THE CROW TRAP by Anne Cleeves

 Vera on the tele - one of my all time favourite TV women, brought to life by another fave - Brenda Blethyn. Have I watched all the Veras? I most certainly have. Tough old bird with a heart of marshmallow, stomping around Northumberland in her enormous coat with bottomless pockets, gumboots and that hat. What a treasure. However I have never read a Vera novel, although I did know that Anne Cleeves writes a cracker whodunnit. Number 1 seems like a good place to start, and it was! I can't remember the TV series of this story, which is just as well, as the plot is not quite the same, characters from the book are missing, minor threads in the book are more important in the series. 

But it doesn't really matter, either way, the characters are still well drawn, very human, and intricate. Their relationships to each other are also realistic and complicated, as is the stunning and bleak landscape they live and work in. We'll just call it 'somewhere in Northumberland'. Vera herself does not make an appearance until halfway through this 500+ page tome. So the novel is really less about Vera, and more about the those who are murdered and who are the murderers. Of which there could be several. And most importantly setting the scene, continuously as it happens, for the why of the murders. Such intricate plotting, plenty of threads that could be important but you find out later aren't. I was constantly putting 'clues' into my memory bank, thinking aha, this is it here. But no... one of the many however did prove to be the key to unlocking the murders. And Vera's marvellous mind too. We get glimpses on screen of Vera's early life, what shaped her. Here, in Vera's first outing, the story takes place in the area she grew up in. She knows the landscape, the wildlife, the seasons, even the house where much of the action takes place  - as a small motherless child, she would visit it with her bird egg stealing father, in cahoots with the crazy Constance. Now all those memories, good and bad, are revived but also helpful to Vera in solving the murders. And as always, things are much much more complicated than would first appear. 

As this was my first meeting with Vera, I was curious to learn about her. I think Brenda Blethyn does a very kind Vera compared to the Anne Cleeves' version - very TV and screen friendly. Maybe she softens in later books. I found her frankly terrifying! Enough to make small children cry, and it would feel like a torture session being questioned by this Vera as to your whereabouts. I still love her, will now scrounge the shops for the other five Vera novels. Five... oooh, what a treat! 

MIND THAT CHILD by Dr Simon Rowley

 

We have just had the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours announced, and it thrilled me to see that this man has been recognised for his service to the people of NZ in the field of paediatrics. Having just finished reading his book, I would say such recognition is well overdue. We are so lucky, in this small country of ours, to have such extraordinary people with amazing brains, depth of character, courage, compassion and to keep these skills and talent in this country. He could so easily have been tempted away to more money, greater recognition in some other country's medical system, but no, it is us that have benefitted from his work in both the public and private health sector. Thousands of babies he has seen over the decades including my own new born baby. 

This book is a memoir of his life as a medical professional - how he got into medicine, his choice to specialise in paediatrics, in particular neo-natal/premature babies. Nowhere is life more fragile than in keeping alive babies born as early as 23 or 24 weeks gestation. Fascinating, terrifying, expensive, emotional and heart rending. He talks about the families he looks after, the challenges they face with their tiny babies, how years later these now grown up babies turn up to visit him. He touches on other child health issues such as autism, hyperactivity, the long term and harmful effects of alcohol and drugs on the developing baby.  

He shares what makes him tick, what keeps him doing this often heart breaking work. The frustrations he feels with the politics of public health care, the lack of understanding by the media in its ignorance dead keen on hanging someone out to burn when things go wrong, his intense talent and desire to share and pass on his knowledge and experience in order to bring this country more brilliant paediatricians. So lucky are we.

EXIT by Belinda Bauer

 Wonderfully entertaining yet deep and profound all at the same time. With characters having names like Felix Pink and Shifty Sands, you could well think this is a bit of a comedy. But it isn't, well, it is in a very dark way. This writer is clever enough to tie in the important and current ethical issue of choice about one's end of life, with the most human like characters who grow and evolve as the plot goes, and finally with a plot that twists, twines and has surprises galore. It is a gem to read. 

Felix Pink is an Exiteer. Not a musketeer, although there are distinct similarities! Felix, aka John in Exiteer world, is one of a small group of people who assist people wishing to end their lives. They don't actually do the deed, but sit and be a companion to their clients. A task that requires some strong nerves, deep compassion and patience. Until one day Felix and his Exiteer partner, the much younger Amanda realise that unwittingly, the wrong person in the house they are in has died. A truly intriguing and alarming premise that poses so many questions about this well-argued issue. 

The police become involved, naturally, with lead investigator PC Calvin Bridge at the helm. Calvin has his own life issues going on, the highlight of his day being the local betting shop and the somewhat dodgy characters who pass their days there. So many great and intriguing characters.  Felix must stay one step ahead of the police, and yet he knows that something is not quite right with the people in the house where the wrong client died. So many inconsistencies....  how can he solve all this without being caught?

Wonderful book, loved it. Can totally imagine this as a darkly funny British comedy-drama. 

ASH MOUNTAIN by Helen Fitzgerald

 

So many Australian authors in the last few years placing the harsh drought-ridden and tinder-dry landscape at the center of the story. Those devastating bush fires that Australia deals with every summer touch something very primal in us human beings, any story taking on an extra edge with out of control fires lurking.  Here is another novel where daily life happens against the backdrop of a terrible fire. Daily lives like we all live, but fortunate enough not to have a fire threatening to take all that away - family, friends, pets, homes, businesses. 

In this quite short and easy to read novel, Fran is returning, unwillingly, to her home town Ash Mountain. Her father is quite unwell and there is no one else to care for him. She has two children - a grown up son who lives in the town, and a  teenage daughter who she shares custody with her ex partner, Vincent. Fran's return to her childhood town, home, school, neighbourhood dredges up far too many memories, rekindles old friendships and relationships. And the fire of course which changes everything. The plot moves around very frequently between the past and over the days before the fire. Despite the jumping around, it is easy to read and the chapters are short!  

The writing is very good, characters well developed. Fran herself is very real having to juggle her daughter and her father, she is at a low ebb having thrown in her job, her relationship. No one likes moving home, and Fran feels exactly how we would all feel - instantly relatable! Tension is tightly held with the looming fire, the fragility of relationships, the chance to make amends for past mistakes. The fire is terrifying by the way.