Becky's Books –

About a year ago I read Christina Stead’s The Little Hotel (1973) and really appreciated it.  But I found out that her book,  The Man Who Loved Children,  was really Stead’s magnum opus, making the Time magazine “Best of All Time”  list  in 2010 and so it went on my wish list.   A few months ago one of my reading groups was nominating books for November and I suggested  The Man Who Loved Children.   Here I am.   Yes,  it’s a terrific book.  It’s powerful and difficult but it’s NOT for the faint-hearted.

*******
The Man Who Loved Children
by Christina Stead
1940 / 528 pages
read by C.M. Herbert
rating 9.75   /  literary classic (US/Australia)
*******

One interesting tidbit about the book is that it was written while Stead was still newly arrived in New York City and she was using her childhood in Sydney Australia as her inspiration.  Stead’s US publishers thought the setting should be American to attract American readers.   They had her go that way and she used some kind of fictional Washington DC area as the locale.

Well,  in some ways it doesn’t work so well,  the language and family just aren’t “American,”  they’re more like Australians.  It reminds me a bit of Peter Carey’s Illywacker or Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet (which I adore).  And the “American” locations don’t work all that well either.   But I’m well enough versed in Australian fiction – from Patrick White and  to Tim Winton  and even Christos Tsiokas and Bryce Courtenay – they all write about strange Australian families.

But on the other hand,  it’s very American considering Stead’s political views and the  e US of the 1930s – the Great Depression.  The time frame is probably 1928 through 1933.    And it’s about a family which is really unlucky and gets unendurably poor during the Great Depression.  The whole situation of that family is not too far afield from the way Stead grew up in Australia.   In fact,  it’s an exaggerated,  but pretty thinly disguised bio of  the author. 

At the outset of the novel we have Sam Pollit, the eponymous main character,  who has a wife,  Henrietta who was from a very well-to-do family.  The children in the home include Louisa (Louie) who is about 11 at the outset,  from Sam’s prior marriage.  These three characters are the main pivots of the book – they’re full and complete characters come to life on the page as much as any of Faulkner’s.  Sam and Henny are deliberately created as complete and thorough opposites while Louie is in some kind of middle space struggling to keep peace between the two adults,  but she finds herself in the middle of a life and death between her parents as well for own personhood

In this struggle Louie is hampered by exaggerated feelings of worthlessness and ugliness and angst thanks in large part to the treatment of her parents who see her as fat, lazy, unattractive, bumbling, and foolish – essentially worthless.    For all her pathetic appearance,  she does have a friend or two at school and a teacher takes her under her wing.   She emotionally closer to her father,  but begins to see where he is her abusive and manipulative jailer more than her protector.

Filling out the cast are the four young boys, Ernie, Tommy, Sam and Saul,  and another girl, Evie which Henny and Sam had together plus an assortment of extended family members and friends.  These are sketched more generally but Ernie and Evie come through nicely.

How can this ever have a funny moment?  I don’t know how Stead did it but it does.  Maybe it’s from my familiarity with other fictional Australian dysfunctional families – maybe there is something comical about the way dad struts around and invents a language and so on.  He tries to keep everything light and he’s charming and it works.

They live in a shambly house along with Sam’s poor,  unmarried sister Bonnie who helps with chores.   The uppity Henny is not happy with any part of the arrangement –  she doesn’t like the children – (although I suspect she loves them) – and she loathes her sister-in-law.  She despises her husband.   She’s not a likable character at all.

Sam is sent to Malay as part of his job leaving Henny at home to manage the children.  Although Sam sends what he can,  they have little to no money,   There is a chapter devoted to Sam’s time in Malay where he shows himself to be a very loving although naive man.  When Sam returns home  the action continues with mostly mayhem and bad luck including the onset of the Great Depression.

Sam goes into some kind of bizarre denial about everything, all is well,  the kids are brilliant, the day is fun,  and he’s not helpful.  Henny gets worse after the new baby which was born just after Sam’s return (a “female problem?”) .

As Louie the bookworm tries to hold the family together she tries to be obedient and loving in the face of abuse from both parents.  Her step-mother treats her like a servant to be yelled at and called names while  her father generally puts her down by making fun of her although she is supposedly his favorite.

Family life goes on through several years when the main problem is there is no money.  Henny borrows and sells things,  Sam borrows and spends.   There are other dilemmas and problems such as school and troubled in-laws.

