The Painted Queen

The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You probably know this already, but it’s worth stating again. When Elizabeth Peters died before completing The Painted Queen, her family asked author Joan Hess to finish it. Hess was not just a fan but her friend, and must have recognized that this would be a thankless task—yet she gave three years of her life to ensure its completion.
The result has divided Amelia Peabody fans, with a good proportion of them questioning Hess’s portrayal of Amelia’s character. One example that pops up quite regularly is her knowledge of hypnotism. Here’s the thing. As readers, we seem to have a proprietorial regard for characters. They are ours. We know them better than anyone. Woe betide any author—especially an interloper—who gets them wrong. I personally felt that the hypnotism was bang on character, and provided a spark of comedy that was lacking elsewhere. I also loved the contrivance of the five brothers out for revenge.
For me, the novel’s biggest flaw was its interminable planning sessions. The family in its various permutations sits around talking about what they intend to do next…rather than getting on and doing it. Much of the book is needlessly padded out this way, and the resulting dialogue feels forced and stilted. Regarding the plot, I’m still unsure to what purpose one of the archaeologists was being drugged, and the tension between Nefret and Ramses, which we’re teased with throughout (even at the very end), is never explained (or, if it is, it’s so brief that I missed it). These issues should have been ironed out in the editorial stages. Had they been, this would have been a much better book.
It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that this was a labour of love written primarily to bring her friend’s final novel to fruition, and I applaud her for doing so.

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Monthly Post: February 2020 What has gone wrong with LTER?

The Scarab Heart (The Involuntary Medium, #2) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.46 of 5 stars

LibraryThing Early Reviewers used to provide an invaluable service to publishers, especially to indie publishers like Seventh Rainbow. When we first signed up to it in 2013, it was managed by a guy named Jeremy. Here’s how it worked. Read on…

This month’s special offer is a free download of The Scarab Heart. The Valley of the Kings, 1885. Lizzie is about to meet a young woman named Merit, and her life will never be the same again. Offer ends on February 29th 2020.

“This is not my usual type of read! *However*…this is a fantastic book! Beautifully written, brilliantly conceived, utterly enthralling, exciting and moving.”—Al Muckersie, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow

The Order of Things

The Order of Things by Graham Hurley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First off, let me hold my hand up. I am not a fan of police procedurals. I read this book for the Crimes & Thrillers reading group I attend. That said, this book doesn’t always read like a police procedural.
A woman is found brutally murdered in the bedroom of a seaside cottage near Exmouth, owned by a climatology expert who subsequently disappears. D.S. Jimmy Suttle is charged with the investigation, which rapidly stalls until his ex-wife—an investigative journalist who has just had a best-selling book and is now in need of another—begins her own investigation into the victim.
For lovers of police procedurals there should be enough to hold your interest. Short, telegraphic sentences and plenty of talk about the MIR and the like, much of which went straight over my head.
When Hurley writes in detail about the characters, however, all that changes. He’s another writer entirely. He has a very elegant turn of phrase and a knack of making what they say seem real—no easy task when your characters are often experts in their sundry fields. It’s a pity then that I ended up liking none of them, the ex-wife least of all, though I did begin to wonder if she had a bipolar disorder that had gone undiagnosed. Nor was I ultimately convinced by anyone’s motives for their actions. Why did the scientist upsticks and vanish, for instance? Why then come back, and why obfuscate when he did? I suppose I may have missed something key here but, if I did, it was subtly insinuated.
Still it’s very hard to ignore writing this good. Let me quote a description of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major as an example:

“The music was truly divine, the theme picked out on the piano, then gathered up by the soaring strings and warmed by an oboe and a flute. It surged on, music to fly by, music for seagulls, music with no respect for either gravity or pain.”

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Monthly Post: January 2020 A new year, a new novel

The Bridge of Dead Things (The Involuntary Medium, #1) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.20 of 5 stars

Not this particular one, by the way—this is this month's giveaway.
As the chimes of Big Ben die away, Oh, No, Octavius!—or Octavius Guy & the Case of the Quibbling Cleric, as Gooseberry would have it—is finally released on the public…after three very long years of conception. Four or five days after that, fifty review copies should be winging their way via the internet to those discerning LibraryThing Early Reviewers who were kind enough to request it. So here I sit with bated breath waiting for their response. Will they approve of young Gooseberry’s choices—and by extension the novel itself? Only time will tell. Read on…

This month’s giveaway is a free download of The Bridge of Dead Things. Murky Victorian London. Lizzie Blaylock is about to discover an unusual talent…one that the people around her are keen to exploit. Offer ends on January 31st 2020.

