Book Bites
The Postmistress of Paris ★★★★ Meg Waite Clayton, Harper
Nanee is a beautiful, rich and daring American. When German tanks roll into Paris in World War 2, she joins the Resistance, becoming known as the Postmistress because she’s able to deliver information to people in hiding. Using her charm and looks, she saves artists who are sought by German forces. The book’s focus is her relationships with her liberal friends and her love affair with photographer Edouard Moss. The book was inspired by reallife Chicago heiress Mary Jayne Gold, who worked with American journalist Varian Fry to get artists and intellectuals out of France at the start of the war. Clayton, who is the international bestselling author of The Last Train to London, said the heiress inspired her because she had the option to flee when war broke out, but she chose to stay and make a difference. This is sure to be another bestseller. Jessica Levitt @jesslevitt
The Dark Hours ★★★★ Michael Connelly, Orion
Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch, revered doyen of the LA Police Department, hero of 21 novels and a seven-series television production, has not fared well in old age. Like many pensioners, he’s adrift, struggling to relinquish his lifetime’s work. Similarly, Connelly, like many an author who’s created a famous fictional detective, must reconcile reader devotion with the need to retain an illusion of the passage of time. Connolly’s solution has been to insert Bosch into his other novels. Bosch had a peripheral role in assisting his halfbrother, criminal defender Mickey Haller, in the most recent of that series. Now, for the third time, Connelly has the stroppy retiree secretly assisting a young but equally disruptive LAPD night-shift detective, Renée Ballard. It’ sa pairing made in heaven as they relentlessly track down serial rapists and murderous insurance scammers. I don’t know, though, how Harry feels about being relegated to second fiddle in the cover blurb for a “Ballard and Bosch” thriller. But that’s retirement for you … William Saunderson-Meyer @TheJaundicedEye
Wahala ★★★
Nikki May, Doubleday
When a book is touted as a type of Sex and The City, that places way too many expectations on it. I was hoping it would be sharp with plenty of snark but sadly it was not. The story was entertaining enough — Ronke, Simi and Boo are inseparable, mixed-race friends who live in London. Ronke wants a Nigerian husband, Simi wants to be acknowledged at work and sort out her longdistance relationship with her husband, and Boo is unfulfilled as a stay-at-home mom. Then the vindictive Isobel wends her way into their friendship, manipulating all of them. The women have to be honest with each other and themselves to survive. There are great food moments and a few recipes at the end (jollof rice, moin-moin — a bean paste — and Ronke’s chicken stew), which alone make it a worthwhile read. Jennifer Platt