41. Kissed a Sad Goodbye - Deborah Crombie

Another mystery.

My mom always laughs at me because lately my favorite TV seems to be all about the detective series: Veronica Mars, CSI, Crossing Jordan ... She wonders where this interest comes from because it is no secret that I am not always good with gory death and prodding autopsies. But I have ALWAYS been a fan of a good mystery. When I was younger that was almost always the first section of the library paperbacks I would pore through. So I suppose it is only natural that my reading habits are similar to my TV habits ... I suppose my mom never really paid attention to what I was reading (unless it was some obviously trashy romance novel but I was usually smart enough not to bring home the ones with practically naked people on the cover).

This is another book in a series about a couple of Scotland Yard Inspectors. It is set in London which I enjoyed because now I get some of the cultural references (like Squash and Orangina). Plus there were references to World War 2 which tied in neatly with some conversations I have been having lately about World War 2 literature and my interest in doing some more reading on that time period (fictional and non-fictional). It might take a back seat to the reading up on Greece that is also in the plans for 2006 but WWII (and most history for that matter) is still a definite point of interest.

I really related to some of the characters in the novel and instead of talking about the plot (I'd hate to give anything away) I thought I would end off with a few quotes that really hit home with me (especially because I actually managed to mark the pages this time.)

"She desperately wanted to forget the Island, even for just a short time, imagine another life altogether. On a bench at the side of the veranda a couple sat intertwined .. and [she] felt a stab of envy. Why shouldn't she, for once, be the object of someone's desire? Why should she always be the one on the sidelines?" p 258

"But she knew that no amount of guilt or regret could alter the connection that existed between her and Gordon Finch - a connection she somehow had never doubted was mutual, a connection so powerful it had made her contemplate throwing away everything that made her who she was." p 297

" 'She lived by other people's expectations ... everyone in her life had their idea of who she was, what they wanted her to be. And what seems tragic to me is that she finally made different choices, her own choices, about what mattered to her - but she never got to see where they might have led. Or who she might have become.' " p 368