The Case of the Invisible Circle by Erle Stanley Gardner, 1956

Friday’s Forgotten Books at Patti Abbott’s blog Pattinase.

Any veteran investigator will tell you that it's very easy to overlook the most significant clue in a murder case. 

Erle Stanley Gardner wrote The Case of the Invisible Circle for the July 1956 issue of Mercury Mystery Book-Magazine. It is one of dozens of short stories and novelettes he published over more than four decades. These do not include the series of novels and stories based on his principal character, Perry Mason, and lesser-known protagonists like Cool and Lam, Doug Selby, Terry Clane, and Gramps Wiggins.

The Case of the Invisible Circle differs from his trademark mysteries in that there is a crime that is so perplexing as to baffle the police and pathologists.

The first-person narrator of the story, who I assume is the writer himself, is sent by the city editor of the Denver Post to the capital of Colorado — to investigate and report on the brutal rape and murder of a beautiful college girl, whose body is discovered at the bottom of a snow-covered ravine. He is accompanied by Dr. LeMoyne Snyder, a famous medico-legal specialist and author with a keen eye for homicide cases.

District attorney Hatfield Chilson, who is described as “a shrewd lawyer, a competent investigator and, above all, a fair man,” is in charge of the case. Our storyteller and Dr. Snyder assist him in getting to the bottom of the sex crime that has eluded police officers, forensics experts, and pathologists.

The challenging mystery is eventually solved after the men discover a vital clue in one of the photographs — a circle on the naked right hip of the girl — that everyone had missed the first time.

There is not a single dialogue in the story. The narrative is plain but engaging. I think Gardner deliberately wrote it that way. Instead, he offers the reader a structured investigation and police procedural that helps to nail the murderer in the end.

Interestingly, the author makes a strong case for the high character of district attorneys and lawyers in the country. He wants the public to know what these people are capable of and how they measure up to their responsibilities while investigating homicide cases.

If you are a fan of Erle Stanley Gardner, you will enjoy this story.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld, 2006

Opening line: “There is no mystery to happiness.”

My daughter Nyrica has eclectic taste in books. She borrowed The Interpretation of Murder, 2006, by American writer Jed Rubenfeld, from the library. The minute I read the back of the book, I had to write about it even if I’m unlikely to read it soon owing to other book commitments. 

This is what her 529-page Headline Review paperback says:

“On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York on his first—and only—visit to the United States, a stunning debutante is found bound and strangled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another beautiful heiress, Nora Acton, is discovered tied to a chandelier in her parents’ home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or to recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple, Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer’s identity. It is a riddle that will test their skills to the limit, and lead them on a thrilling journey—into the darkest places of the city, and of the human mind.”

It’s the most intriguing book synopsis I have read this year. Freud plays detective along with his fictitious disciple, Younger, and his real-life acolyte Carl Jung. In 1909, the two renowned psychoanalysts actually visited the United States to deliver a series of lectures on psychoanalysis at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. It might have formed the basis for the novel.

 

Jed Rubenfeld, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, has written one other novel, The Death Instinct, 2010, a mystery-thriller set around the 1920 Wall Street bombing. This should be equally interesting.

He has also written books on constitutional law and co-authored The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, 2014, with his wife Amy Chua.

Author's picture sourced from www.amazon.co.uk.

I Am Sam, 2002

Love is all you need is the tag line of I Am Sam. I offer a review of the film for Tuesday’s Overlooked Films, Audio and Video over at Todd Mason’s blog Sweet Freedom.

Lucy (Dakota Fanning): Why are men bald?

Sam (Sean Penn): Sometimes they're bald because their head is shiny and they don't have hair on it. So their head is just more of their face. 

Whether as a producer, director or writer, Jessie Nelson seems to be pleasantly obsessed with issues of coping and bonding, which form the underlying structure of many of her films. This is evident in her directorial ventures, Corrina, Corrina (1994), I Am Sam (2002), and Love the Coopers (2015), where she explores the complexities of love and relationships. 

Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally-challenged man, raises his daughter Lucy Diamond (Dakota Fanning) after her mother abandons her at birth. He has named her after The Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.’ He works at Starbucks and is equally obsessed with brewing coffee. Sam adores his daughter in his own childlike way and Lucy loves him no less. At times she is forced to play the role of parent, but she won't let on that her intellectual capacity is superior to his.

When she turns seven, the authorities take away the precocious child, ostensibly, for her own good. Father and daughter meet under supervision and hate every bit of it. Sam struggles to find a lawyer who will help him get his little girl back. He finds Rita Harrison Williams (Michelle Pfeiffer), a self-centered, high-society lawyer, who takes up his case pro bono, only to prove a point to her snickering colleagues. Does she win the courtroom battle?

Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer): I just don't know what to call you: retarded, mentally retarded, mentally handicapped, mentally disabled, intellectually handicapped, intellectually disabled, developmentally disabled...

Sam (Penn): You can call me Sam.

Jessie Nelson has handled the subject of a retarded parent, who is crazy about his daughter, with a great deal of sensitivity, and dignified humour. The camerawork is respectful of the delicate subject. The various scenes are well-crafted. While exploring the beautiful, and often poignant, relationship between Sam and Lucy, she also offers a glimpse into another—obsessed with her career, Rita, a single parent, learns to bond with her neglected young son and finds new meaning in her life. She owes it to Sam.

Sean Penn’s performance—as a kindly man with a mental capacity of a seven-year old and yet of keen perception—is good. I can imagine how much he researched and trained for the role that requires facial contortions and repetition of speech. He is a method actor, I think. He plays the mentally disabled Sam Dawson to near perfection, though not convincingly enough to convert his nominations for ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ at the Oscars and SAGA, into awards. Whether he deserved one is open to debate.

Dakota Fanning is a natural-born actress and her remarkable talent shows in this film as well as it does in Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Hide and Seek. Michelle Pfeiffer acts well but is clearly overshadowed by Penn. I’d have preferred Susan Sarandon. She and Penn shared a good chemistry in Dead Man Walking (1995). Dianne Wiest, Richard Schiff, and Laura Dern put in more or less guest appearances.

The underlying message of I Am Sam is that, the mentally challenged are nearly as normal as anyone else, certainly more so where matters of the heart are concerned. It's a nice film and I liked it, partly because of Sean Penn's affecting screen presence.

Rita (Pfeiffer): Sam, I worry. I worry sometimes.

Sam (Penn): Yeah... do you worry that you did something wrong?

Rita: No. I worry that I've gotten more out of this relationship than you.

Opening lines: The Wailing Frail by Richard S. Prather, 1956

I bought the ebook edition of The Wailing Frail—the 12th in the popular 40-plus Shell Scott Detective Mystery series by Richard S. Prather—thinking I’d review it for Friday’s Forgotten Books over at Patti Abbott’s blog Pattinase. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish reading it in time.

Patti is hosting a Richard S. Prather special today and had I finished the book, it’d have been my first by the American mystery novelist who has a cult following among fans of the genre.

I’m a little more than halfway into this hardboiled racy novel and I already like Prather’s style, particularly his use of short sentences that are as crisp as a fried South Indian papad, lines like “Beasley's mouth was working, but he didn't say anything.” He lives much to the reader’s imagination.

I also liked the opening lines a lot. I have a feeling that’s how most of his novels open, with more than just a hint of suspense and humour.

She yanked the door open with a crash and said, "Gran — "but then she stopped and stared at me. She was nude as a noodle.

I stared right back at her.

"Oh!" she squealed. "You're…not Grandma!"

"No," I said, "I'm Shell Scott, and you're not Grandma, either."

She slammed the door in my face.

Yep, I thought, this is the right house. 
 
I will be reviewing The Wailing Frail in coming weeks.

Revolutionary Road, 2008

This is my entry for Tuesday’s Overlooked Films, Audio and Video over at Todd Mason’s blog Sweet Freedom.

It was a coincidence that just the day before Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won Golden Globes for The Revenant and Steve Jobs, respectively, I watched the two in Revolutionary Road, an intense and at times depressing family drama that exposes the soft underbelly of “happily” married couples.

