Morag JossCritiques

While i love opera, i cannot get used to the writing style.½

Funeral Music by Morag Joss is the first book in a trilogy of murder mysteries that are set in Bath, England and feature musician Sara Selkirk. Sara is a highly accomplished cellist who has been taking a break from performing while she is recovering from the death of her lover and partner. She agreed to play at a charity event that is set in the famous Roman Baths, an evening that ended in the murder of the museum’s director with Sara as one of the potential suspects.

Being close to several people who are involved in the investigation, Sara becomes curious and does some investigating herself, much to the displeasure of the lead detective, DCI Andrew Poole. Poole is not only investigating the murder, Sara and he have build a friendship through their music and their feelings for each other is growing stronger every day. This is a story that is filled with secrets, and with everyone providing misleading evidence it is becoming harder to solve.

I enjoy Morag Joss’ writing and in this mystery she writes with authority and skill. Her characters are complex and the plot is intricate, but I wasn’t very taken with Sara herself. She seemed very self-centred and, at times, down right smug. I happen to have the other two books of the trilogy on my shelf so I will most probably read them at some point, but, so far, I much prefer her stand-alone psychological thrillers to these tamer mysteries.

Worst book ever. I would give zero stars. Painful.½

Well told story, but very dark.

Sara Selkirk, a cellist, removed to Bath after melting down in a Paris performance. She witnesses the museum director's floating corpse the morning after a charity performance at the Pump Room. Plenty of persons possessed a motive, as Sara herself witnessed the previous evening. Detective Sergeant Bridger and DCI Andrew Poole investigate. Selkirk knows Andrew as her cello student. The plot, especially the ending, was a bit weak in this combination cozy/police procedural novel. I think changing the voice from Sara to Poole, setting the book firmly in the police procedural genre, would strengthen the novel. I liked the novel okay, but probably not enough to continue with the series.

Ooh, I forgot how much I liked this.

Very well-written, but depressing and dark, lonely. I will read this author again, really gets into the heart of the characters she writes about.

Very well-written, but depressing and dark, lonely. I will read this author again, really gets into the heart of the characters she writes about.

This book really makes you feel an aching for the many people in this world that live this way. Everyone wants a family unit that will love you unconditionally and have your back.

This book really makes you feel an aching for the many people in this world that live this way. Everyone wants a family unit that will love you unconditionally and have your back.

When a bridge collapses in Scotland, a woman's car is recorded by the security camera as one of those that plunge into the river below. However, she had sold the car to an illegal immigrant man who was actually driving the car with his young daughter as a passenger. The woman needed the money so that she can establish a new life away from her husband who doesn't want the child she is carrying. Because she feels guilty for their deaths, she wants to share the purchase price of the car with the man's widow, who doesn't know her family has died. The two end up sharing a home while "Annabelle" recovers her strength and the widow, Silva, waits for her husband and daughter to come home. The audio version was great to listen to. I'm not sure I would have had as much patience with the characters' secrecy if I were reading the book. I didn't understand what made the characters tick, but I wanted to know what happened and could empathize with each of them.½

Amazing story especially the last hour it made the whole book!

Have you ever thought about starting your life over? What if by a chance of fate you could start anew? When unbeknownst to her husband a pregnant woman sells her car and soon after that car is being shown on all news outlets plunging into the river after a bridge collapses, her husband was not happy about the pregnancy so she decides to stay “dead” and becomes Annabelle. The only problem is she sold the car to a man who had a child with him and they are actually the ones who went into the river, and the guilt of this is hard on her. She makes her way along the river and ends up at the cabin of a woman named Silva, who also happens to be wife and mother of the man and child in the car. There she tries to make a new life never telling Silva the truth and her only other companion is Ron the boatman the 3 of them and their secrets fill the cabin. But secrets never quite stay hidden and when all these secrets come out there is no telling what may happen.

This is not a happy book these three people are all mourning something and keeping secrets and dealing with guilt, however this is a beautifully written book that kept my attention from beginning to end. And as I said the last hour was edge of my seat, nail biting, tummy flipping suspense when one secret bubbles to the surface yet is misunderstood and the tension is palpable.

