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These essays cover an array of novels, chiefly crime fiction, mostly of recent vintage and read in 2009. Additional details about the books themselves follow the essays. Currently there are three essays on this page. Three more essays are here and here. More coming soon...
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Committed detectives and dedicated forensics specialists pursue the bad guys in this month's crop of crime novels and thrillers. Under review here is a mix of recent novels as well as reissues or translations of works from the 1990's or earlier. The settings are mostly in the U.S. but also include stories from the United Kingdom, Italy, and France. Two ominously feature the word "coffin" in their titles. We'll surely find that the body count is high and that minuscule technical details are crucial for solving the various cases.
First up is Stephen J. Cannell's VERTICAL COFFIN (2004), a police procedural drawing in Los Angeles officers, sheriffs, SWAT teams, and local ATF and FBI agents as an unsettling sniper case unmasks an undercurrent of rivalry and suspicion among the multiple law enforcement organizations. Tellingly, a suburban death-by-cop shooting incident may not be exactly what it appeared to be. Detective Shane Scully pursues the culprit into the mountains and even onto a military gunnery range where he dodges live bombs dropped by fighter jets. This book serves up exciting scenarios and interesting characters but does rather overdo the heroics of the leading man, Scully. The title is a reference to doorways, probably any and all doors, where police officers are considered vulnerable to ambush by criminals.
The lead investigator in Simon Beckett's WRITTEN IN BONE (2007) is Dr. David Hunter, a forensic anthropologist, who is unexpectedly asked to check out a possible suspicious death on a remote British island with few inhabitants but plenty of sheep. A retired detective inspector who happens to live on Runa, the rocky island, assists in the investigation, but other officers just want to close the case quickly, filing the incident as an accident. When a violent storm shuts off communications to the mainland, more fires and more deaths occur. Hunter eventually figures out what is going on, but nearly loses his life on more than one occasion. Readers will likely feel exhausted, as if they had endured the bad weather and relentlessly mounting tensions, by the time they reach the last chapter; and once there, they will find yet another shock and not the usual neat and happy ending.
While much police work, as recounted in fiction at any rate, is methodical, such is not the case for retired FBI behavioral specialist Gregor Demarkian in GLASS HOUSES (2007) by Jane Haddam. For one thing, he himself is distracted by the return of his lover after a disappearance lasting a year; and, for another, the two designated investigators seeking a serial killer targeting middle-aged women in Philadelphia are at odds with one another, even to the extent of hiding evidence and not filing records of interviews and investigative steps. A homeless man charged with the crimes turns out to be a known drunk and scion of a wealthy family; he may not be guilty of any of the crimes and certainly has not committed all of them. Eventually, Demarkian figures it all out, once the probable motivation becomes clear. One interesting subplot involves a visiting British journalist, one who hates all things American, highlighting her remarkable ability to misinterpret almost everything and to irritate nearly everyone she meets.
A serial killer is on the loose also in Ridley Pearson's PROBABLE CAUSE (1990), featuring James Dewitt as a former forensic investigator turned homicide detective. The book opens with a shocking scene where Dewitt witnesses the murder of his wife and near-fatal wounding of one of his daughters. When next we see him, he is working as a detective in Carmel, California. He eventually catches the killer, a copycat serialist as it turns out, and builds a convincing case only to see it nearly demolished in the courtroom by the killer's clever lawyer, who has developed a distinct animosity towards Dewitt. The court scenes may be the best ones in this story, which is also strong on the details of evidence and procedure. A couple of incidents take place at an aquarium.
Magdalen Nabb's storytelling is more subtle in THE MARSHAL AT THE VILLA TORRINI (1993), possibly because there is only one death, a rather puzzling one, to consider. Marshal Guarnaccia, a policeman based in Florence, suspects the husband of a woman found drowned in a bathtub but has trouble finding any incriminating evidence. In a slow but not exactly plodding fashion, the highly intuitive Guarnaccia succeeds in ferreting out motives by interviewing and re-interviewing the witnesses. Finally, from the step-daughter he learns of the likely method for the murder and thereby snares the evil doer. This is a fascinating story, not least because of the pleasant setting in a tourist mecca in Italy.
