An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P D JAMES

Cordelia Gray was just 22 when she had to take up the responsibility of a detective agency run by her partner, Bernie. He killed himself as he was ailing from cancer. The detective agency was not a huge success. It was then a famous scientist Mr Ronald Callender approached her to solve a case for him.

His son, Mark Callendar who was a dropout from Cambridge committed suicide. He wanted to know why he did so. After opting out of Cambridge, he had taken up a job as a gardener in the house of Markhlands. He was living in a small cottage in their compound. It was there he hanged himself.

When the police found his body, he was wearing jeans and had a smear of lipstick on his lips. Cordelia decided to shift to this cottage so that she could investigate the surroundings including the Cambridge. From Miss Markhland, she came to know that a girl had visited him before his death. Inside the cottage, she found freshly prepared stew and a coffee pot with coffee, definitely not the signs that indicated that he was contemplating suicide. It dawned upon her that it was not a suicide but murder.

Let me tell you, in the beginning, this is not a typical murder mystery. It can mar the fresh perspective, this particular one could offer. I did the same and it was when I reached the middle of the story  I realized that it had much more to it. It’s a Cordelia Grey mystery though Adam Dalgliesh would make his entry in the end.

What I liked about the book was the sheer sincerity of the character. Cordelia was not an expert like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple and she knew that she was vulnerable and lacked experience. But that did not deter her from doing her bit.

Besides, it was also her story of survival. It was clearly said in the title of the book ‘ An unsuitable job for a woman’. Though many pointed out to her that the job was unsuitable, she was adamant about taking it up.

She did not have the experience but she was shrewd and knew how to confront a person during an investigation. Since his boss was dead, there was nobody she could rely upon with her instincts and intuitions. Still, she went ahead and did what she had to do.

This is my first P D James book. I am happy to know that this book comes first in the list of her works which one shouldn’t miss reading if one is a fervent murder mystery fan. I have watched many of P D James’ interviews and I would proudly call my teacher for she had taken me to a different level of the genre called the mystery.

I am sure that I will read this book again. Her writing was like honey dripping from the comb.

All Through The Night by Mary Higgins Clark

 Let me tell you....

I like Mary Higgins Clark a lot. It wouldn't be wrong to say that she kindled the love of reading in me. Hence, there would be reviews from her books. 

Since Christmas is round the corner. Let me start with the book ' All through the night'

It was a winter night. Christmas is round the corner and it's the night she decided to abandon her infant, nevertheless to say, with a heavy heart. She was just 18 years old. With no other alternative left, she decided to leave her baby at St.Clement's rectory. She wanted the baby to grow in New York with a lovely family. She loved the place and was wanting to come back once she could stand on her own feet.

Her plan was to leave the baby and then alert the monsignor from a phone booth.

It was the same night Bishop Santory's chalice was stolen. He had planned it but little did he know that he would find a baby along with the chalice in a stroller which he strolled back to his house. When the security alarm rang, he ran and conveniently put his backpack under the foot of a stroller which was kept in the rectory. 

Seven years after, her guilt made Sandra search for her baby but was shattered to know that the St. Clement vicarage never got such a baby. Thus began her search for her baby.

 Alvirah's friend Kate was in deep trouble as she found her deceased sister, Bessie left her house, in her will to a stranger husband and wife who recently, occupied one part of her house. Just two days prior to Bakers' informing her about her sister's will, Monsignor Ferris had informed Kate just the opposite of what the Bakers said - she left her house in the name of her younger sister and Kate was thinking of giving it to two nuns to run a shelter home for poor children. Alvirah found the will brought by Bakers phony. 

How these two puzzles are related, that reader has to find.

I would call this story a “ short and simple mystery” for Christmas. There's no murder and 'whodunnit' but two puzzles which are vaguely connected. But without establishing that faint connection, the whole mystery cannot be solved.

I enjoyed it. What attracts me to Mary Higgins Clark's book is always her language. It's so simple yet powerful to make you feel that you are not walking with the characters but running with them.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

 Twenty years ago, I was so excited for I was going to enroll myself in a library. Books were a distant reality until then. Strangely, I don’t remember the first two books which I took from the library but the one I bought from a shop keeper who had set up his shop on a portable cart. He was of my age and was selling second-hand books. With the meagre pocket money I was getting at that time, I could afford only second-hand books.

And I bought ‘ The Alchemist’. It changed my life. I knew about dreams but this book taught me how to dream. There’s a huge difference between the two. For the first time, I realised that by pursuing your destiny, you are coming into close contact with the creator. It gave me goosebumps when I absorbed that idea for the first time.

As Paulo Coelho says in his book ” Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of his dreams because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and with eternity.”

The story is about a boy called Santiago who had dreamt of a treasure and was in pursuit of it. He inspired the universe as he dared to pursue his destiny. Like him, the author says everyone has a destiny and to reach there, one has to listen to his heart. For that, he has to be truthful to himself.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’

I think the story assumes different dimensions at different stages of your life. When I read it 20 years ago, I grasped only the basics because I was a naive girl with little experience. Time flew by and my experiences made me capable of comprehending the much more deeper meanings. I am sure, many years down the line, I would grasp more things.

Coelho says it is the fear that’s holding us back from achieving our destiny.

“Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions or our property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”

Along the way to your destiny, your determination will have to undergo several tests.

What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

Years later when I met the shopkeeper he owned two book shops. Perhaps that’s his destiny.

Some more quotes which I hold close to my heart:-

“When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”

“Your eyes show the strength of your world.”

“When something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well.”

” Anyone who interferes with the destiny of another thing will never discover the destiny of his own.

” Remember, the world is only the visible aspect of God. And that what Alchemy does is to bring spiritual perfection into contact with the material plane.”

” Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.”