I am not a big short story fan. Don’t really know why but I just never get into them a lot. I have read all of Jeffrey Archer’s and they are great but these are really good as well and give an insight into the characters and their lives. Apparently, according to the author, this book is the result of fans asking for more details on Wallander’s life prior to his first books i.e. before January of 1990. Mankell chose to write the stories in the 90s to also address the general anxiety felt as a Swedish nation with regard to the state of the country and the relationship between the welfare state and democracy. Continue reading “The Pyramid: Five Kurt Wallander mysteries | By Henning Mankell”
An Education
The screenplay for this movie was written by Nick Hornby who is one of the my favourite authors – he of the ‘About a Boy’ and ‘High Fidelity’ fame. This is a movie ultimately about the coming of age of an extremely bright 16 year old girl, Jenny, in a suburb of London in the early 1960s. There is, for me, a certain creep factor when our main characters meet. I mean who really gets into a car with a complete stranger especially one who is obviously quite a bit older and apparently financially successful (evidenced by the expensive sports car he’s driving). Continue reading “An Education”
Bright Star
This movie is the heart wrenching tale of the borderline forbidden relationship between the poet John Keats and his muse Fanny Brawne in 19th Century England. It is beautifully written and directed by Jane Campion. Every finite expression is captured by the principal actors in this slow moving and gorgeous story. Fanny makes all her own gowns and dresses and so visually this movie is uplifted by her extraordinary clothing. Continue reading “Bright Star”
Faceless Killers: A Wallander Mystery | by Henning Mankell
This story begins on a remote farm in rural Sweden. An older man wakes up earlier than usual and notices a strange light in his neighbour’s window. Unfortunately for him he finds a crime scene that is truly heinous. The couple who live there are their best friends and he finds the husband already dead and the wife very close to death, with a noose around her neck.
Continue reading “Faceless Killers: A Wallander Mystery | by Henning Mankell”
Desert Heat | by J A Jance
This was the first in the Joanna Brady series set in Bisbee, Arizona. Having read all the others, this one was rarely available, one knows the eventual outcome but not the details. Joanna is still working for an insurance company and on the night of her 10th anniversary her sheriff’s deputy husband, Andy, is late home. He had arranged a duplicate of their wedding night with an overnight stay at a local hotel. Joanna did not start to worry about him until he was over two hours late and no one had seen him since he had left the station.