A more dour environment greets readers of Ian Rankin's EXIT MUSIC (2008), as soon-to-retire detective inspector John Rebus pursues his last case in Edinburgh, Scotland. Suspects in two probably related murders include bankers, visiting Russians, prostitutes, drug dealers, and local crime bosses. Rebus, never a team player, insists that the killing of a dissident Russian poet is not a mugging gone awry and that the murder of the poet's diligent recorder of public readings is not just a tragic accident. Higher ranking and lower ranking police officials disagree with Rebus, who ends up suspended but still manages to uncover the truth in both cases and also discovers the actual culprit in the near-fatal beating of long-time nemesis, the gangster Morris Cafferty. A retirement gift of an iPod full of his favorite tunes provides Rebus with his "exit music." Fans of this series will regret the end of Rebus' career as a detective and will likely hope for more stories featuring this rather cynical and curmudgeonly character.
A decidedly foreign enclave in a major city is the focus of detective Jack Yu in Henry Chang's CHINATOWN BEAT (2006), as he strives to make a difference in a part of New York he knows so well. The time is 1994, so there is overt racism, plenty of violence, and rampant organized crime to deal with; and, meanwhile, Jack is trying to come to terms with the recent death of his father and his own move out to Brooklyn. This rather dark tale provides some insights into Chinese culture and mixes in fortune tellers, mah jong players, noodle shops, mistresses, limo drivers, and hired thugs. Jack aids in bringing down a serial rapist and tracks down the people concerned in the killing of Uncle Four, a feared local gangster. A neat ending allows the reader to speculate on the eventual fate of the late Uncle Four's unhappy but clever mistress.
Pierre Magnan's DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD (1978, translated in 2007) centers on a serial killer targeting vagabonds, or hippies, who have settled or stopped at least for a time at an old, ruined chapel near Banon, a small village in Provence where the woods are excellent for harvesting truffles. Commissaire Laviolette is charged with getting to the bottom of the case which initially just seemed to feature mysterious disappearances. But then one of the bodies shows up in a hotel freezer. The others are found shortly thereafter and turn out to have been drained entirely of blood, a detail that shocks everyone. Additional participants in this entertaining story are a sow with an especially keen nose and her loving master, an adulterous wife with a taste for fine jewelry, a womanizer, a scheming factory owner who drives a Mercedes, joyriders who pick the wrong winter night to steal a car, a little lost dog, an aristocrat with an old book full of recipes for magic spells, and, of course, a handful of distrustful truffle farmers. The sow turns out to be a heroine, and the aristocrat's old book holds an important clue.
Last on this month's list is a clever thriller from Jeffery Deaver. THE COFFIN DANCER (1998) presents a great roller-coast ride, with unexpected twists in nearly every chapter. Paralyzed forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme heads up an investigation seeking a deadly contract killer dubbed with the colorful nickname used as the book's title. Bombs on planes, safe-houses that are far from being flawlessly protected refuges, and cops who react too late to a stone-cold killer's sharpshooter moves are integral to the plot which revolves around grand jury witnesses, only one of whom is around by the end of the novel. Crime scene evidence is of paramount importance for Rhyme and his assistants, but they must also deal with bureaucratic infighting and personality conflicts that end up endangering everyone, including the bedridden Rhyme. One exciting scene features a plane which must land without fuel or full electrical function before a bomb goes off. The breakneck pace and nimble plot surprises of this excellent crime novel account for its continuing popularity and ready availability at local bookstores.
Tricky evidence and oddball characters populate this somewhat random selection of crime fiction, all books which are currently on tap in bookstores and libraries across the U.S. Whether a reader wishes for non-stop action or prefers a quieter ratiocination, the books briefly remarked upon in this essay present some good choices. Visit Phildelphia or Florence, Provence or New York or Edinburgh, and meanwhile find out about an author's perception of the locality as well as his/her ability to spin a convincing yarn.
Some offsite links:
-Web page for Stephen Cannell's VERTICAL COFFIN
-Web page for Simon Beckett's WRITTEN IN BONE
-Author website: Jane Haddam
-Web page for Ridley Pearson's PROBABLE CAUSE
-Web page for Magdalen Nabb's THE MARSHAL AT THE VILLA TORRINI
- Web page for Ian Rankin's EXIT MUSIC
- Website for Henry Chang's CHINATOWN BEAT
- Web page for Jeffery Deaver's THE COFFIN DANCER
Vertical Coffin, by Stephen J. Cannell. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004. Hardcover. ISBN 0-312-30425-0.
Written in Bone, by Simon Beckett. Bantam Dell, Random House, New York, 2007. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-440-33596-2.
