Day 13 Beware! You can't tell a book by its cover

Beware!

You can’t always tell a book by its cover.


Here are two book covers. They look very similar and it would be reasonable to suppose that they were similar sorts of book. They are not.

Nine Elms is described as: The thrilling first book in a brand-new, electrifying crime series (Kate Marshall).

Nothing to Hide is plugged as: an electrifying crime thriller for fans of Ian Rankin, Peter James and Stuart MacBride.

So two detective stories with a female cop protagonist except one aims to be a more or less realistic police procedural and the other does not.

Nothing to Hide is a straightforward crime novel and I shall be reviewing it shortly.

Robert Bryndza, on the other hand, writes ‘comic’ novels and pastiches. He doesn’t do realistic. In Nine Elms he goes way over the top and some people might find it distressing.

The book takes the format of the police procedural - our heroine, a police woman, is called out to the scene of a murder that could possibly be the next victim of a cannibalistic serial killer. Her boss is the youngest officer in police history to be promoted to DCI and to her regret they had had a brief affair. So far, so ordinary. Then it changes as the plot departs for fantasy land.

Yes, it is still a crime story with a puzzle to be solved, but the plot and the characterisation are wild beyond belief. At this point it lost me, but I persevered - to my regret - because it gloried in violence, disgusting violence perpetrated on women's bodies.

I concede that detective stories do tend to require violence to enable the plot and it may have to described, but that is a far cry from what is happening here. Bryndza revels in the violence like a small boy stuffing his face with cream cake and toffees at the same time, and, because he is a good writer, it is just as sick-making.

I suppose it could be said that this sort of fantasy novel is supposed to be taken with a huge pinch of salt – as a laugh.

Perhaps.

But this goes too far for me and feeds anti-female sadism rather than laughs. As it happens, the story is also compromised by coincidence and highly unlikely plot development. So it doesn't even work for me on that level. But I suppose that is explained because it is a pastiche. Hmmm.

Quite obviously this book was not meant for me, but - and this is the important point – from the outside, it looked as though it was.

And now for something completely different:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKaTCpZzpQ


Food

Today’s recipe doesn’t really require any cooking – it is more of an assemblage (Is that a word? Say it in a French accent and I am sure it’ll work.)

It’s a salad.

Ingredients

Lettuce (Romaine or Little Gem that will slice easily)

Fresh figs (If you can’t get figs, it works well with firm pears – like Conference)

Celery

Cream cheese

Cooked chicken (optional)

Pine Nuts

Garlic

Honey

Lemon juice

A fine chopped chilli (optional)

Salt, pepper, chopped fresh coriander

·      

Make the dressing.

1.    Heat the honey until it is runny and combine with the juice of a lemon

2.    Add crushed garlic, salt and pepper to taste. If you like your dressing to have a kick, add the chopped chilli


Assemble the salad

1.    Slice the lettuce into fine strips and place at the bottom of the serving dish/plate with the chopped celery

2.    Pile a generous mound of cream cheese in the centre of the lettuce

3.    Slice the chicken into fine strips and sprinkle artistically over the cream cheese and lettuce

4.    Slice the figs into quarters and arrange round the edge of the dish

5.    Sprinkle with pine nuts and chopped coriander

6.    Dress just before serving.

Eat with a fresh baguette and a glass of chilled white wine – a Chablis would be good.

 

I haven’t put any measurements in this recipe. I have left it to your choice depending on whether this is a snack for one or supper for four. Using these ingredients, you can’t go far wrong.

Today’s Picture

Spring Landscape at Moatlands,  Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979)

Ivon Hitchens was born in 1883.He studied at the Royal Academy of Art and was one of the London Group of artists. In 1940 he was bombed out of his house and went to live in a caravan in West Sussex. He was based there for the rest of his life. He is best known for his abstract landscapes of the countryside around his home. Hitchens died on August 29, 1979 in Petworth, United Kingdom.

This really needs to be seen from a distance, when all the abstraction falls into place and you are drawn into the landscape.


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