by Rosemary Lord
Books. That’s what most of us aspire to write. And most of us writers read – a lot!
As Cicero said: “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” I wholeheartedly agree!
Baudelaire wrote: “A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”
And J.K. Rowling believes that “something magical happens when you read a book.”
While Honore de Balzac wrote, “Reading brings us unknown friends.” How true.
And I think that the books people have in their homes says a lot about themselves.
I remember visiting Rudyard Kipling’s house, Bateman, in Sussex, England. The 17th-century, wood-paneled house is filled with souvenirs from his travels to India and beyond, his dark, imposing library has floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with encyclopedias, travel books, biographies and local-culture tomes from his exotic wanderings.
A much brighter house further west in England is Agatha Christie’s beloved Greenway House, situated in a rambling woodland garden on the River Dart in Devon, England. Like the rest of the sprawling house, Christie’s library is bright and sunny. The cream-colored shelves are filled with an array of crime-writer’s reference books of deadly poisons, murder weapons, infamous murderers, biographies as well as her travel pursuits. There are many books on archeology, Egypt, Syria and the Middle East. Christie accompanied her archeologist second- husband, Max Mallowen on his trips to the Middle East. She would catalogue the finds, methodically taking notes which would often later be used in her novels, such as ‘Death On The Nile.’ But in that sunny library, the most admired books are the shelves brimming with copies of all her own novels in their original or amended titles in English and a host of other languages.
Whilst most of us don’t have room in our homes for our very own designated ‘library,’ we do have bookshelves, or places to store or display books.
On the other end of the spectrum from Agatha Christie’s spacious, airy and very comfortable library, my own ‘library’ in my small Hollywood apartment is simply five bookcases in my living room crammed with my life readings.
The shelves are filled with books on the Golden Era of Hollywood and the history of Los Angeles. I have all of Agatha Christie’s novels, various mystery writers both past and present and a vast selection of ‘cozies.’ I have a lot of books written by fellow author friends. Of course, there are the mystery-writers’ required reading: ‘How to commit a murder’ books, forensics, poisons and other reference books. On my bedroom shelves are my escapist novels by Rosamunde Pilcher, Victoria Hislop, Santa Montefiore and Paul Gallico.
Most of my writer friends have fascinating collections of murder/mystery/crime books, romance-novel or science-fiction ‘How-to’ publications, as well as assorted guides to publishers, literary agents, self-publishing and more. I have a friend who has wall-to-wall shelves filled with books about every musical ever produced, books of lyrics, sheet-music and musical biographies. Guess what his interest is?! Others have an array of nutrition, cook-books, photography or – like my late-husband – motor-racing or herpetology: the study of snakes.
The contents of people’s bookshelves reveal their focus in life: be it travel, biographies, photography, bird-watching, theatre or needlework.
I recall a brief visit to a young wanna-be Hollywood actress’s apartment. It was sleek, cool and very trendy, her wardrobe similarly up-to-the-minute. But there was not one book – or even a magazine – in the place. “Books?” she shrugged dismissively, “I’m not interested.”
I still reel with shock at that image! (She only booked a couple of small non-speaking acting jobs then disappeared!)
Conversely, when my family and I stayed in an old house in Portugal, my room had bookshelves crammed with books on Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, ‘Mass Murderers of the World,’ Nazis, World Wars, battles, ‘Mr. Nice: the international drug smuggler,’ Napoleon, Fidel Castro, ‘The Bin Ladens,’ ‘The Mind of a Murderer,’ and some Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher novels for light reading. All in Portuguese. There was a large, framed poster of a hand-drawn man’s face with several stab-marks, red slashes and undecipherable scrawled slogans. I quickly removed this and hid it behind an armchair. But the bed was very comfy and, surprisingly, I slept better there than I had in a long time.
One of the other bedrooms had a brighter selection of Hitler and Nazi books, mixed in with Winston Churchill and world political leaders. All in Portuguese. Another room had some travel books. How did that person fit in?
The general décor of this 1887-built house was grand but somber. The walls in the rather grim, marble-floored entrance lobby, and the walls of the sweeping staircase were filled with neat rows of gilt-framed, black-and-white etchings of various battles, warriors, death, solemn religious figures and crucifixions. So were the walls of the formal front parlor and the even-more formal dining room. The walls in each of the bedrooms and the long corridor leading to one of the spacious, marble floored bathrooms were similarly adorned. All the drawers throughout the house were locked. Even the Canaletto print over the fireplace was mournful and colorless. And so the selection of the books in this rambling old house was not surprising.
I remember my dad’s bookshelves were full of mysteries and police stories. His father had been a detective in the Bristol Constabulary. Dad had his Agatha Christie selection, of course. But his favorites were Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, P.G. Wodehouse and George Simenon – which he read in English and the original French.
Mum, on the other hand, had favorite authors that included H.E. Bates, Laurie Lee, F. Tennyson Jesse (A Pin to See the Peep Show), Paul Gallico, John Steinbeck and W. Somerset Maugham, with whom she became regular ‘pen pals.’
