Whodunit Meeting June 25, 2013

Another great evening of discussion, laughter and camaraderie!  Sixteen members attended book club this very warm and balmy June evening.  We welcomed a new member this month!

The novel under discussion this evening was "The dying light" by Henry Porter.  Henry Porter is a writer and journalist specializing in liberty and civil rights. He is also the British editor of  Vanity Fair.  He is a columnist for the 'Observer' and the book was written with a reporter's eye for detail, research and more than a little insider knowledge.  The members' rating of the novel varied greatly, but the average score out of ten was 6.65.

Pro votes cited the timeliness and relevance of the subject matter.  Some said it was thought provoking, realistic and terrifyingly plausible.  Many admired the protagonist, Kate Lockhart.
Con votes cited the novel as being over long, tedious and boring. Negative comments were made about the myriad characters and the complicated plot.

The novel was published in the United Kingdom under the title "The Bell Ringers". Most Whodunit members favoured the UK title over the American one.  Not a mystery, but a political thriller - and one of the lengthier novels read by the Whodunit Club, it was bound to provoke lively discussion and it did!
Members spoke of their own experiences with personal security, relaying travel anecdotes and general observations of how technology has impinged on our personal freedoms.

In "The dying light" Henry Porter made a near-future Britain sound like a totalitarian state.  "Many of the details of Porter's vision are naturally invented, but the threat posed by the state is all too real". The subject matter is dear to his heart.  After a two-year campaign to protect British freedoms, Henry Porter was called to give evidence to a panel of peers and MPs assessing whether a Bill of Rights is necessary for Britain today. Click here to read his impassioned submission.

The June book giveaway winners:
1. Carmella
2. Margaret
3. Lynne
4. Marlene
5. Brian

Whodunit will NOT be meeting in July!
The club will reconvene on August 27th when we will discuss the novel "Close your eyes" by Amanda Eyre Ward.

Also, Whodunit members are encouraged to bring reading suggestions to the August meeting.  Here is your chance to recommend a favourite author or title.

Whodunit Meeting May 28, 2013

Spring has sprung! Seventeen members attended Whodunit on a sunny 16 degree C. evening.

We gathered to discuss the novel "The Chalk Circle Man" by Fred Vargas.  Translated from the French, this is the first novel in a series which features Commissaire Adamsberg of the Parisian police.  With unorthodox but effective detecting methods, Adamsberg has an uncanny way of detecting the evil in others.  This novel was the winner of The Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie International Dagger in 2009. 

Despite its literary merits, the rating of the book by Whodunit members was very polarized. There were none who were ambivalent about the novel.  Sixteen of our readers either loved it or hated it.  One abstained from voting because they did not read the book. The average rating out of a possible 10 points was 6.7.

The novel was published in French in 1991 but it did not reach the English audience until 2009.  The reasons members gave for disliking the novel were very similar to the reasons given for really enjoying it.  The characters were eccentric.  Some deemed them unbelievable and farfetched.  Others made a conscious decision to like them and enjoy them, while still others admired the characterizations as an in-depth study of human nature.  One of the central characters was a people-watcher/voyeur who stalked people just to study their behaviour.  Another central character was a young, handsome blind man who was in denial of his disability and enraged by its limitations.

The chalk circles of the title either bored the readers or intrigued them.  Adamsberg recognized them as the portent of evil that the Chalk Circle Man wanted them to be.  He always labeled them with the phrase "Victor, woe's in store, what are you out here for?"

Adamsberg's second in command, Inspector Danglard is an alcoholic single father of five.  His logic and sound police practice are a perfect compliment to Adamsberg's more quirky methods of detection.  The fact that he drinks white wine incessantly turned off the books detractors, but made him more interesting to its champions.

Not a typical mystery novel, "The Chalk Circle Man" is a novel whose character development surpasses the crime element of the story.  That being said... the ending- with its delightful 'twist' was satisfying and had no loose ends

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau.
If you want to read a 'Guardian' interview with Fred Vargas click here.

The seven books in this series to date:

1. The Chalk Circle Man
2. Have Mercy on Us All
3. Seeking Whom He May Devour
4. Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand
5. This Night's Foul Work
6. An Uncertain Place
7. The Ghost Riders of Ordebec

This month's lucky winners of the book giveaways were:

Carolyn, Brenda, Heather, Tracy and Shawna. 

