The Black Count by Tom Reiss ****

The Black Count by Tom Reiss (Pulitzer Prize for Biography, non-fiction) recounts the brief period at the end of the 18^th century when France was a multiracial society with mixed-race marriage and education led by Black politicians and generals. Prior to this, France depended on enslaved labor for its sugar plantations. This moment of liberté, égalité, fraternité began with the French Revolution and ended with Napoleon, who returned to the racism that survives to the present time. The narrative follows the life of General Alex Dumas (father of Count of Monte Cristo author Alexandre Dumas.)

General Alex Dumas was born 25 March 1762 in Jérémie, Saint-Domingue (today Haiti). He was the son of a French nobleman, Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an enslaved African woman he owned. Alexandre Dumas, author of Count of Monte Cristo, was his son. The Black Count by Tom Reiss highlights many instances where the Count of Monte Cristo draws directly on incidents from the life of General Alex Dumas.

Though the book presents itself as a biography, long sections do not mention General Alex Dumas, either because the historical record is missing or because other characters (Napoleon) play a more significant role. The author occasionally appears frustrated under the requirements of writing history. “They were finally reunited in Paris at the apartment of Dumas’s old friend General Brune. One can only imagine how changed Marie-Louise found her husband, and how hard she must have worked to conceal her reaction. But their mutual happiness and relief can’t be doubted.” I can imagine a novelist retelling the life of Alex Dumas in a more engaging version.

The book closes quoting contemporary French activist Claude Ribbe: “Why did General Dumas not get the Legion of Honor?” he fumed. “Every revolutionary general got one! Why did they not rebuild his statue after the Nazis destroyed it? We have statues on every block here in Paris. Racism, racism, pure racism.”

France's most famous, forgotten Black general. Excellent history disguised as a biography.

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How to Get Away with Myrtle by Elizabeth C Bunce *****

How to Get Away with Myrtle by Elizabeth C Bunce is the second installment of investigations by the 12-year-old irrepressible Myrtle Hardcastle. Accompanied by her governess Miss Judson and cat Peony, she is packing for a Seaside Holiday. “I surreptitiously withdrew two petticoats from my luggage, replacing them with the latest edition of English Law Reports and three volumes of my encyclopædia. Taking the whole set seemed excessive, but I could not be sure Fairhaven would have a bookshop.” Unsurprisingly her holiday is soon interrupted by a jewel theft and a murder.

If you like precocious 12-year-olds and intelligent cats, this is your mystery.

Myrtle is up to date on the latest Victorian forensics. “Tardieu spots, I breathed. The blood vessels burst, leaving behind telltale hemorrhaging on the skin. She wasn’t just stabbed, I said. She was strangled.” Another recent scientific discovery that is instrumental to Myrtle’s investigations is the danger of green wallpaper. The best green of the period came from arsenic which slowly poisons the room’s occupants. Crime scene photography and sketches also play a key role in her investigations.

With all the trains and telegraphs, this might be considered a steampunk mystery.

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Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty *****

In Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, Masha Dmitrichenko runs Tranquillum House, a health resort. Her nine guests have a range of expectations from weight loss to relaxation, but Masha has other ideas. She grew up in the Soviet Union and believes the deprivation and terror of her childhood made her a better person. She intends to transform her clients by reproducing these conditions and more. The resulting novel is full of twists and turns as the author pulls the reader through a similar ordeal as Masha’s victims. Well worth the ride.

Comfort zone? We don’t need no stinking comfort zones!

From Wikipedia:

Tranquillum House staff:

Masha: Russian woman who runs the Tranquillum House

Yao and Delilah: her dedicated employees

The nine strangers:

Frances: a romance novelist

Tony: an ex-athlete

Jessica: a plastic-surgery obsessed lottery winner

Ben: Jessica's car-obsessed husband

Carmel: a single mother of four daughters who was left by her husband for a younger woman

Lars: a spa-junkie divorce lawyer

Heather and Napoleon: a married couple who lost a twin son

Zoe: Heather and Napoleon's 20-year-old twin daughter

While the book includes point-of-view scenes from the staff and the strangers, the main character is Frances Welty, a best-selling author of formulaic romance novels. However, the market has changed. Her most recent novel has been rejected and her agent is encouraging her to change her style. When Masha promises to transform her life, she wonders, “Perhaps her transformed self would go home and write a thriller or an old-fashioned murder mystery featuring a cast of colorful characters with secrets and a delightfully improbable villain.” In addition to her failing writing career, Frances bemoans how sad it is to be “childless and single in your fifties.”

A minor part of the book is a send-up of health spas, toxic cleanses, meditations, and the people who attend these places. The author’s intent is far beyond this.

Two more fundamental questions are about Stockholm Syndrome the transformational benefits of trauma. Is Masha a deranged sociopath or a brilliant therapist?

In addition to making sense of Masha, the reader can wonder if this is the novel written by the transformed Frances.

Note: The book deals with LSD micro-dosing, Silicon Valley, and Steve Jobs.

So many great characters.

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While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams *****

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams is a political thriller. Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn is fighting a conspiracy by President Brandon Stokes to cover up research to target Muslims with a genetic weapon. Justice Wynn takes a drug called Sleeping Beauty and falls into a coma. He hands the battle off to his clerk and our protagonist Avery Keene. She has many puzzles to solve reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code.

The book is based on some fantastic science. The Sleeping Beauty drug causes of coma with no other effects. The body, including the brain, is undamaged. A treatment to reverse the drug is possible, but unknown. The biological weapon is a hemorrhagic fever that only effects people with a particular genetic pattern (Imagine something like 23 and Me that identifies the target population). The plan was to use this weapon to eradicate Muslims (the literal definition of genocide).

The book has a significant legal component. Both the author and our protagonist went the Yale Law School. The plot hinges on Powers of Attorney, wills, and constitutional questions (25^th Amendment).

Subplots include Avery’s drug addict mother Rita, and Justice Wynn’s estranged son Jared.

A fast-moving political thriller of Supreme Court politics, conspiracy, and bioterrorism.

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