Mystery

Review: Black Knight in Red Square

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Cover image of "Black knight in Red Square" by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Black Knight in Red Square, (Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, 2), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781453269589) 2012 (first published in 1984).

Summary: Rostnikov’s team races to stop a terrorist organization from causing mayhem at an international film festival.

An International Film Festival is about to open in Moscow. Journalists and filmmakers from all over the world are gathering. And four men, an American, a Japanese, and two Russians who ate together are dead in their rooms, all killed by a deadly poison. Rostnikov and his team get the case. Results are expected swiftly, both from within his own bureaucracy and from the KGB. His nemesis there, Colonel Drozhkin is looking for a way to bring Rostnikov down. In sum, the potential for career-ending failure is great.

Rostnikov and Karpo meet with the widow of the American, who doesn’t seem especially bereaved. They later learn that the real widow is in Australia. They realize that they likely had met the person behind the killings, who was taking their measure. And that signals that the poisonings were a mere prelude. Karpo, in his methodical way, devotes himself to tracking her down.

They figure out she has recruited a German journalist and a British filmmaker to help her. Tkach and Rostnikov track them while the team tries to unravel her ultimate scheme, which is to bomb key Moscow sites, including Lenin’s tomb.

Amid this, Rostnikov pursues a strategy to counter Drozhkin and get something he deeply desires. And he squeezes in a personal goal–to compete in a weightlifting competition, despite an injured leg. To the surprise of judges, he wins, wowing them by a humorous but impressive mistake.

There is an element of suspense in the effort to prevent acts in which the terrorists have the initiative. At the same time, we get to watch a subtler form of intrigue play out between Rostnikov and Drozhkin. It all makes for an exciting conclusion to a well plotted mystery. Meanwhile, we find ourselves caring for each of those on Rostnikov’s team, any who may be the target of a woman who will not hesitate to kill any in her way.

Review: Black Coffee

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Cover image of "Black Coffee" by Agatha Christie and Charles Osborne

Black Coffee, (Hercule Poirot 7.5), Agatha Christie (stage play), Charles Osborne (novelization). William Morrow (ISBN: 9780061739323) 2004 (Stage play, 1930; Novelization, 1998).

Summary: Poirot is too late to help Sir Claud, who has been fatally poisoned and his secret formula stolen by someone in his household.

I like my coffee black. But I think I would pass were I visiting the home of Sir Claud Amory.

Black Coffee was actually Agatha Christie’s first stage play, overshadowed by the widely staged The Mousetrap. The play was moderately successful, playing in several theatres from December 1930 through June 1931. It also appeared as a film version in 1931. Among those over the years who played the suspicious Italian Dr. Carelli was Charles Osborne. Forty years later he approached the Christie Estate with a proposal to novelize the stage play. This book, published in 1998, was the result.

Sir Claud Amory reaches out to Poirot for help. He is working on an atomic formula that would create a powerful weapon. He suspects someone in his house wants to steal it. Before Poirot arrives, he finds the formula missing. He stages an elaborate effort to recover the formula at a dinner party with members of the household and guests. He locks them into the library. After coffee is served, he tells them the lights will be turned off, the thief can return the formula, and life will go on. Then he drinks his coffee, the lights go out and come on just as Poirot arrives.

An envelope is by his side. But Sir Claud is very dead. And the envelope is empty.

The authorities ask the guest to remain. Beside servants, there is Sir Claud’s sister Caroline, his spirited niece Barbara, his son Richard, who is in financial straits, Richard’s wife, Lucia, who he recently married in Italy, Sir Claud’s efficient secretary Edward Raynor, and Dr. Carelli, ostensibly Lucia’s friend. Instead, he is blackmailing her, threatening to reveal her past.

Poirot is accompanied by Captain Hastings. Soon they learn that someone used hyoscine to poison Sir Claud’s coffee, explaining the bitterness he complained of when drinking it. Suspicion focuses on Lucia, who had been seen taking some tablets from a medicine box they had been looking at earlier in the evening. She had served the coffee. And there was her past. She was the daughter Selma Goetz, an international spy. She had tried to keep this secret from the family but Dr. Carelli knew and Sir Claud had received a cryptic warning about her as well.

