November 22, 2024 • 28 mins
I drop by the recent Vancouver Writers Festival event and share insights on a panel discussion with three authors who specialize in writing about subterfuge and deceit. Ann Cleeves is a British mystery novelist known for perfecting the police procedural. Beverley McLachlin is the former chief justice of Canada who now pens legal thrillers and Nita Prose has is the master of the comedic, locked room mystery.
Book discussed:
The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves
The Maid by Nita Prose
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose
Proof by Beverley McLachlin
Follow Red Fern Book Review:
Website and to leave a voicemail: https://www.redfernbookreview.com
Instagram: @redfernbookreview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redfernbookreview/
Newsletter: https://www.redfernbookreview.com/newsletter
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Tyler (00:00):
THE MODERATOR, Allison asked the panel, well,
what would be the perfectmurder? And Ann cleaves without
hesitation, just interjects andsays, Well, I know, because
she's done so much research andheld so many different jobs. She
says, Well, it would be you pushsomeone off a cliff, because
(00:25):
what I've been told through myresearch and from other
detectives, it's very hard totell if Someone's jumped or if
they've been pushed you.
Me. Hello, welcome back to theRed Fern book review. I am your
host, Amy Tyler, and today I'mhere to talk about one of my
(00:45):
very favorite genres, mysteries.
Now I was inspired to recordthis episode after attending a
recent panel discussion at theVancouver Writers Festival
called the mystery Queens. Andthe discussion featured three
writers, Ann cleaves, who is themaster of the British police
(01:07):
procedural, Beverley McLachlin,who is a former or the former
Chief Justice of the SupremeCourt of Canada, who's now
turned into a mystery writer oflegal thrillers and Nita Prose,
who is a former book publisher,editor and editor turned writer,
(01:29):
and she wrote a runaway comedicmystery novel called The maid
that I think a number of youwill be familiar with. So and
this discussion was moderated byAlison broadle from the CBC. So
with that, I'm going to tell youa little bit about the talk, do
(01:53):
a deep dive into all threeauthors and review or preview
their current books. And withinthat, hopefully you will find a
book to add to your to be readlist, and maybe just in time for
the weather turning and theholidays. So anyway, let's
(02:15):
start. So first of all, the talkwas held at the Writers
Festival, which I attend everyyear, and it's a festival made
up of, oh gosh, I don't know,50, 100 writers from around the
world. And it's held onGranville Island, which is a
(02:36):
wonderful live work space justoutside downtown Vancouver in
the city. But it's located inthe city. It's anchored by a
beautiful Public Market, andaround the market there's
theaters, artisan shops,restaurants, live, work spaces,
(02:57):
mostly in creative industries.
So that's kind of the setting.
And this event was held at oneof the theaters there. So the
first thing I will talk about isit was interesting. The three
authors came out, and everyonewas super excited, and Anne came
(03:20):
out, and then Anita came out,and there was clapping, and
everyone was excited, butBeverly, Beverly McLaughlin
comes out and basically had astanding ovation. People just
were so excited. She means somuch to Canadians as a woman,
(03:42):
she's the first woman to holdthe position that she did, and
she's held the position of ChiefJustice of the Supreme Court of
Canada for the longest thatanyone has in the history of the
position. So I think she held itfor like 15 or 17 years. The
(04:04):
other thing that I was struck bywas their personalities. Anne is
hilarious. She has a Geordieaccent, which is a very unusual
accent that signifies that she'sfrom Northeast England,
Newcastle. Specifically, it's abouncy. Undulating, rhythmic
(04:27):
accent with a little it sounds alittle Scottish, but it's not.
She's got an understated, darkwit, that kind of typical
British humor, and NIDA prose ishilarious. She is laugh out loud
funny, just like the books thatshe writes, she was imitating
(04:50):
her mother, who was FrenchCanadian, which was like this,
the French Canadian accents likea staccato, kind of almost
guttural way of speaking. Andshe was imitating her even in
her passing, she hears her mom'svoice kind of parsing out
(05:12):
advice, whether wanted orunwanted, and very much like
Gran, the character in her bookthat dispensed dispenses advice
to the main character, Molly,the maid. So, and I'll get into
that a bit later. But curiously,Beverly McLaughlin was much more
(05:34):
serious than circumspect, whileshe came out to a standing
ovation, and she was veryelegant and obviously super
accomplished. She just was morereserved, and therefore on the
panel not quite as appealing.
