11. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

By Dorothy Sayers

Requested as a Xmas gift.
1928, fourth installment in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, but can be read as a standalone.

1. Claire Dewitt & the City of the Dead

By Sara Gran

When I finished reading Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, I hadn’t posted my impressions of it at all (now writing something in 2025), and I could barely recall what the novel was about.  I remember feeling disappointed as I didn’t quite know what to make of it.  Even though it was a character-driven detective novel, the mystery part was probably the weakest factor, being quite anti-climactic when it was finally solved.

 

According to the blurb, P.I. Claire Dewitt “is a follower of the esoteric French detective Jacques Silette, whose mysterious handbook Détection inspired Claire’s unusual practices. Claire also has deep roots in New Orleans, where she was mentored by Silette’s student the brilliant Constance Darling—until Darling was murdered. When a respected DA goes missing, she returns to the hurricane-ravaged city to find out why.”

 

This was definitely a detective novel that focused more on the journey itself (be it physical, metphysical and/or personal) than on how the mystery got solved.

 

According to this blog review:

What is unique and disconcerting about Claire DeWitt is that she does not depend upon traditional investigation or procedure. Rather, she depends on vibes and seeming coincidence. She does not run down the list of suspects and evaluate alibis and hard evidence. Instead, she uses a lot of hallucinatory drugs and relies on leads received in dreams. She takes her cue from a (fictional) obscure French handbook called ‘Détection’ by Jacques Silette, from which she constantly quotes.

   And it’s the quotes that make this a compelling read. Not the detection. Which is hair-brained and unconvincing.

I can see now that the author was trying to subvert the detective genre, with mixed results (for me, at least).  However, a few years later, I unknowingly read another book by Gran, the effectively chilling, Come Closer, which balanced psychological horror with demonic possession.

 

I was planning on to writing a quick post for Claire DeWitt and put it in the trade pile, but after reading some reviews from readers who really liked the book, I may give it another chance (at some other time).  I also like the cover, so will hold onto this for now (I remember buying it new at Dark Carnival), as there are at least two more books that are part of the Claire DeWitt series!

 

 

6. Trail of the Spellmans

By Lisa Lutz

Another Spellman hardcover copy found at good ol’ Chainon thrift shop.  

To be honest, it’s 2020 and I don’t remember much from Installment #5 of the lovable Spellman series, so I'm going to cheat with some bits and pieces from various goodread reviewers.

Isabel is back in the game working, if not practically running, the family business, Spellman Investigations.  Younger sister Rae is studying at Berkley U but still helps out with cases.  Her latest obsession is to convince the newest employee, Demetrius Merriweather, to file a lawsuit against the state for wrongful conviction and false imprisonment.  I can't remember how the brother fits in the story but there are newer characters like baby Spellman, Sydney, and a geriatric Spellman gets introduced.   

What’s more, Isabel’s her mom has inexplicably enrolled in a number of classes, such as Russian and crochet (or is it croquet? Isabel can’t read her writing).  Could she be behaving this way because her parents are thinking of retiring?  Her Dad remains on his 'health-food diet' without his knowing since Demetrius does all the cooking.  Isabel is still living with boyfriend Henry, but his mom is visiting and Isabel still can't bring herself to give him the answer to that pesky question.  All this with the usual roster of oddball clients and their cases.

Even though things ended happily and romantically between Isabel and Henry in the last book, Henry was mostly MIA in this installment.   There were no exchanges between him and Rae and worse, the chemistry between Henry & Isabel has already petered out.   Sadly, I had similar feelings for Book 5.   Don't get me wrong, this Spellman book is still a treat to read, but it felt like it was starting to run out of steam.

We knew we were doomed. The kiss was a warm acceptance of years of bickering, years of me consuming foods that I found barely edible and Henry tidying up after someone who already thought she had tidied up. When I kissed Henry I wasn't imagining Ex-boyfriend #13; I was picturing Husband #1.

Book 37 – City of Glass: the Graphic Novel

By Paul Auster
Adaptation by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli

I had read Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy a few years ago as separate books (City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room). My review did not provide any plot summary, so I don’t remember much except the exquisite atmosphere of dreamy dread that permeated each book.  And that I really liked them. This turned out to be advantageous since the 1994 comic adaptation of City of Glass recently fell into my hands thanks to my coworker via Olman (the copy was the 2004 Picador edition). Reading the comic made me remember everything about the original novella as I went along, so it was almost like re-experiencing the story in a new way.

As Art Spiegelman mentioned in his introduction, I was impressed with how Karasik and Mazzucchelli created such an effective comic out of a strange and metaphysical work as City of Glass, which apparently posed a challenge for many to visualize (there have been a number of unsuccessful attempts to adapt it as a screenplay).

City of Glass starts off as a fairly straightforward detective mystery, though with a pervasive feeling that something is a little off. At some point, the narrative becomes unhinged and takes a turn toward po-mo existentialism, but compellingly so. I always wondered what City of Glass would’ve been like had Auster stuck to genre conventions because I think it would’ve made a great detective story. But that’s crazy talk since part of the story’s power lies in its deconstruction of narrative and character. After all, City of Glass is one of many novels where Auster explores his trademark themes: the disintegration of reality and identity.

Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli were able to take those trademark Auster themes and visualize them in comic form. They utilized everything they knew about the art of comics into City of Glass, but each panel is designed in a very controlled and thoughtful way.  It is a wonderful synthesis of two different but complementary mediums.  For anyone interested in a deeper analysis of how Karasik & Mazzuchhelli translate prose to the comic form, take a look at this blog.

If you haven’t read the original novel or the comic adaptation, then I would recommend reading the novel first then waiting a long while before reading the comic. Like long enough to not remember any details of the novel (say a few years!). But if you lack the discipline and cannot wait that long, then I liked what this Guardian review had to say about this little quandary: 

If you haven't read City of Glass, then you have an intriguing dilemma: not which of the two books to read - you should read both - but which to read first. I can't really answer that question, because setting them against one another, trying to decide which is more successful, seems pointless. Both are wonderful works of art. Both are worth reading again and again. And each complements the other, the comic driving you back the novel, and vice versa.