The Literary Reflection, III

Once again, it's time round up the recent reading with some mini-reviews. Yadda yadda yadda?

'Oliver's Travels' by Alan Plater (1994)

Good, but it doesn't add much if you've already seen its offspring mini-series, except for a moustache and a hotel interlude. It's also much swearier, which is quite frustrating. As a result, it's a mixed experience, both charming and upsetting. Yes, it's still a lovely story, but it's not quite as good. One for the Plater completionist, perhaps. If you don't know the story, then a crossword- and jazz-obsessed lecturer is made redundant and sets out on a quest to meet his favourite puzzle compiler, which also takes in true love, predestination, serious crimes and the Orkneys.

'Riders Of The Purple Sage' by Zane Grey (1912)

I always have to stop and think for a moment when I see the year 1912 as the original publication year of this one. It really doesn't feel like a novel from so long ago, except for the shared content with 'A Study In Scarlet', which also features a lot of villainous Mormons. It's a great Western, with a very interesting central female character and lots of the psychological Western tropes which may have originated here. At the same time, the ending is rather telegraphed, and the novel is packed full of all kinds of subtext that I don't even begin to comprehend. This gets a recommendation, but... what on Earth were the Mormons doing back then to get this much hatred?

`Elementary, My Dear Groucho' by Ron Goulart (1999)

It's not high art, nor is it an excellence in storytelling, but there is something very charming about these Groucho Marx mysteries by Goulart. He did six in total, and this is the third, a lighthearted romp featuring a hacky ham playing Sherlock Holmes who challenges Groucho to solve the murder on his set before he does. Of course, there are wisecracks aplenty, and nothing quite goes to plan, but we get some sense of true Groucho-ness throughout, and his sidekick character and narrator continues to be relateable. Yes, it's only light comfort reading, but sometimes that's necessary!

'The Club Of Queer Trades' by GK Chesterton (1905)

It doesn't jump up the charts in the same way that my other experiences with Chesterton have, but it's still a solid set of stories, or a slight set of stories, or something in between. Six mystery stories which have non-criminal answers revealed at the end make up an unusual set, but the ending is just a little underwhelming. Still, Chesterton is Chesterton, and even a slight set of his stories is better than a bulky set of those from most other authors. I quite like the one about the Lieutenant that lives in The Elms, and will say no more.

O.