Review: Mind's Eye, Håkan Nesser (Sweden)

Title: Mind’s Eye

Author: Håkan Nesser

Translator: Laurie Thompson

Publication: 2009/New York: First Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

ISBN #: 978-0-307-38722-6

# of pages: 278

Discovered from having previously read his books

Read in paper format

Also available in audio format

Link to author’s website: Håkan Nesser 

Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren is usually confident about his cases. So why is this one leaving him with a niggling doubt about who murdered Eva Ringmar? It seems clear: her husband, Janek Mitter, was the only one in the flat and he is the one who found her dead in the bathtub. Even Mitter himself thinks maybe he did kill his wife of three months. 

Van Veeteeren is frustrated enough with his life; a wife who keeps leaving him and then coming back, his son in jail for drug smuggling, a sick dog left behind by a daughter who married and moved away, and a job from which he keeps trying to resign. He really doesn’t need such a frustrating case. His closest colleague and badminton partner Mϋnster doesn’t need Van Veeteeren any more difficult to handle than usual. But something about the case keeps drawing the inspector in and what seemed like a straightforward domestic murder soon becomes much more complicated.  

This story starts off from an interesting perspective: the crime and the resolution of Mitter’s court case, often the ending of a police procedural rather than the beginning. Van Veeteren is good at pulling on each little questionable string which begins the unravelling of the case. The clues are there, the reader can often keep pace with what Van Veeteren is seeing unfold but the author is effective at revealing the twists and turns in such a way as to keep you interested, and without revealing too much of the plot too early. 

The sentence noted below describes the book well and the author inserts a few examples along the way as well as reminding us of this statement in the very last chapter. In a number of chapters, the opening line is such that you are not immediately sure who is the subject but I found this added to the writing rather than being frustrating, especially since you quickly discovered who it was. 

However, the book does fall into what seems to be the most prevalent protagonist these days: grumpy disillusioned old policemen. Are there none who love their lives and can’t wait to get to work each day? As a reader, I find it tiring sometimes to see this type of character repeated over and over, no matter the author’s county of origin.     Rating: (^_°)  Intriguing

Notable sentence: “They would work for thousands of hours before the case was closed, and when they eventually had all the answers, it would become clear to them that nearly everything they had done had been a complete waste of time. They would realize that if only they’d done this or that right away, they would have cracked it in two days instead of two months.” 

Growing up on a farm in Sweden, the author worked as a teacher until 1998. His first book, an existential love story, was published in 1988 to critical but not sales success. Five years later, he published his first crime novel (English title: “Mind’s Eye”), introducing Commissioner Van Veeteren and the fictional town of Maardam. Six books from this series have been filmed for Swedish television. Ten novels later, he ended the Van Veeteren series and launched a new series about Inspector Gunner Barbarotti. After five books, he ended this series in 2012 although it appears none have yet been translated into English. He has also written non-series novels. Not someone who always yearned to be a writer, Nesser started writing at about age 35.


British academic and translator Laurie Thompson has translated a number of Swedish mysteries, including those by authors Henning Mankell and Åke Edwardson.


(sorry, no book cover this time! computer acting up!)

Review: The Red House Mystery, A.A. Milne (England)

Title: The Red House Mystery
Author: A.A. Milne
Publication: 1922/UK: Methune
ISBN #: 978-0-09-952127-3
# of pages: ???
Discovered as a free book on my Kobo
Read in e-book format
Also available in paper format, audio CD, illustrated paperback, large print paperback
 

Pretty parlour-maid Audrey Stevens is having a bit of a gossip with her aunt, the cook-housekeeper, about their employer Mark Ablett and his black sheep brother Robert Ablett. None of the household had heard of this brother and now he was due any minute, back from Australia after more than 15 years’ absence. Robert soon arrives and Audrey shows him to the office. A few minutes later, she hears shots which she and the other staff quickly realize came from inside the house. They lock themselves together in a room just as someone starts banging on their door.

 

Help soon arrives in the form of Antony Gillingham. Gillingham got off the train here on a whim and when he learned his friend Bill Beverley was a guest at the Red House, he decided to visit him. He arrives to find a man pounding on a door. The man, Mark’s cousin and secretary-cum-companion, Matthew Cayley, is in a panic because he heard the shots too and can’t get into the office. He is worried about Mark’s safety so the two of them run outside to find another way to access the office. When they finally get into the room, they find Robert dead on the floor and Mark missing.

