strange and random happenstance

I just learned something about this show that makes me want to like it more. Jenna Lamia who plays Judy Cooper on Resident Alien developed, wrote, and executive produced The Perfect Couple. She is so talented and such a force of nature. I mean, have you seen how professionally she digs a grave? And yet, I can not bring myself to actually give a fuck about this show. I mean, if the best part about your show is the opening credits, I think you have a problem. The Perfect Couple hons in on what all trashy prestige television does, rich, pretty people getting put through the blender. Here they were just able to get bigger names and luck out by getting two actors from White Lotus. Nicole Kidman has kind of made this her niche, Big Little Lies, The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers, and The Perfect Couple. I think it's time for her to move on. Nancy Meyers Coastal Grandmother is over with and you need more than a pretty house to make a show. But damn, that house is pretty. The people though? They might be pretty on the outside, but are horrible on the inside. Though speaking of the outside, there's some serious WTF going on with plastic surgery. Isabelle Adjani is unrecognizable and as my brother perfectly phrased it, Nicole Kidman looks like she's had a Photoshop filter applied. Whereas Liev Schreiber just wandered onto set and they put hipster glasses on him and called it a day. Damn the double standards of Hollywood! The main problem here aside from the fact they don't believe in fair play and there are so many things that are dropped or unexplained is Amelia Sacks. Our protagonist played by Eve Hewson is about to marry into this privileged world and is to be the viewer's surrogate, and yet I have no idea why she's marrying Benji. She obviously doesn't love him. Yes, there's the, before her mother dies she gets to see her daughter married angle, but I felt like there was something deeper. Like she needed Benji's money or connections to help her mother out. Amelia obviously cares more for her murdered maid of honor than she does for her future spouse, and yet the whole cancelling of the wedding is just like a plot point that's not quite hit. It's an afterthought. And then throughout the show she becomes more and more irrelevant until the end when she and Benji just shrug and walk away from each other. Um, what now!?! All this production, all this fanfare, that ends on a whimper not a bang... I think that is a perfect metaphor for the whole show. It started strong, it started joyous, I mean, look to those opening credits, and then, by the end you literally didn't care. This was six episodes and it felt overly long. It lacked focus and didn't play fair. But then again, it was about foul play and at least it felt like Dakota Fanning was having fun.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Big Little Lies, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson, Fair Play, Jenna Lamia, Judy Cooper, Liev Schreiber, Murder, Nicole Kidman, Nine Perfect Strangers, Resident Alien, The Perfect Couple, The Undoing, White Lotus

Homecoming by Kate Morton
Published by: Mariner Books
Publication Date: April 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 560 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Jess's life isn't exactly going to plan. She's lost her job and her partner in quick succession when she gets a call from Australia saying that her grandmother Nora has had a fall and Jess needs to return home. Her grandmother might be eight-nine years old but the woman who raised her has always seemed so young so she doesn't understand the urgency in the doctors' voices. But it's not exactly like she can claim she's busy at the moment so she returns to the home in which she was raised, Darling House, in Sydney. There she tries to piece together how Nora could have fallen. This seems so unexpected, but when she starts to ask questions she realizes that the grandmother she thought she knew and loved had been acting odd lately. Nora had been secretive, furtively reading a book which she wouldn't let anyone else see. She might even have been digging around in the attic when she fell. This could all be dated back to a letter she got in the mail from a solicitor in New South Wales. But Jess can't think of any connection her grandmother had there until she remembers that Nora had an older brother who died right around the time that Jess came to live at Darling House. A brother who lived in New South Wales. Her grandmother's injury seems to be tied to a secret in the past and so Jess, being a journalist, even if she's currently unemployed, starts to dig. Thomas Turner returned to Australia after World War II. He decided to settle in Tambilla in the Adelaide Hills. There he purchased and renovated a house that was commonly referred to as the Wentworth House. A large, sprawling home that had a tragic backstory, but not nearly as tragic as the one that would befall the house once it was rechristened Halcyon. Thomas brought his English bride Isabel to live there with their expanding family. When December 1959 rolled around they had four beautiful and precocious children, Matilda, John, Evie, and a newborn baby girl. On Christmas Eve Isabel took the children down to the creak to escape the heat of the day. That is where they lay when Percy Summers, the proprietor of the local grocery store, found them. They were all dead. Except for the baby. The baby was nowhere to be found. It was assumed that the baby was dragged off by some wild animal. This entire sorry affair was documented by Daniel Miller in his book As If They Were Asleep. Which happens to be the book that Nora was reading when she had her turn. Which means that Nora's preoccupation with the past does indeed figure into the present. It turns out Nora was there at Halcyon. She gave birth to Jess's mother Polly on Christmas Eve as her family lay dead. But why Nora's obsession? Could she have known something, some secret, that she's been holding on to all her life? And could Daniel Miller have the answers? He conducted extensive interviews with Nora. Did she confess something? And can Jess help lift the guilt from her grandmother's shoulders before it's too late?

