More good reads from 2017

This is the second instalment of the list of books I found particularly interesting this year. First three non-fiction works, two dealing with the U.S. and one relating to Britain during the Second World War.

Lynne Olson has turned out another well-researched book, Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War. When Nazi Germany rolled over most of Europe, Britain became the refuge for six occupied nations’ governments and armed forces. Olson tells of the roles played by the monarchs of Norway and the Netherlands, the critical contribution of Polish aviators in the Battle of Britain, the work of French and Polish code breakers, and the flood of intelligences sent by the resistance organizations in the occupied homelands. The pace is fast and the stories fascinating.

Michael Klarman, a professor of legal history at Harvard has written a magnificent book, The Framer’s Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution. It recounts the drafting of the Constitution of the U.S., the battle to ratify it and the drafting and passage of the Bill of Rights. It also illustrates that very little has changed in the 227 years since these events. The big elephant in the room was slavery, but there were also rivalries between urban and rural factions, big and small states, north and south states, those advocating a weak and those a strong central government. That the document was ratified, and has served as the foundation for the nation for more than two centuries owes much to the brilliant drafters and their spirit of compromise — something altogether missing today.

Another recommendation is Ganesh Sitaraman’s The Crises of the Middle-Class Constitution: Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic. This is a tour de force of history, philosophy, law and politics. He begins by showing that when the U.S. was founded it had a unique degree of equality that the founding fathers thought was essential for the preservation of the Republic. He makes the case that economic inequality threatens the very core of the U.S. constitutional system. A profoundly important book.

For fiction, I read only mysteries and this year there were a raft of good ones. Michael Walker as usual has turned another charming tale of Bruno Chief of Police in the mythical town of St. Denis in the Dordogne. The Templars’ Last Secret is well crafted with epic scenes of outstanding culinary events interspaced with an intriguing mystery.

C. J. Sanson’s Lamentation is another tale of Tudor England and the rule of Henry VIII. It centres on an effort to locate a diary written by Queen Catherine Parr which could, if it fell into the wrong hands, lead to her decapitation. At first, it seems everything Shardlake, the protagonist, does is doomed to failure but in the end his dogged pursuit of the book is successful.

Robert Rotenberg has also returned with another mystery for his central character, Detective Ari Greene, in Heart of the City set, as usual, in Toronto. This time it involves the death of a developer and Ari’s discovery that he has a daughter, the outcome of an affair with an Englishwoman 20 years previously. As always, a first-class effort.

Leonard Goldberg’s The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes, is an enchanting mystery involving the son of Dr. Watson and a lady who, it appears, was the offspring of a brief episode of romance with Sherlock and her mother. The plot is complicated and the ending a surprise. One can hope this is the start of a new series.

Finally, Jean-Luc Bannelac’s Death in Brittany is an enchanting tale set in the small seaside town of Pont-Aven with Commissionaire Georges Dupin who has recently relocated from Paris. As he delves into the case he uncovers a web of secrecy and silence in this superficially quaint and charming village. One review called it a “delectable read.” I agree.

David Bond is an author and retired bank economist.