A Double Dose of Kate – book reviews

My dear friend and fellow Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton fan, the powerhouse that is Kate Laity was kind enough to donate one of her books to the library on her last flying visit as she travels between her working life in New York state and her family home in Dundee. She also sent me the e-book version of her latest noir novel, which hopefully I might be able to wrest in hard copy form from her at some future date. These two very different outputs certainly show her range and versatility.

UNKIRJA: DREAM BOOK by KA Laity (Aino Press 2009) UNIKIRJA

A fine mixture of both the retelling of folklore tales from her ancestral homeland of Finland with a selection of modern takes on older themes. The “mythic dreams” of ravens and cuckoos, magical transformations, early Christianity, shamans and murder ballads echo concisely the storytelling of Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ mistresswork, “Women Who Run With The Wolves” with a hearty Northern flavour. The more contemporary updates of werewolves and giants sisterly saunas and a sweet story that had me You-Tubing the music of the Finnish harp, the kantele, show another side to modern life away from the more familiar Nordic detective fare we are more used to. Like a warm hug from a dear friend, these wee glimpses are perfect for snuggling up with at any time.

 

EXTRICATE by Graham Wynd (Fox Spirit Books 2014) extricate-ebook-72ppi

Short but sweet, this tale of seedy post war lowlifes certainly delivers. Putting me in mind of one of those old black and white films you would watch on a rainy weekend afternoon starring the likes of Dirk Bogarde and Sid James, “Extricate” tells a tale of grubby, greedy gangster types on the path to destruction. Add in some sleazy and seedy shenanigans that puts “Fifty Shades…” to shame and you have a tightly executed story from KA Laity’s alter ego Wynd And the nod to Messrs. Cook and Moore in the character naming adds a nice atmospheric touch. More please.

 

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