I worked out of the University of Saskatchewan in the 1990s.

During those years, I read all the books of Robertson Davies, one of Canada’s greatest novelists.

His Deptford Trilogy and this book were set at the fictional College of St. John and Holy Ghost, affectionately referred to as “Spook“.

I loved how he mocked the Ivory Tower. 😀

As I recall, Rebel Angels was my favourite of his many great books.

For some reason, I decided to re-read it.

Two events spark the plot: the return of Brother John Parlabane, an ex-monk and -drug addict, and the death of Francis Cornish, a local patron of the arts. Parlabane becomes a university parasite, sleeping on couches and hitting up Maria, Hollier and Anglican priest Simon Darcourt for money. …

… Maria – no fewer than five male characters fall in love with her over the course of the novel. A sort of Helen of Troy (her first names bring to mind the presumed harlot from the Bible, while her surname means “God-bearer”), she is so beautiful that she sows conflict and heartache wherever she goes. …

The title refers to angels thrown out of heaven, and is Maria’s shorthand for the trio of Darcourt, Hollier and Parlabane. Parlabane is explicitly likened to Lucifer and Satan, making him an embodiment of evil. …

Rebecca Foster – Bookish Beck

Everyone at Kings Lake Central police station has been expecting DC Smith to finally retire.

And it seems he’s on his last case.

It’s a murder on the Norfolk saltmarshes.

As the team from Kings Lake uncover his story, they reveal another, much older one with its origins far back in the previous century. In the tide that governs the affairs of men, it seems, love and loss, betrayal and revenge are timeless themes.

Overdrive

The actual whodunnit is secondary to the police procedural machinations. The interpersonal relationships.

I do like the narrator of the DC Smith audio books – Gildart Jackson.

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning work of fiction by American author Jennifer Egan.

… a set of thirteen interrelated stories with a large set of characters all connected to Bennie Salazar, a record company executive, and his assistant, Sasha.  …

Original. Well written. Well researched. BUT I only got halfway through.

Egan is a great writer. But this book centers on mostly self-destructive characters none of whom I liked nor related with.

I’ve had it with narratives with only unlikable characters — for example, Succession on TV.

When published in 2010 nobody liked this book aside from critics. I’m not surprised.

This is a book about aging.

The most impressive thing about the first 60% of this book 😀 for me was her take on how people age. It has a nonlinear chronology with different character’s point of view at different times of life.

This was also depressing.

Trivia ~ Jennifer Egan once dated Steve Jobs.

Missing Pieces (2021) is set in the same fictional world as Grainger’s DC Smith — but Smith doesn’t actually appear in this novel. He’s mentioned. Often.

I enjoyed this book. It’s a slow burn. Not much action. Plenty of detail on how murder investigations are conducted.

As the first anniversary of the formation of the Kings Lake murder squad approaches, there is a problem—they’ve run out of murders.

As a result, they are given the task of reviewing unsolved cold cases. One of these comes back to life in unexpected ways as the team try to discover the identity of the young woman whose body was found in the Norfolk countryside two decades ago.

And even if they can give her a name, how can they possibly find her killer after so many years?