CBR16 Book 65: "The Mimicking of Known Successes" by Malka Older

Page count: 169 pages

Rating: 3 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Earth Day (while this novella is set off-Earth, a lot of the plot involves conservation efforts to try to reintroduce healthy biodiversity on Earth)

Mossa is investigating the mysterious disappearance, most likely a suicide, on one of the human colonies on Jupiter. Mossa discovers that the missing man worked at the colony's university, where conveniently for her and her further investigation, Mossa's ex-girlfriend is a scholar working with others to try to recreate the ecosystems of Earth before it collapsed.

Pleiti is surprised to see Mossa, but flattered that she wants assistance. Mossa presents as very likely neuro divergent, very focused and usually rather unconcerned about the feelings and reactions of those around her. She's a dedicated and experienced investigator, but digging into the case with the help of Pleiti just keeps making things more confusing, and strange. Will Mossa be able to solve the puzzling case, and might she have a new chance with Pleiti, after breaking it off with her so many years ago?

I think there was too much sci-fi here, and not enough of the mystery to grab me. Mossa and Pleiti were fine as characters, but I was never really invested in the case they were working together on, nor did I really care about the world-building, although the colonies on Jupiter sounded pretty neat. I didn't hate this story, but considering it's a novella of less than 200 pages, it shouldn't have taken me three days to finish. I just didn't feel compelled to keep reading, because the story and characters were merely OK. To others, this might be a great read, but I really wasn't feeling it. At least it allowed me to complete my Earth Day square on the bingo card, which means I have actually completed the whole card, and the bonus square. Before I thought of this novella, which I have owned in e-book for a while now, I was probably just going to skip this square altogether. So I don't regret reading it, I just don't think I'll revisit it, or remember the plot too well a couple of months from now.

Judging a book by its cover: While the book itself left me merely whelmed, I really like the cover. The reds and oranges of the background, the tiny sci-fi details in the background and only a silhouette to give an impression of what the characters look like. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 55: "Touch Not the Cat" by Mary Stewart

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 3 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: From the decade I was born (1970s)

Smart Bitches Book Bingo: Published in 2000 or earlier (first published 1976)

CBR16 Bingo: Vintage (published 48 years ago)

Briony Ashley is working in Portugal when she recieves word that her father has died, in what appears to be a hit-and-run accident. Her father didn't die instantly, but had time to ramble some strange and slightly mysterious things, among them a warning that Briony needs to be careful. She goes home to what is now her cottage, bordering Ashley Court, the large and expensive estate her father could really only keep by renting out parts of it to wealthy Americans, and letting the National Trust conduct guided tours in other parts of it. Briony is rather relieved that the estate will no longer be her responsibility, and doesn't begrudge her male cousins the inheritance at all. However, she is a bit taken aback when she discovers that several valuable artifacts have been removed from the house. Have they been stolen?

It seems to be an occasional family trait in the Ashley family, going back generations, that some of them have the "sight", that grants them premonitons, and sometimes the ability to telepathically communicate with other family members. Briony has been using this gift since she was a child, able to transmit words and emotions to another, who by now she just calls 'lover' in her mind. She doesn't know the actual identity of her secret telepathic friend, but since the "sight" only seems to be shared by other Ashleys, this 'lover' is most likely one of her three male cousins. Since Briony in time also becomes convinced that one or several of these cousins were responsible for her father's untimely death, the whole telepathic soulmate that she's never actually confirmed the identity of, but who may be a close blood relation gets a bit squicky. 

I've only read one other Mary Stewart mystery, and Madam, Will You Talk? was a lot more batshit than this. In the previous novel, in between chain-smoking from waking up to literally being in bed in the evening, the heroine thought the love interest might be a murderer stalking her through Europe. Here the potential love interest's true identity isn't revealed until about two thirds of the way through, but it's strongly implied that said person may also be a murderer, and even overlooking that, he's one of Briony's cousins. 

There was a much more convoluted plot in the previous book I read, here a lot of the plot is quite slow, and while I see what the author was trying to do with the little snippets of a story from the late 19th Century included at the end of each chapter, I don't think it worked very well and felt rather unneccessary on the whole. Because I bought a whole load of Mary Stewart mysteries in an e-book sale a while back, I'm sure I'll be reading more of them eventually. At the moment, however, I finished this book mainly because it fit into three different bingo challenges. 

Judging a book by its cover: This book came out in the 1970s and consequently has had a number of covers, some of them more baffling and crazy than the next. The cover of my edition is a fairly boring one, with a grave in the foreground and some houses from an English village in the background. Nothing here screams romantic mystery with mild paranormal elements. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read