MAY:    AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR - MARELE DAY

Dianne:  Mrs Cook by Marele Day

Dianne had never heard of the author before.  This book is fiction based on fact.  Dianne is not keen on faction and could not work out what parts were real and not real. Mrs. Cook lived into her nineties but her husband Captain James Cook had died over 50 years earlier.  They had six children, all of whom eventually died. Apparently Captain Cook had health problems with digestion and this affected his decision making. It was an amazing story and Dianne enjoyed the book.

Judy:  Mrs Cook by Marele Day

Judy felt the same as Dianne regarding faction. Judy felt James Cook was not happy at home.  He was never there.  He had six children (one girl and five boys). He was not at home when the babies were born.  Mrs. Cook knew how important he was to history and she suffered a lot.  Judy was not sure what was fact and what was fiction.

Wendy:  Mrs. Cook by Marele Day

Wendy enjoyed the book, although she said there was no chance of drama or tension and the opportunity to resolve the tension as the reader already knows the outcome i.e. the death of  Captain Cook. Most contentious part is James Cook's illness and the affect on his judgment. Mrs Cook comes across as stoic, faithful and resilient.  The book was easy to read.

 Jayne: Mavis Levack Private Investigator by Marele Day

This book is ten short stories written early in the author's career.  It seemed cute in the beginning but started to grate on her.  Mavis Levack fancies herself as a private investigator but her husband thinks she is just a snoop.  Her favourite show is "Murder She Wrote".  It's a lightweight book and you can have a few laughs.   There are references to Australian culture which are quite funny.

Prue:  Mavis Levack Private Investigator by Marele Day

Prue felt exactly the same as Jayne.  She thought it was silly.  One example was when Mavis's husband ended up in a club in Kings Cross dressed up in a feather boa.  She said it was easy to read and did enjoy the connections to the culture etc.

Prue also read The Case of the Chinese Boxes by Marele Day. This is the second book in the series with Claudia Valentine as the main character.  She said it was a decent read.  There were enough characters and sub plots to give twists and turns.  It was a tiny bit predictable. Prue said the author uses words to emphasize things and there were nice bits of humour.  The first book turned her off but this book encouraged her to read more of Marele Day's books.

ED:  The Seabed by Marele Day

Ed also read the same book as Prue and Jayne, Mavis Levack, P.I. and felt it was silly but a light, easy read. The main character, Mavis Levack thought she was solving all these crimes but not really solving anything.

She also read The Seabed by Marele Day. It was published in 2009.  It was a bit strange to begin with and the characters didn't have names and she was not sure where it was.  The story is about an old monk that wants his ashes taken to the sea when he dies and he asks a young monk to do this for him.  Ed thinks it may be in Japan. When the younger monk sets off to do this he meets women who are abalone divers.  He is fascinated and mesmerized by the girls who do this job. A mystery connecting the old monk to the women comes to no conclusion but Ed still enjoyed it and read another two of Marele Day's novels. Ed liked The Case of the Chinese Boxes most.

Rosemarie O:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

This is the first book in a series of four with Claudia Valentine, private investigator as the main character.  From the first page Rosemarie was thoroughly confused as she thought the Private investigator was a man and perhaps the "blond in the bed" was a woman.  She then realized it was a man.  The nosy parker in the book, Mavis Levack, thinks she is going to solve crimes.  The Sydney descriptions are interesting.  Rosemarie thought it was a bit corny and although she did enjoy it, probably wouldn't read another one.

Laura:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

Laura said it was a fast, easy read but would not read another one.   She thought it was lame, stuck between 1940's and 1980's.  She's not sure if there was a murder or a conspiracy but just didn't care.  If she had stopped in the middle she wouldn't have been left wondering.

Bev:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

Bev was a bit confused.  There seemed to be two stories, one of the private investigator, Claudia Valentine and the story of Harry Lavender intermingled.  The book did take her back to the Sydney of her youth. She didn't mind it.  It was an easy read.

