I read another book

I finished Mr. Ripley. And the story came out the same this time as last time. I love the feeling you get while reading this book. My number one reader rule requires that I like a character in the book. Any character, but preferably the main character. Henry James lost me in graduate school because I hate his characters. They are silly, frivolous, and rude. And although I love Jane Austen, I detest Emma. I know she gets over her silliness, but I've lost interest by the time she does. This makes me a character driven reader. The plot needs to make some sense, but I'll take character over plot.

Coming to this conclusion makes me slightly nervous. I am, with Ripley, rooting for a killer. And I do like him. And that's a little weird. I can't forgive Emma for being stupid, but I forgive Tom for murdering two people. Moral code? You're doin' it wrong.

So let's look a little deeper into this manipulation by Patricia Highsmith. She makes you like Ripley with two writerly methods. First, you see everything from Tom's point of view. This makes you understand his motives and thoughts and no one else's. Second, and I think most importantly, the other characters are odious. They deserve to die. At least in a harmless fictional universe.

Which leads right into the book I just finished--The Shooting in the Shop by Simon Brett. I have a ridiculously difficult time getting Brett's books here. I have finally just started ordering directly from the U.K. when they are released there. This series, which takes place in the small village of Fethering, is more about the friendship between Jude and Carole than about any murder which occurs. This is definitely one of those books in which I take character over plot.

Carole is a divorced, retired civil servant. Jude is a free spirit. They have little in common but their inveterate nosiness about murders. Of course the Cabot Cove syndrome is present here with murders happening all the time in this tiny little place. But the development of Carole's character is so much fun that you have to see what happens next.

Normally an uptight snobby civil servant would not make a great leading character. But again you are privy to all her thoughts and fears and understand her actions. This is exactly the same method practiced by Highsmith. You forgive her rudeness when you know she feels out of her depth during a party.

Brett does not have odious characters in contrast to Carole to elucidate character. Part of your liking Carole is knowing that Jude and Ted the publican like her too. Those two are likeable on the surface, and they really like Carole. I think this is why readers like Nero Wolfe. Readers adore Archie Goodwin who likes Wolfe. You trust Archie's judgment. You trust Jude and Ted.

So really the series revolves around the changes in Carole's character. It's a novel broken into episodic murders. I can hardly wait until she babysits her granddaughter. And Christmas in this book was so fraught for Carole. Making dinner, buying gifts, telling Stephen he couldn't ask his father. You can't help liking her when obviously she frets so very much.

I'm more interested in the methods employed by Carole and Jude to solve the murders than by knowing the solution of the murder. Their adventures and character exposition always revolve around trying to nose out the same information the authorities have. Jude drags Carole into unCarole-like situations. Carole has flashes of logic which Jude misses and then finds out to be true. Both are blinded at times by their own prejudices.

My favorite bit of business concerned an involved telephone call made by Carole pretending to be someone else. She did this on her own, trying to one up Jude. She intended to get a woman's home phone number from her place of employment. She accomplished her goal through subterfuge, only to find the number listed in the phone book.

The combination of humor and character development entertains me every time. It's not the best book ever written or a don't miss under any circumstances. But it pulled me out of the doldrums. And that's what I was looking for. American bookstores--could we stock this series please?