Poirot knows she isn’t the murderer, nor her husband, who confesses to protect her. Eventually he sets a trap to catch the thief and murderer. But the murderer turns the tables, using the same poison in Poirot’s drink.

This is a short piece, and while a bit formulaic, makes for a diverting read. It makes sense that this was a stage play. All the action takes place in the library. The character of Poirot is consistent with the other novels. Although the stage play preceded the nuclear age, the story also raises the question about the morality of such super weapons. Although this is not up to the standard of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and And Then There Were None, any Christie and Poirot lovers will want to read this, particularly to learn the plot of Christie’s first stage play.

Review: Honeybath’s Haven

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Cover image of "Honeybath's Haven" by Michael Innes

Honeybath’s Haven, Michael Innes. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780140048858) 1979 (out of print).

Summary: Little does artist Charles Honeybath think that yielding his place in a senior home will lead to an artist friend’s death.

I’ve long been a fan of Michael Innes Appleby mysteries. I did not look too closely when I picked up several Innes paperbacks with the green Penguin crime fiction spines. Therefore, I did not realize I had found an Innes book in which Appleby was not the protagonist. Instead, this is one of several featuring artist Charles Honeybath.

In this book, we learn that Honeybath had reserved a place at Hanwell Court, what today we might call a retirement community. But a visit leads to second thoughts. And then he learns of the hapless state of his artist friend Edwin Lightfoot. He’s taken to episodes in which he pretends to be a long-dead petty criminal, Flannel Foot. His art, apart from a few sketches, has taken a turn to the mediocre. It’s driving his wife, Melissa, crazy, and in the end she leaves him.

Honeybath learns of his miserable state from Melissa’s brother, Ambrose Prout. Edwin has lost their flat and lives miserably in his studio. Honeybath remembers his place at Hanwell Court and offers it to Edwin. He accepts.

Hanwell Court is a stately old estate divided into apartments, in a park-like setting. There is a resident psychiatrist, Dr. Michaelis, to attend to the mental health needs of the eccentric individuals who make their home there. Richard Gaunt has a fascination with lethal weapons like stilettoes. Colonel Dacre loves his rifles, and spending time at the rifle range (and occasionally stalking other prey). Mr. Brown, the man in the panama hat, seems to be the resident snoop, aware of everyone’s doings. Lady Munden, recently widowed, grows seaweed in the community pond, her pet project.

At first Edwin appears to do well. His paintings are mediocre but his sketches show a flair of his old genius. Most are caricatures of the residents, seemingly well-received by all but Lady Munden. However, Honeybath is uneasy about the “care” his friend is receiving from Dr. Michaelis. Then he discovers that Ambrose Prout is conspiring with Dr. Michelis to find missing works from Lightfoot’s zenith as an artist.

Honeybath gets his friend away on an artist’s excursion to Italy. While in Pisa, they run into Melissa, and Honeybath reveals Ambrose’s doings. When Edwin hears of this, he decides to immediately return to set things straight. A few days later, Hanwell Court employees find his body tangled in Lady Munden’s seaweed.

Honeybath doesn’t think it was an accident. Nor does Adamson, a Scotland Yard investigator. Yet, while several people might have motive against Lightfoot, was it enough for murder? Only the invasion of a criminal gang onto Hanwell Court’s grounds will expose the murderer and contribute to that person’s demise.

While this plot certainly had enough twists and turns to keep the reader wondering, this didn’t seem to have the elegance and flow of the Appleby stories. Honeybath seems more storyteller than sleuth. I like Innes as a writer for style and plotting. However, this was not one of my favorites.

Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books.  I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: Curtain

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Cover image for "Curtain" by Agatha Christie

Curtain, (Hercule Poirot, 44) Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062074096) 2011 (first published in 1975).

Summary: In Poirot’s last case, he and Captain Hastings reunite at Styles to catch a murderer involved in but unsuspected in five murders.