Themes –   Ah yes!   Poverty,  abuse,  families and dysfunction with secrets and infidelity and denial and economic stresses to the point of hysterics and talk of homicide and/or suicide sprinkled though the narrative.

Feminism is obvious in the 21st century but it wasn’t originally intended as such. Evie’s being raised to be a wife and other “roles” developed are not quite pointed – they were a part of life as folks knew it.  But Henny screams about the “rights of women,”  too.  (Stead was not pro “women’s lib” of the 1960s.)

The language in much of the book is often really hard to read or listen to what with invented rhymes and names and words,  but other times it’s pitch perfect for upscale US hip in the 1930s (as far as I know) and I suspect there are other places where it’s immaculately rendered – the South Pacific for one thing.  And that’s to say nothing of Louie’s writings.   The language –  the ways we don’t understand each other,  and the ways we do.  Stead is a master.

Another theme might be capitalism which has resulted in the mess of the Great Depression which is the direct but unstated cause of the family’s economic misfortune but the spending habits of  Sam and Henny are deeply problematical.

Symbolism, the deeper I got into the book the more I was aware of.  There’s the fish and the water to start with – and the treasures Sam brings back from Malay.   I think this book needs several readings to get a grip on all this.

On the downside it’s too long although I’d be hard-pressed to decide what parts to cut. The tension builds perfectly the way it is.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jun/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview29

Franzen in NY Times – essay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Stead

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1965/06/17/domestic-manners/?pagination=false

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_book_club/features/2001/the_man_who_loved_children/_2.html

I’ve read several books by Graham Swift and enjoyed them all,  Waterlands most but the others as well,  Last Orders;   Wish You Were Here;  The Light of Day.    I know what to expect of Swift and he’s not disappointed me yet,  but nothing I’ve read, including MOthering Sunday,  has lived up to Waterlands, either.

*******
Mothering Sunday: A Romance
by Graham Swift
2016/194 pages  (Kindle)
rating  9 / literary historical fiction
*******

Jane Fairchild and Paul Sheringham are young lovers (without love apparently – bed-buddies might be better term),  but it’s an impossible match because society in 1924 was not usually tolerant of gentlemen and maids getting together.  He’s using her in his own way but she seems not to object,  not for the most part, anyway.

The trouble is he’s getting married to Emma Hobday, a suitable young woman from a family with money.  Too bad, as that likely will be the end for Jane and Paul who have been getting together between the sheets for about seven years.   Jane will continue to work for the Niven family which lives just down the road from Paul and Paul will move somewhere with Emma.

On their last day together Paul meets Jane at the front door of his home and the morning is spent in his bed with all the other family members waiting for him at a restaurant for a dinner party.   After he leaves her Jane wanders the house naked for awhile,  but finally, after the telephone stops ringing,  she too leaves.   This has been,  as the epigraph suggests,  her Cinderella ball.

Swift has crafted a truly beautiful tale (the term is used deliberately)  of romance,  but it’s way more than that – it’s also about writing and books and truth and social class and love and women and mothers and men and loss and grief and so many things all packed into a lovely slender volume.   I think I might be reading it again.

So now I’m rereading a crime novel and I never do that (and can’t say that anymore).   I do love this series by Galbraith – the pseudonym of J.K. Rowling.   I don’t know what I expected when I first read it, but certainly not that I’d actually be rereading the first of the series – and maybe all 3 which have been released to date.

The actual reason for the read is that a group (4-Mystery Addicts) chose it for a discussion  – but that really just gave me the opportunity.   (Fwiw,  I’ve only read the 1st book of the Harry Potter series  – if I’d been 10 years old I would have gobbled them all up as they came out but I was closer to 50.)

*******
The Cuckoo’s Calling
by Robert Galbaith
2013 /464 pages
read by Robert Glenister – 15h 54m
rating:    A+
*******

I know the flaws.  It’s too long and there are too many exotic characters,  but still…  there is a pull here and I really enjoy the book.   It’s different in some way – or really it’s Strike and Robin who are the draw because for all their personal problems,  they’re never depressing like so many single cops and detectives.   They tend to be humorous and fun,  almost cheery.