Glass Houses, by Jane Haddam. St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2007. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-312-34307-1.
Probable Cause, by Ridley Pearson. St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York, 1990. ISBN 0-312-92385-6.
The Marshal at the Villa Torrini,, by Magdalen Nabb. Soho Press, New York, 2009. First published in 1993. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-56947-562-1.
Exit Music, by Ian Rankin. Little, Brown and Co., New York, 2008. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-316-05758-5.
Chinatown Beat, by Henry Chang.Soho Press, New York, 2006. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-56947-478-5.
Death in the Truffle Wood, by Pierre Magnan. Translated from the French by Patricia Clancy. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2007. First published in 1978 as Commissaire dans la truffiere. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-312-36666-7.
The Coffin Dancer, by Jeffery Deaver. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998. Hardcover. ISBN 0-7432-7503-9.
Quirky lone detectives and bona-fide teams handle the various cases, usually featuring murders, in this month's selection of light novels and thrillers. Most of these stories take place in either Great Britain or in the U.S., with one set in Laos and another in Italy for a little international flavoring. Among the loner investigators is an elderly coroner, a newspaperman on a visit to Philadelphia, an 11-year-old chemistry whiz, and a Sicilian curmudgeon who likes to eat and swim but hates the heat of late summer. As for the teams, two are husband-and-wife duos with relationship issues as well as investigative skills, one uneasily links a convalescing superintendent with his erstwhile subordinate, and the last one brings together two librarians interested in the current condition and future status of their mobile library van. The writing level of these yarns is high as is their entertainment quotient. Let's check out some brief plot summaries.
Catharine Coulter's TAILSPIN (2008) presents husband-and-wife team Savich and Sherlock with cases involving assassination attempts. One case revolves around a psychiatrist struggling with rapidly accelerating dementia and apparently inadvertently threatening the privacy of important clients, while the other is basically an ugly family-inheritance squabble with the added dimension of a newly found relative with a desire to reveal an ugly truth about the family's late VIP, a U.S. senator. Unhindered by ordinary bureaucratic red tape and seemingly able to tap into unlimited resources, Savich and Sherlock, all the while engaging in witty repartee, manage to bring both cases to acceptable resolution.
With a slightly more realistic edge, despite certain elements of mysticism, Colin Cotterill's ANARCHY AND OLD DOGS (2007) sends Dr. Siri Paiboun, a coroner and amateur detective inspired by the mysteries of Inspector Maigret of Paris, to southern Laos to investigate an electrocution and a mysterious drowning of a young schoolboy. Incidentally, he uncovers a coup plot as well but manages to keep everyone safe from the executioners even though the story's setting is the Vietnam-favoring, communist-regime era of 1977. There is even a love interest for Siri, who is said to be in his 70's, as well as a ride on a dolphin's back.
In DRY HEAT (2004) by Jon Talton, a deputy sheriff specializing in cold cases requiring historical research and his wife, a cybercrimes expert, become involved in the puzzling death of a vagrant who was carrying the badge of a long-dead FBI agent in his jacket lining. Actually, the wife spends much of the novel in protective custody because a drug warlord is seeking revenge. The setting here is Phoenix and, while some familiarity with the town certainly would add to enjoyment of the novel, the plotting is successful and suspenseful.
FULL DARK HOUSE (2003) by Christopher Fowler draws on the fabled team of Bryant and May of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit, although Bryant spends much of the novel as the presumed victim of a terrorist bomb. The present day event harks back to the duo's first case, which occurred during the London Blitz of World War II. A series of murders in a famous theater are revisited, leading to the discovery of the unexpected survival of the real culprit, as this haunting mystery calls up elements of "Phantom of the Opera" with gory details and odd clues, like the missing false teeth and dental records. Readers familiar with Bryant and May will appreciate the minor characters who show off with cameos from their offspring and/or parents.
Convalescing Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel irritates his happily in-charge subordinate Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe in Reginald Hill's THE PRICE OF BUTCHER'S MEAT (2008) by merely being on the spot when murder is committed. This long and involved police procedural focuses on a seaside resort town on the verge of a major development push where the grand dame of the place suddenly is found quite dead in a roasting pit. Much of the story, which is strong on character descriptions and scene settings, unfolds via emails from a young psychologist to her sister in Africa or via digital memo recording as still-ailing Dalziel muses about life, people, motives, and whether he can go home soon. A nemesis from previous novels in the series, Franny Roote, shows up in a wheel chair and seems to be in the thick of things in the little town.While Pascoe appears to solve the case, the full story is, of course, only known to Dalziel, who gathers all the lose ends and witnesses all the dishing out of just desserts.
