A review of My Lady Judge by Cora Harrison

 

This novel is a sleeper. The Irish author, Cora Harrison, is a former primary school teacher who has written a large number of books for children. Back in 2007, she  changed her spots and produced an adult historical mystery novel set on the wild gray coast of western Ireland in the year 1509. Her heroine is an intriguing and assertive judge named Mara who has been appointed by the King of the area to rule on all activity (from marriage to murder) in accordance with the ancient Celtic traditions. Harrison has given Mara a love of plant and animal life, a sensitivity to  the physical world around her, a young daughter from a marriage that has ended in a divorce, a semi-romance with the King who appointed her, and finally the position as head mistress of a school that teaches young boys how to enter the legal profession.   

 

Each chapter of this “mystery of Medieval Ireland” begins with a listing of a type of law in the ancient canons such as personal worth, marriage, inheritance, thievery, or assault. The development then explores Mara (the judge’s) actions as she deals with the implications and intricacies of that set of laws. This creates a slow start as the reader has to absorb a certain amount of ancient Irish history, but the pace speeds up when one of Mara’s top students is murdered during the celebration of an important community May Day ritual.

 

A murder investigation quickly gets under way and Mara finds herself under pressure to find the culprit. Ultimately, what appears to be her orderly intellectual search to find the killer by determining the opportunity and motivation for the death, puts her into grave personal danger. This, along with a series of twists at the end, kept me wanting to see more of this woman. A quick internet search has revealed several more books by Harrison featuring Mara in what is called “the Burren Mysteries Series.” I look forward to sampling at least a few of them in the future.

 

This isn’t on the list of great books of the early 21^st century, but I give it a 4 out of 5 because the leading character is appealing, the mystery is absorbing and full of twists, and it explores a fascinating corner of the ancient world and the often strange laws that govern its inhabitants.    

 

Jdy 10/26/2023

Clue Review at Theatre Cedar Rapids

 

Clue  (the stage play)

Performed by Theatre Cedar Rapid Friday, Oct. 13, 2023

 Clue, the play, is a farce whodunnit, based on the movie and the venerable board game itself. All the well-known players such as Professor Plum and Miss Scarlet are present along with their associated murder weapons. The plot is strained but who cares when a group of very familiar suspects are gathered together on a dark and stormy night in an old mansion and engaged in seeing who did what to whom and how.

 

Right up front, let me say that I loved this production. I detected a single minded, disciplined commitment by the director and cast to play seriously inside the play without the kind of wink and nod to the audience that I felt was present in CRT’s recent production of the The Play That Went Wrong. The director here, Mic Evans, kept the over the top script from going to the heads of the cast and kept them tightly controlled even when they were literally dancing from room to room during the scenic bridges.

 

Second, the show profited greatly from an ingeniously designed set and superb lighting, music, and sound effects. The rumble of thunder shook the building and right on time lightning flashes accompanied it. Sharp intensified spotlight stabs accompanied the actor’s “takes” at dramatic moments. Kudos even to the stage crew as they smoothly enabled the actors to weave through the moving walls and doors.  A special mention goes to Seth Engen as Mr. Green, who managed a magnificently controlled back bend as a chandelier descended slowly onto him from above. This homage to Phantom of the Opera was worth the price of the ticket all by itself.

 

I also couldn’t but help to think about how almost none of technical artistry on view in the production would have even been possible in the 1950’s when I started my career in the theatre. Today’s computer aided systems were still in the future.  Lighting boards generally only had individually controlled dimmer handles or dials. We created sound and music effects by dropping a needle on a record—it was actually a 78 not a 33 1/3.  Spotlights had one color based on a gelatin slide put in front of the lens. Light movement could happen only as fast as human operators could physically adjust the placement of the instrument or the individual dimmers. Now you can change a single spotlight’s color and change its direction and focus by remote control. 

 

A new problem we didn’t have to face “in the old days” was the pressure that our current technical fireworks puts on actors to rise above glitz. It is a pleasure to report that this cast did just that. Throughout the evening they showed both physical stamina and performance skill. Standouts for me were John Miersen, as the butler, Greg Smith as Colonel Mustard, and  Lauren Galliart as the tarty Miss Scarlet in a flaming red dress that was certainly the knock-out costume of the evening. Belle Caney had multiple roles but made a real mark as the acerbic cook and later as a floppy dead body.