(05:55):
But in the end, I was notdeterred, and I ended up buying
her book because I had readbooks by the other two authors,
and I really wanted to find outa little bit more about Beverly
and what she was about, and Iknew the book would contain a
(06:18):
lot of legal details, and donein a very authentic way which it
was. So I'll get into that in alittle bit. And one of the first
things that the speaker, themoderator, talked about, is she
wanted to know if the writerswere Pantsers or plotters. So
(06:41):
that's a term that applies tomystery writers, and what that
means is a pantser is someonewho literally flies by the seat
of their pants, who writes thecharacters as they come and
almost the book the plot revealsitself in time, and that, of
(07:03):
course, is the opposite of aplotter, which is someone who
knows the ending ahead of timeand then goes back and sort of
carefully plots out the story.
So Ann cleaves said that she wascompletely a pantser, and she
doesn't really understand howcould be any other way, because
(07:25):
it's entertaining for her andshe doesn't know what's going to
happen. So it's almost likeshe's reading along with you, in
a way. Juanita prose says she'sthe opposite. Maybe it's her
background as a former editorand publisher, but she prefers
(07:48):
to plot everything out andactually knows the ending ahead
of time. And I can't rememberBeverly McLaughlin, what her
what kind of what her method is.
But let's start first with Anne.
So Anne has written 30 37novels, and three she's written
(08:10):
three series, and all threeseries have been adapted for the
television. And there's the Veraseries Shetland, which you might
know that's kind of probably herbest known series, and the long
call series. She's won tons ofawards, and I about a year ago,
(08:33):
I happened to pick up I knewthat she was a big deal in kind
of the police procedural space,so I picked up her book called
The long call. And the long callrefers to sort of a guttural
call that gulls seagulls use tocontact each other, usually when
(08:56):
they're threatened or they'rewanting to be aggressive. So
that's what that refers to, andthis, this particular book is
anchored by a detective. It'sthe first in a series Matthew
Vin, and what I liked about hischaracter is that he's super
(09:19):
damaged, but also a hero, and Ithink that makes for the best
protagonist. He grew up in areligious sect, and he escaped
the religious sect, but went onand became police detective, but
has never, kind of forgotten hispast, and so that colors all the
(09:42):
work that he does. But thisparticular book that I read, the
long call, is about above. Bodythat washes up on a beach and
there's nothing left on there'sno ID on the body, except
there's an envelope, and insidethe envelope there's information
(10:04):
that leads the detective and histeam to the kind of the first
clue the book includes socialjustice topics. It is a good
book if you're looking for ifyou want to be an amateur
sleuth, there's some Easter eggsalong the way. You probably
(10:26):
won't find out figure out whothe murderer is, but there are
clues there that if you actuallywant to figure it out, you can.
So that appeals to a lot ofpeople, but I found it. You know
also, it takes place in Devon ona windswept beach. So the
(10:49):
setting is good,but it just to me, it was a
little too serious for me, andat the time, not quite what I
was looking for. While at thesame time, I will admit that it
was well executed. So hercurrent book that she was there
to talk about is the 11th novelin the Vera Stanhope series, and
(11:15):
a similar idea, there's a man'sbody is found in the early
morning light by a local dogwalker, and the body is found
outside a care home for troubledteens. And what ends up
happening, and it was a staffmember who didn't show up for
work, so Vera Stanhope is calledto the scene, and one of the
(11:38):
first people that's suspected isa 14 year old Resident Chloe
named Chloe. But then shortlyafter, a second body is found
that's connected in somehow withthe first body, and it's found
at the site of three standingstones that are known as the
(11:58):
three dark wives, these are notreal stones. She talks about
that in her book. While thisbook is set in the Northumbrian
countryside, which is a realplace, obviously, the three
stones are from her imagination.
