Len BoswellCritiques

The book, "Barnum’s Angel," promises a story of the struggle of a beautiful albino girl named Lily who has strange powers and has the “power to destroy—or save—our world. I wish I could have read the book, “Lily, Interview with the Dragon” mentioned in "Barnum’s Angel" instead. Those snippets found at the beginning of several chapters had much more intrigue than the events in this book. I found "Barnum’s Angel" did not live up to that promise.

"Barnum’s Angel" spends much of its time after Lily escapes P.T. Barnum and is being hunted down like some prized animal. After all, it is all about the money. There is mention of the mysterious man with the same powers as Lily who desires her. He was instrumental in helping Lily escape P.T. Barnum, but alas, they never get together. Lily finally finds Charles Darwin, the only one who protects her as she grows up and comes into womanhood. A plan is set in place for her to marry, but events take a nasty turn with the arrival of hunters. Lily is forced to kill to protect herself. She realizes she can no longer stay with the Darwins and is gone with a flap of the wing. Many years pass before she reunites with Charles Darwin on his deathbed.

The author does excellent work with world-building, especially in establishing the Victorian timeframe through the choice of language and settings. Descriptions are plentiful and rich. However, for me, a clear voice that leads the reader through the story is lacking. The chapters which are laid out like a diary with a title defining the date, time, and place, feel somewhat disjointed. Some chapters seem to have nothing to do with the main storyline except to name-drop famous people in this world as shown in the chapters when Detective Chief Inspector Field would have a nightly stroll with Charles Dickens to discuss Mr. Dickens’ latest book.

There will be those readers who enjoy this book’s style. For this reader, I had no connection to any of the characters and the ending does not do much to entice me to read a sequel. However, I might give "Lily, Interview with the Dragon" a look-see.

Please note I was given "Barnum’s Angel" without cost in exchange for an honest review.

When I received Simon Graves and the School of Casual Invisibility from LibraryThing Early Reviewers, I had no idea what to expect but I gotta say, this has to be the most fun I’vve had reading a whodunnit in, well, forever. Set in a not-too-distant non-dystopian future, where androids called simdroids are built to look like famous people like Morgan Freeman, the police have a very unusual case of murder to deal with. Both the victims and the murderer are invisible, not that murder or invisibility are unusual in this future but they don’t usually happen together. Now, you’re probably asking how can one murder someone who is invisible. Well, all I can say, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Unboxing Raymond by Len Boswell is a memoir of the author as much as it is a biography of his father, and it works very well.

Using the box of treasures as the central device we learn about Raymond in much the same way we remember our own deceased friends and family: through memories. Even when an item in the box was unknown to Boswell it still triggered a memory. In fact, just like one might do when talking to someone about your father, a memory also brings back what were technically Raymond's memories as passed down to Boswell (or in one case to his mother then to him). By not being a linear account of Raymond's (or Boswell's) life we are given the opportunity to engage with each memory episodically.

The episodic nature probably helps us to also give room for us not to judge his negative qualities too harshly before we learn how Boswell himself has learned, largely through this process, to better understand his father and himself.

In addition to being a moving account of their lives, it also is organized such that the reader can easily reflect on their own memories of their loved ones. Since I spent many of my school years living in the DC area (Laurel and Greenbelt, mid 60s to early 70s) I found myself going back to memories of my father. Not exactly parallel events to what is in the book but sparked by some of the feelings they conveyed.

While we may not all have actual physical treasure boxes from our parents, we probably have many items from them. Yet even if we don't, we do still have a mental treasure box. I remembered things my father had, things he did. While unboxing Raymond I also spent some time unboxing my own father, and it was a wonderful experience.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

I was able to read this ebook for free with the Early Reviewer program from LibraryThing.

Simon Grave was a pleasant surprise. Small chapters, concise story, well paced and some suspense.
Only after a few pages did I notice that this was the 5th book in a series. However, it was very easy to get involved in the 2054 universe with drones and invisible schools and murdered people.
I really loved the final explanation and the story in general is very clear and well written.

I'm off to read the rest of the series.

I picked this up without remembering it was a memoir at first, and much of it read like a novel. I enjoyed the premise of telling the father's story through items in his treasure box. I also liked how the perception of both father and son changed during the book.

