Fanfare and The Wee Book & Photo Studio

It took me five months but I was finally able to visit two more independent bookstores although it did not happen the way I expected.

Last week we made our yearly trip to Stratford, Ontario in Canada to see theater. It's a four hour trip so the first day we saw Waiting for Godot in the evening. The following morning we headed for Callan's. Every year I would talk to the proprietor and get suggestions for new authors. Mostly Canadian writers, Mr. Callan helped me discover Stuart Pawson, Howard Engel, and Donna Leon among others.

The Wee Book and Photo Shop

Imagine our surprise to find that Mr. Callan had sold his store and retired! Now called The Wee Book and Photo Shop, sisters Maureen and Suzanne share the space. One sells books and the other takes photographs including ones in costumes. Check out their website.

Wandering down Ontario Street you will find several additional bookstores, but the one that caught my fancy was Fanfare Books. It is one of those dangerous places that will quickly part you with your money even when you have pledged, as I recently did, to allow no more books into your life.

Fanfare Books

I must confess that I purchased Stuart Pawson's The Picasso Scam (first of his police procedural series and you can't find his books easily in the US), Alafair Burke's Long Gone (got it from the library but had to return it before I had a chance to read it and besides it was on the tempting outside sale table); The Shakespeare Miscellany (well, I was at a Shakespeare Festival after all), and A Writer's Space by Eric Maisel (an impulse purchase).

Peg browsing the sale books

That makes three independent bookstores visited this year and enough new books added to my collection to keep me busy for a very long time.

Last Reminder by Stuart Pawson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This British author was recommended to me by the owner of Callan's Bookstore in Stratford, Ontario, Canada this past summer. I brought it along for something to read while we enjoyed a month in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The paperback's cover reads, "Perfect for a long winter afternoon with the rain beating down on the windows" (Independent on Sunday). Unfortunately or  perhaps fortunately, it was in the 70s and sunny although it is February and the surf pounding might substitute for rain. Didn't make a bit of difference. I loved the book. Mostly I love Detective Inspector Charlie Priest. His sense of the what is appropriate and his sense of humor are a delight. Here finally is a new series that makes me want to read all the entries.

The writing, plotting and characters are engaging. With jokes scattered throughout, it is just plain fun to follow Charlie through his day both professional and personal. Check out more at his website HERE.

There seems to be a lot of action surrounding his books these days. He has a new one coming out March 14, 2011 (in the UK) and several of his earlier titles are being reissued. Although I found titles by Stuart Pawson in the statewide database, my local library doesn't hold any of his works. 

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A Sea of Troubles (2001)

A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti's mysteries in the past and picked up "A Sea of Troubles" this past summer when I was at my favorite independent bookstore in Stratford, Ontario.

The story didn't draw me in and I had to force myself to keep reading although I can't say exactly why. Checking out other reviews on the Internet, writers either loved or were lukewarm to this entry in the series and it didn't matter whether the writer was a regular reader of the series or not.

Overall Leon's stories are literate and well-written. She knows Venice well and gives the reader a lovely feel for the reality of the place. Guido Brunetti is a human being before he is a policeman and has a home life that brings him further to life. Perhaps reading the books in order would let the reader develop more of a love for the series.

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The Writer Who Couldn't Read

A while back I read a Benny Cooperman mystery (Ransom Game) by Howard Engel. In 2000 Mr. Engel suffered a stroke which left him unable to read but still able to write. PBS has a short video that explains how this could happen.

Mr. Engel was another discovery suggested by Callan Books in Stratford, Ontario.

Callan Books in Stratford, Ontario

For the last four years I have traveled with friends to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. The one place I always make a point to visit is Callan's Bookstore at 15 York Street. They have been in business for 22 years and apparently are a destination for many book lovers.

One site lists Callan's specialties as "Canadiana, mysteries, theatre, cookery, history, classics and contemporary fiction. An eclectic selection and knowledgeable staff." Each year I come away with new authors, often Canadian, that I would never find on my own. It is the only time I 'browse' for books during the year since my list of books 'to read' is so long. This year's treasures are Last Reminder (Stuart Pawson), A Sea of Troubles (Donna Leon), and Theatre (David Mamet).

