Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz: A review

I love a good mystery. That's why I read so many of them. What I don't like is gimmicky mysteries. I especially don't like mystery writers who don't play fair; who use tricks, games, wordplay like anagrams, etc., to mislead and misdirect their readers. 

I'm looking at you, Anthony Horowitz. I am most seriously displeased.

I had had Magpie Murders in my reading queue for months, but decided to read it now because of a television show. 

We had just finished watching the third and final season of Mackenzie Crook's wonderful gentle comedy about metal detecting, Detectorists, in which magpies play a major part in the plot. Can you say "serendipity"? It seemed the universe was sending me a message so I decided to get on with it and read the book. I had read mostly glowing reviews and my expectations were high.

At the beginning of the book, we meet book editor Susan Ryeland who has a new book from her publishing house's most popular author to read. That writer is Alan Conway and he writes a very successful mystery series featuring detective Atticus Pünd. She starts reading the manuscript of the new book and we read along with her.

I was perfectly happy with this mystery and quickly burrowed into the small village atmosphere, following clues, sniffing out red herrings, trying to zero in on a suspect. It was a nice homage to the sainted Agatha. I cut my reader's teeth reading her books, so this was a trip down memory lane for me.

Then, halfway through the book, the manuscript ended. The problem was that there were pages missing - the important final pages that identified the killer and gave the denouement. The editor, Susan, set about trying to find the missing pages. But in the interim, the author Alan Conway has died, apparently as a result of suicide, and Susan doesn't have a clue as to where the missing pages may be.

As she looks for them, she finds herself examining the life of Alan Conway and the known facts about his death. The result is that she becomes convinced that his death was not suicide but murder and she sets about trying to solve that mystery. She intuits that there are clues hidden in that manuscript she was reading. 

And so we get the gimmick of a mystery within a mystery. But that is just the beginning; we also have tricks, games, anagrams to solve. Horowitz pulls out every trick in his considerable bag of them and proudly spreads them all out for us to admire.

Much of this book seemed self-referential. Susan Wyeland seemed like a stand-in for Anthony Horowitz, and she was, frankly, unconvincing as a woman. Throughout, there are all these little asides referring to things that Horowitz has worked on. At one point, Susan mentions that a particular character has watched every episode of Poirot and Midsomer Murders. Well, me, too. In fact that is where I first encountered Horowitz and grew to admire his work as a screenwriter.

Magpie Murders seemed like the tongue-in-cheek creation of a writer eager to show off his cleverness and wow us with his literary connections. It did not seem like a work written with a reader in mind, a reader who the writer wanted to entertain. And, in the end, I wasn't.    

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: On Aging by Maya Angelou

There are many poems by Maya Angelou that are very well known and are integral parts of modern culture. Poems like Caged Bird, Still I Rise, and Phenomenal Woman spring readily to mind, but not all of her poems are so well known. This is one of those.

It may not be so famous but when I read it last week I felt a flash of recognition from this poem. As a woman who is no longer young, I understand very well the sentiments expressed here, and it comforts me somehow to know that Maya Angelou felt them, too.

On Aging

by Maya Angelou

When you see me sitting quietly,
Like a sack left on the shelf,
Don’t think I need your chattering.
I’m listening to myself.
Hold! Stop! Don’t pity me! 
Hold! Stop your sympathy! 
Understanding if you got it,
Otherwise I’ll do without it! 
When my bones are stiff and aching,
And my feet won’t climb the stair,
I will only ask one favor:
Don’t bring me no rocking chair.
When you see me walking, stumbling,
Don’t study and get it wrong.
‘Cause tired don’t mean lazy
And every goodbye ain’t gone.
I’m the same person I was back then,
A little less hair, a little less chin,
A lot less lungs and much less wind.

But ain’t I lucky I can still breathe in.  

This week in birds - #292

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Pine Siskins having a meal at my backyard feeder today. Siskins will be one of the species I'll be looking for next weekend during the Great Backyard Bird Count. Have you signed up to count? If not, never fear; there's still time. The count is always held on Presidents Day weekend. It starts on Friday and runs through Monday and it is a great way to become more familiar with the birds in your neighborhood.

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Birds don't understand glass which is why they tend to fly straight into it and why large buildings with lots of glass are such death traps for birds. That most definitely includes U.S. Bank Stadium, home of this year's Super Bowl. It is the cause of more bird deaths than any other building in Minneapolis. 

