Hmmm… Travelling always means that I read a lot of mysteries, since I can pick them up at the charity shop for a buck or two, they’re compact, and generally the cozies don’t stress me out too much. Who wants to read a weepy book while you’re alone in a hotel room far from home?

Double Play, by Robert B. Parker

From the jacket: “It is the year 1947, the year Jackie Robinson breaks major-league baseball’s color barrier by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers — and changes the world. This is the story of that season, as told through the eyes of a difficult, brooding, and wounded man named Joseph Burke. A veteran of World War II and a survivor of Guadalcanal, Burke is hired by Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey to guard Robinson. While Burke shadows Robinson, a man of tremendous strength and character suddenly thrust into the media spotlight, the bodyguard must also face some hard truths of his own , in a world where the wrong associations can prove fatal.”

Why this book? Mum had recommended the author and Dad had recommended the book, albeit after I’d already picked it up from the library. I originally picked it up as a backup to the final title for the Summer Mystery Challenge.

My take: I really enjoyed it. I liked Burke, who is fiercely loyal to his job, which leads him to be fiercely loyal to those he’s protecting. I liked Jackie Robinson, who is morally upright and who helps Burke become the man he needs to be. I liked Cash, the mobster hitman with a sense of justice. And, after I figured out what was going on, I liked the character of Bobby (assumably Parker himself) who provides the color commentary (and presumably the game box scores) for the integration of baseball. A must-read for baseball fans.

Pages: 288

Murder at a Vineyard Mansion, by Philip R. Craig

From the jacket: “It’s particularly quiet on Martha’s Vineyard this summer, since a shadowy figure called “the Silencer” began his covert campaign of destruction — disabling the audio systems in the homes and vehicles of selfish, music-blasting islanders. A respite from the unwanted noise suits fishing enthusiast, former cop, and sometime investigator J.W. Jackson just fine — until a gargantuan new Chappaquiddick mansion is vandalized and a night watchman is thrown to his death off a nearby cliff. Hired by the aristocratic mother of the most likely suspect to help prove her son’s innocence, J.W. starts to explore some mysterious connection to the Vineyard’s most prominent families. But digging up the dirty secrets of the island elite may only inflame a murderer who’s not done killing — and hasten J.W.’s own journey to the grave.”

Why this book? Another charity shop pick up right before my trip to Detroit. I enjoyed another title of his earlier this summer.

My take: I liked this book, but I totally had the bad guy pegged from their first appearance. In the earlier book of Craig’s I’d read, J.W.’s wife and kids had been on vacation, making them seem like a convenient plot twist when they arrived home at the end of the novel. But they were real characters in this book, helping J.W. on his case and dragging him into the technological era with a foray into home computing.

Pages: 256

The Thirteen Problems, by Agatha Christie

From the jacket: “Miss Jane Marple has gathered together an intimate group of friends and family for an evening of fun, games, mystery, and suspicion. What results is a baker’s dozen of fiendishly told tales of malicious misdeeds and delightful deductions — and twice as many suspects, airtight alibis, and tantalizing clues. Thirteen stories in which the indomitable sleuth plays host to some of the most clever crimes — and criminals….”

Why this book? Since I’ve been enjoying Miss Marple episodes of Mystery!, I thought it time I take another crack at Christie. (Plus, it had been twenty years or so since I was stressed so by reading Ten Little Indians. Creepy that book.)

My take: I think people who write book jacket blurbs (particularly for books that have been around for 75 years) ought to read the books they’re writing about. The stories in this book probably take place over the course of a year. Some of them are narrated on the same night, but others occur months later. Miss Marple and Sir Henry Clithering, the former head of Scotland Yard, appear in all thirteen stories, but the others come and go and include some of the characters I’ve seen in the tv series. I liked the book and although some of the stories were a bit creepy, Miss Marple’s dry wit prevents you from getting too nervous. And I love how she periodically makes her audience wait on her pronouncements while she counts or picks up dropped stitches in her knitting. I’ll definitely be reading more of the Miss Marple series.

Pages: 215

Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

From the jacket Powells: “Orphaned Anne Shirley has no idea what to expect when she comes to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. But they, and everyone else on Prince Edward Island, soon come to love her irrepressible personality and imagination.”

Why this book? A group of knitters on Ravelry decided to do a knit-/crochet-/read-along of the series. I’m not sure I want to create anything particular, but I thought it would be fun to revisit my old bosom friend, Anne.

My take: I love this book. Judging from the careful cursive writing on the bookplate, I’m guessing I must have received this book when I was in third grade, I think as a Christmas present from Mum and Dad. I loved it so much, I would spend my spare money buying later books in the series at the Walden Books in the Meriden Square before they renovated it and made it plus-shaped.

I’m pleased to report I love it still. Yes, I roll my eyes a bit more at some of Anne’s more flowery speeches and feel inclined to sympathize a wee bit more with Marilla than I did when I first read the book. But it still holds up well as an example of a young girl in end-of-the-nineteenth-century Canada. And I still thrill along with Anne when Diana tells her she loves her and agonize over some of her bigger blunders (like getting caught in the river on a sinking dorry) and weep over Matthew. (Oh, Matthew! Was there ever a kinder, gentler soul in all of literature?)

Pages: 382