You Loved Angela Lansbury in ‘Murder She Wrote’

Are keeping an eye on North Korea or are checking the election polls daily

Hi book lovers,

On Saturday, my dog Ellie and I were out for a long walk when all of sudden she began walking with a purpose. She walked me straight to the bookstore, knowing there would be treats — and attention — waiting for her there. She’s a smart one.

Hope you had a great weekend.

And, now, what to read if…

You Celebrated Angela Lansbury’s Life with a ‘Murder She Wrote’ Marathon

The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson

Angela Lansbury, the iconic actress, died last week at 96. While she appeared in dozens of movies and plays, I will always associate Lansbury as the voice of Mrs. Potts in “Beauty and The Beast,” and as Jessica Fletcher, the mystery writer and amateur sleuth solving a disturbing number of murders in Cabot Cove, from “Murder, She Wrote.” If you’re craving a mystery with a “Murder She Wrote” vibe, look no further than Katy Watson’s The Three Dahlias.

The novel stars three actresses, who have each played the role of beloved sleuth Dahlia Lively, as they attend a fan convention at the former estate of Lettice Davenport, the author who created Dahlia. There’s the beloved Rosalind King, who first played Dahlia in the movies, Caroline Hooper, who starred in a TV show as Dahlia for years, and newcomer Posy Starling, newly out of rehab and cast as Dahlia in the latest adaptation. After one of the convention participants dies in circumstances like a murder described in one of Davenport’s books, the three performers use their deep knowledge of the books and the detective skills they learned from the original Dahlia to find the killer before he strikes again.

There’s a part of me that does believe all country house weekends end in murder.

Much like “Murder, She Wrote,” The Three Dahlias combines a love of traditional golden age mysteries with a contemporary (or, in the case of the TV show, 1980s) sensibility. Katy Watson uses the tropes found in works from writers such as Agatha Christie, most notably the English manor setting, but with a knowing wink and nod to the reader. Jessica Fletcher fans will likely identify with one — or more — of the Dahlias.

Reminder recs: I love whodunnits featuring mystery-writing sleuths. Some of my favorites include Elly Griffith’s The Postscript Murders and Anthony Horowitz’s The Magpie Murders (PBS’s adaptation of this premiered last night!).  

You’re Nervously Watching the News Out of North Korea

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim

North Korea engaged in a series of missile tests last week and sent warplanes to the border it shares with South Korea, further increasing tensions between the two countries. (Because the internet is a weird place, social media users also commented on the safari hat and white tunic Kim Jong Un donned when monitoring the military exercises.)

For a look inside the totalitarian country, grab Without You, There is No Us, a memoir about journalist Suki Kim’s time in North Korea. The writer infiltrated the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology by going undercover as a missionary and teacher (it’s weird that she was approved since a quick Google search showed she was a journalist, but her infiltration attempts worked). For six months, she taught English to the sons of North Korea’s elite while taking furious notes about everything she saw and experienced.

The result is a rare look into a secretive, isolated country. Kim describes how her students, cut off from the world, believe their country is the best, even as they cannot compare it to anything. Her students — who focus on computer science — don’t even know the closed university intranet they use isn’t the same as the global internet.

Kim acknowledges that by writing this memoir, she has put her former colleagues and students at risk (although she did change their names) but ultimately concludes exposing the totalitarian regime was the right decision. She writes, “I feel a greater obligation, both as a writer and as a person deeply concerned about the future of Korea, to tell the stark truth about the DPRK, in the hopes that the lives of average North Koreans, including my beloved students, will one day improve.” It’s a chilling, fascinating book and well worth the read.

Reminder rec: A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer recounts the bizarre tale of Kim Jong-Il’s attempt to develop his country’s movie industry by kidnapping two South Korean film stars.

You’re Getting Inundated with Campaign Ads

Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder

We’re just three weeks out from mid-term elections in the U.S. I will spare you my prognostication on the future of the House, Senate and state legislatures and will instead direct you to read Let’s Not Do That Again, Grant Ginder’s funny and poignant new novel about a political family.

As the novel opens, the conclusion of Nancy Harrison’s Senate race, once thought to be a sure thing, is now a toss-up after a video of her daughter Greta marching with far-right extremists in Paris goes viral. Nancy, who took over her deceased husband’s House seat years earlier, quickly dispatches her son and former staffer Nick to France to fix the situation. After years of service to his mother, all Nick wants is to work on his musical about the life of Joan Didion (tentatively titled Hello to All That!), but he agrees to help after learning his sister might be in danger.

Let’s Not Do That Again features one of the wildest third-act twists I’ve read in ages. About 200 pages into the 300-page book, I was wondering how there were possibly 100 pages left, but then, that twist.

Ginder excels at writing books about complex families with lovable but flawed people trying to do right be each other. Let’s Not Do That Again is a welcome addition to that canon.

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Thanks as always for letting me into your inbox. You can catch up on last week’s recs here and read my Q&A with Lupita Aquino here.

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