But in the book, these standingstones combine sort of the wilds
(12:22):
of the Northumbrian countrysidewith superstition and folklore,
and then pretty soon, factbegins to collide with fiction,
and the myth kind of intersectsreality. So that's the story
there. So I would say this whileI have not read her current
(12:42):
book, if you really want a meatypolice procedural with an
experienced writer, this bookwould be for you. Okay, so
moving over to like, a totallydifferent way of writing, we
have Nita prose. Who Nita thisbook, her book, first book, The
(13:05):
maid, came out a couple yearsago, and it was a Good Morning
America pick, and it won a tonof awards. It sold over 2
million copies. You mightremember the cover. It's a
bright red cover with a littlekeyhole with you can see like a
maid's uniform, just justthrough the keyhole, and it
(13:25):
looks like the maids in motion,running through the running past
the keyhole. So I would likenthis book to Amelia Bedelia. So
I don't know if you readmedelia, Amelia Bedelia as a
kid, but I sure did, and I lovedit, and it's kind of a bit of a
(13:48):
bumbling maid. And in in thisbook, her name is Molly Gray,
and she's not like anyone else,or at all. She struggles with
social cues and misreadseveryone's intentions. And in
the meantime, her Gran, who'sher favorite person, passed away
recently, and her grand, helpedher interpret the world, and was
(14:12):
sort of her guide. And the wayshe did that was she gave her
these really simple rules tolive by. And so while Molly is
eventually when she's trying tosolve this murder, her grand
comes into her mind, and shestill remembers many of the
things that her grand would tellher. But anyway, back to the
(14:32):
murder. One day, Molly is at thehotel where she works. She works
at this elegant hotel called theRegency Grand Hotel, and she's
stocking her cards with she'sgot little soaps and she's got
shampoos, and she's going intodifferent rooms, and she
(14:56):
stumbles into the. Suite withthe most kind of infamous and
wealthy person currently stayingat the hotel, Charles black. But
Charles Black is found dead, sofrom there, a detective comes
into play, Detective Stark, whodoesn't get along with Molly and
(15:18):
Molly starts to solve themystery while also being a
suspect. So it's quitehilarious, because you as the
reader can see these horriblecharacters coming into Molly's
world. They'll be literally acriminal with like a bag of
money and firearms, and Mollydoesn't read them as bad people,
(15:39):
but she doesn't forget a clue.
So you're kind of wanting toreach out and grab Molly and
say, Wait, watch out for thatperson, and you can't help her,
but at the same time, she's alsoone step ahead of you. And as
Nita prose said in her her talk,that her biggest weakness is
also her biggest strength. AndNita also said that she was
(16:04):
influenced by the game Clue andalso the movie knives out, which
I totally see. So her latestbook is much the same, if you
like the Molly gray the firstbook you're going to love
probably the second. I haven'tread it, but Molly's back. She's
been moved. She's become thehead she's become the head maid
(16:29):
at this point. But this time thethere's a new murder, and it is
the mystery author, JD, grimThorpe, and he's found dead on a
hotel tea room floor. So Molly'sold foe comes back. Detective
(16:49):
Stark Molly herself is againconsidered a suspect. There's a
new maid in training that can bea suspect. There's the author's
secretary, the hotel's beloveddoorman. There's nobody who's
not kind of under scrutiny Soand then, oh, another thing
(17:12):
Anita revealed is that she'sgot, I mean, this woman's on a
roll. She's got a third book inthe series coming out in April.
You can pre order it now, andit's called the maid's secret,
and this will be the last so itwill be a trilogy in this
series, and it's a heist story.
(17:33):
But what this is about is itdoes a deep dive into her Gran.
It's a Gran's life, and I guessher Gran was the only daughter
of a wealthy magnet, and shefell in love with the son of her
father's Butler. And it's thelittle clue is it's a dashing
young man who dear readers mightvery well recognize. So that's
(17:58):
kind of interesting. So there'sa little bit of a love story
combined with that. But a littlething that Nita revealed in her
talk, that I thought wasinteresting is she had been an
editor and a writer, and she wason a business trip at a hotel,
(18:21):
and she came into her room oneday and accidentally stumbled
and startled a maid that wascleaning her room, and that just
sort of gave her this idea.
She's like, you know, I think Icould write a book, and on top
of it, this is my character, andso the story just kind of
spilled out from there. Okay, sonow over to Beverly McLaughlin.
(18:43):
Beverly McLaughlin her book.
She's written, she's written amemoir about her life. She's
also written three books in theJilly Truett series. And the
Jilly Truett series features alawyer, a young lawyer, who is
(19:08):
flawed, but I would say, alsoquite noble, which I didn't
really love, and I'll explain alittle bit more. So what I did
was I picked up the third in theseries, and it's called proof,
and I took it on vacation withme. I recently went to Mexico
for a couple days, and I have mycoffee here, and it's all water
(19:33):
warped because I took it to thepool, and frankly, I didn't
reach read it that much. Was atthe pool, I spent more time
eating chips and guac anddrinking margaritas, but I took
it nonetheless. And what thisbook is about is, it is, I won't
reveal too much, because youmight go back and read the first
(19:55):
two, but it's a young i. Alawyer, and she has recently had
a baby, and so she's onmaternity leave, but she gets
called out by she's very good atwhat she does. A da calls her
and said, You've got to comeback. I've got a case for you.
