Praise of Folly

Ah so des' ne!

Erasmus just put together that Miss Veronica Mars and Master Napoleon Dynamite have a friend in common.

That is all.

Paterfamilias

Erasmus was amused to see Fox's reanimated Family Guy, not least because it's the first time Erasmus can remember a network resurrecting a series so many years after cancelling it. It's a remarkable admission of error. The show itself is generally hilarious, though not for the easily offended. Erasmus enjoyed seeing many of the old characters back, from Creepy Old Guy to Greased Up Deaf Guy. He was a little nonplussed by the recharacterization as Brian the Dog as a far-left liberal, reading Michael Moore and sticking a Kucinich bumpersticker on his hybrid car. The writers don't seem to be entirely back in the swing of things, but "North By North Quahog" was ok.

The line that Erasmus remembers best from the season première, however, was from the teaser.

PETER: Everybody, I've got bad news. We've been cancelled.

LOIS: Oh no! Peter, how could they do that?

PETER: Well, unfortunately, Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We've just got to accept the fact that Fox has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel; Titus; Undeclared; Action; That 80's Show; Wonderfalls; Fastlane; Andy Richter Controls the Universe; Skin; Girls Club; Cracking Up; The Pitts; Firefly; Get Real; FreakyLinks; Wanda At Large; Costello; The Lone Gunmen; A Minute With Stan Hooper; Normal, Ohio; Pasadena; Harsh Realm; Keen Eddie; The Street; American Embassy; Cedric the Entertainer; The Tick; Louie; and Greg the Bunny.

LOIS: Is there no hope?

PETER: Well, I suppose if all those shows go down the tubes, we might have a shot...

SMASH CUT to CREDITS

Droll.

Family Guy placet. (Adults only, please.)

Fox, in this instance, ave.

The Past is a Foreign Country (Secundum)

Continuing with the capsule reviews.

• Good Morning, Midnight by Reginald Hill. The police procedural as literary novel by one of the genre’s few living masters. How can Erasmus not swoon at the feet of one who casually drops in the term “deodand” in perfect context? Ave.

• Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen. Typically entertaining “Bunch of South Florida Wackos” novel, to use Dave Barry’s phrase, unmarred by Hiaasen’s occasional overreach into sadism rather than satire (à la Stormy Weather). If you only read one Hiaasen, however, make it the sublimely loopy Double Whammy. Placet.

• 7,000 Clams by Lee Erby. Yes, the title is written sic, much to Erasmus’s pedantic aggravation. Takes the B.S.F.W. novel back to the 1920s and plays it a little straighter. Nice historical detail from an period Erasmus enjoys visiting. Placet.

• Death at La Fenice and Acqua Alta by Donna Leon. Solid contributions to the Commissario Guido Brunetti series sent with a wonderful sense of place in Leon’s home, Venice. An occasional bit of ex-pat snarkiness may rankle American readers, but otherwise they’re terrific. Placent.

• The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. Oddly, Smith carries over the simple style of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series into this novel with a philosophy-journal editrix as protagonist. It didn’t work for Erasmus. Non placet.

• Maigret & the Apparition by Georges Simenon. Erasmus had never read a Maigret before. (He knows, he knows...) Wonderfully efficient style, interesting characters, not appreciably dated. Placet.

• Loaded Dice by James Swain. Tony Valentine gets mixed up with Vegas casino bosses against his better judgment. Erasmus is exceedingly fond of this series and so may overrate it. Your mileage may vary, but ave, dixit.

• When Red is Black by Qiu Xiaolong. Third installment after Death of a Red Heroine and A Loyal Character Dancer in the Inspector Chen Tso novels, set in contemporary Shanghai. All three give fascinating insights into the tensions and paradoxes of a rapidly modernizing capitalist China saddled with an authoritarian government and haunted by the massive atrocities of the past. Exceedingly humane and interesting. Ave.

And therewith Erasmus sighs with relief as the weight of the past lifts from his slightly stooped scholar’s shoulders. (Say that three times fast.)

The Past is a Foreign Country (Primum)

Many months ago, Erasmus appeared be gripped by an almost Sicilian case of omertà. He promised to fill you in on what he had read during his absence. In the interest of being able to finally move said volumes off Erasmus’s noctis mensa, he will now provide you a quick run-through of the opera in question.

• Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin. Another old-fashioned whodunit with Erast Fandorin, Imperial Russian diplomat-detective, set aboard an ocean liner en route from Southampton to Calcutta. Suffers a little from Golden Age conventions, but has a very nice feel for history. As Akunin’s further works appear in English, it will be interesting to see if his talent develops. Placet, if your tastes run to old-fashioned mysteries.

• Florence of Arabia by Christopher Buckley. Puckish satire of the modern Middle East with some genuine daggers at the expense of a certain Arabian kingdom. Overall, doesn’t rank with his best, Thank You for Smoking and God is My Broker, but certainly is as good or better than Little Green Men and No Way to Treat a First Lady. Placet.

