Molly Marx’s death happened suddenly and police are trying to determine the cause of death. Last seen riding her bike through Riverside Park, her body is found on the bank of the Hudson River and it is uncertain if her death was accidental, suicide or murder. While Detective Hicks tries to uncover the truth about her death, Molly tries to adjust to life in Duration and learn the rules governing the recently deceased.

When Molly learns that she can watch those she’s left behind and that she’s been gifted with a preternatural bullshit detector, she is delighted. Her observations of her four-year-old daughter Annabel, her twin sister Lucy, her husband Barry and her best friend Brie lead Molly down memory lane and, as readers learn more about Molly’s past, the mist begins to clear on her present and her death.

Sally Koslow’s new book The Late, Lamented Molly Marx is an exploration of marriage, family life and friendship. Molly and Barry’s marriage was far from perfect. Despite the fact that he never ceased his infidelities, there was love within their marriage. As Molly reflects on her life and the months prior to her death, readers learn that marriage and fidelity are never black and white issues.

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx could easily have slid off the rails into a morass of self-pity but Koslow imbued Molly with strength of character. Instead of wailing “why me,” Molly reviews her choices, accepts responsibility for them and slowly finds peace in the Duration (Koslow’s concept of the afterlife).

While Molly rightly occupies centre-stage in Koslow’s novel, the secondary characters’ (her friends and family) growth, presented through Molly’s evolving perception and omniscient narration, is fascinating. Detective Hicks is dogged in his pursuit of the truth and what started as a standard template characterization becomes fully-fledged and commanding of reader’s empathy.

The only serious complaint that could be made about The Late, Lamented Molly Marx is Molly’s twin sister Lucy. The incident at Annabel’s day-care felt awkward and Lucy felt flat. Koslow could have explored the twin connection more, instead of keep Lucy as sharp angles that appeared to fight the narrative.

ISBN10: 0345506200
ISBN13: 9780345506207

Hardcover
320 Pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: May 19, 2009
Author Website: www.sallykoslow.com

It was the perfect vacation for PI Mac Reilly and his fiancée, Sunny Alvarez – renting the villa, Chez La Violette, in beautiful St. Tropez for the month of June. When filming requirements keep Mac in Malibu for a few extra days, Sunny travels to St. Tropez accompanied only by her chihuahua Tesoro. On arrival, she discovers they’ve been scammed, the villa has been rented to FIVE people for the same time period and the state of the place would make it the perfect setting for a horror movie.

The misfits, as they’ve taken to calling themselves, decamp to a small seaside hotel nearby – the Hotel of Dreams. There their stories slowly come to light: Belinda is on the run from her husband a Russian mobster; Texans Billy and his daughter Laureen who’s still trying to regroup from the death of her mother; shy Sara who’s just broken up with her no-good boyfriend; and former trader Nate who has set up to find himself. As they settle in, Mac decides to track down Madame Lariot in hope of getting their money back. Soon art thefts and a murder interfere with their peaceful vacation and Mac is drawn further into investigations. Will Sunny get any time for romance?

There’s Something About St. Tropez, Elizabeth Adler’s sequel to One of Those Malibu Nights, is the type of fun, light mysteries that many readers look forward to reading in the summer. The easy to follow plot and quirky nature of the characters ensures that interruptions won’t cause readers to lose track of the action.

What elevates There’s Something About St. Tropez above other books marketed as “summer reading” is the sub-plot involving eight-year-old Laureen and eleven-year-old Bertrand, another hotel resident who has been abandoned by his heartless mother. Laureen and Bertrand’s voices ring with authenticity and their tentative gestures toward friendship, magical. Brought out of themselves by Tesoro and Pirate, Mac’s three-legged dog, the children bravely set out to solve the mystery of the art thefts in order to win the reward money and gain Bertrand freedom from his mother. Readers will cheer them on and celebrate their rediscovery of live beyond grief.

ISBN10: 0312385145
ISBN13: 9780312385149

Hardcover
400 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: July 7, 2009
Author Website: www.elizabethadler.com

At Holy Trinity, a monastery atop a towering cliff in central Greece, seven monks hold a secret meeting of an ancient brotherhood. Their inaccessible stronghold is invaded by a stealth force of warriors wielding ancient swords; a squad that quickly beheads all the monks and hurls their bodies off the cliff. Nick Dial, a senior member of Interpol, is assigned to investigate the bizarre events at Metéora. He arrives to secure the scene and meets Nicholas, the sole surviving member of the massacre. Yet, when he questions the local police about the monk, he’s told there were no survivors. Who is the elderly man and how was he able to penetrate the police barricades?

