Now We Are Six

Today, the 5th May 2012, marks the sixth anniversary of Cat Politics Blogspot. And how better to celebrate the occasion than with another cat pic, this time Ms Lizzie curled up on her Aussie woollen mat.

As regards the title of this post, Now We are Six is of course a book of poems by A A Milne, which I received as a birthday present when I turned seven. I admit it puzzled me at the time why I was given a book celebrating turning six one year after the fact, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, being even then a voracious reader.

I know I haven’t written much about books recently, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. It is rather because I have been reading so much, that I  don’t write about books. No sooner do I finish one book, than I start another, either on my Kindle or a book from my private library.

Currently I’m rereading my collection of Janwillem van de Wetering detective novels.

I recently did a post on these on my other blog, Eye Candy For Bibliophiles, and that inspired me to read them again. If you don’t know the author, Janwillem van de Wetering was a Dutch born writer who led an interesting and adventurous life, and also wrote a series of novels featuring two endearing police detectives namely Sergeant Rhinus De Gier and Adjutant Henk Grijpstra who work for the Amsterdam Municipal  Police Department Murder Brigade.

The novels are mostly set in Amsterdam and have their own idiosyncratic style. The humour is gentle and off beat, and the detectives highly unusual. The books are a relaxing and laid back reading experience. And a cat features every so often - Sergeant de Gier’s Siamese cat, Oliver who is a real character in his own right.

Van de Wetering also wrote two books on his experiences living in Zen Buddhist Monasteries in Japan and America. He wrote his detective novels in Dutch, then translated them into English himself, so his books have his own engaging writing style.  He claimed that both language versions were different.

If you want to know more about this very interesting writer check out this article on his Philosophical Exercises.

I certainly will continue with this blog and Eye Candy for Bibliophiles for some years yet. These days I find that I enjoy writing and it gets easier to do the more I write. I’m not interested in creative writing for myself; I’ll leave that to the experts and appreciate their efforts. I’ll just stick to plain old prose.

Detective Fiction

Crime fiction is one of the literary genres in which I dip my nose quite regularly.

Recently I was contemplating how varied and wide ranging are the locations and historical eras in which detective fiction is set. You have series of them set in the oddest places, like Nazi Germany in the case of  the Berlin Noir novels of Philip Kerr, Vespasian’s Rome in the Falco series by Lindsey Davis, Bombay in the Inspector Ghote novels of HRF Keating, Amsterdam in Jan Willem van de Wetering’s wonderful Grijpstra and de Gier novels,  Medieval England in Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael Chronicles, and so on.

This train of thought came as a result of a book I received recently for my birthday. It was Killed at the Whim of A Hat by Colin Cotterill, an author I had not previously encountered.

Was I in for a surprise! Killed At The Whim Of A Hat is a delightful book. It’s an unusual crime novel set in Thailand which is where the author resides.

The heroine as described by the author is Jimm Juree…”a feisty Thai lady journalist with relatives that make the Adams family look like  Alexander McCall Smith characters”

Colin Cotterill does write his books in the above tone, so they’re humorous and witty. For instance, there are quotes from George W Bush at beginning of each chapter, which are strangely relevant.

As well as being entertaining, Killed At The Whim Of A Hat is also a first rate crime mystery.

The book was my introduction to the detective fiction of Colin Cotterill.

Why haven’t I read him before!

Colin Cotterill,  I have discovered, is best known for his Doctor Siri series of detective novels that are set in Laos in the mid 1970s, shortly after the Communist takeover of the country. Dr Siri Paiboun’s investigations start in The Coronor’s Lunch, which of course I hastened to acquire (in ebook format) as soon as I’d finished Killed At The Whim Of A Hat.

When we first meet him in The Coronor’s Lunch, Dr Siri is a 72 year old former communist rebel, who is appointed by the new ruling party as State Coroner because he is the last doctor in Laos. This honour, Dr Siri is none too keen to accept, having a yearning for retirement after years of struggle and hardship in the jungle. However he does assume the responsibilities of the position and undertakes post mortem investigations with the help of his staff of two, an odd pair who are Nurse Dtui, who wishes to advance her learning, and Mr Geung a simple fellow who knows the ropes in the mortuary, despite his mental deficiency.

Dr Siri however is not one to toe the line; he is curious, curmudgeonly and also blessed, or cursed, with an unusual ability to see the dead, who provide him with pointers and clues in his crime investigations.

There are seven books in the Dr Siri series to date, with an eighth to be published later this year, so I intend to read all of them. In fact, they’re addictive. 

I really like Colin Cotterill’s jaunty style, and his ability to create endearing, all too human characters. It’s refreshing to find a novelist with such a light touch. That doesn’t mean there’s no violence or horror within the novels; in fact you get quite a bit of action along with a touch of the supernatural, and cliff hanger chapter endings. Also you learn quite a bit about the history and folk lore of Laos, which I admit I had not previously bothered to inform myself of.

Highly recommended if you like entertaining novels set in unusual locations, or even if you just enjoy a good page turning read.

Also check out Colin Cotterill’s website – it’s great fun and he’s also a talented cartoonist.