Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters

I have read many of Elizabeth Peter’s books with Amelia and Emerson Peabody the archaeologist couple who are involved in mysteries and murders on digs mainly in Egypt. I have thoroughly enjoyed their adventures and seen them fall in love, have a son who grows up and follows in their footsteps through the series. So when I picked up this book it was certainly a surprise that it was not a part of the Amelia Peabody series. In fact there are other series by this author and also non series books of which Devil May Care are one. I had not even read the synopsis and so had not even an inkling of the story that unfolded.

The story begins with Henry (who I gather at once is a stuffy pompous lawyer) and his fiancé Ellie. Ellie has to go for a few days and house sit for her rich aunt in Virginia. It appears that Henry did not know about this ‘eccentric’ aunt and now that he does is very interested in the fact that she is rich. Henry plans to drive Ellie there and stay overnight, giving a lift to Aunt Kate to the airport the next day. Along with Aunt Kate one wonders as to what Ellie sees in Henry who is constantly thinking of the ways in which he would change her behaviour and her style once they are married. He is also calculating the worth of the contents of Aunt Kate’s home as he wanders around. Kate keeps hinting that Ellie could do better. 

While she was away, Kate said that there was a local family, who came and did the house chores and a young man who did the extensive gardens. At dinner, she also introduced Ellie to her friend Ted, who lived nearby and visited often. It was a long time since Ellie had visited her aunt and was looking forward to spending some quiet time on her own there. Next morning she departed with Henry with a cryptic ‘And the ghosts are no trouble, they are very quiet types’ thrown in among the list of things that needed doing and animal issues that Ellie had to keep an eye on. 

Ellie thinks about this but dismisses it as there has never been any talk of ghosts even if this was an old 18^th century building. The first day seems to pass peacefully but as she is going up to bed she sees this person as an image on the wall in the landing of the stairs. It is clear and seems to dissolve as she goes up close. While this unnerves her a little she is not scared. But then she is woken in the middle of the night. There is a noise outside and she looks out of the window into the garden. Who is that couple in the garden? What are they doing? Why have they started running? Who is that man who came out of the shrubs to follow the running couple?

This frightens her and she calls Ted for help. This tale gets all around the village. The ghosts seem to have the people divided. It is all about the history of the 6 families who originally lived there. There are some dark parts to the lives of the people long gone. The young man who looks after the garden turns out to be the local doctor’s son, who looks strangely like the ghost on the wall, but is willing to help Ellie when the ghostly antics increase in intensity. 

The pace of the book is steady and many small but intriguing incidents occupy your mind. Why is Henry not answering his phone? Do the locals want to publicise the ghosts to increase tourist trade? As sightings escalate Ellie thinks it is time to inform her aunt. But where is Kate? No one seems to be able to get hold of her and the place she is staying at is closed. Will a séance help to find out what the ghosts are up to?

As Donald the gardener has been helping and supporting her, is something more than friendship developing? So were will all this lead?

This story certainly kept me hooked right till the end. There are lot of detailed descriptions of the house, the history of the families, the people and events. It is a good read with some mystery, some ghosts and some romance.

Caravan to Vaccares by Alistair MacLean

I have come to the end of the list of books by this author that I have reviewed. This was another book that I had not read in a long long time, though I have seen the film a few times after reading the book. It is right there with the other books by Alistair MacLean, in its plot intricacy and suspense.

The prologue sets the sinister tone to the novel. There is a young man being chased into the caves by knife welding men and murdered. The novel starts with the hero Neil Bowman dining with a young lady Cecile. Cecile’s friend Lila is dining at another table with Le Grand Duc, an impressive man in more ways than one.  They have watched the gypsy caravans coming and setting up camp on the grounds outside. Just then there is a disturbance in the camp and it appears that a young man has gone missing and his mother is crying. Some men have been sent by the leader to drive back on the route they have just travelled over. Indeed police is called when they return without finding the young man. However, the area that has not been searched in the caves and no one wants to go in there in the dark. It appears that there is a close relationship between the Duc and the gypsies, as he wanders over to find out what the matter is.

Neil also wanders over with Cecile trying to get details of the event. All he can ascertain is that there are a few ladies with the missing man’s mother and all look very worried and scared. Neil decides to go out later in the night to gather information. He does overhear the leader talking about some assignment but he is seen when trying to get to the caravan with the ladies in it. Three of the gypsies including the leader’s son chase Neil who tries to find refuge in the hotel. Then he races up into the hills with the men armed with knives and a gun. What will he discover in the caves in the hills which he is forced to run into? The way out of the caves is tricky and will he get out of there alive? It is a touch and go but he thwarts his pursuers and goes back to the hotel to collect Cecile and make his escape.

On the run but keeping with the groups of gypsies which include the leader and the caravan with the ladies in it, Neil attempts to find out what the gypsies are hiding. There is some sinister plot and to get to the bottom of it Neil and Cecile change their appearance and get closer to the various gypsies. What is one of the young ladies doing buying bandages and medicines? Where is the other young lady Tina? The Duc is following the gypsies but is he just a historian as he says or there is something ominous about his relationship with them?

Since Neil and Cecile are strangers and buy change of clothes from a local shop the gypsies find out and set a trap to catch them. They mingle with the crowds at the local bullfighting ring before going to the caravans again. Neil gets caught while trying to find out why 3 men are being kept prisoners in one of the caravans. His punishment is to fight a bull to death, one that has been specially prepared for the purpose of killing Neil. They hold on to Cecile to make sure he does not try and escape.

