Betrayal at Iga by Susan Spann ***

Betrayal at Iga by Susan Spann is set in Japan in 1565. Ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo attend a peace conference between the Iga Ryu and Koga Ryu. The goal of the peace conference is to form an alliance against Oda Nobunaga, a samurai warlord who wanted to become Shogun and rule all of Japan. At the welcome dinner, Koga Yajiro is poisoned.

Mysteries might be solved by forensics or psychology. This book, set in 16^th-century Japan is heavy on psychology, culture, and superstition. Since Koga Yajiro was poisoned, all the women were automatically suspects, since “poison is a woman’s art.” This included both Iga and Koga woman, whether they were servants or ninjas, with high or low positions.

The investigation depended heavily on analyzing formal relationships. Since everyone was a spy or negotiator, there was much speculation on who could be trusted. As might be expected of a story set in Japan, there was a lot of bowing, kneeling, apologizing, and talk of honor. It seemed like any minor insult could lead to a fight to the death. Everyone was armed.

As the number of deaths increased, the number of suspects decreased. In the end, Hiro Hattori identified the killer and the killer, full of arrogance, confessed and added to the incriminating circumstances.

If you are looking for a historical murder mystery set in Japan, this book (Shinobi Mystery #5) is perfect. However, you should also look at Dreaming Spies by Laurie King.

For more on Dreaming Spies: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2018/11/dreaming-spies-by-laurie-r-king.html

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A Wizard’s Dozen edited by Michael Stearns is an anthology of thirteen children’s fantasy stories. It includes Efrum’s Marbles by Joy Oestreicher and The Princess Who Kicked Butt by Will Shetterly.

                        

A sample of the collection:

Efrum’s Marbles by Joy Oestreicher. A story about a happy, but cursed giant, and how love

expands his horizons and awakens him to new things.

The Princess Who Kicked Butt by Will Shetterly. A story about destiny. When the “Fairy Who Was Good with Names” told the queen, her daughter would be called, “the Princess Who Kicked Butt.” The Queen decided to call her instead, “the Princess who Read Books.” The fairy was correct.

Harlyn’s Fairy by Jane Yolen. A story about a girl who befriends a fairy in her backyard but had the good sense not to tell her doubting aunt about it.

The Sixty-two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd by Patricia C. Wrede. A story of a fearless girl who befriends a boy (“nearsighted and sort of pudgy—just the kind of kid that gets picked on all the time”), and a bumbling Caliph who casts silly curses. Note: this was in a time where Caliphs could be subject of humor.

Fairy Dust by Charles De Lint. A story of a girl who doesn’t stop her friend from capturing a fairy. She learns her lesson. “If I ever see someone doing something, I know is wrong again, I promise I won’t just stand by and watch.”

If you would like a short story collection for a young reader, or nighttime stories for a child beyond picture books, this is an excellent choice.

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Murder at the Queen's Old Castle by Cora Harrison ***

Murder at the Queen's Old Castle by Cora Harrison is number six of the Reverend Mother mysteries set in Cork, Ireland around the 1920s. The domineering family patriarch is murdered, leaving his wife, two daughters, and younger son, who all worked in the family business, as suspects, along with the employees and apprentices. When the eldest son, a major in the British Army, inherits the business, he also a suspect. Reverend Mother, along with Dr. Scher and Inspector Patrick Cashman, unravel this mystery.

The setting: Central to the story is the Queen’s Old Castle, a distinctive building with a long history in Cork. At the time of the novel, it was a department store with high ceilings, a clear glass roof, and columns with gaslights. One oddity was a system to send payments to an office high above the sales floor where the patriarch collected the money, made change, and issued receipts.

The writing: The writing tended to repetition. One character would do something and in the next page, a second character would observe that character, leaving the reader with duplicate descriptions. The result was a slow-moving book.

Historical anomaly: The book publicity places the story in the 1920s, however Cork, in the southwest of Ireland, would have become independent of the UK 6 December 1921. The novel reads as if this never happened.