It all began with The Mysterious Affair at Styles when Poirot and Arthur Hastings team up to solve a murder. Now they are back at the country manor of Styles once more. But this time, the matter is far more urgent. Poirot believes that their is a mysterious figure identified as X in the party. X has committed at least five murders and gotten off unsuspected in each case. Poirot believes he is out to murder again. He has asked for Hastings help.

Poirot is a dying man. He has a heart that is failing, arthritic joints that confine him to a wheel chair, and he is a shadow of his former self. Only his hair and moustache are still black. Hastings is there to be his eyes and ears. But this is hard for Hastings. He wants to know who the murderer is and spends most of the story trying to figure that out. Yet Poirot won’t reveal what he knows. It could be deadly for his old friend, who has a hard time with secrets.

Colonel and Mrs. Luttrell now own and run Styles. The guests all know each other. Sir William Boyd-Carrington has invited Dr. John Franklin and his wife Barbara, often needy of bedrest. Hastings daughter Judith is a research assistant with Dr. Franklin. Major Allerton is a ladies man. Hastings fears he will try to make Judith his next conquest, so much so that he makes a failed attempt to murder him. Elizabeth Cole is the sister of the accused in one of the murders. And Norton is a quiet, retiring type who spends his time watching birds, as well as the other guests.

A certain sense of foreboding rests over the party. At one point, Mrs. Luttrell is accidentally wounded when Colonel fires at what he thinks a rabbit. Paradoxically, the accident draws them closer. Then, after a busy day with Boyd-Carrington in town, Barbara Franklin dies under suspicious circumstances. Even Judith is a suspect. Is this once again the work of X? And why did Poirot not stop him?

In the end Poirot does stop the killer in a most unusual ending that I will not spoil. It will be his last time working with Hastings and as some editions note, his last case. What is fascinating is that this was actually written in the 1940’s and locked up until late in the author’s life, along with Miss Marple’s last case. Certainly, in terms of plotting, it reflects Christie at her peak rather than in her later works. It reflects an interesting decision to plan the denouement of her detective before her own. And Styles and Hastings provide the ideal bookends to Poirot’s illustrious career.

Review: Trickster’s Point

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Cover image of "Trickster's Point" by William Kent Krueger

Trickster’s Point (Cork O’Connor, 12), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781451645712) 2013.

Summary: When Jubal Little, candidate for governor is killed by an arrow while bowhunting with Cork, Cork becomes a murder suspect.

Three hours. That’s how long it took Jubal Little to die. He had an arrow through his heart. By the fledge pattern, it appears to be one of Cork’s arrows. Cork is with him. He wants to get help. But Little insists he stay. Perhaps he knows he is dying and doesn’t want to be left alone. They are at Trickster’s Point, a rock formation that carries memories for both of them.

All this makes Cork prime suspect. Why didn’t he get help? How else can his arrow fledge pattern, distinct among bowhunters, be explained? And whoever did it hunted in an old Ojibwe hunting way–one Cork used. While local officials choose not to believe it is him, this is not so for an FBI investigator.

All this takes Cork back to his youth. Jubal was a Montana Blackfoot who had moved to Aurora. They became fast friends. They played football together. Jubal was always faster, stronger, better. They were rivals for the affections of Winona Crane. Cork lost that one, especially after Jubal defended Winona from assault by Donner Bigby. In fact, it was conflict with Donner Bigby that connected Cork and Jubal to Trickster’s Point. Bigby climbed the formation to get away from Jubal. Jubal went after him while Cork waited below. Bigby plummeted from the top, killing him. But did he fall, as both Jubal and Cork told the authorities. or was he pushed?

The two had drifted apart after that. Jubal married into a powerful Minnesota family. Cork had gone to Chicago, met Jo, then returned home. They reconnected and occasionally went hunting when Jubal was in town. Jubal’s visits also signified that he’d never given up Winona. Now, he appeared to be a shoo-in for Minnesota governor, perhaps a stepstone to higher office. He and Cork differed on some political positions, which would hurt the Ojibwe and the natural beauty of the region. Of course, Cork wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Cork finds evidence that he wasn’t the only one at Trickster’s Point. One is in the form of a dead body, shot through the eye by another of corks arrows. But there were also footprints and tire tracks of another. It confirms it was someone else who hunted in the native way. But how had they gotten his arrows, or ones like them? There are multiple suspects, including Donner Bigby’s brother and Winona Crane herself, who had learned to hunt in the old way. There are even political enemies to consider.