Shortly afterwards, the house guests – Bill Beverley (young man-around-town), Major Rumbold,  actress Ruth Norris, a painter’s widow Mrs. Calladine, and her daughter Betty – return from their golf game, closely followed by the police. Being curious and between jobs, Gillingham decides to investigate, with Bill acting as his “Dr. Watson”.

This is a classical British manor house mystery! Well-paced with good twists and turns, the book seems written with a light hand: by that, I mean, it has a humorous undertone, as if laughing at itself. The author specifically sets Gillingham and Beverley up as mirrors of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. At first, you wonder if Gillingham has the ability to detect; his jobs have consisted of a bit of this and that but not much of anything. He turns out to an excellent observer of both people and situations. The final scenes, especially Bill’s description, are quite suspenseful and the solution is very creative (although Raymond Chandler apparently felt it was implausible). It was a compelling book to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book ends with an inviting sentence that suggests a sequel but this is the only mystery book the author wrote.     Rating: (^_°)       Intriguing

This is written by THE A.A. Milne, the author more famously known for his Winnie the Pooh books. Why a mystery book? In his dedication, he explained: “To John Vine Milne My Dear Father, Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories, and feel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you have done for me, the least that I can do for you is to write you one. Here it is: with more gratitude and affection than I can well put down here.” A.A. M.    I wonder if his father enjoyed it – I certainly did!

Review: Some Kind of Peace, Camilla Grebe & Åsa Träff (Sweden)

Title: Some Kind of Peace
Author: Camilla Grebe & Åsa Träff
Translator: Paul Norlen
Publication: 2012/New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Original Publication: 2009/Sweden: Wahlstöm & Widstrand
ISBN #: 978-1-4516-5459-2
# of pages: 315
Discovered at an airport bookstore
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book and audio formats

The book opens on a young girl dead under an apple tree outside her home. The scene quickly moves to psychologist Siri Bergman’s office where another young girl is discussing her struggles with cutting. Through different patients’ sessions, we come to learn more about Siri, professional therapist by day and wine-loving darkness-fearing widow by night. The sudden death of her beloved husband Stefan a few years ago has profoundly affected Siri and in her grief, she clings to the isolation of her seaside home.

The reader soon learns there is a dark presence stalking Siri. Brief pages share the stalker’s thoughts and plans. Siri begins to feel as if someone is watching her, perhaps following her. She doubts her feelings though and does not even share her concerns with her best friend and fellow therapist Aina. When a body is found outside her home, Siri is forced to confront the fact that someone is after her. The stalker seems to know too much about her to be a stranger. Could they be a patient or someone even closer to Siri, one of her colleagues? The police meet with her regularly to try and advance their investigation but it is up to Siri to search her files and her memories to discover who is behind the escalating acts.

At first, this book seemed a bit disjointed. The chapters weave between the background of Siri’s life with Stefan, her personal struggles and her sessions with patients. The details of the sessions and the mundaneness of some of their concerns were not initially engaging. Siri herself was somewhat annoying at first, a therapist not willing to address her own unresolved issues. Some of her discussions with patients seemed to make their situations worse. At times, she seems quite naïve about situations at work and in her personal life.  Can she really be a competent therapist? However, as the story proceeds, you get caught up in the building suspense and the eerie remoteness of her home. You start reviewing the possible suspects and seeing how they fit into the clues. Definitely worth reading to the end.          
Rating: (°_°)  Worth reading

The authors Grebe and Träff are sisters, Träff putting her psychologist background to good use. They grew up on Swedish mystery books, especially author team Sjöwall and Wahlöö (my favourites as well). This book is the first in the Bergman series, followed by “Strangers” and “More Bitter than Death”.

Review: The Healer, Antti Tuomainen (Finland)

Title: The Healer
Author: Antti Tuomainen
Translator: Lola Rogers
Publication: 2013/New York, Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Original Publication: 2010/Helsinki, Helsinki-Kirirat, “Parantaja”
ISBN #: 978-0-8050-9554-8
# of pages: 211
Discovered on a blog earlier this year that I neglected to write down
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book and audio book formats
Link to author’s website: http://anttituomainen.com/

Johanna Lehtinen, investigative reporter, had been working on a serial killer story when she goes missing two days before Christmas. Her poet husband Tapani is immediately concerned because they keep in touch throughout each day via text and email and he has not heard anything from her for some time. He begins his search at her newspaper’s office and is soon put off by her managing editor’s blasé attitude.

