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This weekend the Husband and I had a relaxing time at my parents’ weekend home in the country. I finished last week’s lunch book pretty quickly: that was The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and I guess I was ready for it to be over. It was cute, entertaining, and kept me guessing through the middle portion of the book, but its momentum flagged a bit for me toward the end. Once we knew for sure whodunit, author Bradley was just a little too relaxed in tying up all the loose ends, for my taste. But, I came to really appreciate our young hero Flavia, and look forward to meeting her again late in the series. The dual frames of chemistry/poisons (Flavia) and stamp-collecting (her father) were unique and intriguing even though I share neither interest. I’ll look for more of Flavia.

For a second book I had brought along two choices: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, and Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb. I read the backs of both aloud to the Husband and he chose for me, the latter. Inkheart is a children’s/young adult (YA) book about a girl named Meggie whose father, by reading aloud, can bring characters to life, including the bad guy Capricorn. I can’t tell you much more about it because I haven’t read it yet! But I intend to.

So I read Fantasy in Death yesterday (had to stay up a little bit later than intended, but ah well, I was so close!). J.D. Robb is Nora Roberts’s mystery-writing nom de plume. I have read exactly one Nora Roberts books (The Stanisklaski Sisters, thanks Gala) and don’t consider myself a reader of romance. Sometimes I find them mildly amusing (recently, Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me). But, I confess I did find Stanislaski a bit too fluffy, and I was concerned about the forcefulness with which the men pursued and conquered the women. Some of the scenes were not far off sexual assault, and the fact that the heroines were won over by force seemed to seriously confuse the issue of “no means no!”

Because of this past experience, I was a little bit leery, I confess, and I have no experience with the romance/mystery crossover genre, so what’s that about? A few things about this book surprised me. For one, are all of J.D. Robb’s books set in the future? This was romance/mystery with sci fi thrown in too! (Answering my question, according to my new favorite online resource NoveList, yes, Robb’s series does use the same future setting.) In Fantasy in Death, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is joined by her filthy-rich gaming-mogul husband Roarke in investigating the murder of a young gaming star-on-the rise. I give Robb full credit for keeping me engaged in the gaming and tech stuff even though I don’t care one bit about either. It wasn’t super complex, but Eve and Roarke were likeable and not flat characters, and I didn’t know whodunit til the very end, and I cared, so it worked fine for me. Fluffy, yes, but enjoyable. I may very well pick up another Robb.

There wasn’t a huge amount of sex, but what there was seemed out of place, gratuitous, and sort of awkward. Eve and her sidekick Peabody discussing penises while driving around on the case was forced. I guess this is where we get the romance crossover? Actually, the relationship between Eve and Roarke was pretty realistic and heartfelt, did not feel forced to me, and made me care more about both of them, so well done there. I’m not offended by sex in books, but for dog’s sake please make it naturally a part of things.

All in all it was a fine weekend of reading books, and the Husband did some reading, too. He’s following my lead into Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye. I wish you all a week of reading and recommending good books 🙂 and I wish for myself, plenty of time for the same!

Filed under: book reviews | Tagged: mystery |