Mystery

I’m liking this better than the Irish fun-adventure I read—you’d think they’d be similar, and in broad strokes they are—I guess because of the setting (a city and not a village), and I guess the slightly less gratuitously absurd and kitschy nature of the thing: while still being kitschy in a //good// way, you know. Well, not that you can pin an absurd dialect-slang term on it, lol.

…. And it’s not like the characters break your heart or whatever it is that characters do, but there’s a lot of good basic psychological puzzle-ness to it.

Also: as the radical vegetarian/comic relief, let me say that it’s a hop, a skip, and a jump from being part of something called the “Fleshmarket Batch”, ie the Butcher Street Club, and, heh. 👻

…. She also does a nice job of making the friendly-foreign (American in Scotland) setting also kinda creepy (even friendly people are human, and it is a mystery).

…. Once (when I was very young) I went to a Tarot reader and she said, When you meet her, keep her guessing, which made me think I had stumbled upon someone very immoral (which is possible, although the idea surprised me), since the way I talked I thought she meant (the bad sort of) keep her from knowing you can’t make her happy forever. And then after awhile I left the world of romance, thinking, If this doesn’t create enduring happiness, I don’t want it. (I can only imagine what the psychoanalytic Holistic Tarot girl would think: ‘tell me my husbands name’ roll eyes.)

But I guess maybe she just meant that I was too earnest.

Also, its treatment of the non-neuro-normative is of interest, and I’m curious how that theme ends. Also, that even in the UK/Europe, the NHS (government) doesn’t (can’t, beyond a certain point) swoop in and make aging parent care a financial/lifestyle dream come true, you know. Probably in most countries the more wealth you have, the more oil is in the car, right.

…. For a TV-style novel it’s very intelligent, and is entirely readable and worthwhile. To be honest, it’s a lot better than many Good Books, often the sort of faintly racist old things, not to mention condescending and intentionally stiff and unpleasant—the roses are positively whorish! she cried as she tripped down the stairs—that the Good People can’t even admit are the products of human beings—rather they are 1000% perfect, any other opinion is a non-starter and out of order. But perhaps those opinions are non-starters that are out of order precisely because they are obviously correct? I mean, just that people would write romances and give them to their analysts and every page would be like, Love sickens me. The flowers have gone black and wild. I am ill. I am disgusted. ~You know, it’s like, Well, you are ill, no doubt about that! You certainly have a brain, have you ever considered using it to do something other than to pretend and tell lies? I mean, I mean, to read Freud, and be disgusted by everything alive—what the hell is the matter with people, you know?…. And don’t let’s talk about the economic leftist rebels who want a better world for white men, probably the dominant form of 20th century leftism, liberal And radical, you know—and it’s not over yet.

(sigh) But if you didn’t tell lies, you’d enjoy a nice Little Book, most like, you know.

…. Although it’s also true that if you define knowledge in the right way—in a broad way—it’s only a little bit less important than loving kindness, you know. Although some people can get a fair bit of their knowledge through people they know personally, through relationship. It’s just that a knowledgeable person tends to be more open to, I guess what they don’t know, than the average person—at least when they’re not a lying fake, which is the usual person. The average person is quite closed off, and that’s almost as bad as hating yourself, which is the worst thing. But it’s like, if you don’t know, and you don’t want to know, how are you going to make progress? You’re left with either desperation or contempt, you know.

…. It’s a fun story. The simplest stories, even, have order; that’s one of the best things about a book. Most people just shit out words, you know—chaotic words, and lies, just chaos and lies and unkindness, you know. ~Yeah, I want as much pizza as I can get, but I don’t want no more. Oh, but I’m weak; I got no food. Starve me if you want guys; it’s up to you. Seriously, though: I saw Jesus in a vision—he said, Get as much pizza as you can, Joey, but pretend you don’t want none. Don’t forget to ramble about the devil and shit out words about your improbable-alienation conspiracy theories, you know…. Ok, I’m going back to heaven now, Joey—if you don’t save me a slice, I’ll look up where you live. 😉 ~And it’s like, you know, if you just lie and lie and lie, and are never honest about how you feel—your brain just breaks, you know. It’s like you’re an idiot because it makes it easier to lie, in your estimation, like you don’t have to—I mean, I don’t know; it’s not like there’s a reason, but I mean, smart liars get in history books, but a lot of people just cripple their minds so they don’t have to remember or be bothered by the truth any more, even what they have for lunch, or why they claimed to be feeling a certain way—if you can’t even figure out yourself whether you want pizza, why, you’re home free! It’s not the same as not reading certain books. But you want to be ignorant so you feel so good lying so you don’t know you’re doing it, then you just give up, and you convince yourself you’re stuck; “I’m broken…. God I love cake. I don’t have no food though. Guess I’ll have to eat this. I’ll give you all kinds of gifts, though. Really, you’re in my debt. I didn’t take nothing from you and I gave you gifts. Didn’t I? Lemme try to figure out…. God, I can’t figure it out; isn’t that lucky?”

People tend to die in books, but there’s a perfect order in it.

…. Anyway, mocking their Christ is my new hobby—Hermes just wants to get a reaction; he really does; and he wants to heal: co(s)mic healing—but I guess, I mean I have attracted a number of ill people into my life, and so then it’s possible for them to team up and tell improbable lies to each other, which is worse than dealing with them separately—but really I guess that’s just how it is when it’s basically still a Full Moon in Taurus: all the fat cows come out and graze, right…. If life were a book, you could just turn the page, and the moon would be in a different sign….

I was willing to embrace the far fetched plot line, especially since some of the characters were indeed charming (the cab driver and Rosie were my favorites.) But the central character is more of a nosey know-it-all than sleuth, and I finally just couldn't abide her anymore! I moved on to another book. The audio narration is good and I am actually a wee bit curious just how silly the plot can get and if I'm right about who killed Jenny, so maybe I'll finish it later. But if Delaney is the ongoing star of this series, I'll have to pass on subsequent volumes.

Audio/Nashville Library
FFE Trucking
September 2021 ( )

This is the first in a (currently) 8 book series. I just finished #8 – Fateful Words, which was my introduction to this series. I liked it well enough to go back and see where it all began. It had all the good things – a bookshop, a mystery, a plucky heroine, and it takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland!

Despite the good things, it felt like the author was writing from a checklist. The things that bothered me and left me rating it 2.5 stars: As the book is set in Scotland it is a given that the local characters will speak with an accent. But writing the words with the dialect was distracting, and I found myself translating repeatedly, which caused me to lose the story’s momentum. Also, I had trouble accepting Delaney as the plucky heroine who comes to Scotland because she answered the bookshop’s ad. Throughout the novel Delaney remarks on how she’s just a meek and mild girl from Kansas. Yet not only does she move halfway across the world where she knows no one and is unfamiliar with the culture, but she takes it upon herself to investigate the murder of her employer’s sister even though she’s never been an amateur sleuth before. And Delaney hadn't met the sister, and barely knows her boss, who is a quirky mysterious older man who keeps secrets. And here’s the trope of a heroine who puts herself in danger even when warned repeatedly not to go there/do that.

Another irritant – her first day in Scotland she meets a hunky pub owner (who often wears a kilt) and who is known as a womanizer. But now that he’s met Delaney and she is attracted to him, he immediately becomes monogamous.

I think if I had started with this book instead of #8, I probably wouldn’t have continued to read more of this series. It’s just OK, if you can overlook the items listed above. Here's my 4-star review of Fateful Words: https://www.librarything.com/work/28701823/reviews/230382874 ( )

Keep your expectations low for this cozy mystery. Read my brief thoughts here. ( )