strange and random happenstance: Trail of the Spellmans

Trail of the Spellmans (The Spellmans Book 5) by Lisa Lutz
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
Challenge: Mystery and Suspense 2011
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy
Izzy Spellman's life is for the first time ever on an even keel. She's living with her boyfriend, Henry Stone, and is even drinking buddies with his mother Gertrude. Work is even steady at Spellman Investigations, with the added benefit of having a new co-worker, the wrongfully convicted Demetrius Merryweather whose freedom is down to Izzy and her family. He even is an awesome cook, so there's more reasons to swing by Clay Street than ever before. Yet while Izzy is more normal, her family is behaving stranger than ever. Her mother has every second of every day accounted for with as many "enrichment" classes as she can get... one of them is learning Russian, yet she's not getting any better. David and Rae have started some sort of blood feud and it maybe has to deal with the fact that David's new daughter Sydney hates bananas, yet is always saying that word. Her father is also being belligerent about their caseload dealing with a married couple when it turns out that Izzy was hired by the wife and her father by the husband. They reach an impasse and the fact that her father is withholding evidence that could clear everything up drives Izzy a little crazy. Yet the arrival of Grandma Spellman may just up the crazy to the point of unbearable.

If you haven't noticed by now I'll fill you in on a secret. When naming her books Lisa was looking for a good naming convention and she figured you couldn't go very wrong with going for a tried and true system. Otherwise known as the Pink Panther oeuvre. Therefore I feel safe in the knowledge that we'll get a few more books still, she has more titles to choose from. Also, she was lucky enough to pick a naming convention unlike Charlaine Harris, who is stuck with "dead" or Deanna Raybourn who is stuck with "silent" or some equally ludicrous naming convention like letters of the alphabet or numbers with a qualifier before it. But back to the book. So, Trail of the Spellmans is named after the sixth Pink Panther film, the one notable for the fact that it was a Peter Sellers film made after the star had been dead two years, so was therefore made up of bits and pieces that where cut from the previous films. This lead to a very uneven film.

Taking this analogy to the book, it started out very uneven, you are uncertain if a plot will ever coalesce, with lots of different cases, a daughter being followed, a husband and wife who are trailing each other. All very disparate cases, much like the disparate plot points of the likewise titled movie. Only Lisa easily succeeded when the movie was unable (ie, their star is dead), in placing the parts into a whole. It's the slow connections, the little cogs all fitting together to form this machine that kept the plot moving more than one specific intrigue.

I was very happy that the mystery part was well thought out and executed because otherwise the book might have let me down. While the Spellmans as a whole are just as kooky as ever, the maturing of Rae and Izzy has led to a hole I feel in me. They have both grown up and in the past it has been their behaviour, or lack of proper behavior I should say, that has driven the plot. Gone are the days where Izzy is sneaky into David's downstairs apartment. Rae is busy with school and actually starting a life independent of her family versus blackmailing them. And Henry and Izzy... well, I won't go there, it's still to raw. This series seems to be in transition. Will it strike out and become more traditional crime solving, or will it adhere to the slightly bizarre and humorous dynamic that drew me to it in the first place? Only the future will tell... but I must pose the question, is growing up sometimes not a good thing?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: 1799 Clay Street, Demitrius Merryweather, Henry Stone, Izzy, Lisa Lutz, Peter Sellers, Pink Panther, Rae, The Spellmans, Trail of the Spellmans

Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"FOR THE FIRST TIME in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities—with no apparent motive. Dad has a secret. Izzy’s brother and sister are at war—for no apparent reason. And her niece keeps saying “banana” even though she hates bananas.
That’s not to say that Izzy isn’t without her own troubles. Her boyfriend, Henry Stone, keeps wanting “to talk,” a prospect Isabel evades by going out with her new drinking buddy, none other than Gertrude Stone, Henry’s mother.

Things aren’t any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, Rae is hired to follow a girl, only to fake the surveillance reports. Then a math professor hires Izzy to watch his immaculate apartment while he unravels like a bad formula. And as the questions pile up, Izzy won’t stop hunting for the answers—even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family."

