Time's Convert

 I've just now gotten around to reading Deborah Harkness' Time's Convert (#1,008), the fourth book in her All Souls Trilogy.  (See my posts of 4/1/2011, 7/31/2012 & 8/18/2014.)  You may have caught the TV adaptation of these earlier books, called A Discovery of Witches on the AMC network.

Time's Convert doesn't focus strictly on Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont's story, but they are still major characters here, as the central figure is Marcus, a son of Matthew.  He is about to mate with Phoebe, who has determined to become a vampire to match Marcus, but the protocols of the Congregation must be observed.  Marcus is therefore banished for their waiting period to Les Revenants, home to Diana, Matthew, their twin toddlers and assorted friends and relatives.  Marcus's restlessness leads him to confide in Diana about his making at the hands of Matthew at the time of the American Revolution, and his subsequent adventures as he grows into his role as a vampire and accomplished surgeon.

Again, Ms. Harkness' background as a historian shows up here with her factual references to little known aspects of colonial American history and culture.  It's a fascinating read, but my complaint is still the same as it has been throughout this series - so many minor characters and referrals to events in earlier books make for confusing reading if you're not completely up to date with previous plots.  I did recommend in post for The Book of Life that the reader might be best served by lining up all of books in the All Souls Trilogy and reading them back-to-back.  The same is true with Time's Convert.  I've enjoyed this series, but it does require some effort on the part of the reader.  Maybe the pandemic is the perfect time to read them all!

All Systems Red

All Systems Red (#1,007) by Martha Wells is the first book in her series The Murderbot Diaries.  It's really more of a novella than a full length novel, but oh, what an interesting read it is!

Mostly machine, but with organic components, SecurityOne is part of the rental package which a survey team is using to explore a new planet, looking for resources and knowledge.  SecurityOne, who thinks of itself as Murderbot, isn't interested in any of that.  It's just another contract to be filled before it moves onto the next.  That is, until the inexplicable and dangerous glitches begin to add up.  When they can't rouse another survey team working on the other side of the planet, the leader decides to go check things out.  That's when things get really nasty.  Murderbot will have to choose whether to protect its human team or risk being destroyed itself.

The plot is so clever and intriguing I couldn't put the book down until I'd finished it.  I can't wait to continue with this series!  I'm amazed no one has made this into a movie or TV series yet.  Highly recommended if you're a sci-fi fan.  If you're not one yet, this book might be a good place to start.

Dog Eat Dog

What could be better than to spend the first few days of the fall season with a new David Rosenfelt Andy Carpenter Mystery?  In Dog Eat Dog (#1,006) Andy reluctantly acquires a new client when a man is arrested after saving a pug dog from a vicious beating witnessed by Andy and his wife Laurie.  Matt Jantzen, it turns out, has a warrant for a double murder in Maine.  Andy agrees to represent him at his extradition hearing, and that will be as far as it goes.  Hah!

Since Matt doesn't have any money, and he did save Hunter, the pug (now in Andy & Laurie's custody) who else is going to represent him?  Andy goes to Maine to find him an attorney to take over his defense.  The State apparently has the goods on Matt with DNA found on one of the victims.  Charlie Tilton is a local lawyer who agrees to work with Andy on the defense, but Andy is soon sucked into a world of drugs, militias and threats.  Marcus Clark, the scariest man imaginable if he is not on your side is dispatched by Laurie to protect Andy and aid the investigation.  The rest of the team gradually arrives on the scene to crack the case and more than a few lobster rolls in this entertaining mystery!

David Rosenfelt is now a Maine resident, and the places he mentions in this book are real - the Cod Cove Inn is every bit as lovely and welcoming as described here, and the lobster rolls are, in fact, ubiquitous!  I can't wait to sample one or four myself next week when we visit.  Fun to read about familiar places!