(20:15):
You've got to check this out.
And so she struggles, and comesback on the job, and she's got
this young daughter namedClaire. And
throughout the novel, she's sortof struggling with really
wanting getting to get back towhat she loves to do, and then
also being a brand new mom,which she's not feeling that
(20:37):
she's like most moms that she'stotally prepared for. So the
storyline here is a daughter ofa pop star named Tris Jones goes
missing, and his ex wife Kate ischarged with her kidnapping, and
it seems sort of like a slamdunk, and then Jilly is asked to
(20:57):
represent Kate. But all thathappens right away. So of
course, all is not as the as itseems. And so the mystery
involved kind of unfolds, and wego to Vegas and but most of it
is takes place in Vancouver,which is really fun. You don't
(21:20):
need to be from here to enjoythe book, but it is really fun
when a book has a sense of placethat you recognize. And this
book certainly does. It refersto specific beaches, walks,
restaurants. I mean, there'sjust everywhere you turn. So
that's really fun as a local tosee that. And while the author
(21:44):
herself is from Eastern Ibelieve she's from eastern
Canada, she's not fromVancouver. She's conducted most
of her career here. So it reallyrang true for her to set, she
said, to set her novels here,this book, what the weakness of
the book I felt? I felt that allof the characters were a little
(22:07):
too noble, and I wanted a littlemore grit in the characters. She
does try to try to provide that,but I felt that it could have
been a little bit grittier, andI just like that a little bit
more in my mysteries. But whatreally did was really exciting
was the way that she weaves inlegal proceedings, the
(22:32):
backgrounds, kind of theinfighting between lawyers, just
all the little nitty gritty, andI'll just give like a small
example her her clients. Julie'sclient is going to be part of a
police lineup, and so sheprepares Kate for the lineup,
and she sees all the otherpeople that are going to be in
(22:54):
the lineup, and she realizesthat nobody in the lineup looks
like her client, and herclient's Almost Famous is also
famous. So she realizes thatundoubtedly, her client's going
to be picked out the lineup, andit's not fair. So she goes to
(23:15):
the opposing counsel andcomplains. So the opposing
counsel says, All right, andthen grabs and convinces the
receptionist at the opposingCounsel's Office to jump into
the lineup because she lookslike Kate the suspect. But then,
(23:36):
as soon as she does that, as hedoes that, she Julie regrets her
decision because then sherealizes that she can't have the
lineup thrown out because it wasmore fair. So it's just a little
thing, but there's, like, lotsof details like that throughout
that I really, really did enjoy.
So I would give this book aneight out of 10. I would say, if
(23:59):
you really like legal thrillers,it's worth it. And also, if you
just it's kind of fun based toread a book from the former
Chief Justice of the CanadianSupreme Court. So that's kind of
fun, but there, there wassomething a little bit missing
(24:20):
for me. But with that, I wantedto conclude with the ending,
which I thought was quite funny.
And the moderator, Allison,asked the panel, well, what
would be the perfect murder? AndAnne Cleves, without hesitation,
(24:41):
just interjects and says, Well,I know, because she's done so
much research and held so manydifferent jobs. She says, Well,
it would be you push someone offa cliff, because what I've been
told through my research andfrom other detectives. Actives,
it's very hard to tell ifsomeone's jumped or if they've
(25:04):
been pushed. And everybody inthe crowd started to laugh,
because she just was a littletoo forthcoming with that
information. You're kind ofwondering, Is she planning her
own murder of somebody? So withthat, I'm going to conclude the
latest episode of The Red firmbook review. And I hope you
(25:27):
know, I think what's fun, it wasthree female writers. They all
offer something different, and Ihope I found something that you
can sink your teeth into as wemove into the holidays. So thank
you so much, and I reallyappreciate your feedback. You
can reach me through Buzzsprout.
You can send me a message. It'scalled voicemail. And if you, if
(25:51):
you see that on the buzz if you,if you google the name of my
podcast, the Rev from BookReview and Buzz sprout, which
hosts my podcast, it'll come up,and then you can press something
called voicemail, which willallow you to send me a text. And
you can give me feedback. Youcan suggest books that I might
(26:13):
want to follow, or if you'veread or familiar with any of
these authors, I would love tohear your own thoughts on these
books. So with that, I want tothank you for tuning in, and
I'll be back in a couple weeks.