• Cormoran Strike is a struggling private investigator. He has few clients, a large debt, and is obliged by a recent break-up to sleep in his office on Denmark Street. He lost his leg in the Afghan war.
• Robin Ellacott, aged 25, is Strike’s temporary secretary. She has has recently moved from Yorkshire with her boyfriend and becomes engaged the night before the novel begins. She is enthusiastic about detective work, is very intelligent, competent and resourceful. She reveals a number of surprising talents as the story unfolds.
• Lula Landry (Talullah Bristow), a 23-year-old model who died in a fall three months prior to the events of the novel. The object of Strike’s investigation is to determine how Lula died.
• John Bristow is Strike’s client and Lula’s adoptive brother.
• Charlie Bristow is John Bristow’s brother and a boyhood friend of Strike’s. Charlie died when he fell into a quarry when he was around nine or ten years old. Charlie was about six years older than Lula Landry (Bristow).
• Alison Cresswell is in a relationship with John Bristow. She works as a secretary for Tony Landry and Cyprian May in their legal practice.
• Tony Landry is Lula and John’s maternal uncle. He disapproved of Lula’s lifestyle, and raised objections to Lula’s adoption in the first instance. He has a difficult relationship with his sister.
• Lady Yvette Bristow is Lula and John’s adopted mother. She is terminally ill during the events of the novel, and her relations with Lula were strained.
• Sir Alec Bristow is Lady Bristow’s late husband. He founded his own electronics company, Albris. Sir Alec was sterile and could not have children of his own. He and Lady Bristow adopted three children: John, Charlie, and Lula Bristow. Lula was adopted when she was four years old, shortly after Charlie’s death. Sir Alec died suddenly from a heart attack.
• Cyprian May is a senior partner at the law firm where John Bristow works.
• Ursula May (Chillngham) is Tansy Bestigui’s sister and Cyprian May’s wife.

Lula’s social circle: 

• Evan Duffield is Lula’s on-off boyfriend, an actor with documented drug problems. He was the initial suspect in the media at the time of Lula’s death, but has numerous witnesses to an alibi. He argued with Lula before her death.
• Rochelle Onifade is a homeless friend of Lula’s, whom she had known since her teenage years in an outpatient clinic.
• Guy Somé (Owusu) is a fashion designer, and had a close (though platonic) relationship with Lula. He is the one who calls her “Cuckoo”. He was in Tokyo in the week leading up to her death and is an astute character witness.
• Deeby Macc is an American rapper who was supposed to arrive to stay in the apartment below Lula’s in Kentigern Gardens on the night of her death.
• Kieran Kolovas-Jones is Lula’s personal driver who has aspirations of fame as an actor.
• Ciara Porter is a model, and a friend of Lula’s.
• Freddie Bestigui is a film producer and neighbour of Lula’s. He is difficult to contact and has a reputation for being difficult and abusive. He and his wife Tansy are in the process of a divorce.
• Tansy Bestigui (Chillngham) is Freddie’s wife and a key witness, claiming to have overheard some of the events on the night of Lula’s death. Her plausibility is an issue for the police, and initially for Strike. She is the sister of Ursula May.
• Bryony Radford is Lula’s personal makeup artist and one of the people she meets on the day of her death.

Lula’s biological family:

• Marlene Higson is Lula’s biological mother. She sells her story to the press at every opportunity and lives in much poorer circumstances than Lula’s adoptive family. She had two sons after giving birth to Lula, but Lula was not interested in helping Marlene find them. Both were taken away by social services.
• Dr Joseph “Joe” Agyeman , Lula’s biological father. He met Marlene Higson as a student. Later an academic, specialising in African and Ghanian politics. He died five years before the events of the novel.
• Jonah Agyeman is Lula’s biological half-brother, serving in the British Army in Afghanistan.

Cormoran and Robin’s friends and family: 

• Lucy Strike is Cormoran Strike’s younger half-sister, Strike attends her son’s birthday party during the novel. Strike describes her as judgmental, and craving a desire for suburban stability. He admits to being fonder of her than almost anyone else, though their relationship is often strained.
• Jonny Rokeby is Strike’s famous pop-star father and has only met him twice in his lifetime.
• Leda Strike is Strike’s mother, a ‘supergroupie’ of Jonny Rokeby’s. Although an habitual drug user, she died of a heroin overdose (a drug she had not previously used) when Strike was 20. He has always suspected his stepfather had something to do with her death, though few agree with him.
• Charlotte Campbell is Strike’s longtime, rich and mercurial fiancée, from whom he finally splits as the novel starts.
• Matthew Cunliffe is Robin’s fiancé and works as an accountant. He proposes to Robin at the beginning of the novel. He does not approve of her working for Strike, whom he initially considers to be a shady character. He is described as being tall and “conventionally good looking”.

