2011 February 25

Book Review: Death of a Chimney Sweep by M.C. Beaton

Title: Death of a Chimney Sweep
Author: M.C. Beaton
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 25, 2011
Hardcover: 256 pages
ISBN: 978-0446547390
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

From the Publisher:

In the south of Scotland, residents get their chimneys vacuum-cleaned. But in the isolated villages in the very north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands, until one day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager’s fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn’t believe that the affable chimney sweep is capable of committing murder.

My Review:

Most readers, if asked, will admit to having a certain genre or writer they read as a guilty pleasure and for me my guilty pleasure is reading M.C.Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series. It was with immense delight that I agreed to review Death of a Chimney Sweep by M.C. Beaton, eager to read the latest release, to be transported back to the fictitious village of Lochdubh and its quirky inhabitants and Police Constable Hamish Macbeth. While this is the 27th book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone book. Beaton deftly describes in vivid detail the landscape of the Scottish Highlands, her characters are well formed, unique and at times bordering on downright eccentric, creating such a charming and utterly endearing protagonist in PC Hamish Macbeth. Death of a Chimney Sweep is just that, Pete Ray is found dead on the moors and Hamish has on his hands not one, but two murders, first the person found dead in a chimney and then Pete, the man the villagers were certain was guilty of the first murder. Beaton writes a fast-paced mystery; it is with practised care that she easily draws the reader into the tale, masterfully crafting red herrings and dead ends along a twisting, winding path to the truth of the crime. As usual I found myself swept away to the Scottish Highlands and enjoyed solving the murders. Fans of M.C. Beaton will enjoy this book and those who have yet to read her works will quickly become enamored with Hamish and the village of Lochdubh. I would recommend Death of a Chimney Sweep to any reader who enjoys a well-written mystery novel.

About the Author:

M.C. Beaton lives in the Cotswolds with her husband. In addition to the Hamish Macbeth series, she writes the Agatha Raisin mystery series.
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I received a complimentary ARC of Death of a Chimney Sweep by M.C. Beaton from Hachette Book Groups to offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

Book Review: The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

Title: The Oracle of Stamboul
Author: Michael David Lukas
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN: 978-0061576652
Genre: Historical Fiction

From the Publisher:

An elegantly crafted, utterly enchanting debut novel set in a mystical, exotic world, in which a gifted young girl charms a sultan and changes the course of an empire’s history

Late in the summer of 1877, a flock of purple-and-white hoopoes suddenly appears over the town of Constanta on the Black Sea, and Eleonora Cohen is ushered into the world by a mysterious pair of Tartar midwives who arrive just minutes before her birth. “They had read the signs, they said: a sea of horses, a conference of birds, the North Star in alignment with the moon. It was a prophecy that their last king had given on his deathwatch.” But joy is mixed with tragedy, for Eleonora’s mother dies soon after the birth.

Raised by her doting father, Yakob, a carpet merchant, and her stern, resentful stepmother, Ruxandra, Eleonora spends her early years daydreaming and doing housework—until the moment she teaches herself to read, and her father recognizes that she is an extraordinarily gifted child, a prodigy.

When Yakob sets off by boat for Stamboul on business, eight-year-old Eleonora, unable to bear the separation, stows away in one of his trunks. On the shores of the Bosporus, in the house of her father’s business partner, Moncef Bey, a new life awaits. Books, backgammon, beautiful dresses and shoes, markets swarming with color and life—the imperial capital overflows with elegance, and mystery. For in the narrow streets of Stamboul—a city at the crossroads of the world—intrigue and gossip are currency, and people are not always what they seem. Eleonora’s tutor, an American minister and educator, may be a spy. The kindly though elusive Moncef Bey has a past history of secret societies and political maneuvering. And what is to be made of the eccentric, charming Sultan Abdulhamid II himself, beleaguered by friend and foe alike as his unwieldy, multiethnic empire crumbles?

The Oracle of Stamboul is a marvelously evocative, magical historical novel that will transport readers to another time and place—romantic, exotic, yet remarkably similar to our own.

My Review:

Exotic, mystical, and engrossing, The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas takes the reader back to the last days of the Ottoman Empire and deep into Sultan Abdulhamid’s court. Purple and white hoopoes usher in the birth of Eleonora Cohen whose birth and life was foretold. Raised by her father and Aunt, young Eleonora is quite precocious and instead of being without her father she travels to Stamboul as a stowaway to be with him. Eleonora’s gifts are soon recognized by the Sultan, who invites her to court, relies on her knowledge and soon becomes interested in far more than her political acumen. Lukas has created a beautifully exotic debut novel that will take the reader back in time to the seat of the Ottoman Empire. Through vivid imagery and detail the reader will have little doubt they are in Turkey. The sights, sounds, and smells are so richly described it made me yearn to travel. Lukas has created a marvelous ensemble of characters and Eleonora is absolutely endearing, delightful, and mysterious. The Oracle of Stamboul was utterly fascinating in its exotic nature and mystical premise, and stunningly lyrical prose. Lukas has created a stunning debut novel and definitely is an emerging author to be watched. I highly recommend The Oracle of Stamboul to both readers and book discussion groups.

About the Author:

Michael David Lukas has been a Fulbright scholar in Turkey, a late-shift proofreader in Tel Aviv, and a Rotary scholar in Tunisia. He is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Maryland, and his writing has been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Slate, National Geographic Traveler, and the Georgia Review. Lukas lives in Oakland, less than a mile from where he was born. When he isn’t writing, he teaches creative writing to third- and fourth-graders. He is also the author of The Oracle of Stamboul: A Novel.

To learn more about Michael David Lukas please visit his website.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.