It seems longer than two years since the latest in the wonderfully funny Spellman series... but once you start reading it's like they haven't been gone at all.

Timless by Gail Carriger
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?"

I am so excited about the newest Parasol Protectorate book, but at the same time I don't want it to end! I know we'll have the two spin off series, but still!

Soulless Manga Volume 1 by Gail Carriger
Published by: Yen
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Or will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?"

So, at least with the end happening we can now go back to the beginning in Manga form!

Girl Genius Omnibus Volume 1: Agatha Awakens by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Published by: Tor
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Girl Genius, the multiple Hugo Award–winning steampunk webcomic by Phil and Kaja Foglio, now collected in hardcover!

The Industrial Revolution has become all-out war! Mad Scientists, gifted with the Spark of genius, unleash insane inventions on an unprepared Europe. For centuries, the Heterodyne family of inventors kept the peace, but the last Heterodyne disappeared twenty years ago, leaving their ally Baron Klaus Wulfenbach to maintain order with his fleet of airships and army of unstoppable, if not very bright, Jaeger Monsters.

At Transylvania Polygnostic University, Agatha Clay dreams of being a scientist herself, but her trouble concentrating dooms her to be a lowly minion at best. When her locket, a family heirloom, is stolen, Agatha shows signs of having the Spark in a spectacular, destructive fashion and captures the attention of the Baron—and the Baron’s handsome young son, Gilgamesh.

Swept up to the Baron's Airship City, Agatha finds herself in the midst of the greatest minds of her generation, as well as palace intrigue, dashing heroes, and an imperial cat. Agatha may be the most brilliant mind of her generation and the key to control of the continent, but first, she just has to survive."

People have been trying to get me into Agatha and Girl Genius for some time... perhaps this is the incentive I needed!

Jane Vows Vengeance by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"How will Jane Austen break the news to her fiancé that she’s not only undead, but also a two-hundred-plus-year-old literary icon?

In sleepy upstate New York, Jane’s wedding preparations have taken on a bloodsucking intensity. So when Walter suggests they ditch it all and combine their marriage and honeymoon with a house tour of Europe, Jane jumps at the chance to flee Lord Byron and the lingering threat of Charlotte Brontë. But to Jane’s chagrin, more than one secret from her past is about to resurface.

From an Agatha Christie–style murder mystery to a wedding interrupted by the ghosts of the Princes in the Tower to a shocking revelation about Walter’s mother, nothing about this trip is less than pure mayhem. And when a chance encounter puts Jane on the trail of a legendary device reputed to restore a vampire’s human soul, will our beloved heroine finally be able to vow her love and devotion—or will a vampire hunter’s vengeance drive a stake through her eternal life?"

The phrase that sold me was "Jane jumps at the chance to flee Lord Byron and the lingering threat of Charlotte Brontë!"

The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee
Published by: Candlewick
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Get steeped in suspense, romance, and high Victorian intrigue as Mary goes undercover at Buckingham Palace - and learns a startling secret at the Tower of London.

Queen Victoria has a little problem: there's a petty thief at work in Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency puts quickwitted Mary Quinn on the case, where she must pose as a domestic while fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales. But when the prince witnesses the murder of one of his friends in an opium den, the potential for scandal looms large. And Mary faces an even more unsettling possibility: the accused killer, a Chinese sailor imprisoned in the Tower of London, shares a name with her long-lost father. Meanwhile, engineer James Easton, Mary's onetime paramour, is at work shoring up the sewers beneath the palace, where an unexpected tunnel seems to be very much in use. Can Mary and James trust each other (and put their simmering feelings aside) long enough to solve the mystery and protect the Royal Family? Hoist on your waders for Mary's most personal case yet, where the stakes couldn't be higher - and she has everything to lose."

Another series that has been on my tbr pile for a long time. Sigh, too many books I want to read. I can stop time, catch up and then start time again?

Chi's Sweet Home Volume 8 by Konami Kanata
Published by: Vertical
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
To Buy

Yeah! More cute Chi. The perfect cat fix.