Apparently I’m hooked on Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway series and it made me want to return to Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie books…

Also, as a heads up, I won’t have much time for anything in the next three weeks. I have some business travel coming up, and will spend time with my mum the week after I return. It’s going to be crazy busy.

Why am saying this? I may not have time to post anything…not that my posting has been regular this year so far!

The White Bird Passes (1958) by Jessie Kesson

I’ve come across The White Bird Passes in the “local authors” section of my library. I had heard of Kesson in the past, when reading up on Nan Shepherd, but had never read anything by.

Apparently, The White Bird Passes is an autobiographical work of growing up in poverty, squalor and eventually an orphanage in Elgin in the 1920s. Although, Elgin is never mentioned in the book – unless I have missed it. I suppose the backstreets inhabited by people who have turned to prostitution and petty theft to survive could have been – and could be – in any town. The story is told from the point of view of 9-year-old Janie, who is both a witness and a victim of her time and of the prejudice against her background and gender. This was not a happy book, but I loved learning more about life in Kesson’s neighbourhood in the 1920s.

4*

The Outcast Dead (2014) by Elly Griffiths

Ruth Galloway # 6

I mentioned it before, but one of the drawbacks of reading a series in quick succession is that the plots become really unrealistic because surely there is only so much life or death drama that can happen to a small group of people …. unless they live in Midsomer, Cabot Cove, or – apparently – Norfolk.

In this installment, I again loved that historical event/character that is investigated alongside the over-dramatised and weirdly coincidental other plot that involves our cast of regular characters.

4*

Broken Ground (2018) by Val McDermid

Karen Pirie # 5

For a few years now, I had been apprehensive to read this installment in the series. As much as I have enjoyed the previous books, some of the reviews of this one put me off. Also, I was not sure how the series would continue with the changes that were predicted by the last book.

And in some respects, my concerns were validated in this book: Ruth relationship with her new boss in this book grated on me. Her new team member annoyed me no end, too.

However, I rather enjoyed the walking tour of Edinburgh that McDermid takes us on – and I may have taken down one or two recommendations for gins and eateries available in the city. I hope they still exist in our post-pandemic times.

I also really liked the main mysteries – I thought both were smart, and that elements of the one concerning the initial body found in the remote bog were quite daring. I’m just not sure about Karen’s development into a hard-ass, self-righteous cop that could have been at home in a 1970s police drama.

3.5*

Other reviews posted this week:

n/a

Currently reading:
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works – William Shakespeare (see The Will’s World Project)

Alligator Playground – Alan Sillitoe

Still Life – Val McDermid