Legend in Green Velvet, (Chapters 3-4)

The second quarter of this book now begins to feel more like a Mystery.  Characters we met in the first two chapters turn out to be something other than what they seemed.  We finally have a corpse (though the “mystery” appears to be somewhat more than just a “murder mystery”) and a lot of unanswered questions that will occur to the reader are directly articulated by the characters themselves.  Now that the premise and the setting have been thoroughly established, the plot seems to develop a momentum and an inevitability that one would associate with the genre. 

Also, now that the main characters are under extreme pressure and being chased by “the law” as well as “the bad guys” they are taking things more seriously, and the occasional triteness I mentioned earlier is absent … for the most part.  Susan, our heroine, still seems determined, however, to get the most out of her little vacation, and inexplicably seems to forget the danger she’s in from time to time.  When she meets James’ father and finds that he is more inclined to sing traditional songs and play the guitar than help them find a way out of their mess, she joins right in and happily sings and strums along.  I’m reminded of when I used to roll my eyes as a child while watching a musical, and the action would suddenly come to a screeching halt as the characters, no matter how desperate their situation, would suddenly break into song. 

The author continues to do an admirable job of blending the Scottish culture and countryside into the weave of the plot.  The descriptions of the topography in the Scottish highlands, the inclusion of the old rundown castle and the ruins of the old Pictish settlement are all quite engaging, stopping well short of turning the narrative into a travelogue.  The addition of the ancient underground tunnel from the village to the lower keeps of the castle is a nice touch, especially if it comes into play later in the plot. 

Ms. Peters demonstrates that she really knows her craft in keeping the reader as much in the dark as the hero and heroine, while creating a rather sinister aura around the “bad guys” in the form of Mr. Jackson.  The reader is confident that all will be revealed in due time and is not (at least if “the reader” is like me) at all impatient to find out who and what is behind it all, preferring to let the plot unfold and simply enjoy the ride.  I suppose this is one of the considerations of the judges who award those literary awards for mystery books that you hear about.   

It’s interesting to note the difference between a work like this that falls squarely into the mystery category and the works of, say Stephen King or Dean Koontz, that use many of the same techniques, such as leaving the reader in the dark until close to the end as to who exactly is committing the murders.  Suspense, Mystery, and even Horror share a lot of commonality.  Certain structural and procedural conventions are in play in this book that leave us in no doubt as to what kind of story we’re reading.  Anyone not used to reading true Mysteries and curious about what they really are would do well to give Elizabeth Peters a try!

 

Next segment: Chapters 5-7

Our book for October will be Witches on the Road Tonight, by Sheri Holman!  Start looking for a copy right away, as this one is a little newer (copyright 2011), so it might be a little harder to find in used book stores or libraries.