Hello dear readers!! I am back at it after quite some time with another book review. I’m quite sure you have heard it before. It’s one of the most famous Y/A, or, a ‘young adult’ fiction book. Written by Holly Jackson, I present to you- ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’’s review.
Firstly, let me just give a disclaimer that Young adult books refer to books read by people between the age groups of 12 and 18, but of course, older people can read them too. However, children younger than this age will have difficulty reading and understanding such books because they contain more mature content they wouldn’t understand.
A Good Girl’s guide to Murder- you know what, let’s just call it AGGGTM (partly because of convenience and partly since the internet calls it that and I want to be ‘#relateble’) tells us a story of a teenage girl, Pippa Fitz-Amobi who is investigating a cold case murder for her final year report.
Five years ago in the town of Little Kilton, Salil ‘sal’ Singh had allegedly killed Andrea ‘Andie’ Bell for reasons unknown. Why the ‘reasons unknown’ part? Because when Andie Bell went missing, a few days later the police claimed she was dead, as they found a supposed confession note in Salil Singh’s phone.
They closed the case.
Why?
Because Sal Singh was dead. He had killed himself.
And Andie Bell, after her death, was believed to be a Martyr, an ‘angel taken too soon’.
Or that’s what they thought.
Pippa believes Salil is innocent and wants to prove it. She, along with Ravi, Sal’s brother, investigate the case together. But, someone doesn’t want her to find answers. She’s being spied on. Left threatening notes. But she still doesn’t stop.
Will she be able to uncover this mystery and handle the horrifying truths she finds along with it? Or will her stalker manage to scare her into stopping?
I found this book awesome, and it’s something you can read again from the beginning just because of the beautiful way it’s written. I like how the author managed to weave the mystery into the story along with the casual teenage drama that occurs in life. And one good thing about it is that it’s exceptionally intriguing, and makes you want to read page after page without stopping.
Pippa’s production log and report drafts are included in the book, so you can read how she interviews everyone and collects information from both her point of view as well as third person narrative. It made me feel like I was solving the mystery alongside her.
I liked how her two best friends, Lauren and Cara play such an important role in the story. While at first you might think that they are just side characters and would have no sort of connection to the mystery, later on you discover just how well they are involved. Naomi, Cara’s elder sister, is also a major part in the story. We can see how Pippa is attached to them both and will do alot to protect them.
Ravi Singh is a crucial aspect in the story, as he is Sal’s brother and can connect better to the case than anyone else. Without his character most of the story would change drastically. He and Pippa grow closer and have a better bond because of this case-solving.
Another girl, Natalie D’Silva, is also included in the ‘major people’ list I have. Her backstory and relation with Andie is NOT good. Its reflects on cyber-bullying and harassment and brings you back to reality. This book also focuses on more of the modern problems in this world, like cyber bullying, backstabbing, fake friends, drug-dealing and alot more.
While the plot is actually serious and contains scary life truths, somehow it still contains humour and sarcasm, put in just the right places.
One thing to understand, however, is that because so many people, including Andie herself, her father, her sister, Naomi, etc were involved in different aspects of crime, there are a lot of clues, leading to a little confusion.
Most of it is very ground breaking and majorly theory-changing, which is impressive since I don’t know how the author managed to get so many ideas in the first place. It’s initially confusing how everything is linked to everyone. Towards the end of the story, we get to see who the real killer was, and I’m sure no one expected that, however, it fits perfectly.
A small problem was that I felt the author put too much evidence against everyone, and in the end, I feel some clues were unchecked, some leads were not followed up on, and some stories not match at all. It’s like: “OOOHHHH, So THATS why this was like this-” and then suddenly, out of the blue “oh wait, no.”
Otherwise, though, this book was one of the best murder-mystery-thrilller I’ve ever read. Would most definitely recommend it!
