The Water Doesn't Lie (A Dalton and Gibb Investigation) by Kim Booth; Exciting Investigation But Dull Detectives

 

The Water Doesn't Lie (A Dalton and Gibb Investigation) by Kim Booth; Exciting Investigation But Dull Detectives

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Naturally I begin 2024 with a frequent trend found in many of my other reviews. Reading two books of the same genre who are direct polar opposites of each other. Indy Perro’s Journeyman and Kim Booth’s The Water Doesn’t Lie are both Murder Mysteries that emphasize separate components. Journeyman’s mystery plot concerning drug dealing, murder, and gang warfare is nowhere near as compelling as the personal struggles and frienemyship of its two leads, police detective Vincent Bayonne and ex-con, informant, and recent gang leader, Kane Kulpa. Booth’s book on the other hand excels at a mystery that is suspenseful and engaging but is unfortunately investigated by two detectives who so far are interchangeable and completely unidentifiable. 

In 1984, Thomas Ferguson, a young boy at the Lannercraig Children’s Home in Glasgow took his own life. Detective Sergeant Douglas Beattie and Detective Constable Jim Callender investigated the death and allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the children’s home. When they found out some prominent people were involved in covering up the allegations, they were ordered to drop the case. However, Callender and especially Beattie never let the case go and it continued to haunt them even into promotion and retirement. 

21  years later in Lincoln Central Lincolnshire, a dead man is found and appears to have been physically assaulted and drowned. He is identified as Father Patrick Burman and one of his previous places of employment was, you guessed it, the Lannercraig Children’s Home in Glasgow. Detective Sergeant Barry Dalton and Detective Inspector Alex Gibb investigate Burman’s murder and several other mysterious deaths of people affiliated with the Lannercraig case. They travel to Glasgow to solve the case and maybe deliver some long delayed justice to the perpetrators and their victims. 

The mystery in this book is compelling particularly when Dalton and Gibb arrive in Glasgow and pool their resources with Beattie and Callender. There is a sense that this case needed to be resolved and that its victims suffered tremendous pain and trauma not just from the abuse but the long wait for those who hurt them to seek some form of accountability. 

The detective’s interviews with the former children, now grown up but still hurting, are some of the most emotional passages. We see these characters deal with their trauma in different ways such as one who fell into a criminal life and saw no honest way out of it. Another tried to live as a successful business executive but it’s only a front for a still traumatized child who hasn’t yet come to terms with what happened. The abuse that they endured left painful physical and emotional scars to the point that the Reader hopes that the ones who hurt them and were murdered suffered horribly before their deaths. 

The emotional core is in the murder investigation but the characterization of the investigators leave something to be desired. Dalton and Gibb don't have a lot going for them. There is no discussion of their home lives or any information that makes them distinct. They are both married and one is a father and that's all we know about them. I know Booth probably wanted to move beyond typical detective tropes but that's no reason to make them boring. There really is nothing there about them.

It might just be me, but in reading Journeyman and The Water Doesn't Lie, I learned something. I can live with a book with a weak mystery but strong characters better than I can with a strong mystery but weak characters. Maybe because I look at it this way: anyone could solve the mystery in The Water Doesn’t Lie but not just anyone could solve the one in Journeyman. With Water Doesn’t Lie, one could replace Dalton and Gibb with any other investigators and it would still work just as well. But the mystery in Journeyman needed Vincent Bayonne and Kane Kulpa to solve it. No one else could do it. 

In fact, Water Doesn't Lie itself has a better investigation team in Beattie and Callender. With Beattie, we have the retiree who still wants to see justice done and is still haunted by that which is still unsolved. With Callender, there is the one still on the inside doing his best in a system that he knows is flawed and corrupt. I fantasized what it might have been like if the mystery involved them and not Dalton and Gibb, even perhaps separated by decades with Beattie taking the investigation in 1984 and Callender instead investigating in modern Glasgow. I am left to wonder, “Did they even need to go to Lincolnshire?”

A strong mystery is a great aspect to Water Doesn't Lie but it needs better detectives and more characterization so Dalton and Gibb don't end up as “One Book Wonders.”

