Short Takes: Three Novellas

Short Takes is a new feature here that focuses on works than can be read in an hour or less. Today it’s three novellas – a mystery, a work of suspense, and what I can only call a computer hacker procedural (a new genre in the mystery/suspense field, I’m sure). All three are actually introductions, either to larger works and / or a series.

Three Sisters by Helen Smith introduces a rather unlikely detective, Emily Castle, a young woman who is still mourning the loss of her dog. She lives in a south London neighborhood, and she finds an invitation to a party slide under her door. It’s a squat party, which means it’s being staged at a nearby house that is occupied by squatters. It’s a rather lavish party for the neighborhood, with food, drink and entertainment. Except one of the entertainers ends up dead. Or does she? Emily rather persistently (and slightly obnoxiously) continues to investigate.

Suspects abound, and it’s quite a trick for author Smith to keep them all straight in the relatively short narrative. She’s written full-length Emily Castle stories, and based on Three Sisters, they’re well worth checking out.

Before Paris by Adria Cimino is, I suspect, a rather large chunk of narrative removed from Paris, Rue des Martyrs, to help shorten the manuscript. Cimino has turned it into a novella, focusing on one of the four stories she covers in the full-length novel (the novella is subtitled “A Prequel to Paris, Ruse des Martyrs”).

The novella is the back story for Rafael Mendez of Colombia, who is resisting his father’s demand that he join his parents in the emerald trade, a rough-and-tumble, borderline criminal activity on a good day. Reluctantly, he goes with his parents for what turns out to be their last trip – they’re shot dead while driving to the mines. His father’s dying words are “Find Carmen,” whom Rafael determines lives in Paris – on the rue des Martyrs.

It’s not a complete story (it is finished in the full-length novel) but it is a good introduction to Cimino’s style and how she constructs a story. (You can read my review of Paris, Rue des Martyrs here.)

In Social Engineer by Ian Sutherland, we meet Brody Taylor, a self-described “white hat” computer hacker who makes a living by trying to hack companies’ computer defenses. He’s called to a British pharmaceutical company after the company learns that Chinese hackers are nosing around, trying to obtain the research on a new Alzheimer’s drug. Taylor tells the story on a double track – explaining how he was able to hack the company’s systems and his relationship with a new girlfriend. She thinks he’s a movie location scout, and is ignorant of his hacking profession.

Sutherland takes the reader on a few interesting twists, the most surprising of which brings the story full circle. Social Engineer is a fun read and a good introduction to computer hacking, and how it’s done. The novella is also the introduction to a series of Brody Taylor stories.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Adria Cimino’s “Paris, Rue Des Martyrs”

Some years back, my wife and I visited Paris for one of our major anniversaries. It was, overall, a delightful visit, in spite of the pickpocket at the Pont Neuf Metro station and the wildcat strikes being conducted by government workers protesting something – which meant you never knew when museums would be open or closed. We did finally manage to see the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay, despite the best efforts of the employees union.

Around the corner and up a block from our hotel was a wonderful restaurant, Au Petite Riche, complete with surly French waiters. One day, we went wandering a bit further north, only a couple of blocks, walking toward the church, Sacre Couer, on Montmartre. We found ourselves in one of those typical Parisian neighborhoods, Rue des Martyrs, where no one seemed to speak English but, when it comes to shopping, all languages are spoken here. I remember small restaurants and cafes, two bakeries, the corner flower stand, the chocolate shop, and the wine shop.

The neighborhood recently became the setting for a novel, Paris, Rue des Martyrs, by Adria Cimino. Because of the memories of our trip, I couldn’t resist the ad from Amazon. What I discovered was a story comprised of four sub-stories, each gradually embracing the others, until a full novel emerges.

Rafael Mendez is a young man who’s left the shambles of a family in Colombia. His parents, involved in the borderline-criminal emerald trade, have both been killed, and his father’s dying words to his son was to “find Carmen.” Rafael knows that his birth mother lives in Paris, and he eventually finds himself staring at an apartment building, 120 Rue des Martyrs.

One of the residents of that building is Cecile de Champigny, a woman approaching middle age who feels increasingly ignored by her older husband and generally ignored by her teenage children and older stepdaughter. She is longing for something – love, attention – and unexpectedly finds it when she sees an artist drawing a picture of her in a café. He disappears, leaving the drawing behind him.

Andre Wren is an aging stage and film star, trying and rather bitterly failing to overcome the aftermath of a motorcycle accident. His wife Clarisse has left him. One day, sitting in a cafe on the Rue des Martyrs, a young man introduces himself. As Andre’s son.

Mira Galino is an artist living in Naples, co-owner of an art gallery. She accidentally walks in on her fiancé and her business partner having an affair; she turns around and walks out, traveling to Paris to stay with a friend. Unexpectedly, she runs into her brother Septime, also an artist and long distanced from his family. And then Mira discovers she is pregnant.

Adria Cimino

The reader watches as Cimino gradually ties these four disparate stories together into a coherent whole. This is less the “six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon” and more like “one-and-a-half degrees of separation.” She makes the reader care about the characters, even the obnoxious Andre with his general anger at the world for his accident and physical impairments. Gradually, a kind of grace, the grace that leads to redemption, suffuses the story.

Cimino spent more than 10 years as a reporter for the Associated Press and Bloomberg News. She’s a cofounder of Velvet Morning Press, based in Paris, where she lives with her family. Her short stories have appeared in two anthologies, That’s Paris and Legacy, and she’s the author of the novel Close to Destiny. She’s also written a prequel novella for this latest novel, entitled Before Paris, which has been available free on Amazon Kindle.

Paris, Rue des Martyrs is both an intriguing story and a treat for those who might be at least a little familiar with the neighborhood.

Photograph of Rue des Martyrs via Wikimedia Commons. Used with permission.