  

I close with my delight at seeing a show that could attract and please an audience composed of all age levels from children to adults. In sum, this play “went right”  and the enjoyment was evident during the curtain call and as the audience left the theatre. Get a ticket. It runs until October 29th.  

 

Jdy

Review of THE WINTER SOLDIER by Daniel Mason

 

Daniel Mason lives in California and is an MD and psychiatrist. I read The Winter Soldier on my Kindle. It tells the heartbreaking story of Lucius—a young man from a well-off military family who decides on medicine as a career against the wishes of his family. Just before he completes his medical degree in Vienna, WWI intervenes and the Austro-Hungarian empire is thrown into chaos. The young man, wishing to contribute to the war effort, enlists in the army and is sent as a medic to a casualty station located in a barely Carpathian village church.

From here on we get the story of the war, not from the trenches as in All Quiet on the Western Front, but from the hospitals where the physically maimed and psychologically scarred are dumped to be treated. Lucius is faced with barbaric sanitation, sparse medical equipment, limited drugs, and precious little food. He is relegated primarily to cutting off destroyed limbs while also attempting to cure lice, typhus, and the scourge of what was called “shell shock” in WWI and is now known as PTSS (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome).

Dr. Mason spares the reader none of the stench, the blood, the suffering, and the violence that goes on behind the front lines. His diligently researched book is not for the delicate or faint of heart, but the reward is that, In spite of the conditions, Lucius manages to find romance in the person of a nun named Marguerite, who is the head nurse at the facility.

The young medic is separated from his hospital when the battle lines change, which leaves the last third of the novel to tell the story of his tragic search for his lost love. Some reviewers have even compared the book to Boris Pasternack’s Dr. Zhivago.

Mason uses his own medical knowledge with acute precision, while combining it with the history of medicine and the societal and human conflicts embodied in World War One. The title really tells it all. It reflects the chill of a landscape and a war that is rife with blizzards. The weather is as much an enemy as the opposing army and over it all hangs the pall of the horror of war. That human beings can still locate emotional warmth in this horrendous milieu is a heartwarming tribute to resiliency.

Definitely a 4.8 out of 5 for me, but a reminder that it does contain violent description. 

 

Review of Fatal Legacy by Lindsey Davis

 

Are you one of the many who enjoy traditional “who dunnits” set in exotic or historical places?  If you are, British authoress Lindsey Davis may be just your cup of tea. She has written a slew of comical, historical mysteries set in ancient Rome. There have been over twenty in the Marcus Didius Falco series and 2023’s Fatal Legacy is the 11^th in the Flavia Alba series. Flavia, if you are not already familiar with her, is Marcus Didius Falco’s intelligent, high spirited and courageous daughter. She takes on similar cases to her father as an “Informer,” which is a sort of ancient investigator similar to today’s private eye. She also, like her dad, has a wicked sense of humor that exploits the legal, political, eating, drinking, and sexual habits of all levels of ancient Roman society. Is this just inventive trash talking? Not at all.  According to a classicist friend of mine. “Her history and geography is spot on.”

 In Fatal Legacy Flavia takes what seems like a simple case of getting the goods on a guy who skipped out on a restaurant tab.  This minor infraction turns quickly into a sinister and convoluted multi- generational family feud over citizenship and inheritance rights. The plot has more twists than a licorice stick and you will be laughing all the way through to the violent climax.   

 I haven’t read all of the Falco family books, but the ones I have read I have enjoyed immensely. They are light hearted, satirical, and deftly plotted.

I give this one a 4 out of 5.

Review of The Collector by Daniel Silva

 

Daniel Silva’s latest thriller, The Collector, has all the characteristics of a blockbuster. It is ripped right out of the pages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will attract devotees as well as first readers.

Gabriel Allon, the retired former head spymaster of the Israeli secret service is on tap and called into action once again. This time he is asked to look into the murder of a wealthy secret art collector and the theft of a long missing stolen masterpiece by the famous Dutch painter, Vermeer. In no time he turns up a brilliant, vivacious, female, master thief as a suspect, but almost immediately another more dangerous plot emerges. Allon has to leave the art world behind in order to prevent a Russian false flag operation from starting a nuclear war in the Ukraine. Soon the secret services of the USA, Russia, Denmark, and Finland are planning to send the female master thief and the head of a Danish petroleum company into the very heart of Moscow to steal the incriminating war-plan and save the world.  It should be no surprise that as the thieves begin to execute their escape from Russia, things go awry. The final bullet heavy standoff at a Finnish border crossing will keep you turning the pages at a rapid clip.    