On June 25th we will meet again to discuss "The Dying Light" by Henry Porter.

Whodunit Meeting April 30, 2013

Eleven members of the Whodunit Book Club met on April 30 to discuss the legal thriller, Defending Jacob by William Landay.    

In this book Andy Barber, an Assistant District Attorney, finds his world turned upside down and his family life threatened when his fourteen year old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. Jacob insists he is innocent so Andy sets out to protect and defend his only son. In doing so he is forced to confront his own past and deal with some difficult family truths. 

All members agreed the book was well-written and told a compelling story with a satisfyingly shocking twist at the end. A number of people noted the similarities to We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver and the classic legal thriller, which was reviewed by the Club some years ago, Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. A few people found the court procedural sections tended to drag as, indeed, they probably do in real life, and not everyone found the characters to be sympathetic but it was generally agreed that the novel stands up well in its genre. 

Whodunit members rated it 7/10.

Lucky winners of the book draw were: Jean, Shona, Marlene, and Tracey.

I was unable to attend this month's meeting.  Thanks once again to Marlene for this blog entry.

 

Next month we will discuss The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas.

new British police procedural series

Just had to share this new author! 

"Dark Winter" by David Mark, is a debut novel and the first in a series!  A British police procedural mystery set in Hull, a port city in North Eastern England, this series features a protagonist who has the character to see us through several books.... I only hope he does.  
Aector McAvoy (Hector) is a transplanted Scot, a family man with a pregnant wife and a young son.  He is larger than life, both in physical size and moral character. Blessed with a fine tuned acuity for noticing connections between events, he is excellent at his job.

The author, David Mark, though a debut novelist, is a seasoned journalist, so he is well versed in writing and does it superbly.  Highly recommended!

Whodunit Book Club meeting March 26, 2013

You can tell spring is almost here when you arrive at the monthly Whodunit meeting before sunset.  Though there is still snow on the ground, our thoughts have turned towards longer days and warmer temperatures.  A fairly small group attended this evening's meeting in which we were pleased to welcome some new members.

This evening we discussed the novel "The Walker on the Cape" by Mike Martin.  A Newfoundland native, Mike Martin now lives in Ottawa but returns to his home province annually.  The cover of the novel is very attractive with a photo of the Grand Bank lighthouse figured prominently.

As is our usual custom, we rated the novel out of a possible 10 points.  Of the sixteen voters present, the average vote was 6.5.   Opinions were very disparate with some votes as high as 9 and some as low as 3.  Detractors found the novel very simplistic and unsophisticated.  Many were critical of the way the dialogue did not flow naturally. Most agreed the novel could have done with some more editing and the use of a few vigilant proofreaders. Detractors found the few loose ends in the plot to be tied up too neatly with little effort or discomfort.  Even Windflower's corrupt boss was eliminated as a problem early on in the story.  If he had stayed longer, Windflower would have had someone to battle against, thus making the plot more interesting.  In short, the plot had potential but was under-developed. 

Detractors and fans alike all seemed to like the setting of the novel which was for the most part well described.  Most liked the RCMP Sgt. Winston Windflower.  They enjoyed his upstanding character and his morning ritual adherence to his native 'smudging' ceremony.

Fans of the novel found it to be a nice change of pace.  They relished the 'cosy' aspects of the novel.  There was no gratuitous violence, no tension or jeopardy,   The small community of Grand Bank was a prime example of small communities anywhere. Readers liked Windflower's love interest and appreciated their relationship enough that they would like to read about it in further novels. However, those looking for passion would not find it in this book as the two didn't so much as kiss.  It was joked that the mention of Windflower changing his sheets in preparation for her visit was about as steamy as it got...

All in all, "The Walker on the Cape" was considered a 'light' read with the crime coming secondary to the everyday life of the characters.

The winners of this month's book give-away were:
1. Carolyn
2. Lynne
3. Carmella
4. Nancy R.

Next month we will discuss the legal thriller "Defending Jacob" by William Landay.

Feb. 2013 Whodunit Meeting

Fourteen members of the Whodunit Book Club met on February 26 to discuss "The Cleaner" by New Zealand writer Paul Cleave. 