Lunenburg (2000)

Lunenburg by Keith Baker


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My favorite bookseller in Stratford, Ontario suggested this title to me a couple of years ago and it's been sitting waiting since then. I bought it because of the title. A trip to Nova Scotia years back included an overnight in Lunenburg, a charming and colorful small village on the coast.

Keith Baker doesn't disappoint. His descriptions of Halifax, Lunenburg and the surrounding areas are evocative. But it's the thirty year old mystery that keeps you turning pages into the wee hours of the morning. Three other titles are listed for the author: "Inheritance", "Reckoning", and "Engram". Good luck finding them in your local library or even on Amazon, which is a shame because the author is well known in Great Britain.

From the cover "Annie Welles is an officer with the Robbery and Violent Crimes Unite of the Halifax Regional Police - a high-pressure job which has cost her her marriage."

Well drawn characters, intrigue, a little romance and a satisfactory conclusion make this a highly recommended thriller.



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Ransom Game (1981)

Ransom Game by Howard Engel


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
"Ransom Game" was recommended to me by the owner of an independent book store in Stratford, Ontario. I was surprised to find that there are a number of good Canadian authors that aren't easily available or known in this country. Howard Engel is one of them.

His Benny Cooperman series is referred to "as an institution of Canuck crime writing" by NOW (Toronto).

Set in Grantham, near Niagara Falls, in the early 1980s, Benny is a Jewish boy in a Protestant town. An unassuming, laid-back private investigator, he doesn't stop until he gets to the bottom of a problem.

Author Howard Engel has a way with words and can turn a descriptive term on a dime. There are twelve titles in this series and it looks like Penguin Canada has begun to re-release them.

The author suffered a small stoke in 2000 that left him with "a rare disorder that rendered him able to write but unable to read". He had his PI Benny Cooperman suffer the same ailment in his 11th book in the series "The Cooperman Variations".


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Stormy Weather (2007)

A few years back I found the perfect book for me. It was called Enemy Women and dealt with the Civil War in Southeastern Missouri. Author Paulette Jiles is a poet and memoirist and her writing is lyrical in this book. So the book appealed to me on a number of levels. Each chapter begins with an extract from a real letter or relevant document dealing with the terrible times and the conditions that people in that part of the country were forced to endure. The author didn't use quotation marks for her dialogue but it caused me no trouble.

What I found remarkable is the number of 'enemy women' and how they were imprisoned and treated. I am constantly amazed at the important parts of our history that never surface in an ordinary person's lifetime.

So, of course, I had to read Ms. Jiles new book. It is beautifully written and compelling in an entirely different way. While Enemy Women was compared with Cold Mountain, Story Weather has been compared with Grapes of Wrath.

It is a life affirming story of four women who overcome and live through the depression to make better lives for themselves through tenacity and love. Once I got started, I couldn't put it down.

Both these books are worthy of attention.

Random Thoughts

I haven't felt much like reading this summer. That's a good thing and a bad thing. I have the time just not the inclination.

When I was in Canada earlier this summer I stopped by my Callan Books in Stratford, which has become a bad habit. The owner often recommends Canadian or other authors I have not encountered. The most successful find was Donna Leon a couple of years ago. (And no she's not a Canadian author.)

This year I picked up Paulette Jiles's Stormy Weather since I loved her use of language and imagery and historical details in Enemy Women, which is set during the Civil War.

But I still can't get excited . . . or started.

John Brady, Canadian Mystery Author

John Brady's A Stone of the Heart is a dark, dreary night of a book. Set in Dublin, Police Sergeant Matt Minogue is trying to get back to work after a disastrous occurance. His first case seems straighforward on the surface but gyrates into something far more sinister and perhaps connected with the Troubles.

'Complex', 'compelling' and 'powerful' are words the Washington Post used to describe this book. The characters - both good and bad - are fully realized. The language and cadence of the dialogue is Irish and takes some concentration. This certainly fits my criteria for literate mystery.

This is the first book in a series of eight - the last published in 2005. Brady won the Arthur Ellis Award for this title for best first First Novel in 1989. The award is presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Candian crime and mystery writing.
Wikipedia provided the following information which I found amusing: "The awards are named for Arthur Ellis, the pseudonym of Canada's official hangman. The award statue itself is wooden model of a hanging man. The arms and legs move when the statue's string is pulled."
P.S. This isn't the cover on my paperback either!