Sujata Massey: The Widows of Malabar Hill, Soho Crime, paperback , 9781616959760

" The Widows of Malabar Hill" is set in 1920  Bombay with Perveen Mistry as the protagonist and the first female lawyer in India, daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family,  working in her father's famous law firm.

When her father is tasked to settle a wealthy muslim clients last will, Perveen is sent to talk to the three widows who allegedly signed off their inheritance to a charity. Perveen is soon convinced the widows were forced into signing  and when the murder of their guardian occurs, she is determined to protect the safety and financial future of the  women and their children. 

I would place the novel in the cozy crime sector as far as the plot is concerned but what made this such an entertaining read was the insight into Zoroastrian religion, the rights of women in 1920 India amongst Muslims and Zoroastrians society, the shifting political changes during that time in India and the crumbling of British rulership. 

 S.A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears, Headline, paperback, 9781472286543

Razorblade Tears is the third of the S.A. Cosby thrillers I read and by far the one with the most violence which bothered me and the reason why I liked it the least. But still, Cosby's writing is ace.

The story is raw and powerful nevertheless : two ex con fathers with now respectable lives, one black, Ike, the other, white Billy Lee living in a trailer, share the same grief. Their sons, gay and married to each other, parents of an adopted girl, are found brutally murdered. Both fathers where ashamed of their son's gayness when they were still alive but band up to avenge and investigate their sons death. Action packed page turner but four stars from me due to the violence.

 Daniel Schreiber: Die Zeit der Verluste, Hanser Berlin, 9783446278004, gebunden, 

Im letzten Jahr türmten sich die Verluste in meinem privaten Leben und gipfelte schließlich im Dezember im  Tod meines geliebten Vaters. 

Daniel Schreiber's schlaues Buch über die Unbeständigkeit der Welt und den damit einhergehenden Verlusten, trösteten mich in meiner Trauer und Melancholie, die ein täglicher Begleiter wurden. Ich wusste, ich durchlief einen sehr menschlichen Prozess und fand mich deshalb oft wieder in Schreiber's Empfindungen und Gedanken. Allein das war ein heilsamer,  grosser Trost. Auch die Anforderungen unserer Zeit, die für Trauer egal in welcher Form keinen Platz vorsehen, spielen oft einen Aspekt in unserer Fähigkeit,  diesen als negativ empfundenen Gefühlen Platz und Zeit zu lassen. 

 Seine eigene Erfahrung einbringend, auch er hatte seinen Vater verloren, flüchtete sich Schreiber schließlich nach Venedig, um dort einen Platz zu suchen, wo er seiner Hoffnungslosigkeit eine Antwort entgegen setzen konnte. Dieses schmale, 132 Seiten kurze Buch ist ein exzellenter Begleiter und Guide in einer Zeit, in der persönliche Verluste, Schmerz, Trauer und Hilflosigkeit oft den Tag überschatten. Mir hat es sehr gut getan. 

 James Lee Burke: Flags on the Bayou, 9781398715516, Orion, 

Since discovering James Lee Burke's excellent Robicheaux's crime series years ago , with his incredibly rich descriptions of Louisiana's lush landscapes, have I been an admirer of his colorful novels. Burke himself considers this latest book his best, its been nominated for the Edgar Award for best novel. 

 Set during the horrors of the Civil War in the New Orleans area, this powerful story  is told thru the very distinct voices of all chief characters.  

 I fell in love with his female protagonists in particular, two runaway slaves and an abolitionist schoolteacher. Burke's language has almost literary quality, his story drives home the price of war,oppression and slavery,  the distruction of any normal life, the senslessness of  fighting to solve a conflict. Only too timely in the current political climate around the world.  Loved "Flags on the Bayou" for its great characters, language and often disturbing tale.

 S.A.Cosby: All the sinners bleed, Headline, paperback February '24 ( i read the ebook)

I am hooked on S.A. Cosby's crime novels, literally could not but down " All the sinners bleed" which I read straight after "My darkest prayer" . It's been a while that I was so clued to the sofa. 

 Titus Crown is the first black sheriff in Charon County,  a former FBI agent, who doesn't only have friends in his home town still rife with Southern confederate white boys. When a popular white teacher is shot by a student who in turn is shot by Crowns deputies, an abyss opens up during their investigation no one could possible imagine,  least that they might be staring at a serial killer..  

Enough said, Cosby is a terrific plotter and one of the best American crime writers in my opinion, his characters reminding me at times of Elmore Leonard's  ...and what can I say, I am now reading " Razorblade Tears" ..

 S.A.Cosby: My Darkest Prayer, Headline 9781472299109, paperback 

Nathan Waymaker is a character in this Southern noir crime novel that I immediately took to and S.A. Cosby a new crime writer I seem late in discovering. 

Living in his cousins funeral home working as an undertaker, Nathan also has a former life as a sheriff' deputy and marine to show for, qualifications for a job as an investigator which come in handy when asked by parishoners to look into the sudden death of their minister which his old police mates are keen to sweep under the rug. Enter the daughter of the minister, a porn actress, Nathan readily  "befriends" to overcome her non existing grief.

I loved the character of this maladjusted investigator/undertaker and S.A. Cosby's terrific writing. Just downloaded "Razorblade Tears" and look forward to more of his writing ....

" Fourteen Days" a collaborative novel by Margaret Atwood and  other writers, 9781784745455, Vintage/ Penguin Random House, February 2024

Thanks to a netgalley,   I was able to read this unusual, terrific,  collaborative novel,  written during lockdown of the pandemic by a whole cast of well known authors such as Celeste Ng, John Grisham, Tess Gerritsen, Erica Jong, Dave Eggers, Sylvia Day, Tommy Orange , Margaret Atwood to name just a few. 

 The story lends itself perfectly to the project: set in New York during the pandemic,  the tenants of a run down building gather each evening for fourteen days on the roof top, equipped with booze and other provisions, taking turns in telling each other stories, viewing each other suspiciously. . No one knows whether the stories are real or made up by the narrator. The chief protagonist is the super of the building, a young woman who finds notes left by her predecessor about the peculiarities of aĺl the tenants, inclusive imaginative names and apartment numbers. The book reminded me a little of a kinkier version of 1001 nights, it is great fun to read, not at all bleak even if some stories are on the darker side. 

The epilogue provides the names of the authors who has written which chapter.