I really enjoyed the Balson’s books Saving Sophie and The Trust  I read prior,  so I thought I’d read the first in the series because it is a series.   It’s called the Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart series and there are four books now.

The frame –  In 2004,  an old man holds a gun to the head of another old man standing outside an art showing in Chicago and starts yelling something about his being a Nazi.  The first old man, holding the gun,  turns out to be Ben Soloman,  a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the US in 1949.   The second old man is the very rich and famous Eliot Rosenzweig,  philanthropist to the arts in Chicago – Ben is accusing him of being Otto Piontec,  a Nazi mass murderer.

This book gets a really high rating, because although it starts slowly and doesn’t speed up much until about 1/3 or 1/2 way.   The reason is that a main character,  Ben Solomon, has to tell what feels like a long meandering story about life and war for Jews in Poland between 1939-1942.   Meanwhile,  the framing story takes place in 2004-05.     The remarkable tension is built in both threads gradually,  occasionally broken by a few pages of lighter fare,  and then it builds steadily through the legal crime aspects of the second half to a superb ending.

*******
Once We Were Brothers
by Robert Balson
2009 / 400 pages
read by Fred Berman
rating:  7  /   A literary legal crime (WWII and today)
*******

Liam Taggart  is a private detective and Catherine  Lockhart,  his good friend from school days,  is an attorney with a high-profile firm in Chicago.    Liam brings the case of Ben Solomon to Catherine’s attention and she’ reluctantly becomes interested – then involved.

As Ben tells his story it becomes apparent that his  connection to the horrific past is more than memory – he seems to be reliving it and sometimes actually talking to his beloved Hannah.   Also,   Ben’s depictions of the Nazis as monsters is visceral,  real,  literal.  He believes they were sent by Satan in a literal sense but then,  Ben is a bit of an over-studious, Kabbalah lover.  His story is very tiring to listen to because Ben/Berman gets a bit over-emotional – there were places, especially in the first third of the book, where I almost stopped caring because I couldn’t go to thoseo kinds of emotional depths that fast.

The story Ben tells is that his best friend,  a Protestant boy named Otto Piontec,  lived with the Solomon family in Poland from age 12 or so until he was signed up for the German forces.  Otto was apparently loyal to the family for many years and tried to help them, but …

Much of the tension in the story revolves around when did Otto stop helping and being loyal and start to develop Nazi sympathies or attributes.  And as Catherine continues to probe his story she becomes convinced there is something deeper,  something really ugly.   Also,  there may be a question of whether Eliot Rosenzweig, the man Ben attacked,  is actually Otto – the prosecution absolutely believes it,  but will a judge or a jury who has the final say so the question is,   is there evidence other than Ben’s recognition and memory to back up the case?   Not really …

Ben tells most of the story but he includes a  LOT of history.  He’s wanting to sue Rosenzweig for his Nazi activities,  but the main story is a personal history lesson of war and genocide.  I enjoyed the legal wranglings  of the second part far more than the first although the fictionalized history was interesting.

Between Catherine listening to Ben’s story and Liam’s research into Otto Piontec the truth  is revealed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielski_partisans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Zamość#World_War_II

Oh my – be still my heart.   I love these The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and have been reading them as they came out in 1999.   So this is Book 18 and yes,  I suppose the stories are slowing down a bit.   If you haven’t been following the series don’t start here.  Start with book 1,  The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,  and go from there.   The overarching relationships carry the series,  not the little stories in each book.

Precious Ramotswe owns a little detective agency in Gabone,  Botswana.  She set up this shop in book 1 and hired a secretary in book 2 (I think),  but by book 18 the secretary has become almost a partner  – kind of.    Her name is Grace Makutsi and she is a kick.

*******
The House of Unexpected Sisters
by Alexander McCall Smith
2017 / 240 pages
read by Lisette Lecat – 9h 28m 
rating –  10 (enjoyment only) /  general fiction
*******

The books are sweet –  the coziest of cozies (except for the Botswana factor and no romance).   I love them.  The little “mysteries” this time are 1.  why did a young friend of Mma Mamakuzi lose her job –  the allegations are that she was rude to a customer,  but that’s not the whole truth.   The other mystery involves a woman with the same last name as Precious Ramatswe and from the same town.   Who is she and where did she come from?