Two members sent evaluations in absentia. 

The cleaner of the title refers to a man, Joe, who cleans in a Christchurch, New Zealand police station by day and kills women at night, his “night work”. His position in the police station gives him access to the investigation of these killings, which have been attributed to a serial killer dubbed the Christchurch Carver. Joe discovers something disturbing, however, he discovers that seven killings have been blamed on the Carver but he knows he has killed only six times. He vows to take his revenge on the copycat killer and then frame him for all the murders.

This is a promising premise for a serial killer story and there were a host of glowing reviews and recommendations for The Cleaner, including one from Mark Billingham, last month’s featured author, so we looked forward to reading and enjoying this dark crime thriller. Alas, it proved to be a big disappointment. Most members gave it low marks; in fact, the average of 4/10 was one of our lowest scores ever. Many were put off by the gratuitous violence, the unlikeable and unsympathetic 

characters, especially the main character (one person said he was a boring psychopath). When asked if we had formed a mental picture of any of the characters, the answer was a resounding no. Some mentioned that it was painful to read because of the violence and two members chose not to finish it at all. There was some dark humour, which was clever but became tiresome towards the end of the book. The Cleaner did have its defenders who liked the darkness and the twists within the story but only one person would definitely read other books by Cleave and two said they might. 

Despite these negative comments we had a lively discussion about the book and about what is the acceptable (to us) level of violence in dark crime fiction and why psychological thrillers appeal to us as readers. One member concluded that the appeal it is in learning the “why” of a particular crime, something that was lacking in The Cleaner.

Winners of the book giveaways for February were:

1.     Cathy G. (welcome back, Cathy)

2.     Carolyn

3.     Nancy

4.     Liz

Next month we will discuss a “cozy”, set in Grand  Bank, Newfoundland, "The Walker on the Cape" by Mike Martin. 

Thanks to Marlene for writing this post as I missed the February meeting due to family illness.

Whodunit Bookclub January 29, 2013

Fifteen members attended the Whodunit bookclub this clear but chilly January evening.  A fitting number seeing as that this month marks the 15th anniversary of the club!

The book discussed was "Sleepyhead" by Mark Billingham.  "Sleephead" was first published in 2002 and is the first novel in his Detective Tom Thorne series which now numbers eleven titles!

As is our usual custom we went around the group giving the novel marks out of ten possible points.  There were sixteen voters as one member voted in absentia.  The mark was 7.6 with twelve members stating that they wanted to read more titles in the series.

Some members felt that the character of Tom Thorne needed to be more focused. He seemed to drift through his days and the investigation.  It was said that there was too much introspection and not enough detection.  Others really liked his character - flaws and all.  Some believed that since this is the first book in the series, Tom Thorn's character will improve over time.

Alison was a favoured character.  We really enjoyed her sense of humor and her reflections. While she was in an almost unimaginably horrible condition - her strong personality shone through.

It was mentioned that her humor is probably linked to the fact that the author, Mark Billingham is also a stand-up comedian.  On his website he states that women crime writers describe what a victim 'feels like' while men crime writers tend to describe what the crime scene 'looks like'.  It was said that he really empathized with the victim in 'Sleepyhead' probably because he was once the victim of a violent crime himself.

The chapter in which the policeman Tughan featured prominently proved that he was a particularly sleazy character.  Some were suspicious of him because of this.

The descriptions in the novel were very vivid and the reader could almost imagine the action and setting as if they were watching a movie.

Thorne's unwavering belief that Jeremy Bishop was the killer despite the evidence to the contrary led some to believe that he would end up being the perpetrator.  A few of our group deduced the correct killer far ahead of time.  I'm afraid I cannot count myself as one of them!

The fact that Tom inherited Margaret's cat 'Elvis' was appreciated by the many animal lovers in our group.

The majority of members felt that the ending of the novel was very satisfying and a fitting conclusion to the story.


The first few Thorne novels were adapted for television in the UK in a six-part mini-series. The part of Thorne was played by actor David Morrissey. 

The winners of this month's book giveaways were:
Tracey
Laird
Brian
Shauna
Betty

When the Whodunit Book Club meets again on February 26th we will discuss Paul Cleave's novel entitled "The Cleaner".