Spoiler Warning
The story didn't hold water. No. Can't agree to the way this book developed and ended. Ghost in the machine stuff.
The alcoholic, ex-vicar is murdered. Hmmmmm. Not a plausible thing. He was never developed as a threat to anyone. He should have been a threat to someone. He had the position to be a threat but he was never allowed to be. The storyline could have had him keeping a secret about the finances of the island which threatened Maycroft. He should have been a keeper of some confessional secrets of a serious suspect. Secrets unrelated to the crime often come out in a murder investigation and can cloud the vision. The fog of war, a military man might say. Why didn't we see the vicar muddled up in a secret suddenly exposed and then he suddenly murdered? We could then be confused about all that we had previously decided. But Dalgliesh would have been clear and focused -- as he always is.
The animal research laboratory manager -- the ending was too "correctly" ambigious to be interesting. Political puritanism of the politically correct world would not allow a character with a reasoned stance about animal testing in medical experiments. And how do you feel about ... international pharmaceudicals? Maybe we could write The Constant Gardener all over again except this time with a laboratory in the Midlands.
Okay, okay and what is all this about SARS? Very "in the news" that. It was a device to get Dalgliesh out of the picture and spotlight Miskin. But Miskin's part was not developed well. Too screenplay-ish that device.
And furthermore, what is this about internationally famous mountain-climbing grandfather that puts Benton on the face of a coastal cliff just to retrieve a bloodied rock (with a piece of surgical glove attached)? No, I don't buy it. Odd. Authors of "Structuring Your Novel" Robert Meredith and John Fitzgerald say that you should not write the parts that readers skip over. I skipped over this grandson of a famous mountainclimber after years of never strapping on a harness suddenly doing a Very Serious climb thing. Looks more like a movie made for tv stunt screenplay trick to kick up the action at the end of a morality play.
Little Dan Padgett the murderer. Oh well.
And I am a little tired of Emma Lavenham/Adam Dalgliesh non-affair. She does not seem interesting to me. What does she do but talk to her lesbian girlfriend -- who, by the way, is quite a bit more interesting than Emma -- and I don't mean because she is a lesbian (so predictable now-of-days to have a gay sidekick) but because she doesn't wallow about in this never-never land of inaction, indecision and angst that Emma populates. You know, I don't think I could have Emma as a friend. I have had girlfriends who get involved with unavailable men. They begin the relationship by walking on eggshells and it does not change even if they marry. I think they like being uncomfortable about their standing with the man in question. The pain makes them feel alive. And if Dalgliesh doen't get off "I don't want to be rejected" treadmill, I will get tired of him too. Too much of the New Age Sensitive Man - Feminized Into Inaction.
Now Piers Tarrant and Kate Miskin, there could be an interesting pairing. At least I know more of Piers' personality.
Ah well. I am disappointed. Darn.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Voices from the Past
I would have liked to see more storyline here. Now that I have finished the book, I look back at this section and am unhappy that it was so thin. The tag line is that Oliver was murdered for something from the recent past not the distant past.
Well, there is som much that I would have liked to understand. Jago was a boatman on the wild Cornish coast. His father was murdered by Oliver's father. Now that is a strong story line and one I would have liked to see populated. But, as if this were a screenplay reduction, we see little of the heart and soul of it.
Dan's mother. We should have heard a little more on her. We barely know of her existence. And Dan's life with the fundementalist Christians -- very stale storyline. Hardcore, heartless Christians have been done over and over again. Why can't he have had Communist relatives who were distainful of his deep need to know the father who disserted his fragile and broken mother. His longing for something more personal and warm than the hardcore and hardhearted comrades in the youth group.
Emily Holcombe's life is just too sketchy. It has no substance. I would have liked to see the life of an 80 year old woman in good health and with a wickedly sharp mind. She needed to be developed as a serious suspect. And if that seems too close to Lady James, well, look at Mrs. Maxey in "Cover Her Face." That hit pretty close to the author.
Ah well.
Well, there is som much that I would have liked to understand. Jago was a boatman on the wild Cornish coast. His father was murdered by Oliver's father. Now that is a strong story line and one I would have liked to see populated. But, as if this were a screenplay reduction, we see little of the heart and soul of it.
Dan's mother. We should have heard a little more on her. We barely know of her existence. And Dan's life with the fundementalist Christians -- very stale storyline. Hardcore, heartless Christians have been done over and over again. Why can't he have had Communist relatives who were distainful of his deep need to know the father who disserted his fragile and broken mother. His longing for something more personal and warm than the hardcore and hardhearted comrades in the youth group.
