Pietr the Latvian(Inspector Maigret, 1), Georges Simenon. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780141392738) 2025 (first published in 1930).
Summary: Maigret tracks an international criminal appearing in a number of guises, not always sure he is tracking the real Pietr.
Georges Simenon wrote 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Inspector Jules Maigret. This is the very first of the novels and serves as a kind of introduction to Maigret and to Simenon as a mystery writer.
One thing we discover is Simenon is capable of an extremely twisty plot. He learns that an international crime ring leader, known as Pietr the Latvian, is arriving via train in Paris. He has a description and intends to follow him, hopefully to apprehend him in his nefarious dealings. The one problem is that the man he identifies as Pietr is simultaneously heading to his hotel and also very much dead in a train lavatory. The man at the hotel registers as Oswald Oppenheim and is there to meet an American businessman.
This is the first of several identities Maigret investigates, including a Norwegian sea captain and a drunken Russian living with a prostitute, Anna Gorskin. Who is the real Pitr and who are the doubles? Are any of them the dead man on the train?
Not only is the pursuit bewildering. It is also dangerous. A colleague of Maigret, working at the hotel is murdered. Then someone shoots Maigret in the street of a rough district. Although the wound entered his chest and exited his shoulder, Maigret somehow keeps going. We discover that Maigret is resolute as a junk yard dog.
What keeps Maigret going? It seems it is both the offense of the crime and the expectation that the best criminals sooner or later slip up. And Maigret’s plan is to be there when it happens.
To sum up, this initial number is a good example for the series. Short, fast-moving, twisty stories, running about 160 pages. An implacable Inspector. And interesting criminals. What’s not to like?
What We Can Know, Ian McEwan. Albert A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593804728) 2025.
Summary: A researcher in 2119 seeks a lost poem read at a famous dinner in 2014, reconstructing the circumstances of the dinner.
In 2014, famous poet Francis Blundy hosted a dinner in honor of his wife’s birthday. During the dinner, he read a poem written for Vivien in the form of a corona. A corona is a “crown of sonnets” consisting of fifteen sonnets, often addressed to one person. The last line of each sonnet is repeated in the first line of the next. Finally, the fifteenth sonnet consists of the last lines of the first fourteen, and makes sense! Blundy wrote it out on vellum and, after the reading, presented it to Vivian, After the dinner, its whereabouts became unknown. The dinner became known as the Second Immortals Dinner. The first was in 1817, with Wordsworth, Keats, and Charles Lamb among the guests of painter Ben Haydon.
In the 2030’s, cataclysmic events occurred. Climate change resulted in wars over resources, including the limited use of nuclear weapons. One of these, intended for the United States landed in the mid-Atlantic, creating a giant tsunami inundating the low lying areas of the Americas and Europe and western Africa. Paradoxically, these bombs resulted in a cooling of the planet. The period was called the Derangement and by the following century, the Earth’s population was down to four billion.
McEwan envisions a world in 2119 that suffered both the loss of much and retained the vestiges of advanced civilization. Regions of the United States are at war. Nigeria controls the internet. But there are still universities in what is left of the United Kingdom. Among the researchers, Thomas Metcalfe studies the years prior to the Derangement. His interest has focused in on the dinner and the lost poem. Instead of the coup of discovery, all he can know are the circumstances surrounding the dinner. Particularly, this included the lives and loves of the guests.
He knows of the tragic first marriage of Vivien Blundy to Percy. This big bear of a man built beautiful musical instruments, including working on a replica of a Guarnieri violin. That is, until early onset Alzheimer’s struck. He knows of the dalliances with Blundy’s brother-in-law Harry, and the meeting pf Francis and Vivien. All this took place prior to Percy’s death from a fall. Vivien subsequently married Francis, setting up in her own studio near the main building called the Barn.
But Metcalfe’s career and life seem stalled. He’s in an off again/on again relationship with Rose, a fellow lecturer on the period. They even teach classes together. Research trips to the Blundy archives turn up lots of trivia about the Blundy’s but nothing on the poem. That is, until an archivist passes along a slip of paper. On it are scratched numbers that Thomas figures out are map coordinates.
When students, no longer interested in how writers dealt with or avoided the impending Derangement, walk out of Thomas and Rose’s class, they conclude it’s time to seek out the coordinates. It turns out they are on the site of the home where Vivien lived after Francis’ death. Could this be the poem’s hiding place? Thomas and Rose embark on a boat trip to an isolated island, hike through overgrowth, find the site and dig up a sealed container.
