Entries from Westport Public Library BOOK blog tagged with 'espionage'
Unexpectedly good
The Usual Suspects Mystery reading Group will be discussing Westport author Dorothy Gilman’s The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax next Sunday afternoon at two. New faces are always welcome. To reserve a copy of the book, call 291-4821. The St. James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers explains the enduring popularity of Gilman‘s detective Mrs. Pollifax so perfectly: “Emily Pollifax is more than the wish-fulfillment persona of aging women; she is a character with traits that anyone might emulate: she is courageous, clever, intuitive, open to new experiences, and, above all, to new friends of any age, of any race or creed.” We meet this sweet, sixty-something widow from New Brunswick, New Jersey who has tired of a monotonous routine of volunteer work, garden club and women's associations in The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, the first of 14 titles in the series, which was published in 1966 and became an instant hit with young and old alike.Strangeways
Cecil Day-Lewis was England’s Poet Laureate from 1968-1972. He is probably better known to cinema fans as the father of award-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis. While a student at Oxford, Day-Lewis became part of W. H. Auden’s literary circle and helped him edit Oxford Poetry 1927. In 1935 Day-Lewis needed a new roof for his house and decided to supplement his income from his poetry and teaching by writing a detective novel. Using the pseudonym Nicholas Blake he became one of the leading writers in the “Golden Age” of detective fiction. Blake wrote 20 detective novels between 1935 and 1968, 16 of which feature “private enquiry agent” Nigel Strangeways. Strangeways, an Oxford graduate, is the nephew of an Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, and puts his services at the disposal of Inspector Blount of the Yard, the British Secret Service, and his many friends. In the first Strangeways novel, A Question of Proof, the detective is clearly modeled on his old acquaintance Auden, but Strangeways becomes a far less extravagant and more serious figure in later novels as he ages and sees the world less idealistically, especially in the post-World War II mysteries -- much like his contemporaries Albert Campion and Peter Wimsy.Shell shock
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – once referred to in the military as “shell shock” or war neurosis – is an anxiety disorder that can occur after experiencing a traumatic event. Reports of battle-related stress appear as early as the 6th century BC, and in 490 BC the Greek historian Herodotus described an Athenian soldier who, although not himself physically wounded, was rendered blind after witnessing the death of a fellow soldier. Next Sunday, October 19th, at 2, the Usual Suspects Mystery Reading Group will discuss the first of Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge mysteries, A Test of Wills. Set in 1919, Rutledge has returned from France with a medal of honor and a serious case of shell shock, which often manifests itself in the form of a nagging specter – Hamish MacLeod, a corporal whose only return from the war has been inside Rutledge's head.Foyle’s War fans …
The historically accurate WWII background and appealing characters of James R. Benn’s new mystery Billy Boyle might be just the book you’ve been looking for.
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