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Book Review: Death on the Nile

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Death on the Nile
Hercule Poirot #18
by Agatha Christie
read by Kenneth Branagh

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I really enjoyed this Poirot novel; I think it was actually one of my favorites. Of course, part of that might be the fact that I actually pegged the bad guy for once. I may have come up with alternate theories a time or two, but that’s just because Christie still does well with the obfuscation. I even correctly guessed the why, but not exactly the how. I also really liked it when Poirot is involved from the start, rather than coming in halfway through the book. And when he has someone else to work with, even if it’s not Hastings. The setting in Egypt doesn’t really play into the story as much as one might think, since most of the story takes place on a boat, though that aspect does provide some interesting aspects to the plot and mystery. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kenneth Branagh, which was unsurprisingly really good. I did struggle a little to understand his Poirot accent early on, but it seemed to even out as I went. Overall, this was a great addition to the series.

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Book Review: Mystery Ranch

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Mystery Ranch
The Boxcar Children #4
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Aimee Lilly

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

This one really left me scratching my head. The mean, old aunt is instantly won over by the too-perfect kids, and apparently minors were able to own property in the time this was written, without needing an adult to be the trustee or anything like that. When the aunt talked about some men trying to get her to sell her ranch to them, it started to feel like a Nancy Drew story, but it resolved far too quickly and easily. In fact, though I didn’t compare the length of this to the previous stories, it felt super short in general. Also, the narrator for this book was even less enjoyable than the previous, who I already didn’t care for. Maybe if I had a young child to read these with and discuss the good and bad, it would be worth continuing with the series, but I don’t really have any motivation to do so.

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Book Review: Deck the Hounds

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Deck the Hounds
Andy Carpenter #18
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a homeless man is attacked and his dog bites the attacker, the dog is quarantined and the man is heartbroken. Andy Carpenter’s family insist that he offer the man some help, since, after all, it’s Christmas! Things take a turn when the man is arrested for murder, putting reluctant defense attorney Andy in the position of having to decide whether to represent him or not.

This was a sort of middle-of-the-road read for me, in the context of the rest of the series. It didn’t stand out in any way as better or worse than average. Of course, since this series is a comfort read/listen for me, “average” is still plenty enjoyable. The ending seemed a little harder to follow than usual, and I kinda kept waiting for a little more to come out. There was one plot arc that seemed to be unrelated to the case, but I saw its connection coming pretty much the whole time, though not every detail. Of course, I have the benefit of knowing that this is a fictional story, so the author isn’t going to include something that won’t eventually factor into the main plot. Overall, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend starting the series here, I do recommend this book for fans of mysteries and court dramas. And if you’re an audiobook listener, definitely consider going that route for this book/series, since Grover Gardner is always great at bringing Andy’s wit and sarcasm to life.

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Book Review: Dumb Witness

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Dumb Witness
Hercule Poirot #17
by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

This story was a bit different than the rest of the series so far, in that the death that starts it off is billed as natural. However, the dead woman had an accident not long before, chalked up to her tripping over the ball that her dog left at the top of the stairs, but something about that scenario leaves her suspicious of her family. She writes to Poirot, who doesn’t get her letter until it’s too late but is still compelled to investigate the original attempted murder. The large cast of suspects is standard fare, though, as is the path we go down with Poirot and Hastings on the way to the solution. And as is the fact that most of my many theories about whodunit and why turned out to be wrong. It was overall an average Poirot for me, not as slow as the early ones but not a stand-out either, except for Bob the dog (whose ball was blamed for his owner’s fall). Any time Poirot and Hastings are at the house and encounter Bob, Hastings tells us what the dog is likely thinking, and it’s hilarious, especially the way Hugh Fraser narrates it.

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Book Review: The Yellow House Mystery

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The Yellow House Mystery
The Boxcar Children #3
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Tim Gregory

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I really think Warner needs to branch out from missing people being re-discovered in this series. Three books, and that’s been a theme in all of them. That and the repetition of the kids “roughing it” in one way or another. Overall, I did like the story here better than the previous book, but I had some issues with the plot. For example, if it’s important for a letter to not be seen by anyone but the recipient, why instruct the recipient to hide it? Wouldn’t destroying it be better? But of course, destroying it would have meant that no one could discover it decades later and start off an adventure. I know this was written for kids and written in a very different time, and I really can’t know what I would have thought of the story if I’d read it as a kid. I suppose most kids, even nowadays, wouldn’t take issue with the things I did, but that doesn’t make some of what happens in this book okay.

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Book Review: Rescued

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Rescued
Andy Carpenter #17
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a dead body is found inside a truck full of rescue dogs in a rest area parking lot, defense attorney Andy Carpenter gets a visit from the killer, except he says it was self-defense. But since the killer is the ex-fiancé of Andy’s wife Laurie, he’s not too keen to help him out…until Laurie asks nicely.

I always knew Andy was immature, but man does he hit a new low in this book. It’s totally in-character, but it’s my least favorite aspect of his character, so there’s that. On the other hand, the continuation of pod-Hike from the previous book is fun, as is the return of the Bubalah Brigade. The mystery surrounding the case sticks pretty closely to the formula Rosenfelt has used throughout the series, with enough deviations to keep it mostly fresh and as enjoyable as ever. Grover Gardner is always great at bringing Andy’s wit and sarcasm to life, and I recommend this book (especially the audiobook) for fans of mysteries and court dramas.

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Book Review: Surprise Island

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Surprise Island
The Boxcar Children #2
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Tim Gregory

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I don’t have nostalgia to fall back on with this book (if I read more than the first book in the series as a kid, I don’t remember any of them), so I’m sure that plays a big part in my review. Maybe as a kid I would have enjoyed this story, but as an adult, I was too distracted by some strange choices by the author. First, the grandfather, who searched for a while for his grandkids after their parents’ death and finally found them and took them in, sends them off to an island (basically) by themselves for the summer. I don’t know how long it’s been since the boxcar days, but I’d think he’d want to spend the summer with them. Then, there is a strange man living on the island, which the grandfather owns, that he doesn’t even attempt to meet before he leaves his grandkids there, where they’ll live in a leaky barn. The island is apparently in the ocean, which I would think would make the shoreline dangerous, but these kids are basically left on their own. And even though I enjoyed the ingenuity the kids showed setting up their home in the first book, it seems less fun in this book, I think partly because it’s repeated so quickly after the first and partly because the lack of necessity somehow makes it less special. I also can’t help but wonder how many missing family members one old man can have…

I was not a fan of this narrator, which didn’t help. His way of voicing the younger kids grated on me. I don’t know how far into the series I’ll go, but I’m hoping the narrator changes soon. Maybe this book would be enjoyable by younger kids even today, but I am definitely too old for it.

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Book Review: Murder in the Mews

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Murder in the Mews
Hercule Poirot #16
by Agatha Christie
read by Nigel Hawthorne & Hugh Fraser

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

As I said in my review of the previous book of short stories from this series, there’s something to be said about the succinctness here. Oftentimes, what I dislike most about a Poirot novel is how bloated the plot feels, so it’s nice to get to the point a little more quickly. Though at least one of these stories felt too short, so there’s that. The story that I remember thinking was a little too short, though, is also the one that stood out to me the most. Though the ending seemed a little rushed, I liked the plot and the twist. Overall, I find that trying to guess at what’s going to surprise me at the end of a Poirot story (long or short) is what I enjoy most, and it takes less time to get there with these shorter stories. I was not a fan of the narrator of the first story, “Murder in the Mews,” which was Nigel Hawthorne, so it was a huge relief when it changed to Hugh Fraser, who has been my favorite narrator throughout this series, for the last three.

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Book Review: Collared

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Collared
Andy Carpenter #16
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a dog is brought to the Tara Foundation, it turns out to be a dog involved in a child abduction case, a dog presumed to be dead. The mother of the kidnapped child is a friend of defense attorney Andy Carpenter and his wife, and he reluctantly agrees to look into the situation, starting with the dog. But when he begins to believe that the man who has been convicted of killing the child may be innocent, Andy knows he may have grounds for appeal.

I’m definitely seeing a pattern, wherein the less section of 3rd-person narration showing us the more in-depth parts of the conspiracy involved in the plot there are, the more I enjoy the book. It’s not really surprising. I always prefer to stay with Andy and his crew anyway. I particularly enjoyed Hike in this book, surprisingly enough. I will say that I started to lose track of what was going on near the end, as the plot got a little too twisty for me to follow well while listening to the audiobook. I’m pretty sure I sussed it all out correctly by the end, but maybe it was a little more convoluted than it needed to be. Still, this book was a solid addition to the series. As always, Grover Gardner is the consummate Andy Carpenter, and I recommend this book for fans of mysteries and court dramas.

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Book Review: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

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Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
Book #1
by Brandon Sanderson
read by Ramón de Ocampo


My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

When Alcatraz Smedry turns 13, he receives an inheritance in the mail—a bag of sand. Then he sets fire to his current foster parents’ kitchen and is about to be removed from the home when an old man claiming to be his grandfather shows up and whisks him off to help fight the evil librarians. Somehow that bag of sand, which was stolen soon after Alcatraz received it, is related to an entire world that Alcatraz doesn’t know he’s a part of.

I listened to this book on a whim while waiting for other audiobooks I had on hold to be ready for me. I’ve never read any Brandon Sanderson and always found the idea of it a bit daunting, but I thought a middle grade book could be a good place to start. And it is a simple enough story for being fantasy. The world building is inventive and a bit complex, while the plot is tropey and not hard to follow. Alcatraz narrates the story and often interrupts it to talk about the art of storytelling or to remind the reader that he’s actually a terrible person, no matter how brave and selfless he might seem. Sometimes these interruptions were interesting or amusing, other times they were obnoxious and felt a little overdone.

There are some elements in the story that I particularly enjoyed, like when we begin to understand just how useful Grandpa Smedry’s talent actually is. And another character’s talent having its moment to shine. At least a little of the world building left me scratching my head—I didn’t fully understand or believe how some of the evil librarians’ tactics worked, and if I had a difficult time with it, I’m sure younger readers would as well. Overall, I mostly enjoyed the book, but it’s kind of weird—when I was around 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through, I told my husband that it was kind of boring, or at least not particularly engaging so far. Yet I remember also feeling happy to be able to get back into listening when I had the chance. So I guess part of me was more engaged than I realized? I don’t know if I’ll continue the series. Probably not right away, which means that if I decide to come back to it again someday, I’ll probably need to re-read this one to remember it well enough to continue. Maybe having a better understanding of what I’m getting into from the beginning will  help me like it more. In the meantime, I do think that kids around 12-14 who like fantasy worlds, antiheros, and polite dinosaurs could enjoy this book.

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