Well ‘fare thee well’, my dear readers! See you later in another review. Cheerio 🙂
Mystery
Ordeal by innocence: Agatha Christie novel review
Hello dear readers! This is Miss A. Misra. I am here to suggest another book you can read. Today’s book is Ordeal by Innocence, written by Agatha Christie.
I bought this book very recently at the airport bookshop, along with two others (namely, “partners in crime,” and “the chalice of the Gods.” They’re pretty amazing, too) The name intrigued me very much. Ordeal? By Innocence? How? So of COURSE I had to buy it. Also, there were not many other science fiction books I liked in stock there.
Also, even the short blurb was interesting, and I liked that this was a cold-case murder book, and I hadn’t heard of this one before. Only a few copies of the book left so I had to buy it quickly. The storyline is deep and about a murder case around a year ago. I liked how the author aired everyone’s opinions about the case through different chapters. While reading I felt I was very close to the truth, but I could not exactly grasp who murdered who in the story.
I’m giving you a summary before I dive into the details.
A year ago, Mrs Argyle was killed through blunt force trauma, in her own house, by one of her currently grown up step children (she adopted 5 kids since she could not have any of her own) or her husband, or her husband’s secretary, or even her old nurse.
Mrs Argyle controlled her children and provided EVERYTHING for them, making them resent her constant and consistent presence. It could have been any of them. Or maybe even her husband, since she was so ignorant of him. Anyone could have killed her really. But Jack was condemned, because he was the most aggressive, and also since he was found with some money which seemed to have been stolen from his mother’s desk.
The other family members were quite satisfied when Jack was arrested since it seemed obvious that no one else was suspected. However, later, Dr Calgary turns up with evidence that Jack is innocent and has a strong alibi. But Jack has died of pneumonia in prison by then. Now the family begin suspecting each other.
There is Hester, Tina, Mickey, and Mary Argyle among the stepchildren, any of whom could have murdered their foster mother. That narrows it down to around 0% which must have been extremely helpful to the investigators. ( that was sarcasm, okay?)
Who committed the crime? Will they get away with it? Will they stop him or her before the murderer strikes again?
The novel was awesome and I enjoyed reading it. It was not humorous, though and I could not find any jokes in the story, except for some hint traces of irony, mainly spoken by Phillip, husband of Mary Durrant. While I loved the book as a whole, more humour would certainly have improved the whole book quite a few notches. It would have immediately gone up as my current favorite book. ( note: I wrote the word”currently” because my “favorite book” can change every day. so it’s best not to claim this is the only favorite book I will ever mention. Like, I said “The Girl Who Drank the moon” is the best book ever a few posts ago. And later on, I mentioned “Percy Jackson” is my favorite.)
Anyways, I am logging off now, see you in another review!
Cheerio! – 🙂
Sharing is good Karma!
Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike Book 3)by Robert Galbraith :Book Review
Cormoron Strike is not easy on the eye. He has all the charm of a porcupine and his assistant,come girl-Friday Robin is forever confused and messed up in her love life .
Name of Book:Career of Evil
Author :Robert Galbraith (Pseudonym of J.K Rowlings)
It all starts when a mysterious package arrives for Robin from a serial killer who has a personal score to settle with Strike .Robin becomes the pawn in the game she never wanted to play.But her grit, dedication and luck saves her from ending up like the other victim.While the story unravels, so does Robin’s love life when she grapples with her choices,present and future.
This is a book which takes an unpopular look into people who are truly evil .Those who when given a chance will never reform and repeat their evil ways ,over and over again with victims who are picked carefully.Psychotic killers who are fiendishly clever have a way of trapping victims like the spider traps the fly and there in lies the lesson interspersed with the story.
Official Blurb
The Strike seriesWhen a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, Career of Evil is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.
What I thought about the book
The author is a master storyteller but her weaving of possible romance in these thrillers are frustrating. It has the problems of teenage romance and does nothing for the story.Perry Mason and Della Street relationship is not easy to emulate .Saying that there’s still opportunity for things to get better or may be worse.But that’s something time will tell.