This is all in the first part of the novel. The second part tells us what they found, and will answer the question of what happened to the poem. It reveals how much they did not know. McEwan leaves the impact of discovery to our imagination.
McEwan foregrounds the quest for a lost poem and what a scholar can know of its past, and that of its author. But part of the work he and Rose do is study the literature leading up to the Derangement. The unspoken question is why so many knew and did so much yet failed to do what was needed. McEwan also creates a situation in which civilization doesn’t end in a cataclysm but withers by degree. It is telling that Rose and Thomas’s students take no interest in what they can know of the past but think they can create a future on a blank slate. They take no interest in knowing the folly of forebears who refused to face and act on what they knew.
It leaves one wondering what historians a century from now, if such still exist, will write about our time. And I can’t help wondering if they will write about what we knew and failed to act upon. Will they wonder about our grand projects and petty squabbles while our own Derangement loomed? I wonder.
This month I explored strange new worlds including Discworld and learned about loving a forest. I read memoirs a pastor who led his village in sheltering Jews from the Holocaust and of a football player from my home town and the wonderful surprises he discovered when learned who his biological parents were. On consecutive days I read works on the peaceable kingdom from indigenous and pacifist traditions. I reviewed books on believing, intimacy, wisdom, and giving away our deaths. I considered the development of doctrine from Reformed and Catholic perspectives. Finally, I savored one more David McCullough book, a collection of articles and lectures titled History Matters. And I enjoyed a novel set in a fictional northwest Ohio town
The Reviews
Star Trek and Faith, Volume 1, Mark S. Hansard, foreword by Michael W. Austin. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385235193) 2025. How various iterations of Star Trek explored religious and philosophical ideas vis-à-vis a Christian worldview. Review
Windigo Island, (Cork O’Connor, 14), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781476749242) 2025. Cork, Jenny, and Henry join in a search for a missing Ojibwe girl when her friend’s body washes up on a sinister island. Review
The Future of Synodality, Kristin M. Colberg and Jos Moons, SJ. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9798400800160) 2025. An account of the effort of Catholicism to move to a more open, participative and inclusive ecclesiology. Review
Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, Ross Douthat. Zondervan Books (ISBN: 9780310367581) 2025. A case for committing to a religious faith, illustrated by the author’s belief in Christianity. Review
History Matters, David McCullough (edited by Dorie McCullough Lawson and Michael Hill, foreword by Jon Meacham). Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668098998) 2025. Essays and lectures on the importance of history, biographical vignettes, influences on the writer, and writing process. Review
Shalom and the Community of Creation (Prophetic Christianity) Randy S. Woodley. Wm. B. Eerdmans (ISBN: 9780802866783) 2012. The “Harmony Way” of the indigenous and biblical shalom between peoples, with creation, and the Creator. Review
The Peaceable Kingdom, Stanley Hauerwas. University of Notre Dame Press (ISBN: 9780268015541) 1991. A Christian ethic centered in the character of the rule Jesus inaugurated, lived by the church in nonviolent service. Review
Insane for the Light, Ronald Rolheiser. Image (ISBN: 9780593736463) 2025. The spiritual journey of our final years, learning not only how to relinquish one’s life but to give away one’s death. Review
The Color of Magic(Discworld, 1) Terry Pratchett. (HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063373662) 2024 (first published in 1983). A failure at wizard school is compelled to protect a rich but naive traveler with a most unusual luggage chest. Review
The Asylum Seekers, Cristina Rathbone. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9798889832010) 2025. A priest lives with asylum seekers in Juarez, learning about what they fled, the community they built, and their faith. Review
Buckeye, Patrick Ryan. Random House (ISBN: 9780593595039) 2025. Two couples in a small, post-war Ohio town have secrets between them that will shake their lives and the son who connects them. Review
Walking the Way of the Wise (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology), Mitchell L. Chase. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010914) 2025. Traces the idea of wisdom in scripture and how integral it is to walking well with God in covenant relationship. Review
How to Love a Forest, Ethan Tapper. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9798889830559) 2024. A forester buys a piece of Vermont forest that had been mismanaged and implements restorative practices. Review
Paul Through the Eyes of the Reformers, Stephen J. Chester. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802878489) 2025. Challenges misconceptions of Reformation readings of Paul and proposes constructive approaches. Review
