Perry Mason and other potboilers

Continuing to move through Perry Mason in chronological order. (Or, at least, through my personal collection. Which includes many Masons, but not the entire set. Yet.) Since my last posting, I have read The Case of the Haunted Husband, The Case of the Silent Partner, and The Case of the Baited Hook.

Of the three, Haunted Husband was the first Mason I've been disappointed with. It went the slightly unusual route of having Perry and the police cooperate, but of course that situation was short-lived and ended in the usual grudging respect of acknowledged opponents. But the plot was over-convoluted, had too many people involved, and didn't wrap them all up well at all. Loose ends, characters you liked and wanted to know what happened to disappeared and were never referenced again ... Gardner's sloppiest book to date.

Silent Partner, on the other hand, was quite good. Characters were interesting, plot complicated but followable (and logical), and some unexpected twists. Baited Hook, as well, had some unusual elements that were inventive and still fresh, even 66 years later! Overall, Gardner deserves the sobriquet "Master of Courtroom Drama".

I also reread James M. Cain's Double Indemnity (and may I also recommend the movie, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, who I much prefer in this darker role). Double Indemnity is a pretty short book (as is Cain's other work, The Postman Always Rings Twice—up next on the reread list), but packs quite a bit of action in a few pages. Twists and turns, dark plots and themes, and a finale you're definitely not looking for.

In newer works, I picked up a mystery written by a guy who's blog I am a big fan of. I was hoping to also like his books, but unfortunately was not wowed. Which is why I'm not giving the details—since I like his blog, I don't want to mess with anyone else's chance of buying his book! I found it a take-off on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series (a series I like for the writing style and characters but that is getting a bit formulaic as it ages. Although, I haven't read the last 4 books in the series, so I have hope!), but the characters just weren't as well-drawn. They didn't live, their dialogic felt forced, and overall tension failed to grip me. Except for the bits written from the murderer's point of view, which were very good. I had some other criticisms of this nameless mystery, but most of those were put on hold when I realized I had inadvertently picked up the second book in the series! I may, in the spirit of fairness, try the first. Just to see. Since I really do like the blog.

demotivated

I think that pretty much says it all. I'm not motivated to get out of bed in the morning, and not motivated to go to bed at night. And everything in between, basically. The work is getting done, the kids are getting taken care of ... but the things for me are getting left by the wayside. The writing, the reading, the organizing, the friendships, the exercise—those are the things that I just don't feel like keeping up with. (And yes, I do find organizing fun. :)) A couple years back I had something of an identity crisis, probably based on adjusting to life with two children (and on having taken three very long car trips with same!). And while this isn't a crisis, it feels similar. At that point, it was that not enough of my life was taken up with things for me. That I as a person had gotten lost in the middle of all the child-rearing, etc. In this case, it's less that I've gotten lost ... and more that I just don't have the energy. Part of it I'm sure has been the massive volume of paper I've been buried under, with all my journals having deadlines in the last month. I also wonder if I may have overdone it in the first half of the year with all the self-improvement ... too much pressure to be better at everything? So the point really is that since I don't know what the problem is I'm not sure what the solution is. But then, since it's my stuff that's going undone, and I'm the one who doesn't want to do it, is it really a problem? Hm.