I'm going to be featuring myfriend Mary Ann, who works for
(26:38):
book warehouse, which is alocal, wonderful indie
bookseller, and she's going tohave her favorite books for
holiday giving. So thanks somuch for listening, and we'll
talk to you soon. You
THE MODERATOR, Allison asked the panel, well,
what would be the perfectmurder? And Ann cleaves without
hesitation, just interjects andsays, Well, I know, because
she's done so much research andheld so many different jobs. She
says, Well, it would be you pushsomeone off a cliff, because
(00:25):
what I've been told through myresearch and from other
detectives, it's very hard totell if Someone's jumped or if
they've been pushed you.
Me. Hello, welcome back to theRed Fern book review. I am your
host, Amy Tyler, and today I'mhere to talk about one of my
(00:45):
very favorite genres, mysteries.
Now I was inspired to recordthis episode after attending a
recent panel discussion at theVancouver Writers Festival
called the mystery Queens. Andthe discussion featured three
writers, Ann cleaves, who is themaster of the British police
(01:07):
procedural, Beverley McLachlin,who is a former or the former
Chief Justice of the SupremeCourt of Canada, who's now
turned into a mystery writer oflegal thrillers and Nita Prose,
who is a former book publisher,editor and editor turned writer,
(01:29):
and she wrote a runaway comedicmystery novel called The maid
that I think a number of youwill be familiar with. So and
this discussion was moderated byAlison broadle from the CBC. So
with that, I'm going to tell youa little bit about the talk, do
(01:53):
a deep dive into all threeauthors and review or preview
their current books. And withinthat, hopefully you will find a
book to add to your to be readlist, and maybe just in time for
the weather turning and theholidays. So anyway, let's
(02:15):
start. So first of all, the talkwas held at the Writers
Festival, which I attend everyyear, and it's a festival made
up of, oh gosh, I don't know,50, 100 writers from around the
world. And it's held onGranville Island, which is a
(02:36):
wonderful live work space justoutside downtown Vancouver in
the city. But it's located inthe city. It's anchored by a
beautiful Public Market, andaround the market there's
theaters, artisan shops,restaurants, live, work spaces,
(02:57):
mostly in creative industries.
So that's kind of the setting.
And this event was held at oneof the theaters there. So the
first thing I will talk about isit was interesting. The three
authors came out, and everyonewas super excited, and Anne came
(03:20):
out, and then Anita came out,and there was clapping, and
everyone was excited, butBeverly, Beverly McLaughlin
comes out and basically had astanding ovation. People just
were so excited. She means somuch to Canadians as a woman,
(03:42):
she's the first woman to holdthe position that she did, and
she's held the position of ChiefJustice of the Supreme Court of
Canada for the longest thatanyone has in the history of the
position. So I think she held itfor like 15 or 17 years. The
(04:04):
other thing that I was struck bywas their personalities. Anne is
hilarious. She has a Geordieaccent, which is a very unusual
accent that signifies that she'sfrom Northeast England,
Newcastle. Specifically, it's abouncy. Undulating, rhythmic
(04:27):
accent with a little it sounds alittle Scottish, but it's not.
She's got an understated, darkwit, that kind of typical
British humor, and NIDA prose ishilarious. She is laugh out loud
funny, just like the books thatshe writes, she was imitating
(04:50):
her mother, who was FrenchCanadian, which was like this,
the French Canadian accents likea staccato, kind of almost
guttural way of speaking. Andshe was imitating her even in
her passing, she hears her mom'svoice kind of parsing out
(05:12):
advice, whether wanted orunwanted, and very much like
Gran, the character in her bookthat dispensed dispenses advice
to the main character, Molly,the maid. So, and I'll get into
that a bit later. But curiously,Beverly McLaughlin was much more
(05:34):
serious than circumspect, whileshe came out to a standing
ovation, and she was veryelegant and obviously super
accomplished. She just was morereserved, and therefore on the
panel not quite as appealing.
(05:55):
But in the end, I was notdeterred, and I ended up buying
her book because I had readbooks by the other two authors,
and I really wanted to find outa little bit more about Beverly
and what she was about, and Iknew the book would contain a
(06:18):
lot of legal details, and donein a very authentic way which it
was. So I'll get into that in alittle bit. And one of the first
things that the speaker, themoderator, talked about, is she
wanted to know if the writerswere Pantsers or plotters. So
(06:41):
that's a term that applies tomystery writers, and what that
means is a pantser is someonewho literally flies by the seat
of their pants, who writes thecharacters as they come and
almost the book the plot revealsitself in time, and that, of
(07:03):
course, is the opposite of aplotter, which is someone who
knows the ending ahead of timeand then goes back and sort of
carefully plots out the story.
