Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ―
I used to think I was the only book author who had trouble with their publishers but evidently that’s not true. One famous author, now deceased, who had sold 100 million books ended up firing his publisher because they did not “treat him with the respect” they showed their other authors. One of the joys of reading the Rex Stout Library of books is they include a behind-the-scenes section at the back of the book. When Stout passed away in 1975 he had 57 books in print, more than any living American writer at the time. Yet, he was so angry wit his publisher’s criticism of one of of his books that he he wrote a letter demanding they return the manuscript to him. The begging from the publisher began as soon as they realized their potential loss in profits from the book. This story appealed to me especially, because I once did the same thing!* In another case the publisher sent Stout a letter stating their lawyer reviewed his manuscript of another book—The Second Confession— that featured a fictional District Attorney of one of New York state’s counties because “people might get his fictional DA confused with the real one.” There is no record of Stout’s response but I know what mine would be,
Book of the Month
Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune is the fifth book in his Thursday Murder Club series and it’s one of his best, exceeded only by the last outing—The Last Devil to Die. That book, exhibited a level of sensitivity to the characters that was mixed with the clever plot twists that typically occur in his books. This characteristic is something carried over, perhaps slightly less so, into The Impossible Fortune. But it’s there and I’m all for it.
The Goodreads rating for the book is 4.4 and I could not disagree more, as I often do with their ratings. But then again I didn’t know until recently that Amazon owns Goodreads. Hmmm.
The Impossible Fortune addresses the death of Elizabeth’s, the titular boss of The Thursday Murder Club, husband (in the last book) when she’s approached by a man holding hundreds of millions in Bitcoin asking her to look into his fear that someone was trying to kill him. The ostensible star of the book is Joyce’s, the soul of the Murder Club, daughter, Joanna, who is getting married and whose new husband is a friend of the man in fear of his life. In the last book I mentioned a bedazzling chapter of the book that featured Ibrahim, the brains of the club, talking with Joanna while dancing with her during her wedding, This happens early in the story and sets the stage for the warmth that fills the entire novel. Gradually all of the other member of “the Club” enter the story in all of the quirky ways that makes you love each and every one of them.
Of course there is a murder which involves a car bomb that is foreshadowed early in the book although at that time you don’t know who is getting blown up and by the time you find out who and why, you won’t feel sorry for them. This guy who kicked off this entire investigation is the business partner of the woman who “gets blowed up real good” and then goes missing…until he isn’t. No Spoilers
A new-ish character in the book is Kendrick, the grandson of Ron, the tough guy of the Murder Club, and the kid is so delightfully precocious. insightful but never annoying and always charming. He, off the cuff, provides some of the clues that helps the Club solve one or two of the mysteries they’re investigating, all of which are turned upside down by the end of the book. This was such a great read and is highly recommended that it makes me want to read it again, which brings me to the next topic…
Comfort Books for the Soul
We all have comfort foods that we enjoy, maybe some more than others. Mine is hot chocolate, which Mary made for me this morning. I also have “comfort music.” Two of my favorite songs are the Beach Boys Caroline, No and Dionne Warwick’s The April Fools. I have a thing about Burt Bacharach songs and am listening to it as I write this. I can put either song on repeat and listen to them for hours. These songs do more than comfort me; they transport me to someplace I don’t fully understand.
One of the people I follow on Bookstigram was talking about “comfort books,” non-fiction books or novels that, when read, make you feel good. One of my comfort books is Stephen King’s 11/22/63; on the surface it doesn’t seem to fit the definition of “comfort” but nevertheless…I’ve read all of the book’s 880 pages three times, once from a library book and twice in the paperback I bought after reading the library’s offering. These days my comfort books are any one of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe books, such as the ones I wrote about last week.
I didn’t need a palate cleanser after reading The Impossible Fortune but there were no books in my TBR list, other than the (still being read) The Three Musketeers, so I ordered two Nero Wolfe paperbacks from Amazon, including The Second Confession that I am reading (and loving) now. I also ordered In the Best Families, which should arrive as I’m writing this.
In case your wondering what book I was referring to, it was The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography. And yea, there was some begging from the publisher to get the book published but I was still upset about the process.