Emily Holcombe's life is just too sketchy. It has no substance. I would have liked to see the life of an 80 year old woman in good health and with a wickedly sharp mind. She needed to be developed as a serious suspect. And if that seems too close to Lady James, well, look at Mrs. Maxey in "Cover Her Face." That hit pretty close to the author.
Ah well.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Ashes in the Grate
No, we don't find out what was burned in the fire grate of murder victim Nathan Oliver. It appears that it was paper -- but what was written on that paper?
Oliver's daughter, in a high and unconvincing voice: Oh someone slipped into the cottage and took both gallery copies of the novel from his desk and burned them.
Not bloody likely, lassie.
She should feel lucky that the investigators did not bore into that story like an electric drill into rotting wood. Not enough manpower to waste on that obviously contrived story.
I should say now, if you are ever interviewed in the course of an investigation, don't expect a lucky break like Miranda Oliver got. Police hate being lied to and if they have the manpower, you will be humiliated and then charged with some count of obstructing justice (if innocent of the crime) and/or pursued hotly as a suspect. But think: Major Humiliation and Exposed as a Fraud as the banner headline in your local paper.
But I get ahead of myself.
So this whole section is devoted to the investigators and the suspects. Some suspect stories we know to be false. Some we have to sift through. The investigators have been torn from the fabirc of their everyday life and we are following their thoughts on life as well.
During the first section, I found myself liking Emily Holcombe. I don't like her as well in this section. She's hiding something. And since I'm siding with the investigaors, I don't like for people to withhold information.
Who is Adrian Boyde? Weak, guilt burdened, alcoholic. A victim of Oliver's evil ruthlessness.
Who else is a victim of Oliver? Dan, Miranda, Dennis. He exerts power over them because he is in a position to do so without the chance of a direct reprimand. When he abused Adrian, Adrian's friends and people who cared about him were outraged. It is similar to your evil neighbor yelling at his own dog or the dog of another neighbor; you don't feel you have the stnding to intervene even though you have a definite opinion of the morality involved. But when evil neighbor abuses your dog, watch out.
Oliver's daughter, in a high and unconvincing voice: Oh someone slipped into the cottage and took both gallery copies of the novel from his desk and burned them.
Not bloody likely, lassie.
She should feel lucky that the investigators did not bore into that story like an electric drill into rotting wood. Not enough manpower to waste on that obviously contrived story.
I should say now, if you are ever interviewed in the course of an investigation, don't expect a lucky break like Miranda Oliver got. Police hate being lied to and if they have the manpower, you will be humiliated and then charged with some count of obstructing justice (if innocent of the crime) and/or pursued hotly as a suspect. But think: Major Humiliation and Exposed as a Fraud as the banner headline in your local paper.
But I get ahead of myself.
So this whole section is devoted to the investigators and the suspects. Some suspect stories we know to be false. Some we have to sift through. The investigators have been torn from the fabirc of their everyday life and we are following their thoughts on life as well.
During the first section, I found myself liking Emily Holcombe. I don't like her as well in this section. She's hiding something. And since I'm siding with the investigaors, I don't like for people to withhold information.
Who is Adrian Boyde? Weak, guilt burdened, alcoholic. A victim of Oliver's evil ruthlessness.
Who else is a victim of Oliver? Dan, Miranda, Dennis. He exerts power over them because he is in a position to do so without the chance of a direct reprimand. When he abused Adrian, Adrian's friends and people who cared about him were outraged. It is similar to your evil neighbor yelling at his own dog or the dog of another neighbor; you don't feel you have the stnding to intervene even though you have a definite opinion of the morality involved. But when evil neighbor abuses your dog, watch out.
Death on an Offshore Island
Yes, you walk through the Prologue and Book One and you know who will be dead by page 80.
Everyone hates Oliver.
Well, that's putting it too strong. There might be a few who don't hate him. Let's just say that when he comes up dead, many people breath a sigh of relief.
"Why I might be glad that Oliver is dead."