New Book Alert: Forgive Me by Joy Ellis; Tense and Intricate Short Story About Guilt and Suicide

 New Book Alert: Forgive Me by Joy Ellis; Tense and Intricate Short Story About Guilt and Suicide

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Sometimes guilt can overwhelm people so much that they will do the most self-destructive acts to make the pain go away. Sometimes that guilt can be exacerbated by reminders, news articles that state the crime, anniversaries of the witnesses, including friends and family members. The guilty party will do anything to end that hurt, including murder and suicide.

That is the premise behind Forgive Me, Joy Ellis' engaging, tense, and intricate stand alone short story about the investigation of a man's presumed suicide and the guilt that preceded it.

PCs Yvonne Craig and Jamie Smith are investigating the death of Arthur Sims. He appeared to have committed suicide, but he seemed like a decent enough guy. He was involved in charities and volunteer organizations and was a staunch Catholic. He was described as a decent, calm, helpful guy. So why would he do it? Why would he leave a note that says "Please forgive me?" Forgiveness for what and who had been sending him threatening notes saying that the sender didn't forget something? What was that something and why would it be so traumatic that it would drive Sims to suicide?

Because of the short length and the fact that they are mostly investigating a suicide not a murder for the most part, there aren't any suspense chases and moments where they are trailing potential suspects. Most of the investigation is done primarily through computers and researching newspaper archives. It may be dull to some mystery Readers, but others may like a bit of realism mixed in with their literature. This is how many investigations are conducted these days. Sometimes it's just a matter of lots of research and finding the right article. Rarely are dangerous criminals apprehended in violent confrontations with a heart stopping confession that reveals all. Because of the realism,,the plot is more subdued but still interesting.

Because the short story is all about the investigation, there is not a whole lot in terms of character development except one moment that is best not revealed. This characterization seems to come ot of nowhere but is good in getting the Reader to question the characters' motives, means, and pre-knowledge of the events.

Aside from the revelation, Craig and Smith are a good team for a short story like this. They don't have time to deal with marital conflicts or family squabbles. They are here to investigate and investigate they do to solve not only the reason for Sims' suicide but also a long buried cold case that can no longer wait to be solved. A cold case in which Sims was involved which haunted him for the rest of his life.

Forgive Me is short, but Ellis does a great job capturing this tension of investigating a death and revealing that sometimes, a person can not run away from past guilt fast or far enough.

New Author Alert: A Good Girl by Janice Magerman; Debut YA Novel Is A Brilliantly Characterized Look At High School Cliques, Teen Suicide, and Pregnancy By Julie Sara Porter

Weekly Reader: A Good Girl by Janice Magerman; Debut YA Novel Is A Brilliantly Characterized Look At High School Cliques, Teen Suicide, and Pregnancy

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: YA Novels are difficult sometimes for adults to read the way the teen years were difficult to experience. It's hard to recall those times of raging hormones, romances that changed every other day, and the constant questioning of their roles and how to live up to them.

Janice Magerman's debut novel, A Good Girl captures those feelings of teenage insecurity and emotions by writing brilliant characters that deal with the pressures of high school cliques, suicide, and developing hormones.




Aaron, a bullied teen is driven to suicide after being pushed around one too many times by the wealthy school clique, The Elite. Aaron is a member of The Losers, a clique made up of poorer outcast students. Shortly after Aaron's suicide, his chief tormentor, Wade dies in a car accident. The two deaths send many of their friends reeling particularly Charlotte, a girl who was an Elite and Wade's friend but was growing tired of the Elite’s bullying.




Charlotte is the best character in the book because she is able to transcend the role dictated to her by her peer group. Even though socially she hung around with Wade and knew him as her boyfriend's best friend, she was not blind to his bullying ways and grieves more for Aaron. This realization affects the passages between her and Aaron's friend, Justin as she goes from offering casual sympathies to becoming a friend.




