystery, which is done in a rush in the end and only truly made clear by a tell-all confession. There's an interesting, almost incongruous mix between rather sweet scenes and others that are almost hard boiled. Overall, I recommend this for readers who like vintage detective fiction (Rinehart wrote before and during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction) and are craving more.
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Chinese Shawl A Miss Silver Mystery
by
Patricia Wentworth
Margaret Lin
, March 08, 2012
An enjoyable, nostalgic read. Set in WWII England, young heiress, Laura Fane, meets her ambitious femme fatale cousin, Tanis, and finds herself tangled in a web of Tanis' intrigues as well as old family grievances. When Tanis is found murdered, the list of possible suspects is long, for Tanis has left a long list of jilted and jealous enemies, perhaps Laura among them. But there's more to her murder than meets the eye. Luckily, Miss Silver, our knitting, Tennyson-quoting private enquiry agent, is there to untangle the mystery and save the day. I've tended to consider Wentworth's detective fiction as enjoyable but second tier in the British Golden Age detective fiction genre. Her characters are more stereotypic and the plots fairly predictable. The novels are definitely "dated" (The Chinese Shawl was originally published in 1943). The Chinese Shawl is true to this form, but a solid work for Wentworth. Overlooking its shortcomings, it's a fun read with a charming bit of romance complicated by dastardly characters and murder. I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy Golden Age mysteries who've exhausted their supply of Christie and Sayers.
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