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The toad thought he had found a tasty meal, but once inside the amphibian's stomach the beetle exploded and was expelled and lived to fly another day. That is the modus operandi and the defense mechanism of the bombardier beetle and Japanese scientists have managed to capture footage of the insect's great escape. Perhaps most surprisingly, they were even able to hear the explosion inside the toad!  

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The famous Washington, D.C. Bald Eagle pair, named Liberty and Justice, are nesting again and have laid their first egg. There is an eagle cam trained on the nest so you can watch the action through egg-laying, brooding, and, if everything goes well, hatching and raising the chicks.

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Outside online magazine has put together a timeline of the current administration's regulation rollbacks and revoked protections of the nation's public lands.

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Nature finds a way and that includes domesticated animals that are returned to Nature. Even the abandoned pet dogs of Chernobyl learned to survive when they were left behind in the contaminated exclusion zone around the nuclear reactor. They have formed their own society and their descendants continue to live there. 

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Wetland plants are often dispersed from one site to another through the medium of duck feces. Thus, ducks become important vectors in the spread of such plants and they help to encourage the production of the plants which they find desirable to eat. 

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Migratory birds use a magnetic compass in their eye for navigation. The involved sensory mechanisms have long remained elusive, but now, researchers believe they have located exactly where in the eye avian navigation is situated. There is one specific part of the retina - the outer segment of the double-cone photoreceptor cells - which makes the navigation possible.

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The precipitation total in January over the contiguous United States was 1.81 inches, which is 0.50 inch below the 20th century average, tying it for the 21st driest January on record. Drought intensified and expanded across parts of the West, Southern Plains, and Southeast.

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Wilderness study areas are more wild and untouched than national parks. But a bill introduced in early December threatens this unique terrain, environmentalists say. It would eliminate wilderness protection from the Big Snowy Mountains of Montana as well as from another 358,500 acres in Montana that have been shielded from development since the 1970s, opening the way for development of the areas.

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"The Prairie Ecologist" writes about the importance of diversity, redundancy, and resilience in the continued survival and thriving of the prairie.

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Researchers have shown that Great Spotted Woodpeckers of Europe may be able to recognize one another by the individual pattern of their drumming.

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"The Incidental Naturalist" tells us about a pint-sized poisoner - the green and black poison dart frog.

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There are more than 2,500 sites that handle toxic chemicals and that are located in flood-prone areas in the United States. Several of them are located in the Houston area where, last summer, Hurricane Harvey caused deadly chemicals to be released into waterways. 

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Small birds are more energy-efficient than bats when flying, which is important for their ability to make long-distance migrations. Researchers are identifying some of the mechanisms behind their energy-efficient flight. 

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Image from The New York Times.

Here's a creature for your nightmares - a mutant crayfish that is able to clone itself. It is a six-inch-long critter called the marbled crayfish that appears to have developed as a species only twenty-five years ago. Apparently, a drastic mutation in a single crayfish produced the marbled crayfish in an instant and now its population is exploding across Europe.

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin: A review

Once again we enter N.K. Jemisin's richly imagined world called Stillness. It's a world that is never still.

As we learned in the first entry in this trilogy, The Fifth Season, Stillness is populated by human or humanoid beings called stills, orogenes, stone-eaters, and guardians. And floating somewhere above them all are a series of obelisks. It is unclear who made the obelisks or just what purpose they serve.

At the time of events in The Obelisk Gate, the apocalyptic, world-shattering action of The Fifth Season is in the past and the residents of Stillness are trying to find ways to adapt and survive in a world gone mad.

In the first book, we had the point(s) of view of Damaya/Syenite/Essun. In the aftermath of everything, we now get Essun once again as she makes a place for herself in an underground comm (community) led by a strong female head. This comm is not without its conflicts and some of the arguments sound very like what we hear in the daily news in our own country, especially those arguments which seek to set one group against another.

Essun is searching for her daughter, Nassun, who is an orogene like herself. Nassun was spirited away from her home by her father, Jija, and Essun is concerned for her safety and for her further training and education as an orogene.

We meet Nassun and Jija and learn that Essun is right to fear for her safety. Jija is taking her to a place where he has heard that she can learn how to not be an orogene and that is what he fervently wishes for.

Fortunately for Nassun, she meets Schaffa, her mother's former Guardian at the Fulcrum. Schaffa takes over the training and protection of Essun's daughter.

The action in this book is slower than in the first book. The apocalypse becomes a slow-moving disaster and we see how different groups position themselves to try to survive. Meanwhile, Essun's friend/lover/teacher, Alabaster Tenring, the world-destroyer, is present in the same comm with Essun and he continues her instruction, including urgently trying to teach her how to utilize the obelisks. 

I found the narrative in this book somewhat confusing. For example, it wasn't entirely clear to me just who the "you" addressed in the narratives at the beginning of chapters was. Best guess: Essun. But it seemed unnecessarily ambiguous. 

And what's the deal with the Moon being flung out of orbit and into space at some point in the past? And that's why Father Earth is angry and is taking it out on the inhabitants of Stillness? He wants his Moon back and apparently Nassun and/or Essun will attempt to deliver it. Maybe in the next book? Stay tuned.

In short, I think this book suffered just a bit from "second book syndrome." It didn't seem quite as fresh and powerful as the first one. Still, overall, it was a compelling story - good enough to win the Hugo Award just like the first one, so what do I know?

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Harlem by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an American poet of the twentieth century who gave voice to the experiences and aspirations of African-Americans. This is one of his more famous poems.

Harlem

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?

This week in birds - #291

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Little Spotted Sandpiper standing on a bridge railing at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. The bold spots indicate that the bird is in breeding condition. During nonbreeding times, the birds mostly lose their spots. They are distinctive for their walk; they have relatively short legs and they constantly "teeter" up and down when taking a step. These birds are fairly uncommon but very widespread, found near ponds and streams, rocky shores and steep banks.

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Yesterday was Groundhog Day (No shadows here - too overcast - so spring is just around the corner!) but it was also World Wetlands Day.  Wetlands are perhaps the most important type of habitat and they certainly support the most diverse population of animals and plants. The focus of World Wetlands Day this year was urban wetlands, emphasizing the importance such places have in the greater urban environment.

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A presidential order has reduced protections for land that was once part of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante monuments and now that land is being opened up for claims for mining of uranium and other minerals.

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Scientists strapped cameras to polar bears and the hours of images that were obtained, showing the animals just living their lives, suggest that in the age of climate change their lives will get harder and harder and the species may be at risk for extinction much sooner than had been previously thought.

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While the president claims that climate change is just a fantasy, a study by the Pentagon says that 1700 of their sites around the world are endangered because of climate change. The study was published late last week and brought to public attention this week by the Center for Climate and Security. 

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Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's recent cancellation of protections for migratory birds has prompted unprecedented protest from a bipartisan group of wildlife officials, some of whom go all the way back to the Nixon Administration. (Just a reminder: It was Nixon who signed into law many of the protections for wildlife - including the Endangered Species Act - that have made all the difference to the survival of many species.) 

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China has taken a big step in its effort to claim the mantle of environmental leader by announcing that it will halt coastal land reclamation and development. This is a massive boost to the tens of millions of migratory shorebirds, including the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper, along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway that depend on China's east coast intertidal mudflats.

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The ABA Blog has a roundup of "Big Years" that occurred in 2017. These include at least five birders who broke the 740 species mark. Three of the birders saw 813 species, verified, with one birder having 4 additional provisional species and the other two having 3 provisional species. That is a lot of birds!

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And speaking of birding, the 10,000 Birds Blog has a listing of the twenty-five best national wildlife refuges in the country for birders. Not surprisingly, four of them are located in Texas, and number one on the list is my own personal favorite, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Number two is not too shabby either; it is Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, winter home to the last completely wild flock of Whooping Cranes.

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One of the refuges on that list of twenty-five best is Santa Ana, located in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. This refuge is currently under attack by those who want to build a "big beautiful wall" through it. Last weekend, several hundred people showed up to a rally there to protest those plans. 

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Lichens are unique. They are a synthesis of two distinct life forms, a mutually beneficial union between fungi and algae. They are also important bioindicators of air quality and have been studied as such for over a hundred years. Research is continuing.

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There are only a few dozen Florida Grasshopper Sparrows left in the wild. This could be the year when they go extinct, but a captive breeding plan aims to stave off extinction and give the species a chance at long-term survival.

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National River Cleanup volunteers work to keep our waterways clear. Here is a list of the five most common kinds of trash which they remove in their cleanups.

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Ontario's Algonquin wolves are threatened with extinction. Research is underway which it is hoped will help to save them.

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The sagebrush ecosystem that is central to the Greater Sage-Grouse's survival is considered one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the United States. But it isn't only the grouse that depends on the sagebrush. The American Bird Conservancy has a list of some of the other birds that rely upon it.

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While the United States reduces its public lands, Chile has just established five new national parks over 10 million acres in a historic act of conservation. The land for the parks was donated to the government by American philanthropists Doug and Kristine McDivitt Tompkins.

Artemis by Andy Weir: A review

Reading this book reminded me of an old story (possibly apocryphal) about Aaron Copland. It was said that, when told that Copland had written a new piece of music, a critic said, "What's he calling it this time?" Well, this time Andy Weir is calling it Artemis but it is basically The Martian just reset on the Moon. 

I read The Martian a couple of years ago and really, really enjoyed it. Especially the science stuff. Even when I didn't understand it, it was fascinating. And then there was the personality of Mark Watney, the astronaut trapped on Mars. His wisecracking smartass never-say-die schtick seemed just right for the situation.

Now, imagine Mark Watney transferred to the Moon and changed to a Saudi woman who has lived in the one lunar city, Artemis, since she was six years old and was brought there by her father, a welder. She was trained by her father to be a welder and displayed a real talent for the craft, but she was a rebel and grew up to pursue a minimalist job as a "porter," basically a UPS delivery person. But her main work and main source of income is as a smuggler. Oh, and, to the shame of her devout Muslim father, she also has the reputation of being the town slut who has sex with lots and lots of men, although there is entirely zero evidence of that in this narrative.

Her name is Jasmine Bashar, but she is Jazz to her friends and there seem to be a lot of those. Moreover, the authorities in Artemis display a curiously benevolent attitude toward her and her activities. This is essentially a small town where everybody knows everybody and people look out for each other. There are no guns allowed and everyone lives in one of the five residential bubbles named after early astronauts - Armstrong, Bean, Conrad, Aldrin, and Shepard. Jazz lives in Conrad, in the poorest section. Yes, classes exist even on the Moon, it seems.

The whole plot of the tale involves a caper that starts out as a profit-making (and highly illegal) venture for Jazz. She's hired by one of the rich guys in town to do a spot of sabotage, but midway through, it turns into a venture to save Artemis itself from being taken over by the Brazilian mob(!). It's too complicated to explain.

I left out the part about how Artemis was a Kenyan project and it is still run by Kenyans and Jazz has a Kenyan pen pal who she has been interacting with for years and who helps her with her smuggling operation. Although run by Kenyans, the culture of Artemis is definitely American and early 21st century American at that. (The time frame of the novel is never explained, unless it was in one of those sections of the book where my eyes glazed over.) 

The story is told by Jazz, in the same manner - the very same manner! - that The Martian was narrated by Mark. In other words, she makes everything a joke. But when everything is comic relief, one needs some relief from the comedy and one doesn't get it here. Life is just a goofy caper and the humor is heavy-handed and forced.  

At one point, about two-thirds of the way through the book, I found myself sort of getting interested in the plot. There was a conversation between Jazz and the administrator of Artemis, in which the administrator is explaining how economies evolve:

“It’s all part of the life-cycle of an economy. First it’s lawless capitalism until that starts to impede growth. Next comes regulation, law enforcement, and taxes. After that: public benefits and entitlements. Then, finally, overexpenditure and collapse.” 

Hmm, that's interesting, I thought, but then Jazz came back with her sarcasm and my burgeoning interest deflated. 

In addition to the one-note narrative, there is a LOT of welding going on in this book. If you are a big welding fan, you might enjoy that. I skimmed through those sections as fast as I could.

My impression is that Andy Weir is very good with the science stuff, including the welding. All of that is lovingly explained. He's not good with character development. It seems he has one protagonist and he's sticking with him/her. The ancillary characters are flat as pancakes - no development at all. In addition, this plot was really muddled and didn't make a lot of sense to me. I was really glad to turn that last page.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars