Yurth Burden

 

By Andre Norton

When the Yurth colony ship touched down on a new planet, it mistakenly landed in the middle of a small city, destroying most of the city and killing many of the native residents, the Raski. For which destruction neither the Raski nor the Yurth descendants themselves will forget or forgive. So the two populations live separate from each other, not at war but not a peace either. The native Raski occupy the arid lowlands and the alien Yurth make their homes in the mountains. 

When a Yurth youth enters adulthood, they traditionally take a journey into the valley of the destroyed Raski city to learn and understand why the Raski hate Yurth people so very much. This story concerns a young Yurth woman, Elossa, who undertakes her pilgrimage only to find her path being crossed by a Raski youth, Stans of Philbur. 

It is known among the Yurth that sometimes Yurth folks on pilgrimage never return home. What happens to them is not known. Having Stans on her trail alarms Elossa and she fears his intentions. They end up travelling together but never quite trusting each other as some mysterious force seems at times to be in control of their actions, much against their wishes. 

Arriving at the Mouth of Atturn, a place Stans declares sacred to the Raski, they venture into an underground maze where both young people experience strange episodes and disturbing visions or illusions. As they penetrate deeper into the maze, they are abruptly confronted by a vision of Attun, a Raski god of evil, who attempts but fails to kill Stans. Upon finding their way out, they are again attacked by the one who bears the face of Attun, who once again fails to kill Stans, due again to Elossa's quick interference. But two successes are followed by failure when Elossa and Stans are overwhelmed by the Attun lookalike's hideous, deformed minions and captured and bound and sent down the river.

This was an OK read. It never really grabbed my attention though. I think I have read too many of these Norton stories which seem to be the same story told over and over with a few changes made. Two young people find each other and end up traveling over empty lands inhabited by dangerous beasts, with part of the journey taking place in an underground maze of tunnels and caverns. And some kind of unnatural, deformed creatures working against them. And an old city and old technology always part of the journey. Plus the ever present mind powers that are a standard feature of a Norton story and a magical talisman or piece of jewelry. Formulaic, for sure.

The Sinister Pig

 

By Tony Hillerman

A Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Mystery

Carl Mankin was hired to investigate the disappearance of massive amounts of fossil fuels from the San Juan Basin area of New Mexico, a rich natural gas production area, among other fossil fuels. 

But as Mankin is just starting his investigation in New Mexico, he is mistaken for DEA, Drug Enforcement, and is shot dead. And when the FBI take over the investigation from the local police, they declare Mankin was accidentally shot by a careless hunter, case closed. 

Meanwhile, the drug lords have figured out a way to get drugs out of Mexico and into the US by using old pipelines that crossed the border. Pipelines are periodically cleaned by a device called a pig which travels through the pipeline removing rust and buildup. So the smugglers are using the pipeline pigs to haul drugs through the pipeline from Mexico and into New Mexico.

Bernie Manuelito, who used to be an officer with the Navajo Police, is now working for Border Patrol, when she spots some unusual activity on a ranch near New Mexico's border. Unfortunately, her harmless nosing around gets her put on a hit list. And in the cross hairs of a Washington DC sociopath who has brought his high-powered rifle to New Mexico to take her out. What the DC insider doesn't know is that his number one guy isn't the loyal tool he believes him to be. 

I found this mystery to be a bit disappointing. In that the first murder is never solved, other than the FBI coverup claiming it was an accidental shooting, nor is the mystery of the billions of dollars of missing funds. Yes, the bad guy DC insider is taken care of. But the take down of the corrupt Border Patrol agent is barely mentioned.  Seems to me the story was mainly used to get Jim Chee and Bernie back together. 

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.

Charity Girl

 

By Georgette Heyer

A Regency Romance

Viscount Ashley Desford is attending a dinner party when he accidentally meets young Cherry Steane. She wasn't allowed to attend the party because she lives with her aunt as an unpaid employee. Abandoned by her father, she was reluctantly taken in by her aunt, who treats rather unkindly. Desford finds Cherry interesting and spends a few moments talking to her in the hallway as she peers down into the room from the upstairs, hoping to get a glimpse of the festivities. 