So Ann cleaves said that she wascompletely a pantser, and she
doesn't really understand howcould be any other way, because
(07:25):
it's entertaining for her andshe doesn't know what's going to
happen. So it's almost likeshe's reading along with you, in
a way. Juanita prose says she'sthe opposite. Maybe it's her
background as a former editorand publisher, but she prefers
(07:48):
to plot everything out andactually knows the ending ahead
of time. And I can't rememberBeverly McLaughlin, what her
what kind of what her method is.
But let's start first with Anne.
So Anne has written 30 37novels, and three she's written
(08:10):
three series, and all threeseries have been adapted for the
television. And there's the Veraseries Shetland, which you might
know that's kind of probably herbest known series, and the long
call series. She's won tons ofawards, and I about a year ago,
(08:33):
I happened to pick up I knewthat she was a big deal in kind
of the police procedural space,so I picked up her book called
The long call. And the long callrefers to sort of a guttural
call that gulls seagulls use tocontact each other, usually when
(08:56):
they're threatened or they'rewanting to be aggressive. So
that's what that refers to, andthis, this particular book is
anchored by a detective. It'sthe first in a series Matthew
Vin, and what I liked about hischaracter is that he's super
(09:19):
damaged, but also a hero, and Ithink that makes for the best
protagonist. He grew up in areligious sect, and he escaped
the religious sect, but went onand became police detective, but
has never, kind of forgotten hispast, and so that colors all the
(09:42):
work that he does. But thisparticular book that I read, the
long call, is about above. Bodythat washes up on a beach and
there's nothing left on there'sno ID on the body, except
there's an envelope, and insidethe envelope there's information
(10:04):
that leads the detective and histeam to the kind of the first
clue the book includes socialjustice topics. It is a good
book if you're looking for ifyou want to be an amateur
sleuth, there's some Easter eggsalong the way. You probably
(10:26):
won't find out figure out whothe murderer is, but there are
clues there that if you actuallywant to figure it out, you can.
So that appeals to a lot ofpeople, but I found it. You know
also, it takes place in Devon ona windswept beach. So the
(10:49):
setting is good,but it just to me, it was a
little too serious for me, andat the time, not quite what I
was looking for. While at thesame time, I will admit that it
was well executed. So hercurrent book that she was there
to talk about is the 11th novelin the Vera Stanhope series, and
(11:15):
a similar idea, there's a man'sbody is found in the early
morning light by a local dogwalker, and the body is found
outside a care home for troubledteens. And what ends up
happening, and it was a staffmember who didn't show up for
work, so Vera Stanhope is calledto the scene, and one of the
(11:38):
first people that's suspected isa 14 year old Resident Chloe
named Chloe. But then shortlyafter, a second body is found
that's connected in somehow withthe first body, and it's found
at the site of three standingstones that are known as the
(11:58):
three dark wives, these are notreal stones. She talks about
that in her book. While thisbook is set in the Northumbrian
countryside, which is a realplace, obviously, the three
stones are from her imagination.
