Book Review: An Old Murder With New Clues

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Telling Tales is the second novel by Ann Cleeves to feature the disheveled but shrewd Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope in which she looks into a murder that occurred a decade before.

A teenager in a remote English village was murdered, and there was a conviction soon after, but it seems that new evidence does indeed exonerate the unfortunate Jeanie Long after she takes her own life after denial of her parole.

Vera knows that a murderer is still at large, especially when a new crime occurs. She and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, are compelled to reopen old wounds and unearth secrets that the other residents would rather keep buried.

There is not much action here, and it story seems to drag a bit; however, the mystery itself was pretty good. Vera is an interesting enough heroine. Cleeves does spend quite a bit of time laying out the side characters before the inspector is drawn in properly.

This is the second novel I have read in this series, and I am interested enough to keep going with it. I have also been watching the occasional episode of the television series in which this has been adapted. Cleeves does take her time establishing the relationships between the characters upfront, which is a tried-and-true way of laying out these kinds of mysteries.

Cleeves does have an easy-going prose style without feeling too elementary or bland. She is certainly a reliable and prolific writer, and I can understand why she has such a following. I am not likely to be an overly enthusiastic follower, but I can be a reliable one. I am certainly interested enough to wish her well and hope she has plenty more books to produce for some years to come.

The next reading selection brings me back to the States with another long-running crime fiction author who is also a relatively recent addition to my literary queue. I am about to be introduced to Stone Barrington, who is the is the creation of the late Stuart Woods. Let’s dig up some Dirt.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Why The Doctor Never Goes Back

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Return of the Doctor is an audio drama from Big Finish Productions with a rather humdrum sort of title, but the episode is actually better than it would appear. Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill return to the mics as the Doctor and Yasmin Khan in a story written by Rory Thomas-Howells and directed by Bethany Weimers.

The guest cast is comprised of Stephan Bessant, Charlie Kelly, Will Kirk, and Belinda Stewart-Wilson.

The Doctor and Yaz have just stopped an alien invasion menacing the Zaarians, who apparently resemble armadillos or something. Anyway, a young Zaarian is injured but is expected to recover, so the Doctor does what she always does and takes off. Yaz talks her into returning to help with the recovery, however the TARDIS takes them ten years into the future, and another more insidious alien presence is feeding on their guilt and sowing deep suspicion. It all starts with a whisper.

Jodie Whittaker’s turn as the Doctor on television really isn’t my favorite era of the program. This episode, in spite of the dubious title, is actually pretty good. Gill and Whittaker do have a pretty compelling chemistry which is performed quite well. My issues with Whittaker’s time on the television series had more to do with the writing and production choices than her as an actress.

Also, a new race and new adversary is introduced, and they are well written and realized.

I have said for years that Big Finish Productions successfully rehabbed the Sixth Doctor, who suffered low popularity ratings among the fans until he was able to showcase his talent with the aid of much better writing. It’s possible that Whittaker can enjoy the same experience.

Anyway, this episode was quite nicely done, and I may finally be able to appreciate the Thirteenth Doctor a bit more.

Book Review: Some Streets Shouldn’t Be Crossed

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Kiowa Trail is my first foray into the works of Louis L’Amour, and it turned out to be an enjoyable read. I do not usually read westerns, but I think I will work some of that genre into my reading queue.

The story is laid out in first person from the perspective of a cattle driver named Conn Dury. Dury works for a young widow named Kate Lundy, for whom he harbors a secret love. Kate has a younger brother named Tom who is a pleasant enough man with an eye for the ladies. when he crosses the street to speak to a woman who is the daughter of a local tycoon. When he would not heed the warning to stay on one side of a certain street, he paid for that decision with his life. Kate Lundy wants her brother’s death avenged, and she thinks that Conn Dury is a man who can help.

L’Amour is a talented writer, but his plot is a little muddled at times. It wasn’t so muddled, though, that I couldn’t find some enjoyment out of it. Who doesn’t like a good revenge story in the Old West?

Anyway, Dury is kind of an interesting protagonist in that he is a tough old cowboy who had been educated in England after he had been held captive by an Apache tribe for a few years. Anyway, he has an interesting background which makes a bit more sense in the book.

There are a few moments where L’Amour seems to lose track of some of his details such as time of day in the narration, however these lapses are pretty minor.

Overall, it was a good reading experiment to dip into this genre, and I will likely continue to revisit this genre as well as the numerous works left by the late Louis L’Amour.