In St. Petersburg, Russia, Richard Byrd is desperate. Having uncovered the location of an ancient treasure, he’s running for his life. Trying to meet-up with Allison Taylor, his research assistant, Byrd is executed by a sniper. With no where to turn, Allison follows Byrd’s instructions and calls on Jonathon Payne, ex-MANIAC. With the help of his best friend, D.J. Jones, they set out to save the girl, find out who killed her boss and find the treasure.

The Lost Throne, the fourth book in Chris Kuzneski’s Payne and Jones series, is an edge-of-your-seat read from the first page. Payne and Jones, former members of a secret unit of the armed forces, utilize their specialized skills to help friends out in difficult situations. Readers will find their banter endearing. Kuzneski wisely uses this brotherly teasing to provide a release for tension, providing readers with a breather before once again spiraling up the action.

Kuzneski’s research and fascination with St. Petersburg is evident. In a pivotal chase scene he describes the buildings in astonishing detail, bringing the scene to life with cinematic vividness. In an interview with Mark Terry he describes the way he: “…took photographs of the buildings and landmarks and attached them to a street map of the city. When my characters ran down a street I knew exactly what they would be looking at.”

While part of a series, The Lost Throne can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. Those eagerly awaiting the fall release of the new Dan Brown may find Kuzneski’s newest just the thing to fill the gap.

ISBN10: 0399155821
ISBN13: 9780399155826

Hardcover
512 Pages
Publication Date: July 23, 2009
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Author Website: www.chriskuzneski.com

Summer in Seville and Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón is called out in the middle of the night to the scene of a spectacular car crash. The victim, a high-level member of the Russian mob, is carrying close to 8 million euros and discs implicating high ranking officials in compromising positions. Desperate to keep his promise to Seville’s citizens to bring the perpetrators of a terrorist bombing to justice, Falcón is convinced he now possesses evidence of the Russian mob’s involvement in the plot to subvert the Andalusian parliament.

His investigations carry him into the midst of a mob turf war and he soon discovers the mob plays by their own rules. Pressure is applied to those nearest to him in an attempt to distract him from his investigations. His best friend Yacoub, a spy for the Spanish government, reveals that he is being blackmailed by Islamist extremists and Consuela, Falcón’s lover, suffers a mother’s worst nightmare. Will he have to pay an unthinkable price if he wants to discover the truth?

With The Ignorance of Blood, Robert Wilson brings his Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón series to a close. The series, begun with Blind Man of Seville, is both police procedural and psychological thriller, psychological because it delves into the purpose and identity of its hero. Each volume can be read alone; however, taken as a series Wilson’s overarching themes of appearance, reality and family come strongly into focus. While Falcón is clearly the hero of the series, Seville is its heart. Wilson’s extensive research and love of the city is evident from the first word.

The Ignorance of Blood explores idealism and values, and before the end each of its main characters are pushed to their limits and forced to face their inner truths, often at great cost. Wilson has created a stunning finale; however, the pages are periodically painted with blood and human misery. While this is a stunning work and definitely a worthwhile read, those extremely sensitive to violence again children may wish to consider carefully before beginning.

ISBN10: 0151012458
ISBN13: 9780151012459

Hardcover
422 Pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: June 8, 2009
Author Website: www.robert-wilson.eu

Dempsey Jo Killebrew has had a very bad day. Her employer, a high-powered Washington public relations firm has been caught up in an explosive scandal, her computer has been seized by the FBI, her boss has fled and she’s suddenly the scapegoat. Desperate to find a way to rebuild her life, Dempsey reluctantly accepts her father’s offer to help restore Birdsong, the family home he’s inherited in Georgia. If she slaps on some paint and gives the place some minor renovations so they can flip the property, he’ll split the profits with her.

When Dempsey arrives in Guthrie, she finds a house more in need of a bulldozer than a paintbrush – and a firmly entrenched squatter who meets her at the door with a shotgun. With no options left to her she rolls up her sleeves and tackles the massive renovation project, and faces Guthrie’s residents who have learned more than she wanted them to know from the endless newspaper reports. What she didn’t expect was that, in the process, she’d learn so much.

Bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews’ latest offering, The Fixer Upper is perfect beach reading. Dempsey is a delightful heroine whose naiveté may strike some readers improbable, while others will simply find it charming. No matter which opinion you adopt, her head-on approach in dealing with the situation in Georgia makes for wonderful reading. The title obviously refers to both the house and Dempsey, whose need for direction and growth drive the plot. The light romantic interludes add depth to the coming of age story and readers will be rooting for Dempsey to triumph in her confrontations with her shady boss.

