Death of Riley by Rhys Bowen

The second of Rhys Bowen’s Molly Murphy mysteries, set in turn of the century New York City, continues to explore the social issues surrounding Irish immigrants and the New York gangs and police, and also introduces other social sects.

Much of the early book chronicles Molly’s attempts to get a job at least half-worthy of her education. Born an Irish peasant, Molly was educated alongside the children of the local English landowners after catching the attention of the landowner as a child. As a result, she is too educated for the typical labor available to Irish immigrants, but does not have the money or possessions needed to acquire a more suitable job. Early in the book, she gets a job as a Lady’s Companion with the help of her friend, Daniel Sullivan, but is forced to leave that job for certain spoilery reasons I’ll get to in a moment. (Because they annoy me.)

Soon after, she deduces that Paddy Riley, a man she’s seen spying around and masquerading as a photographer is a private investigator, and she tries to convince him to take her on as an apprentice. Riley being an old fashioned man in 1901, this doesn’t go the way she wants, but her persistence eventually gets her a job cleaning his office. Things change, however, when Riley is killed, and Molly decides to try to run the business on her own and solve his death.

This eventually leads to Molly falling in with a Bohemian set of artists and writers, particularly Sid and Gus, a lesbian, pants-wearing couple who takes Molly in as if she were a stray kitten they just had to keep. Not, mind you, that Molly realized just what kind of “friends” they are until another friend clues her in about his own lifestyle. Though there’s part of this that I had a little trouble buying into, Molly’s getting sucked into this set and learning about it was the highlight of the book. Like the first book in the series, Death of Riley is more concerned about characterization and the life and society of 1901 New York than it is with the mystery. I have no problems with this.

( spoilers reflect my hatred of both love triangles and Rochester )

Cranford eps 1-5 (complete)

Set in a fictional (I think) town by the same name, Cranford covers a year in the lives of the townspeople from 1842-1843. The genteel class is populated mostly by women nearing middle years to elderly, and they are a close knit, gossipy bunch, led by Deborah Jenkyns, a very proper and strict spinster, and daughter of the former rector, who lives with her demurring younger sister, Mathilda (though everyone but Deborah calls her Mattie) and leads the town in all that is right and proper. Into this environment come three new people.

The first is Mary Smith, the daughter of a friend (Cousin? I forgot to write it down.) of the Jenkyns sisters, who flees to Cranford to escape her stepmothers attempts to marry her off to any available man. As Mary learns about Cranford and its residents, so do we. The second is Dr. Harrison, a young doctor from London brought in by the town’s doctor to eventually replace him. Though Dr. Harrison quickly falls in love with the current rector’s daughter, Sophie, two other local women fall for him, both wrongly (one because of a practical joke, the other through a misunderstanding) believing that he has an interest in them. The third is Captain Brown, a retired army captain living on a half-pay, Captain Brown is solely responsible for the care of his two daughters, one of whom is very ill. Just as Mary provides our view of Cranford, Captain Brown provides our view of the necessity of progress, especially the railroad. In addition, it is through her relationship with Jessie, the Captain’s daughter, that Deborah begins to ease up on her own strict rules.

Then there is Lady Ludlow, the local aristocrat. Very, very proud, Lady Ludlow is also very old fashioned, and is old enough to remember the horrors of the French Revolution. (Even with the makeup, Francesca Annis doesn’t look it, so we’ll just say she was young.) Because of this, she is extremely opposed to progress, especially the railroad, as well as of educating the lower classes, refusing to hire educated servants. She is also, as much as someone like that can be, extremely kind, and very concerned about the welfare of her people, even if she sometimes needs Mr. Carter, the head of her estate, to see when there is a problem. Mr. Carter, however, is very fond of progress, and of educating the lower classes, and takes in Harry, the son of a local squatter, to train to be a clerk, much to Lady Ludlow’s consternation. In one of the best scenes in the series, a genteel woman who was forced to become a milliner, but who is also an acquaintance of Lady Ludlow’s, points out to Mr. Carter that, just as Lady Ludlow will only see a poacher’s son when she looks at Harry, Mr. Carter will only ever see a woman when he sees her, opening his eyes to the fact that his idea of progress forgets a significant part of the population.

( cut for length, unspoilery )

manga: From Eroica With Love Vol 1-2

From Eroica With Love is a 1970s shounen-ai for (A) having none of the shounen-ai and yaoi tropes and standards that annoy me and (B) punching said tropes and standards in the face a lot. *slight rewording involved in (B)* Thankfully, I was also warned about the horrors of the first volume.

Caesar, Sugar and Leopard (the full names are even worse) are college students and best friends. In Peru, they somehow acquired superhuman abilities. I think there was an old man in a cave involved. I’m not sure. The three have a telepathic link, Caesar is a supergenius, Sugar can see the future, and Leopard has the generic physical enhancements. They have adventures and stuff. Sugar and Leopard were ok, but I’m trying to forget Caesar existed.

During the course of their adventures (or something) they come across Earl Dorian red Gloria, a flamboyantly gay aristocrat with an interest in art who fixates of Caesar. Because Caesar is pretty. Dorian is also Eroica, head of a gang of art thieves. Dorian decides to make Caesar his latest acquisition and kidnaps him. Sugar and Leopard charge to the rescue, but not before Dorian has turned Caesar into we weepiest, girliest uke to ever weep and employ the full force of a dozen stereotyped shoujo heroines.

*Megan clenches book. Megan eyes apartment door. Megan wonders if it is possible to throw a manga with enough force to break through a door.*

Thankfully, I was not misled, and the mangaka soon realized that Caesar would drive any sane person to hurling books through doors, and replaces the trio with Klaus Heinz Von Dem Eberbach, a NATO agent who often finds himself after the same work or art and Dorian. Klaus is an equal opportunity hater who applies his hatred to any group he encounters if they cross him, and loves to exile subordinates who displease him to Alaska. He and Dorian are both surrounded by incompetents. Both characters are annoying. While Dorian is definitely flamboyantly gay, he doesn’t code as anything but male even remotely, tends to make poor young things fall for him and ditches them the second they do (and shamelessly uses the blatant affections of his skinflint accountant, James, though he never follows through on the tease) and lives to aggravate everyone he meets, especially Klaus. Klaus, as mentioned before, is an equal opportunity hater, and that applies to nationality (probably race, too) gender and sexual orientation. And likely other things. Though, to give him more fairness than he really deserves, he’s surrounded by incompetence. Except for Sorian. Who actually tries to make him mad.

Individually, they’d be unbearable, but they complement each other well. I’m not sure I’ll ever strictly “like” Dorian-most tropes that involve using people, especially his “use and discard when through with,” hit my “*bleep* no” buttons-but he’s very entertaining, and at least, unlike most with that trope, he’s honest about it. I’m more inclined to like Klaus, even though he probably doesn’t deserve it.

It is shounen-ai, but, based on these 2 volumes (and what I’ve been told) not in the romantic way most shounen-ai/yaoi is. More accurately, it’s an adventure/comedy/chase caper that just happens to have a gay lead. I’m not sure it’ll ever be near a favorite, but it’s entertaining enough to read more of. And while I realize it’s probably far too much to hope for a regular female character, I hope we continue with the steady stream of female spies and thieves in Dorian and Klaus’s various adventures.