Unfortunately, one of her cousins sees her chatting with Desford and tells the aunt who gives Cherry a severe scolding. Feeling she can't bear living in such a cold and unloving household, Cherry packs her few belongings and runs away, where Desford, who is traveling back to London, comes across her trudging alongside the road the next morning. 

When he finds out she has run away, he tries to talk her into returning to her aunt's home. But she flatly refuses and seems to be desperate to get away. So he offers to escort her to her grandfather's house in London. But when they get there, the house is closed up and none of the neighbors knows where the grandfather has gone. 

Not knowing what else to do with the girl, Desford takes her to a close woman friend, Hetta Silverdale. Hetta and Desford have been friends since childhood, and he views her as a sister and is depending on her to help him now. It takes a bit of persuading, but he gets Hetta to agree to let Cherry stay with her while he tries to locate the grandfather. 

Hetta does not live alone, she lives in the family home with her widowed mother and her younger brother, Charlie. At first, Cherry gets along with Hetta, the mother and Charlie very well. But then Charlie steals a kiss and the mother turns against Cherry and gives her a lecture on encouraging men to come on to her which Cherry certainly did not do.

Meanwhile, Desford is traveling around England, trying to track the grandfather down without any luck. He eventually finds him but discovers the grandfather has recently gotten married again and the new wife, the ex-housekeeper, makes it very clear that she is willing to take Cherry in as an unpaid employee, which is exactly the situation that caused Cherry to run away from her aunt.  And the grandfather refuses to give Cherry any financial support to help her out. 

Desford returns to Hetta only to find everyone upset because Charlie and Cherry are both missing. And Cherry's father, who everyone assumed was dead, has suddenly shown up at the Silverdale home, demanding his child and declaring Desford seduced her and ruined her. 

But things are not as bad as they seem because Desford's younger brother, Simon, has become involved and with his help, everything turns out as well as can be expected.  He tells Desford, at the end of the story, "But if you should get into any more scrapes, Des, just send me word, and I'll post straight back to rescue you!" 

For a romance novel, there is really no romance in this story. Mainly it is about Desford's efforts to help out Cherry.

Sometimes even a favorite author can be disappointing. 

Here is a review by Austenprose.

Never Cry "Arp!" and Other Great Adventures

 

By Patrick F. McManus

A collection of humorous stories about childhood, camping, friendship and hunting and fishing. The title story, Never Cry "Arp!" concerns two grade school boy, the author and his dear friend, Crazy Eddie Muldoon, who, "at the age of eight, was a sort of magnet to injuries. It was almost as though Eddie scheduled his injuries for the day when he got up in the morning.

8:00 Stub big toe of left foot.

8:35 Step on rusty nail with right foot.

9:05 Get stung over left eye by bee.

10:30 Run sliver in hand while whittling.

10:35 Cut finger while whittling.

11:00 Twist ankle jumping off pigpen fence.

11:22 Get tick embedded behind left ear.

12:00 Lunch.

1:15 Get stung by nettles.

2:00 Get bitten by the Petersons' dog."

 But the last incident recounted in the story that resulted in Eddie getting injured was when he and Pat were biking down a steep hill and Eddie's pant leg got caught in his bike's chain. He got so banged up that when Pat asked him if he was OK, all Eddie could say was, 'Arp arp arp.'

The other stories in the collection are

• Skunk Dog
• The Mountain
• Reading Sign
• Kid Brothers and Their Practical Application
• Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!
• Secret Places
• A Really Nice Blizzard
• Cubs
• Muldoon in Love
• Not Long for This Whirl
• The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw

The stories in this collection are some of Pat's best, and all deal with his younger days, which are my personal favorite. Someone should publish a collection of all his tall tales from his childhood and teen years. They are always hilarious!

One Corpse Too Many

 

By Ellis Peters

A Brother Cadfael story.

King Stephen has come to Shrewsbury and is occupying the area with his troops. The local lords tried to resist but failed and they and their men are summarily executed. In all, 94 people are hung until dead, their bodies dumped in a ditch. 

