book reviews:
A Deadly Little List
by Kay Stewart & Chris Bullock
I have to confess that I know Kay Stewart a bit, having met her at a book sellers weekend, where I offered to do the Bloody Words web site. She has kindly assisted me in a number of areas relating to my this web site and in introducing me to the Crime Writers of Canada association - so that's the full disclosure part over with. I also should mention that I love reading novels that are actually set in places I know, particularly my home – it's exciting and adds an interesting dimension to the story for me. After all, I have read many a novel set in Los Angeles and feel stupidly that I actually know the city; the truth is I drove though it once many years ago, where I stopped for gas. It was a grey day and unseasonably cold; sort of depressing and not like the LA of my imaginings. I do know the West Coast and, especially, Salt Spring Island where I have spent a good deal of time, working, drinking in the pubs, and, once, on a beautiful Spring weekend, falling in love with a beautiful girl... That was a long time ago.
Arthur grabbed for the nearest chairback to steady himself. The chair slid out from under him and he fell heavily, the stage shifting and the bright lights criss-crossing above him. Then all was blackness.
Deadly Little List is a very good novel and I read it with great enthusiasm. It opens in Victoria, but most of the action takes place on Salt Spring and the story is told by two narrators, Constable Danutia Dranchuk and a drama critic for the Victoria newspaper, Arthur Fairweather. The backbone of the story concerns a production of the Mikado, a Gilbert and Sullivan opera that takes on considerable thematic meaning as the story progresses. I don't delve too deeply into plot details in these reviews, as my interests lie elsewhere; suffice it to say, there are a couple of murders and two separate investigations, one by Constable Dranchuk and the other by Arthur Fairweather and the narrative moves back and forth between the two characters with Dranchuk being the more serious, more considered, and Fairweather lighter and funnier. Both are equally and individually interesting; however my preference was for Dranchuk because she felt more like a real character, to my mind, and drawn with greater care . My feeling about most mysteries these days is that the actual “solving of the crime” is of less interest (to me, at least), than how compelling and well drawn the characters are and the style in which the story is told. If the human condition is illuminated during this process, so much the better.
And the characters in Deadly Little List are great – real, human, funny, tender, and a bit crazy, in that sweet, slightly pathetic way one finds with Islanders. What I particularly liked about this novel was how well the authors presented island community with all its humour, complexity and connection. The novel is not just about a murder investigation, but about land use issues and development (a big problem on the Gulf Islands!) as well as, as the book progresses, the terrible treatment of Japanese Canadians during the war. And, of course, growing marijuana, British Columbia's main export!
All of these themes are handled very well, as is the strange confluence of the Salt Spring dwellers who are presented in a strong naturalistic style that is uncommon in many mystery novels and sets this one apart from the mainstream. And gives it much of it's bite.
Much of the book rings true to both life and islands and is very, very funny in places. Then, just when you think you have the tone figured out, the narrative will suddenly peer into the abyss, and what it shows is quite dark in places. I am thinking in particular of a revelation about Danutia's sexual history that is quite surprising in it's abhorrent intensity. This is one of the many strong aspects of this novel. Light and funny at one moment and then serious and thoughtful the next. And always the story holds sway and is held together by the community and their various interactions.
The mystery, when it is demystified, sits comfortably within the tone of the story; murders more of unfortunate necessity rather than psychopathic rage and more in keeping with the environment which the novel is set. All in all, this is a very good and very enjoyable novel. It is exceedingly well done, particularly for a first novel and one written by two writers, which has proved to be a disaster on other occasions.
I am already looking forward to the second in the series. There will be a second, won't there?
other views:
news:
The Arthur Ellis Nominees were announced last night and local author Sharon Rowse was nominated for Best First Novel for her The Silk Train Murder
crime links:
I will be posting links as I find them. If you have a particular crime/mystery site you like, please email me and I will list and link the best ones!
Upcoming Reviews
Local author Stan Evans' Seaweed on the Street and Mo Hayder's RITUAL
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