I bought and read Barbara Corrado Pope's Cezanne's Quarry because the author and I attended Hiram College at the same time. We were, in fact, friends minus or acquaintances plus. I remember playing marathon bridge games with her on Friday afternoons, but mostly I remember what an intellectual she was. I was fascinated by a paper she wrote where she analyzed Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy by studying how each word in the title related to the events and themes of the novel. Fascinating, IMHO. Even more so when in graduate school I was exposed to Aristotle's theories of the structure of dramatic literature. Actually I think that while I was at Indiana University studying such things, I may have morphed into a scaled-down version of Barbara Corrado.
Anyway, I approached the book with mixed feelings. I wanted to like it; at the same time I didn't want it to be heads and shoulders above what I've written. Now that I've finished it, I can relax on both counts. Barb was a history major, and Cezanne's Quarry is a murder mystery set in a small-ish (population: "20,000 souls") (page 1) French town in 1885. A woman is raped and murdered in a quarry where Paul Cezanne often paints. Cezanne and Emile Zola, representing real history, are characters, the rest of the "cast" is fictional, and the events which feature them all are fast paced and interesting. I have to admit Barb surprised me in the whodunit area. I didn't see the identity of the murderer coming, and it was perfectly believably. IMHO that's two big pluses in a mystery. The story also provided insights into the history of issues that still concern us today—religion vs. science and women's rights. I recommend it.
Now I am jealous of one thing in particular—Barb got to use her maiden and married names. It's her first book, and her publisher is apparently higher on the scale of niceties than my first publisher. I had tried for Martha Mason Humphreys but was told that had too many letters. I went with Martha Humphreys. My friend Tessa later suggested I should have told them to stop when they had to, but it was too late. I would have liked that. Martha Mason Hu. (Perhaps a Chinese writer?) Better yet: Martha Mason Humph.
I did read Barb closely, and dog-eared the following:
1) "Doling out the property before death was a tried-and-true strategy for evading the inheritance tax." (page 142) Even back then? Interesting. Hope it's researched.
2) A character chastises another for not acting in a Christian way and receives an interesting response. "And when, my dearest, have Christians ever been Christian?" (page 204) The more things change, the more etc.
3) "If only, Martin thought, if only and soon." (205) That, IMHO, sounds way too modern.
4) "If you know what justice is, not bourgeois justice, but real justice for the poor, the weak and the sick, then to hell with the state." (page 216) I like Hiram College. It produces rebels, even if they're writing about other times.
Bottom line: It's good. And I'll push for supporting an old friend and fellow writer: how 'bout going out and buying a copy?