Next up, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope has to reexamine an old murder case where the woman convicted of the crime turns out to be innocent, which means that she still has a killer to find in Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Match Making Gone Wrong

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Star-Crossed is an audio boxset that brings River Song in close quarters with the Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, in a satisfying trilogy of clever stories by three very reliable writers for Big Finish Productions. Alex Kingston returns to the microphone as the mysterious and often mischievous Professor River Song, and as much in love with the Doctor as ever. Helen Goldwyn gets to return to the director’s chair for this one.

The first story is written by John Dorney and is entitled Swipe Right. As the title would suggest, it concerns a dating app that has gone very wrong. The guest cast is comprised of David Holt, Tom Neenan, Beth Chalmers, and Francesca Mills.

The Doctor and River Song are each separately investigating disappearances on the planet Crell. They discover a being known as the Matchmaker. The Doctor and River Song are already married, but not just yet from the Time Lord’s perspective. As expected, the fireworks are about to light up the stars.

Dorney once again delivers an interesting story that sort of reflects something that could be going on in today’s society. Of course, no one is being forced into online dating in the real world, but there are likely going to be some interesting problems with AI.

When the Doctor and River finally meet up, it’s about as amusing and volatile as hoped. Eccleston and Kingston hit all the right notes in their performance. The script has also plenty of Doctor Who‘s expected humor.

This first entry is a solid kickoff to the set.

Lizzy Hopley follows up quite ably with Face of the Apocalypse. Charlie Tighe, Paul Reynolds, and Nadia Albina join the audio antics with Eccleston and Kingston as the guest cast.

The plot here concerns River Song’s face is being used to bring about total destruction of space and time through a complex computer algorithm. The Doctor has to unravel the problem with the help of a legendary pair of star-crossed lovers. He and River Song meet a couple whose union could be even more fraught with discord than their own. In order to save the universe, the Doctor and River will have to engage in a bit of couples’ therapy.

This story took me a little more patience to feel fully engaged. It does get better, and my appreciation for Hopley’s contribution grew due to the continued chemistry between the two leads. There are some pretty good one-liners, especially when River Song needles the Doctor about her face being the key to the universe’s survival.

It is once again down to the talent and enthusiasm exhibited by Eccleston and Kingston when performing this episode.

Finally, the set concludes with Tim Foley’s Archipelago. John Banks and Trevor Cooper are the guest actors.

The Doctor and River Song aid a captain who is taking a dangerous voyage to find his lost partner. His ship is going through a field of massive time distortion, and the last of the Time Lords may be the last chance for this boat to make it through.

The Doctor and River finally find the adventure in which they will get to know each other deeper than River could ever hope. The Doctor also gets spoilers as to his future and understands more of the connection between himself and River.

This story is a little hard to picture in my own mind, but I loved the performances. River Song is playing a dangerous game with being in the Doctor’s past. There are some amazing callbacks to the television series.

The solution is neatly imagined, and the continuity of the series remains intact.

River Song is usually an exciting foil for the Doctor in any of his incarnations. Her encounter with the Ninth Doctor was better than I thought it would be.

It’s a great set overall. I think the last story is my favorite out of this collection. So, the Doctor travels on….and so does River Song.

Book Review: The Perils Of Prosperity Island

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

How Bad Things Can Get is the latest gruesome thriller from Darcy Coates.

A group of podcast fans is invited to Prosperity Island which is privately owned by a famous influencer where there should be plenty of games and parties. A guest named Ruth, and she has a secret. Twenty years previously, she was the sole survivor of a suicide cult. The games are getting more dangerous, and Ruth is starting to learn that her past may not be as buried as she had hoped.

This is a pretty intense tale. Coates doesn’t shy away from some pretty graphic violence. It’s a bit of a standard setup of a group of people stuck on an isolated island when something evil breaks out and starts picking attendees off.

Coates is a competent writer, but she relies on some pretty formulaic tropes in the horror genre. There are a few interesting characters among the more cliche ones.

There are some moments where Coates delves into some of the psychology of some of these people who have left the cult. There is a sense that she may have done some research even though I am certainly no expert on the human phenomenon of getting so ingrained in a community such as the one depicted in this novel.

The brutality depicted in this novel is pretty extreme, so it isn’t for the squeamish.

Coates does a decent job of keeping this reader engaged at any rate, so she is certainly an effective storyteller.

Anyway, I occasionally dip into the more macabre literary experiences, and Coates has once again proven to be an interesting addition to the genre if nothing else.

Now, I am going to sample a genre with which I have had very little exposure. I am going to try one short volume from the master of the western with Louis L’amour’s Kiowa Trail.

Film Review: Missing Children And A Strange Visitor

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Weapons is one of the few recent horror films that contains some semblance of creativity from writer and director, Zach Cregger. The cast includes Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.

This film takes a somewhat non-linear path in its laying out of the story as it shifts perspectives among the characters. Very early one morning, seventeen children suddenly flee from their homes into the darkness running in a most unusual manner. They are classmates in a particular elementary school, and only one child named Alex is accounted for. The teacher, Justine Gandy, is suspected to be somehow behind the mysterious disappearances. An aggrieved father, played by Brolin, is the main accuser. Alex’s aunt, Gladys, has also been visiting and turns out to be a practitioner of witchcraft. Justine has to endure a particularly savage attack as she and Alex’s father come together to discover the truth behind the frightening and supernatural intrusion into their community.

First of all, Brolin remains as compelling as ever as Archer, the grieving and angry father of one of the missing children. Garner and the rest of the cast are also well selected for their roles. Amy Madigan as Gladys does well with making such an outlandish presence creepy and menacing as well.

There were also some pretty sly moments of dark humor that I found to be cleverly planted throughout the script.

There is quite a bit of brutality in this movie that makes it a little hard to watch. I am not normally a squeamish movie-watcher, but some of the scenes tested by nerve a bit.

Some of the characters feel a little cliche at times, but the strong performances help me find some forgiveness there.

It’s an effectively disturbing film, as it was intended. Although I doubt it will achieve any sort of iconic cinematic status, this film is one of a rare breed in today’s cinema in that it was actually pretty compelling.

Book Review: A Pool of Enigma

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Ghost Orchid is a recent thriller written by the prolific Jonathan Kellerman and features Dr. Alex Delaware who is brought in by his friend, Milo Sturgis, to consult on another peculiar murder.

A pool boy arrives at a house to do some maintenance and finds his task impeded by a couple of dead bodies floating in the water. Dr. Alex Delaware, psychologist extraordinaire, is almost recovered from a recent near-fatal injury when Detective Milo Sturgis finally calls him to take a look at the scene to see if he had any insights on where the investigation should go. Milo and Alex find that both victims have some troubling histories, so it is not clear who was the primary target and who may have just been unlucky. They also find that marital infidelity is at the root of the scene, but the motive may not be as obvious as it would first appear. The dead woman’s identity turns into a deeper mystery the more Alex and Milo dig.

Kellerman is one of those reliable and interesting suspense writers, and this installment in his long-running series continues his impressive publishing streak. This may also be one of his better entries even though there is not a whole lot that has changed by the dynamic between his characters. I did like the choice to not have Alex focus too much on what happened in the immediately preceding novel where he was nearly killed. Milo had been hesitant to consult with Delaware, but it was not too far into the story before that bit got resolved.

I also thought the lingering question as to which victim was the primary target was quite nicely placed. There is a scene where Delaware’s long-time girlfriend provides an important clue, which I thought was kind of brilliant.

I usually find Kellerman’s works to be pretty solid as far as leisure reading goes, but this particular novel was little bit above that when it came to the plot and the questions that had to be answered.

Kellerman is also not shy about introducing the more likely suspect way later into the story at times, which I sort of appreciate since the cast of characters in mystery novels are all kind of laid out early. I think this tendency sort of emulates how real murder investigations tend to go.

Anyway, this particular Alex Delaware novel is a pleasurable and a bit more compelling than many in the series and has certainly ensured that it will not be too much longer before I hunt down the next installment.

Since Halloween is a few days away, I think I will let my reading journey turn even darker as I let Darcy Coates reveal How Bad Things Can Get.

Classic Film Review: The Strange Women of Limmeridge House

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Woman in White is a mystery drama film that was released in 1948 and is actually quite impressive in regard to the look but is a little slow on the plot development. Peter Godfrey is the director of the film while the screenplay was written by Stephen Morehouse Avery. The film was based on a well-known novel by Wilkie Collins, which was written in 1860. That could explain why the film feels a little slow at times.

Included in the cast are Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet, Gig Young, Agnes Moorehead, and John Abbott.

A man hired to tutor a woman on drawing walks from a train station to an estate known as Limmeridge encounters a woman in white in the night. The woman vanishes when a carriage approaches. The man, Walter Hartright, is told of an asylum nearby, and that a woman had just escaped. Hartright makes it to the house and meets the residents. He then meets Laura Fairlie, who bears a striking resemblance to the woman he encountered during his late-night walk. Hartright begins to learn some strange secrets of the house, including a cousin who disappeared some years before. There is a fortune at stake, and Hartright finds that he may have to free a woman wrongly imprisoned within the asylum and figure out which member of the house is capable of murder to protect their secrets.

