Fun Facts: He was a contributor for the New Yorker, co-author of “The Elements of Style”, and writer of “Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2, Call of the Wild, and others
Quote: “If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White
Many have grown up with Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little being some of the first books we were introduced to as children. I wish more children today still felt the enjoyment and wonder of walking into a library and seeing nothing but shelves full of adventure, mystery, heartbreak, and miracles.
Barry offed Vanhi. Ed set up another, yes, another, double-deal (how many does that make now?) and is going to have Peter Sudgen kill Barry, therefore eliminating that connection. Unfortunately, Barry is more of the murdering type than I would have first suspected of him. As Peter meets Barry at the docks and is going to inject him with a needle full of insulin (and then toss him over the railing into the ocean) Barry sees the needle before it gets near him, and wrestles with Peter, knocks him over the railing into the ocean below, and that’s that for Mr. Peter Sudgen(-sometimes-Jones).
Ed catches this information on the news, and realizes he now has a bigger problem than he first thought. Really Ed?
So now Yosef is in the picture, trying to find someone to kill his tay-sachs disease-riddled son; he is suffering way too much. So Yosef just tosses himself right into the middle of this web, along with Anthony (known as Ant), remember, he spent 3 years in prison and came out with a really bad attitude, and HIV to boot (maybe I didn’t mention him?? He took the fall for the drug bust at the college…..ahhh, nevermind, he is likely to get it before the end of this story too).
So Ed’s got several people on the line waiting to kill someone in return for their target being killed. There is also an issue of money being involved now; because Ed needs money.
So, I did get a good chunk of this book read, and will give the final update on whose left standing at the end, who’s in jail, and who didn’t make it.
Before I get any further into this story, I thought I would put out a list (I was going to say short list, but that would be a huge lie) of all the characters who seem to be somehow tied together in this little London town because of Edwin’s urge to off his wife. So here goes:
Edwin: master plotter (Can we just call him Ed, already? Thanks!)
Eleanor: unfortunate wife to Ed, who bit the dust fairly early
Drew: Ed and Eleanor’s son who passed away
Chelsea: The daughter who is now motherless
Betty: Ed’s secretary
Derek Wood: Newspaper owner, and former employer of Ed, until he let him go
Caroline Flack: Ed’s newly hired divorce attorney (talk about a bad day; divorce papers, then getting canned)
Wood’s personal assistant: so-far unnamed, but the way this story is going, likely to be the plotter of someone else’s demise or a poor sap to get offed pretty soon
Mark: Ed’s brother-in-law, Eleanor’s brother
Palmer: another employee of the paper, in the advertising department (so-far unimportant, but why else did the authors’ give him a name?)
Jeremy Kyle: television news reporter, and by Ed’s comments, Eleanor’s boyfriend?
Yosef Gershwin: father to a son with tay-sachs disease, who vows he will not let him suffer
son: not yet named, but obviously on the wrong end of his father’s plot to “not let him suffer”
Vanhi: prostitute in London, and killer of Eleanor
Jaison: Vanhi’s boyfriend
Mr. Pockmarked-Face: dweller in Vanhi’s nightmares, she is determined to get rid of him for good (which is how Eleanor ended up dead, and Ed finds himself in quite the pickle)
David Morton: Detective Chief Inspector, trying to solve one murder, likely to have the bodies piling up on his desk fairly quickly as things seem to be getting out of hand
David’s technician: another unnamed, but who knows, he may have a whole chapter to himself in a few pages, so I am mentioning him
Dr. Jensen: A psychologist who suspects everyone, he is right to think Ed has something to hide from studying his phone conversations and interviews
Peter K. Sudgen (Jones): Racist Bigot Idiot (my words, not the authors’) who is determined to get rid of his foreign neighbors (His name was Sudgen-Jones for a minute in the book, then it disappeared. Honestly, I am not lying)
Mrs. Sudgen: apparent wimp of a woman and enabler of her Racist Bigot Idiot husband
Barry Chambers: lovelorn fool who is going to propose to Jessica, if she ever shows up for their dinner reservation
Jessica: Dumper of Barry by the next weekend, and likely to be on the receiving end of someone’s poorly-planned execution plot
So there you have it, less than halfway done with this story and it has more characters then a quiet game of “Guess Who?”