This lighthearted romp never loses its breezy tone, even when dealing the fairly serious subjects of fraud, political shenanigans and influence peddling. Readers may find it difficult to accept the level of blindness Dempsey has for what’s really happening in the lobbying firm, those who suspend belief and simply enjoy The Fixer Upper are in for a treat.

ISBN10: 0060837381
ISBN13: 9780060837389

Hardcover
432 Pages
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: June 23, 2009
Author Website: www.marykayandrews.com

The birth of Edgar Jones, sometime in the 1850s, was marked by a wonderous meteor shower. His father, a night porter at Oxford University, is sure this is a sign of a great destiny for his son but Edgar, a restless child, is more at home exploring the natural world and how things work than making sense of the words in his father’s books. When Edgar turns his back on his father’s dreams by apprenticing himself to a blacksmith, a silent détente
occurs in the family home.

Soon Edgar’s ingenuity and skill bring him to the attention of a “bone man,” a professor of anatomy at Oxford with grandiose ideas for a natural history museum. Edgar’s work on the new museum restores his father’s hopes for the future but threatens to tear the family apart as scientific progress wars with traditional beliefs.

The Ingenious Edgar Jones by Elizabeth Garner is a classic coming-of-age story. Mankind’s understanding of the world is rapidly changing and for many, the shifting sands of reality cause them to view scientific discoveries as heresy and view “progress” with horror. Garner’s choice of Victorian Oxford as setting allows her to use Edgar and William to mirror the conflicts waging within Oxford’s walls and, in return, show how monumental such a schism can be between parent and child.

Despite featuring prominently in the narrative of The Ingenious Edgar Jones, Edgar’s mother is a shadowy figure. Her disquiet and worries about Edgar permeates the text, yet as a character is barely developed leading readers to be frustrated at the amount of space devoted to her voice. Her role seems to be that of Cassandra, prophecizing the heinous outcome from a split between father and son and left helpless to watch the preordained outcome.

The construction of the natural history museum in The Ingenious Edgar Jones is based on Oxford University Museum, the first natural history museum in Britain which played a part in the great divide between science and religion.

ISBN10: 030740899X
ISBN13: 9780307408990

Hardcover
323 Pages
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: May 29, 2009

Josey Cirrini’s life has been one of atonement and servitude; atonement for misdeeds as a child and servitude to her unhappy, domineering, widowed mother.  Mrs. Cirrini ensures that her daughter possesses no thoughts of independence; instructing her on what to wear (and what not to wear), when and how to do things.  However, Josey’s life is full of secrets.  She secretly has kept the red sweater her mother forbids her to wear, her closet is a stockpile of romance novels and candy, and she has a secret crush on her postman.

Everything changes when Della Lee Baker, a down-on-her luck, tough waitress, sets up camp in Josey’s closet and refuses to leave.  Slowly Della Lee encourages Josey to reevaluate her life and expand it beyond her mother’s limitations.  In the process Josey meets Chloe Finley, a young woman with a peculiar affinity for books and a close friendship with Josey’s postman.  As Josey’s life changes, her relationship with her mother fractures, revealing long buried secrets and unexpected possibilities for the future.

Sarah Addison Allen’s second novel The Sugar Queen is pure delight, a magical work that immediately captivates readers and should come with a warning label: “Do not begin this book just before bed.”  Readers who do may soon find themselves wondering “how could it possibly be 4 a.m.?”  Once you’re captured by The Sugar Queen, there is no chance of reading only a few chapters.

The characters in The Sugar Queen are strongly drawn and fairly sparkle with life.  In fact, the entire novel vibrates with constrained energy and vitality.  In Allen’s world, books appear when needed and will remain as not so subtle reminders of what needs to happen.  Passion causes water to boil and eggs to fry in their cartons.  And here, fairy godmothers can appear in the most unlikely guises.

Not much can be said about The Sugar Queen without revealing spoilers, suffice it to say that this is a book you’ll read in one sitting and like Chloe’s books, will follow you around until you understand its hidden meanings.

ISBN10: 0553384848
ISBN13: 9780553384840

Trade Paperback
294 pages
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: April 15, 2009
Author Website:  www.sarahaddisonallen.com

Welcome to the new home of Eclectic Closet Litblog & Book Reviews.  Come in, have a look around and make yourself at home.

You may wonder at the move.  Well, many friends and readers were suggesting that it was time to have my own URL as I would have many more options for the future with the blog, and more control over the site.  So after much deliberation and prevaricating, I took the plunge, bought the URL and here we are.

