Category: Stu’s Reviews

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: Jo Walton

Title: Half a Crown

Review: Need winter reading? The third in Walton’s “Small Change” trilogy only goes a step further from the first two. Brilliantly written, tension filled and wildly fanciful, the book is a thriller set inside an alternate history in which Britain made peace Hitler and the US did not become involved in The War. The British government has become Fascist and authoritarian. Peter Carmichael, formerly a police inspector at Scotland Yard, is ironically(and being forced to) now head the secret police called “The Watch” where he deals with political intrigue by those jealous of his position and tries to safeguard his teenage ward while keeping secret his illicit activities helping Jews and dissidents who wish to flee the country. The book jumps forward to 1960 from where the last one left off in 1949, and the level of government tyranny has increased dramatically, after Hitler and his Japanese cronies crushed the US and Russia by atomizing Miami and Moscow. Walton has a great touch for bringing back wonderful characters from the proceeding books in a subtle- almost cameo, way. This is a book it is really hard to put down. Too, too good.

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: Jo Walton

Title: Ha’Penny

Review: The second in Walton’s brilliant trilogy set in 1949 post war Britain, where Nazi Germany and Britain have an uneasy “peace with honor”, and Europe is controlled by the Nazi marauders. . Inspector Carmichael is back, investigating a possible terrorist threat to murder Hitler and his imaginary British Prime Minister colleague. The book rotates chapters between Carmichael and an actress playing a gender bending Hamlet, who unwittingly becomes involved in the conspiracy to change the rapidly Fascist oriented world. This is an amazing piece of revisionist history..…exceptionally written, and beyond complex. Can’t wait until book
three.

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: Tony Dunbar

Title: Tubby Meets Katrina

Review: The seventh installment in Dunbar’s’ delightful Big Easy Lawyer Tubby Dubonnet series…this one in must do reading in my book. Dunbar is always good and Tubby is a wonderful character…plus the sense in the books of N’Awlins is as good as any I’ve read. But this….this is the best understated account of the aftermath of Katrina I’ve yet seen. The overwhelming chaos, the sense of loss, the world run amok…..all framed within a little mystery story. Gripping and unforgettable. Go get it!

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Jo Walton

Title: Farthing

Review: Riveting first book in Walton’s pseudo sci-fi/revisionist history novel about post war England; in which a small group of wealthy British aristocrats were able to broker peace with Hitler in 1941 (“peace with honor” over Churchill’s rampage), and effectively end the war…and turn the rest of Europe, and it’s Jews, over to Nazi domain. The book is ostensibly a murder mystery that is really a treatise on the rise of Fascism. Well executed, well written, compelling….very unsettling. I’m on to the second in the series very soon.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Walter Mosely

Title: Big Bad Brawley Brown
Review: Walter Mosely is a national treasure….and has been for eons. He has been writing the Easy Rawlins titles for 25-30 years and they never disappoint. Starting in post war- just getting settled LA in his first efforts…this one picks up in 1964. Mosley’s musings on Race in America are priceless and his feel for the underbelly of life in LA is amazing. These are mysteries but Mosley far transcends the genre. Mosley is simply one of our best. Easy Rawlins is a character for the ages. I saw a film of one his early books and Easy was played by Denzel….which is an image that I can’t get out of mind….and fits to a tee. If you are lucky, you might get this book re-gifted to you during the holidays.