Justin and Charlotte befriend each other as he takes her around “Loserville,” the poor side of town. Justin is a very sweet character who helps Charlotte through her grief over Aaron and Wade's deaths, and is able to talk one on one with Charlotte as friends instead of members of opposing peer groups. The two share dreams, childhood memories, and the Reader prepares for a romance between the two.




Unfortunately, in the books only weak spot, Charlotte gets involved in a romance with Dillon, the requisite bad boy. Dillon is a potential juvenile delinquent who at first behaves obnoxious and misogynistic towards Charlotte. He is prejudiced against Charlotte because of her Elite status because he too has been a victim of their bullying. While he becomes a more likable character later on, the romance between Charlotte and Dillon seems more forced than anything else. It could have been just as effective for Dillon to accept Charlotte as a friend and who is happy with the relationship between his buddy, Justin and Justin's new girlfriend. Unfortunately, once Charlotte and Dillon starts to develop feelings for each other, Justin gets pushed aside and a more interesting and likeable character becomes Friend Zoned in favor of the classic Rich Good Girl/Poor Bad Boy pairing.




Some revelations get revealed in the book that changes the book's course and Charlotte's behavior. Some of the revelations appear abrupt and out of the blue but are subtly foreshadowed and lead to stronger character developments.They also allow Charlotte to challenge the hypocrisy of the Elites as people who display a wealthy successful facade while inside the homes are not successful or particularly happy.




A Good Girl is one of those novels that takes us inside the roles that teens play in cliques and shows how teens limit themselves when they join a clique. But when they confront those cliques and stereotypes, they can instead grow into better people.

Banned Books Special: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher; A Moving Heartbreaking YA Novel About Suicide And Those Left Behind

Banned Books Special: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher; A Moving Heartbreaking YA Novel About Suicide And Those Left Behind


By Julie Sara Porter


Bookworm Reviews





Spoilers: Bullying and Suicide are important topics these days especially with teenagers. People often believe that suicide is ultimately no one's fault. (Not even the deceased because they were often depressed and had mental illnesses that controlled their way of thinking) However, there is a growing awareness that slut-shaming, body-shaming, public embarrassment, cyber bullying, and physical and psychological bullying can be key factors in contributing to a person's depression or low self- esteem. The consequences of those actions can damage a person's already fragile psyche and result in that person's suicide.





Jay Asher’s YA novel 13 Reasons Why (which has become a series on Netflix) is a grim and heartbreaking look how a young girl's suicide affects those around her particularly those she blames for her final actions.





In the beginning, the Reader learns that Hannah Baker is dead. Her friend, Clay Jenson mourns her loss as he receives a strange package of seven cassette tapes and a note advising whoever receives them to listen to them then pass them along to someone else on the list. Borrowing his dad's old stereo, Clay listens to Hannah's voice as she sadly and with buried fury tells about those who hurt her or did little to help her, those that she blames for her suicide.





Each account shows in great detail the events that surrounded Hannah making her realize how few people she had to turn to. She documented various moments when other kids at school spread rumors about her. One boy gave her her first kiss but told everyone he went farther with her. Hannah's reputation was then marred as a slut. Another boy put her name on a list with the moniker “Best Ass” which inspired another boy to pinch and grope her.


These two accusations gave Hannah a false reputation that she couldn't shake of being a wanton party girl. They resulted in escalated mistreatment such as when a girl in school spread rumors about Hannah's so-called sexual adventures and sex toys. (When in reality the girl tried to help Hannah avoid a Peeping Tom by pretending to perform for him with Hannah) More serious and tragic consequences resulted when a boy raped a friend of Hannah then Hannah herself.





Hannah also laid blame on the seemingly nice people who failed to help her when she needed them the most. A teacher and guidance counselor appears on Hannah's list when she recorded their conversation and told him all that happened particularly her rape. Hannah was so far gone in despair thinking everyone was against her that she took badly his advice “to just move on.” Actually he advised several suggestions including reporting what happened to her to the police, but in Hannah's mind, she doubted everyone. His suggestions only confirmed her belief that no one cared how she felt.