If you're a fan of Kate Morton, you know you don't read her for the mysteries. You read her for the atmosphere; the old wallpaper crumbling in a stately manor, the creak of an old floorboard that the house's inhabitants have long grown accustomed to, the sense of elegant decay. This is what Kate Morton books are about and thankfully, after a misstep with The Clockmaker's Daughter, she is back in fine fettle, once again delving into the darkest secrets that Ancestry.com doesn't document. Family secrets that not even the family are aware of. These mysteries pepper all of Kate Morton's books, and sadly, are often easily solved. As I stated previously, you don't read her books for the mysteries. Which, ironically, would be doing this book a disservice, because for the first time I think the mystery steals the show. We have what amounts to a more deadly version of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, an unsolved case she has taken inspiration from before, and we see it played out through dual timelines. But what I feel really sets Homecoming apart are two things, Daniel's Miller's book and her sticking to the Golden Age rule of fair play. Miller's book within the book, As If They Were Asleep, reads as just a wonderful gripping true crime story. It has such a unique and different voice and tone to Morton's usual work that it actually feels like it could conceivably exist and therefore the tragedy in Tambilla is given a greater weight. You actually feel as if this isn't a fictional story that Kate Morton has created for her dedicated readers, but that she stumbled on a real case and a real book and wove this narrative around it. Of course, this isn't the case, but it really feels like it is and that makes this book special. This makes the book something more, something unique, especially among her bibliography. The other thing that sets this apart is that she followed the Golden Age rule of fair play. The rule states that the reader has to be given all the information that they need in order to solve the crime. The author can't pull some weird Josephine Tey The Man in the Queue bullshit wherein there was no way in which the reader could conceivably solve the case. Ronald Knox codified this in his ten rules which, really, if you want a good laugh you should read them to see how badly some of them have aged. Also, he really didn't like secret passages. He would have hated the movie Clue. Therefore we could never have been friends. In fairness to Morton, I don't think she's ever played dirty, but here the way she draws out the information leaves you guessing until almost the very end when all the pieces click into place. It was masterfully done. Also, seriously, wicked vengeance. I approve. I can't wait to see where her writing goes next. Now to just sit here for her next book, which if it follows her average three year gap would mean a new book next year... Though it could be at least five. Here's hoping it's not more.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: As If They Were Asleep, Australia, Cold Case, Darling House, Fair Play, Golden Age of Detection, Halcyon, Homecoming, Kate Morton, Lindbergh Kidnapping, Murder Most Foul, The Clockmaker's Daughter, True Crime

The Plague Court Murders by John Dickson Carr
Published by: American Mystery Classics
Publication Date: 1934
Format: Kindle, 305 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

One night in his club Ken Blake sees fellow member Dean Halliday in extremis. He offers his help and Halliday gladly accepts, provided that Blake keeps an open mind. Halliday's life is falling apart because of a psychical researcher and his medium. Dean's brother died recently and his Aunt, Lady Anne Benning, turned to Roger Darworth to connect to James beyond the veil. Darworth claims that James will not rest until the ghosts of Plague Court are put to rest. Plague Court is a grim property long reputed to be haunted. The Halliday's acquired it in the 18th century but it's name comes from a disgraced hangman, Louis Playge, who was the brother of the steward under the previous owner and died of the black death after viciously attacking the family with a unique knife he used to cut the hanged men down and is rumored to be buried on the property. It is his ghost that supposedly haunts it's halls. Halliday wants to prove that Darworth is a fake. Which is extra hard seeing as Darworth claims to have no abilities of his own and that those lie in his assistant, Joseph. Blake suggests bringing in his friend Chief-Inspector Humphrey Masters who happens to dabble in a bit of ghost hunting in his spare time and loves nothing more than exposing fake mediums and Halliday acquiesces. Masters is particularly pleased given the fact that the Playge Dagger was just stolen from a London museum and he's had his eye on Darworth for years and he's sure the two must be connected when he hears Halliday's tale of woe. When the trio arrives at Plague Court they are surprised to find people in residence. Halliday's Aunt Anne, his fiance Marion Latimer, Marion's brother Ted, and Major Featheron are all sitting in the bleak house holding some sort of vigil. It appears that tonight is the night that Darworth has decided to lay the ghost of Louise Playge to rest. He has sequestered himself in a little stone hut in the back. He's locked in the room from both the inside and the outside. So naturally, when he turns up dead with Louis Playge's dagger in his back everyone is flummoxed. There was no way to enter the structure and what's more, given the expanse of mud surrounding the building without a single footprint the crime is impossible. Which means it's time to call in the experts. It's time to call in Sir Henry Merrivale.

Original published under John Dickson Carr's "impenetrable" pseudonym Carter Dickson one can't say that the author didn't believe in fair play, even in choosing his nom de plume. Which, really, is a relief. I don't like mysteries where the reader can't figure out the killer, and yes, I'm glaring at you Josephine Tey! You can't introduce characters who have never even been introduced or mentioned in the entire book in your solution! That's not fair! Hence, fair play. And I don't want to brag, but I almost had the whole solution, I didn't realize that one person was disguised and I was wrong about which police officer was corrupt, but other than that, I was right there with Sir Henry Merrivale. And Sir Henry Merrivale is the reason I read this book. I was compiling my Christmas reading and I had added the newly reissued Carter Dickson book, The White Priory Murders, to my list when I realized it was the second in the series. Which, because of how I'm built, meant I had to read the first book in the series, The Plague Court Murders. Thankfully my library had a copy and it sounded suitably spooky to pair with my Halloween reading before I moved on to my Christmas reading. So I dove in. And honestly, it's hard to pinpoint what exactly about this book doesn't work. Seances, psychics, locked rooms, all of it is things that I just love. Plus with the bleak history of Plague Court oozing House of Usher vibes, I really wanted to like it, but I just didn't. The narrator, Ken Blake, is problematic. He just wasn't good. He was too bland. Too much a cipher. I just couldn't get a read on him. He was unable to carry the narrative until Sir Henry Merrivale finally arrived over halfway through the book. By that point I wasn't really invested in the story. My interest could not be reinvigorated by Sir Henry's interest. And then there's my main gripe, it is really annoying and every blurb of this book gets it wrong. Plague Court is named after Louis Playge, the disgraced hangman who died of the plague and was supposedly buried on the property. Louis Playge was the brother of George Playge, who was steward to Lord Seagrave, who was the owner of the property that became known was Plague Court. And Thomas Frederick Halliday bought it from Lord Seagrave in 1711. There was never a Playge owner! So why is it called Plague Court? Because of the ghost stories surrounding Louis Playge? Some enduring urban legend? Now THIS is the mystery that I want answered.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Carter Dickson, Fair Play, John Dickson Carr, Josephine Tey, Locked Room, Louis Playge, Murder Most Foul, Plague Court, Psychic, Seance, Sir Henry Merrivale, The Plague Court Murders, The White Priory Murders

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Published by: Mariner Books
Publication Date: January 17th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

In a family of killers a reunion at a remote sky resort might not be the best idea. But that is exactly what is about to happen. Ernest could have warned them. Afterall he writes books on how to write murder mysteries, particularly those that adhere to the commandments laid out by Golden Age writers like Agatha Christie. But no one's been talking to him for the last three years because three years previously Ernest Cunningham broke the cardinal rule of the family, he talked to the police. His brother Michael ended up in prison for a murder Ernest saw him commit. Their mother hasn't forgiven Ernest for this. Now on the eve of Michael's release the family has gathered in a place they could well be stranded in, if the right conditions happen. Which of course they will. Because his tale is a tale of killers. Ernest's mother, his father, his step-father, his step-sister, his brother, his sister-in-law, his aunt, his wife, and yes, even Ernest himself, are all killers and when killers gather death is on the table. The first body is found the next day. Thankfully it isn't a member of the family. Yet. But that doesn't exactly rule them out. Though his step-sister, Sofia, a doctor, is quick to point out the death is odd. Very odd. As in, it has all the hallmarks of a serial killer going by the moniker of the Black Tongue. And it looks like the corpse, which they've nicknamed Green Boots, might be his latest victim. Could one of his family be not just a killer but a serial killer? And could they now be trapped up on the mountain with them? Of course is the answer that Ernest should have expected. At least Michael couldn't possibly be the killer as he was still in prison when the murder occured. But Michael was lying. He got out a day early because he's been having an affair with Ernest's soon to be ex-wife. And, actually, Ernest has to give his brother a little credit for breaking up an almost completely dead marriage from inside prison. That's if their affair didn't start earlier... Because the truth is this family isn't exactly one for the truth. They keep their cards close and only show them when they have no other options. Their secrets could literally kill them as the snow closes in and Ernest realizes that he's been focusing on the wrong thing. He's been too enamoured with playing detective. He's been in love with being the lead of one of those books he outlines for others to imitate. He should have paid better attention. He should have realized why his family has the rule about the police. He should have realized a lot of things. Hopefully it's not to late for him.

The title of this book is purposely misleading. The way the reveal is set up the title is imperative for the misdirection, for the misunderstanding that has led to the situation Ernest Cunningham has found himself in. And yet the title does a disservice to the book. When you start reading a story and are told from the very beginning that everyone is a killer you instantly have no vested interest in their survival. All these people killed someone so why should I care if they get killed? Of course Benjamin Stevenson plays with the concept of what is a killer throughout the book trying to give you a deeper understanding of the characters, but it's too little too late. I care not for all these relatives, I care not for Ernest, they can literally all die for all I care, and, well, a few of them do. I wanted to like this book more it's just that I didn't. Ernest has a unique voice, but it's not a narrative voice that flows. The writing in this book is clunky. I kept thinking of other authors who have a similar writing style, Lisa Lutz sprang quickly to mind, as did Jasper Fforde and Lemony Snicket. They all have their own unique voice and singularly original style that Benjamin Stevenson attempted to do here, but their work is polished, precise, you don't find yourself rereading a sentence five times over just to see if you drew the correct meaning from it. And that's what frustrated me so much with this book, here's someone actually bothering in this day and age to adhere to the standards of Golden Age mysteries and fair play instead of infuriating the reader with impossible reveals, unreliable narrators, or endings that just didn't make sense, and I couldn't be bothered. If I didn't have a pathological need to finish every book I start combined with this being a read for my book club, I honestly don't know if I would have finished it. There is such unrealized potential. This book is now the start of a series, which should surprise no one, nor should the fact it already has a deal with HBO. All I can hope for is that going forward, in both mediums, the characters, and minimally Ernest, should be someone we can root for. Someone we can get behind. Because writing can be polished, characters can evolve, but starting on such unsound footing makes me hesitant to continue on the journey ahead. I hear Ernest is going on a train ride. I do wonder if I'll join him. Someday.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Benjamin Stevenson, Ernest Cunningham, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, Fair Play, For the Love of Book Clubs, Golden Age of Detection, HBO, Jasper Fforde, Lemony Snicket, Lisa Lutz, Serial Killer