strange and random happenstance

The Great Deceiver by Elly Griffiths
Published by: Quercus Publishing
Publication Date: October 24th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Anyone who has ever tread the boards knows that performers are a rum lot. The distillation of this can be seen in the places they lay their heads. 84 Marine Parade is a boarding house run for vaudeville types by Linda Knight with the help of her live-in maid Annie. There's a comradery there as most of those currently in residence are performing in Larry Buxton's nostalgic review down on the pier. Which is why the murder of Cherry Underwood shocks them all. WDC Meg Connolly is on the scene in Brighton talking to the boarders while Max Mephisto is learning about the murder from the prime suspect. Up in London. Ted English, The Great Deceiver, has fled Brighton to accost his old colleague and beg him for help. Cherry was Ted's assistant. Having heard that Max is close to the head of Brighton police he has come to ask that he put in a good word. Which Max is willing to do, mainly just to get ride of Ted, as Max has places to be and a new granddaughter to see. While back in Brighton Meg is getting to know the denizens on the house, a strongwoman, Ida Lupin, a double act, the comedians Geoffrey Bigg and Perry Small, and singer Mario Fontana, AKA John Lomax. All with names and professions evoking the glory days of variety which is seeing a bit of a resurgence as the country embraces nostalgia. Because this is such a tight, incestuous community, where everyone has worked with everyone at some time or other Max's help would be much appreciated. Even if he doesn't exactly clear Ted's name, instead linking Ted to a rather notorious crowd of performers. The most famous of which is Gordon Palgrave. Pal is a nasty piece of work, especially when it comes to women. Cherry was his assistant for a time but now he's in television with a hit show. Literally. It's called Hug or Hit. It doesn't take a genius to work out the premise. But he's the genius who came up with it. He ran with Ted English, Tommy Horton, Rex King, and Dazzling Dave Dunkley back in the day. They passed around their assistants just like they passed around their wives. Dazzling Dave has been tapped to replace Ted English in the nostalgia show. His assistant, Joanie Waters, used to work for Tommy Horton, but he's now in a home, and she's fond of Dave, he's an eternal optimist, thinking that the next thing will be their big break, despite both of them getting on in years. Joanie is the second victim. This second murder opens new doors and indicates they have a serial killer on their hands. A serial killer who is targeting this group and this show. While Emma and Sam have been hired by Cherry's family to find her killer, they're willing to pool their resources with Edgar, Meg, and Max to catch a killer. And Max has an idea. The show is transferring to the West End and has an opening. Max wants to tread the boards again. Is their any chance that WDC Meg Connolly would like to go undercover as his assistant to catch a killer? It might be their only option.

As anyone who has been following my reviews knows that I was less than kind to this series when it skipped ahead a decade between the forth and fifth books. I still stand by this criticism, it was well deserved. Characters I had known and loved had changed so radically that I no longer recognized them. It was all anger and friction and just, not the series I loved. So why did I like this book? Well, I could be cynical, it is after all in my nature, and say that in the three years between reading The Midnight Hour and The Great Deceiver that I had missed the characters so much that I was willing to accept them no matter how inferior their current iterations were. But I actually don't think this is the case. I think that while The Midnight Hour had done a little to try to right this sinking ship that started taking on water with Now You See Them, The Great Deceiver found stability. The reason is actually quite simple. The characters have adjusted to their new roles and their complicated intertwined lives and instead of being at loggerheads they decided to pull together. The internecine politics have settled. Emma is no longer as jealous of Edgar and Meg. Edgar is encouraging of Emma and Sam's private detective agency. Max and Sam are somehow still a thing which is probably the main thing that still doesn't work, but I'm willing to overlook it in that I felt the magic again. A lot of this has to do with firmly entrenching this mystery within the vaudeville world again. I know as time goes on and the world moves on, vaudeville became less and less a thing and television was taking over, but that's what makes these mysteries work. They're old fashioned with a hint of modernity sneaking in. Which is why the lost decade was such a disservice to this series as a whole. But here Elly Griffiths latches on to, not just the bygone days, but to the very real reckoning of #MeToo. The creepy Pal and his cronies. These are men who are not good people and never were. Women were disposable to them and even interchangeable to a certain extent. Which is why I loved seeing them brought to their just desserts. Men in power need to be held accountable, and the sad thing is, especially during the sixties, women were never in power. Which is why Max's daughter and Meg are such important characters. I at first didn't like Meg in the least. She didn't work. And, well, Ruby, she was just in the way of Emma and Edgar finding their HEA. But now, I can see why Elly Griffiths is reforming the series with them. They are the future. Ruby and her Bewitched like television stardom while also being a single mother! Meg realizing she can be with whomever she wants, cops or sexy travelers. Though where I really felt Meg shine was as Max's assistant. They worked out a routine that played to the strengths of both and was about this female assistant, this shadow, being, for once, the equal of the magician. She's ready to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight. I just hope that this series continues. That I can get the word out there somehow that readers shouldn't give up. Because I had, and then I ordered this book from Waterstones because at least I'd have a signed first edition from an author whose work I had previously loved and was so pleasantly surprised I can't begin to actually properly express how I feel. My thoughts and words are a tad jumbled even after writing this. Just pick it up and see if you agree.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: #MeToo, Boarding House, Brighton, Elly Griffiths, Magic Men, Max Mephisto, Murder, Murder Most Foul, Nostalgia, Now You See Them, Serial Killer, Television, The Great Deceiver, The Midnight Hour, Vaudeville