But in the book, these standingstones combine sort of the wilds
(12:22):
of the Northumbrian countrysidewith superstition and folklore,
and then pretty soon, factbegins to collide with fiction,
and the myth kind of intersectsreality. So that's the story
there. So I would say this whileI have not read her current
(12:42):
book, if you really want a meatypolice procedural with an
experienced writer, this bookwould be for you. Okay, so
moving over to like, a totallydifferent way of writing, we
have Nita prose. Who Nita thisbook, her book, first book, The
(13:05):
maid, came out a couple yearsago, and it was a Good Morning
America pick, and it won a tonof awards. It sold over 2
million copies. You mightremember the cover. It's a
bright red cover with a littlekeyhole with you can see like a
maid's uniform, just justthrough the keyhole, and it
(13:25):
looks like the maids in motion,running through the running past
the keyhole. So I would likenthis book to Amelia Bedelia. So
I don't know if you readmedelia, Amelia Bedelia as a
kid, but I sure did, and I lovedit, and it's kind of a bit of a
(13:48):
bumbling maid. And in in thisbook, her name is Molly Gray,
and she's not like anyone else,or at all. She struggles with
social cues and misreadseveryone's intentions. And in
the meantime, her Gran, who'sher favorite person, passed away
recently, and her grand, helpedher interpret the world, and was
(14:12):
sort of her guide. And the wayshe did that was she gave her
these really simple rules tolive by. And so while Molly is
eventually when she's trying tosolve this murder, her grand
comes into her mind, and shestill remembers many of the
things that her grand would tellher. But anyway, back to the
(14:32):
murder. One day, Molly is at thehotel where she works. She works
at this elegant hotel called theRegency Grand Hotel, and she's
stocking her cards with she'sgot little soaps and she's got
shampoos, and she's going intodifferent rooms, and she
(14:56):
stumbles into the. Suite withthe most kind of infamous and
wealthy person currently stayingat the hotel, Charles black. But
Charles Black is found dead, sofrom there, a detective comes
into play, Detective Stark, whodoesn't get along with Molly and
(15:18):
Molly starts to solve themystery while also being a
suspect. So it's quitehilarious, because you as the
reader can see these horriblecharacters coming into Molly's
world. They'll be literally acriminal with like a bag of
money and firearms, and Mollydoesn't read them as bad people,
(15:39):
but she doesn't forget a clue.
So you're kind of wanting toreach out and grab Molly and
say, Wait, watch out for thatperson, and you can't help her,
but at the same time, she's alsoone step ahead of you. And as
Nita prose said in her her talk,that her biggest weakness is
also her biggest strength. AndNita also said that she was
(16:04):
influenced by the game Clue andalso the movie knives out, which
I totally see. So her latestbook is much the same, if you
like the Molly gray the firstbook you're going to love
probably the second. I haven'tread it, but Molly's back. She's
been moved. She's become thehead she's become the head maid
(16:29):
at this point. But this time thethere's a new murder, and it is
the mystery author, JD, grimThorpe, and he's found dead on a
hotel tea room floor. So Molly'sold foe comes back. Detective
(16:49):
Stark Molly herself is againconsidered a suspect. There's a
new maid in training that can bea suspect. There's the author's
secretary, the hotel's beloveddoorman. There's nobody who's
not kind of under scrutiny Soand then, oh, another thing
(17:12):
Anita revealed is that she'sgot, I mean, this woman's on a
roll. She's got a third book inthe series coming out in April.
You can pre order it now, andit's called the maid's secret,
and this will be the last so itwill be a trilogy in this
series, and it's a heist story.
(17:33):
But what this is about is itdoes a deep dive into her Gran.
It's a Gran's life, and I guessher Gran was the only daughter
of a wealthy magnet, and shefell in love with the son of her
father's Butler. And it's thelittle clue is it's a dashing
young man who dear readers mightvery well recognize. So that's
(17:58):
kind of interesting. So there'sa little bit of a love story
combined with that. But a littlething that Nita revealed in her
talk, that I thought wasinteresting is she had been an
editor and a writer, and she wason a business trip at a hotel,
(18:21):
and she came into her room oneday and accidentally stumbled
and startled a maid that wascleaning her room, and that just
sort of gave her this idea.
She's like, you know, I think Icould write a book, and on top
of it, this is my character, andso the story just kind of
spilled out from there. Okay, sonow over to Beverly McLaughlin.
(18:43):
Beverly McLaughlin her book.
She's written, she's written amemoir about her life. She's
also written three books in theJilly Truett series. And the
Jilly Truett series features alawyer, a young lawyer, who is
(19:08):
flawed, but I would say, alsoquite noble, which I didn't
really love, and I'll explain alittle bit more. So what I did
was I picked up the third in theseries, and it's called proof,
and I took it on vacation withme. I recently went to Mexico
for a couple days, and I have mycoffee here, and it's all water
(19:33):
warped because I took it to thepool, and frankly, I didn't
reach read it that much. Was atthe pool, I spent more time
eating chips and guac anddrinking margaritas, but I took
it nonetheless. And what thisbook is about is, it is, I won't
reveal too much, because youmight go back and read the first
(19:55):
two, but it's a young i. Alawyer, and she has recently had
a baby, and so she's onmaternity leave, but she gets
called out by she's very good atwhat she does. A da calls her
and said, You've got to comeback. I've got a case for you.
(20:15):
You've got to check this out.