But how can anyone be too concerned about one missing woman in the midst of the torrential rain that has been lashing Helsinki for weeks, the rain that is only one sign of the effects of climate change? Climate change has become a truly apocalyptic event, resulting in wars in the EU, never-ending forest fires in the Amazon and hundreds of millions of climate refugees worldwide, fleeing their homelands and heading north. Civil society has collapsed in Finland, anarchy rules and chief inspector Harri Jaatinen of the violent crimes unit, an officer who still cares, struggles to stay ahead of the dozens of daily incoming reports of violence and missing people, leaving him no time to investigate any of them.  He offers little hope to Tapani that they will get to his wife’s case in the near future.

Tapani decides to find his wife on his own, with some tips from Jaatinen and the support of taxi driver Hamid. Johanna’s character and her strong connection with Tapani are revealed through his flashbacks to happier times.

This was a very intriguing book. Tapani’s search leads him to unexpected places and revelations but for me, it was also the background of climate change that was fascinating. How does one man stay focused on finding his wife when society as we know it is collapsing around him? Never before had I considered the societal effect of climate change and this book creates one possible new world. What makes it scary is that this is a very believable new world.  The climate change theme is an integral part of the story line and yet does not turn the mystery into science fiction. “…fear, building up moment by moment…” keeps you reading to the very end.    

Rating: (°o°)!         Stayed awake all night to find out what happened!

Notable sentence: “Helsinki had finally become an international city. But this wasn’t how we had imagined it.”

Tuomainen was an award-winning ad copywriter in Helsinki until 2007 when he realized his long-time dream to become a writer.  With this book, he wanted to paint a picture of what Helinski would be like under the predictions of the negative results of climate change. He chose a poet as narrator so he could use lyrical and precise language where every word counts. His previous two books are “A Killer, I Wish” and “My Brother’s Keeper”. His fourth book is due out in Finland this year.

Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle (England)

Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Publication: ---
Original Publication: 1901/UK: George Newnes
ISBN #: ---
# of pages: 359
Rediscovered as a free download on my Kobo
Read in e-book format
Also available in paper format, audio CD

A fine silver banded walking stick is left in Sherlock Holmes’ office and when the owner, Dr. James Mortimer, returns to claim it, Holmes and his ever-present sidekick Dr. Watson learn about the curse of the Baskerville family. In the 1640’s, the evil Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a local young woman. She escaped, only to have Hugo chase her through the dangerous moors. When his drunken friends caught up, they found them both dead, and a huge black dog, with blazing eyes and dripping jaws, standing over them.  An account of the event was written down in 1742 by a later heir, also named Hugo, and passed down through the centuries. Now the current heir, Sir Charles Baskerville, has died suddenly and with no apparent foul play, however the paw print of a huge dog is found near the body. The next heir, nephew Henry, is returning from Canada and Mortimer fears he will be the next to die.

Although Holmes becomes intrigued by the mystery, he is not available to go to Devon and sends Watson on his own. Watson has a lot to consider. The Barrymores, long-time family servants, seem in a hurry to leave. Jack Stapleton and his sister Beryl have a complicated relationship, especially apparent when Sir Henry falls in love with Beryl. Could Selden, a dangerous escaped convict hunted by the police, be involved? And who is the mysterious L.L.? With reference to his diary and his recollections, Watson recounts the suspenseful events that lead to the unravelling of the mystery of the Hound.

Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie were among my earliest murder mystery readings and it was wonderful to re-experience this early entry in the genre.  Despite being written more than one hundred years’ ago, it is still a very readable tale. It was a bit disappointing that Holmes was absent in the first half of the story. Holmes’ and Watson’s discussion about what the walking stick tells them about the owner is one of the few times Holmes’ powers of deduction are demonstrated. He does show his usual flare in uncovering the culprit in the latter part though. Unlike “The Moonstone” written some 30 years earlier (see my review ), the writing here is crisp and to the point. There are not many twists in the storyline but the suspense builds steadily, with the foggy brooding moors always on the horizon, and as the end draws near, you do want to keep reading.     Rating: (^_°)   Intriguing

Notable sentence: Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson just before telling him how wrong Watson’s deductions are:  “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”

Doyle was a Scottish physician best known for the 60 stories he wrote about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. He also wrote other short stories, three largely autobiographical novels, and several historical novels. His medical school mentor, Professor Dr. Joseph Bell, was renowned for his powers of observation and became the model for Holmes. Doyle had actually killed off Holmes in an earlier book so that he could concentrate on his spiritualism writings. Sir Henry’s pondering of whether the supernatural interfere in the affairs of mankind reflects Doyle’s own fascination with spiritualism. Doyle's séances to connect with dead relatives is difficult to equate with the creator of a very rational and logical Sherlock Holmes.