The mystery though is perfectly woven and the intricacies of the plot makes one feel miss having a whos- who section to these books .Recommended for fans of thrillers and Psychological thrillers who like catching the bad guy no matter what.
A fast paced racy read,which leaves you feeling a little sad ,a little angry but still hopeful that Robin and Strike will both find a way to meet in the middle inspite of the crazy stuff happening all around.
Please note :This is a Psychological thriller with rape,mutilation,stalking,serial killing in the story line and not recommended if you have any mental health issues that may be triggered by these.
This is part of Bookchatter by @blogchatter.
Sharing is good Karma!
Agatha Christie: The Spider’s web Book Review
Hello dear readers! This is Miss A.Misra logging in to tell you about another book I read recently. Today’s book is “The Spider’s web” by Agatha Christie.
This book was pretty dense and had a dark plot with some sharp turns in the way. It was a bit sad in the middle but somehow quite hilarious.
Here’s a short description of the story written by me:
Clarissa is the wife of a Foreign office diplomat. She is prone to daydreaming. Literally. She muses about different scenarios that may happen and what she was to do if the DID happen. For example: Supposing I were to become an actress? Supposing Henry( her husband) dies? Or even “Supposing my ice cream melts?”. ( Ok, the last one is not technically mentioned, but it CAN happen!)
The story starts out so innocently you will never believe it takes such a horrifying turn. It begins when Clarrisa brings own three glasses of beer and wine, and asks three of her friends to guess which is of which company. Two of them confidently say three different things. Jeremy, the last one, blandly says they taste the same. To which the other two men say young people have no knowledge on such matters. Later Clarissa reveals they all were of the very same bottle of beer!
Clarissa had an adopted daughter called Pippa, and unlike other stories where the stepparents are mean, Henry and Clarissa are loving and supporting. Pippa absolutely adores them. Her real parents had been abusive so she was taken away. Then things become rather interesting. Clarissa confides in Jeremy what she does when she is bored. Daydreaming random scenarios. It’s entertaining, I must say. I myself sometimes think: What should I do if a fire catches? Supposing the ceiling fan falls right now? And stuff and nonsense like that. Moving on, she just happened to mention to Jeremy that ” Supposing that I find a dead body in the library one day?”
She didn’t have to wonder much longer.
Some time later, when her child Pippa was asleep. and the maids took a day off, Clarissa finds a dead body in the library! Pippa appears suddenly, and starts crying at the sight of it, saying ” Oh no I didn’t mean to- Did I do that?”. Now, obviously Clarissa thinks her daughter somehow killed the man after this small exchange, and decides to make an alibi for herself and her daughter . What’s more, the man who was killed was Pippa’s real father. Obviously, she did the most sensible thing. She panicked.She quickly calls her friends and explains to them the case. Together, they create alibis for themselves in case the police come. They do come, and Clarissa is smart enough to pretend to know nothing about it. Pippa is upstairs, sleeping again ( FYI though, Clarissa gave her a sleeping pill so she falls asleep and does not worry herself, because you might be wondering how someone can sleep so much for one day), so the police don’t take notice of her. But, she’s not the real murderer. Infact, someone among her friends was present there! But who is that person? Will Clarissa be able to convince everyone Pippa is actually innocent? And will the real murderer get caught in time?
The Spider’s Web by Agatha Christie was an amazing novel. It was originally a short story, like she generally writes, and it was novelised by Charles Osborne. It is very dense, as I mentioned before, like three times. Just felt like I needed to throw that in again.
Clarissa is a very important person in the story, as is their gardener, who is actually someone using an alias (:O) Henry, Clarissa’s husband is rather a minor figu Anyways, for thriller and mystery lovers, this book is perfect. However, if you are those sentimental people (no offence) who can’t bear a book character to have a bad past or face death, you might want to skip it. Pippa’s backstory is rather tragic, and (surprise, surprise) my mother cried while reading it. I have to admit, when we learnt who the real murderer was, I was completely thrown off track. It seemed so sudden yet so logically correct. So I won’t disclose who murdered the man yet, because that would pretty much ruin everything for you.
