Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Flash and Bones is the 14^th book in the Temperance Brennan series which inspired the hot TV show ‘Bones’. Tempe" Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who splits her time between the University of North Carolina, where she teaches and Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in Quebec.

Flash and Bones is set in Charlotte North Carolina. The book opens with the discovery of a body in a dump site beside the racetrack a week before a big NASCAR race. The body was hidden in a barrel filled with asphalt linking it to the race track. In trying to identify the body Tempe comes up with several possibilities as to who it may be. One is Cindi Gamble a high school senior who disappeared several years ago without a trace.

When it is established the body is a male and not Cindi, Tempe is determined to find out what happened to the teenager. Her hunt for the truth drags her in to the world of NASCAR and to the attention of a group of right-wing extremists who go to great lengths to keep Cindi’s fate hidden.

I am a huge fan of both the ‘Tempe’ books and the TV show ‘Bones’ so I was thrilled when it lashed rain leaving me stuck indoors to read in peace.  Knowing very little about NASCAR I found the story provided the relevant background. Missing from the story was Andrew Ryan who works for the Montreal police.   

Overall I enjoyed the book but it would not be my favorite of the Tempe Brennan novels

Book on One UPDATE

On Canaan’s Side is read by Aine Ni Mhuiri aka Kathleen Hendley from Ballykissangel and Lily Malone from Fair City

The Book on One - On Canaan's Side

According to my copy of The Mail on Sunday TV/Radio listings, On Canaan's Side is the book featured on The Book on One this week Oct 3rd - 7th 2011 Radio 2 11.13pm or catch up on line at the below link

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebookonone/

Enjoy !!!

Calling All Jane Austin Fans

Jane Austin

Arguable one of the greatest writers ever published. Many of you, like me, may have wondered what happened to the characters of your favourite book after it ended, or even before it started. While trying to research a book I wanted to blog about I came across this site. Jane Austin is my Wonderland. A Jane Austin fansite it lists books that are prequels and sequels.  It is in French but you can use google translate, and post say which language the book is published in.

Here is the burning question. Non Jane Austin books featuring Jane Austin characters. Yeahy or Nay

Would love to know what you think!

A DEATH IN SUMMER BY BENJAMIN BLACK

A DEATH IN SUMMER BY BENJAMIN BLACK

It is a warm Sunday afternoon when Dick Jewell’s body is found in his office. Dr. Quirke, who some of you might know from “Christine Falls”, “The Silver Swan” and “Elegy  for April”, is called to take a look at the body as Harrison ,the State Pathologist is recovering from a heart attack.  Quirke and Inspector Hackett quickly establish that Jewell, a newspaper mogul, was murdered. What is not so obvious is by whom.  They begin by interviewing the people present at Brookland, the Jewells country home, but Francoise d’Aubigny, Jewell’s wife, his much younger half-sister the highly strung Dannie, and yard manager Maguire are unable to shed light on the matter.  Never one to stay out of matters that don’t concern him Quirke gets involved in the case. With rumours flying around Dublin  Jimmy Minor, journalist and sometime friend of Quirke daughter Phoebe, turns up on Quirke’s door step to see if he can get the inside scope. Jimmy reveals to Quirke that Carlton Sumner, son of a Canadian timber baron, who had a fight with Jewell weeks before he died, also owned 29% of Jewell holdings and was trying to buy Jewells paper ‘The Clarion’.

Quirke and Hackett head Wicklow to interview Sumner, who was in college with Quirke. Sumner denies killing Jewell, but makes reference to Jewells involvement in ‘Friends of St Christopher’s’ a group of wealthy Dublin men  who raise money for St. Christopher’s Orphanage.  Suspicious of Jewell’s charitable work, Quirke pays a visit to Fr. Ambrose at the Orphanage, where Quirke himself was as a child.  Costigan, a member of the Friends pays Quirke a visit to warn him off digging around. A warning when ignored lands Quirke’s assistant, who is in the early stages of a romance with Phoebe, in hospital missing a finger. The investigation encounters many twists and turns before Quirke learns the truth about Jewell’s death and ‘The Friends’ interest in the children in the orphanage.