Runs in the Family, Sarah Spain and Deland McCullough. Simon Element (ISBN: 9781668036280) 2025. An adopted child in difficult circumstances rises to coach in the NFL before finding his biological parents. Review
Knowing and Being Known, Erin F. Moniz. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514010037) 2025. Explores elements of healthy relationships. the complexities of intimacy, and how the gospel relates to intimacy. Review
The Memoirs of Andre’ Trocme’, André Trocmé, Edited by Patrick Cabanel, translated by Patrick Henry and Mary Anne O’Neil. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636081595) 2025 (published in French 2020). His childhood, formative years, pacifism, and leadership in sheltering of Jews during the Holocaust. Review
The Idol House of Astarte(Miss Marple short stories), Agatha Christie. Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781504082297) 2024 (originally published in 1928, 1932). Miss Marple solves a murder occurring before witnesses with no obvious assailant and no weapon found. Review
Old Testament Wisdom & Poetry (Scripture Connections), Norah Whipple Caudill. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087746449) 2025. Introduces the six books: outlines, author, date, message, biblical connections and application. Review
An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, John Henry Cardinal Newman (foreword by Ian Ker). University of Notre Dame Press (ISBN: 9780268009212) 1994 (first published in 1845). Shows that doctrine has undergone development and provides marks of genuine doctrines. Review
Best Book of the Month
Many of the spiritual books I’ve read are written for young adults or those at midlife. But aren’t their new aspects to our formation as we age? In Insane for the Light, Father Ronald Rolheiser argues that our formation here not only involves giving away our lives but also our deaths. He writes, “Giving our deaths away as a gift to our loved ones means that at some point in our lives, we need to stop focusing on our agenda and begin to focus on our obituary, on what kind of spirit we will leave behind.” A profound book and much needed.
Quote of the Month
It is a sad thing for me to witness the attempts to erase history taking place in American society and the contempt for history more generally. David McCullough said this about why history matters:
“But, I think, what it really comes down to is that history is an extension of life. It both enlarges and intensifies the experience of being alive. It’s like poetry and art. Or music. And it’s ours, to enjoy”
To ignore and denigrate history is to rob oneself according to McCullough.
What I’m Reading
When I wrote last month, i mentioned beginning to read the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. Well, I’m on to number two, The Light Fantastic. I love the tongue in cheek way he pokes fun at many of our pretensions.
Then in non-fiction, I’m reading The Gales of November by John U. Bacon. The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in November of 1975, my senior year in college. Gordon Lightfoot’s song etched the story in my mind forever. We lived in Toledo in the late ’70s and met people who knew crew members. A number were from Toledo, including the captain. We also traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during many summers and got up to the Soo Locks, hoping to see a big freighter go through. Bacon gives a history of the Fitzgerald, it’s crew, the last fateful voyage, and possible reasons why the ship sank, though under “the best captain with the best crew.”
On the Christian side, Beyond Church and Parachurch addresses the tension between the church and ministries like the one I once worked with. Angie Ward does a great job on connecting the dots on intuitions I’ve had about how the two may walk together. The Earth is the Lord’s is a deep dive into the Natural Law theory of property, addressing why all should not be held in common. Finally, Mid-Faith Crisis explores how we navigate these crises, whether from tragedy or hardship in our lives, to the failures of the church and its leaders, to the dark nights of the soul.
Speaking of dark nights, Daylight Savings Time has ended. We’re in the season of early sunsets and lowering temperatures. What a great time to curl up with a book. I hope I’ve given you a few ideas.
The Month in Reviews is my monthly review summary going back to 2014!It’s a great way to browse what I’ve reviewed. The search box on this blog also works well if you are looking for a review of a particular book. Thanks for stopping by.
I’ve made through the month of Spooktober! No twelve foot skeletons have snatched me up. Nor have I been bitten by any giant spiders. I’ve not been spirited away by any goblins hanging on trees. And I’ve not read any of the horror novels that were the subject of so many newsletter articles this month.
I’m just not into horror. That’s not a judgement on anyone else’s literary tastes. One could argue that horror makes a great escape from the scary realities of modern life. But not for me. I find that what I need is either perspective that helps me face these things or books of consolation for the precious things we are losing that I have little hope of changing.
