Quality 5.0 / 5.0 (highly recommended)
Gay Inclusive? Slightly – One mention of a minor gay character
Gay positive? Very – I love how the gay content is handled

Unusually, in this case I think the sequel outdoes the first book, though it’s close. The sheer creativity, wit and cleverness in this book combined with the engaging writing style make this a pleasure to read.

The novel is a mystery or crime drama, set in an alternate reality where Dodos have been re-created and people travel internationally by means of Gravitubes that go through the center of the earth. A branch of the government deals specifically in time-travel-related crimes.

And, most importantly, books have their own reality, and it’s possible for characters from, say, “Great Expectations” to enter the “real” world of the novel, and for the protagonist Thursday Next to travel into works like “Jane Eyre” or Poe’s “The Raven.” Hence Miss Havisham from “Great Expectations” is actually a major character in Fforde’s novel.

Someone is trying to kill protagonist Thursday Next by using coincidences. Yes, you read right. Death by coincidence. Fforde injects a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor into his work, and there are several laugh-out-loud moments along the way.

The main weakness to the novel is the pacing and plotting – what is ostensibly the main plot seems to take a backseat to the many subplots, so it sometimes feels like the story is just drifting. I enjoyed reading this novel, but I didn’t find myself reading it breakfast, lunch, and dinner as I do when a book is totally gripping. Still, this is a minor complaint on my part, given that the characters are likable, the humor agreeable, and the ideas engaging, and I award the novel high scores in the “Quality” category.

As to the gay stuff…. the author mentions once that the Thursday’s brother (named Joffy, a minister in the Global Standard Deity Church) is gay, including a reference to Joffy’s boyfriend. The scene is a delightful riff, as Joffy and his boyfriend must keep their relationship secret because the boyfriend’s employer looks down on its employees associating with… clergymen. This is the only gay content in the whole book (hence the very low rating in that category), but I love the way it’s handled, so I give it full marks on the positivity scale.

A breezy read for a rainy afternoon. Written in the tradition of an “English cozy” (a sub-genre of mystery that eschews violence), “Posted to Death” is a light-hearted murder mystery set in a quaint village in the English countryside. Our protagonist is a gay vampire transplant from the United States named Simon Kirby-Jones. His vampire-ness plays little role in the novel, however; he takes pills which eliminate the need to feed (so to speak), as well as reduce his sensitivity to sunlight etc.

As a recent arrival in the village of Snupperton Mumsley, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters, each with a closet full of skeletons. A busybody named Abigail has uncovered many of these secrets, which she uses to blackmail or manipulate the other villagers for her own petty goals. She compiled many of these secrets into a play which she wants performed by the local theater group; one of the village’s residents murders her to prevent his or her secrets from becoming known.

The author successfully surprises with the revelation of the murderer. I might have wished for another clue or two along the way, because even a clever reader (if I do say so myself!) would find it difficult to see past the red herrings and piece together the mystery. Still, it’s always fun when a story manages to surprise!

This short and fast-paced novel follows Simon’s successive meetings with various villagers. The characters, while colorful, failed to pull me into their world, and the plot developed in a relatively linear manner with few dramatic developments (other than the murder itself). Narratively, sometimes I wondered if this was the author’s first book. James obviously has the writing goods to pull off a quality mystery, but his skills can use some refining. I enjoyed the book enough to keep reading till the end, but it didn’t captivate me enough to keep me reading past my bedtime.

As a side-note, Simon is an American visiting the village, but he sounds like a Briton to me. He keeps using British colloquialisms, and when he tries to use American idioms, they don’t sound quite right, which distracts from the story.

The village also seems to boast a statistically large number of gay residents, which pleased me as well as Simon. Several potential romantic interests suggest themselves to Simon, although nothing develops, though not for want of trying in some cases! I adore the casualness with which James approaches Simon’s sexual orientation and his relationships. It was great fun to read an interesting mystery where the gay content felt organic and natural. Many authors introduce gay characters, but their gayness is more perfunctory than real. The reader doesn’t see how their sexual orientation influences them as people or manifests when they interact with others. Not so in “Posted to Death.” James does not shy from bringing up Simon’s romantic proclivities. But neither would I say this is a novel so gay-oriented that a straight reader would be turned off. In fact, I’d recommend this to my mother.