I am a huge fan of John Banvilles crime novels. I was glad to see the story feature more of the supporting characters like Inspector Hackett and Sinclair. What do you think of the books? Who would you like to see more of

Man Booker Prize 2011 shortlist announced

The Man Booker Prize 2011 shortlist has been announced.

The list of 13 has been narrowed down to 6.

Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Carol Birch Jamrach’s Menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail)
Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
A.D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)


Irish writer Sebastian Barry did not make the shortlist. This suprised me as I liked his book and it was a favourite to win the prize

On Canaan’s Side By Sebastian Barry

On Canaan’s Side By Sebastian Barry.

On Canaan’s Side tells the story of Lily Dunne daughter of Thomas Dunne (The Steward of Christendom) and younger sister of Willy Dunne (A Long Long Way), neither of which I have read.

The Book opens with the death of Bill grandson of 89 year old Lily.  At 19 Bill is a divorced vet of the Desert War. After a night’s drinking he breaks in to his old school and hangs himself.  During the next 17 days Lily reminisces about her life, while struggling to deal with her grief and make sense of what happened

Lily Dunne is the youngest daughter of Thomas, chief superintendent in the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Growing up in Dublin Castle her view of Irish life in the early 1900’s is slightly different from most others.  Over her life Lily loses three men to war. The first her brother Willie, who fought and  died in the Great War, the second is her son Ed, who fought in Vietnam, and third is Bill. Both Bill and Ed return from war, but are left broken by it. Ed disappears from her life forever and Bill takes his own life.

Lily becomes engaged to an army friend of her brother’s Tadg Bere.  Tadg’s job in the Black and Tans along with her father’s position in the DMP lands a price on the couple’s heads by the IRA and so they flee to a distance cousin in Cleveland. For many months they struggle to build a new life for themselves until the past catches up with Tadg, leaving Lily to flee for her life and start again.

Consumed with grief for Tadg, unable to contact her family back in Ireland, Lily has the good fortune to meet Cassie an African American servant who takes Lily under her wing. Securing her a job in the same house, Cassie teaches Lily everything she needs for employment as a servant.  The two are inseparable until, as a result of being raped and impregnated by her employer, Cassie ends her life. Lily unable to stay in the house without her marries Joe Kinderman a local cop.

Lily and Joe are happily married for several years and expecting their first child when the Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion occurs.  Joe a cop is on duty that day.  Lily anxiously awaits his return from work, her vigil is futile. Grieving the loss of a second love, her unborn child (Ed) is the only thing that keeps Lily going, until one day out of the blue she receives a cryptic letter from Joe. 

With a small child to support Lily finds work as a housekeeper for a rich lady in an up market suburb for several years before going to work for her daughter Mrs. Wolohan upon her marriage. Living in the Hamptons, Lily meets Mr. Nolan, an Irishman employed as the Wolohan’s gardener. Their friendship deepens with Mr. Nolan assuming the role of father to Ed, and in turn Bill.

On his deathbed weeks before Bill’s passing Mr Nolan reviles a secret that causes Lily to question their relationship.

On Canaan’s Side is long listed for the 2011 Man Booker Prize. The short list is announced on Tuesday 6 September.

Apology

Blog has been neglected this week. Was reading a book to review but to be honest it was terrible.

On Canaan's Side review coming tonight/tomorrow to be followed by "The Carrie Diaries" and "Summer and the City"

Random House Win 10 books of your choice this Summer!

Got this in my inbox today.

The closing date for the competition is midnight 25th August 2011

Good Luck

Poolbeg SALE

I got an email off Poolbeg today letting me know of an offer they are running

SPECIAL OFFER

Up to €6 OFF these

NEW AUGUST titles and on

all Adult books 

 

 

 

And free postage (with in Europe)

 when you spend over €20 

 

 

Enjoy

The Millenium Trilogy

This is the first of, no doubt, many Millenium  Trilogy related posts. Yesterday Ryan Tubridy interviewed Eva Gabrielsson, partner of the late Stieg Larsson. She has written a book 'Stieg and Me: Memories of a Life with Stieg Larsson' about the 32 years she spent with Stieg.