I’m very blessed that I grew up in a book-loving family. For as long as I can remember, so many family conversations have turned to books old and new. Our mum wrote magazine articles, and all of my siblings have always been involved in the book or writing world in some way.
So, I guess they’re in my blood. Books, that is.
So, what books would we find on your bookshelves and what does it reveal about you?
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I began this quest waiting at LAX for the flight that would take us to Portugal to meet our ship (with a stop in Montreal). I started with Agatha Christie’s DESTINATION UNKNOWN. (We knew where we were headed, but hey, you never know – as the protagonist in that book soon found out!)
As for that 4-hour stop in Montreal, I chose A DISAPPEARANCE AT THE BONNE NUIT HOTEL by Dominique Daoust, about a young female newspaper reporter who goes to Montreal in search of that “big story.” It’s the first book of a trilogy.
Our ship docked in five ports in Spain, with a stop at Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory) after the first. I read Aaron Elkins, UNEASY RELATIONS, set in and on that famous rock. Wow, what fun to follow Gideon Oliver, the bone detective, up the cable car to the top for a really scary view, and then inside to St. Michael’s cave where stalactites come together to form of figure of an angel. There is a lecture hall beside it and Gideon spoke there! It totally makes a difference reading a book when you have BEEN THERE!
I read A FATALITY IN SPAIN by Blake Pierce, which is set in Barcelona (also in Pamplona). Oh, yes, I definitely remember that weird Antoni Gaudi modernistic church in town! And the dancing “giants” with the wooden heads! Reading the story…I was there too, hearing, seeing, smelling. (Although we chose to wear a mask there because of the packed crowds in the streets.)
I am currently reading MISTAKENLY IN MALLORCA by Roderic Jeffries, an Inspector Alvarez mystery. It’s number one of 37! (And perhaps I’ll also read HOTEL MALLORCA; AN ELAINE PEARSON MYSTERY by Susan Linden Emde, if I finish the rest in good time. It looks very interesting.
At Marseilles, France, we took a bus an hour inland to Avignon, France. Since high school French classes, I’ve always dreamed of “dancing on the Bridge of Avignon” as the children’s song goes. Finally, after 50 years – I did it! To remember that beautiful time in Provence, with everything lavender, I read, TO PROVENCE, WITH LOVE by T.A. Williams. More of a light romance than mystery, the protagonist is a writer and teacher, who came from England to write the biography of an elderly Hollywood film star. (Rosemary Lord, you would like this one!)
ONE SUMMER IN MONTE CARLO by Jennifer Bohnet is a sort-of mystery and again a light romance, set in the Principality of Monaco. It featured a lot of action and information about the F-1 Auto Racing circuit. While we were there, they indeed were setting up grandstands, pitstops, and pilon curve barriers for the race that would happen two weeks after we left.
I was able to take my husband to Florence, Italy – a city I’d visited on my own three times before. Sadly, we were not able to go out into Tuscany for a visit to a vineyard and chateau. (Excursion cancelled.) But I was able to show him around one of my favorite cities, eat gelato, have spaghetti Bolognaise at my favorite café. (Sigh) I’ve chosen A DEATH IN FLORENCE by Blake Pierce, or DREAMING OF FLORENCE by T.A. Williams. I’ve read books by both of these authors (A Fatality, and To Provence), so I’m hoping for a different one. Any Suggestions?
I read AUNTIE POLDI AND THE SICILIAN LIONS by Mario Giordano, while in Sicily, and we actually took a private taxi to Taormino because of that book. We didn’t have an excursion booked there, and, well, why not? It only cost E100.00 for the 30-minute trip each way, and a patient driver while we toured the town for a couple hours. It made the book more real, although we did NOT visit Palermo, where the “mob” lived in the book. Hahaha.
I have yet to begin DEATH IN THE SILENT CITY by E.M. Ali, but I can’t wait. I loved Malta from the moment we first docked. And indeed, the old city has red-stone walls protecting houses in the narrow winding streets just like on the cover. We entered one of those bolted doors with our tour guide, and into a beautiful studio where he was restoring stained glass windows they’d found buried after World War II. I always thought Malta was a part of Italy, but it is a country on its own.
We had only two “at sea” days between distant ports, so I read two cruise ship mysteries. VANISHING VACATIONERS by Hope Callaghan and PINEAPPLE CRUISE by Amy Vansant.
Ah, Greece! I finally got to visit the setting of my all-time favorite book by Mary Stewart – THIS ROUGH MAGIC. It is set on the Isle of Corfu in the beautiful Aegean Sea. A romantic-suspense mystery that I first read when I was about 13 or 14. I’m sure I’ve reread it a dozen or more times since. I love it. And now, I’ve seen those lovely clear-water coves and sandy beaches, the castle-like homes way up on the steep mountainside, the winding dirt roads suitable only for a motorbike, the enchanting Corfu Town and the harbor. (sighhh)
I read A CRUISE TO DIE FOR by Charlotte & Aaron Elkins, an art-forgery mystery set on a fantastic mega-yacht, on Corfu, and in Athens.