Clay listens to the tapes anxiously wondering why he was on the list. While Hannah appeared to absolve Clay of any guilt saying he was a good friend, in the most heartbreaking moment he realized that it wasn't anything he did but what he didn't do: He didn't listen to Hannah when she needed help, didn't ask her what was wrong or realized that anything was wrong. His crime was not doing enough to help her.


While this realization fills Clay with shame and guilt, he uses those feelings to help another depressed girl, Skye. This shows that Clay learned from his inaction with Hannah and helps another troubled girl so she doesn't follow Hannah's lead.





13 Reasons Why shows that our actions and words have grave consequences and despite what our mothers told us names can break our bones, or spirits. Hopefully though in the final moments between Clay and Skye, The Reader learns that words and actions can also lead to healing broken spirits as well.

Forgotten Favorites: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno; A Darkly Comic and Poignant Look Into The Adult Life of Encyclopedia Brown

Forgotten Favorites: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno; A Nostalgic and Darkly Comic Book About The Adult Life of Encyclopedia Brown

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Anyone who grew up between the 1970’s-’90’s remembers Encyclopedia Brown, the series of juvenile detective books by Donald Sobol. For those that don't, an explanation will be needed. Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown (Yes, Sobol named him after the Jim Croce song)  was the 10-year-old son of the Chief of Police in Idaville, Florida. He had an eidetic memory and was himself an amateur detective. (The book would usually describe Encyclopedia’s head as being like an encyclopedia or a library but usually add something like “his pals said he was better than a library. At least they could take him fishing.”)

The books were very formulaic in nature. The crimes never involved dark subjects like murder. Usually, theft and kidnapping were as felonious as they got. The first chapter of each book involves Encyclopedia solving a crime for his father at the dinner table. The second usually concerned Encyclopedia's Detective Agency (Mysteries solved for a quarter-” no case too small”.) where he solves a case for a local child usually involving Bugs Meany, local bully and leader of a group of tough boys called the Tigers. (The narration often suggested other names for the gang: “They should have called themselves The Umbrella Carts because they always pulled something shady.”) The third chapter usually featured another crime caused by Bugs but Encyclopedia is aided by his friend/assistant/bodyguard Sally Kimball, the prettiest and toughest girl in the fifth grade and who beat Bugs up once. The other chapters concerned with other cases. One would be sure to focus on Wilfred Wiggins, high school dropout and con artist who planned some scheme to bilk kids out of their money. (One of these adventures contains the immortal lapse in logic from Encyclopedia, one that I often quote: “I wouldn't believe him if he swore he were lying.”) Each mystery contains a purposely contradictory clue to which Encyclopedia latches on to solve the mystery. The final pages are answers to the mystery to explain how Encyclopedia solved it. For example Bugs Meany claim to sell an inscribed Civil War sword from Robert E. Lee to Stonewall Jackson after the First Battle of Bull Run. The answer would reveal that Encyclopedia knew it was a fake because Lee, a Confederate general, would have called it the “Battle of Manassas.” Not to mention that the sword said “First Battle of Bull Run” before there would have been a Second Battle of Bull Run.

Of course nowadays some have argued the logic behind Encyclopedia's observations. TV Tropes has devoted two sections specifically for Encyclopedia Brown: Conviction by Contradiction (AKA "Bugs Meany is Gonna Walk") in which other explanations could be offered for the clue. (If a professional fails to use professional jargon, it may not necessarily mean that they are a phony because they don't appear to know it. They may have forgotten or dumbed down their dialogue to speak in layman's terms.) and Conviction by Conterfactual Clue (AKA "Encyclopedia Browned") in which the claim itself is wrong (In one case Encyclopedia deduced that someone committed a crime because "thunder always happens before lightening." While scientifically that is true, an approaching thunderstorm can be close enough that thunder and lightning seem to occur simultaneously.)

Many Readers probably enjoyed the books and possibly dreamed of starting their own detective agencies. (This Reader certainly did.) Of course in real life, mysteries aren't always solved by simple deduction and not by super genius kids. Sometimes they are messy, dark, and have no solution. The Readers also didn't always account for what would happen to Encyclopedia Brown, or the many other kid and teen detectives like Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and others, when they are faced with these real world mysteries and after they grow up and realize the world around them is complicated and unsolvable.