Kris:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

The book was published in 1988.  It is written from a narrative perspective.  Our narrator is Claudia Valentine, the private investigator.   She is bright, tough and unconventional and challenges the stereotype of private investigators in crime fiction. An old school friend contacts Claudia about the death of her brother, Mark Bannister.  She wants Claudia's help.  Mark was a writer who was found dead at his computer, believed to be from natural causes. His sister is suspicious. The story takes you into Sydney's underworld.  A cat and mouse games is played between Claudia and Harry Lavender, a polish immigrant, turned menacing crime lord. The book is fast paced and the author is very descriptive in her portrayal of the characters. Easy to read.

Claurene:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

Claurene didn't like it.  She thought maybe the author got better as this was her first book.

Anne:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

Anne didn't finish the book.

Pamela:  Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day

Pamela likes the author Marele Day.  She enjoys the word games she plays.  The author was influenced by Dashiell Hammett, the American writer of detective stories in the 1930's. Pamela recognizes a lot of the places in the book.

Julia:  The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado

There are no four letter words.  It is the third book in the series of four with Claudia Valentine, private investigator as the main character. It was published in 1993. She is acting as a bodyguard for a dancer in a club.  Dolores Delgado, the dancer gets killed.  There is an autopsy and it's discovered she was actually born a man. He has had a sex change.  Julia said it was not quite her "cup of tea".  Julia also read Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, the first in the series.  She said it was a light read with good descriptions. As well, Julia read The Case of the Chinese Boxes. She enjoyed it.

Tam:  The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado

Claudia Valentine is a Private Investigator hired by Dolores Delgado.  Dolores slept all morning, shopped all day and danced all night. The setting is the steamy world of intrigue in Kings Cross and the inner suburbs.  The book is told in the first person.  Tam was taken into the world of cross gender etc.  She enjoys that as it is so different from her life in the suburbs.

Connie:  The Disappearance of Madelana Grimaldi

This book was written in 1994. It is the fourth book in the Claudia Valentine series. Connie like it and she liked Claudia Valentine, the main character.  Connie thought she was a great person.  She's divorced with two children who are with her ex husband.  Claudia is hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl who didn't get home from school.   While this is happening, Claudia's mother tells her that Claudia's father has died and she is remarrying an old friend.  Claudia starts thinking about how her father died.  When she decides to find out where and how her father died she is taken into the sleazy areas of Sydney.   It was a surprise what happened to her father.  Connie liked to the book because there was no real violence, just puzzles to work out.

Sheila: The Disappearance of Madelana Grimaldi

Sheila thought Claudia Valentine was quite good.  Sheila knew a lot of the places in Sydney that Marele Day wrote about. They were the places where she grew up.  The book grabbed her right from the start.  She thought it was well crafted and she likes books set in Australia. There was a murder and mystery but it didn't have the viciousness and nastiness of more modern books.  The book was light, fun to read and ended well.

Rosemarie:  The Case of the Chinese Boxes by Marele Day

Rosemary enjoyed it.  She liked the familiarity of the location and the fact it is a Whodunit.  The book mentions the Malay Restaurant. This was the place Rosemarie had her first real adventure into Asian food.  It's based very loosely on a real crime that occurred in Chinatown in Sydney. It was a well executed crime where safety boxes were stolen from a bank on the eve of the Bicentenary. The noise from the fireworks and the crowds masked the robbery. She believes the perpetrators were never found.

Joan:  Lambs of God by Marele Day

Joan said "what an imagination the author has?"  It's about an enclosed order of nuns on an island. There are only two nuns left and sheep (all with names) wandering about the island. The Bishop wants the land to make money, possibly building a resort on the island.  The Bishop and the Father (his secretary) come across these nuns but think they are gypsies.  They look like savages, unkempt, yellow teeth, close cropped hair and no shoes.  One of the nuns realizes what the Father is up to and Joan find it quite comic. You have to read it to find out what happens to the priest and the concept of a resort.  Joan said "it has dazzling originality".  She thought it was brilliant and said Marele Day was a very good writer.