Will Neil survive the bull fight? What is the mystery of the prisoners? Is Duc directing the nefarious operations? The plot is good and it is not easy to guess what the heart of the mystery is, unlike most of the other novels. It is in the last few chapters that the whole picture emerges with the suspense being maintained right up to the last page.

This novel has the usual mix of mystery, suspense, and humour that Alistair MacLean is known for. A wonderful read at any time with the story slowly emerging page at a time.

Precious and the Monkeys by Alexander McCall Smith

It seems prequels are in vogue in the film industry but this is the first time I am seeing a prequel to a series of novels – The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The author states that there were questions from readers about the early years of Precious Ramotswe and how did the idea of becoming a detective come about.

This is the story of the first ever case solved by Precious when she was a little girl. She had thought at the age of 7 that she would like to be a detective when she grew up.  As usual, there is a gentle flow of the story with everything including the thoughts being explained in weaving of the story. A theft occurs in the school and Precious is not happy that a friend of hers was accused of stealing. It is up to her to find out what really happened? Who was the thief? She needed to find out and let everyone know the truth so that her friend did not suffer.

A nice short story and so in keeping with the style of this author.

The Greek Key by Colin Forbes

This is the spy thriller set in the 80s during the time of change in the Soviet Union and move to end the Cold War. However, the crux of the whole conspiracy is in the murder that was committed about 40 years ago, during World War 11, in Cairo. Was that one linked to another murder on the Siros during a commando raid?

Back to present day, one of Tweed’s sector chief, Harry Masterson, is murdered in Greece. Before his death he had sent a box with random things in it which could be clues to what he was doing in Greece with a beautiful Greek woman. They point to both Greece and to Exmoor. So Tweed sends the famous and vetted by SIS reporter Newman and the best marksman Marler to investigate the Greek end. While he goes with Paula to Exmoor and see what the 3 retired army officers are worried about, living close together and in more or less fortified houses.

Who are all the horsemen riding around the moor? Why is an ex-policeman, digging into the 40 year old murder, in Cairo, investigating the 3 ex-army officers? Was he close to finding the murderer? Is the father of the murdered man, an old world Greek out for revenge and responsible for the killings happening in the present day? Is there a conspiracy that is using this old vendetta as a smoke screen?

A well woven plot and works through all the clues and situations in detail. It takes time to develop all the threads and link them up in the final few chapters. Will they be able to avert the looming disaster? Will they be able to find out who the mastermind and murderer is?

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel which is the sixth book in this series. You get to know the characters better and as some of the team members are still getting to know one another. The team is well formed by the end of this book as this continues (seen from the later books) to be the core team to investigate and protect. These earlier books were also quite long and plots intricate and so very hard to put down until complete.

The Templar’s Quest by C. M. Palov

As I started to read I realised this was the first book in the series written by this author. The main character Caedmon Asquith is being introduced in this book. The story begins in America where a former black ops soldier, Finn is now working a desk job. He gets visited by CID officers who are making inquiries about the murders of his old team mates who were tortured and killed. The weapon found was his combat knife. While being interviewed in his office he gets a text message telling him to go to the French Embassy party and await a meeting which could clear him off the potential murder charge. He has no choice but to evade the officers and rush out to keep this appointment. He wants to find out and avenge the murder of his friends and teams mates.

Since he cannot take his car he gets into a car which stopped to drop someone. This is a young lady, Kate, he has seen around the department and feels he should be able to get a lift. In fact he invites her to go with him to the French Embassy party in return for the lift. The man he meets there tells him he wants the artefact that Finn took from Afghanistan on his last black ops mission. In return they would provide him with the proof that he was innocent of the murders and be handsomely paid for the artefact. What is the artefact and why is it so important? Who are the people behind this Frenchman willing to go to such lengths to get their hands on this particular artefact? But before Finn can get any useful information, except that the Dark Angel killed his friends, out of the Frenchman, he commits suicide. At the same time, Kate who had followed him walks in and thinks Finn has something to do with the death.

They run from the embassy and Kate insists she is going home and keep out of whatever is going on with Finn. But it seems that someone is bent on silencing her and uses this threat to get the artefact from Finn. The information they get from pinching the Frenchman’s laptop send them surreptitiously racing to France. The artefact has some symbols on it and Kate suggests that they go see an old friend Caedmon Asquith for a translation. It seems this artefact is an important map to unearth a grail stone from the Knights Templars’ treasure. It is hold the key to the lost science of the ancient Egyptians. There is a lot of historical information regarding the Knights Templars and their fascination with the Egyptian science. It can get very intense and trifle dry reading this history. It is very tempting to skim through it rather than concentrate on the details; however, the detail is necessary to understand the importance of the artefact and what the so called treasure is about. The people after it are attempting to harness the powers of the lost science to change the world as we know it. Yes, it did seem fanciful but not entirely impossible when the final details of what they intend to do are revealed.

The assassin is now after all three and to this end kidnap Kate. Finn is very disheartened and offers to give the artefact in return for Kate…but now it appears they are not willing to negotiate. How are the two men going to save Kate? How are they going to stop the potential from happening? Will Caedmon manage to keep it together without the regular gin and tonics that he has been consuming? They do not have any weapons to help them. The team of Caedmon and Finn appears to be a good one as Finn’s strength is his skills of fighting and Caedmon’s strength is knowledge. Some may consider the plot to be very farfetched but the story moves well and the action is more or less constant. A thought comes to mind that how come in movies and books the main character manages the feat, be it finding an artefact hidden for centuries or a murderer from a cold case, with such ease? It was an enjoyable read and I am eager to read the third book of the series. I will see if I can find any more books by this author.