Brother Cadfael has permission to collect the bodies and arrange for them to be returned to their families and given proper burials. But when he does a head count, he finds 95 dead men, instead of the expected 94. And no one recognizes or knows who the 95th man is.

Meanwhile, Cadfael has taken on a temporary helper, a teenage boy who Cadfael quickly realizes is actually a girl. The girl, Godith, is hiding in the abbey area because her father was one of the rebel lords. If she is taken by Stephen and his allies, she can be held for ransom. When she views the body of the unknown man, she recognizes him as part of the rebel alliance who was entrusted to remove treasure from Shrewsbury and convey it to Queen Maud, Stephen's rival for the British throne. 

The killer was after the treasure and used the mass hanging event as an opportunity of commit the crime and hide his victim among the dead. But Cadfael, examining the body, clearly sees he died from being garroted, not from hanging. 

Together Cadfael and Godith put together the pieces of how, where and why he was killed. With the help of Cadfael and Godith, a killer will be revealed.

This was a good read. With a bit of a surprise ending, when Cadfael accidentally discovers that the murdered man was not quite the innocent Cadfael believed him to be. 

Here is a review by Kirkus.

Retief: Emissary to the Stars

 

By Keith Laumer

A collection of eight Retief stories dating from the 1960s and 1970s.

• THE HOOB MELON CRISIS:  As per usual, Terrans and Groaci are in disagreement about who owns a newly discovered world, Froom 93 aka New Groac. And, as per usual, Jame Retief steps in to send the Groaci packing, by introducing an invasive species, gribble-worms. The gribbles take over the world, but they shed their skins, which are quite lovely and can be made into gorgeous cloth. Still it backfires, when the Terrans decide they no longer want Froom 93 either, what with all the gribbles. So the Groaci can have it if they want. Unfortunately, the Groaci mistakenly release the gribbles on their home planet and the worms go after their major crop, Hoob melons.
• THE GARBAGE INVASION: Once again, Terran and Groaci can't agree what to do with the latest new world. Delicia is a natural paradise, green and lush, and Terrans want it to be declared a galactic park. The Groaci are pushing to have it turned into a planet-wide garbage dump and have already started dumping trash on it. To complicate things, a third group has arrived on Delicia, the Basurans. A bellicose race of beings known mainly for eating their planet away to bedrock, they want to add the planet of Delicia to their diet. 
• Excerpt from RETIEF AND THE WARLORDS: Retief and a companion, Harrumph, have been jailed and are shortly to be fed to vicious predators in an arena, to the delight of the locals of Harrumph's home world. But Retief gets his hand on a potent drug, that when taken, gives him an interesting super power.
• THE TROUBLESHOOTER: Basurans, led by one Intimidator of Insolent Upstarts Honk, are causing trouble again, this time on Furtheron, a bucolic planet settled by farmers. Stupidly, though, Honk agrees to a bet with Retief. 
• THE NEGOTIATORS: The diplomats find themselves stuck on a small barren island, the only solid ground on a water world, trying to negotiate a treaty with the natives. But they have no idea where the locals are or even what they look like. Until Retief happens to strike up a conversation with a large blob lounging on the beach. 
• GIANT KILLER: The diplomats mistakenly agree to kill a large carnivorous dinosaur that is dining on the local villagers. Failing to do so will be fatal.
• THE FOREST IN THE SKY: Zoon is has been taken over by voracious bunnies that will eat anything and the local people need help. But what the diplomatic missions didn't understand was that the bunnies are the people's children, mindless eating-machines that their parents are terrified of.
• TRICK OR TREATY: Retief and a small band of circus performers thwart an attempted takeover on the part of an unsavory group of centaurs.

Most of the stories in this collection are just average. In all the stories, most everybody is only looking our for number one, including the humans. And most have neither the brains or gumption to save themselves from disaster. Indeed, most seem indifferent to immanent doom. Only Retief seems to have any morals or seems to be the only one to care about his fellow intelligent beings. 

For me, the only stories that I truly enjoyed was  THE HOOB MELON CRISIS and the excerpt, RETIEF AND THE WARLORDS.