Joe Meno wrote this possibility in his  novel, The Boy Detective Fails. It is nostalgic in that it explores the wondrous adventurous spirit of these childhood detective stories but takes a swerve into dark comedy by revealing the disturbing adult world as the young detective ages.

Billy Argo, the book’s answer to Encyclopedia Brown, has a proud history of solving mysteries since age 10. His walls are fitted with newspaper clippings of mysteries solved by him, his best friend, Fenton, and younger sister, Caroline. Billy acquired quite the reputation of a boy genius detective until he attended college.

While Billy was away at college, Caroline committed suicide. Grief stricken and anxious about the reasons behind his sister's death, Billy attempted suicide. Instead of following his sister in death, Billy is institutionalized for ten years in a psychiatric hospital. He emerges from the hospital, a cynical and bitter thirty-year-old man hiding from his mystery-solving youthful self.

But mysteries don't hide from Billy forever and he can't resist looking for answers when something unsolvable happens right in front of him. He encounters two children, science fair prodigy, Effie Mumford and her selectively mute brother, Gus. The kids are concerned about the death of their beheaded pet rabbit. So once again the Former Boy Detective is called into action.

There are little passages that lovers of these juvenile mysteries will smile at. While Billy is certainly a prototype of Encyclopedia, Caroline is cleverly pitched to the opposite extreme from the feisty tomboy, Sally. Instead, Caroline is a very feminine young lady who wears pretty dresses, studies French, and transcribed the mysteries with her girlish handwriting in her white and gold diary. At least she is that way, until she attempts to solve a mystery on her own without Billy. She emerges from a violent encounter as a bedridden Goth girl dressed in black listening to sad songs until her death.

Other characters and situations are familiar to fans of juvenile mysteries. One female character, Violet Dew is clearly based on Nancy Drew and a pair of brothers emerge that bear a strong resemblance to Frank and Joe Hardy. Even the chapter titles are based on these mysteries called “The Case of X,” such as “The Case of the Brown Bunny.”

The book is filled with odd moments that explore this gruesome and bizarre world. Billy  solves mysteries that would have given Encyclopedia nightmares. He is surrounded by serial murders, corrupt political figures, and criminals that do bad things simply because they want to. It's a much darker world that was found than in good old Idaville.

There are some very bizarre moments as well. Besides the Mumford's Headless Rabbit, there are buildings that instantly vanish (leading to a conspiracy of villains.) Billy discovers that one of his former arch- enemies is staying in the same group home that he is. At times, this book is almost like an acid trip into a children's adventure book.

Besides the weirdness, there is real depth with the characters. Billy bonds with the Mumford children becoming a mentor/big brother to them. While he is stuck in a boring job as a telemarketer selling wigs, he sympathizes with many of the customers who are often sick or disfigured. He also becomes enamored with Penny Maple, a widowed kleptomaniac who can no more stop stealing than Billy can stop being a detective.

The strongest emotional crux is with Billy looking for answers to Caroline’s suicide. Caroline is a ghost haunting Billy throughout the book as he reads her diary and asks questions about why she would do it. Ignoring the advice of his psychiatrist that he can't bear not having answers, he pursues his investigation into Caroline's motives.

When he traces Caroline's final case and comes face to face with the violent crime that resulted in Caroline's suicide, Billy learns a truth that the child detective doesn't know but the embittered adult does: Some questions are better left unanswered and some cases are better left unsolved.

Classics Corner: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf; A Unique Trip Inside the Mind of Post-WWI London

Classics Corner: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf; A Unique Trip Inside the Mind of Post-WWI London

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Virginia Woolf was a talented writer who knew about the inside of the human mind. Many of her works explored characters from the inside out, what they were thinking, feeling, and experiencing in their pasts and present. Sometimes the interior was a darker stormier place than the exterior. Unfortunately this was a truth that Woolf knew rather well. She was gripped by frequent depression and committed suicide by drowning in 1941.