A podcast of the interview can be found here
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_tubridy.xml

PUNISHMENT

PUNISHMENT by Anne Holt. 

Punishment (What is Mine USA) is the first in a series of book featuring Joanne Vik and Adam Stubo

When Emilie doesn’t come home from school her father isn’t too worried. It’s not the first time since her mother’s death she has run away. It’s not until several hours later when he finds her school bag on the side of the road he calls the police and reports her missing. Detective Inspector Stubo, of Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service is senior officer on the case.  With no leads in Emilie disappearance and two more missing children, Stubo decides to contact Johanne Vik a solicitor with a degree in psychology and former FBI profiler who has studied convicted sex offenders. 

Reluctant to get involved in a case involving missing children Vik is already juggling  a small child and job lecturing at the local university as well looking in to the 44 year old murder of an eight year old girl at the request of  dying woman Alvhild Sofienberg, whose job was preparing application for Royal Pardons. It was here that Alvhild came across Aksel Seier who was convicted and given a life sentence for the rape and murder of eight year old Hedvig Gasøy. Alvhild was convinced on Aksel’s innocents and starts to dig further. One day she arrives in to her office to find all the documents relating to the case have disappeared. Then she receives the most astonishing news. Eight years in to a life sentence Aksel Seier is released from prison without expiation.

When the bodies of the missing children start to turn up at their parents homes, and the pathologist can find no apparent cause of death, the case takes a twist causing Vik to wonder if the current murders are connected to Hedvig Gasøy.

I came across Anne Holt a Norwegian writer in my local bookshop. Her latest book ‘Fear Not’ promised ‘Holt is the queen of Scandinavian crime’. Readers of this blog know I am going through a crime phase so the blurb caught my attention. I headed to the library to pick up Punishment as it was the first book in the series and I like to read series in order.

Personally I loved the book apart from the fact that the victims were young kids.  There are several twists in the book that you don’t see coming. The ending is not an obvious one. The story jumps between the perspective of the different characters and between the sub-plots which can be a little annoying.  Over all the book is well worth the read and I will be looking for the other four books in the series.

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize 2011 longlist was announced last Tuesday 26^th of July 2011.

A total of 138 books were under consideration for the long list which was condensed down to the following 13.

Julian Barnes  The Sense of an Ending   (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Sebastian Barry  On Canaan's Side   (Faber)
Carol Birch Jamrach's  Menagerie  (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt  The Sisters Brothers  (Granta)
Esi Edugyan   Half Blood Blues  (Serpent's Tail)
Yvvette Edwards   A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld)
Alan Hollinghurst   The Stranger's Child (Picador - Pan Macmillan) Stephen Kelman   Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
Patrick McGuinness   The Last Hundred Days (Seren Books)
A.D. Miller   Snowdrops (Atlantic)
Alison Pick   Far to Go (Headline Review)
Jane Rogers   The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
D.J. Taylor   Derby Day (Chatto & Windus - Random House)

The shortlist of six authors will be announced on Tuesday 6 September.

The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday 18 October.

Visit www.themanbookerprize.com

Twitter at twitter.com/ManBookerPrize.

I have been looking forward to reading Sebastian Barry On Canaan's Side for a while now and I’m glad to see it make the longlist. This is Barry’s third time getting a nomination, having made the shortlist twice before.

Have you read any of the books listed or any of the autors other works? What do you think of them.

Scandinavian crime fiction awards http://www.scandinavianbooks.com/crime-book/award-prize.html

Not too long ago I came across an article about the Scandinavian Crime Fiction Awards. It caught my interest as some of the past winners of the Glass Key Awards were Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, Hakan Nesse, and Stieg Larsson, all of whom are gaining popularity on the English speaking market.  Given how much I enjoyed the works of the previous winners I was thrilled to learn that the 2010 winner Jussi Adler-Olsen has just released the first book in the Department Q series in English called Mercy. It is available on the US market as The Keeper of Lost Causes.