A Generation of Vipers: An absolutely addictive and page-turning British cozy mystery (A Dr Nell Ward Mystery Book 4)

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It is rather paradoxical that Wylie, a scientific materialist, didn’t become a behaviorist but instead embraced the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung.

Vipers went through 11 printings in 1943 alone and went on to sell 180,000 copies in hardcover by 1954. The most saddening aspect of the work, both the original 1942 text, and the 1955 footnotes, is that their world is our world.Instead, they became enthralled with a quack doctor who claimed that pasteurized milk caused cancer and ended up opposing Wylie’s measure. Earlier Webster’s quote: There is nothing sooner dry than woman’s tears, and later remark about Medeia. Be that as it may, and disregarding the probability of me inhaling rosemary any time soon while putting Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme on repeat, let’s talk about how this series of Lewis has already upped the ante, again. To abide in it composedly is to be either a lama beyond reach of all earthly things or perilously mistaken in the acceptance of slack composure as inviting, when it is hell's latchstring.

Overall, I found ‘A Generation of Vipers’ an intelligent and engaging mystery that built to the kind of conclusion that had me on the edge of my seat. Then as now, American hypocrisy about sex was near universal -- "The people, common or self-important, are engaged in a violent vocal repudiation of that which they are simultaneously engaged in doing" -- and it is amusing to contemplate what Wylie would have to say about conditions today, when sex is slathered all over the mass media (just the other night I stumbled across a TV show depicting breast implants in the most graphic ways imaginable) yet the Holier Than Thou crowd goes right on preaching the same stale Victorian sermons. Still so swept up in a hurt that he can’t forget, he attempts to build houses on Port Meadow, their favourite place when they were together, tries to bury the shreds of his heart in concrete and new facades, hoping it might relieve him of the pain. It's an incredible treat to see Lewis and Hathaway out of their element, in the field -- and supposedly far away from the center of the action -- discussing the more "action-y" side of police work.Wylie was, not surprisingly, accused of misogyny, a charge he denied by saying, “I think more of women than most men even know how to think of women.

With a clean yet energetic prose -- something almost entirely lacking on the op-ed page of any newspaper I can think of -- Wylie launches a no holds bared attack on just about every aspect of human endeavor. Whichever way you slice it, these two have never been as open and honest and comfortable with each other as right now, and though I’ve got the feeling Hathaway will do more than just let his voice drop two octaves into disapproval and hurt when Lewis next praises a girl’s prettiness to needle him, it’s all fine. She nonetheless spends several hundred dollars a year on permanents and transformations, pomades, cleansers, rouges, lipsticks, and the like -- and fools nobody except herself. However, the area where Nell is working is the domain of the "Heath Hunter" and she seems to be in his targets.A completely gripping and page-turning cosy mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Janice Hallett and Robert Thorogood. Along the way Wylie says a few smart things, but give a chimpanzee 100,000 words and one or two of them are likely, against all odds, to make a bit of sense. Love was a driving force in Morse’s stories, as well, I think; for Morse, it always seemed to be about love lost, and I was always a bit sad for him, about that.

Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Philip Gordon Wylie was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. all it did was remind me of what a wonderful Rochester Stephens played -- and a reminder like that is never a bad thing. Book 3, ‘A Mischief of Rats’ had ended with a shocking event and I don’t wish to enter spoiler territory as it has an ongoing impact on the series’ characters, so will skirt around it in my summary. I was working at Convair at the Experimental Jet Engine Test Stand on the First J-79 and on the Flight Line for the B-58 Flight Test Program.It was still the same culture then, (as it still is now in 2012) We are still a loose knit society, saying one thing. Some nice touches of humour, especially in the opening sequences, but overall, this is a very good episode. Her death, the result of medical malpractice, became a pivotal experience that defined his views on women and his adult relationships with them. From the novel’s verbose subtitle to the various subjects it addresses, it can also be considered a precursor to Wylie’s best-selling social diatribe Generation of Vipers. Whyte; "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," by Sloan Wilson; "The Hidden Persuaders," by Vance Packard -- and eventually turned to "Generation of Vipers" because it promised to be in the same mold, albeit of an earlier period.