October Books: Classic Fiction

 I am still not really feeling the love for contemporary fiction at the moment, but am quite smitten with older work. I go wherever the book mood leads me!

The Shop Window Murder by Vernon Loder

I came across this title when scrolling through the e-book section of the library website. It’s a ‘forgotten’ Golden Age mystery, originally published in 1930. It’s a reprint of a Collins Classic Crime book. 

The book begins with a short biographical sketch of the author. The pen name on this book is just one pseudonym used by the writer. It seems to have been a fairly common practice for writers of this time to have many pseudonyms. This mostly seems to be a male thing, but Josephine Tey is one female example.

This book features Inspector Devenish and this is the only book in which he appears. The book begins with the unveiling of a new shop window display at a rather weird department store. This store has the usual departments—clothing for women and men, millinery, sporting goods—but also has an aeroplane department featuring a folding plane. One morning, as the grille is raised on the new display, people are shocked to see a couple of bodies amongst the mannequins. Devenish is called in and begins his investigation.

I enjoyed this book. It includes some unique plot points and an interesting ending.

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Its been a long time since I read this book. It’s a Poirot novel with the apple-loving mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver, who is visiting a friend and helping at a Halloween party for local children. She goes off the apples for a time when one of the guests is found drowned in the apple-bobbing bucket after the party is over. She asks Poirot for help and he reacquaints himself with the retired Superintendent Spence, who he was involved with in Mrs McGinty’s Dead. 

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

I had never read this book. Not liking sci fi, I always assumed I wouldn’t like it, but I was happily surprised to discover I did. The book opens at a dinner party where the unnamed Time Traveller explains to his guests that time is a dimension that can be travelled through and he has invented a machine to do it. He gives them a brief demonstration. After perfecting his machine, he goes off on another journey on a day in which another dinner party is happening at his home. He is late to return, and when he does, he is looking a little worse for wear, but he tells his guests he will clean himself up and be with them shortly. He is ravenous, so eats his dinner and tells the story of what happened to him while he was gone.

Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope

This is the third book in Trollope’s 6-volume Chronicles of Barsetshire series. The preceding novels are The Warden and Barchester Towers. A few people from those books make brief appearances in this one, including the amusingly named Sir Omicron Pie, but mostly this books revolves around completely different characters in a different part of Barsetshire.

As you’d expect from the title, Doctor Thorne is one of the main characters, along with his niece, Mary Thorne, who comes to live with him when she is around 12 or 13.  One of Doctor Thorne’s great friends is Frank Gresham a country squire who is in financial difficulties, his large family, and various other inhabitants of the area. 

Trollope said that at the time, this was his best selling book. I can see why—it’s a great read. I am not really sure why, because it was very predictable. Other authors might have tried to keep the reader in suspense about some plot points, but Trollope just states things up front. It’s pretty clear where things are going to end up, but the journey is pleasant nonetheless. Some characters are funny in their ridiculousness and Trollope does a good job of exposing hypocrisy and the foolishness behind the idea of the aristocracy. I enjoyed that. I liked the way Mary stood up for herself at various times, even when it went against the societal norms of the day. I think one reason I found myself immersed on it was more the setting and characters than the plot itself. It was nice to inhabit a time and place different from the here and now and to hang out with the characters for a while, whether I liked them, found them foolish, or felt empathy for their troubles. 

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope

This is the fourth book in the author’s Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Many characters from the previous three novels move in and out of this book, but it can be read as a standalone as well.

Happy reading!

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