I needed something for classic horror, and decided to, finally, read The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe. I think I've considered this short story every single year since Halloween Bingo began, and just never got around to it.

It's a piece of classic horror/mystery. It's a locked room mystery. Dupin is a harbinger of Sherlock Holmes, with his ratiocination abilities and his intensity. The narrator is Watsonesque.

I think that the story itself is only around 50 pages long. I must have picked up some atmospheric knowledge about the solution, because I knew what was happening as the story went along. I really enjoyed it - and will no doubt read the remaining stories featuring Dupin, The Mystery of the Marie Roget & The Purloined Letter, in some future game of Halloween bingo!

I'm always interested in books about books, and this book tells about the final days of the bookaneers, people who stole manuscripts from writers for publishers, which is coming to an end with the introduction of copyrights. The main characters try one final time to get their hands on the latest book by Robert Louis Stevenson, which he was writing all the way in Samoa.

The premise was really interesting, but in the execution there was something that didn't really work out. The writing and most of the story were really slow, and there is a lot that doesn't really add to it. It was interesting and kept me entertained, but I felt it was too long for the story it told. I think with the concept of bookaneers, more books could be written (apparently there's at least one more, which features some of the characters from The Last Bookaneer).

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Copyright laws are to go into effect on both sides of the Atlantic.  Bookaneers are book pirates who steal from authors, booksellers, current owners and give to buyers who have hired them.  It is learned that Robert Louis Stevenson is dying and working on his seemingly last book and the most elite bookaneers are after the book. 

I loved this book.  How imaginative!  I like the glimpse into Stevenson's life in Samoa.  I also like how the story is told--past and present (present being 1890's.)  Characters abound--all flawed.  I rooted for Davenport but was shocked by all their endings.  Excellent storytelling.  I was grabbed from the beginning and held on for the ride.  A keeper!

An interesting short novella from Edgar Allen Poe.

While reading it I realized I must have read it before, as I started to guess the solution and that is truly impossible without knowing it.

What I mean by this is, that the solution is precluded by hints and enough different facts to give the impression that the reader can reach the conclusion with thinking it through like the genius analyst/investigator himself.

But as said, the solution is so ludicrous that it is impossible to really guess it in my opinion.

But still - very smooth writing, interesting and also a quick read.

It feels like a sketch, lin comparison to other detectives in novels like Poirot or even Sherlock Holmes.

Enjoyable enough.

For those of you who heard me make allusion to a book award that I was involved with, I can finally actually talk about it!  The winners for the 2016 Mass Book Awards have been announced!

This was loads of fun, if a bit chaotic.  I read a lot, but I read for several book clubs as well as review copies furnished by publishers... on top of any personal reading I want to do.  Shoehorning in a box of 12 books to read over about two months was plausible but required me to actually schedule reading.  Also, since I can't have one crazy thing in my life this also overlapped almost perfectly with the two month period from putting in an offer on a house to closing, as well as moving from part-time to full-time at my library.

I took part along with several others as judges for Adult Fiction, with the purpose of whittling down the long list (the 12 finalists) to one Winner and three Honors.  Some of the books were very easy to eliminate from the running, others took some dithering.  The winner stood out to all of us.

I do want to stress that just because I don't think highly of a book doesn't mean it's bad, just not for me.  Every book on the list already made it through a screening and narrowing down process, and we had to pull apart and rate them.  They all have their merits.

And now, the books and some thoughts from me on them.

A Head Full of Ghosts / Paul Tremblay (WINNER)
I didn't think I was going to like this book.  All three of us went into it with some trepidation, none of us were particularly into Horror, and everything about this book from the cover, to the synopsis, to the praise from other authors, said we were holding a horror novel in our hands.

And we loved it.

A Head Full of Ghosts isn't a book where the horror is a monster that goes bump in the night or a murderous villain in the dark.  Rather we get a self-aware book that exposes the horror genre while revealing itself.  The horror here is in misunderstanding and maltreatment of mental illness and in the exploitation of celebrity culture.  Don't go in with preconceptions of what the story is, let it show you.

Only the Strong / Jabari Asim (Honors)
I only fell in love with two books out of the twelve, and this was one of them.  Asim delivers masterful use of language and flawless shifting between narratives and narrators as the story comes full circle.  Read this book.

Honey From the Lion / Matthew Neill Null (Honors)
This book didn't work for me as a novel, but it definitely worked for the other to judges.  And even if I couldn't get into the book doesn't mean that it can't appreciate the craft of it.  Historical fiction tangled up in post-Civil War economics and environmentalism.

The Muralist / B. A. Shapiro (Honors)
Eminently readable and excellent as a book club pick.  The Muralist searches for the life of an artist in the center of the Abstract Expressionism movement.  A descendant seeking proof of a family legend and a young woman seeking to save her family from the Holocaust.  The story treats famous figures with a balance of respect and familiarity, and is very relateable to the ongoing discussions around immigration and refugees.