When The Stars Go Dark

Paula McLain's latest book, and her first crime novel, When The Stars Go Dark (#1,005) is both dark and personal.  Anna Hart, a detective who specializes in missing and kidnapped children and teens, is in a terrible place in her life.  She's driven to return to the one place which offered her a true home as she was bounced around the foster care system growing up.  Hap and Eden, the couple who took her in in Mendicino, California, taught her a number of survival lessons, both physical and emotional.  Perhaps by returning there, she can find some balance in her own life.

As luck would have it, she arrives in Mendicino just as a teenager has gone missing, an echo of an earlier tragedy when Anna was still living there.  The sheriff is an old friend and totally out of his depth, so Anna volunteers to lend her expertise to the search for Cameron Curtis.  Soon another girl goes missing in a nearby town.  As Anna becomes obsessed with finding Cameron she begins to wonder if the perpetrator might be hiding in plain sight.  Following her instincts leads her to the right solution, but will she survive to see justice done?

It took me a bit to get into this book, but I'm glad I stuck with it as the layers unpeel in Anna's story.  The reader doesn't learn the nature of Anna's personal demon until the end of the book.  As Ms. McLain says, this book is deeply personal to her, and she provides a number of good resources for further exploration of the topic of missing and abused children at the end.  She really is the consummate storyteller.

Island Queen

Island Queen (#1,004) by Vanessa Riley is a big novel based on the real-life Dorothy Kirwan Thomas.  Born in slavery on Monserrat, she survived slave revolts, insurrections, rape and economic oppression, yet she managed along the way to birth ten children, free herself and most of the members of her family, become mistress to a future British king and one of the wealthiest and most influential women of the Caribbean, as well as a slave holder herself.  It's a fascinating tale that will make you wonder why you've never heard of this amazing woman before.

Dolly, as she is known, loves not wisely, but too well over the course of her long life.  Four principal relationships set the course of her life for good and ill.  The drive to earn enough money to be able to control her own life and those of her children make her a runaway slave on the island of Dominica.  She settles in there to amass her first fortune. When she catches the eye of Captain William Henry at a mulatto ball there, her ambition and restlessness move her on to cross the sea with a son of King George.  Learning the ways of British society will become an essential asset in setting fashions and influencing politics in the colonies.

Loss also plays a key role in Dolly's story.  She looses relatives and relationships, but she carries on, never alone.  It's an inspiring story and told here in riveting prose.  Ms. Riley's original inspiration to tell Dorothy Kirwan Thomas' story?  Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon.  The character of Miss Lambe, the wealthy mulatto island heiress, made her wonder if such people really existed.  She found Dolly.

Cover art always interests me.  Here, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the hat Dolly describes in the book near the end as her favorite is captured accurately on the cover.  Dolly does so love her hats!  Highly recommended.

A Comedy of Terrors

In Lindsey Davis' latest installment of her ancient Roman mystery series, A Comedy of Terrors (#1,003), Flavia Albia isn't exactly thrilled to be spending Saturnalia trying to make the holidays joyous for her husband's two young nephews, now part of their household.  Preparations are frantic as Faustus is determined to make the festivities happy for the orphaned little ones.  Peddlers are out everywhere in Rome, trying to sell their trinkets, but the nut sellers are particularly persistent.  Tossing nuts at everyone is part of the tradition, but this year, someone is muscling in on the trade with subpar goods.  If the merchants won't play ball, they are coming to particularly nasty ends.

Although Flavia's husband is almost at the end of his aedile's term, when members of their own household are laid low after consuming Xeno's pies, Faustus sets out to find out who is supplying the rotten goods.  It's well within his purview, but he's painting a target on his own home. With the household turned upside down by Saturnalian antics, it's too easy to make lethal threats look like innocent jests.  Io, Saturnalia!

Flavia Albia and her husband have been through so much, it's hard to remember that they are still newlyweds, especially since they now have a ready-made family.  Flavia is having some difficulty adjusting to life as a working mother, but she will do whatever is necessary to keep her independence.  It certainly does make for entertaining reading!