Review: Ashes, Sergios Gakas (Greece)

Title: Ashes
Author: Sergios Gakas
Translator: Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife
Publication: 2011/MacLehose Press (Quercus), Great Britain
Original Publication: 2007/ Kastaniotis Editions S.A., Athens (“ Στάχτες”)
ISBN #: 978-0-85705-016-8
# of pages: 309
Discovered via a blog review….but my notes on which one are incomplete!
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format

Chronis Halkidis is a joint-smoking, cocaine-snorting alcoholic police colonel in Athens who somehow manages to effectively head up the Internal Affairs department of the national Hellenic Police. His devoted team follows his lead when he takes on an arson investigation which is well outside his mandate.

An African refugee, her young daughter and an old actor died in the fire and a famous Greek actress was severely burned. Chronis was drawn to the case when he learned the actress is a former lover, Sonia Varika. The first complication in the case is another of the actress’s lovers, Simeon Piertzovanis, the landlord and early suspect.  Soon, Halkidis and Piertzonvanis are rather reluctantly working together to shift through the web of corruption and discover the truth. The action heats up when even Halkidis’s normally supportive boss tells him to drop the case.

The story is told alternately by Halkidis and Piertzonvanis, with some commentary from Sonia, a writing method that works surprisingly well. Both men are interesting characters, with major weaknesses they keep rising above. It is fascinating to watch the growing rapport between the rivals, one that doesn’t quite become a friendship. Hearing Sonia’s voice, remembered by the men and in her current state, reveals a siren who easily draws lovers to her and just as easily sheds them. Halkidis’s torment at being continually thwarted is mirrored by his growing reliance on cocaine.

The story is dark, revealing the seediest side of powerful people and the lengths to which one must go to have any chance of beating them at their own game. At a time when Greece is in crisis, this book sets the atmosphere of a struggling city and country, set adrift by self-interested power brokers. Despite the shortcomings of Halkidis and Piertzonvanis, you can’t help but admire their determination to continue to the bitter end.                     Rating: (^_°)  Intriguing

Notable sentence:  by Halkidis: “I stopped him, apologizing meekly, explaining away my outburst as a consequence of exhaustion. I did not think it wise to explain that coke sometimes made me oversensitive.”

The author is a Greek playwright and director. It was difficult to find any further information about him and there do not seem to be any other English translations of his books.

Scandinavian authors

Further to my earlier post about the Hunt for "New" Authors, here's a review of a great resource for Scandinavian authors.

Nordic Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Film & TV

Review: The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins (England)

Title: The Moonstone
Author: Wilkie Collins
Publication: 2006/Project Gutenberg
Original Publication: 1868/Tinsley Brothers, UK
ISBN #: not available
Number of pages:  528
Read in e-book format
Also available in paper format
Discovered many years ago and on the To Be Read list ever since

The action begins with the Storming of Seringapatam, a battle in southern India between the British East India company and the Kingdom of Mysore in 1799. The unnamed narrator is horrified to see his cousin John Herncastle murdering three Indians and he suspects he has stolen the Moonstone, a magnificent yellow diamond, set in the forehead of the Indian god of the moon.

The stone has been around for centuries. After one attempted theft, Vishnu the Preserver appeared to three Brahmins in a dream, cursed anyone who stole it and instructed them to guard it forever. They were successful until the eighteenth century when the Mogul Emperor stole it during a war. The stone then passed through many hands until Herncastle got it, always with three Brahmins hovering in the background, waiting for an opportunity to get it back.