Not exactly a mystery but more an entertaining comedy is THE BOOK STOPS HERE (2008) by Ian Sansom. Feckless but well-meaning librarians Israel Armstrong and Ted Carson travel from Tumdrum, Northern Ireland, to London for a mobile library van convention. They visit Israel's Mom and manage to lose their van. Discovering what happened to the van, securing its return, and managing to win a popular-choice award at the convention take up much of this funny and endearing tale. Poor Israel learns at last that his girlfriend has left him, fears that Ted and his Mom are much too friendly, yet finds that he actually looks forward to life back in time-warped Tumdrum. The plot here is fairly simple, but the writing is rife with whimsy and playful dialogue.
For a considerable change of pace, try THE BLONDE (2006) by Duane Swierczynski. This one starts with a bang, as a woman tells a man at an airport bar that she has poisoned his drink, and keeps up an astonishingly break-neck momentum from there. The fast pace is necessary as the plot, if the reader actually had time to examine it, doesn't really click with credibility. Supposedly, nanotechnology gone haywire is able to infect people and kill them if they spend more than 10 seconds without another person within 10 feet at all times. Naturally, the man at the bar, Jack Eisley, refuses to believe the blonde, Kelly White; but, eventually, he tries to help her as well as a murderous government agent named Kowalski, whose hobby is taking out the local Mafia members. Unbelievably, this story actually has a happy ending, sort of.
Operating on another level is Alan Bradley's THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE (2009), a novel set in 1950's Britain and showcasing an 11-year-old girl with a gift for chemistry and a passion for poisons. The dead man found in the cucumber patch was known to her father, who becomes the prime suspect. Flavia, the precocious child, figures out the mystery, including the who, why, and how of the killer, while continuing her scientific experiments and plotting clever harassment of her two older sisters. Vintage postage stamps, including one stolen from the King of England, figure into a plot which also features a dramatic rescue of Flavia by the gardener, a distressed war veteran, and one of her sisters. The pie in the title refers to a pastry covering a snipe, a bird smuggled into England as part of a blackmail intrigue targeting Flavia's father.
Last up this month is Andrea Camilleri's fascinating take life in Sicily, AUGUST HEAT (2009), as viewed by the novel's protagonist, police detective Salvo Montalbano. First, Montalbano deals with a missing child (found), then with illegal construction (what can you do), and finally with a body in a trunk (time for some actual police work). Montalbano's top suspect, the builder Spitaleri, has a great alibi and is virtually untouchable anyway because of connections, both political and criminal (meaning the Mafia). The case is eventually resolved but not without emotional and moral torment for the irascible but clever and warm-hearted Montalbano.
There is plenty of variety in this month's recommendations--from the strictly professional approaches to the naively amateur attempts to follow up on clues, from thrill-ride adventures to patient layouts of motives and opportunities, and from explosions and serial murders to refugee camps, stamps, lost vans, and apartments buried in sand. Take your pick and get lost in fictional worlds!
Some offsite links:
-author site for C. Coulter's "Tailspin"
-publisher site for R. Hill's "The Price of Butcher's Meat"
-publisher site for I. Sansom's "The Book Stops Here"
-publisher site for Alan Bradley's "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie"
-Andrea Camilleri ("August Heat") website (in Italian)
Tailspin, by Catherine Coulter. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 2008. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-399-15503-1.
Anarchy and Old Dogs, by Colin Cotterill. Soho Press, New York, 2007. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-56947-501-0.
Dry Heat, by Jon Talton. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2004. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0312-33385-0.
Full Dark House, by Christopher Fowler. Bantam Books, New York, 2003. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-553-58714-5.
The Price of Butcher's Meat, by Reginald Hill. Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2008. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-06-145193-5.
The Book Stops Here: A Mobile Library Mystery, by Ian Sansom. Harper, New York, 2008. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-06-145200-0.
The Blonde, by Duane Swierczynski. St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2006. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-312-34379-8.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. Delacorte Press, Bantam Dell, Random House, New York, 2009. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-385-34230-8.