I will have this book finished before the weekend is out. I have to say, I am rather curious now how Ed is going to get himself out of this mess (or try to, I should say) but it is still a bit of a difficult read.
I’ll get to that person in a minute. I didn’t get a lot read last night, I spent about 6 hours working on z-scores, t test, and null hypothesis.
So, Where was I? David Morton (police) had his technician sifting through all of the CCTV (closed circuit tvs) from the park where Eleanor was killed. He saw her going in, passing some cameras, and did notice that while she had a key around her neck while jogging, they did not find it on or near her body.
Edwin still has messages pouring in concerning his “ad” he placed, and he starts thinking that he is just going to find someone to take care of Vandi’s problem for him, he will completely screw that person, and he will technically not physically kill anyone (sounds to me like he has his hand in a whole lot of deaths though!)
And now we meet Barry Chambers. Was he mentioned already? I honestly can’t remember, and if he was I lost him somewhere in the crowd of characters in this story. So Barry is sitting in a restaurant, 3 hours alone, waiting for his girlfriend Jessica to show up. With a ring in his pocket, anxious to propose. She never does show up. By the next weekend he finds out why. She says they just aren’t working, and can they at least be friends? This is the last we hear about these two for the moment, but I have a strong suspicion that Barry is going to be looking for a way to get rid of Jessica.
Edwin finally gets called in to ID the body of Eleanor, unknowingly being videotaped by the departments top psychologist. Everything he has said on the phone has been taped as well. The psychologist is already seeing some things that do not add up. Cry and sob all he wants, I don’t think he is going to get away with this for too long.
I am only on page 58 of over 260, and I cannot even guess how many more people are going to get tangled up into this web. I got a good jump on my statistics homework, I think, so I should be able to get through a good number of pages, and likely a few more bodies, in the next day.
Have a happy Sunday, with sunshine and a great story to read!
We catch up with Edwin on a flight to Vancouver, where his job prospect in Human Resources is located.
It hops right back to Vanhi, in the middle of a nightmare, seeing nothing but a pockmarked-faced man who has her bound and gagged. Waking up, and finding no cocaine to ease her nerves, she decides to get on her darknet account and find an anonymous dealer. Of course, she finds Edwin’s posting about needing a problem taken care of. Vanhi decides she has a problem that needs to be taken care of as well; Mr. Pockmarked-face. She quickly replies with her own message.
And we are back again to Edwin, who nails his interview for the HR position, and returns home to see his computer flashing with a received message.
OK, now here is something that really bugs me when I am reading. When something seems to just fall out of the sky and right into the story. Like facts, or information. Here is the next part I read, word-for-word.
‘Seems like a fair swap. What is your problem?’ he read.
Did she understand what she was proposing? Was she an undercover cop? Did it make a difference even if she was? He was, after all, anonymous (Campbell & Campbell, page 30).
How does he know that the person replying is a woman? (I re-read this section several times thinking I had to have missed something where she identified herself to him as a woman. Nope). Did she sign her name? Attach a picture of herself? This is the kind of thing that bugs me. I am used to the grammatical errors that seem to be in every single book I pick up lately (Do we not hire editors anymore people?) but random stuff like this is just ridiculous.
…….OK. Putting my soap box away…….
Back and forth Edwin and Vanhi continue to message. It seems like they can both close on this deal. Vanhi has a picture of Eleanor and her morning jogging schedule. Edwin decides to hang out in Vancouver for a while longer; not only for an alibi, but also because he needs to start getting used to his future home.
