Blogger-Inspired Wishlist, Ep. 7: Literary Fictions & Murder Mysteries

Blogger-Inspired Wishlist is a feature where I post recent additions to my wish list, which had been inspired by reviews from my fellow bloggers. It includes some synopsis, as well as some excerpts of the review which have intrigued me, complete with a link to the blogger's original post.

This episode is supposed to be up last month, but as I’ve been busy due to my father’s death, I can only publish this today. These eight interesting books have been inspired by some bloggers I’ve been following. Some are nice literary fictions, and the rest are murder mystery novels. Hope you enjoy it!

The Bangalore Detective Club by Harini Nagendra

Inspired by Cath @ Read-warbler

Synopsis:
When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry handsome young doctor Ramu, she's resigned herself to a quiet life. But that all changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she escapes to the garden for some peace and quiet—and instead spots an uninvited guest in the shadows. Half an hour later, the party turns into a murder scene. When a vulnerable woman is connected to the crime, Kaveri becomes determined to save her and launches a private investigation to find the killer, tracing his steps from an illustrious brothel to an Englishman's mansion. She soon finds that sleuthing in a sari isn't as hard as it seems when you have a talent for mathematics, a head for logic, and a doctor for a husband . . .

From Cath's review:
"Cozy isn't always my thing but I found the depiction of 1920s Bangalore to be absolutely fascinating. The author is Indian and lives there and this 'really' shows as we gets a warts and all description of a very crowded city with a lot of poverty. I liked Kaveri who breaks all the rules about where she can go and what she can do as the wife of a quite well to do doctor. Said husband is a great character too, a man who appreciates his intelligent wife even if she can't cook. The neighbour, Uma Aunty, who aids and abets Kaveri and teaches her to cook in exchange for reading lessons is brilliant too and there's a very rich and varied cast of other well drawn extras. I did not guess the culprit until nearly the end as the whole thing was quite complicated. I liked this a 'lot'."

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Inspired by: Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog

Synopsis:
When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous Mirabelle Dartigen - the woman they still hold responsible for a terrible tragedy that took place during the German occupation decades before. Although Framboise hopes for a new beginning she quickly discovers that past and present are inextricably intertwined. Nowhere is this truth more apparent than in the scrapbook of recipes she has inherited from her dead mother. With this book, Framboise re-creates her mother's dishes, which she serves in her small creperie. And yet as she studies the scrapbook - searching for clues to unlock the contradiction between her mother's sensuous love of food and often cruel demeanor - she begins to recognize a deeper meaning behind Mirabelle's cryptic scribbles. Within the journal's tattered pages lies the key to what actually transpired the summer Framboise was nine years old.

From Davida's review:
"Harris has a writing style that feels like the writer is chatting with you. It’s almost as if an old friend has come to visit and has begun to tell you a slice of their life, in a nostalgic manner.
To my mind, Five Quarters is the best of these three (although not my favorite Joanne Harris book), with the most well rounded and developed characters, the most involved but comprehensible plot and the most charmingly delicious descriptions of culinary designs, yet. In short, I highly recommend this book and give it a rating of four and a half stars out of five!"

Apricot Sky by Ruby Ferguson

Inspired by Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog

Synopsis:
“I’m haunted by an awful dread,” said Raine. “It was a wedding Mysie once went to. The bridegroom never turned up and the bride swooned at the altar.” “Have you practised swooning?” It’s 1948 in the Scottish Highlands, with postwar austerity and rationing in full effect, but Mr. and Mrs. MacAlvey and their family and friends are too irrepressibly cheerful to let it get them down. There’s Raine, newly engaged to the brother of a local farmer, and Cleo, just back from three years in the States, along with their brother James, married to neurotic Trina, who smothers their two oversheltered children. There are also three MacAlvey grandchildren, orphaned in the war, whose hilarious mishaps keep everyone on their toes. There are wedding preparations, visits from friends, an adventurous hike, and frustrated romance. But really the plot of the novel is, simply, life, as lived by irresistible characters with humour, optimism, and affection.

From Davida's review:
"This is truly a fun novel, and one that is very sweet (without being saccharine), and richly written with poetic adulation for this spectacularly special land that only a true Scotswoman could imbue.
The highly poetic descriptions of the sea side, and the islands, and the lands, and the homes themselves, are so lovingly written, it is hard to not ache to be there to see it ourselves. Even bad weather and annoying midges don’t seem to tarnish her adoration in the least. For nothing else, this would be an excellent reason to read this book, to get a taste of Scotland or be reminded of its beauty."