One of the phrases that occurs over and over in my Bible is “be not afraid.” Horror functions by saying “be afraid; be very afraid.” So do conspiracy books. Every imaginary fear functions by making us believe something could be so. I’ve simply made a personal decision that I will not live by fear. That doesn’t mean I won’t reckon with danger.
Ultimately what is feared in horror is death–often in a grisly manner. I wonder whether it is good to fascinate oneself with macabre forms of death. And the beings that inhabit the beyond are usually not Caspar the Friendly Ghost. C.S. Lewis offers good guidance that we neither disbelieve in devils nor excessively focus on them. I try to follow that.
Finally, there are just so many other books I am interested in reading that what life I have left is too short a time. And in the Eternity that follows, horrors real and imagined will come to an end. Somehow, horror just doesn’t fit, for me.
Five Articles Worth Reading
But if I were to take a dip into horror, I would probably start with Stephen King. The only one of his books I have read is 11/22/63. Gilbert Cruz has written “The Essential Stephen King,” a guide to his work beginning with your interests
In addition to his poetry, T. S. Eliot wrote a lot of prose. Essays, printed lectures, and book reviews (lots of them). People wondered whether he really read all the books he seemed acquainted with. At very least, the reviewer of his Collected Prose, Vols. 1-4, insists that the quality of analysis confirms that he read carefully what he reviewed. “What We Can Do Is to Use Our Minds: T. S. Eliot, Collected Prose” is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of T.S. Eliot and what he gained from all that writing.
I’ve seen several reviews of Paul Kingsnorth’s Against The Machine, which contends that our modern techno-capitalism is undermining the foundations of our civilization and destroying the earth. I have the book and will be reviewing it soon. “Let ‘The West’ Die” is adapted from his book and will give you the gist of his thought.
In my early adult years, it was not uncommon to get some friends together, put on some music (usually on vinyl),” crank it up and either dance to it, or just take it in. Recently, my son brought back a vintage Tony Bennett album. Perhaps the greater gift was savoring it together. Jonathan Garrett, in “How to Make Music Popular Again,” considers what we’ve lost as music listening has become a private experience on headphones.
Quote of the Week
Novelist Evelyn Waugh was born October 28, 1903. He made this fascinating observation:
“When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.”
Have any limitations you want to keep?
Miscellaneous Musings
I lost a day to sickness on Wednesday. It was kind of weird–just profound tiredness accompanied by unsteadiness on my feet and a fever. I nearly fell asleep in my soup during lunch! Slept all afternoon into the evening, took some acetaminophen and started feeling better, and by Thursday, felt better other than feeling somewhat drained. When I was awake, I couldn’t read–nothing registered. I could handle an episode of The Chosen, a video series. That was all. It meant delaying my reviews by a day. I was in no state to write one on Wednesday for a Thursday posting. It reminded me of what a gift health is, and the amazing, even at 71, recuperative powers of our bodies.
Ironically, on the day when I missed my regular posting time, I had one of the best days of the year with traffic on the blog. Louise Penny’s and Charlie Mackesy’s new books had just dropped and it looked like people were looking up my reviews of their previous books. There’s a lesson for me here. By the way, I have both of the new books and hope to review them in November.
I wonder if there is a silver lining to cuts to the humanities and the arts, and to libraries and public media. If they can replace lost revenue with private support without becoming “beholden” to a particular interest, it seems that they would gain a new degree of freedom in our highly politicized atmosphere. We all can make a difference in our buying decisions and charitable contributions to help make that possible.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: The Month in Reviews: October 2025
Tuesday: Ian Mc Ewan, What We Can Know
Wednesday: Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian
Thursday: Crystal L. Downing, The Wages of Cinema
Friday: Jonathan Marks, Let’s Be Reasonable: A Conservative Case For Liberal Education
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for October 26-November 1.
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
Summary: Shows that doctrine has undergone development and provides marks of genuine doctrines.
One of the questions raised by many who are not Catholics is why the church affirms many doctrines that have no explicit basis in scripture. These include beliefs about the Virgin Mary, papal supremacy, and purgatory. John Henry Cardinal Newman, in 1845, penned what may be the best explanation of how these doctrines are genuine developments of biblical truth.