In 2008, Winslet won Golden Globes for Best Actress and Actress of the Year, including for The Reader. DiCaprio and director Sam Mendes failed to convert their nominations into what would have been well-deserved awards.

DiCaprio and Winslet play Frank and April Wheeler who live on Revolutionary Road in a Connecticut suburb with their two children. They seem content with their quotidian middle-class existence, he as an ordinary salesman in the company where his father worked for many years and she as a dutiful wife who manages home and the kids.

Mendes doesn’t waste time with the niceties of married life. No sooner the film is underway he tears away the veil of matrimonial bliss, at least in the eyes of their next-door friends Milly Campbell (Kathryn Hahn) and her husband Shep (David Harbour), and their real estate broker Mrs. Givings (Kathy Bates).

At the heart of the story lies April’s plan to migrate to Paris, in search of a new identity and a more fulfilling life as much for herself as for her family, which quickly turns into a nightmare as it conflicts with Frank’s own. From thereon, it’s downhill for the couple who are caught in a tangle of self-deception, frustration, anger, promiscuity, despair, and tragedy.

Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition) has made a powerful film that lays bare the harsh realities of married life, the frailties of ordinary people, and how “happy” couples can be their own worst enemies. Although the director gives equal weightage to the characters of DiCaprio and Winslet, I thought this was actually Alice’s story. Full of zest for life, Alice aspires to become an actress again only to see her dreams crash, after her differences with Frank erupt like a volcano.

Not surprisingly, DiCaprio and Winslet give a splendid performance in Revolutionary Road, particularly in their nasty arguments and fights, their emotions and feelings of guilt, so typical of problems husbands and wives face in the real world. In that sense the film holds a mirror to marriages. DiCaprio deserved an award too.

Recommended.

2015: The year I didn’t read much

My reading went completely haywire in 2015. It was The year I didn't read much. I’m not putting a number to it because it hardly counts for anything. I probably read less than 25 novels and short stories and most of those in the first-half. I did read a lot, of course, just not books. In contrast, I read 41 novels and novellas and 31 short stories in 2014.

Ditto for reviews and sundry posts on my blog, down from 142 in 2014 to 76 in 2015. I wonder what I did with the extra time.

Something happened. I’m not sure what or why. I simply lost the desire to read, or write. Job transition and a new work routine played a role, I think.

I’m trying not to feel bad about it, because I enjoyed the books I read, and that is how reading should be. I certainly don’t want to be an apologist for tackling fewer books.

In November 2014, I announced a self-styled challenge to read and review at least 50 ‘First Novels’ by writers across genres. Tall order, for my final tally is just 10. I intend to continue with the challenge and see where I will be at this time next year.

My book of the year is British writer Sarah Ward’s debut novel In Bitter Chill, which made it to the ‘First Novels’ category. I reviewed the book and also interviewed Sarah, who was generous with her answers.

I’m looking forward to doing more author-interviews in 2016.

The 10 ‘First Novels,’ some of which I had read before, were:

01. In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward, 2015
02. The Thirteenth Day by Aditya Iyengar, 2015
03. Noble Beginnings by L.T. Ryan, 2012
04. Run Girl by Eva Hudson, 2014
05. America, America by Elia Kazan, 1962
06. No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase, 1939
07. The Case of the Velvet Claws by Erle Stanley Gardner, 1933
08. The Sheriff and His Partner by Frank Harris, 1891
09. War Against the Mafia by Don Pendleton, 1969
10. The Hardy Boys: The Tower Treasure, 1927

I also read some interesting short stories, including:

01. The Blood of the Fallen by James Reasoner, 2002
02. Harvest of War by Charles Gramlich, 2012
03. Blackskull’s Captive by Tom Doolan, 2012
04. First Offense by Evan Hunter, 1955
05. The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers, 1915
06. The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury, 1951
07. Gladiator by Philip Wylie, 1930

You can read all the reviews under the ‘Rewind’ button on the right.