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Inspired by Cath @ Read-warbler

 

Synopsis:
Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. But now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates their real-world resourcefulness in an age of technology. When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses-paid trip to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realise they've been marked for death. To get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman - and a killer - of a certain age.

From Cath's review:
"I liked this without actually loving it. It was a fun, if slightly unlikely, romp which took me on a mad jaunt to various countries. I imagined Helen Mirren leading this disparate, motley bunch of four oap assassins, one of their partners, and a computer nerd. I didn't find characterisation to be that strong, the women blended a bit too much into one person sort of thing, not much to tell them apart. But it was fine and I did actually enjoy it."

Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar

Inspired by: Simon @ Stuck in a Book

 

Synopsis:
Grand Life Apartments is a middle-class apartment block surrounded by lush gardens in the coastal city of Chennai, India. It is the home of Kamala, a pious, soon-to-be retired dentist who spends her days counting down to the annual visits from her daughter who is studying in the UK. Her neighbour, Revathi, is a thirty-two-year-old engineer who is frequently reminded by her mother that she has reached her expiry date in the arranged marriage market. Jason, a British chef, has impulsively moved to India to escape his recent heartbreak in London. The residents have their own complicated lives to navigate, but what they all have in common is their love of where they live, so when a developer threatens to demolish the apartments and build over the gardens, the community of Grand Life Apartments are brought even closer together to fight for their beautiful home...

Simon's post which has intrigued me in the first place.

Mr Kato Plays Family by Milena Michiko Flasar

Inspired by Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book review Blog

Synopsis:
Mr Katō―a curmudgeon and recent retiree―finds his only solace during his daily walks, where he wonders how his life went wrong and daydreams about getting a dog (which his wife won’t allow). During one of these walks, he is approached by a young woman. She calls herself Mie, and invites him to join her business Happy Family, where employees act as part-time relatives or acquaintances for clients in need, for whatever reason, if only for a day. At first reluctant, but then intrigued, he takes the job without telling his wife or adult children. Through the many roles he takes on, Mr Katō rediscovers the excitement and spontaneity of life, and re-examines his role in his own family. Using lessons learned with his “play families,” he strives to reconnect with his loved ones, to become the father and husband they deserve, and to live the life he’s always wanted.

From Davida's review:
"In this book, some parts of some of the conversations are described rather than being written out as dialogue. So, for example, instead of writing something like ‘She asked him “did you see that dog?”’ you have something like ‘she asks him if he saw the dog.’ These are interspersed with regularly defined dialogue, and sometimes included parts of a conversation that Katō is just thinking about, or wants to say, but doesn’t articulate out loud. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t confusing, nor is it distracting. Instead, it gives this whole book a more inward-looking feel to it, where what we are witnessing is more about Katō’s thought processes than his actions. ...very, VERY warmly recommend it for lovers of literary fiction who like a good, slightly unusual, somewhat twisty, character-driven novel."

Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge

Inspired by Rekha @ The Book Decoder

Synopsis:
Colleen Cambridge's charming and inventive new historical series introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie. When a dead body is found during a house party at the home of Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan, it's up to famous author's head of household, Phyllida Bright, to investigate...

Rekha's post which has intrigued me in the first place

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

Inspired by: Margaret Agnew @ Aunt Agatha's

 

Synopsis:
Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she’s made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows. When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge: A black market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs. King’s predecessor, with her own desire for vengeance. Their plan? On the night of the house’s highly anticipated costume ball—set to be the most illustrious of the year—they will rob it of its every possession, right under the noses of the distinguished guests and their elusive heiress host. But there’s one thing Mrs. King wants even more than money: the truth. And she’ll run any risk to get it…

From Margaret's review:
"The Housekeepers builds slowly. Secrets are revealed like foil peeled off of chocolate. It takes time to get to the heist itself, though watching these women work is a lot of fun. The biggest weakness of the book, perhaps, is how little we get to know the women themselves. While each have moments of inner reflection, none are fully fleshed out before the book ends. It can leave the reader wishing they knew Mrs. King better – but happy to be along for the ride she carefully crafted."


Have you own/read these books? If you haven't, which book appeals to you most? For me, it's perhaps Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments, just because I myself live in a middle-class apartment building, and I think I'd be able to relate a lot with it. Hopefully!


You might want to check:
Previous episodes of Blogger-Inspired Wishlist