“Development” is the key word in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. He argues that while some of the doctrines of the Catholic Church don’t arise from explicit texts of scripture, they are nevertheless genuine developments from the scriptures. To make this argument, Newman devotes the first part of his “essay” to defending the idea that Christian doctrine has developed over time. Many things implicit in scripture were later brought out in the Councils and Papal teaching. And we need look no further than the doctrine of the Trinity or the doctrine of the Incarnation to see this is the case. But Newman holds this to be true of all the doctrines of the Catholic Church.
But how are we to distinguish the genuine from corruptions of doctrine? Newman offered seven “notes” or distinguishing marks:
Preservation of its Type. This refers to the persistence of a main idea even though its external expression may change. Newman contrasts the egg to a fully grown bird as an example. He supports this note through a study of the first six centuries of the church.
Continuity of Its Principles. As true doctrine develops, it never violates the basic principle of Christianity, of which Newman enumerates nine. Every heresy will violate at least one of these.
Its Assimilative Power. Growing things depend on assimilating nutrients for their life. Similarly true doctrine develops in part by assimilating external ideas such as Greek philosophy that help it define more clearly what the church believes.
Its Logical Sequence. In a genuine development of doctrine, a logical progression can be shown from biblical truth to the doctrine’s expression. For example, purgatory develops from the requirement of perfection to enter heaven. Yet many are friends of Christ who are not perfect and thus must undergo a purifying process before entering heaven.
Anticipation of its Future. Essentially, this note proposes that there are hints to future developments implied in the earliest statements. Newman shows this to be the case with the idea of relics, the Virgin Mary, and the cult of saints and angels.
Conservative Action on its Past. Genuine developments build on earlier ones, often bringing greater clarity. For example, the Nicene Creed clarifies and strengthens what is in the Apostles Creed. A corruption contradicts and weakens the earlier development.
Its Chronic Vigour. Genuine developments endure while heresies die off. One example Newman offers is Pelagianism, which denied original sin and argued for human pefectability apart from Christ’s redemptive grace.
One of the strength’s of Newman’s work is to show how doctrines develop over time and to legitimize that process. This is important because all of us believe things not explicitly stated in the Bible. Additionally, his extensive arguments from church history help substantiate his case. At the same time, it seems, as an outside observer, a good argument to legitimate what is. And I could see some from Eastern or Reformed traditions using some of the notes to argue against particular Catholic doctrines. It also essentially brands Eastern Orthodoxy and the churches of the Reformation as embracing corruptions at their points of difference. Although Newman doesn’t explicitly say this, it is a logical “development” from his argument.
Newman’s Victorian prose is never an easy read. In this case, his lengthy discussions of church history risk losing the forest for the trees. One must keep the main contours and particular “notes” of Newman’s argument before one.
To sum up, this is an important work, not merely for Catholics but for all Christians. We may know that Jesus loves us “because the Bible tells me so” but not all that any of us as Christians affirm comes directly from scripture without development. Newman also helps us, whether we agree or not, to understand the Catholic justification of doctrines with which others may disagree.
But it also shows why it will be difficult to reach a doctrinal rapprochement that encompasses Eastern, Protestant, and Catholic churches. That does not mean we cannot strive for mutual understanding and charitable relations. But to be of one mind in doctrine seems to me to be part of the beatific vision. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV).
Those of you who regularly follow my blog will note that there was no post this morning. That’s the first time that happened since 2016 when I had foot surgery that required a hospital stay. This time it was because my body forced me to take a sick day yesterday. I had woken early for a routine doctor appointment (with my foot doc!). I felt more tired than usual but chalked it up to an early start. I made it through the morning fine. But at midday, I felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on me. All I could do was sleep. I was running a fever. Some acetaminophen, a good night’s rest and I was feeling drained, but better.
But sometimes health in your seventies feels like whack-a-mole. This morning, I discovered my right hand was red, swollen, and warm to the touch. I’ve had cellulitis before and recognize the signs, which the doc confirmed. He said I did good to get in so quickly. So now it’s two weeks on an antibiotic. Probably got it doing yardwork on Tuesday. The doc wanted to give me a pass on yardwork for the rest of the season!
Ah well… At any rate, the book I would have reviewed today, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, will appear tomorrow morning.
Old Testament Wisdom & Poetry (Scripture Connections), Norah Whipple Caudill. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087746449) 2025
Summary: Introduces the six books: outlines, author, date, message, biblical connections and application.
B & H Academic has launched a new series of introductory texts for the Bible that serve well as either a main or supplemental text in college courses but also are accessible enough for an adult education course. This volume covers six wisdom and poetry books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations.
