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Reading Slothfully
I was told in elementary school that I only could read at half the speed for success in college. Oh well, one benefit of slow reading is you get to live with the characters a longer period of time. I read in a vain attempt to better understand people. At my other homes, I'm known as a spouse, pop, guy in the choir, physical chemist, computer/web dilettante and child-care provider. In theory, I'm a published author, if you consider stuff like Quenching Cross Sections for Electronic Energy Transfer Reactions Between Metastable Argon Atoms and Noble Gases and Small Molecules to count as publications. I've strewn dozens of such fascinating things to the winds.
Currently reading
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Spirit of the Border
Ramona the Brave (Ramona, #3)
The Underground Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Delilah of the Snows
Mrs. Miniver
Betsy-Tacy Treasury (P.S.)
A Christmas Carol
The Way Some People Die
Envy of Angels
Red Bones
This is the third of Anne Cleeves' tales of mystery in the Shetland Islands. The primary action occurrs on the Island of Whalsay which is to the east of "Shetland Mainland", which is itself an island as well. Inspector Jimmy Perez' somewhat inept sidekick, Sandy Wilson, grew up on Whalsay and has oodles of relatives there. One such relative is his grandmother, Mima (actually Jemima). On a visit to Whalsay, Sandy drops in to see Mima for a wee dram on his way to his parents' place. But he finds Mima prone on the ground apparently killed by a shotgun discharge. Sandy's cousin Ronald admits to have been "rabbiting" that night, and assumes an errant shot hit Mima, who was not normally out at such a late hour. He appears to be contrite, expresses guilt, and assumes he'll be punished in some way.
But, one does have to investigate things. Inspector Perez comes up to Whalsay to have a look around. Superficially, Mima's death does appear to be an accident, but Perez isn't totally convinced and wants to dig a bit more. With luck Sandy can ask seemingly innocuous questions of his relatives and get a better handle.
There's an archeological dig on Mima's property. It's a Ph.D. project for Hattie James. She's being helped by Sophie something-or-other. Hattie is convinced the site was once the house of a merchant back in Hanseatic League days, i.e. 14th or 15th century.
Not a lot of progress is made, but then Hattie calls Perez. She seems to be very upset and wants to talk to him. But by the time Perez gets back to Whalsay, Hattie has been found in one of her trenches (again by Sandy), an apparent suicide.
Perez isn't convinced about either the "accident" or the "suicide" hypotheses, so keeps digging. Eventually, it all comes out. A pretty fun read. I now have a hankering to visit the Shetland Islands.
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