• The Final Solution by Michael Chabon. Though a Holmes devoté, Erasmus generally avoids pastiches, with a few exceptions. If you feel the same, Michael Chabon’s work, featuring a superannuated Holmes and a young Holocaust survivor, is a worthy exception. Well-written, as you’d expect, the characterizations are quite good, and the puzzle interesting. Placet.

• The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Vols. 1 & 2, by Chabon, et al. Clever comic-book incarnations in various historical styles of “The Escapist,” the protagonist of Kavalier & Clay’s most successful comic book. If you enjoyed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, this is a welcome entertainment. The contributions by various writers are uneven, but overall, it’s a pleasure to read. The pseudo-history of the character in comics is worth the price of the first book. Placet.

• The Wake-Up and Scavenger Hunt by Robert Ferrigno. Straight-up thrillers set in contemporary Los Angeles. Dynamic style, and a flair for plot and character not unlike Elmore Leonard, with a wry sense of humor sneaking in occasionally. A very pleasant discovery. Ave.

• Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. The latest in Thursday Next’s adventures. She’s returned from the world of fiction, and finds herself mixed up with Hamlet (the guy), Hamlet, and a demagogic anti-Dane political campaign. Ford’s later Next books have seemed a little more rushed and a little less rich than the previous Next books, but they still are uniquely packed with erudite gags and literary silliness. Start at the beginning of the series, not here, but still, ave.

• A Landing on the Sun by Michael Frayn. Intriguing, odd work by the playwright-novelist-screenwriter. Can a civil servant find Happiness? Placet.

• Revenge by Stephen Fry. Very entertaining Count of Monte Cristo updating by the polymath comedian-writer-actor. Erasmus considered himself very clever for having figured out the allusions and meant to drop Mr. F an e-mail saying, “Hey, I got it!” but then it’s all spelled out in the afterword of the paperback edition. Sigh. Ave.

• Dark Voyage by Alan Furst. Latest in his series of 1930s-1940s thrillers, set aboard a Dutch merchant ship. A good yarn, though thinner on detail and characterization than some of his previous books. Placet.

• And A Puzzle to Die On by Parnell Hall. Latest in the Puzzle Lady series, which Erasmus reads while pining for the late, lamented Stanley Hastings series. Entertaining cozy-style mystery with a crossword gimmick. The crosswords are better this time around, written by professionals, but it’s still a gimmick and can easily be skipped over (as Erasmus does). Placet, as it’s better than average for cozies. Hall’s a smart cookie and a good writer.
  

So much for part the first. Continued... above, I suppose.

Where There's A Will

Aaron Elkins has written a great number of novels, but his mystery series starring Gideon Oliver who reluctantly answers to his newspaper cognomen "The Skeleton Detective," are his most well-known works, and deservedly so. Oliver is a professor of physical anthropology (or as the biologist ex-girlfriend of a cultural anthropologist Erasmus knows once said, "oh, you mean real anthropology") who studies hominid skeletons and keeps finding himself drawn into forensic cases with bone evidence. Fortunately for the reader, they invariably hinge on interesting points of forensics and take place in rich milleux.

Several of the most recent books are set quite far afield from Dr. Oliver's backyard (boneyard?) of Seattle, making me wonder if Mr. Elkins has hit on a very clever way for writing off long trips to interesting places as research. Twenty Blue Devils is set on a Tahitian coffee plantation, Good Blood on Lake Maggiore, and so forth.

His new one, Where There's A Will, is set in Hawaii, where Dr. Oliver is vacationing with his F.B.I.-agent friend John Lau (rimshot). They are staying with friends of Lau, a wealthy ranching family. When evidence of the lost plane in which a relative lost his life years ago, Oliver is asked by the family to see if he can identify any bones that might be found in the wreck on a remote atoll. Old family secrets, tied up with a probate-law question as the title implies, arise, and the entire family proves to have a motive for murder in a diffferent death long ruled accidental.

As described, Elkins' reliance on the canons of the Golden Age detective story are apparent, but the story has a thoroughly modern flavor and doesn't come off as too contrived. What Erasmus likes most about Elkins' Oliver novels is their tone. He steers a via media between the cozy and the hard-boiled. Death is not a mere plot point, it has reverberations, can stir grief, etc., but he simultaneously refuses to load the books with dark themes for a false profundity. Elkins knows he's writing entertainments, and crafts them very well. Erasmus can't speak to the technical accuracy of the anthropology, and occasionally is displeased by a plot device, but for the most part, Oliver and Elkins come off as exceedingly pleasant, interesting companions, exactly the seatmates you'd want on a long international flight when you'd forgotten a book.

It's tempting to describe the Oliver books as perfect airplane reading, as they are that, but that damns with faint praise. For humane, cerebral, and clever light entertainment, the Oliver mysteries are perfect amuses-esprits.

Where There's A Will placet.