I think this is the funniest of the series.  I laughed out loud to the point of tears a couple times.  But it’s also tender and the thing I love most is watching these characters arrange themselves around new issues as life goes on.

Again,  I love these books but by this time it’s more for sentimental reasons than for anything I’d honestly  recommend to a friend.   So I’ll just say that if you’re a fan,  go for it!   If not yet,  start at book 1 and see how it goes.

The Trust takes place in about 2016 in the heart of Northern Ireland,  but parts of  the story go back to the time of “Troubles”  of the 1970s when the Catholic Irish wanted to reunite with their kin in the Republic to the South – to gain independence from the UK.   So the IRA and its branches are all interwoven with family issues  as the Taggarts,  who appear to be a very closely knit family and staunch supporters of independence,  fight each other as well as those who hate them.  This goes back to the Ulster Plantation of around 1606.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantation_of_Ulster

I’ve read one prior Liam Taggart novel,  Saving Sophie,  and I enjoyed that one quite a lot.

*******
The Trust
by Robert Balson
2017 / 368 pages
read by Fred Berman
rating:   A++
*******

Liam Taggart,  now a private investigator living with his family in Chicago,  is called back “home” to Northern Ireland for  the funeral of his Uncle Fergus who died suddenly at his farm.   Liam has been a kind of outcast for close to 20 years (since the “troubles”),  but when he gets to Ireland he finds that he has been named executor of the will and associated trust.   He also finds out that his uncle was murdered –  pretty much in cold blood.

Liam is considered an outcast because when he lived there in the 1990s he worked as a CIA operative trying to establish peace,  but in doing  that he was employed by the forces  opposed to the family.  Liam firmly feels he did the right thing, but it does not sit well with his uncles.   And it looks like the war may not be over for everyone.

Liam doesn’t really want to go but Catherine,  his wife,  encourages him.   The assets of the will include a trust worth quite a lot of money which, like the other parts of the will,  cannot be dispersed until his murderer is found and prosecuted.  –  This means that Fergus knew he was going to be murdered – or at least he suspected it.  There are relations which deeply resent Liam’s presence,  to say nothing of his authority as executor.  He has to continue to deny access to the funds until the murder is solved –  and then there is another murder.

Fergus’ beneficiaries include a son,  a niece,  several brothers, a common-law wife of 40 years and a totally unknown name,  Bridget McGregor,  to whom money has been sent for many years.  There are plenty of suspects.   Liam’s father was one of the brothers but his death goes back to the time of Troubles.   And  the deceased Uncle Fergus was very secretive about many things.   Also,  there is a clause in the will which prohibits anyone contesting it under penalty of being removed from the beneficiaries.

Liam’s life is probably in danger as he goes about his business investigating with the police who aren’t necessarily trustworthy.

Overall a very suspenseful novel,  wonderfully well read by Fred Berman.

Royal Ulster Constabulary (URC)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ulster_Constabulary

Shankill Butchers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankill_Butchers

Citizens of the Lower Falls:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_Curfew

I have a long history with John Grisham –  love most of his books,  but a few have been less worthy.   He’s gone through phases ranging from very serious legal thrillers to rather formula courtroom thrillers to non-crime books and more recently,  fun legal crime.   I haven’t read all of his books but counting down the list at Wikipedia I’ve read at least 21 out of the 37 listed.   So … I tried The Rooster Bar even if it did have some mixed reviews,  and was pleasantly surprised.

*******
The Rooster Bar
by John Grisham
2017/ 368 pages
read by Ari Fliakos  10h 16m
rating –  A+  /   legal crime 
*******

Mark,  Todd, Gordy and Zola are law students at a shady,  for-profit law school in Washington, DC.   The name is “Foggy Bottom”  and that’s pretty indicative of the tone of this book.   The tuition,  fees and living expenses have all of them deeply in debt and they don’t have jobs.   It’s taking a toll on their lives and one night it gets to be a real high toll –  way too high.   But Gordy has left a trail about his own research and investigations.

First the group of now three law students go to an immigration and customs detention center because Zola’s parents have been incarcerated there.  This is a whole ‘nother area of corruption and abuse.

But it’s the law school scam which takes center stage here.   The three intrepid wanna-be-lawyers begin their investigation into the law schools which Gordy had started.   Meanwhile,  they pull a bit of a scam themselves,  posing as bone fide lawyers and hustling customers at the court house and hospitals.   One thing leads to another and before long the group finds themselves in a wee bit of trouble.  And with every twist they give the knot,  they find themselves in deeper.