The blogger site will remain up for the archives but new postings will only be made here.  Slowly, as time permits, the archives will be uploaded here as well.

So sit back, grab a cup of Joe and enjoy the new place.
Janelle

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“There’re always kneecaps that are screaming out, begging for us to shoot them, of course.” – Wonderful World

Thirty years ago, Lorenzo Girault was imprisoned for questionable activities in his antiques business. An undiagnosed pathology, referred to by his family as his “window problem,” led Lorenzo to live in rooms without windows and to membership in the “Down with the Sun Society.” After Lorenzo’s death, his son Lucas struggles to become the man he is sure his father wished him to be. Compelled by a need to understand the legacy left by his father, and determine exactly who was responsible for his father’s downfall, Lucas searches for clues in his Lorenzo’s secret apartment.

Lucas’s quest places him at odds with his mother and in the midst of two gangs in Barcelona’s seedy underworld. His best friend is Valentina, a 12-year-old girl who has fashioned herself as Europe’s top expert on Stephen King and who indulges in violent fantasies of retribution against her school chums. As Lucas sorts through the detritus of his father’s life, Valentina struggles with growing up, while all around them swirls a surreal cast: a giant, comic book obsessed gang enforcer; a strip club owner with a fondness for women’s coats; a dreadlock-sporting Russian underling with Rastafarian leanings; and an uptight art dealer for whom thoroughness is next to godliness.

Wonderful World, Javier Calvo’s first novel translated into English, if a film would be David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino’s love child; Lynch for the indescribable plot and Tarantino for the surreal, shocking violence. A feverish verbal joyride, Wonderful World pulls no punches. The quote at the beginning of this review is a typical line of dialogue; rapid-fire and edgy.

At times family drama, mob story, mystery and Hero’s journey, Wonderful World is a dizzying, multilayered construction that even includes excerpts from a fictitious Stephen King novel. Calvo’s cast is massive and the numerous plot lines almost requires story mapping to keep straight. Yet the quirky characters and chaotic plots are adeptly controlled by this talented author. Not for everyone, Calvo’s “open conception of narration” owes much to the Free Cinema movement, developed in the late 1950s and characterized by a deliberate lack of box office appeal.

ISBN10: 0061557684
ISBN13: 9780061557682

Hardcover
480 pages
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: March 17, 2009

tags: books book reviews literature in translation Javier Calvo

Pinky Mittal grew up in the home of her maternal grandmother Maji, after the death of her mother Yamuna during the violence surrounding the partition of India. Shortly before infant Pinky’s joined the Mittal household, her Aunt Savita lost her infant daughter in a freak accident. The arrival of Pinky is a constant reminder to Savita of what she lost, and she falls more and more into a world of superstitions and secret charms, convinced her daughter’s death was not an accidental drowning but due to wicked spirits. She demands that the children’s bathroom be bolted at dusk in case the evil still lurks within.

Thirteen years later, Pinky knows she’s despised by her aunt but idolizes her older cousin Nimish, longing for him as young women long for pop or film stars. Everything changes one stifling summer evening when Pinky awakes and discovers Nimish’s secret relationship with Lovely, the beautiful next-door neighbour. In a fit of despair, Pinky unbolts the bathroom door and unleashes the ghosts within. As monsoons batter Bombay, the ghosts unleash chaos on the family and long held secrets are exposed.

Shilpa Agarwal’s debut novel Haunting Bombay is the richly detailed story of a family in crisis. Three generations of the Mittal family live together in a bungalow in 1960s Bombay. Maji, the matriarch, lives by the daily rituals which have governed her life for decades. Savita, slave to her superstitions, is in constant competition with her friends for the “Most-Number-One-First-Class-Life.” Jaginder, Maji’s son, has retreated into an alcoholic stupor rather than face the loss of his daughter.

Agarwal’s ghosts are vengeful spirits, violently exacting payment for the wrongs perpetrated upon them in life. The Mittal family, by refusing to face the tragedy in their midst, have kept Chakori’s sprit from the afterlife and have existed in a purgatory of their own making. And hidden within Haunting Bombay are deeper secrets, ones which Agarwal slowly unfurls one by one and ones that help readers understand the mysteries of this ancient culture.

ISBN10: 156947558X
ISBN13: 9781569475584

Hardcover
368 Pages
Publisher: Soho Press
Publication Date: April 1, 2009
Author Website: shilpaagarwal.com

tags: books book reviews fiction Shilpa Agarwal