Fish Blood and Bone

There have been a number of negative reviews of this book. This probably stems from the book being marketed as a "breathlessly paced thriller." Do not be mislead - this is not light summer reading. The author has deliberately selected a specific genre to highlight the theme of the cycle of birth, life, death, decay and rebirth. The various plots and subplots form a dense, layered narrative hinting at the complexity of this cycle. Everything from the description of garden compost overlying a hidden bonepile, the protagonist's multiple exposure photographs, decaying Indian botanical studies, misleading diary excerpts, even descriptions of the growth cycle of various trees are fragmented clues leading to further complexity and layering. Hidden within the fictional layers are insightful references to how 19th century colonial attitudes still resonate and affect the present day.Like Eco's Name of the Rose or Shield's The Fig Eater, or Pear's An Instance of the Fingerpost, the genre is merely the framework for a much more multi-dimensional excursion than the average.

"Fish, Blood and Bone" takes off rapidly enough with a murder soon after photographer Claire Fleetwood moves into her unexpected legacy. She inherits Eden Dwellings from a great-aunt of whom she wasn't aware. However, the house has a few problems -- a basement full of macabre artifacts and an intimidating tennant with friends who are bad news. The tennant's daughter, Sally, befriends Claire, but is soon murdered, for reasons unknown, right before Claire's eyes.Claire meets long-lost cousin, Jack Ironstone, who briefly -- very briefly -- explains the family's heritage in botany -- specifically, opium in India. Offered a chance to accompany a team of scientists, cousin Jack included, on a hunt in India for a mysterious green poppy, which may provide a cure for cancer, Claire accepts. Thus begins a personal journey into her past. The girl whose roots were once non-existant, suddenly has her hands full of relatives and skeletons. The plot is vast and takes off quickly at the start, and everything ties up interestingly at the end. However, the in-between is sometimes tedious. There is so much sprawl, you're worn out trying to follow it. And too, the scientific lingo bogged me down (i.e., teratology, cinchona.) This novel obviously required a tremendous amount of research on the author's part. It was good, but I wish I had enjoyed it more.

Fish, blood, and bone make good fertilizer for Claire Fleetwood's garden. So says Sally, the caretaker of the garden on the property that Claire inherits from relatives she never knew, but Sally is murdered on page one, and Claire finds out that her inheritance - the garden, the house, tenants, and the heritage may not be such a blessing after all. Inside the house is a diary belonging to Magda Ironstone (circa 1880's), former owner of the property, who may or may not be Claire's ancestor, and a gruesome collection belonging to Magda's husband, Joseph, found in the cellar. Soon after Sally's murder, more unsavory shadowy characters start showing up, and the estate seems truly haunted.The story shifts to India, to the Fleetwood opium plantation, and the book travels back to the time of Magda to tell her story, actually shifting back and forth between the 1880's and the 1980's. This, section, in my opinion, is the best part of the book. Magda is a beguiling character, and her voice lifts out of the pages of her diary into the present. Claire travels to India to begin a journey that will retrace Magda's footsteps, and wind up with cousin Jack Ironstone, on an illegal expedition into Tibet to search for the legendary green poppy which may contain a cure for cancer, besides being a hallucinogenic. Part historic novel, part genealogy quest, part mystery/thriller, part botany and genetics lesson, this fanciful story has a lot of threads which may boggle some readers' minds but will delight anybody who craves untangling the challenges of a big rambling intellectual whodunit. As a bonus, there is also a new twist on the Jack the Ripper stories.