The Media Week That Was
January 18-February 3, 2024
No movies, no tv, no music this week. Just books. I was on the road for work this week, which means long meetings and group meals. I fall into bed as soon as I return to the hotel.
I do get to read a lot on airplanes. Better people than I work on the plane. Other people? Maybe just different people? I like to fly, but there’s a certain amount of mental energy needed to breathe through take-off, turbulence, and the often strange behaviors and smells of other travelers. Besides, I’ve got to clench my glutes to keep the plane in the air. Of course, I do. I don’t have the energy for anything other than narrative. I don’t mean budget narratives or grant narratives. I’m talking simple stories, preferably set in cozy English villages where people are murdering each other for love or money. Speaking of which…
The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes — Extremely pregnant ladies and new mothers start off their maternity leave with some sleuthing. If you’re an American reader, this expected parental leave of one year will confuse you and possibly enrage you with envy. Do some lamaze breathing and get yourself through it because this book is a delight. The premise sounds “cozy mystery” gimmicky, but this is not a cookie-cutter book. Does the protagonist owe something to Bridget Jones? Yes, but she’s more than that. Is the Cotswolds setting rural and beautiful? Yes, but there’s also a menacing commune? My only beef with this book is that the editor should have done some more fact-checking about what plants in the garden are blooming when.
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett — Hallett’s books are a niche taste, but they’re one of mine. I love “dossier” books. As with her other novels, the narrative is made up of a dossier of found documents, recordings, and scripts. I love the idea of an unreliable narrator where the narrator is the record of a WhatsApp chat. This book doesn’t quite feel like the tour de force of Hallett’s previous The Twyford Code, but I was all in and paying no attention to turbulence or to keeping the plane in the air by the time I was a few documents in. Each of Hallett’s books is committed to the premise that most puzzles boil down to flawed people making bad choices. She may twist and turn us through the supernatural, the conspiratorial, and the environmental, but the answer is always simply selfishness. I’m on board.