When Herncastle died after a life on the run, the instructions in his will were for his nephew Franklin Blake to give the stone to his niece (Blake’s cousin) Rachel Verinder on her birthday. Three Indian conjurers show up at the English estate around the same time. Blake gives her the stone at her eighteenth birthday party then during the night, it mysteriously vanishes. Since the Indians are still in the area, it is apparent they do not have it but who does? Rachel will not discuss the matter with her family or Sergeant Cuff, the police detective hired by her family to find the thief and the stone.

From here, the mystery is continued through the sequential narratives of several intriguing characters. Gabriel Betteredge, the rather misogynistic house steward to Lady Verinder (Rachel’s mother and Herncastle’s sister) is guided through life by passages from "Robinson Crusoe". He narrates a large part of the story. His narrative is followed by that of Drusilla Clack, Lady Verinder’s god-fearing spinster niece, who pushes her religious tracts on people at every opportunity. The remaining narratives are by family lawyer Mathew Bruff, Franklin Blake himself, Ezra Jennings doctor’s assistant, Mr. Candy the doctor, Sergeant Cliff’s man, a ship’s captain and finally Mr. Murthwaite, a character who keeps popping out throughout the story.

As a mystery buff, I have wanted to read this book for years. It is considered the first English language mystery novel (as opposed to Edgar Allan Poe’s earlier mystery short stories). It was originally serialized in Charles Dickens’ magazine “All the Year Round”.  I am glad I read it, especially since it is the first example of many elements of the modern detective story: bungling local cop, red herrings, false suspects, crime reconstruction and a plot twist, to name a few. But it is a long long book (much like this review). I very much agreed with Gabriel Betteredge at the end of Chapter XXII when he said “if you are as tired of reading this narrative as I am of writing it…” At that point, I was only 35% of the way through the book! Due to the book’s historical significance, it is worth reading and the plot is quite good. I may read Collins’ other best seller “The Woman in White”….but not for awhile.

Have you read any mysteries from the late 1800s or early 1900s? Did they stand the test of time?

Review: Unwanted, Kristina Ohlsson (Sweden)

Title:                           Unwanted
Author:                       Kristina Ohlsson
Translator:                 not acknowledged
Publication:               2012/Simon & Schuster, Inc
Original Publication: 2009/Piratförlaget, Sweden (“Askungar”)
ISBN #                       978-1-4391-9891-9
# pages:                    353
Discovered at my local independent bookstore
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format

The third Tuesday in July will remain frozen in Henry Lindgren’s memory for the rest of his life. He was the train conductor in the coach from which the little girl Lilian went missing. A few minor incidents with passengers, an annoying train delay, and then…life changed forever.

The police team called in to work the case is not necessarily the most cohesive. DCI Alex Recht has been on the force for more than 25 years and is considered a legend but his skills will be challenged as the case unfolds.  He is used to working with Peder Rydh, an eager young officer with plans for promotion. However, their newest colleague Fredrika Bergman is a puzzle to both these career officers. One of the new civilian recruits brought on board for their specialized skills, she is in her probationary period but has been placed right into an investigative role, skipping the usual patrol car entry position. Her expertise is in crimes against women and children and she sees policing as a temporary position to gain experience.

Despite their internal conflicts, they will be forced to work together to find the little girl and track down her abductor. The suspect is obvious but the clues don’t always lead where expected.

 Although the reader follows both the police investigation and the perpetrator’s activities, the answer to “who dunnit” keeps shifting.  The back stories for the three detectives are nicely woven into the plot. All three are flawed but their prickly sides are nicely balanced with a softer side, making them quite human and real. A page turner that makes you stay up late to finish the book.

Kristina Ohlsson has written several more books in this series: “Silenced”, “Guardian Angels”, “Hostage” and “Star of David” (due for release in April 2013). She has also begun a trilogy of children’s fiction. Interestingly, her background is as a political scientist, most recently holding the position of Counter-Terrorism Officer at OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

Review: An Expert in Murder, Nicola Upson, (England)

Title:                                            An Expert in Murder

Author:                                        Nicola Upson

Date/Place of Publication:             2009/HarperCollins, New York

Original Date/Place of Publication: 2008/Faber and Faber Ltd, UK

ISBN #:                                       978-0-06-145153-9

# pages:                                      288

Discovered by chance at the library

Read in paper format

Also available in e-book format

Link to author’s website: http://www.nicolaupson.com

Josephine Tey, noted mystery writer in real life, is now part of a murder mystery herself. Comfortably settled into her train seat, she is heading to London for the closing week of her successful play when a young passenger in her compartment recognizes her. Elspeth Simmons is on her way to see the play for the umpteenth time and is thrilled to meet the author. They have a wonderful chat for the rest of the trip. As they arrive at King’s Cross station, they make plans to meet later so that Elspeth can be introduced to her favourite actor and Josephine is then whisked off by her friends. Unbeknownst to her, a few minutes later, Elspeth is murdered before she leaves the train. Josephine and her compatriots, including close friend Detective Inspector Archie Penrose, become drawn into a chain of events that has more than a few twists and turns.