He also tries to make sense of Jubal’s dying word: Rhiannon. A few inquiries lead to threats against Cork’s family. Winona is in hiding. Only Winona’s brother Willie is in touch with her. He’s a nature photographer, who, despite cerebral palsy, is able to capture shots amazing enough that National Geographic purchases them

The question is, will Cork be able to find the real killer and make sense of his childhood friend’s murder before he becomes more than a “person of interest”?

Krueger continues to develop characters we’ve previously met. Stephen is growing in learning the ways of the healer in native tradition. Rainy and Cork are a couple. Jenny has embraced her calling as Waboo’s mom and he is flourishing. Cork also continues to wrestle with his own calling, which seems to be to stand in the way of trouble. Even though he’s shed the badge, trouble seems to have a way of seeking him out. It’s an uncomfortable reality we see both him and those he loves struggling to accept.

Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. People aren’t reading blogs like they used to, so I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: The Saint-Fiacre Affair

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Cover image of "The Saint-Fiacre Affair" by Georges Simenon

The Saint-Fiacre Affair (Inspector Maigret, 14) Georges Simenon (translated by Shaun Whiteside). Penguin (9780141394756) 2015 (first published in 1932). [Publication link is to American edition currently in print]

Summary: Maigret receives an anonymous note of a crime to take place in his home town, and though present, cannot prevent it.

“A crime will be committed at the church of Saint-Fiacre during the first mass of the Day of the Dead.”

Maigret received this anonymous message in Paris. Why does he go to Saint-Fiacre when no one else is available? Saint-Fiacre is his childhood home. Like many of us who visit childhood homes, the visit evokes memories, but also the sad awareness that so much has changed, and not for the better.

Maigret is present for Mass, with a small crowd, among whom is the Countess of Saint-Fiacre. When she opens her missal, it is obvious that something has disturbed her. She collapses…and is dead of a heart attack. No one had been near. Was this “of natural causes” since she had been in frail health? Or was this the crime?

After recovering the missal, which a young altar boy had secreted away, Simenon discovers what had disturbed the countess. There was a clipping announcing the death of Maurice de Saint-Fiacre. We soon learn this report is false when Maurice arrives to borrow money from his mother to keep his creditors at bay.

As Maigret investigates, along with the local police, he discovers the estate of Saint-Fiacre is in sad shape. At one time, his father had been estate manager. Now, the estate has been nearly all sold off. Jean Métayer was not only the Countesses secretary but her lover. Gautier, the current manager has been putting in his own money to keep things afloat. His son, Emile, who works at the local bank confirms the sad state of the accounts, nearly exhausted and insufficient to meet bills that are due. For various reasons, both the doctor and parish priest are suspects, as is Maurice himself.

The denouement is a classic dinner party with all the suspects present. Simenon is there as well, but he hasn’t called this gathering. And it is not he who solves the crime after a dramatic climax.

Maigret seems overcome with a curious passivity that seems to be a commentary on his disillusionment with what has become of his childhood home, a sad and tawdry place. Yet it is the manager’s son who is police commissioner and this wealthy house that is now destitute.

I still have one question. Why the anonymous note to Maigret in Paris? Was it hubris on the part of the murderer, or simply a device to get him to Saint-Fiacre? This did not strike me as one of Simenon’s best, perhaps because of the lassitude (possibly attributable to an incipient cold) that characterizes Maigret throughout. But perhaps everyone is entitled to their “off” day.

Thanks for visiting Bob on Books. People aren’t reading blogs like they used to, so I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. See buttons below to share this post. And thanks again! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: Third Girl

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Cover image of "Third Girl" by Agatha Christie

Third Girl (Hercule Poirot, 40), Agatha Christie. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780062073761) 2010 (first published in 1966).

Summary: A young girl disturbs Poirot’s breakfast claiming she may have murdered someone, then leaves, telling Poirot “You’re too old.”

Poirot is enjoying his breakfast when George, his servant, interrupts to announce a woman who thinks she might have committed a murder wishes to see him. When he asks her to tell her story, she decides she cannot, telling him as she leaves, “You’re too old.”

She has disturbed Poirot. Not just by her insult. But also by her manner. Something is off. Then he learns his mystery writer friend Mrs. Oliver sent her to him. They’d met at a literary party. Her name is Norma Restarick. Her father has only recently returned after many years abroad to take up the family business. Norma’s mother, who had raised her, has died. Her father has returned with a new wife, Mary. They are living with his maternal Uncle, Sir Roderick Horsfield, a former intelligence officer writing his memoirs. Norma is ill at ease there. Part of this has to do with their disapproval of Norma’s boyfriend David, an artist.

And that is how she has become the “third girl,” living in a flat with two other girls. One is Claudia, her father’s very efficient secretary. The other is Frances, who represents an art gallery.

As Poirot investigates, he learns some disturbing facts. There had been a recent death at Borodene Mansions, where the girls live. A woman, living one floor up, fell to her death from her balcony. It appeared to be an accident or suicide. But could she have been pushed? Also, Mary Restarick has suffered several bouts of intestinal illness coinciding with Norma’s visits. The illness is traced to arsenic in her food.

But where is Norma? That’s where Mrs. Oliver comes in. She spots Norma and David at a cafe and calls Poirot. Shortly after he arrives, David leaves, and she decides to follow him, having taken it upon herself to join Poirot once again as co-sleuth, despite his warnings. He intuits that something dangerous is going on. After she leaves, Norma recognizes him. This time she shares more, including gaps in her memory and disturbing events, like finding herself holding a revolver. She doesn’t want to see a doctor, and in the end, walks out on Poirot once more.

Next thing we know, a man is caring for her after she’d nearly been killed by a speeding car. He’s a doctor by the name of Stillingfleet and persuades her after a long conversation to go to a “convalescent” home.

Who is this mysterious doctor who saves Norma in the nick of time, and what is he going to do with her? And what is Poirot doing, other than gathering information from an investigator (Goby) and thinking? Mrs Oliver keeps pressing him to do something, especially since he “lost” Norma.

The signs seem to point to Norma as a murderer. But things don’t add up. The principal of Norma’s school saw no sign of mental illness in Norma. Several of the characters also capture his attention from David, found searching Norma’s room at the Restarick’s, to unaccounted absences by Mary, and a painting where it would not be expected.

The mystery was published in 1966. There is a drug theme that runs through the story. One wonders if Mrs. Christie also struggled with questions of whether she were too old, and is trying to be “with it”. It feels like there is a lot of Christie in Mrs. Oliver, who is eager to not just write mysteries but solve crimes. Is there a commentary here on the difference between being a crime writer and a real detective?

In the end, it will be apparent that Poirot has been doing more than meets the eye. And despite some implausibilities, so has Christie, spinning a tale with enough twists and turns to keep at least this reader engaged.

Review: Northwest Angle

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Cover Image for "Northwest Angle" by William Kent Krueger

Northwest Angle (Cork O’Connor, 11), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439153963) 2012.

Summary: A family vacation is disrupted by a derecho, casting Jenny onto a remote island where she rescues an infant sought by killers.

Cork O’Connor comes home to an empty house every night. It’s summer, and he decides to bring the family together on a vacation to Lake of the Woods. They are in the Northwest Angle, a portion of Minnesota north of the 49th parallel and separate from the rest of Minnesota, but connected to Canada. He’s feeling distant from his children, especially Jenny.

A trip to a remote island that Cork thinks will bring them closer fails when he presses too hard. Then disaster strikes in the form of a derecho with winds up to 100 m.p.h. They make for the shelter of an island but the storm hits first. Cork falls overboard. Jenny somehow makes it to shore. Exploring, she comes upon a cabin and finds a girl–dead. But it wasn’t the storm that took her but a killer, who had first tortured her. Looking around outside, Jenny finds a child, hidden away. Fearful that a killer may still be about, she takes supplies and finds a place to hide. The next day,her father finds her, but they also discover the killer is in pursuit. Help in the form of a search party comes just in time.