The narration is wonderful and really enhances this sad story I had forgotten how much I love Robin Sachs voice, his narration was superb he had many different accents and the Scottish man working on the bridge was great, and the ladies Kate Reading & Cassandra Campbell WOW great accents, and such a great range of emotions that make you feel everything these women go through. This is a book to listen to just for the fabulous narration if nothing else. But I did like this story yes it is sad but it is also a very powerful story of what ifs.

Highly recommend this on audio!

4 Stars

5 Stars narration½

In Half Broken Things by Morag Joss the psychological suspense builds slowly until it reaches a fever pitch by the end of the book. This is a story of three lonely and obviously slightly disturbed people, Jean, Michael and Steph who appear to find refuge when they come together. Jean is a house sitter and has been told that due to her age this is her last assignment, Michael is an unsuccessful petty thief and pregnant Steph is on the run from an abusive boyfriend. Living an illusion that they are family, they set up housekeeping in Walden Manor, the house that Jean is currently the caretaker of. Her assignment is from January to September and as they settle more and more into the house, the reader can see that these three have no intention of giving up their illusions when the rightful owners return.

Living off the manor’s provisions, caring for the garden and grounds, they ignore the outside world and bond together and revel in their new found security. Of course, the clock is ticking and the day of final reckoning is coming closer. Suddenly things start to go sideways with the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

Morag Joss allows things to advance slowly, but as the characters’ self-preservation becomes more extreme, she builds more and more tension into the story. This gradual unwinding of the fantasy life these three are living speeds up and eventually a chain of events is unleashed that brings the story to a dramatic close. Half Broken Things is a thought provoking story of moral complexity and I am a huge fan of this author as she displays a deftness with her characters and their situation that has the reader both appalled and yet with a small part that is rooting for them.

Mooi verhaal over een vrouw die op huizen past en door een samenloop van omstandigheden samen komt te wonen met een andere man en vrouw. Ze eigenen zich het huis toe en worden een kleine familie, maar ze spinnen een web van leugens en moeten drastische maatregelen nemen om hun paradijsje te behouden. Spannend en boeiend!
Minpuntje: de foto op de voorzijde; die slaat helemaal nergens op!

It started with some promise but soon meandered and waffled and just ended up badly. Very badly indeed, esp. the final two page chapter that was both dumb and a rather blatant cliff hanger to the next in the series. This was the third in the series so some recurring characters (James, Tom) were a total and unexplained mystery, outside of the main mystery of various people dying for some reason that may have been linked but really, I didn't care by the end. The plot was predictable, the characters were annoying and the whole thing felt like a waste of time. Which is why it is crossed now.

In Our Picnics in the Sun: A Novel, by Morag Joss, we meet Howard and Deborah, who 30 years ago fell in love, married and moved into a tenancy in a small-holding in the country, enthused by the idea of "going back to the land" and supporting themselves with their own farm labour, along with pottery and a few B&B bookings for some extra cash. When Howard suffers a stroke, however, all the work of caring for him in addition to the work on the land falls on Deborah, whose only means of coping is to visit the town library once a week to send to and receive emails from the couple's adult son, Adam, a successful businessman who somehow seems never to have the time to get back home to England. Not even for his birthday, as Deborah learns to her chagrin; just as she has reluctantly taken in a couple of guests for the B&B, she learns that Adam will not be coming home for his 28th birthday, which sends her into another tailspin.... I have to say that while I've liked some of Joss's previous novels, I just couldn't stomach this one. I couldn't stand any one of the characters, the circumstances are very unpleasant and the story, well, to be honest I can't say much about the story because the point to which I've just described the book is the point at which I abandoned it, having read only about 25% of the novel. It was just too depressing for me.

This was a tough one. On the plus side, the writer really nailed the creeping horror of guilt and madness. On the other hand, the writer really nailed the creeping horror of guilt and madness, and it made me really uncomfortable. It gave me mood swings: One minute, I wanted to put the book down and stop reading it, because it was so disturbing, and the next minute, I couldn't put it down, because I had to know what happened, next.

The characters were insidiously powerful and well-written, but I mostly didn't like them and occasionally had trouble understanding them. (Just like real people, now that I think of it.) They made me consider how different other people might be, from me, and also how unfounded are my assumptions about how I would handle being in a particular situation. Would I *really* handle it any better than Anabel, or Silva, or Ron, if I were in their shoes? I'd like to think I would, but....would I?

