detective

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:32:00 +0000

I should come clean about this now: I was a total mystery addict as a kid. Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, and The Boxcar Children were my favorites. I jumped at the chance to review a new mystery that claimed to follow in the same tradition.

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour, by New York City high school teacher Michael D. Beil, has the requisite Nancy Drew cover homage: three girls sneaking through dark shadows. A call-out graphic promises, “A puzzling mystery! A mystery with puzzles!” Three hundred pages made for a satisfying heft in my hand. Before I started reading, I found myself wondering if a story written by a male teacher could realistically communicate the distinct voices of three modern young women.

The answer is... sort of. The way the girls act is modern, funny, and intelligent, but I found the dialogue a bit flat. It’s like a pastiche of the slightly stilted cadence more associated with Nancy Drew and her sidekicks, Bess and George. Once I accepted this, the book was a fun, well-paced blast. Encouragements to have a go at solving clues made up of word puzzles and numerical equations before turning the page are good-natured and persuasive. I found myself willingly stretching my brain into mathematical shapes I hadn’t attempted since eighth grade, and was rewarded by more twists and excitement as the story led to its gripping and well-constructed conclusion.

Beil’s characterizations are thoughtful and thorough. The three young detectives are strong, positive role models. They are seen working hard at several academic subjects and looking cool doing so, challenging bullying behavior within their own friendship group, and supporting friends to pursue their ambitions. Their client, introduced as a "mad old lady," could easily have remained one-dimensional, but is instead developed into a quirky and capable character in her own right. Beil also seems to have written himself into the story as the girls’ Dickens-loving English teacher who regularly supports their escapades, which, while indulgent, makes their adventures more plausible.

I discovered fairly quickly that the girls attend a Catholic school. The story swiftly introduces the school, its affiliated church, and likable clergymen--all of which become important to the plot. Indeed, the mystery itself involves treasure hunters searching for an ancient relic. Organized religion in general and Catholicism in particular can be divisive topics, particularly when viewing this book from a feminist perspective, so I felt it was important to mention it. The book’s promotional material and website leave this information out, which seems slightly, but needlessly, clandestine. It was actually very refreshing to read a book where cultural, rather than religious, Catholicism is presented in a way that felt realistic and honest to me as a New Yorker from a half-Catholic (both practicing and ‘recovering’) background.

Speaking of the website, it was pretty sparse in general, which isn’t in keeping with the gadget-tastic lives of these modern girls. Knopf is doing Beil and his readers a disservice and should up their web presence to maintain interest until the next book. (Jasper Fforde’s playful, literary-based mysteries for grownups have outstanding supporting material online, for example.)

By the end of the book, I’d decided that The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour did live up to its promises, and was clearly written by a fan of the genre. I think it would best suit ten- to twelve-year-olds. I’d also certainly recommend this book to Catholic school libraries in the U.S. and abroad, because it does present a very hip and modern image of the school, teachers, and priests. Parents who choose to limit their children’s organized religion intake shouldn’t dismiss The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour, though; it doesn’t proselytize, and its setting provides a unique world that will make this series stand out.

I suspect even Nancy Drew would enjoy it.

Written by: Chella Quint, October 15th 2009

The Session

admin — Sun, 20 May 2007 21:24:00 +0000

By Aaron Petrovich

Hotel St. George

The Session is a novella mystery with quirky, intellectual humor dispersed throughout the book. It reminds me of the “Who’s on first?” Abbott & Costello skit:

What we’re after here is the truth of the situation. I’ve got it. I’m pleased to hear it. In the palm of my hands. That’s the wrong place for it. On the edge of my seat? In anticipation of…? What? What? What are you waiting for? Who says I’m waiting? You’ve just done. I said no such thing. You are on the edge young man of your seat. But I’m standing.

See what I mean? This unconventional dialogue engages the reader in the conversation, feeling perplexed yet intrigued at the same time. Two detectives by the name of Smith try to solve the murder and theft of a mathematician and his missing bodily organs. While discussing the events that led to the mathematician’s death, both Smiths begin to venture into deep, thought provoking conversations about life and how individuals perceive the reality of their own existence. Their quest for the truth leads them to an insane asylum, which houses the men and women who are part of a cult that may have given the mathematician his fate.

This short text will pull you inside the storyline quickly because you’re trying to understand the complexity of the situation. Toward the end you get the feel of the story, but by that time it’s too late; the book is complete. You begin to ask yourself, “Are there really two people talking or just one? Is Detective Smith the murderer? Or does his monologue simply bring you to the way his brain falls into complex illusions about the existence of life and how we live?”

The book is a must read. It left me wanting more, and definitely kept me engaged. The reader will feel as if she or he is lurking behind the walls, listening to the Smiths’ long-winded, intellectual yet funny conversations about who killed the mathematician.

Written by: LaToya Rogers, May 20th 2007

New Orleans Noir

admin — Fri, 04 May 2007 20:10:00 +0000

Edited by Julie Smith

Akashic Books

Unlike every other volume of short stories I've read, none of the stories in this book disappointed me. Written by authors who live or have lived in the Big Easy, New Orleans Noir digs below the surface and into the social fabric of a city that had its troubles long before Hurricane Katrina. To say that it pushes the reader out of her comfort zone would be a major understatement.

The collection is divided into two parts: pre- and post- Katrina. Each of the 18 stories is set in a different neighborhood in the city. In Part I, "Before the Levees Broke," the reader travels from a modern day bar in Mid-City to a brothel in the Swamp in 1833, and back again. Characters range from a burnt-out police detective who helps a colleague get away with murder; to a former slave who is a doctor, but must support himself by playing piano in the pre-civil war South; to a seemingly innocent female co-ed who, with a friend, lures a man to his death during Mardi Gras.

Part II, "Life in Atlantis," is equally grim, with more looting, murder and death. The common theme in both parts is, essentially, violence; whether it's a shady real estate hound getting burned to death or a ten-year-old who bleeds to death in a cemetery after shooting at the police, the stories tear at your gut. Racial tension and discrimination, before and after the hurricane, is also a recurring and important theme. Significantly, it's not always easy to determine who is or isn't justified in their actions; I found myself sympathizing with both cops and thieves.

Despite the fact that this collection is gritty, often bloody and frequently depressing, it's a fascinating portrayal of a city that has always had social troubles ignored by the rest of the country. In that it is a call to action.

Another reason to get buy this book: a portion of the sales support the New Orleans Public Library and K.A.R.E.S., which awards grants to writers affected by Hurricane Katrina. Despite all that they had gone through, many of the writers waived their fees to make this possible.

Written by: M.L. Madison, May 4th 2007