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri. Translated by Stephen Sartarelli. Penguin Books, New York, 2009. First published as La vampa d'agosto in 2006 by Sellerio Editore, Palermo, Italy. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-14-311-5-5.
This month's selection of mystery novels chiefly features police procedurals, with settings ranging from San Francisco to Rome, and from various cities in England to faraway North Korea. This genre of crime fiction often focuses on the nitty-gritty of investigations, from seeking evidence to interviewing suspects. Sometimes you get the feeling that the detectives will never find the right villain. And sometimes the storytelling and writing is so good that you are sorry when they finally, inevitably, do. Quite a few of these tales continue a series featuring the cases, lifestyles, and adventures of particular hero or heroine police investigators. All are good choices for summer reading or for other occasions calling for light-fiction entertainment.
First up is P.D. James' The Private Patient (2008) which serves up a country-house murder mystery. Actually, the country house has been remodeled as a medical clinic where select clients stay for plastic surgery treatment and recovery. After one patient is found dead, but not as a complication of the medical procedure, Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his usual sidekicks are brought in, thanks in part to the insistence of another, surviving patient. The victim is a journalist, one who lived most of her life with a scar which she elects to remove at this time because she "no longer has need of it." A close friend with relatives associated with the country house/clinic is also murdered as the plot thickens. Adding confusion to the mix is a suspicious will, a reformed child murderer turned maidservant, a haunted ancient stone circle, and assorted love interests, including that of clinic owner Dr. Chandler-Powell and the former owner of the country house in Dorset, Helena Cressett. The pace of this story is slow, as is true of most of James' works, with plenty of detail, relevant and irrelevant, which effectively delineates characters and locale but also masks the identity of the killer until the author is ready to let Dalgliesh demonstrate his brilliance.
Detective Superintendent Harriet Martens has the lead in H.R. F. Keating's "One Man and His Bomb" (2006). The story opens with reports of a London-based bomb blast which has killed one of Harriet's twin sons and severely wounded the other. Rather than ending any chance of following Harriet on an investigation and instead of just watching her mourn and adjust to the sudden, devastating loss, it turns out that Harriet is given a lone-detective task, apparently as a consolation mechanism by her understanding boss. She checks out a sparse field of suspects in the theft of a potentially deadly substance. On the list are an elderly professor of German literature, a recently fired assistant to the man who held the last vial of the substance, and an unlikely group of ladies who stage protests against genetic engineering. Although Harriet seems a cold fish, this novel is well paced, clever, and delivers a satisfying conclusion.
Next is the lone work in this group that is not exactly in the police-procedural genre, although the hero is a former cop turned private investigator ("A Welcome Grave," by Michael Koryta, 2007). Lincoln Perry spends most of this story as the suspect in the torture-death of the man, Alex Jefferson, who married Perry's fiance. Perry is also present at the suicide of Jefferson's son. Another man is also implicated in a double frame-up that gets increasingly complicated as the story progresses. At one point Perry's current girlfriend Amy is kidnapped. Then mob hitmen put in an appearance. This novel would be considerably more interesting if Lincoln's personality didn't seem so unnecessarily needy and emotional or if the author were more forthcoming about the mysterious figures lurking somewhere in the background, directing the bad guys.
Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot take up a new case in Peter Robinson's "All the Colors of Darkness" (2009). The victims, a gay couple including a theater professional and a retired MI-6 spook, appear to have executed a murder-suicide pact. But there are some inconsistencies, of course. A general atmosphere of anxiety pervades this story where domestic spies follow Banks around and threaten him and his new girlfriend, a bomb explodes on a London street when he is passing by, and hints of other terrorist threats abound. One interesting character introduced here is Tomasina Savage, a private investigator with lots of moxie. Here's hoping that she shows up again in the next, and perhaps far better, novel in the series.
A beguiling and wealthy widow mourns the death of her third husband in Cassandra Chan's "The Young Widow" (2005). Detective sergeant Jack Gibbons and his friend, Philip Bethancourt, a consultant to the police, look into the death-by-poisoning case abandoned by others because of conflicts of interest. Everyone suspects the alluring Annette Berowne, especially as her husband had been much older than she. Witnesses are interviewed numerous times; but the most important clues are discovered by Bethancourt, not Gibbons, who jeopardizes his career by falling in love with Annette. One critical piece of evidence emerges as a misunderstanding of names, of which Mrs. Berowne is the one actually seen at a particular juncture. This story is neatly plotted and provides a pleasant mystery puzzle.