What would be the use of reading it when you know what’s going to happen, anyways? I did not find many complaints about this book even after reading it quite a few times, so it was pretty much ideal for me.
Other short stories you could read, which are related to such genres by Agatha Christie are: The Lamp (it’s related to paranormal stuff, but it was pretty cool), Philomel cottage ( one of my favourites) and ” The strange case of Arthur CarMicheal” ( extremely creepy sci-fi thriller which is, I repeat, very creepy. If you’re scared of ghosts going into animals and inanimate objects, don’t even touch the stuff).
So basically it’s a pretty good book and though I like to read more science-fiction and stuff, I rather liked this one. Well, again, I like ALL sorts of Agatha Christie books, and by saying that I’m basically opposing against what I just said. But whatever.
Anyways, dear readers. goodbye now! See you in another post
Sharing is good Karma!
3 Mystery Webseries(Bengali) on Hoichoi you must watch
It’s been some time since I have written about a web series we enjoy as a family.
Having an impressionable child means you try to screen the content you see on OTTs where the age limits are a little ambiguous. The Bengali web series platform Hoichoi has some interesting options, and I am bringing you 3 options for the weekend and the run-up to the Viswakarma Puja.
- Mr.Kolketa
- The Eken
- Bouma Detective our recent favorite is very enjoyable
These three web series on Hoichoi are not only engaging but also age-appropriate for family viewing. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones this weekend and during the exciting build-up to Viswakarma Puja!
Mr.Kolketa
This series on Hoichoi has only the first season available now. It takes you on a madcap run around and under Kolkata’s lanes bylanes, markets, and temples. Mr.KalloKallol Datta (Kalke)is a clerk in a municipal office where his desk job fails to hold his interest and he rushes headlong into solving a murder and a missing treasure both of which happened at the museum. Enter Jhelum who is a disgruntled citizen, also the daughter of the prime suspect and together they form an unlikely pair in search of murderers and treasures.
What works
Mr.Kolketa played by Ritwick Chakraborty, Jhelum Sen played by Rajnandini Paul, and Mr.Jimut Basak (Kaushik Sen) play their roles well. My favorite though is Potai(Mr. Potochitra Dutta played by Master Aysuh Mukherjee) the nephew and occasional sidekick who is spontaneous and brings a dose of light-heartedness to sometimes grim situations.
Jhelum is spunky, smart (mostly) can kick well, and is not afraid to call a spade a spade. Plus she looks quintessentially pretty Bengali young lady in her sari avatar.
Mr.Ritwick Chakraborty is a brilliant actor and plays the part of the absent-minded history buff-treasure-hunter well. The entire support cast does their bits with an ease that gives the series its very watchable appearance.
What needs work
They are caught and threatened with bodily harm multiple times and the detective has zero survival skills. He is often beaten up and that’s cringe when he is roaming the underground with a kid.
The potential romance between the obviously much older detective and Jhelum needs a better screenplay to work well. Minor points which they can work on I am sure. Feluda has spoiled us forever and life will never be the same again.
Official synopsis of Mr.Kolketa
The theft of a precious muslin from a museum sends Kolke and Jhelum on a thrilling journey to uncover a mystery through the lens of history and hidden treasure in Kolkata. Take a tour of your familiar city’s unfamiliar alleys in Mr. Kolketa.
Director :
Surajit Chatterjee
Starring :
Ritwick Chakraborty, Rajnandini Paul, Kaushik Sen, Debesh Roychowdhury, Kaushik Chatterjee
Eken Babu
Eken Babu played by Anirban Chakrabarti, is getting better with every season and movie. Unfortunately, the original creator Sujan Dasgupta is no more. The webseries is watchable though the stories and the sidekick remind you of Feluda but in a much watered-down version. Every season the stories get a little more interesting and in the movie “The Eken Ruddhaswas Rajasthan”Anirban Chakrabarti is at his best. His happy-go-lucky character hides a sharp brain and his appearance is deceptive.
