And the detective was a eunuch

No matter what else is happening in my life, there's always a book. In fact, when things are weird, when life is stressful, when I'm baffled by the world and the gray hairs in my eyebrows are multiplying exponentially, I just disappear into a book.

So, anyway, I've been reading a lot lately.

I read a lot of mysteries. It's not that I love trying to figure out who the murderer is before the last chapter where all is revealed. I'm lousy at that. What I love is that mystery writers seem to think up the most interesting, complex characters, and I just love getting involved in the lives of those characters. In my secret heart, I'm V.I. Warshawski! Or, better yet, Eve Dallas or Amelia Peabody! I don't even have to choose, I can be all of them. I just have to open a book.

Not, you understand, that I ever had a huge desire to be a eunuch in the sultan's court during the latter days of the Ottoman Empire, but that's what's so amazing about books. If they're well written, you can step seamlessly into a life completely at odds with your own experience and be, well, anyone! I think you'd like The Janissary Tree. You might expect that author Jason Goodwin would have played the protagonist, Yashim, for whatever humor could be extracted from the fact of his condition as a eunuch, but that's not the case. Although Goodwin brings a wonderful and subtle sense of humor to the story, he treats Yashim with dignity and presents him as a complex and thoroughly appealing character. The book is wonderfully written, intelligent, and, as The Times of London writes, full of "chases, dramatic escapes, episodes of cruelty [and] delicious food." Wow, all my favorite stuff!

Actually, I've never had the desire to be a sociopath, either, but I've read all of Carol O'Connell's Kathy Mallory books, too. I just finished the last one earlier this winter. It does surprise me that I'm the only one I know of who reads, and loves, O'Connell's Mallory books. Maybe it's because Mallory is a much darker and more disturbing character than Kinsey Millhone or V.I. Warshawski. Although, that would be why I've liked reading the series so much! But is Kathy Mallory really a sociopath? Start with Mallery's Oracle, read the series, and finish with Find Me. Then decide. I was blown away by Find Me, although others have been disappointed with the book. I don't know if Find Me is O'Connell's last book in the series, but I hope so. I thought it was a jaw dropping ending with just enough left unresolved to be intriguing.

Put down the newspaper, pick up a good book. There, isn't that much better?