Watch the Shows and Read the Books: Three Quirky Detective Series

22 Aug

Agatha Raisin, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games are three detective series which I had as much fun watching as I did reading.

Agatha Raisin
AgathaRaisin
I was curious to check out the Agatha Raisin series – since I am a fan of cozy mysteries – and I enjoyed several of M. C. Beaton’s novels, which the series is based on.  In the movie pilot The Quiche of Death, a London PR executive, Agatha Raisin, fulfills her lifelong dream of early retirement in a small village in the Cotswolds. When she enters the local quiche-baking competition in hopes of impressing her new neighbors she learns all is not as idyllic in the village as she expected. Raisin doesn’t so much solve crimes but rather comically stumbles into their solution. I recommend checking out the movie before the rest of the eight episode series since it sets up the relationship between the various characters.  You might also recognize star Ashley Jensen as the Scottish BFF/coworker, Christina, from Ugly Betty.  You can stream the first season on Hoopla which also offers audiobook versions of the novels.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
DirkGently
Douglas Adams is best known as the author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series which I had written about in a previous post, but his equally quirky Dirk Gently series about a holistic detective is also worth checking out. Serving as a follow up to the books, two seasons of the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency have recently been created.  What makes Dirk a holistic detective is that he solves mysteries by following the interconnectedness of all things, so rather than seeking clues, he waits for the clues to come to him.  In both seasons the episodes start with confusing storylines that don’t seem in anyway cohesive, but by the end all is revealed and the mystery is solved.  I enjoyed the quirky way everything was wrapped up.  This is a good choice for those who like not only humor with their mystery, but also a bit of fantasy too.

Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games
AC_CriminalGames
Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games is a series of French Movies available to stream with subtitles from Hoopla or on DVD.  It takes classic Christie story plots and transports them to 1950’s France and inserts new crime solvers.  If you are a Christie fan who is open to new interpretations of her work than they are a treat.  I watched the adaption of Sparkling Cyanide (also published as Remembered Death) in which a movie star seems to have committed suicide but Inspector Laurence suspects murder.  He is reluctantly assisted by up and coming reporter Alice Avril and his always loyal secretary Marlène. There is a bit more humor infused in the movies than the original books which I enjoyed.  I also found it a lot of fun to see new faces solving old crimes.

Written By:
Aimee Harris
Head of Reference

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“what sad people do when they are lonely looks a lot like me at the grocery store…” – Sabrina Benaim The Loneliest Sweet Potato

15 Aug

Depression&OtherMagicTricks

I was first drawn to Sabrina Benaim’s Depression and Other Magic Tricks by YouTube’s Button Poetry trending spoken word/poetry video called “The Loneliest Sweet Potato”.  You can borrow Depression and other Magic Tricks from BCCLS Libraries.

While I don’t think this is a book suited for everyone’s taste in prose, I do admit there is some raw humanity in a lot of the pages within this book. Whether it’s the title of a poem that impacts you more than the poem itself or if it’s one line that stands out within the mix of pages. This book is worth a glance, even if only to find that one line that’ll resonate deeply within you.

For example, the first page reads “what you see is what you get, / but that’s not all there is.”

This alone intrigued me because it is so true and yet can feel so false. To some people – in my opinion – what you see of course is not what you get as we are all just charading through everyday life trying to portray even if only a glimpse of who we are to those around us. Just as the iceberg analogy I’m sure everyone has heard, that you only see 10% of it and 90% of it is below the surface. This statement is very much relatable to many people. But I know there can be people that may not relate to this statement, and I think that is something so powerful and intriguing that it beguiles me. Whether or not the majority truly believe in their own belief – or if it’s just a reactional state dependent on past circumstances that have caused them to feel such a way – is still remarkable. This, I feel, is what draws attention to the question “what is one’s reality?” or “what is one’s truth?”

On a separate scale I also felt drawn to another poem on page 35 titled “gravity speaks” and it reads “if i am holding you without hands, / how am i supposed to let go?”

This statement/question feels so profound to me and though it makes absolute sense because the title is “gravity speaks” it can also go much deeper than just the literal.

Gravity is a force, a natural phenomenon, so by definition it makes sense for it to be something you can feel without feeling. But what about love? What about God? What about supernatural? Some can say that these are also phenomena that can be held without holding. It’s all about what one claims as their reality.

Sabrina Benaim’s Depression and other Magic Tricks is worth a comb through. If not for the sake of poetry, then for the sake of reality.

Written by:
Sherissa Hernandez
Adult Programming Assistant

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