In the movie, he has a few action scenes and does a good job of making them believable. He is nothing like the quintessential detective hero we are used to and currently, that is what seems to be trending on OTT platforms. My favorite is The Eken: Ruddhaswas Rajasthan
What works:
Anirban Chakrabarti is a good actor and his mixing up of Bengali proverbs will make you laugh. He is in his element playing the absent-minded Bangali Babu who loves eating and rarely notices anything.
What needs work:
His side kicks change occasionally from the series to the movie and that gets confusing at times. With the creator’s demise, we need to see what happens next with the character
The official synopsis of Eken Babu
Eken Babu
Detective Comedy
6 Seasons
Eken Babu is not your average, middle-aged Bengali man. He is Ekendra Sen, a detective extraordinaire who effortlessly cracks complex cases in his own quirky style. And wherever a mystery takes him, he is accompanied by his friends, Bapi and Pramatha.
Director :
Anirban Mallik, Anupam Hari, Abhijit Chowdhury, Surajit Chatterjee, Joydeep Mukherjee
Starring :
Anirban Chakrabarti, Shoumo Banerjee, Debapriyo Bagchi, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Somak Ghosh
The Eken
Set in Darjeeling, this is the first movie and Eken Babu with his team is on the search for the murderer, a missing idol. A beautiful film star makes for a twist in the tale.
The Eken: Ruddhaswas Rajasthan
Detective Comedy
Eken finds himself embroiled in an antique smuggling mystery while vacationing in Rajasthan with Bapi and Pramatha. What happens when the situation gets out of hand after finding fake artifacts at the Jaisalmer Museum?
Writers: Padmanabha Dasgupta, Sujan Dasgupta
Director: Joydeep Mukherjee
Starring: Anirban Chakrabarti, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Somak Ghosh, Sandipta Sen, Rajatava Dutta, Rajesh Sharma
Bouma Detective
Currently watching and very enjoyable. Played by Aparajita Addha as Bouma detective and Ronit Roy her actor husband.
The very beautiful Aparajita Addha brings her A game to the table and it’s on her very capable shoulders that the series rests. Rono her husband, the superstar reel life hero(real-life horrible person)playboy played by Ronit Roy is the kind of man no real woman would like and he plays the mean, husband to a T . The kind who doesn’t admit he is married.( Remember a chocolate image superstar who did something similar?)
Anyway, he is the prime suspect in the unexpected death of his heroine in the middle of an intimate scene. His wife the much abused, much-ignored wife sets out to become a Miss (Mrs. Marple) with the hero’s assistant as a sidekick to save the screen hero from a life behind bars.
What works?
Ms. Aparajita is fantastic as the little wife at home who has let herself go to seed is very uninspiring and very much Biwi-number-one-ish.But that probably gives her the larger-than-life image because no woman should tolerate what she is doing(something like a former US first lady if you know what I mean).
Atanu the faithful Ronojoy assistant decided to help her solve the mystery
Cons
The Ronit Roy backstory needed a reason. Why in this day and age his entire family supports his need for a father-of-two to pretend to be a bachelor is anyone’s guess.
The heroines are shown in a horrible light. Apparently, no one bags a project without unfair means. That’s horrible even when it’s fiction. Some scenes are cringe and you will need to skip them if watching with a kid. The plot has several holes but don’t look for logic.
Official Synopsis
Simple homemaker Rohini decides to take on the role of a detective after her superstar husband Ranojay is accused of murdering his co-actor.
Stars
Rohit RoyAparajita AdhyaUtsav Sarkar
Other Webseries I like The Good Doctor,NCIS,Person of Interest on Amazon Prime .
