Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 7, 2022 6:57:00 GMT -8
Murder at the Mena HouseA breezy, if somewhat superficial, read by Erica Ruth Neubauer. This is set in a posh hotel in Cairo soon after WWI. Jane Wunderly, the abused woman from a previous marriage, is traveling with her drunken aunt. A murder of one of the guests ensues. An Agatha-Christie-style murder mystery then unfolds, along with the body count. Competently written, it is somewhat superficial in that this is set in an exotic locale where there is continued smuggling of Egyptian artifacts. But we get about zilch exotica regarding Egypt's history, the artifacts, or even the thrills/rewards of smuggling. We are to be enraptured by the women's point of view merely as a somewhat superficial observer of people and events. The mystery itself is not particularly compelling and the author showed no chops for writing a good ending. I couldn't have said it better than this Amazon reviewer: "I found this book engaging enough, but it didn’t truly capture the flavor of Egypt for me." Exactly. More than one reviewer says that if you are looking for this type of book, you should read Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody novels. I may do so. Another reviewer states, "Peters, an Egyptologist of some regard, embedded layers of richness in her stories that Neubauer never achieves." Neubauer has the ability to string words together and even occasionally paints a nice picture. But she is always just one level above word salad. She needs to add depth to her stories.
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Post by artraveler on Oct 7, 2022 10:12:20 GMT -8
Mena is a small town in Scott County AR. between Waldron and El Dorado on hi way 71. Do we know exactly which house it was?  |
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 7, 2022 10:22:42 GMT -8
LOL. But apparently the Mena House is a real place in Cairo because one reviewer said he had stayed there a couple times.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 8, 2022 7:07:16 GMT -8
It's funny how tastes vary. I just finished three chapters of Elizabeth Peters' "The Curse of the Pharaohs" and found it tedious and pretentious. And it reminds me of a couple of the reasons I didn't mind reading "Murder at the Mena House." It was neither tedious nor pretentious. You can forgive an author a lot if they don't insult or bore you.
But I'll give this book a couple more chapters. It took three chapters just to get the husband and wife to the dig in Egypt. Assuming I finish this book and somewhat like it, the recommendation would definitely be to skip the first three chapters.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 19, 2022 7:14:15 GMT -8
One of the Amazon reviewers of Murder at Mena House had recommended books by Elizabeth Peters as a better book of this type. And although I had mentioned earlier that the first three chapters were tedious and pretentious, I decided to finish The Curse of the Pharaohs, which is book two of the Amelia Peabody series. First, I must say that I could have written no better. Second, you can tell that this book was written by a woman (not a bad thing unto itself). And I expect there will be two or three decades of such "you go, girl" mediocrity on the shelves as women are praised for simply producing something, anything, so long as they are doing the job that a man has historically done (such as write interesting crime novels). But men write plenty of junk books as well, and for no nobler reason than You-Go-Girl-ism. This one is clearly artless with a plot that is not compelling and whose conclusion makes very little sense. Worse, the only element of any merit (and it is far overdone) is the relationship between Mrs. Emerson ("Peabody") and her husband, Mr. Emerson. He is the hard-bitten, gruff man who really is a marshmallow inside (at least for her) while she is clever and tolerant – gladly outwardly playing a somewhat submissive role to her husband in order to take the path of least resistance in terms of dealing with his dynamic personality. But it all comes off as if the author has a strange affinity for either the TV series "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" (Boxleitner and Kate Jackson) or, more likely, "Hart to Hart" (Stephanie Powers and Robert Wagner). This book reads like a light, throw-away TV series in which you don't expect Shakespeare or anything even near him to emerge. And it doesn't. I wish this was just good enough to recommend to Mr. Flu so he could read it and compare notes. But it isn't. |
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Post by kungfuzu on Oct 19, 2022 10:59:12 GMT -8
A riff on Ben Franklin. "A minute saved is a minute earned." Both are fallacious but sound good. |
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 23, 2022 18:04:37 GMT -8