“I read most of the book in one night simply because I couldn't put it down and when I finally did it was five a.m. Wonderfully haunting and exciting it receives five stars from me...”—Brittney L. Divine author, Smashwords Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.

Monthly Post: December 2019 The Case of the Quibbling Cleric – What can you expect?

Big Bona Ogles, Boy! (Send for Octavius Guy, #3) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.71 of 5 stars

Oh, No, Octavius!, the latest addition to my Send for Octavius Guy series, is set to be published on January 1st 2020. For those of you unfamiliar with young Octavius (known variously as Gooseberry and Octopus), he’s a skinny, young lad who is now fifteen years old, and who fancies himself a detective. It’s 1853, and the well-heeled residents of Highbury have a problem: the Reverend Allaston Burr, the rector who’s been foisted upon their congregation by an ancient yet legally-binding right known as an advowson. When a final appeal to Queen Victoria fails to remove him from his post, they turn to Gooseberry for help. As you might have guessed, the Reverend Burr is not long for this world. Read on…

This month’s special offer is a free download of Big Bona Ogles, Boy!: Octavius Guy & The Case of the Mendacious Medium (#3). This time young Gooseberry investigates a shadowy Spiritualist medium only to discover that somebody wants her dead. Offer ends on December 31st 2019.

“My favorite Victorian boy investigator sets off to solve a new mystery…Words cannot describe just how much I enjoy Octavius.”—Bethany Swafford, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.

The Potter's Field

The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The title of the novel refers to the land that was purchased by the priests with the thirty pieces of silver that Judas returned to them before attempting to hang himself. This time Camilleri deals with the subject of betrayal—personal, professional, and even self-betrayal—in a book that is jam-packed with references—biblical, artistic, literary, culinary…the list goes on and on. Quite how Camilleri manages to cram them all into a story that seems painted so lightly is a tribute to his ability as a writer—and to Stephen Sartarelli’s, as his English translator. So what’s it about?
A body is found in a precipitous clay field; it’s been cut into thirty pieces, which Montalbano recognizes as an old Mafia sign. A beautiful Columbian woman reports that her husband has gone missing, whilst Mimi is acting unusually. To say any more would spoil the plot, but I suspect you’ll find yourself wondering (as did I) why the characters take so long to piece things together. I found it impossible to suspend my disbelief.
As for the food references, I’ll just say this…I’ll have what he’s having.

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Monthly Post: November 2019 Just who is Octavius Guy?

Octopus (Send for Octavius Guy, #2) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.22 of 5 stars

Simple answer: he’s a minor character from Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone. I shall let Mr Murthwaite elaborate since he manages to do it without spoilers:

‘Colonel Palgrave! Octavius! Calm yourselves, both of you!’ Mr Murthwaite reprimanded us sternly. ‘Colonel, I’ll have you know that if it were not for this lad here, the little matter of the Moonstone might never have been resolved!’
Colonel Palgrave frowned. ‘The Moonstone, sir?’
‘Before he was elected to Parliament, the MP Mr Franklin Blake was embroiled in a mystery that nearly brought him to the very brink of madness—the theft of a rare and precious jewel. By a concerted effort, he and his friends managed to trace the gem’s location to a certain bank, and yet had this boy not been present on the day the thief redeemed it—well, I dread to imagine the outcome! It is through his efforts and his efforts alone that the perpetrator was ever unmasked. Do not be misled by his age, sir; there is no sharper-eyed, quicker-witted youth in all of England than the lad you see before you in this room.’
—From the forthcoming Oh, No, Octavius!: Octavius Guy and the Case of the Quibbling Cleric. Read on…

This month’s giveaway is a free download of Octopus: Octavius Guy & The Case of the Throttled Tragedienne (#2). When the leading actress dies in mysterious circumstances during a performance of The Duchess of Malfi, Gooseberry feels duty-bound to investigate. It is, after all, a great deal more exciting than the last case he was assigned to: the tracking down of a rich old lady’s errant cat! Offer ends on November 30th 2019.

“The 'case' for our young investigator is darker and more complex this time, reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, with twists and turns that sometimes rival Agatha Christie. What I enjoyed most though, was Octavius' personal story.”—Anita Dow, Smashwords Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.