Reunited with the rest of the family, they have to figure out how to protect the child. One thing has become clear, however. Jenny wants to keep him, even though he has a hare lip. But it won’t be easy. The killer continues to pursue. Cork tries to turn the tables, sending Jenny and her fiance to stay with Henry Meloux, while they search for the killer of the young woman who is seeking the child.

They believe the killer is her brother, who may have been involved in an incestuous relationship. Before she hid away on the island to have her child, she lived on inherited land on an island run by a religious group, the Church of the Seven Trumpets. When Cork and the local sheriff go to investigate to see if they know of the brother’s whereabouts, a heavily armed welcome party meets them, which sends up a red flag.

Cork makes another mistake. He thinks the child and Jenny safe with Henry. Not so, thanks to a GPS device hidden by a secret ally of the killer. All this sets up a climactic confrontation at Henry’s cabin.

A religious element runs through the story. Rose keeps believing for Cork who wants to but cannot. Stephen, mentored by Henry is on the path to become a mide while Anne pursues a religious vocation. But it is Jenny who hears a call, that Providence, or whatever has given her this child. But she finds she must choose between the child and her fiance, who also faces choices. One bright spot is that we get a hint that Cork, a widower for two years has met someone.

This one was filled with suspense that never let up. Even so, Krueger finds the space to explore the mystery of the ties that bind families, even amid the strains of change and divergent personalities. There is also a theme of sacrifice, beginning with a girl who dies to protect her child. It will mean more than one death, but each will save others. Most of all, we see characters who grow and blossom, including each of the O’Connor children. But I found myself left with wondering, will Cork grow, and will he find his lost faith?

Review: Tucker’s Last Stand

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Cover image of "Tucker's Last Stand" by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Tucker’s Last Stand (Blackford Oakes, 9), William F. Buckley, Jr. MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (ASIN: B0116EBXKY) 2015 (first published in 1990).

Summary: Blackford Oakes teams up with mercenary Tucker Montana to block troops and arms flowing from North to South Vietnam.

The story opens early in 1964 in the jungles of Laos. Blackford Oakes has teamed up with soldier-of-fortune Tucker Montana to explore the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Ostensibly at this time, the conflict in South Vietnam is a “civil war” between government and rebel forces. But North Vietnam has been supplying men and material with plans to move 20,000 men over the Trail every month. These two men have to figure out a way to stop it, and extricate themselves before they are caught and killed, which they barely do.

Montana thinks he knows a way to stop the flow of men and material. In addition to surviving against incredible odds, he has a knack for designing devices that work. He believes he can create sensors at key chokepoints to alert when the North Vietnamese are on the Trail. Eventually, Montana and Oakes will work separately on two supply routes–Tucker on the Trail, Oakes on shipping in the Gulf of Tonkin. Both report to Rufus, their control agent.

Their authority actually comes from much higher, from directives from President Johnson, given on a naked swim in his pool. These two men are caught up in the larger events leading to the later massive escalation of the war. In 1964, blocking the North Vietnamese efforts also play into electoral politics between hawkish Barry Goldwater and Johnson, for whom Vietnam represents the derailing of his Great Society. But he doesn’t want to be the president who “lost Vietnam.”

There is a kind of ticking time bomb in Montana. He was at Los Alamos, and in this version, designed the trigger to actuate the atomic bomb. Not only that, he was on the crew of the Enola Gay. Seeing the destruction, he leaves the Army, and nearly goes crazy, taking refuge in a monastery, before returning to military pursuits, concealing his Los Alamos work. That time bomb is coupled with a healthy sex drive. And he finds a girlfriend in Saigon who turns out to be a spy. The classic honey trap.