And so she struggles, and comesback on the job, and she's got
this young daughter namedClaire. And
throughout the novel, she's sortof struggling with really
wanting getting to get back towhat she loves to do, and then
also being a brand new mom,which she's not feeling that
(20:37):
she's like most moms that she'stotally prepared for. So the
storyline here is a daughter ofa pop star named Tris Jones goes
missing, and his ex wife Kate ischarged with her kidnapping, and
it seems sort of like a slamdunk, and then Jilly is asked to
(20:57):
represent Kate. But all thathappens right away. So of
course, all is not as the as itseems. And so the mystery
involved kind of unfolds, and wego to Vegas and but most of it
is takes place in Vancouver,which is really fun. You don't
(21:20):
need to be from here to enjoythe book, but it is really fun
when a book has a sense of placethat you recognize. And this
book certainly does. It refersto specific beaches, walks,
restaurants. I mean, there'sjust everywhere you turn. So
that's really fun as a local tosee that. And while the author
(21:44):
herself is from Eastern Ibelieve she's from eastern
Canada, she's not fromVancouver. She's conducted most
of her career here. So it reallyrang true for her to set, she
said, to set her novels here,this book, what the weakness of
the book I felt? I felt that allof the characters were a little
(22:07):
too noble, and I wanted a littlemore grit in the characters. She
does try to try to provide that,but I felt that it could have
been a little bit grittier, andI just like that a little bit
more in my mysteries. But whatreally did was really exciting
was the way that she weaves inlegal proceedings, the
(22:32):
backgrounds, kind of theinfighting between lawyers, just
all the little nitty gritty, andI'll just give like a small
example her her clients. Julie'sclient is going to be part of a
police lineup, and so sheprepares Kate for the lineup,
and she sees all the otherpeople that are going to be in
(22:54):
the lineup, and she realizesthat nobody in the lineup looks
like her client, and herclient's Almost Famous is also
famous. So she realizes thatundoubtedly, her client's going
to be picked out the lineup, andit's not fair. So she goes to
(23:15):
the opposing counsel andcomplains. So the opposing
counsel says, All right, andthen grabs and convinces the
receptionist at the opposingCounsel's Office to jump into
the lineup because she lookslike Kate the suspect. But then,
(23:36):
as soon as she does that, as hedoes that, she Julie regrets her
decision because then sherealizes that she can't have the
lineup thrown out because it wasmore fair. So it's just a little
thing, but there's, like, lotsof details like that throughout
that I really, really did enjoy.
So I would give this book aneight out of 10. I would say, if
(23:59):
you really like legal thrillers,it's worth it. And also, if you
just it's kind of fun based toread a book from the former
Chief Justice of the CanadianSupreme Court. So that's kind of
fun, but there, there wassomething a little bit missing
(24:20):
for me. But with that, I wantedto conclude with the ending,
which I thought was quite funny.
And the moderator, Allison,asked the panel, well, what
would be the perfect murder? AndAnne Cleves, without hesitation,
(24:41):
just interjects and says, Well,I know, because she's done so
much research and held so manydifferent jobs. She says, Well,
it would be you push someone offa cliff, because what I've been
told through my research andfrom other detectives. Actives,
it's very hard to tell ifsomeone's jumped or if they've
(25:04):
been pushed. And everybody inthe crowd started to laugh,
because she just was a littletoo forthcoming with that
information. You're kind ofwondering, Is she planning her
own murder of somebody? So withthat, I'm going to conclude the
latest episode of The Red firmbook review. And I hope you
(25:27):
know, I think what's fun, it wasthree female writers. They all
offer something different, and Ihope I found something that you
can sink your teeth into as wemove into the holidays. So thank
you so much, and I reallyappreciate your feedback. You
can reach me through Buzzsprout.
You can send me a message. It'scalled voicemail. And if you, if
(25:51):
you see that on the buzz if you,if you google the name of my
podcast, the Rev from BookReview and Buzz sprout, which
hosts my podcast, it'll come up,and then you can press something
called voicemail, which willallow you to send me a text. And
you can give me feedback. Youcan suggest books that I might
(26:13):
want to follow, or if you'veread or familiar with any of
these authors, I would love tohear your own thoughts on these
books. So with that, I want tothank you for tuning in, and
I'll be back in a couple weeks.
I'm going to be featuring myfriend Mary Ann, who works for
(26:38):
book warehouse, which is alocal, wonderful indie
bookseller, and she's going tohave her favorite books for
holiday giving. So thanks somuch for listening, and we'll
talk to you soon. You
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.