If you like tradecraft and action you will be more than satisfied and if you wish to probe the depth of the retired Allon’s character, you will be reminded of his exploits all the way back to the Munich Olympics and the car bomb that permanently incapacitated his first wife. I would also add that an item that sets Silva’s work apart is his ability to lighten even catastrophes and setbacks with caustic humor.  

 My judgement may be a tad clouded by having a son and family living in Finland and therefore loving the irony of putting the climax at the border of Russia and the “the happiest country in the world,” but I still give it a 5 out of 5. 

 

 

Interesting Comparison

Had two interesting viewing experiences in the last two nights. On Thursday evening we saw Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music in an outdoor venue on the grounds of an old Cedar Rapids mansion called Brucemore.

Then on Friday night we saw the 1958 film of South Pacific. What a contrast in terms of the development of musical theatre over the past fifty years. The film was a big hit, but shows its age badly with hokey color tinting for the lovey-dovey scenes and some performances that seem wooden as well as in-appropriate in the modern era.

Although I am not a big Sondheim fan, the Theatre Cedar Rapids production hit the mark is almost all ways. You couldn't ask for a more gorgeous setting for this show--outdoors and twilight deepening to dark as the 2nd act starts. The CR actors and singers showed that they were more than up to the difficult score. The miking was excellent and we could hear the lyrics and dialog clearly. Not sure what can be done outdoors to keep action on the far side of large stage from coming at you from the left speaker array. Stage design and direction excellent.. Lots of levels and they were used nicely. Blocking of dinner scenes always give directors the heebie jeebies, but Angie Toomsen had a beautiful and successful solution. With small low tables on two levels and a third level for the grand dame hostess, everyone could be seen and no backs were turned.

I still think Act I could use some trimming. By the time we get to the Act I finale the going is tedious and the last number goes on forever. No weekend in the country needs to be repeated that many times. Then again the South Pacific film could use more than a lot of trimming too.

Plenty to think about all around.

Death in a Bygone Hue Book Review

 

Death in a Bygone Hue review

 

Susan Van Kirk’s second art center mystery, Death in a Bygone Hue” is an engrossing and pleasant cozy mystery. My caveat here is simply a mention that I have known Sue as a neighbor and friend for many years and she is aware that my personal preference in detective procedurals calls for a bit more guts than the “cozy” genre generally supplies.  

 With that said, I still love her single, delightful, and unabashedly inquisitive heroine Jill Madison. Jill is a budding artist, and Executive Director of an art center in a small midwestern town. Just as she is readying the center’s first national juried exhibition, Judge Spivey, her good friend and the treasurer of her Board of Directors, dies suspiciously. This suddenly puts her as a sleuth in search of a killer as well as a suspect in the crime.  The judge’s will, unknown to her, has disinherited his adult children and left all of his valuable paintings and his money to Jill and the Art Center. A local newspaper woman adds fuel to the fire by writing articles accusing Jill of the crime and a final fan to the flames exposes concerns about the judge’s hidden past during the Viet Nam War.     

 Van Kirk’s tightly plotted narrative comes nicely equipped with a jolly sidekick and a handsome emergency room doctor from the local hospital who adds just a touch of steam to her life. Witness this quote, “I found myself falling for him as he hugged me, kissed my forehead, and headed for the door. He actually thought my work was important. He could be a keeper.”   

 Another plus is the unique setting of the book in an arts center. I cheerfully admit that I know this art center since Van Kirk has fictionalized the real one that operates in our town. When Judge Spivey’s painting collection is discovered to be valuable, it opens up the plot to potential art theft and forgery, which extends the plot well beyond the locality where the crime was committed. This allows a reader to pick up just enough discussion of how art shows are run, how exhibits are hung, and how provenance operates in the art world itself to add depth to the setting without slipping into the aesthetic weeds.

Van Kirk’s book is not going to knock Agatha Christie or Louise Penny off the top rung of the ladder quite yet, but she had me guessing the wrong villain right up to the final suspenseful confrontation. That, for my money, is what a good solid enjoyable read is all about. I give it a 4 out of 5.  Get a copy!