Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 26, 2024 6:11:35 GMT -8
Right now I'm reading Down a Dark River by Karen Odden. It was published in November of 2021 and is #1 in the two books so far that are the Inspector Corravan Mysteries. It's set in 1870s London.
I hate to jinx a book by reviewing it before completion. I'm halfway in and see the possibility for this to run on too long. But what is astonishing is that this is written by a woman and yet (so far) is an interesting book.
The main character is Scotland Yard’s Michael Corravan, former thief and bare-knuckles boxer. He grew up mostly without a mother and father and was taken in as a yute by the mother of his best friend, Ma Doyle. He grew up in a poor and rough part of Whitechapel, although this may describe all of Whitechapel for all I know.
Inspector Corravan is an honest, intelligent inspector who had started with the River Police but transferred to the Yard later for reasons stated in the novel. He's not too full of quirks or personality. Like most of the characters in the book, there is a realism to him instead of stereotype.
There is (so far) a deftness shown by the author in taking you through this murder mystery as if you were watching over the detective's shoulder. The book is full of small descriptions and personal asides that give an air of realism without the sense of cheating or the drudgery of repetitiveness. This is (so far) way above the average garbage being churned out by the hundred thousand wannabe monkey mystery writers all banging away at their keyboards. There is an unexpected thoughtfulness in this book (so far).
Although there is a super-smart female minor character in this who seems a bit of a modern stereotype (Corravan's girlfriend), it's not impossible to believe that there are some smart women. And (so far) mostly this book is not infused with political correctness and wokeism. The author could perhaps be a bit of an old soul. Her biography states:
Corravan's boss is a limp-noodle bureaucrat who is probably in his position more because of who he knows rather than talent. But many of Corravan's underlings seem bright and capable, including young Inspector Stiles. I think that author got this novel idea that not all the people who work together have to necessarily hate each other. There are some conflicts in this book in that regard, yes. But it's not the default position taken by many hack writers who try to create drama out of what are little more than over-used caricatures.
There's also a side-mystery in this as Corravan (probably true to life) must deal with more than one case at a time. We don't know if the two main cases are related. But we are rationally taken through his thinking process in this regard. An unlike most hack writers, the thought process is coherent and easy to follow. We're not being constantly bombarded by a hundred different names and dozens of possible scenarios being drawn out until we are lost and our eyes glaze over.
And when the inspector does think through the case, it seems realistic and certainly one can follow his train of thought.
I hate to jinx a book by reviewing it before completion. I'm halfway in and see the possibility for this to run on too long. But what is astonishing is that this is written by a woman and yet (so far) is an interesting book.
The main character is Scotland Yard’s Michael Corravan, former thief and bare-knuckles boxer. He grew up mostly without a mother and father and was taken in as a yute by the mother of his best friend, Ma Doyle. He grew up in a poor and rough part of Whitechapel, although this may describe all of Whitechapel for all I know.
Inspector Corravan is an honest, intelligent inspector who had started with the River Police but transferred to the Yard later for reasons stated in the novel. He's not too full of quirks or personality. Like most of the characters in the book, there is a realism to him instead of stereotype.
There is (so far) a deftness shown by the author in taking you through this murder mystery as if you were watching over the detective's shoulder. The book is full of small descriptions and personal asides that give an air of realism without the sense of cheating or the drudgery of repetitiveness. This is (so far) way above the average garbage being churned out by the hundred thousand wannabe monkey mystery writers all banging away at their keyboards. There is an unexpected thoughtfulness in this book (so far).
Although there is a super-smart female minor character in this who seems a bit of a modern stereotype (Corravan's girlfriend), it's not impossible to believe that there are some smart women. And (so far) mostly this book is not infused with political correctness and wokeism. The author could perhaps be a bit of an old soul. Her biography states:
...she served as an Assistant Editor for the journal Victorian Literature and Culture. She freely admits she might be more at home in nineteenth-century London than today, especially when she tries to do anything complicated on her iPhone.
Corravan's boss is a limp-noodle bureaucrat who is probably in his position more because of who he knows rather than talent. But many of Corravan's underlings seem bright and capable, including young Inspector Stiles. I think that author got this novel idea that not all the people who work together have to necessarily hate each other. There are some conflicts in this book in that regard, yes. But it's not the default position taken by many hack writers who try to create drama out of what are little more than over-used caricatures.
There's also a side-mystery in this as Corravan (probably true to life) must deal with more than one case at a time. We don't know if the two main cases are related. But we are rationally taken through his thinking process in this regard. An unlike most hack writers, the thought process is coherent and easy to follow. We're not being constantly bombarded by a hundred different names and dozens of possible scenarios being drawn out until we are lost and our eyes glaze over.
And when the inspector does think through the case, it seems realistic and certainly one can follow his train of thought.