However, her works such as Mrs. Dalloway are excellent works that explore the psychology of individuals and how their surrounding environment affects them. Mrs. Dalloway is similar to James Joyce’s Ulysses in that the action covers a single day and takes the Readers inside the characters’ minds. However I find it a better work because it does a better job of separating a person’s exterior life of conformity and respectability and the interior life of rebellion and boredom. It also acknowledges the death and despair that often are just waiting around the corner.

Without the stream of conscious trips inside the minds of Woolf’s characters, the day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway would be deadly dull. Mrs. Dalloway prepares for a party and shops surrounded by other characters including WWI veteran, Septimus Warren Smith. She then would present the party and hears about Septimus’ suicide. Well alright the suicide would be interesting to read, but the rest of Mrs. Dalloway’s life would be extremely dull. And that’s the point.

Mrs. Dalloway is driven to give this party as though it is her only purpose and Woolf hints that as far as she and the other characters in her life are concerned, it is. She chooses flowers, food, oversees the menu, and the servants’ preparation, and welcomes guests playing the role of perfect hostess. However, inside she is suffering from boredom, ennui, and possibly depression.

At 51 years old, Mrs. Dalloway feels her life slipping away from her and is unwilling to accept middle age. She remembers her rebellious youth when she carried on affairs with Peter Walsh, a former Lothario and Sally Seton, a formerly Bohemian friend who has now become a Conservative mother of five. As she thinks of her early affairs and wayward youth, she feels nothing but boredom and disgust at the life around her even though she goes through the motions.

Mrs. Dalloway’s relationship with her husband, Richard is proper and conventional with all of the propriety one would expect from a marriage in Upper-Middle Class London. She is economically cared for, has children, and attends the correct functions. But still she feels something is missing. She goes from location to location throughout her day as if avoiding her deeper thoughts and unhappiness as the clocks tick away as if removing hours, minutes, seconds of her life.

Mrs. Dalloway also feels somewhat envious and competitive towards her daughter, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is a New Woman product of the early 20^th century. Unlike her mother, she is able to express her displeasure and disappointments (making it clear that she does not want to attend her mother’s dinner party and would rather go to the country with her father). She also has dreams of being a doctor, a farmer, or go into Parliament avenues that her mother would never have dreamt. Instead Mrs. Dalloway gives parties as her life passes her by.

Mrs. Dalloway isn’t the only character with problems. Woolf saw Septimus Warren Smith as “an essential counterpoint” to Mrs. Dalloway and he is. While Mrs. Dalloway goes through the ennui of her life, Smith goes through the trauma of his. He is a WWI veteran with PTSD and an unhappy marriage with his wife, Lucrezia, an Italian immigrant.

Smith is haunted by the ghost of his friend and fellow soldier (and possibly more) Evans who was killed in action. He goes through his life having imaginary mental conversations with Evans and finding life difficult to adjust to returning after war. His wife, Lucrezia is supportive but doesn’t understand him. His doctor, Dr. Holmes gives blank diagnoses about his condition based on little effort. (Perhaps Woolf’s way of getting back at some fraudulent psychiatrists in her life). The pressure and inability of returning to a so-called normal life leads to Smith’s suicide by jumping off a building.

Though Mrs. Dalloway and Smith never meet or interact with each other (except for a moment when he sees Mrs. D. through a window), their fates are connected. When one of her party guests mentions Smith’s suicide, Mrs. Dalloway at first is dismayed and upset that this shadow of death fell on her surroundings. (“A young man had killed himself. And they talked of it at her party..”)  Instead she feels envious towards him. She says to herself, “But this young man who had killed himself-had he plunged his treasure? ‘If it were now to die, ‘twere now to be most happy.’” She is jealous that Smith was able to do something about his unhappiness. He was able to act out and accept what he was feeling. While Mrs. Dalloway had to hide her feelings behind a semblance of respectability. Smith’s death forces Mrs. Dalloway to confront her own tormented thoughts and emotions and for the first time live honestly to herself.

Virginia Woolf took the Reader on a trip inside the human psyche and explored who they were. She showed us that sometimes those who are most seemingly contented are often inside the saddest.