Daughter Miranda and Copy Editor Dennis. They were secret lovers and were discovered by Oliver the day before Oliver is found dead. Oh oh oh, Oliver was so enraged that he threatened to cut them both off entirely. "Threat" makes it sound like he would come 'round later. No, I think it was a promise to hurt them, dominate his daughter, throw Dennis out on his ear. Oliver's reaction was so out of bounds that we the readers know Oliver is unjust. Other than being a prick, I see from this vantage point no reason that Oliver should behave this way. Dennis suspected the reaction. Miranda did not. She is deeply hurt and confused. Both of these people are almost slaves to Oliver, they are so dependent on him. Bad place to be and vulnerable people often strike back.
Emily Holcombe. Oliver wants her cottage, lusts after her cottage. On the day before he is found dead, Oliver threatened to leverage his bequeath to the Island Trust in an attempt to kick Emily out. He also threatened to live on the island full time. This would be intolerable to Emily. At 80 years old and in good health, she wishes to live out her life on the island and foresees that this is a long time rather than a few short years to go. She is a powerful figure, personally powerful, confident. Powerful peoiple do not like to be bullied.
Attached to Emily's welfare is Roughtwood, her butler. From this vantage point he hasn't shown even a ruffle of distaste for Oliver but Roughtwood likes the setup as it is. Also, I always look carefully at characters with names that describe a condition or character trait. Rotting wood. Roughtwood is a quiet man and has little backstory to explain who he is -- except for a name that brings to mind a condition of decay hidden from view.
Rupert Maycroft. All the stresses of the island squeeze in on him. He suspects that he is not dong a good job of caretaking this island. He worries about his reputation and status with the trustees. He feels he is failing, or rather slipping into failure. Oliver's domination would send Maycroft off the island in disgrace -- at least Maycroft sees it that way.
Dr. Mark Yelland. We find that Oliver has written a novel, yet to be published, about an animal lab director who appears to be taken directly from Yelland's life. Ut oh. Yelland is stressed to the maximum with radical animal rights activist threats to the health and safety of his lab and his family. Wife is leaving and taking the kids because of it. A novel would just nail the coffin closed. Yelland confronts Oliver the evening at dinner before Oliver is found dead. Oliver's death will not cancel the publishing of the novel. So, why would Yelland kill Oliver? Also, note the name. Yelling. Mark Yelland is yelling but does he take action?
Jago Tamlyn. Hmmm. An unruffled character with no shown dislike of Oliver yet. Probably he doesn't hate Oliver. However. There are two ways on-and-off the island: helicopter and Jago's boat. Access holds power. Since we haven't been introduced to the helicopter pilot yet we must watch Mr. Jago. What a Cornish name. And every Cornish boatsman must be watched for illegal sources of income in this secluded and mysterious setting. An upset to the economy of the island might disrupt Jago's interests.
Access holds power! I just remembered that there is yet another way on the island: private yacht form France. Dr. Raimund Speidel came to the island on Wednesday via his private yacht from France. From France, now that is cause enough to suspect him of something underhanded and that he is a German just sets the picture straight of a person we cannot trust to be fair and just. Look at what the Germans did in Munich in '72. I can't find him in my notes. Where is the man and what is he doing?
Dr. Guy Staveley and his wife Joanna. Hmmmm. We are privy to a great deal of discussion of these two and their relationship but nothing is rising to the surface that puts them at tension with Oliver. At this vantage point there is little to set them in the "I hate Oliver" crowd. But Joanna, it seems, is privy to quite a bit of information about people. Information is power. The jacket cover mentions a second brutal killing. Also, Dr. Guy is on the island because a child died in his care. Untimely death is a rip in the fabric of society.
Adrian Boyde. Maycroft believes that he should keep Oliver and Boyde apart. Don't know why. Boyde is also a quiet man, privy to the finances of the island and the trust. Hmmmm. Knowledge is power. Powerful positions should always be watched especially when someone else will die and we don't know whom. Yet. Also Boyde went off on an alcoholic binge that sent him off the island. Joanna rescued him and brought him back to life, as it were. Why did Boyde fall off the wagon? What does Joanna know about the situation?
Poor Dan Padgett. Ah well. He was excoriated by Oliver for losing the blood specimen. Dan is a misfit, an underdog. I am always interested in the reactions of people when an arrogant, dominating person brutalizes a vulnerable person. One should look for two things: one, vulnerable people sometimes strike back like a domestic dog gone feral and two, observers of the brutality often strike against the attacker to put the world back in order.