Vanhi preps a hypodermic with cocaine and ethanol, enough to get the job done. She starts staking out Eleanor’s morning jogging path, vowing to herself to take care of the problem the first clear chance she gets. She has a week to get it done and over with.
The beginning of Chapter 2 introduced Yosef, and his first born son. We learn that as time passes, at a very young age, his son is diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease. It is incurable, and his son will slowly lose his sight, hearing, and the ability to move and breathe on his own. He will die very young. They will make him as comfortable as possible, but he vows to himself he will not let his son suffer in agony. (We all see where this is going, right?)
Back to Edwin, who decides to not off his wife, because of course he is going to get caught. Yet as the debt piles up, he again revisits the idea, and posts a straight-to-the-point post looking for someone to do the deed for him. He gets a reply rather quickly, and starts figuring out how he would pay for this service. In between all of this, he is job-searching, and has a great prospect lined up.
Realizing he cannot pay cash or touch any money in his bank, he decides the best option is to trade one favor for another. He now has to post a new advert on the internet.
At the beginning of chapter 4 we are introduced to Vanhi, a prostitute in central London. (Did I forget to tell you that this story takes place across the “big pond”? Sorry about that.) After she takes care of a client, she cleans herself and her apartment up before Jaison, her boyfriend?, gets back from work. He is a cleaner.
I am sensing an Alfred Hitchcock story going on here. Strangers on a Train, anyone? I love that movie 🙂
So I will keep plodding along on this story. Apparently it was written in less than 90 days (intentionally) and has seriously mixed reviews online. Apparently numerous spelling and punctuation errors as well, which I haven’t seen yet.
Okay, truth be told, it is 5 am, I cannot focus on my statistics book, and it is Friday, which is when I usually search for and find free books for my Nook. Which I am on right now (Friday fun facts will post later; I need my actual laptop for that!)
Always a critic of electronic readers, I do still buy books. But, I cannot just walk into Barnes & Noble and take several (or even one) book home without paying for it, right? Right. And I have discovered some great authors through these free books whose other works I will now be purchasing for my bookshelves.
With that being said, what is up with all of the books about BDSM (or whatever the hell its initials are), women falling in love with ghosts, and people are really still writing about women falling in love with werewolves? Still? Yes, I read through all of the Twilight books like a crazy person and I’m not embarrassed to admit it; and yes I also read the 50 Shades books.
But good gracious, is no one capable of coming up with an original idea anymore? Have all the good storylines and plots been used up? Is this what we have to look forward to? Recycled and regurgitated stories with new names for the characters, a different city, and the same ol’ same ol’?
This is one of the reasons I read To Kill a Mockingbird at least once a year. And luckily, there are still a few classics out there that I haven’t gotten to yet. And if you read these type of same storyline/different author books and I just pissed you off, I would apologize but this is nothing more than my humble opinion, and no; I will never apologize for my opinion.
Is it really just me who gets annoyed by this type of writing? What annoys you (other than this post) about books?
Yep, that’s it! This book has been occupying all of my time; my free time, my wish-it-was-free-time, and my should-be-sleeping-time.
I could probably put it down if I was not determined to get a B or better in this class (paying for it if I get a B- or lower is the best motivator!). I have to say, the more I read it, the more it makes sense.
But I will be glad to move beyond null hypothesis, random samples, z-scores, and confidence intervals. 4 more weeks to go, and then on to hopefully a less grueling human resources class. I will never again forget what the mean, mode, and median are 😀
I apologize for my lack of posts, my blogs are my relaxation time! I do plan on starting a new story tonight; a light, fun read, likely a mystery. So as I try to get smarter, I will make sure I still make time for “me”.
Are you reading anything right now because you have to?
My latest read, a free book I put on my Nook. I really enjoy this story, I’m about half done, and I see the author has just released the second book for this series. Traci Tyne Hilton has another series of books that are mysteries as well, so those will be going on my need-to-get list.