First, the author sets the books in the context of the whole Old Testament in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Then she discusses some basics of Hebrew poetry, focusing on parallelism and the use of acrostics and a discussion of what is meant by “Wisdom” literature. One striking observation is of the “terse” lines in much of this poetry.
Caudill follows this rubric for each of the six books:
Outline
Author, Date, and Message. Include key background information.
Interpretive overview. By sections or genres, how interpreters have approached the book and key passages.
Biblical connections. This focuses on how these books either allude to or are alluded to in other parts of the Bible. For example, parallels between Job and the suffering servant in Isaiah are considered.
Gospel connections. Quotes or illusions in the New testament are noted. For instance, Caudill includes a chart listing all the Psalms used in the New Testament.
Ancient connections. These appear as occasional sidebars, offering examples of similar literature in other ancient Near East cultures. For example, Caudill sets Egyptian Harper songs alongside passages on life and death in Ecclesiastes. These parallels underscore not only similarities but distinctives.
Life connections. Here, the focus is on how each book is relevant for life and faith today. Lamentations models expressing grief and anger in honest prayer as well as coming along others in their suffering.
Interactive questions help review chapter content as well as interaction with that content with others.
Where to find more. Offers resources for further reading and research.
Here are a few of the interesting things I noted. Caudill proposes an exilic or post exilic date for Job, even though the setting is in the time of the patriarchs. She notes terms and grammatical features present in late biblical Hebrew to support this. As do many, she takes a genre approach to Psalms. She also calls attention to the numerous acrostic psalms.. Caudill highlights how the idea of lessons from a father to a son in Proverbs concerning wisdom is a feature in literature from several cultures. She also calls attention to the various types of sayings in Proverbs.
She argues against Solomonic authorship for both Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. One of the sidebars for Ecclesiastes considers all the questions Qohelet asks — some of the most profound questions philosophers ask. For Song of Songs, Caudill lays out different interpretive approaches to the song. She also includes a sketch of a goddess statue which explains Song 4:4. Finally, she highlights the interesting acrostic structure used in Lamentations.
The text is highly accessible for lay audiences but reflects contemporary scholarship. Hebrew is transliterated, except in instances where the writer is calling attention to acrostic patterns. The interactive questions help with both mastery and application of content. The biblical and gospel connections raise student awareness of the intertextual character of scripture. The concise format and reasonable price are also plusses. In sum, this is a marvelous introduction to these six books that will help every student of scripture better understand what they are reading.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
The Idol House of Astarte(Miss Marple short stories), Agatha Christie. Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781504082297) 2024 (originally published in 1928, 1932).
Summary: Miss Marple solves a murder occurring before witnesses with no obvious assailant and no weapon found.
The Tuesday Night Club was Miss Marple’s idea of entertaining hospitality. Invite a group of guest over to share mysterious occurrences which Miss Marple would attempt to resolve. None were as unusual as the one related by Dr. Pender, the local clergy.
Years before, he was the guest at a weekend party held at the estate of an old college friend, Sir Richard Haydon. The estate is named Silent Grove for a grove of trees leading to a clearing with a summer house Sir Richard has named the Idol House of Astarte. The guests, in addition to Dr. Pender, are Sir Richard’s cousin Elliot, the beautiful Diana Ashley, to whom Sir Richard is attracted, and a Dr. Symonds.
The Idol House intrigues Diana, and she proposes, in effect, an orgy. Dr. Pender, understandably helps nix this idea and instead, they hold a much tamer costume party. During the party, Diana disappears. The guests search for her, passing through the ominous Silent Grove. They find her at the Idol House. She is wearing the dress of a priestess of Astarte. She dances before the house. A spirit seemingly has taken possession of her! She warns others away but Sir Richard approaches, then falls to the ground. Elliot rushes over, finding him dead, stabbed in the heart. But a search yield’s no weapon. And no one was around Sir Richard when he fell.
Then the police investigate, but the death proves a mystery to them. Dr. Pender even believed it may have been supernatural forces at work. But not Miss Marple! She identifies the murderer who, in fact Dr. Pender knew. The murderer subsequently confessed to Dr. Pender shortly before dying.
Christie does all this in a 25 page short story. Christie first published the story in a mystery magazine in 1928. Later, it was part of a collection, The Thirteen Problems, stories told by different members of the Tuesday Night Club. It makes a great standalone as well as a teaser to get one to buy the whole collection!