The historical setting of this book (1934 England) is wonderfully threaded throughout the story by the author. She has captured the sense of people caught between two wars, World War I which still leaves a huge sense of loss, and the impending feeling of a war soon to come. Other historical facts are used effectively to set the time: be it the book Josephine tried to read (“Mr. Munt Carries on”, printed 1934), May Gaskell’s war library for soldiers overseas, the snippets of what the soldiers experienced (particularly the tunnelling companies) or the appearance of noted British pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury. Even the play around which the book revolves, “Richard of Bordeaux”, is a play actually written by Josephine Tey, using her other pseudonym, Gordon Daviot.

The early part of the book did bog down as many pages were devoted to sketching out the numerous characters and their backgrounds but the action picks up with the next murder. A hint as to the murderer’s motivation is set out on page one but it only becomes apparent upon rereading. An enjoyable book.

It was interesting to learn from the Author’s Note at the end of the book that neither Tey nor Daviot was the writer’s true name. It was in fact Elizabeth Mackintosh. Also of note, apparently the play, “Richard of Bordeaux” launched the career of British actor Sir John Gielgud. Ironically, it is the play which is given the most attention in obituaries for Miss Tey in 1952, with her mysteries, for which she is now best known, being relegated briefly to the closing sentences.

 

Review: Love Lies Bleeding, Edmund Crispin (England)

Title:                                            Love Lies Bleeding
Author:                                         Edmund Crispin
Date/Place of Publication:             1984/Great Britain: Hamlyn Paperbacks
Original Date/Place of Publication: 1948/Great Britain: Victor Gollancz
ISBN #:                                        0-600-20663-7
# pages:                                       200
Discovered in my own home library
Read in paper format
Also available in e-book format

Dr. Stanford, Headmaster at Castrevenford School, is preoccupied with the school's upcoming Speech Day and the heat. Learning from the local girls' school head mistress, Miss Parry, that something untoward has happened to one of her students at his school only serves to increase his gloomy and unhappy mood. Fortunately, his friend Gervase Fen, Oxford Professor of English and amateur detective, is coming as a last minute substitute to hand out prizes and he will be given the task of ferreting out the truth. Truth-seeking quickly involves multiple murders and a disappearance, all of which are miraculously resolved by the end of the weekend.

This is a fairly traditional English murder mystery, set in the 1940's, with all the boarding school hierarchies, politics and idiosyncrasies on display. Fen is reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, with his ability to notice minor details and deduce the correct solution out of a multitude of options. Fortunately for the reader, the last 30 pages of the book outline how he did this, through a conversation he has with Dr. Stanford.

The author's Oxford education clearly comes through, in his language as well as his knowledge of prep schools. The reader may wonder if they need to have a dictionary at their side, to deal with "palliating circumstances" and "inchoate daydream(s)", as well as a basic knowledge of Latin (for instance, the first chapter is entitled "Lasciva Puella"). Although this may seem annoying, it helps to establish the time frame of events and set the atmosphere of a 1940's prep school. Interestingly, the young female characters are refreshingly spirited and independent for the era in question.

Even the avid mystery reader will likely find it challenging to determine the final solution but Fen's recap confirms all the clues are there. Worth tackling. I would love to hear your comments on whether you were able to puzzle out the answer.

About the author:

Edmund Crispin is the pseudonym for (Robert) Bruce Montgomery, a British writer who died in 1978 at the age of 56. Not only did he write nine detective stories and two short story collections, he also composed film, concert and church music under his real name. This particular book is dedicated to "The Carr Club". According to David Whittle in "Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books", this informal society of four friends was inspired by John Dickinson Carr radio plays. They would meet in a public house or rented cottage "...to tell detective stories for which solutions had to be proposed by the members."