The other highlight of the year was my interview with prolific writer James Reasoner based on his fascinating story The Blood of the Fallen, an alternate history about Lincoln. I plan to read his westerns and historical fiction in future.

I will finish on a solemn note by remembering my dear blog friend Ron Scheer who passed away last April. He was very supportive of my blog and gave me a new perspective on westerns, or frontier fiction as he called it. I miss him.

In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward, 2015

Review & Interview

Sadler looked out across the whitening square. “I don't think it was ever closed.”

Detective Inspector Francis Sadler is talking about a three-decade old case in which two young schoolgirls in Bampton, a sleepy town in Derbyshire, England, were abducted. While Rachel Jones was found alive, her friend Sophie Jenkins was presumed dead—murdered by their kidnappers.

Way back then, the police investigation remained inconclusive and the case was closed. Was it really? Apparently not.

More than thirty years later, the unexplained suicide of Sophie’s mother, Yvonne Jenkins, in a hotel room, and the discovery of school teacher Penny Lander’s strangled body in a wooded area, comes back to haunt Rachel, survivor of that terrible event of January 20, 1978.

Rachel, now in her late-thirties, is a genealogist who digs up family secrets and histories, but keeps her own strictly under wraps. She’d like nothing better than to forget her past, the little that she remembers, and get on with her quiet life.

But the thing about the past is that it usually catches up with the present, and the outcome is not always pleasant.

When Detective Inspector Sadler and his diminutive partner, Detective Constable Connie Childs, link the two mysterious deaths to the old case, Rachel is sucked back into her past and forced to confront the sordid truth behind the abduction. She becomes an unwitting collaborator in the rebooted investigation of the crime.

In Bitter Chill—the debut novel of English writer and blogger Sarah Ward—is a compelling and well-written story of family secrets within secrets which, while being dark, is not discomfiting.

The novel is like a trident, a spear with three prongs, where each point holds three key plot elements of the story.

One, in spite of being a child-kidnap victim, Rachel becomes a genealogist when she grows up. She refuses to look over her shoulder but you can tell she is curious to know what happened to her and Sophie that day. Her own independent inquiries help her to come to terms with her mysterious past.

Two, Sarah has handled the subject of child abduction thoughtfully and sensitively, not to mention deceptively, because she doesn’t make it easy for the reader to guess why Rachel and Sophie were kidnapped. I had a few ideas, like child trafficking, for instance.

Three, DI Sadler and DC Childs are like two obsessive archaeologists who dig into the ruins of a thirty-year old case and put the skeleton of the crime together. They operate on the same wavelength in this mild police procedural. I expect to read more of their stories in future.

Sarah has written In Bitter Chill with engaging frankness. The narrative is well-plotted, evenly paced, and meticulously clean. The descriptive nature of the story fits in well with the small-town setting where everyone knows everyone by name. The three main characters, Rachel, Sadler, and Connie, are believable and drawn with ease. Each one works on the case with a quiet determination. The genealogist and the two detectives are bound by a common interest—putting a lid on the case and achieving a sense of closure.

On the flipside, at 310 pages, I thought the novel was a touch too long. There were moments when I wanted the author to cut to the chase, but that was largely because I was keen to see what happened in the end. Frankly, I didn’t see it coming. Another plus for Sarah’s fine debut.

Recommended.

I thank Sarah for sending me a review copy of In Bitter Chill as well as agreeing to do the interview that follows.


‘I became a writer because I'm a reader’

Photograph provided by the author.

Sarah Ward spoke to the 3Cs in an email interview, which is split into three parts: the book, the characters and setting, and the author.

THE BOOK
 
Sarah, how did the idea for In Bitter Chill originate? Was the child abduction and murder based on a true story?
It's based on an experience that happened to me as a child when I was walking to school and a woman attempted to persuade me to get into her car. Of course, I didn't go with her. But it left a feeling of confusion that I wanted to explore in my debut novel.

Did you always want to debut with a police procedural?
I see In Bitter Chill as a mix of police procedural and as a standalone book. Although the police investigation plays a role, I feel the book is primarily about Rachel's own investigation into her past.