Now let's talk about this blood specimen. What's that all about? Joanna took the blood specimen. Does she know something about Oliver's health? What pathology? Maycroft observes that Oliver's health seemed to have declined in the few days that he was on the island. Add this to the Midlands research laboratory and here is a third reference to health-and-illness. I believe that this his a clue to Oliver's behavior. He is crazed to have his way because he is ill and sees the end of his life approaching.
We see little of the housekeeper and the cook.
Everyone hates Oliver.
Well, that's putting it too strong. There might be a few who don't hate him. Let's just say that when he comes up dead, many people breath a sigh of relief.
"Why I might be glad that Oliver is dead."
Daughter Miranda and Copy Editor Dennis. They were secret lovers and were discovered by Oliver the day before Oliver is found dead. Oh oh oh, Oliver was so enraged that he threatened to cut them both off entirely. "Threat" makes it sound like he would come 'round later. No, I think it was a promise to hurt them, dominate his daughter, throw Dennis out on his ear. Oliver's reaction was so out of bounds that we the readers know Oliver is unjust. Other than being a prick, I see from this vantage point no reason that Oliver should behave this way. Dennis suspected the reaction. Miranda did not. She is deeply hurt and confused. Both of these people are almost slaves to Oliver, they are so dependent on him. Bad place to be and vulnerable people often strike back.
Emily Holcombe. Oliver wants her cottage, lusts after her cottage. On the day before he is found dead, Oliver threatened to leverage his bequeath to the Island Trust in an attempt to kick Emily out. He also threatened to live on the island full time. This would be intolerable to Emily. At 80 years old and in good health, she wishes to live out her life on the island and foresees that this is a long time rather than a few short years to go. She is a powerful figure, personally powerful, confident. Powerful peoiple do not like to be bullied.
Attached to Emily's welfare is Roughtwood, her butler. From this vantage point he hasn't shown even a ruffle of distaste for Oliver but Roughtwood likes the setup as it is. Also, I always look carefully at characters with names that describe a condition or character trait. Rotting wood. Roughtwood is a quiet man and has little backstory to explain who he is -- except for a name that brings to mind a condition of decay hidden from view.
Rupert Maycroft. All the stresses of the island squeeze in on him. He suspects that he is not dong a good job of caretaking this island. He worries about his reputation and status with the trustees. He feels he is failing, or rather slipping into failure. Oliver's domination would send Maycroft off the island in disgrace -- at least Maycroft sees it that way.
Dr. Mark Yelland. We find that Oliver has written a novel, yet to be published, about an animal lab director who appears to be taken directly from Yelland's life. Ut oh. Yelland is stressed to the maximum with radical animal rights activist threats to the health and safety of his lab and his family. Wife is leaving and taking the kids because of it. A novel would just nail the coffin closed. Yelland confronts Oliver the evening at dinner before Oliver is found dead. Oliver's death will not cancel the publishing of the novel. So, why would Yelland kill Oliver? Also, note the name. Yelling. Mark Yelland is yelling but does he take action?
Jago Tamlyn. Hmmm. An unruffled character with no shown dislike of Oliver yet. Probably he doesn't hate Oliver. However. There are two ways on-and-off the island: helicopter and Jago's boat. Access holds power. Since we haven't been introduced to the helicopter pilot yet we must watch Mr. Jago. What a Cornish name. And every Cornish boatsman must be watched for illegal sources of income in this secluded and mysterious setting. An upset to the economy of the island might disrupt Jago's interests.
Access holds power! I just remembered that there is yet another way on the island: private yacht form France. Dr. Raimund Speidel came to the island on Wednesday via his private yacht from France. From France, now that is cause enough to suspect him of something underhanded and that he is a German just sets the picture straight of a person we cannot trust to be fair and just. Look at what the Germans did in Munich in '72. I can't find him in my notes. Where is the man and what is he doing?
Dr. Guy Staveley and his wife Joanna. Hmmmm. We are privy to a great deal of discussion of these two and their relationship but nothing is rising to the surface that puts them at tension with Oliver. At this vantage point there is little to set them in the "I hate Oliver" crowd. But Joanna, it seems, is privy to quite a bit of information about people. Information is power. The jacket cover mentions a second brutal killing. Also, Dr. Guy is on the island because a child died in his care. Untimely death is a rip in the fabric of society.
Adrian Boyde. Maycroft believes that he should keep Oliver and Boyde apart. Don't know why. Boyde is also a quiet man, privy to the finances of the island and the trust. Hmmmm. Knowledge is power. Powerful positions should always be watched especially when someone else will die and we don't know whom. Yet. Also Boyde went off on an alcoholic binge that sent him off the island. Joanna rescued him and brought him back to life, as it were. Why did Boyde fall off the wagon? What does Joanna know about the situation?
Poor Dan Padgett. Ah well. He was excoriated by Oliver for losing the blood specimen. Dan is a misfit, an underdog. I am always interested in the reactions of people when an arrogant, dominating person brutalizes a vulnerable person. One should look for two things: one, vulnerable people sometimes strike back like a domestic dog gone feral and two, observers of the brutality often strike against the attacker to put the world back in order.
Now let's talk about this blood specimen. What's that all about? Joanna took the blood specimen. Does she know something about Oliver's health? What pathology? Maycroft observes that Oliver's health seemed to have declined in the few days that he was on the island. Add this to the Midlands research laboratory and here is a third reference to health-and-illness. I believe that this his a clue to Oliver's behavior. He is crazed to have his way because he is ill and sees the end of his life approaching.
We see little of the housekeeper and the cook.
Lighthouse Character List
Prologue:
Asst Commissioner Harkness
Alexander Cornistone -- Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Colin Reeves -- MI5, young
STAFF and RESIDENTS of Combe Island:
Rupert Maycroft, sect., solicitor, 58 years, tall
boatman Jago Tamlyn, convicted GBH
housekeeper Mrs. Burbridge
cook Mrs. Plunkett
Dr. Guy Shaveley, physician
Mrs. Joanna Shaveley, wife of
handyman Dan Padgett and his sickly mother Mrs. Padgett, new-ish to the island and Dan "is not an islander"
Miss Emily Holcombe, last of the family who owned Combe Island, 80 years
butler Roughtwood, 68 years
Millie Tranter, 18, waif
Adrian Boyde, financial assistant, alcoholic, clergy
VISITORS to the island at the time of the death:
arrived Monday:
Nathan Oliver, writer
Miranda Oliver, daughter
Dennis Tremlett, copy editor
arrived Wednesday:
Dr. Raimund Speidel, German diplomat, formerly dip. to China
arrived Thursday:
Dr. Mark Yelland, Midlands animal lab director
INVESTIGATORS:
Adam Dalgliesh
Insp Kate Miskin
Serg Francis Benton-Smith
Edith Glenister, forensic
Associated with the Investigators, backstory
Emma Lavenham -- Dalgliesh
Piers Tarrant -- Miskin
Beverley -- Benton
Asst Commissioner Harkness
Alexander Cornistone -- Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Colin Reeves -- MI5, young
STAFF and RESIDENTS of Combe Island:
Rupert Maycroft, sect., solicitor, 58 years, tall
boatman Jago Tamlyn, convicted GBH
housekeeper Mrs. Burbridge
cook Mrs. Plunkett
Dr. Guy Shaveley, physician
Mrs. Joanna Shaveley, wife of
handyman Dan Padgett and his sickly mother Mrs. Padgett, new-ish to the island and Dan "is not an islander"
Miss Emily Holcombe, last of the family who owned Combe Island, 80 years
butler Roughtwood, 68 years
Millie Tranter, 18, waif
Adrian Boyde, financial assistant, alcoholic, clergy
VISITORS to the island at the time of the death:
arrived Monday:
Nathan Oliver, writer
Miranda Oliver, daughter
Dennis Tremlett, copy editor
arrived Wednesday:
Dr. Raimund Speidel, German diplomat, formerly dip. to China
arrived Thursday:
Dr. Mark Yelland, Midlands animal lab director
INVESTIGATORS:
Adam Dalgliesh
Insp Kate Miskin
Serg Francis Benton-Smith
Edith Glenister, forensic
Associated with the Investigators, backstory
Emma Lavenham -- Dalgliesh
Piers Tarrant -- Miskin
Beverley -- Benton
The Lighthouse -- Locations
Combe Island off Cornwall, 20 miles sw of Lundy Island and 12 mi from the mainland. The nearest large city is Newquay so that would make this fictitious island off the western shore of Cornwall, I imagine. My map is not detailed enough to locate Lundy Island or the small village of Pentworthy.
I've been to Cornwall within the passed few years. A wild and rugged coast with startling vistas. The land back from the cliffs was furred with tough short-cropped vegetation as if the wind kept it hunkered down. This area had been a pirate's and smuggler's haven in years long past, an insulated society that even today is suspicious of outsiders. Some of Cornwall's tourist trade focuses on the stories around King Arthur and Merlin, Guinevere. My husband and I avoided that and therefore we found ourselves in areas where foreign tourists don't usually tread.