The Memoirs of Andre’ Trocme’, André Trocmé, Edited by Patrick Cabanel, translated by Patrick Henry and Mary Anne O’Neil. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636081595) 2025 (published in French 2020).
Summary: His childhood, formative years, pacifism, and leadership in sheltering of Jews during the Holocaust.
“On January 5, 1971, Yad Vashem recognized the Reverend André Trocmé and on May 14, 1984 his wife, Magda, as Righteous Among the Nations. 32 other residents of Le Chambon sur Lignon were awarded the title, and in 1990 Yad Vashem presented the village with a special diploma of honor in tribute of their humane conduct during the war” (Yad Vashem | André and Magda Trocmé, Daniel Trocmé)
In 1994 Philip P. Hallie chronicled, in Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, the story of the village of Le Chambon and their efforts under pastor André Trocmé, to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. They saved 5,000 by some estimates. It is a marvelous account, and thankfully, still in print. André Trocmé, in the 1950’s, penned a memoir of his life up to that time for his children. In 2020, it was published, in French. Now, we have an English edition for the first time.
As noted, the account covers the period from his childhood up to the 1950’s, when he was active in promoting the work of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). If I had one criticism of the book, it provided a much longer account of his childhood than many memoirs or biographies. But it does recount the tragic death of his mother in an auto accident while his father was driving, and the impact on the family.
We learn of the family’s struggles as refugees in Belgium during World War 1, and the roots of André Trocmé’s pacifism. Theological studies after the war were interrupted by required military service at a time when France did not recognize conscientious objector status. Refusal to serve meant imprisonment. He offers a fascinating account of how he avoided carrying a gun!
Afterwards, he took advantage of an opportunity for studies in the United States. While in New York, he earned additional funds as a tutor for the Rockefeller children. It became an important connection later. He also met Magda in New York, returning to France to be married. After several pastoral assignments in depressed areas of France, he accepted a position in the small village of Le Chambon.
He recounts how he won the affection of the village and his educational efforts with the College Cévenol, a kind of college preparatory school. All the while, he pursued his pacifist efforts, both with his own congregation and in wider circles, even as France prepared to meet the Nazi threat. When France fell, Le Chambon came under Vichy rule. Vichy, led by Marshal Petain, cooperated in Germany in the areas not directly occupied by Germany.
As Jews seek refuge, he describes the delicate balancing act of complying with Vichy officials while breaking the law.. Then, at one point, they arrest him and fellow pastor Edouard Theis and intern him for several weeks. They could secure their release if they signed an agreement to comply with all Vichy officials. They refused but miraculously were released. His nephew Daniel, also sheltering Jews in a school over which he was principal, was not so lucky. He died under incarceration.
However, the Vichy and the Nazis were not his only problem. Resistance movements sought support, which would go against his pacifist principles. But perhaps the greatest strains were within his own family. Magda wore herself out as she supported this work. Then one of his teenage sons died by suicide, possibly accidental. Trocmé describes the lasting impact of this tragedy with painful honesty. (Another son later committed suicide).
The memoirs reveal the mix of noble and base actions of those around Trocmé. After the war, as he became more engaged in IFOR work, ambitious individuals nudged him out of his pastoral work in Le Chambon. Nor were things entirely agreeable in IFOR. He is unsparing in his criticism of English officials. However, he was able to set up the House of Reconciliation as a base for his international efforts.
The memoirs also reveal a man of firm conviction and a love for people. Out of that love, he refused administrative positions by which he would gain greater influence. Above all the memoirs reveal a man knowing his strengths and weaknesses, humble and honest about both. A great complement to Hallie’s book!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
BookRiot ran a story this week arguing “We’re in a Book Affordability Crisis.” One of the key pieces in this affordability crisis is the phasing out of mass market paperbacks, hitting the romance segment of the market most heavily (although many mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction/fantasy have been published in this format as well). Remember when you could buy one of these for $.50 to $.95? Even in recent years, prices were under $10, many even under $7.
The next step up is the trade paperback with price points in the $16-20 range. That represents a doubling in cost. Of course, hardbacks are just out of reach for many. So what do people do? Some dedicated readers just cut back in other areas as they can. But the book trade cannot depend on that. Retail sellers will probably lean into loyalty programs and periodic sales, and pre-release discounts.
