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.