Relief Reads 15 - The Railway Viaduct

The Railway Viaduct by Edward Marston

Charity Shop: Arthritis Research, Newcastle

Charity: Arthritis Research UK is the leading UK funder of research into the cause, treatment and cure of arthritis.

Price: £1

Book Blurb: [There's a oxfam price sticker blocking parts. This book has had an adventure] The Railway Detective faces his most dangerous Adversary Yet // 1852. Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assist##### Victor Leeming are faced with their most complex and difficult ######. As a train speeds over the Sankey Viaduct, a man is hurled fr#### and plummets into the canal below. It later transpires that he has been stabbed to death. With no papers by which to identify the man, the detectives' investigation is hampered from the start. // Suspecting that the victim may have come from continental Europe, Colbeck and Leeming take the case to France where a new railway is being built by a British contractor. But in a new country the detectives face new problems. Anti-British feeling is rife and Colbeck and Leeming must put their own lives in danger to pick up the murderer's trail. // The third in the acclaimed Railway Detective series, The Railway Viaduct is an absorbing mystery that will keep you guessing till the very end.

Expectation: A light hearted murder mystery.

Reality: A light hearted murder mystery. Rosemary and Thyme-esq in terms of far-fetchedness. I loved the beginning as it is a description of the painting of the cover painting with the added addition of the falling body. The bulk of the story occurs on site at a construction of a railway line in France which satisfied the engineer in me. Working conditions in 1852 were quite different from nowadays! Interesting political situation too as the story is set within living memory of the battle of Waterloo so France and Britain are not best buddies. The reader is kept a step ahead of the detective so the statement that it will 'keep you guessing till the very end' is a lie. I won't hold it against the book blurb writer though!

Overall Rating

It was a struggle           2        3        4        5        6        7        8       9      Gripping page  

to make it                                                                                                        turner

I enjoyed the book, but not the highest quality piece of writing in the world. As I said, Rosemary and Thyme esq.

Twist Scale:

Knew the beginning,                                                                                 As twisty as the 

middle and end         2       3        4         5       6        7        8        9      bendy wendy road

from the first line 

It's not the most mysterious murder mystery ever. The explanation has many layers to it, but the motivation is pretty simple.

Tear-jerker Scale:

 As dry as a house       2        3       4         5         6         7       8        9     Cried an ocean

 throughout

As I said, light hearted.

Main Character(s): Colbeck. Genius detective with an obsession with railways. Fairly socially inept and terrible at office politics to the point that he nearly gets kicked out of Scotland Yard multiple times, however he does have a girlfriend (sort of) which is quite a nice side storyline. She helps with some of the detective work, albeit very unofficially.

Moral of the Story: Don't think it was deep enough for morals. How about... engineering companies need to look beyond political divisions, and justice shouldn't stop at our border either.

***

Coming up: From Nottinghill with Love... Actually by ??? Highly intellectual of course!

Relief Reads 14 - The House at Riverton

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Charity Shop: I don't know! :(

Charity: ??? I bought it too long ago

Price: £1.99 - the sticker is still on.

Book Blurb: Summer 1924 // On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again. // Winter 1999 // Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid at Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could. // Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and compelling love story.

Expectation: Some sort of murder mystery-esq thing.

Reality: This book is the reason for my massive delay in writing reviews (I'm now three books behind) The ending is truely shocking and disastrous and I still can't get my head around it. I've read two/three further books since this and my thoughts keep returning to this book. I can't tell you the ending, lest you read it in future, but if you have read it I'd love to discuss it with you because there's a bit I'm confused about.
The story is written as a dictaphone record of Grace's memory of events to her grandson Marcus. Slowly the overall story of her life is revealed alongside the intricate details of the events from 1914 - 1924. The flicking between times is a little disorientating which I think is supposed to mirror Grace's thoughts as she is a dying women.

Overall Rating

It was a struggle           2        3        4        5        6        7        8       9      Gripping page  

to make it                                                                                                        turner

Knowing the ending from the beginning is a driving force to keep reading as you want to know how it ends up the way it does. 

Twist Scale:

Knew the beginning,                                                                                 As twisty as the 

middle and end         2       3        4         5       6        7        8        9      bendy wendy road

from the first line 

I won't give it 10 as you know how it will end, but what a ride! The story spans the time when the old order of a rigid class system is swept away in the aftermath of WWI. General craziness all round, and spoken through the view point of a girl/woman who is dedicated to her role as a lady's maid. The events of the ending took me by surprise

Tear-jerker Scale:

 As dry as a house       2        3       4         5         6         7       8        9     Cried an ocean

 throughout

The story itself wasn't particulary teark-jerking, but the ending is so sad. It's making me sad just thinking about it now. (So I have very upbeat radio music to counter it!)

Main Character(s): All from the point of view of Grace. She begins her working life age 14 as a housemaid at Riverton, but becomes Hannah's maid when Hannah moves out. Through her relationship (an unequal friendship) with Hannah she know the facts about events in quite some detail, and was entrusted secrets that no-one else knew. Hannah's story is also intertwined with Grace's, which provided very interesting contrast as these two young women were from completely different social backgrounds.

Moral of the Story: I don't know. What secrets are people keeping?

***

Coming up: The railway viaduct by Edward Marston