But many dedicated readers will probably move away from retail purchasing. Second hand sales, ranging from online sellers like Thriftbooks to physical stores and library sales may benefit. But their prices are rising as well, and eventually, their supply of mass market books will decrease. Others will just hit the library, which means longer waitlists. And libraries will feel the pinch of higher acquisition costs in all formats.
And like the folks at BookRiot, I don’t see more e-book buying. Digital Rights Management limits re-selling options for books you only license, not own. And often, the cost is not that different from physical books, unless you spot a discount.
Dedicated readers are resourceful, and most already have an ample stock laid up so that they can “shop their shelves.” One way or another, they will find a way to feed their habit. I’m less sure about “budding readers.” But this also poses challenges for retail sellers, especially indie booksellers, whose ability to buy at discount are less. I wonder, as does BookRiot, whether, in the end, publishers will come up with some kind of under $10 option. Maybe they will realize that the mass market is a market.
Five Articles Worth Reading
But is all this a sign we are entering a post-literate society? I first read many classics — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis, Dickens, and Dostoevsky — in mass market paperbacks (and still have some of them!). James Marriott believes we are on the other side of a three century reading revolution and are witnessing “The dawn of the post-literate society.” I wonder if we serious readers are becoming dinosaurs. At least I will keep doing my part to “light a candle rather than curse the darkness.”
Nevertheless, Thomas Pynchon keeps writing. Gus Mitchell reviews The Shadow Ticket in “The American Dream-Master.” The novel explores fascism in 1930’s America. Hmm.
She’s written “about animals, about orchids, about a female bullfighter in Spain, about the Los Angeles Central Library, about the life and death of a 346-year-old tree, about subjects you didn’t think you cared about but actually do.” “She” is Susan Orlean and her new memoir’s title Joyride gives us a glimpse of what it has been like. So Sarah Lyell sat down with her to talk about that life and the new book and discovered “How Writing Helped Susan Orlean Find a ‘Bigger Place in the World’“
Then another reason for not giving up on the possibility of a return to literacy is that great books continue to be written. This week, Publisher’s Weekly released its “Best books of 2025.” The list covers 150 fiction, non-fiction, teen, and youth books. But it does seem a tad early for “best book” lists. Isn’t there anything good coming out in the next two months?
As I write, baseball’s World Series is underway. College and pro football and soccer are in full swing. The hockey season just began and basketball is not far off. All that is to make the point that literacy need not preclude reading books about sports. There has been and is some great sports writing. David Halberstam, Roger Angell and George Will all wrote great baseball books. Will Leitch introduces us to some great books in “Seven Books That Will Change How You Watch Sports.”
Quote of the Week
Novelist Michael Crichton was born October 23, 1942. He made this pithy observation:
“I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.”
Nowhere does this seem more true than on social media where it seems we need a daily dose of epistemic humility!
Miscellaneous Musings
I’m reading What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. The story revolves around the quest for a lost poem in a post-apocalyptic world, a century from now. Many coastal cities have been inundated. Regional wars, some using “limited” nuclear options, paradoxically have helped cool the climate. But the title reflects the effort to reconstruct a dinner party from 2014 and a poem read in honor of the poet’s wife’s birthday. The poet was famous in his time, the poem thought to be a masterwork. However, in his scenario, the period beginning in 2030 is called “The Derangement.’ That seems plausible.
I was gratified to write the publicist at a small publisher for a review copy of a new book. She remembered my reviews of a couple of their books from several years back and was glad to send the book. That personal touch is increasingly rare. More often, you just submit a form. Who knows, maybe there is an AI bot in the future, who may seem personal. But the human connection is one of the things about reviewing that I’ve most valued.
I really need to do something for our mail carrier this Christmas. The daily USPS Informed Delivery email from the post office revealed I had four books coming from different publishers. I knew those wouldn’t fit in our mailbox so I raced to meet her when I heard the truck. But she was already on my doorstep, scanning the packages when I got there. She’s really terrific. Any ideas of a good and appropriate gift?
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Andre Trocme’, The Memoirs of Andre Trocme’
Tuesday: Agatha Christie, The Idol House of Astarte
Wednesday: Norah Whipple Caudill, Old Testament Wisdom & Poetry
Thursday: John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine
Friday, Ian Mc Ewan, What We Can Know
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for October 19-25.
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