The tone is almost always light and sometimes downright funny,  although the topic of law school scams is serious and Grisham has taken aim.

I love that I can get older Kindle and Audio books at the click of a keyboard.  Bruno’s Dream  was first published in 1969 and is certainly a classic,  but that’s no guarantee that it’s  available in any of my local bookshops or the local libraries.  –  I live in a rather poor rural area where there are no bookstores within 50 miles and the library is also very small,  only connected to a small network which sometimes has my selections and sometimes not.   –   I’d rather own the books anyway (as much as you can “own”  digital products).

*******
Bruno’s Dream 
by Iris Murdoch
1969 / 320 pages
read by Simon Prebble 20h 15m
rating – 8.5 /  classic 20th century
(read and listened)
*******

The story opens with Bruno in bed at the home of Danby,  his son-in-law, although his daughter is dead.  Bruno is remem-bering,  or “dreaming,” again.  He remembers a lot.  He remembers his family –  his son Miles and his loves and his daughter Gwen and  husband Danby.  There are difficulties and a lot of sad memories, but there are times when he remembers good things.  The first chapter is mostly about love –  and the tale of his adulterous affair and how it affected his now deceased wife Janie.

The second chapter is about Danby and from his point of view.  He’s  a widower who loved his wife,  Bruno’s daughter,  but is still attractive to women.  Danby has now had an affair with Adelaide,  the maid,  for many years.  Before her it was Linda who went back to Australia.   Danby has taken over Bruno’s business,  printing.  He dreams of his wife who drowned.

And in the third chapter we have life from Nigel’s point of view –  Nigel is Bruno’s nurse – a very sympathetic and mystical guy who isn’t all he seems –

There are also chapters devoted to Bruno’s son Miles,  Bruno’s maid,  Adelaide,  Will who is Nigel’s brother and others.

The point here is that we all live in the center of our own webs (note the cover art).   Bruno feels guilty for something and wants to make amends to Miles,  but in Miles’ mind they are estranged for entirely different reasons.   Miles has his own life going on and Bruno is not the center of it –  maybe Diana is – but Diana has a bit of her own life going on, too.   And the primary characters,   Bruno,  Danby and Miles,  all live at least partly in the past – grieving past loves.

There are several complex relationships like this going on.   It seems there are so many characters but many names are not active –  they just influence the lives of the main characters.
See Character list:
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/112017-2/brunos-dream-by-iris-murdoch/

I very much enjoyed the book – it was like a soap opera on the top level, but beneath that there are a lot of references to God and free will as well as love, death,  good vs evil and all the usual themes.

Back when Harry Bosch was a young and eager cop he successfully apprehended and got Preston Borders convicted of  the rape and murder of three young women. Borders went to death row at San Quentin and even after all this time,  he’s still there,  alive.

*******
Two Kinds of Truth
by Michael Connelly
2017 / 416 pages
read by Titus
rating: A++    /  crime- procedural
20th of the Harry Bosch novels
*******

Fast-forward thirty years to find Bosch retired and working as a volunteer in the cold-case files for San Fernando Police Department.   He’s easy to find for the Conviction Integrity Unit which has opened a case.  His old partner Sheehan is, or seems to be,  working with the CIU.

One trouble is the DNA the CIU  has come up with was totally not available when Bosch got his man.

Bosch is called out on an emergency by his current department and gets involved in a current case –  a double murder involving a father and son pharmacists,  Jose Esquivel Sr. and Jr,  as victims at their pharmacy.

But Bosch’s  heart is with the old Borders case  because that strikes at his very integrity,  his pocketbook and the status of all the cases he ever had a hand in convicting.  He reviews everything from back then as well as checking on Borders in prison.  This is when he also thinks to call his half-brother,  Mickey Haller,  an attorney (see The Lincoln Lawyer by Connelly).     But the one piece of evidence convicting Borders was a small seahorse pennant belonging to the victim but which was found at Borders’ home.

Jose Esquival and his son Junior were both pharmacists with Junior being  a recent grad from pharmacy school and apparently on the up-and-up.  His father on the other hand might have been doing something with people who have guns.

Some of this ends up in serious chase scenes but there are also great courtroom battles.  Bosch is still Bosch and Haller is Haller –  these are great books and considering the very ending part here,  I’m looking forward to a continuation of the series.