What kind of research did you have to do for the subject of your novel?
I did a certain amount of tracing my own family tree and also talked to people about the impact of childhood trauma. I was keen to show that Rachel could come across as aloof but that this would be a response to what happened to her as a child.

Were you influenced by other crime fiction authors while writing In Bitter Chill?
Not while I was writing In Bitter Chill, but I suspect that I've been influenced by every book that I've enjoyed reading.

The narrative is slow but evenly paced for most part of the book and then builds up towards the end. Did you plan it that way or did it flow as you went along?
I suppose the flow was natural. I rewrote the book quite a lot, so it's difficult to assess In Bitter Chill objectively. I didn't want the book to be full of shocks but rather a gradual unfolding of the mystery.

CHARACTERS & SETTING

Sarah, I thought two of the three main characters, Detective Constable Connie Childs and kidnap victim and genealogist Rachel Jones, were similar in not too obvious a manner. Who or what inspired their characters?
That's interesting as I didn't intend to make them similar.

I see Connie as impetuous and investigating from the heart. She becomes involved in the story of the girls' disappearance when the rest of the team are lukewarm about the chances of discovering what happened those years ago.

Rachel, I see as more resolute, determined to find out what happened to her rather than it being done by an outside agency. She also comes across as slightly cold due to her self-sufficiency. Neither character is based on a real-life person. They developed during the writing.

Is Bampton, the small fictional town in Derbyshire, based on a town you knew well, or maybe, grew up in? 
Bampton isn't based on a real-life town but I wanted it to embody the sort of place where I grew up. There was one high school and one doctor's surgery. You would walk down the street and see someone you knew. It's the type of place where secrets can exist for generations and, at the same time, where everyone knows each other's business.

There is a subtle hint of attraction between Detective Inspector Francis Saddler and Connie Childs. Can we expect them to come together in future?
Who knows. I suspect Connie's path in life won't be a smooth one.

In spite of being an excellent genealogist, why is Rachel Jones reluctant to delve into her own past?
I think people are capable of drawing a distinction between their personal and private lives. I'm also drawn to how people can unwittingly choose professions that have a resonance with their own past.

How real are family secrets in the small towns of England?
I think every family has its secrets. But I think when families live in close proximity to each other, the potential for tension and conflict can be greater.

THE AUTHOR
 
Sarah, can you take us through your journey as a writer and an author?
I became a writer because I'm a reader. Crime fiction has always been my love but I do read other genres, particularly literary fiction and poetry. I started writing when I was living in Athens, Greece. In Bitter Chill was my second attempt at a novel. Both Sadler and Connie were in the first novel I tried but I decided I liked the characters better than the plot, so I had a second go!

What does writing mean to you? How do you describe the experience?
Umm...hard work! I wouldn't say it comes that easily to me although I have moments when the words flow out. But I am diligent and I try to write something every day. And I'm a conscientious editor and am happy to keep rewriting something until I like the ‘feel’ of it.

Where, when, and how do you write?
Usually in my house although sometimes at a cafe. And I do like to have at least one intense burst during a book's first draft. Mornings are my most productive time, afternoons are hopeless and I try again in the evenings.

How long did it take you to write In Bitter Chill?
About two years with long gaps in between.

What can your readers expect after your brilliant debut?
Thank you! I have just finished the second book in the series which will be called A Fragile Spring. It's coming out in the UK next September. It will feature the same police characters with a new female protagonist and a new mystery.

What books have influenced your writing and who are some of your favourite authors?
No individual book. My favourite crime writers are Agatha Christie, PD James and Ruth Rendell.

Do you have a specific time and place for reading?
Whenever I get a chance. Always in bed and on trains.

Finally, Sarah, what is your advice to budding authors?
Finish what you start and then make it better. I don't think there's any magic formula. Most of the best authors I know are extremely hard working.

Thank you, Sarah.


Reviews by my blog friends and acquaintances

Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery

Martin Edwards at Do You Write Under Your Name?

Bernadette at Reactions to Reading

Rebecca Bradley at Murder Down to a Tea 

Moira Redmond at Clothes in Books

Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel