Skip to main content

Review: Our Lady of Pain, by Elena Forbes

When a well-known London art dealer is found murdered in Holland Park, the members of the Barnes Murder Squad are called in to investigate. The victim, Rachel Tenison, was an introverted young woman who had complicated relationships with her brother and best friend. Later, the squad gets a tip from the journalist that this murder might be connected with the murder of a university lecturer more than a year previously. There are a number of similarities between the two murders: both women were discovered lying in the same position, and both had experimented with S&M. In addition, Rachel was found with an excerpt from a Swinburne poem in her mouth, while Catherine Watson was a Swinburne scholar. I cringe to use the words "police procedural," but that's essentially what this novel is.

The Squad is an eclectic group: there's Sam Donovan, who lives with her sister; Mark Tartaglia, whose sister keeps trying to set him up with her friends; and Simon Turner, who's having marriage problems. Forbes delves into the lives of these detectives, revealing them as more than just detectives on the hunt for a killer. That, to me, was one of the strengths of this book. It's a suspenseful, solid mystery with ends that tie up neatly, although I thought some of the coincidences were, well, a little too coincidental (I don't want to give up too much of the plot here). Forbes writes in succinct, clear prose, and this book is a fast-paced read. Our Lady of Pain is the second book in a series; references are made to the first, Die With Me, throughout.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Our Lady of Pain sounds familiar to The Somnambulist by Barnes (with a supernatural edge to it).
Danielle said…
I've not heard of this author--will check her out!
Iliana said…
I read Die With Me and thought it was a good solid first mystery. I'm curious to check this one out because of the characters mainly. Can I ask why you don't like to use the term police procedural?
gustboaster said…
Do you have a galley? I'll make a book trade with you!

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars

Six Degrees of Barbara Pym's Novels

This year seems to be The Year of Barbara Pym; I know some of you out there are involved in some kind of a readalong in honor of the 100th year of her birth. I’ve read most of her canon, with only The Sweet Dove Died, Civil to Strangers, An Academic Question, and Crampton Hodnet left to go (sadly). Barbara Pym’s novels feature very similar casts of characters: spinsters, clergymen, retirees, clerks, and anthropologists, with which she had direct experience. So it stands to reason that there would be overlaps in characters between the novels. You can trace that though the publication history of her books and therefore see how Pym onionizes her stories and characters. She adds layers onto layers, adding more details as her books progress. Some Tame Gazelle (1950): Archdeacon Hoccleve makes his first appearance. Excellent Women (1952): Archdeacon Hoccleve gives a sermon that is almost incomprehensible to Mildred Lathbury; Everard Bone understands it, however, and laughs