R.J. Gadney: Albert Einstein Speaking, Canongate UK, 9781786890474, hardback available, paperback 9781786890498 available March 14, 2019

I was seduced into reading “Albert Einstein Speaking” by the publisher’s blurb:  “Princeton New Jersey. 14^th March 1954. “Albert Einstein speaking.” “What?” says the girl on the telephone”? “I am sorry, she says, I have the wrong number.” From a wrong number to a friendship that would impact both their lives, the novel begins with a meeting of two very different minds – the world most respected scientist and a schoolgirl from New Jersey……”  So much for the blurb which did the trick in winning me as a reader and I don't regret these reading hours at all.

It is true that Mimi Beaufort, the girl on the phone and Isabella, her sister, played a very important role

in making Albert Einstein’s life a much happier one during his last years. But while reading I started to get a bit miffed and felt lead on as the blurb made me believe the book would be predominately about this relationship but in fact only 25 % of the book are about their relationship. 

The remaining 75 % of the book is a fictionalized biography staying close to the facts of Albert Einstein’s incredible life.  Putting my being miffed aside, I began to enjoy this very informative, charming, well composed and engrossing read about Albert Einstein. I did not know very much about his life apart from the more well-known facts. Reading “Albert Einstein speaking” gave me a great insight into this Nobel Prize Winner’s biography, a Jew and pacifist who supported the founding of the state of Israel hating the Nazi’s, a man who loved music and the ladies, who had a tumultuous private life during equally tumultuous political times and is still considered the most influential physicist of the 20^th century.  

For me the most charming part of the book was of course the part dealing with the tender, fatherly relationship he had with Mimi and Isabella in US exile where he taught at Princeton leaving the political mess of Europe behind but taking some trusted family members and friends with him.

Edithsbookpicks: Louise Penny: Kingdom of the Blind, A ChiefInspect...

Edithsbookpicks: Louise Penny: Kingdom of the Blind, A ChiefInspect...: Louise Penny: Kingdom of the Blind, A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery, 9780751566611, Little Brown UK/Sphere, (hardback) (Kindle edition a...

Louise Penny: Kingdom of the Blind, A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery, 9780751566611, Little Brown UK/Sphere, (hardback) (Kindle edition available), paperback: 9780751575644, coming May 2019, 

no German pub date yet

A few years ago, I boarded a plane, 11 hrs. of flying from Texas ahead of me, with my first Louise Penny mystery as a present from my friends to keep me company on this long flight.  My friends had told me how much they enjoyed Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, all set in the town of Three Pines near Montreal/Canada.   Having just finished the latest, “Kingdom of the Blind”, I think this is the best one of the series by far.  416 pages just flew by; the plot never felt tired but held me firmly in its grip with its two parallel story lines.  

Amande Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Surete du Quebec, together with his neighbor Myrna Landers, a retired psychologist and owner of a bookstore and a man called Benedict are summoned to an abandoned farm house by Maître Mercier to be informed that they have been named executors of a will by an elderly woman, a stranger they never met. The “Baroness” as she was called, was once a cleaning lady to one of their friends as it turns out but how Benedict came into the picture remains a mystery.  The will seems completely delusional and becomes even more bizarre when they learn of three adult children she could have easily named executors.  After the will has been read the first impression of delusion seems confirmed when she bequests millions, a title to one of her sons and some real estate in Europe to all of her children, none of which seems to have been in her ownership.  When a body is found in her badly decrepit former house, the case becomes stranger yet bringing Amande’s son in law as chief investigator into the picture. As is usually the case, several friends of Gamache and his wife in Three Pine, an ailing colleague and family members become crucial in resolving this complex puzzle around the Baroness.   

Parallel Gamache has to face the firing of one his most difficult agents, Amelia, who in connection with his own current suspension was involved with deadly drugs disappearing into the streets to catch the cartel behind it.

The mystery behind “The Baroness” and her heirs, the surprising twist and turns of the investigation held me completely captive until the very last page, as Amande Gamache and his team face several dead ends until they finally solve the crime. 
 

Louise Penny’s novels are published in Germany but no publication date for my favorite one so far.