BOOK MARKS

I THINK even fans of the “Golden Age of Crime” may struggle with this collection. It’s remarkable how many of these short stories, by “masters” and “mistresses” of the genre such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L Sayers, as well as enthusiastic practitioners such as GK Chesterton and Nicholas Blake (the pen name of Cecil Day-Lewis) feature missing jewels in country houses or on trains, and show a remarkable lack of imagination or originality.

The Golden Age of Crime has often been accused of “cosiness”, but here that cosiness starts to look worryingly like prejudice and condescension, and the assembled throng like a group of writers simply pandering to the market and to readers whom they don’t respect much.

– The Independent TOP OF THE HOUSE Andrew Towers Loot.co.za (R315)

Corsair

IF you’ve ever found yourself in one of the UK’s infamous bingo halls, you’ll lap this quirky tale right up. Peopled by a cast of eccentric characters on bizarre missions, Towers’ novel is a zany adventure that makes for easy reading.

Maurice, who has penchant for dressing in frocks, and Karen, left mentally stunted by a drug overdose, spend their days at the Pentagon Bingo Hall. They don’t win very much, but it’s the one place they both feel at home.

That is until the local menace starts to threaten them over a missing troll doll. It isn’t long before Maurice hatches a plan that will help them escape Deerpool.

The bingo-related chapter titles are a delight and Towers’ imaginative, liberally dispensed similes add to the enjoyment.

– Terri Dunbar-Curran THE BOOK COLLECTOR Alice Thompson Loot.co.za (R202)

Salt WITH a nod to Angela Carter, Thompson takes the myth of Bluebeard, the murdering husband who keeps a tally of his dead wives, and sets it down in that Edwardian summer just before World War I. It’s a superb setting for betrayal and revenge, where the calm beauty of an country house is slowly desecrated by acts of evil.

Violet meets Archie. He’s mysterious, rich and a widower, and soon Violet is whisked off to his estate. They have a child, but Violet fears losing everything, especially after she finds a forbidden book of fairy tales in Archie’s safe.

After a breakdown, she is sent to a local asylum. Thompson’s prose is sensual and vivid as always, as she explores with compelling urgency the great theme of marital betrayal, and in the most intimate of ways.

– The Independent WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY? Rehana Rossouw Loot.co.za (R212)

Jacana Media LOCAL is lekker. I think every Capetonian should read this book about a family living in Hanover Park in the mid 80s during the turbulent apartheid days. The book comes to life by using the idiom of the Cape Flats. In fact all South Africans would relate to the book.

The story is about a family living in the apartheid-built flats and the lives of each member – the mother and father are trying to bring up their children in difficult times as political unrest and gangsterism are dividing the community. The mother is deeply religious and very strict with her children. So there’s constant friction – one daughter wants to be a model, and the son becomes involved with gangsters. The book puts you in the midst of this with humour, violence, sadness and hope.

– Brenton Geach