This has been one strange year for fans of television. What with the strikes as I type this we don't even know if there will be an Emmy Awards Broadcast. Sure they say sometime in the new year, but I wouldn't trust studios, networks, or streaming services who won't even pay their employees a living wage. Seriously, just pay them already!* I mean, seriously, look at this past year, look at all the amazing shows, and get it into your heads that none of this would have been possible without the writers and actors. The losses you're taking are costing you more than if you were to just pay them. Now, to get off my soapbox, let's celebrate the wonderful shows that were adapted from books this year. I mean, we had the big fantasy epics from George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien. We had the classics reinterpreted, from Tom Jones to Great Expectations to Dangerous Liaisons. We had the spooky and the kooky, from Lockwood and Co. to Wednesday to The Midnight Club. And these are just the shows I got around to watching! There were so many adaptations this year one has to wonder a little if there are any original ideas out there, but trust me, there are, just look to The Afterparty and Yellowjackets. Also, these adaptations showed what you could do with an open mind and a willingness to embrace the spirit of the source material but not be enslaved by it. There was rarely a show among these that I wouldn't be willing to watch again and again, like what I've done with the new season of Good Omens. So let's get this party started and join me in celebration of the wonders of adaptation.

*The WGA strike ended, successfully, on September 27th, 2023. The SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Dangerous Liaisons, Emmy Award, Good Omens, Great Expectations, GRRM, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lockwood & Co., Strike, Television, The Afterparty, The Midnight Club, Tom Jones, Wednesday, Yellowjackets

The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths
Published by: Mariner Books
Publication Date: November 3rd, 2016
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Could the death of Edgar and Max's old commander be linked to a plot to undermine the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II? Edgar is investigating the death of a local fortuneteller who worked on the Brighton Peer. His boss wants him to rule it a suicide and move on but her Romany family is convinced it was murder. Meanwhile Max is being a good father by agreeing to appear on television. He knows variety is dying, despite his current two week run in London. But is a throwback television variety special for the coronation really the best way to pay tribute to the world that has been his life since he was young? He knows he's the star attraction and by being on the bill his daughter Ruby will get her big break, and she was born for television, but it just seems so tawdry. Which is why another murder investigation with Edgar is a welcome relief. General Petre from the military comes to alert them to Colonel Cartwright's death and takes them to the crime scene to see if the two of them can pick up on anything the other investigators could have missed. There are several items of interest, an old show flyer that had Tony "The Mind" Mulholland on the bill, a newspaper clipping about a mesmerist in New York who caused a woman to faint, and a playing card, the ace of hearts, most commonly known as the blood card. Their former commander was investigating an anarchist plot against the coronation at the time of his death so really it's Edgar and Max's patriotic duty to investigate what happened. Because of Max's obligations to his audience and his daughter it's up to Edgar to fly off to New York. Strange things are happening in Albany. The mesmerist died just before Edgar arrived and his own life is also threatened. But nothing is as dangerous as the threat to the Queen. It looks like there is a real danger and only Edgar, Max, and their fellow friends and investigators will be able to tie it all together and save lives.

While the clash of the old and the new with regards to the world of variety has been a constant theme in the previous volumes this one really brings it to a head. Anyone who has watched The Crown or Doctor Who knows that the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II is what really brought television into everyone's homes in England. Prince Philip's gamble not only paid off but fundamentally changed British culture, shifting how the British public took in entertainment. The world of variety was already dying and television was the nail in the coffin. Tony "The Mind" Mulholland expounded on television being the future of variety back in the first book, but here we get to see how Max and Ruby will fit into the new world order. This was very reminiscent of "The Reluctant Juggler" episode of The Edwardians. That episode was looking backward and forward simultaneously, being both depressing and nostalgic. But here, during the television special, as on that episode, for one moment the old and the new live in harmony. The question remains though if Max will be put out to pasture so the new generation embodied by Ruby will flourish or will Max find a way to succeed. Besides this overarching theme about variety there were lots of other interesting conversations to be had about diverse subjects from subliminal advertising to the treatment of those interned during the war. Some of these got to play out fully, but I felt that not only was the idea of subliminal advertising mishandled and misunderstood by otherwise bright characters but it could have been so much more than a red herring. But no book is perfect and this one isn't an exception, especially in regard to Edgar's trip to Albany. I'm sure us Americans get this wrong when we write about Britain, and the opposite is very true here. I couldn't help but wonder if Elly Griffiths had actually ever been to the United States. Everything was just off. It was like The Twilight Zone. It was supposed to be America but it just wasn't. Also, Brits really have no idea about distances in the United States. We are FAR larger than you can imagine. Albany wouldn't have signs to Canada. It's almost two-hundred miles from Albany to Canada! It would be like Madison having signs to Minneapolis! Which we don't.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Coronation, Doctor Who, Edgar Stephens, Elly Griffiths, Magic Men, Max Mephisto, Murder Most Foul, New York, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth, Television, The Blood Card, The Crown, The Edwardians, Variety

You know the one good thing about this pandemic is that people are reading more than ever. They are also watching television shows more than ever in an attempt to binge the virus away. Personally getting an excuse to stay inside and do what I love to do best is like a gift. If it wasn't for lots of personal chaos and the sheer panic about what the pandemic could do, well, 2020 would be a good year instead of the worst year. Ever. Seriously people, we think things are bad? Things could get so much worse so use those new empathy skills you've acquired while reading and help to change this situation by wearing a mask and voting. End rant. Though if you're not wearing a mask know I'm SO judging you as well as avoiding you so the rant is ever ongoing in my head. So while I'm sure all these books people are currently reading will soon be heading into production as our next binges there were so many great books turned into series in the last year that one month wasn't enough to cover them all. Because I really couldn't do it in one and hey, we've all been watching more shows, so no judgment from me on your viewing habits and I hope the reverse is true. So here's to books in whatever form, paper, celluloid, digital, streaming, what have you. Here's to shows that I've enjoyed even if I have a bit of a genre itch from the supernatural to the superhero and the Emmys seem incapable of believing in genre TV. Though that might change this year with the inclusion of What We Do in the Shadows and The Mandalorian! We'll just have to wait and see!    

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2020, Adaptation, And the Emmy Goes To, Books, Cable, Genre, Masks, Netflix, Pandemic, Star Wars, Streaming, Television, The Mandalorian, TV Show, Vote, What We Do in the Shadows

Rebecca
Based on the movie based on the book by Daphne Du Maurier
Starring: Joan Hackett, James Mason, Murray Matheson, Joan Croydon, Spencer Davis, Franklyn Fox, Byron Russell, Lloyd Bochner, and Nina Foch
Release Date: 1962
Rating: ★★★
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The second Mrs. de Winter is speeding back to England with her new husband after a whirlwind romance. They are returning to his home in Cornwall, Manderley, which he abandoned a year ago on the death of his first wife, Rebecca. As they get closer to England Maxim is moody and volatile, but his young bride hopes that she will make him happy, no matter the shoes she has to fill. The housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, has gathered the staff to welcome their master home, despite having orders to do no such thing. But Mrs. Danvers goes her own way, so much so that she keeps Rebecca's room in the west wing as a shrine to her late mistress, which the second Mrs. de Winter finds more than a little unnerving. After all, she is the mistress of the manor now, no matter what everyone else might think of her. Yet everywhere she goes, from the morning room to the beach she is reminded of Rebecca, and Maxim's rage on the subject can only mean he still dearly loves his first wife. Perhaps it would be best if she just left. It would please Mrs. Danvers to no end, and perhaps Maxim would be happier. But then there is a discovering after a shipwreck, Rebecca has returned and she might destroy everyone and everything.

This adaptation of Rebecca might be the most interesting I've watched to date due to it's restrictions. Aired in 1962 it was broadcast live and had only an hour, with commercials, to tell the doomed story of Rebecca's life. Therefore what you get is the book told in shorthand with just the high points of the story being hit. Here's the broken cupid statue, here's Rebecca's sleazy cousin, here's Mrs. Danvers's shrine to her mistress, here's the party, and here's Rebecca, dead at the bottom of the ocean from her husband's hands, but seeing as she was dying of Cancer a verdict of suicide is easily confirmed. What with the more copious use of narration, which makes sense due to the first person structure of the book, I actually couldn't find much fault with this production. Sure, the transfer hasn't aged well and there's lens distortion, but somehow they were able to work around their limitations and give what I think is a very solid adaptation. Because they stripped the story to it's barest elements and then added back in some of Du Maurier's own lyricism what they ended up with might actually be my favorite adaptation I've seen so far.

The true reason this adaptation succeeds is because of Joan Hackett's acting. As the second Mrs. de Winter she oozed naivete. While I'm a huge fan of Joan Fontaine, in Hitchcock's version of Rebecca she has a tendency to overact with her eyes that sometimes borders on the absurd. Here Joan Hackett brought a more natural feel to the roll, something I'm sure Du Maurier herself would approve of as she time and time again claims that her father, the late "great" Gerald Du Maurier, created natural acting. With each and every movement and gesture Joan Hackett WAS the second Mrs. de Winter to me. The way she plays with her fingers and nibbles on her cuticles just felt so right, whereas when Joan Fonatine would just be scolded by Laurence Olivier to leave her hands alone after broadly signalling she was about to bring her fingers toward her mouth. But to me it all came down to a scene in the beginning. The first morning she's at Manderley the second Mrs. de Winter comes down to breakfast with her very large purse in tow. I don't know if Fontaine did this, but to do this in your own home? It felt so gauche and so right!

When I first heard of this adaptation the number one thing that intrigued me was that Maxim de Winter is played by James Mason. I never think of James Mason as the leading man, more the leading villain. Yes, I know this isn't the case, but his voice lends itself so well to villainy! Yet it turns out that James Mason is underused in this adaptation. Yes, this helps in the fact that he doesn't overshadow his new bride, whose story this really is, but having James Mason and then not really using him seems kind of a waste. As it is James Mason and therefore Maxim de Winter instead of being a well-rounded character is rather one-dimensional. All he is here for is heavy-handed foreshadowing. They are on the boat home from France, his young bride mentions swimming and drowning, he blows up. His young bride mentions the beach, "WE NEVER TALK ABOUT THE BEACH!" He finds her at the beach, "NEVER COME HERE AGAIN!" It would almost be funny if it wasn't such a waste of a good actor. And even if you'd never read Rebecca or watched Hitchcock's adaptation I'm sure you could have quickly put the pieces together that Rebecca drowned off the beach... so yeah, real subtle foreshadowing...

The one thing that really bothered me though was that unlike the book this adaptation HAD to have Mrs. Danvers burn with Manderley, just like Hitchcock. Just because Hitchcock deviated in such a drastic way from the book to absurd heights of melodrama doesn't mean every adaptation after his has to do the same. But in this case it did, if you bothered to watch the credits. Because this isn't actually an adaptation of the book by Du Maurier, it's an adaptation of the Hitchcock film. WTF!?! I mean, that's weird right? To abridge a movie and redo it for TV? In fact looking at the Theatre '62 season, of the seven episodes at least five of them were Hitchcock movies first! Really, was this normal? Instead of just showing the movie show their shortened version of it with different famous actors? In fact several of the other episodes star actors Hitchcock has worked with like Joseph Cotton! Yet while they claim it's an adaptation of an adaptation the screenplay writer obviously went back to the source, Du Maurier's own words. Because I think Ellen M. Violett's choice to include more narration, thus being more inside our heroine's head, led to a more lyrical adaptation in tune with the book. Whereas Hitchock was notorious for changing things to fit his needs, here it feels more like Du Maurier is speaking to us not cursing Hitchcock from the stalls.

Now, I admit I'm going to diverge from topic here, but I can not NOT mention the ads that are on this adaptation. Who was the genius who decided not to edit them out? I want to shake their hand! The ads are all sponsored by the gas board, better living through gas! I adored the wonderful vintage of these ads. But I also have a lot of questions. Who thought that naming the gas cooktop on the range the "surface of flame" a good idea. All I can think of is conflagrations. And how is gas flame "cool?" Isn't calling a flame cool an oxymoron? Where is Don Draper when you need some better copy? From stoves to dryers, gas lighting which didn't go out of fashion in the gilded age like any logical person might have thought, to whole house heating and cooling, I now know more then I ever could about gas options for your home in the early sixties! And I think that is wonderful. This was a real slice of life and by keeping it in the show it shows where the ad cuts had to be for costume changes and set changes, this was ALL LIVE you must remember. This literally took my viewing experience to the next level but also makes me question the wisdom of the ad executives. You are advertising gas, aka fire, on an adaptation of Rebecca? You do know it ends with the house in flames right? Not the best message to send. As for the ad from the American Cancer Society? Rebecca, the villain of the piece, was diagnosed with terminal Cancer... um... awkward much?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adaptation, Advertising, Daphne Du Maurier, Don Draper, Du Maurier December, Hitchcock, James Mason, Joan Fontaine, Joan Hackett, Joseph Cotton, Laurence Olivier, Live, Manderley, Rebecca, Television, Theatre 62