Mr. Kung had recently published a link about a Cuban writer who noted the feminist stranglehold on publishing. The gist of it was that they will encourage inclusion of pro-LGBT material in books and make it a de facto requirement in order to get your book published. As I noted elsewhere, I'm reading book #2 in the Jane Wunderly series. The first in the series was Murder at Mena House which is reviewed above. Although Jane Wunderly is obviously a bold and smart female character, she is feminine to the core, is not an ass-kicker, and likes men. Other than a positive female portrayal (which I don't find to be unbelievable, although it is somewhat singular), Murder at the Mena House is not a "woke" book. Murder at Mena Manor was published in March 2020. The follow-up book (which I'm reading now), Murder at Wedgefield Manor, was published in March 2021. And it suddenly includes some significant "woke" material. Two of the characters are lesbians, with much foreshadowing and suggesting beforehand. Needless to say, Jane takes a completely positive "Why should I care?" attitude toward it. The son of the cook of the manor is a Communist who has been trespassing on the Lord's property. And of course the Lord of the manor is supportive and basically shrugs it off by saying, "We all have some strange beliefs when we're young." Granted, this aspect is less "woke" than it is the kind of milquetoast nice-guy liberalism so common to the our times and to the idiots who glamorize this murderous ideology. But certainly the wokeness has increased in this series. The book isn't horrible so far. But I would certainly be tempted to read a third book just to further confirm Alex Perez's behind-the-scenes look at the pussy-hat publishing world. |
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Post by kungfuzu on Oct 23, 2022 19:18:52 GMT -8
This series sounds something like the Lady Monfort series we reviewed.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 23, 2022 19:57:23 GMT -8
Yes, now that you mention it. It is very reminiscent of the Lady Monfort series.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 27, 2022 10:30:39 GMT -8
I finished Murder at Wedgefield Manor (#2 in the Jane Wunderly series). The first 85% of it was certainly readable mush with little color or substance. Decent (but by no means good) time-waster stuff.
But then it came to wrapping up the mystery and it was a total shambles. I've seen books fall off the cliff before, but this was a particularly good example of one. Nothing made any sense and characters jetted off acting in uncharacteristic ways just to serve a lame plot.
Obviously the inclusion of the LGBT stuff was moronic, unnecessary, and just not very well done. My criticism is mild compared to this spot-on Amazon reviewer:
That relationship was just nonsense, as easily looked past as some unrealistic, inaccurate, and exaggerated dust-jacket art that in no way actually represents what's in the book.
But the real issue with Murder at Wedgefield Manor isn't the LGBT that has been grafted onto the story like the sutured brain of Abbey Normal. It's that there is no artistry or depth to the writing. The plot and characters are like one of those children's spinning tops that you wind up and then let go. All the action just spins and spins basically in one place with a few plot entrees that provide a little wobble to that steady spin. But otherwise you could have transplanted this story into any time or place because it is, at heart, inherently superficial.
The book is insipid and dull. And yet there is a certain country-estate charm to it that carries it into at least time-waster status. But the ending. Oh, goodness. Lilllian wants nothing at all to do with a certain man who is her cousin. He is courting her in the most heavy-handed and obnoxious way while throwing her some of his worst barbs and insults.
So naturally at the very end she becomes instantly smitten with the fellow and everyone just instantly knows at that moment that this character (who has been living amongst them for weeks now) is suddenly deathly dangerous and we must barricade ourselves inside the house. WTF? Is there no editor who even gives suggestions to writers to clean up their junk before publishing? Or was including a couple rug-munchers all that it takes now to pass muster?
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 28, 2022 13:03:43 GMT -8
In Murder at Wedgefield Manor, a de Havilland Moth features prominently. The video below starts with a small anecdote about T. E. Lawrence (that involves an airplane), but then goes into details about the Moth.
What an extraordinary plane. That's one I could certainly learn how to fly.
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Post by kungfuzu on Oct 28, 2022 18:58:09 GMT -8
That seemed to go much faster than the actual 47 minutes of the video.
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