Happy Halloween

I Hope Everyone Has A Safe And Fun Halloween!

By the way, I have a guest post at Castle Macabre, the horror blog that my good friend Michelle has.

Mailbox Monday for 10/29/12

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at Mailbox Monday 

I received hardcovers of A Christmas Home by Greg Kincaid and Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffmann from the publisher, Crown, for review.

I received a hardcover of These Things Happen by Richard Kramer for an upcoming TLC Book Tour.

The lovely Beth of Beth's Book Reviews sent a lovely package to me.  She included paperbacks of Black Plumes and Pearls Before Swine by Margery Allingham and Black Orchids by Rex Stout.  She also included some wonderful homemade cookies that I can't stop eating.  The made some wonderful cakey chocolate chip cookies and maple cookies.  The lovely tin of apple cider tea was lovely as well.

On a trip to a used bookstore, I picked up paperbacks of Man Missing and Wolf in Man's Clothing by Mignon G. Eberhart.  I also got The Emperor's Snuff-Box by John Dickson Carr.

I picked up a $5 DVD of The Exorcist from Wal-Mart.

I picked up two DVDs at Barnes & Noble for 50% of each, "I Confess" and Vertigo.

I'm only showing one cover, but on a trip to the flea market, I picked up 22 Doctor Strange comics.

The Case of the Lucky Legs by Erle Stanley Gardner

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Perry Mason stared at the telegram...

SENDING YOU SPECIAL DELIVERY AIR MAIL PHOTOGRAPH OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE IN CASE I AM ABOUT TO PRESENT.  KEEP PHOTOGRAPH AND AWAIT ME IN YOUR OFFICE WITHOUT FAIL.                            EVA LAMONT

He turned his attention to his desk.  It was a picture of a beautiful girl - from the tops of her silken-clad legs down.  Clipped to it was a slip of paper which read "The Girl with the Lucky Legs."

It looked like a most delightful case.  But that was before the famous lawyer-detective found himself right up to his neck in a swirl of locked door, swindles and murder!

When a young woman enters a beautiful legs contest, where the winner gets a movie contract, she has no idea what about to happen to her life.  After winning, she is taken to L.A. and left to fend for herself.  The business leaders of her town who were talked into financing the contest, were cheated out of the their money, and now two different suitors are in the city trying to find her and avenge her humiliation.  When the man who pulled off the con is found dead, it looks like there is no lack for suspects.  It could be one of two girls that fell for the scam, or it could be a young lady who came in second.  It could be one of the two suitors arriving in town, one who threatened the guy, the other who is willing to do anything to win the girl.

When Perry is hired to find the young lady in the picture, he didn't know that he was about to be mixed up with murder, blackmail, a frame up of unbelievable proportion, and be wanted by the police for hiding a fugitive.  Of course that last bit is pretty much standard fare for the attorney.  He knows the law, and how far he can push it.  Sometimes the cops think he's pushing it beyond it's borders, but Perry always manages to come up on top in these matters. It's when he's the most effective and dangerous.

This was an ingeniously layered mystery that seemed unbelievable at first.  How can anyone killer be able to control so many twists and turns without it being too contrived or sloppy.  Most authors would not have been able to pull this off, but Erle Stanley Gardner seems to do it effortlessly.  Most literary detectives would look like a fool in such situations, but Perry Mason comes across as confidant in his abilities to solve the caper.

Challenges: VM (Cherchez le Homme)

Favorite Fictional Character --- Rosemary Woodhouse

It's only one more week till Halloween, and I'm not sure what's scaring me more.  I've been watching a ton of scary movies and I've watched the last three presidential debates.  I don't want to offend anyone, but if you know me and my politics, you can probably figure out which one of the two candidates scares the snot out of me.  It's as if the writers in Hollywood are being challenge for creativity.  One of the two men seems to rival the scariest alien chameleon, in how he is able to morph into whatever he thinks people want to hear.  But anyway, I digress.  I will leave the politicking alone, and introduce you to one of the most tragic heroines to ever grace a horror movie.

I'm going to admit right up front that my favorite sub genre of horror is the satanic conspiracy, especially those books and movies that seemed to pop up during the 60s and 70s.  For what ever reason, I just can't seem to get enough of them.  I'm always a little unsure in my head which movie hooked me first.  I know it's either The Sentinel (1977), Satan's School for Girls (1973, or Rosemary's Baby (1968).  I know others would list The Omen (1976) or The Exorcist (1973) as their first experience, but I'm pretty sure I didn't see either movie until I was an adult.  One thing I do know, it's Rosemary's Baby that has left the biggest impression on me, mainly because of the wonderful job Mia Farrow did in portraying Rosemary Woodhouse.

When Rosemary married Guy Woodhouse, she wasn't expecting much.  She wanted a loving relationship, a kid or two, and a nice home to start her new life in.  When they find the perfect apartment, their neighbors seem nice, if a trifle odd, and everything seems to be going the way she always wanted it to.  What she is unaware of, is her husband's growing desperation to hit it big.  He's been a struggling actor for so long that he is willing to do anything, including selling his soul to the Devil to make it big.