Meanwhile, Oakes is up to his own hi-jinks. He’s equipping junks with radar and metal detection equipment. But more than that, he’s part of an effort to go inside North Vietnam;s definition of international waters. Buckley portrays it as a plot worked out at the highest levels, including Johnson friend Abe Fortas. The idea is to trigger an “incident” in the Gulf of Tonkin giving Johnson casus belli to pursue an expanded war.

Both men walk tightropes with their conscience. Do you keep your head down and obey orders? Or must one think of the larger ramifications of what one is doing? In Montana’s case, the girlfriend plays on the hovering cloud of an expanded conflict that could lead to nuclear war, raising the old phantoms for Montana. Oakes faces a situation that is more subtle. He suspects, and Rufus confirms the espionage going on with the girlfriend. But Montana is at a critical point in completing the project and going operational. They don’t want to derail him.

It all comes down to how Montana navigates the pulls of love and duty and conscience. And can Oakes protect both the operation and his friend?

Part of what makes this so interesting is the fusion of history and fictional plot. And even in the fiction, we begin to get a sense of how futile the cleverest U.S. efforts will be to stop a determined enemy. Buckley manages fiction at once instructive and diverting.

Review: The Open House

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Cover image of "The Open House" by Michael Innes

The Open House (Sir John Appleby, 26) Michael Innes. Penguin (ISBN: 0140036636) 1972 (out of print, link is to used copies available at ABE Books).

Summary: When his car breaks down, Sir John Appleby walks up a drive. The mansion at the end is suddenly lit with its front door open.

Years ago a friend recommended the mystery novels of Michael Innes. Witty and well-written, I’ve enjoyed them whenever I come across copies, especially in the green-spined Penguin editions. Sadly, the books are out of print. But I found three of them on my trip to John King’s Books recently.

Innes’ detective is Sir john Appleby, the “Sir” coming with his appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Innes develops this character over 50 years from a young Detective Inspector to his eminent position, publishing Appleby novels between 1936 and 1986.

In this story, Sir John is driving down a country road at night when he suddenly discovers his gear shift lever isn’t attached to anything. All he can do is park the car and find assistance. This was before the day of cell phones. He sets foot, trying to find a local inn he thinks is up the road. He turns off a drive that he thinks leads up to it. Everything is dark. Then suddenly it isn’t. Almost like magic, a great country mansion has appeared before him. And when he looks, the front door is open.

Being a proper gentleman, he rings the bell, but no one comes. When he ventures in, he finds no one. But a place is laid for dinner in the dining room. In the main bedroom, pajamas are laid out and a hot water bottle provided to warm the bed. He wanders into the library and figures out this is the house of Adrian Snodgrass, who has made his fortune in South America. Another Snodgrass interrupts him. This is Professor Beddoes Snodgrass, a somewhat daft caretaker whose main job is to open the house up once a year for the arrival of its owner. But he hasn’t turned up for many years. But others from the neighborhood have. As a policeman, Appleby doesn’t approve. But he enjoys a glass of port with the Professor as he recounts the history of the family and the house.

Appleby hears various sounds outside the library, and on going out to search trips over Rev. Absalon, who has dropped by for the open house. There is an appearance of a lady in white, then Leonidas, the recently hired butler who announces that Adrian Snodgrass has arrived. Professor Snodgrass leaves Leonidas to attend to him. Suddenly there is a commotion, a scream, and a fired shot. Appleby finds Adrian Snodgrass has arrived — dead of a gunshot wound. A valuable painting is missing, and worse — people of South American appearance are still rummaging about the house.

Occurring during the night, the story has a fantastic, dreamlike or nightmare-like character involving ladies in white and back, a woman of questionable sanity claiming to be Adrian’s proper wife, and her son who bears a startling resemblance to the deceased. The butler disappears, but not before notifying another near kin. There are chases throughout the house and a safecracking. All the while, Sir John wants to solve the case before breakfast and leave this crazy setting.

Sir John handles himself creditably, despite his years. But we all wonder how he will make sense of all the crazy things going on around him–and will he do it before breakfast? Despite the somewhat implausible plot, this book is a delightful, fast-paced romp. Find yourself a copy if you can!