I can't say I enjoyed the book (hence, the three stars) but it was powerful, and I think it will stick with me for awhile (possibly in the form of nightmares.)

Also: Ambiguous endings suck.

The format of the book is complex, with the narration, Arthur's letters to Ruth, and Ruth's novel intertwined. I found myself looking forward to each section, but particularly to glimpses of Arthur, who even in his grief is a delight. His actions are odd but understandable; on the other hand, it's hard to believe the doctor's wife, who seems to have no friends to notice her absence or increasingly strange behavior and appearance. The book is thoroughly depressing, but the characters stuck with me for quite a while, even some of the minor but amusingly drawn visitors to Arthur's house, and I'm still trying to decide if the ending is happy or sad.

bookshelves: cover-love, autumn-2013, published-2013, net-galley, e-book, bucolic-or-pastoral, exmoor, the-wrong-pyjamas, britain-scotland, britain-england, devon, families, lifestyles-deathstyles, lit-richer, mental-health, midlife-crisis, ouch, psychology
Read from November 21 to 24, 2013


NetGalley: Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell/Delacorte Press

From the description: late one evening, two men arrive needing a room for the night—and set off a chain of events that uncovers the relics of old tragedies. New wounds are cut deep, betrayals and cruelties intermix with tenderness and love.

Opening quote:

Nor ask what doubtful act allows
Our freedom in this English house,
Our picnics in the sun.

'A Summer Night' W H Auden

Opening: Howard Morgan was on the floor of the old pigshed when in transition from Cobra to Locust when a blood vessel burst in his head.

So the backstory is that artistic new-ager Howard yearned to go back to the land and consequently settled in a small-holding on Exmoor and deborahstonetbridge@yahoo.com manages the bed and breakfast, and all the practical side of things. The son, Adam, is an elusive character travelling here and there but never quite finding the time to come visit parents.

This is a tough read and certainly now one that will appeal to many who have not come smack-bang up against some of the issues raised within this story. See how others have shelved this as mystery and/or thriller, that is not the case at all, rather this is the social trauma of misguided believers in nothing but the natural. In fact the GoodRead's blurb box is totally inaccurate.

A back to the earth scenario and the dysfunction that can result. It is not a story that I enjoyed yet I do believe this has highlighted some modern day difficulties which are normally shied away from.

hermianopia: Loss of vision in one half of the visual field of one or both eyes.

M.A.S.K. Razorback

Our Picnics in the Sun by Morag Joss is a book that focuses on a few important aspects of life and family. There are three stories happening: the dynamic between Howard and Deborah, the distance communication between Deborah and Adam, and the commentary on the life of a caretaker in a family ill-equipped to handle emergency situations. Of the three, the one that broke my heart the most was the distance communication between Deborah and Adam, her son - but the combination of the three made for a powerful story, one that I both dreaded and ached to pick up ... just so I could find out what happened next.

Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on Dec. 18, 2013.

Our Picnics in the Sun by Morag Joss captures the life and travails of Deborah and Howard Morgan who lead an idealistic life, eking out a living in Stoneyridge, deep in the England moors, with their son Adam. But when Adam leaves to pursue a career, things take a drastic change for the couple. Their pathetic condition worsened when Howard suffers an incapacitating stroke, rendering Deborah just to the role of a caregiver. The Morgans forget their pottery, their animals and their property. It is indeed a sad time for them. Everything is in ruins.

Deborah endurance reaches its limit as she becomes more and more frustrated with the life she is limited to. The kind of life she is living now is a far cry from the starry dreams they had when she and Howard first decided to live in the country. Our Picnics in the Sun is truly a sad and thoughtful story of a marriage and unfulfilled emotional lives.

Adam is also raging with discontentment. His anger drives him far away from home, little knowing that his parents are in a pathetic condition. He is frustrated with the inadequacy of his homeschooling education, the countryside, the terrible winters, food, and almost everything. He is angry at his parents, and at the way they brought him up.

There is a foreboding sense of looming danger when two guests arrive needing a room one stormy night. One of them leaves in the morning but the other, a young man named Theo, who is about Adam's age stays behind. Our Picnics in the Sun is a tale of love and loss, it is a story of the trivial disillusionments which plug our lives and hinder us from moving forward. The book is full of multifaceted characters, many of them obsessed with idealistic dreams which render them powerless to direct the course of their destiny.

