The Housewife Assassin's Handbook

Finished September 23

The Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown

First, you need to know that this book, and the series that it begins is farce, with great humorous moments. Donna Stone is a suburban housewife. The day her third child is born is also the day that she learns that her husband was undercover FBI and was killed by a car bomb. His boss is the one that informs her and asks her not to let anyone else know he is dead. So she spins stories about him being away on business trips. Donna is involved in all the usual suburban mother activities, PTA and driving kids to their various activities. As she begins to think about how she will manage without her husband's income, his boss suggests that she might be cut out to be an agent herself. 

After training, she takes on the role of a not very bright, but sexy woman in many of her agent roles. But things change when another agent, Jack, who has a reputation for being a player, shows up at her house impersonating her husband Carl. As her fellow housewives swoon over 'Carl', she tries not to resent him for gaining the trust and adoration of her children, and for making moves on her. 

But as the pair becomes involved in dealing a fatal blow to the criminal organization that supposedly killed her husband, things become trickier and it is harder to separate fact from fiction. 

Each chapter begins with a housewife tip that has an edge at the end. The scenes have lots of action and suspense, and the body count damage is mostly offscreen. 

I enjoyed this for the farcical aspects, and it reminded me of some of the action shows of my youth (such as Remington Steele). A fun read. 

Hunting Season

Finished March 16

Hunting Season by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli

This novel was one I picked up because I enjoyed the author's Inspector Montalbano mystery series. It is nothing like that series. It is a mystery, but also a farce, with touches of romance, and nods to several of Shakespeare's Italian plays. It also rambles a lot and I found I didn't really care about it enough to try to follow all the plot strings.

There are many interwoven plots for such a short novel, but the central one has a man returning to the town of Vigata under an assumed name after being away for years. He escaped after his father was murdered, and has an agenda that it takes some time to reveal. The local nobility, the marchese, is a womanizer who ignores his daughter while trying to produce an heir, with most of the local inhabitants turning a blind eye. 

Some reviews called this bawdy and humorous, but it felt contrived and hard to follow to me, and I found the female characters to be pawns with no real choices. 

I finished it because I was reading it for one of my reading challenge goals, but wouldn't recommend it. 

Not to Disturb

Finished September 8
Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark

This inventive black comedy takes place in a country house on a rainy night. While there are some brief interactions with the upper class owners and outsiders, the majority of the action takes place on the other side of the baize doors among the servants of the household.
The staff appears prescient of the events about to take place that evening, with some minor adjustments to be made as additional information is obtained. They calmly go about their business as a violent off-screen action takes place between the Baron, Baroness, and their secretary. The butler and housekeeper are the ones that give direction, as is expected, with major roles also taken by the chef and the pregnant maid.
This is a farce, but also a social statement. This is humour, but it is on the dark side of life. A very interesting read.