Good, Clean Murder-A Plain Jane Mystery
Author-Traci Tyne Hilton
Published-2013
Traci Tyne Hilton
Jane Adler wants nothing more than to finish out her college degree and travel overseas for missionary work. It seems as if fate has other plans. While Jane is cleaning a client’s house (student by night, maid by day) she discovers her boss’s (Bob Crawford) dead body. Calling the police, she does the obligatory question and answer game with the police as best she can in her frame of mind. It is the police who discover the wife’s body (Pamela) in the bedroom. Is it possible that both died of a heart attack, on the same day? He had a previous heart attack, and they were both overweight. They also owned the popular hamburger joint franchise, Roly Burgers.
Jane seems to be familiar with Murphy (you know, Murphy’s Law?), because it seems like everything from the get-go is going wrong for her. Talking to the secretary at her school, trying to figure out how she is going to pay for class since the Crawford’s forgot to put her pay out before they died, Jane is told that there has been a schedule change. Concerned about missing her last required class for her degree, Jane is told by the secretary that the whole program is basically worthless, and that at the end of the year she would get her piece of paper whether she took that class or not.
Not exactly the cheerful news she could have used, huh?
Waiting for their new instructor to show up, Jane starts telling her friends about finding her bosses both dead. In the middle of the story, in walks Isaac Daniels. During a class break, Isaac questions if Jane is OK, since she is not paying attention to anything going on in class. She begins to tell him of her morning discovery, and he points out that this could be a good ministry experience for her; a family in the middle of a crisis. Two grown children suddenly without parents. Her next trip to the Crawford’s has her running into their son, Jake. There’s still no sign of their daughter, Phoebe. Jake invites her out to breakfast since there is no food in the house. Waiting for Jake to take care of business at corporate offices has Jane running into Marjory; sister-in-law of the deceased and apparently the one running the business now.
Realizing he doesn’t really care to take care of himself, Jake suggests that Jane be the live-in housekeeper. She politely declines. We next see her in class, agreeing to go for coffee with her instructor, Isaac Daniels. Strictly small talk, but Jane definitely has the feeling that there is more interest between them then just the class subject.
Heading home after coffee found Jane to be locked out of her apartment. Not sure if her roommate, Samantha, threw her out, she called her. There was a box on the steps with a few of Jane’s items, but not much. She shines a light on the mailbox and finds the note stating “Rent Overdue. Evicted.” She reaches Samantha, who tells her sorry but she used Jane’s rent money for other things, she was out of town, the landlord was going to sell Jane’s belongings to make up for the past due rent, and Jane was out of luck. With nowhere else to turn, Jane picked up her box of things, and headed to the Crawford’s. Jake wanted a live-in maid, right?
Finding an unused bedroom, Jane sent a quick text to Jake, saying she would see him in the morning, and did he want breakfast? It seemed the easiest way to let him know she was staying there. In the morning, Jake is under the impression that Jane took pity on him, and he lets her continue to think that. Marjory was also staying at the house, and was less than pleasant towards Jane, ordering her around and questioning her pay. Marjory has a meeting with 2 business men, and Jane overhears “murder”, and “Lawyers, and “motive.”
And it’s back to class for Jane, and an unexpected call afterword from Isaac, and a dinner date made for Saturday. Her excitement of the phone call was still present as she went to a missions meeting at the school, hoping to sign up with a missionary group to go overseas. Disappointment soon followed when Jane was told that she probably wasn’t suited for the group she had been thinking about for the past year. Isaac talked to her about shorter mission trips, stating that maybe he didn’t want her to go permanently overseas, and did she have a problem with that? (Nope, she sure didn’t).
Hearing on the news about a group picketing the Roly Burger Chain because they caused obesity, Jane soon found out that Jake owned the restaurant they were picketing. She was shocked, he was angry, and demanding his maintenance person find a way to get them off his property.
Jane kept adding people to her list of possible suspects that could have killed the Crawford’s. Marjory, Phoebe, Jake, someone in the group of picketers? She had plenty of options, but no real motives.
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