Starling House - Alix E. Harrow

Another week, another visit to the dentist. The filling I had last week had 'lifted' so it was kind of loose and scratching the inside of my cheek, but still in firmly enough to need drilling out, and altogether it's been a nuisance. I now have a new filling and a lot of paranoia as my dentist clearly has no faith in this one lasting any longer than the 4 days the previous effort managed. She's away on holiday next week but assured me one of her colleagues would do a temporary fix if needed. Not encouraging. 

Starling House was my Cheltenham book and read mostly for work. I came at it with limited expectations but ended up really enjoying it. It's an excellent autumn choice - full of Gothic (specifically Southern Gothic) atmosphere. It riffs smartly on Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone myth whilst making something almost benign out of the haunted house trope. 

Opal Jewell lost her mother 10 years ago, since then she's done lied, forged, and connived her way to keeping her brother with her and getting by with the hope she can find a way out of their small town, dead-end life for him. Then one day she finds the gates of Starling House open for her - it and it's owner have a decidedly grim reputation in town, but it calls to her one outcast to another. She takes up a suspiciously well-paid job there as a cleaner and gets a much closer look at some of the house's secrets. 

Unfortunately for all Opal isn't the only one interested in those secrets. There's a threatening corporate outfit who would also very much like to know what Starling House is and how they can exploit it, and they're an entirely credible threat. Harrow also explores the legacy of slavery, abuse, and generational trauma, but with a reasonably light hand. It's enough to give the book substance without overwhelming the reader in misery. Overall the book is a slow burner with a lot of atmosphere balancing the early lack of action. 

The tropes and influences are well warn, but Starling House does it better than most of the examples I can think of, so I don't mind that at all. Harrow has written Young Adult in the past and the only real criticism I have of this book is that her main characters read a good few years younger than their stated ages of late 20s and early 30s. In a charitable mood, I could put that down to their personal histories - Opal's younger brother seems more mature than she does, so maybe she's meant to read like this. It's probably also part of what makes this feel like a book that would be suitable for anyone from youngish teen upwards, and after a summer of fantasy books heavy on smut and violence, it's been a relief to read something more thoughtful and low-key.

Altogether a hit for me; a smart, well crafted, Gothic fairy tale with excellent world building and convincingly fallible characters. I'd describe it as solid rather than brilliant, and mean it as a compliment.

A Lively Midwinter Murder - Katy Watson

I'm more or less over my Cheltenham cold - still coughing but mercifully no longer snotty, and wondering how it's almost half way through October already. I'm normally a bit further ahead with Christmas plans by now but I'm not really feeling it this year - except for the Christmas books which are filtering in at work and turning me thoughts somewhat festive. Or murderous seeing as it's crime and dark folklore I'm mostly being drawn towards. 

A Lively Midwinter Murder is the fourth outing for the 3 Dahlias, as a series it continues to go from strength to strength. Do our actresses meet a more than statistically likely amount of murders - yes, but it's not as if celebrity circles are scandal or crime-free. The motivation in this book is also the most compelling one yet. The setting is atmospheric and fun, the characters continue to develop into believable people, and the further involvement of the ladies various partners is a nice touch - it makes those relationships more convincing as well. 

I really like the way Katy Watson evokes golden age atmosphere and tropes in a contemporary setting as well. Not everybody can carry this trick off as well as she does, and I'm wondering if the key here is the strong friendship between the 3 Dahlia's themselves. I can't think of another series or book that has this mix of 3 women of different ages negotiating life, love, and career whilst solving crime together. If anyone has a recommendation though, I'd love to hear it. 

The central friendship is far more important than any background romances which also makes a pleasant change. I love the relationship between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane as much as the next person, and between every other detective and their significant other, or the relationship between Lord Peter and his Bunter for that matter (and so on) but an equal friendship without social hierarchy, gender, or job in the way is a nice touch. 

In short, an excellent Christmas mystery with ruined weddings, snow storms, ghost stories, a Scottish castle, mince pies, and murder for lovers of the cosier sort of crime to look forward to this November (I've only just realised that I read an advanced review copy and didn't think to check the publication date until this moment)

Cheltenham Literature Festival Set Up

I spent last week helping set up for Cheltenham Literature festival - it;s one of the oldest, and though I can't easily find specific information on this, I think probably one of the UKs largest too - there are 400 events over 10 days with some really big names attached in venues all over the town as well as the Montpellier gardens sight, it's definitely not small.

It's by far the largest thing I've been involved in, and it was fascinating. We built 3 bookshops from the floor up, 2 of them on a grand scale in 4 days, Moved tons of stock and furniture, and saw some of the effort that goes into making something like this come together. I left on the first day of events as work needed me back in Leicester - I have mixed feelings about leaving halfway through. I loved the setup and meeting colleagues, and as a Cheltenham first-timer, it was good to have the more gentle introduction before all the crazy stuff that can go wrong with live events kicked in - the last-minute cancellations are wild. I also caught a cold that would have made the next few days miserable...

On the other hand I'm missing some amazing events and the chance to say hello to some people I'd love to have met. But there will be other opportunities to do that, and I'm more inclined to go to a book festival as a paying customer after this. As a none driver I've looked at headline events and train fairs in the past and thought no. Hours of cross checking events over the last few days has taught me that the majority of the things I want to see would not be headline events and are fairly reasonably priced - I'd think about it for next year.

The best thing might well have been seeing all the books - more stock than we have in our local branch across all the sights and an emphasis on new titles with supporting backlist for speakers, not all of which we will see in Leicester. I knew this about books generally, but unpacking pallet after pallet of them is something like looking through old photograph albums. Books about art, books about wine, books written by people I'm friendly with, books published by people I'm friendly with, books about people I've crossed paths with, books I've loved, and books I've loathed. Day to day this is not how I interact with stock at work where it's the odd thing that strikes a chord. On this scale the whole orchestra was playing.