My Library Reads - January 2011 (mysteries)

What did I read from a library last month?

Only two books - both from Vancouver Public Library (VPL) and both historical mysteries. First was The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh, from her Gil Cunningham series and set around medieval Glasgow, Scotland in 1492, and second, On The Head of A Pin by Janet Kellough, featuring Thaddeus Lewis, a Methodist Episcopal preacher in Prince Edward County, Upper Canada, 1838 to 1842.


The Harper's Quine was a good read, but I found Pat McIntosh's use of historical dialect awkward and sometimes intrusive. (And there's no glossary.)

I thoroughly enjoyed On The Head of A Pin, however, and want to read more. As a genealogist, I did keeping hoping to read that Preacher Lewis was keeping careful track of the baptisms and marriages he took care of. Not so!

I searched the Vancouver Public Library catalogue at VPL.ca but none of Kellough's other books are in the collection. However, on-line, I see that she has a new book, Sowing Poison, due out this fall (Dundurn Press). I'm hoping that's another Thaddeus Lewis mystery and I'll be watching for that.

I also have Witches' Rings by Kerstin Ekman at home, taken out from the Vancouver Public Library, but I haven't had time to open it yet. This is the first volume in a series about a small Swedish community from the 1870s on. The four books, all available in English, are Witches' Rings (Häxringarna, 1974), translated by Linda Schenck, 1997, The Spring (Springkällan, 1976), translated by Linda Schenck, 1999, Angel House (Änglahuset, 1979), translated by Sarah G. Death, 2002, and A City of Light (En stad av ljus, 1983), translated by Linda Schenck, 2003.

I have already read one of Kerstin Ekman's mysteries, Blackwater (Händelser vid vatten, 1993, translated by Joan Tate, 1996), so I am looking forward to reading this series.

It seems VPL doesn't have all of Ekman's books, although the catalogue entries for this author and her books seem to be particularly untidy, so perhaps I will ask someone there to check again. Otherwise, I will hope that a book seller at Abebooks.com will come to my rescue.