Alena (Rachel Pastan)

This haunting novel is a deliberate updating of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and evokes much of the same sense of claustrophobia, uncertainty, and dread. The (again unnamed) narrator is an art historian, new in her profession and working her way up through assistant positions in minor museums. She meets up by chance with Bernard, the wealthy and enigmatic owner of a small but important gallery in Cape Cod, and he sweeps her off her feet by offering her the job of curator. The gallery has been closed for two years since its last curator, the larger-than-life Alena, disappeared, apparently while swimming alone. The museum's business manager adored the departed Alena and is devoted to maintaining her hold on the museum, even though she is gone, whispering to the newcomer at one point to remember that she is temporary. As in the original novel, mysteries gradually unravel and reveal something not entirely surprising about Alena's disappearance. The writing is very good, creating a strong sense of place and character, but for me this story did not work as well as the original, where the young heroine was inexperienced but gradually came into her own, finally taking charge of the household and telling the domineering Mrs. Danvers, "I am Mrs. de Winter now, you know." Alena's heroine never makes the same stand, finishing the book as the same frightened child she was when she started. She also makes some unforgivably foolish choices, for instance sneaking into the museum at night to run off and mail materials without checking on any procedures. In Rebecca, you could understand the innocent bride making some mistakes, though none of them were so egregious, but in Alena this person has been hired in a professional capacity and should live up to some basic standards. I found myself annoyed at both Bernard, who hired someone so woefully unqualified and unprepared, and then abandoned her without direction, and at the narrator herself, who should have realized how far out of her depth she was and insisted on more structure. So although I truly enjoyed the book, I was disappointed for the ways it seemed to be twisted out of its natural shape to align with the original.

Finn Fancy Necromancy (Randy Henderson)

This rollicking fun trip of a novel involves elite necromancers, formless Fey, evil witches, brutish Sasquatches, and thuggish gnomes, set in modern-day Washington State under the blind eye of the mundane world. At the center is a mystery: who framed Finn for dark necromancy and got him exiled to the Other Realm for 25 years, and now that he's finally out, who's trying to get him sent back there again? Finn and his funky family and assorted other strange folks have just three days to solve these mysteries before he's dragged back to his non-life. As he tries to figure out what's going on people around him are dying, falling in love, discovering secrets, and speaking from the grave. I enjoyed the romp quite a bit, because although it feels very comic book I could really care about the characters (including several that are diverse in mundane ways such as race, orientation, and intellectual ability, without carrying Look At Me - I'm Diverse!! signs). The ending wasn't terribly surprising but satisfying enough and leaves open lots of directions for sequels, which makes me happy.