Never been to a Cornish Island and, as Lady James describes a character in the book, I am probably "not an islander" -- which is a telling observation of an outsider understood without further elaboration by islanders.
On Combe Island are:
the main house -- Combe House, it has a tower
stone cottages
Atlantic Cottage -- Emily Holcombe
Peregrin Cottage -- Nathan Oliver
Harbor Cottage -- Jago Tamlyn
Murrelet Cottage -- Dr. Mark Yelland
Dolphin Cottage --
Lighthouse -- west of Combe House, visible from the house
Harbor, quayside -- to the east of Combe House
An since I am always interested in London locations, here are the locations discussed in the Prologue:
Ins. Kate Miskin's flat above the Thames, looking sw, below Tower Bridge, overlooking Canary Wharf.
Benton-Smith's flat in nw, around Shepherd's Bush.
I've been to Cornwall within the passed few years. A wild and rugged coast with startling vistas. The land back from the cliffs was furred with tough short-cropped vegetation as if the wind kept it hunkered down. This area had been a pirate's and smuggler's haven in years long past, an insulated society that even today is suspicious of outsiders. Some of Cornwall's tourist trade focuses on the stories around King Arthur and Merlin, Guinevere. My husband and I avoided that and therefore we found ourselves in areas where foreign tourists don't usually tread.
Never been to a Cornish Island and, as Lady James describes a character in the book, I am probably "not an islander" -- which is a telling observation of an outsider understood without further elaboration by islanders.
On Combe Island are:
the main house -- Combe House, it has a tower
stone cottages
Atlantic Cottage -- Emily Holcombe
Peregrin Cottage -- Nathan Oliver
Harbor Cottage -- Jago Tamlyn
Murrelet Cottage -- Dr. Mark Yelland
Dolphin Cottage --
Lighthouse -- west of Combe House, visible from the house
Harbor, quayside -- to the east of Combe House
An since I am always interested in London locations, here are the locations discussed in the Prologue:
Ins. Kate Miskin's flat above the Thames, looking sw, below Tower Bridge, overlooking Canary Wharf.
Benton-Smith's flat in nw, around Shepherd's Bush.
Interim
Can't believe that it's been 11 months since I posted to this blog. But I am going to begin discussing PD James' Lighthouse now and let the reader finish The Murder Room.
PD James' The Murder Room was wonderful, as usual for Lady James' works. I had intended to blog by chapter on that crime novel but that plan did not seem to work with my own style. I was rushing on and on to follow a thread of clues or a character's next move.
I always have a piece of paper -- notepad leaf, discarded receipt, torn corner of a newspaper -- on which I jot down notes when reading a crime novel, list of characters, locations and time tables. This blog will be that electronic piece of paper for me.
When (or IF) I trade in a crime novel (Murder By The Book on South Pearl Street in Denver), and when I return a library book, I will often leave that piece of paper in the book for the next reader. I never give away a secret or spoil the next reader's enjoyment. But the piece of paper is a conversation between two strangers about a book that we are both reading. This is as if we had met on a bus going downtow, never to meet again as fate would have it, but spending a few minutes together. Delicious time together. Except here we slip the laws of time and space and never actually meet except through a time-traveling piece of paper.
Time and space, such an interesting concept. We should read The Elegant Universe together someday.
PD James' The Murder Room was wonderful, as usual for Lady James' works. I had intended to blog by chapter on that crime novel but that plan did not seem to work with my own style. I was rushing on and on to follow a thread of clues or a character's next move.
I always have a piece of paper -- notepad leaf, discarded receipt, torn corner of a newspaper -- on which I jot down notes when reading a crime novel, list of characters, locations and time tables. This blog will be that electronic piece of paper for me.
When (or IF) I trade in a crime novel (Murder By The Book on South Pearl Street in Denver), and when I return a library book, I will often leave that piece of paper in the book for the next reader. I never give away a secret or spoil the next reader's enjoyment. But the piece of paper is a conversation between two strangers about a book that we are both reading. This is as if we had met on a bus going downtow, never to meet again as fate would have it, but spending a few minutes together. Delicious time together. Except here we slip the laws of time and space and never actually meet except through a time-traveling piece of paper.
Time and space, such an interesting concept. We should read The Elegant Universe together someday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)