Unboxing Raymond is the memoir of a father, as told by his son, the author. The son receives a box of mementos that were saved over the course of a lifetime by his dad, now deceased. The story of what is contained in the box awakens memories of the father and their sometimes rocky filial relationship. The items also bring to mind tales of his extended family, his siblings and his mom. Coins, bits of jewelry, medals, tokens, cards, advertisements, and medallions, all likely had significance to the father at one point.

The family was working class, blue collar, and poor. Dad was an upholsterer, working on commissions from families in Washington DC, generally via referrals from other clients. It was a physical job and to support a wife and three children was a tough way to make a living. Dad had a temper and a set of fears and demons, some of which he took out on his sons. Mother often intervened to smooth out these episodes. But there were also times of closeness and even some joy. As the son picks through the objects in the box, most of which had little material value, they bring back times when the family worked together, played together, ate together, and survived.

The location for the book is set in and around Washington DC, quite close to my former workplace and familiar territory for me. So it had a special significance and poignancy.

The book was enjoyable to read, although perhaps a little too long. Emptying the box and recalling the linked activities illuminated a life and lifestyle that has long since left that part of our metro area. It might be especially of interest to a son who is reflecting on his father's life and their family's interactions. I recommend it.

Unboxing Raymong
Len Boswell
Black Rose Writing
June 2022
141 pages

Unboxing Raymond is a very interesting and curious memoir, or is it a memoir? There is a disclaimer in the front saying, “This is a work of fiction...any resemblance...is purely coincidental.” This seems contradictory to this reader.

If it is fiction, why make this up?

If is is memoir, I relate to it being not so different from my life, though it was my mother who was mentaly ill, erratic and viscious, etc.

The level of poverty was recognizable also. My father was a farmer and worked so hard, I knew his problems were greater than my cold, wet feet soaked by water through the holes in my shoes. An uncle noticed and cut waxed paperboard milk cartons to shape for my shoes.

The idea of using a box of random stuff to tell the story of a life was one I'd not encountered before. There is no such box from my mother's life, but if there was her baking pans for wedding cakes would have to be included, or the frosting tips for decorating them. They were the highlight of her life. She had a book of cake pictures she'd decorated, but no book of pictures of her children.

The items in his father's box unravel the complexity of the author's father. We all carry contridictions, some are simply more obvious than others. In retrospective, the author can kindly and lovingly appreciate his father's inability to function “normally.” As a child he was unable to do that. That does not make the life any easier, but that does bring understanding and some acceptance.

Our parents are the gods in our lives when we are children. To mature and accept them as fallible human beings is a process that not all are able to accomplish. Unboxing Raymond is one person's experience of doing just that. The author has shared that experience, and I applaud.

It is a human book about human people who are trying the best they can with what they have to do their best – no matter what that looks like from the outside. It is a wise and compassionate memoir.

From one survivor to another,
Thank you,
Duane L Herrmann

I enjoyed the free flowing nature of the narrative - objects inspiring associated memories. I also found the glimpses of post war life intriguing. But despite the promise, I didn't really feel like I understood Raymond or the author more by the end. At least not in the way that the author seemed to come to some reconciliation with his father. I guess there wasn't enough emotional background for me as the reader.½

An easy to read memoir of the author's relationship with his father.. As he pulls things from a memory box, the author explains their significance, weaving in remembered stories of his father. Recalling a childhood in which he was verbally and emotionally abused by his father,, Boswell still manages to write vignettes about the other aspects of his dad and family that are interesting. Perhaps this book helped him on his journey of acceptance of a man who was flawed, ut still his father.

In looking through his father’s ‘treasure box,’ Lenny reexamines his relationship to the abusive father he thought he hated when he was growing up. As he does so, he is able to take notice of his father’s strengths as well as his foibles, along with the darker side that had dominated his childhood memories of their relationship. He calls it a rediscovery and a ‘redemptive portrait’ of his father. In describing the objects he discovers in the box, he recalls events that the object brings to mind – some of the events are funny, others sad, and they often offer insightful glimpses into the complex man that was his father. (Curiously, the cover’s subtitle is ‘A Memoir,’ and the people named in the book bear the same names as his family, yet the copyright page specifies “This is a work of fiction.”