Of course poor, timid Rosemary has no idea this is going on behind her back.  When she becomes pregnant, she welcomes the news and gets ready to welcome the newest Woodhouse into the world, not knowing that he is really the son of Satan.  Through the odd behavior of her husband, the bizarreness of the neighbors, and some large leaps of imagination, Rosemary eventually comes around to the realization that she is having the Devil's baby, and from there she goes crazy.

Now I could leave it there and not really explain why I love a woman who started off so passive and meek, and ends up in the deep end with no lifeguard on duty.  It's because of the way she was brought to life by the actress who played her,   Mia Farrow did such a phenomenal job portraying a woman who has her life ripped out from underneath her that I can't imagine another actress in the roll.  Rosemary starts off as the submissive, mild wife who is willing to do anything to please her husband.  It's only with the revelation that things might not be what they seem, the a more dominant aggressive Rosemary emerges.

I don't know if it's the idea of a maternal instinct kicking in, or if it's the influence of Satan's see inside her, but the new Rosemary becomes quite the fighter.  As the pregnancy develops and complications occur, she starts to overcome her fears and fight for her baby.  She starts to suspect the neighbors of making her ill and it's only after she does her own research, that she discovers the truth of what is happening to her.  What really fascinates me though, is how her journey comes full circle.  

Rosemary has become this fierce presence that is willing to take on Lucifer for the life of her baby, when she fails, she is even willing to kill her own child to stop him from wrecking havoc on the world.  But once she seems him, surrounded by his group of admiring cultists, her whole facade crumbles.  She becomes the meek woman who wants nothing more than to have her family, whole and intact.  She once again subjugates herself to her husband, or at least that is the way it appears at the end of the movie.  I have never read the book so I'm not sure how it compares, but her complete full circle transformation in the movies fascinates me every time I see it.

Murder in Pastiche by Marion Mainwaring

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When a notorious gossip columnist is murdered aboard luxury liner Florabunda, the Chief Officer is sure the crime will be solved in no time.

For on the passenger list, by coincidence, are nine world famous detectives:  Jerry Pason, Spike Bludgeon, Trajan Beare, Atlas Poireau, Sir Jon. Nappleby, Broderick Tourneur, Miss Fan Silver, Mallory King and Lord Simon Quinsey.  In such a spot what murderer could hope to get away?

I've never been a huge fan of mystery parodies.  Maybe it's because I really hated Murder by Death, the really horrible parody movie from 1976, from the first time I watched it.  Now I know many people who love the movie, I just can never get into it.  I even tried watching it again once I was done with this book, I still can't stand it.

As you can tell by the names in the synopsis, this is a parody to rival all parodies.  It takes nine famous literary detectives, changes their names, and sets them on a boat where a rat like man is bumped off by a person or persons unknown.  If you are familiar with a good swath of detective fiction, you should be able to figure out who they are by the names, if not, the author takes it too another level.  She breaks the book down into sections, each section details the steps an individual sleuth takes to solve the case.  She not only uses the methods the detective would use, but she tries to duplicate the style of the actual authors who created the originals.  Now this wouldn't be a parody if the author didn't exaggerate the style and methods of both the creation and the creator.  She takes their quirks and makes jokes out of them, she takes their personalities and makes them into cartoons.

I think this is where mystery parody loses me, what I enjoy about most of the "real" detectives are their quirks and strange methodology.  Even if I whine and cry about a certain detective's egotism, I wouldn't have it any other way.  With the detectives I love, I don't mind that certain words get used too much or that every mystery they investigate can be solved using the same unique technique.  It's what makes Golden Age detective more interesting and different from the generic cozy mystery sleuths of today.

Now I'm not saying Murder in Pastiche was bad, it was okay.  They mystery and the motive I found to be clever and worthy of such a collection of heroes.  Other than the over the top Spike Bludgeon section, I didn't mind the author's version of these classic characters.  I just think that I prefer the original over the parody.

Challenges:  VM (Golden Age Girls)

Mailbox Monday for 10/22/12

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at Mailbox Monday 

I received a trade paperback of Blood Line by Lynda La Plante for an upcoming TLC Book Tour.

George McGovern, 1922-2012

I woke up this morning to new that one of my political heroes, the former senator and presidential candidate, George McGovern had passed away.  A true liberal, in every way, McGovern fought for the issues I cared about and never apologized for his beliefs.

He started his public service career as a pilot in World War II.  He served with bravery and distinction, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.  He started his political career in the 1950s in the House of Representatives, before moving to the Senate.  He ran for president in 1972, but was beaten handily by Richard Nixon.  I think many of us would like to believe things in this country would have been so much better had McGovern won.

George McGovern was a true public servant who should be thanked and honored for his years of service.  He will be missed.