Okay, this is a pretty strange and convoluted plot. The acting was pretty good though. I also was impressed with the set design considering the time when this film was produced.

It feels a bit of a slog to sit through this thing at times because I had a hard time staying focused on the gist of the story.

It is a film that take some concentration at times.

The costuming and set design were remarkably well done. It’s a very pretty movie to watch in spite of it being in black and white. That alone may be enough reason to give this another viewing.

Anyway, there are some challenges when it comes to understanding the motivations of the characters and some elements of the story, but it’s still a film worthy of some time.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Knights And Time Meddlers

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: The First Doctor Unbound: Knights of the Round TARDIS is an audio drama that kicks off a new range for Bog Finish Productions. David Bradley returns to his version of the First Doctor alongside Claudia Grant, Jamie Glover, and Jemma Powell returning to their versions of original TARDIS companion, Susan, Ian, and Barbara.

The script was written by LR Hay, and the director is David O’Mahoney. The guest cast is comprised of Matthew McQuinn, Robert Gill, Ewan Goddard, Adam Howden, Sophie Matthew, Joseph Millson, and Keith Wickham.

The TARDIS has taken its occupants to thirteenth century Oxford where they encounter a figure known as a precursor to English democracy, Simon de Montford. Friar Roger Bacon is also there; however, he seems to have another identity that knows the Doctor very well. The Monk is back in a new guise, but the Doctor has not encountered him before from his perspective. History is about to be radically changed unless the Doctor intervenes.

Bradley does a decent job in his presentation of the First Doctor, yet he seems to be able do it without relying on an impersonation of the late William Hartnell. Bradley, of course, played Hartnell some years ago in a special docudrama about the origin of Doctor Who.

The idea is to have a series that isn’t quite so hung up on the continuity within the television series, although I am not really sure how successful the writers and producers are in actually accomplishing that.

I am not that familiar with the historical context this series was supposed to convey, but I still enjoyed it. I may have to research some of the figures like de Montfort and Roger Bacon to understand their significance to British history to better appreciate this story.

Bradley is considered something of a legend in British drama, or at least he works pretty consistently for a guy his age, which is eighty-three. Anyway, I love his portrayal of the First Doctor.

Wickham also seems to be a solid casting choice for Bacon, who turns out to be the renegade Time Lord known as the Monk. Apparently, he was inspired to emulate the style of the original actor, the late Peter Butterworth, who appeared in the original television serial entitled The Time Meddler alongside Hartnell.

It’s fun to revisit the First Doctor era in its many iterations presented by Big Finish, and this episode is a promising new direction.

Book Review: Never Just Sightseeing When In The TARDIS

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Sightseeing in Space is a volume containing two mediocre Doctor Who novellas written by David Bailey and Steve Lyons.

To be fair, I think the target audience for this release is significantly younger than me, but I couldn’t help still being a bit disappointed.

The first story is entitled Terminal of Despair written by the usually reliable Steve Lyons. He has been writing Doctor Who fiction for many years for several ranges in print.

The Doctor and his companions, Amy and Rory, arrive on a spaceport in which would-be passengers have been quarantined for several months by strange creatures which feed on hope. These creatures resemble three-legged bulldogs that have some tentacle that protrude from their mouths to latch on a victim’s neck and drains any sense of hope from them.

The alien species dubbed Desponds is new, but I had some trouble visualizing these things. Also, there was no real clear opponent in charge of this chaos. Lyons does a decent job of capturing the Eleventh Doctor’s mannerisms for the most part.

I had some trouble maintaining any real interest in the side characters. Also, no one died, which I guess is an indicator that the youth were the intended audience.

I remember looking forward to a Lyons novel and usually appreciating his imagination, so I had high hopes for his contribution here. Sadly, my hopes were unrealized. The story was not terrible, but there was not much of an impression left.

The second story, David Bailey’s The Web in Space, is a slightly better. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory become trapped in a spaceship which is being attacked by scavengers. It also becomes trapped in a giant web in space where a massive spider awaits to feed. A maniacal robot has its eyes set on access to the TARDIS. The Doctor has a lot of threats to resolve before he and his friends can be on their way.

I enjoyed this story more, but there are still better contributions to Doctor Who literature. Bailey is a competent writer, but there is nothing that really stands out about his writing style.

At least it was some Doctor Who I had not read before. The volume is another that is not a complete waste of time, but it does not leave much of a lasting impression.

Next up, I am revisiting a reliable and favorite thriller writer of mine. Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis being investigating a curious double murder at a poolside in Jonathan Kellerman’s The Ghost Orchid.