A wise little book, written with great skill to invest the reader in the tough childhood of the author, while at the same time cheering him on for moving beyond the difficult times. Many parts are quite funny with a wry sense of humor while others are tough to read.

---Disclaimer: I received a copy of this as an Early Reviewer. No compensation was received other than the chance to read this book for free---

What a well written mysterious book! That is exactly how one would feel right from the first chapter.

Len Boswell has not only created another Simon Grave mystery but given the readers a bunch of Drones to ponder over, while they hover and do our work!

While I read this piece as a part of Early Reviewer's copy, I was also narrating the excerpt where a mobile is replaced by a drone hovering a few meters above you and working like an assistant, to my partner. It was not only interesting to imagine but also hilarious to see even Drones can join the gossip culture!

The story revolves round the discovery of murdered victims, one after the other, but neither of them are visible. The fact that visibility itself is subject to perception in our current world, imagine an era somewhere in 2054 where becoming invisible is taught in a school, is easy to learn and can be misused. Here comes the next question, how will the police Or regulatory authority find a killer who is also invisible ? What if the enemy country intrudes in an invisibility cloak?

While I leave the readers to discover what happens, I would say this book made me laugh at times when it came to dialogues between our Larry -The God turned Forensic Psychologist, not to forget his reactions at being called Huckleberry.

Overall, this is a fun to read book, short enough to finish, not dragging at all and can be enjoyed by a vast category of readers from young adults to aged ones like us!

A hoverbike gang leader calls his own murder into the police station, saying his body will be found at a rival gang's clubhouse. The murder becomes more layered with questions of several gangs moving the body and possible connections to a local election. In the end some of the mysteries are answered while other more prominent quandaries are glossed over without resolution. It is unclear why the author chose to make Simon Grave or the Sons of Irony the title characters when a slew of other detectives and hoverbike gangs got the same amount of focus. The technology mentioned was interesting and the pop culture references added some humor even if it was a bit forced at times. It was a light read but I don't think I would seek out other books in this series.

Simon Grave and the Sons of Irony By Len Boswell
Simon Grave is a police detective in Crab Cove. A hoverbike gang leader has called the police to report his own murder but the body keeps getting moved around as the gangs play hot potato with it. They know where the victim died, but where was he killed? Who did it? What can a talking, intelligent seagull do to help? This book is not the first in the series and I haven’t read any of the others; if I had, perhaps the backstory would have helped but with only this book, I found the characters lacked depth, although they were likeable enough and I liked the teamwork by the police. I don’t know why the series is all “Simon Grave and…” because he was barely more important than anyone else. The solution to the mystery was his idea, but I can’t tell you why it worked because it wasn’t shown. Why the murderer did it was explained after, but not how or why their method of getting a confession worked. SF/Police Procedural. Final verdict: I enjoyed it well enough, and might read more in the series if they come my way, but likely not something I’ll seek out. Received the eBook through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this fun book. Superman calls the police about his own murder that will happen at his arch rivals club house. An election debate stage is bombed. Are they related? How? And then there are the gulls and drones. Simon Grave has his work cut out

farce, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, puntastic, sardonic, satire, laugh-out-loud, laugh-riot, imaginative*****

Mel Brooks and Peter Sellers got together with P G Wodehouse and...
This book is a positive laugh riot! I had to read it twice because I was laughing so hard I couldn't assimilate the police work! The characters are a hoot and the slightest thing I can say about it is that is is a fantastic cure for the Covid doldrums!
Mark Milroy is the accomplished voice actor who manages not to laugh his sox off while doing the audio interpretation.

Fun humorous futuristic police procedural.

Well,this is in the first place a locked room mystery and to be frank, it is not a bad one but...there are some inconsistencies,the story feels as if it is written in the fifties(manor house, crust free sandwiches, butler, gardener, maids...)but apart from the family the manor is also inhabited by a dozen or so robots (androids).And the there is the author's ideas about women,they are either drop dead gorgeous (and very sexy)or the ravages of time are clearly visible (and mentioned ).Great!
Furthermore, as this is supposed to be a comedy (I suppose, not really quite sure what it is)the brilliant, witty humour completely bypassed me (and I mean completely !)
2 stars for the murder mystery....
 