Deborah and Howard have lived in a smallholding on the bleak moors of Exmoor for over thirty years. They have spent most of their adult lives in a determined effort to 'return to the land', to eke out a living in balance with nature. They have tried to turn their rented land into many things, a B&B, a spiritual retreat, a spa but it all ended in disappointment. Just as they are planning to try a yoga retreat, Howard suffers a stroke. Deborah, now running things alone while taking care of Howard, has only one joy in life - the weekly emails from their son, Adam. It is clear that Adam writes only out of a sense of duty but Deborah needs to believe he will come for a long awaited visit.

Having convinced herself that Adam will come, she prepares everything to make him happy including his favourite meal. However, instead of Adam, two men appear at the door. Despite Deborah's attempts to make them leave, they insist they will only stay one night. This one small incident will have a huge impact on Deborah and Howard's lives bringing all their disappointments, mistakes, and failures to the surface, forcing them to reevaluate everything they have done and believed.

As I read this novel, I kept thinking of the words of Thoreau:

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

So I wasn't surprised when, in some notes at the end, author Morag Joss mentions this quote. Our Picnics in the Sun is a story of love and loss, of the small disappointments which fill our lives and keep us from moving or moving on. It is filled with complex characters, driven by unrealistic hopes, thwarted by luck, and unable to change the direction of their lives.The story is told, in the present, by Deborah, who until the end is not always a reliable narrator and, even at the end, she does not tell us everything. In the past, Adam's story is told in third person as we learn how he became so divorced from his parents.

It is only near the end, we learn what has chained Howard and Deborah to this land despite all their disappointments. It is only when they begin to understand what has kept them here that resolution is possible. The end, itself, is both unsettling and inevitable and one that will resonate with the reader long after they turn the last page.

Deborah and Howard are living on the bleak moors of Exmoor desperately striving to hold on to Stoneyridge - their smallholding where the land is unforgiving and all their good intentions seem to come to nothing.

When Howard has a stroke, his wife, herself not very strong and recovering from an injury, is compelled to look after him on her own. There is no money, the van is unreliable, their crops are not producing, their animals are more a liability than a benefit and their landlord is trying to bully them off the land. Deborah’s only glimmer of happiness during a week filled with managing her demanding husband, who is still capable of being a bully even though he is unable to speak, is the weekly brief email that comes from their son who lives overseas. Through these emails Adam appears to be a thoughtless and uncaring young man who dismisses out of hand his mother’s desperate need to see him.

One stormy night, Deborah is expecting Adam to arrive, but two men appear asking for a room. This night changes everything. It is the turning point for Deborah. But it is hard for the reader to determine whether this is a change for the better or the worse.

Morag Joss has written a tense and complex story with an air of desperation which captivates and enthrals. Deborah is a fascinating character who although seemingly driven by those around her for her entire life, has the ability to surprise the reader in the haunting conclusion.

truly creepy climax...I like psychological thrillers but for me this veered into an unexpectedly dark place.

Cellist Sara Selkirk quit performing after a public breakdown several months ago. Her friend and accompanist, James, has talked her into performing at a charity function in Bath's Pump Room. Prior to and during the event, Sara notices several heated interchanges between the Director of Museums and various individuals. Sara is reminded of these conversations the next morning when she discovers the Director's body in the waters of the Roman baths. Sara is not only a witness to events leading up to the murder, but she's also music teacher to the detective in charge of the investigation. Although DCI Poole doesn't share all of the details of the investigation with Sara, he does use her as a sounding board for theories about the case since Sara knows most of the main suspects.

I love the book's strong sense of place. I've visited Bath a couple of times and it was fun to read about locations I can picture from personal experience. I like Sara and I can relate to her love for music. The story was a page-turner most of the way through. However, I was disappointed with the ending. Sara's confrontation with the criminal(s) is oddly constructed. I can't say more than this without giving away spoilers. I was also mildly irritated by the undercurrent of snobbery that seems to be directed toward overweight and culturally illiterate people.

This book has characteristics of both a police procedural and a cozy, but it doesn't fit neatly into either genre. I think it will appeal to readers of both genres, as well as music lovers and foodies (since several of the characters are knowledgeable about gourmet food).½