Review: Death in Breslau, Marek Krajewski (Poland)

Title:                                Death in Breslau
Author:                             Marek Krajewski
Translator:                        Danusia Stok - from Polish
Date/Place of Publication: 2012: Brooklyn: Melville House
Original Publication:          1999: Poland, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie Co. Ltd.
                                       (as “Śmierć w Breslau”)
ISBN #:                            978-1-61219-165-2
Number of Pages:             213
Read in E-book format
Also available in hard cover

This is the first of several books in the series about police investigator Eberhard Mock. More of an anti-hero than a role model, Mock is reminiscent of Captain Louis Renault, Claude Rains' character in the movie "Casablanca". Not entirely without scruples, he cooperates with the Nazis, partly out of necessity and partly for personal gain, even though he does not necessarily subscribe to their beliefs and he will do little things to annoy them...if he can do them without risk to himself.

This particular story opens in a Dresden psychiatric hospital in 1950, at that time part of East Germany. Stasi officer Major Mahmadov wants to question patient Herbert Anwaldt. He has asked to do this before and when the previous hospital director refused, it appears he was replaced. The new director reluctantly agrees and at midnight, the officer returns for the interview. A short while later, hospital employees hear screaming from Anwaldt's room but shrug it off as typical behaviour. In fact, Anwaldt is screaming in terror at the four desert scorpions on the floor.

The action now shifts back in time to pre-war Breslau. In 1933, Breslau (the German name for the Polish city Wroclaw) was part of Prussia and it eventually became one of the strongest bases of support for the Nazis. Mock, Deputy Head of the Criminal Department, has been called out to investigate the brutal murders of three people, a train conductor and two women. Mock recognizes the youngest victim, 17 year old Marietta, daughter of Baron von der Malten, an acquaintance of Mock. She and her governess, Françoise Debroux, were also viciously raped and desert scorpions were found on all three bodies.

From here, the story takes many twists and turns, right to the very end. The historical backdrop is a critical part of the narrative. Beginning in pre-war Prussia just as Hitler has been appointed German Chancellor, you can sense the steady insidious rise of the Nazi Party and its effects on how criminal investigations were undertaken and the rule of law applied. The police force in question were not previously comprised of angels though; they were already using violence, blackmail and secret files as key investigative tools.

This is certainly a journey through the seedier side of life in the 1930's and at times, the brutality is difficult to read. However, it is an intriguing and challenging book.

The author's background is quite interesting as well. With a Masters in classical philology and a doctorate in humanities/linguistics, Krajewski has worked as a librarian, jewelry salesman and security guard, senior university lecturer and now professional writer.

Link to Author's Website: www.marek-krajewski.pl

 

Review: A Room Full of Bones, Elly Griffiths (England)

Title:                                  A Room Full of Bones
Author:                              Elly Griffiths
Place/Date of Publication:   2012, McClelland & Stewart, Toronto
ISBN #:                             978-0-7710-3603-3
Number of Pages:              346
Discovered by:                   previously reading this series
Also Available in:               Kobo ebook, Kindle ebook
Link to author's website:     www.ellygriffiths.co.uk

A newly unearthed coffin is delivered by two police officers to the Local History Room of the small family-owned Smith Museum. Neil Topham, the curator, is excited it has arrived and can hardly wait until Doctor Ruth Galloway, head of Forensic Archaeology at the University of North Norfolk, arrives to confirm the contents. Is this the body of  fourteenth century Bishop Augustine Smith, the most well-known member in the Smith family lineage? But by the time Ruth arrives, she has two bodies to examine: Neil is lying dead on the floor beside the coffin.

This is the fourth in the Ruth Galloway series and the usual support cast is back: DCI Harry Nelson, his team DS Clough and DS Johnson, and the Druid Cathbad, among others. Unfortunately, the story is again narrated in the present tense, which has always felt rather jarring to read. There are too many incomplete references to past books in the series, most of which are not necessary for this story. The reader is either aware of the past and requires only a subtle passing comment to be reminded, or they are unaware and will remain mystified by the references. Ruth seems to have little to do with the mystery and much of her time in the book is focused on her complicated personal situation.The various diverse story lines did not hold together well and the latter chapters seem to be used to catch up the various characters on what they missed.

Although I enjoyed the first two books of this series, Ruth's personal life is starting to dominate the latter books, with little connection to the underlying mysteries.

The series:
The Crossing Places
The Janus Stone
The House at Sea's End