 

As a pun lover, I spent my time groaning while reading this tongue-in-cheek adventure. It might not be on the same level as "War and Peace," but it was entertaining, and the detective got the bad guy in the end. I would read more in this series.

A detective story, set in the future (not too far, though), with jokes, gags, and humor which - although didn't give me huge belly laughs - is truly most delightful. I'd just finished "The Fat Detective" which was a 'comical mystery' so this kept me on that track but enhanced it greatly. Even if you've not ever considered this genre (I'm a Holmes, Reacher, Maigret and Dr. Siri addict), you really should give it a try. I'm off now to buy the others in this series: this one got me hooked!½

I picked up an advance copy of Simon Grave and the Curious Incident of the Cat in the Daytime by Len Boswell from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

And honestly – while this is my first Simon Grave book – I loved it. A wonderful combination of mystery and crime novel, with more than a generous helping of dark humor. Detective Simon Grave is called away from the Crab Cove Conference on Crime (C4) to a possible murder just outside the conference center. The body belongs to a man recently diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer. Is this just a natural death, or is there something else going on? As Grave and his nearly invisible partner, Sergeant Blunt, begin their investigation they learn that deaths in Crab Cove have been on the increase. Is their case really a murder, or is there just a statistical blip in deaths in Crab Cove? When Grave’s father tells him he’s been diagnosed with an incurable cancer as well, and is planning out is final rest at the Crab Cove Cinema Cemetery (C4), Simon must balance his father’s insistence on preparing for his inevitable demise while trying to figure out who may or may not have killed the man on the beach.

Simon Grave and the Curious Incident of the Cat in the Daytime blends subtle humor, and a whimsical setting, with a good mystery. While I was able to deduce who the killer was, for me that wasn’t as important as being able to enjoy the world that Len Boswell has created and the colorful characters that inhabit it. I really enjoyed the idea of the Crab Cover Cinema Cemetery where the dead have looping video highlights of their life playing at their graveside, complete with paid ads, and the need to have their video lives approved of through likes – social media of the dead. The population of droids all made to look like famous people (mostly actors, but a few others like politicians) ads an interesting backdrop through which the humans interact.

I recommend the Curious Incident of the Cat in the Daytime for anybody who loves to blend they mystery with a good dose of humor (often dark).

I received a free advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fun satirical murder mystery that takes place in a town called Crab Cove. The book opens when Mr. Potz is found dead on a beach. He was found with his respite simdroid nearby. I should mention, the book takes place in the near future where simdroids are all the rage, but they are also stealing jobs from humans left and right.

Detective Simon Grave is on the job to solve the murder with the help of his simdroid Charlize.

I love the irony in the names of this book. For example, the head of the detectives is Captain Morgan. One of the other officers that Grave works with is Barry Blunt. Blunt and his wife June are more like clouds than people, so you can't really see them. Nothing like a cloud with blunt edges, right?

Mr. Winter runs one of the graveyards in town.

Ida Notion is the town psychic.

If you are looking for a fun read with a little mystery and a little humor, this is the perfect book!

The premise of this mystery is really fun, and there's some amusing wordplay – the writing style reminded me of Jasper Fforde. I don't think I had complete buy-in on part of the ending ... perhaps I was hindered by not having read the first book in the series, although that shouldn't matter. I also would've liked to see the characters become more than quirky pastiches; the main character's good, but his supporting cast didn't feel as loved. They've definitely got promise. Overall, this is a diverting, easy read, and I'd read the next one.

This high spirited book entertains incessantly with its lively language, fast pace and interesting ideas. A police procedural made bizarre and amusing by its setting in the future with a community lagging behind in technology uptake. I received this as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer. Thank you.

This is the second mystery in the Simon Grave series and is more polished than the first. The first, A Grave Misunderstanding, reminded me of a Three Stooges farce. This second novel was more sedate -- at least until W. C. Fields strolled through. The satire, based on looking back from a near-future time, often is not quite focused. Simdroids (robots that look like celebrities) are common but don't seem as much carefully selected as simply randomly picked. Likewise the plot points. The originality of the characters is welcome but the stories need more careful structuring.