I just finished the most fun, interesting, and un-put-downable audio book that I have listened to in a long time. SACRED GAMES by Gary Corby is set in ancient Olympia, Greece in 460 BC. The still-active archeological dig that we visited and loved is portrayed so clearly in this book (the author must also have visited the old Olympic Games site) that I was sharing bits of it here and there with my husband. “Oh, yeah! I remember that!” he would say. The book is a murder mystery that takes place during the games, and a young Athenian man is the investigator. He has 4 days to find the murderer before the Games end and his best friend is executed. The action, intrigue, fast pace, brutality of the sports, and the setting, well, it was like walking there in person again.
I can’t believe I actually found a book – another light romance – set in Croatia (and part of it actually in Split, where we visited)! CLUELESS IN CROATIA by Joy Skye was a fun book, and the scenes in the harbor, in the city of Split, even a mention of the cruise ships there was fun.
I hope to read A GIRL FROM VENICE by Siobhan Daiko, or maybe Jennifer S. Alderson’s DEATH BY GONDOLA, or maybe even one of Donna Leon’s more recent Commissario Brunetti mysteries, set in the floating city. We were not able to visit Venice – I really cried about that – but itineraries change and we make do. We did bus to Venice from Trieste and fly out of the Marco Polo Airport to Heathrow on our way home.
For the UK, I read Victoria Tait’s book two in her new Dotty Sayers antiques mysteries VALUED FOR MURDER set in the Cotswolds. And I read another UK book since we had that glitch in the British Airways jet – did you hear about that?
THEN – after hours and hours we were bussed to a hotel for a free over-night stay in London, free dinner and breakfast, and then back to Heathrow for another try at LAX the next morning. Because of the additional day in the UK, I read THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE COPPER CORPSE, a Flavia de Luce novella by Alan Bradley set in England.
The event is the largest annual gathering in America for writers and fans of traditional mysteries in the genre of Agatha Christie, which places them in a genre called ‘cozy.” It appears that publishers here prefer authors to be strictly categorized into the type of book they write: romantic suspense, noir, thriller, psychological suspense, hard-boiled, legal thriller, historical, private investigator, cozy, police procedural, and sub-genres such as a sci-fi and the newest, cyber-crime mysteries.
The second book in my series, “Digging Up the Dead: A Tosca Trevant Mystery” was published just in time for this premier annual event. My main character hails from Cornwall and comes to live in Newport Beach, like me, so the “Fish Out of Water” panel was perfect for us both. It was fun to explain to the audience that Tosca Trevant, a London gossip columnist (me too!) had rattled the royals by discovering yet another scandal at Buckingham Palace. This led her editor to re-assign her temporarily to America. Cussing mildly in the Cornish language, and coping with a culture that sees no need for a teashop on every corner, the meddlesome, outspoken and humorous Tosca turns amateur sleuth when she stumbles upon human remains in a neighbor’s garden, in the best Miss Marple tradition although Tosca is a younger version.
She was instantly contradicted by a voice behind my chair shouting out, “Yes! You did know!” The voice was male and sounded exactly the way I had described his gravelly voice in a previous chapter. I swung around, dumbfounded. Of course, there was no one there and no one else was in the house. Some writers say their characters often take over their role in a book but this was different. Sam spoke a line of dialogue that added another dimension to the plot. It worked well, surprisingly, giving an extra twist to the story. I didn’t hear from him again nor from anyone else I created so I guess he and the others were satisfied with how the plot was progressing.
The Canal transit, of course!! (#1 on Hubby’s bucket list), But the perfect sunny weather, the deep blue sea(s), the small, uncrowded ship (just 670 passengers), the funny and very personable Captain, the amenities (food, lounges, gorgeous library, spa, pool, Internet café, crafts & games, casino, theater), our beautiful cabin with a balcony (oh, the views!), breakfast in bed, the lack of crowds and lines, the cool excursions in Aruba, Costa Rica, and Chiapas and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico were all definitely fantastic.
(Yes, we are in our 70’s, but we had a blast zip-lining in the Rain Forest!)
Imagine, if you will, 4-6 months in luxury, with everything taken care of for you, the occasional excursion ashore, time spent in one of several lounges or the library or your room, even out on the balcony with a laptop, with a bunch of characters eager to do malice, and a twisted mystery plot to direct them!
But what about on OUR cruise ship, the Pacific Princess? I asked the Capitan Paolo Ariggo several questions during our two weeks, but one of them was about this topic.
Right now, I’m reading an ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) of a cozy mystery for review, Bonbon Voyage by Katherine H. Brown about the Chef being murdered. (Oh, no!!)
The Writers in Residence 
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