My favorite character: Eileen was a writer, reporter, and entrepreneur. She also witnessed the murder. She wrote stories about the murder to sell to the newspapers. She convinced a fancy story to use advertising pamphlets, seemingly an innovation and a new business for her friend the printer. She investigated the murder. Sadly, halfway through the book, she disappeared.

If you’re looking for a historical cozy mystery with a plethora of suspects and an interesting setting, this could be a book to consider.

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd *****

As The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd opens, it’s 1964, President Johnson has just signed the Civil Rights Act, and bad things are happening. Against this background, fourteen-year-old Lily Owens, white, runs away from home with her nanny Rosaleen, black. This could have been a horrific story of Jim Crow in South Carolina, but instead, it is a story of the power of love, specifically a group of black women who worship the Black Madonna. The women redeem everyone.

Stereotypes offer a shortcut to understanding people. Often, they are wrong, but they can also be accurate. In my reading, this is a book of stereotypes. The majority of the characters are the women of the Daughters of Mary. They are uniformly spiritual, happy, accepting, and black. They like eating, singing, and hats. They live an idyllic existence in the midst of the Jim Crow south, seemingly untouched by the chaos surrounding them. There are two instances of blacks meeting with the police. Both end well. Like the book, these characters, focus on the details of individuals, instead of the wider community (in contrast to the bees who are all about community).

The protagonist, Lily Owens, is self-obsessed, not surprising for a fourteen-year-old. Her crisis and redemption are all internal. As August, the leader of the Daughters of Mary, tells her:

“And whatever it is that keeps widening your heart, that’s Mary, too, not only the power inside you but the love. And when you get down to it, Lily, that’s the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love—but to persist in love.”

The other redeemed character is her father. He begins as a stereotyped angry, racist, white man. In the end, Lily and the Daughters of Mary see him as redeemed, but nothing is shown of this.

I enjoyed the story and the positive message, but I was left wondering if this was just whitewash for the year 1964. Certainly not the way I remember it.

If you like your history and your endings happy, this is the book. A beautiful book of faith, love, and hope.

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The Way of the World by David Fromkin ***

Imagine a professor teaching World History 101. Someone says, “Great course, you should write a book.” Maybe they just hoped to get their grade raised from a C+ to a B-, but the professor took the suggestion to heart. Here’s the book: twelve lectures (now chapters) from chimpanzees to the 21^st century. If you slept through the lectures, you now have a chance to do it again: The Way of the World by David Fromkin.

The syllabus (table of contents) starts with Becoming Human (six million years from chimps to humans. The next three lectures are: Inventing Civilization (agriculture and cities), Developing a Conscience (religions), and Seeking a Lasting Peace (nations and empires). These lectures cover the “PAST.” Insert the first midterm here.

The next four lectures are about the PRESENT: Achieving Rationality, Uniting the Planet, Releasing Nature’s Energies, and Ruling Ourselves or the Enlightenment, capitalism, science, and democracy. Insert another midterm here.

The last four lectures are about the FUTURE written with all the optimism of 1998. Here we celebrate the fall of the Soviet Union, the United Nations, environmentalism, and American Exceptionalism building up to the ultimate lecture: Entering Yet Another American Century.

This is World History that starts in Asia, moves to Europe, and ends in America. Don’t look for many women or people of color. The mention of women’s suffrage features Winston Churchill commenting on (anonymous) suffragettes chaining themselves to railings,

 “A man might as well chain himself to the [hospital] and say he wouldn’t move until he has had a baby.”

A long piece is given to Alexander the Great. The European discovery of the Americas features Cortes and Pizarro. Hitler gets a nice mention that he could have conquered the world.

“A reasonable supposition is that only Hitler’s astonishing blunder in betraying his Soviet ally kept it from happening.”

The first unit on the Past offers a traditional view of ancient history. The second unit on the Present justifies European empire and dominance. The final unit (Future) celebrates the United States as the pinnacle of civilization. 

If you’re looking for a World History survey, here it is. Enjoy.

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