A homicide cop and a private eye team up to solve a high-profile, double-murder case in San Francisco ("The Hunt Club," by John Lescroart, 2006). Wyatt Hunt, a former social worker and now a private investigator, and boyhood friend Devin Juhle, the police detective, deal with the killing of a federal judge, who is found with another victim, a young woman who is later discovered to be the judge's mistress. The judge's wife is the initial suspect but is soon ruled out. A TV trial reporter is then suspected because of her sudden disappearance. Hunt is convinced of her innocence and very concerned to find out what happened to her. Juhle's partner is pushing to declare the reporter guilty, a probable suicide, and to close the case. Improbably, the story leads to a Western-style shootout in a vineyard. The book's title refers to Hunt's PI practice and also to a group consisting of of Hunt, Juhle, some lawyer friends, and some young adults Hunt helped when he worked in child protective services.
Rome is the setting for David Hewson's latest literary mystery story ("The Garden of Evil," 2008), which stars detective Nic Costa. Unfortunately, Costa loses his new wife early on in the story and resolves to pursue the killer, an apparently untouchable aristocrat who owns a sprawling family palace set in the middle of the old city. The building encompasses all sorts of odd spaces, including a studio thought to have once been used by the Renaissance painter Caravaggio. An erotic painting by the master is thought to be the key to a series of murders committed by Franco Malaspina and his cohorts. Agata Graziano, a nun and a Caravaggio scholar, assists in the investigation by authenticating the painting and noting aspects of Caravaggio's life and times that may be relevant to the current situation. This story is rather absurd, filled with coincidence and overblown in parts, but is nonetheless fun to read, although the details about a long-dead painter's life, methods, and philosophy may seem a bit tedious to some.
For the North Korea story ("Hidden Moon," by James Church, 2007) readers follow Inspector O as he is tasked to check out a bank robbery. This beautifully written, Kafkaesque tale features tense but hidden bureaucratic and political intrigues of the sort where one false step sends you to a concentration camp or hard-labor outpost. The inspector takes comfort in pieces of wood, whether ash, oak, pine, or rosewood, and attempts to gain insight into the ways of the world and the vagaries of people. The trouble at the bank and elsewhere in Pyongyang seems to be caused by foreigners, including the Kazakh bank manageress, some mysterious Germans, a Russian dealer in silk stockings, and a visiting British VIP who is preceded by a British security professional. A shoot-out in a cemetery figures in the ending, but the initial bank robbery case is never resolved. O's boss worries a lot, warning O not to do too much of anything. Meanwhile, the influential but nameless man in the brown suit, tired of suspecting O of corruption, finally decides that the case, whether it is just or robbery or is potentially an internationally engineered coup attempt, is concluded.
The last novel for this month is "Death in the Morning," by Sheila Radley (2006, first published in 1978). Chief Inspector Quantrell welcomes a new recruit, the university-educated and gung-ho Detective Sergeant Tait, who would much rather follow up an apparently accidental drowning than a case involving stolen pigs. Still worried about an unresolved missing-persons matter, Quantrell allows Tait considerable latitude here but soon becomes intrigued by the difficulty in pinpointing details of the victim's last hours of life. The girl's mother, relatives, friends, and teachers all seem to be lying about something. Quantrell eventually solves the puzzle; and the murderer, in the best Agatha Christie tradition, turns out to be the least likely suspect. While the setting may be cozily quaint, the mystery is solid, well plotted, and believable.
Watching detectives figure out clues, question witnesses, and study the scenes of crimes is a guilty pleasure made more enjoyable by good, descriptive writing with little hint of the hard work that goes into creating plausible alternate universes where the good guys finally catch the bad guys and then go home to happy or, more likely, unhappy family lives in London, or Cleveland, or Pyongyang, or San Francisco. Novelists who produce good crime fiction, such as those mentioned in this essay, should be applauded. Let's hope the authors all find many more puzzling events or intriguing evil-doers to challenge the detective skills of their protagonists. Happy reading!
Some offsite links:
-Official site for P.D. James' The Private Patient
-Official site for Michael Koryta's A Welcome Grave
-Official site for Peter Robinson's All the Colors of Darkness
-Official site for John Lescroart's The Hunt Club
-Official site for David Hewson's The Garden of Evil
The Private Patient, by P.D. James. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-307-27077-1.
One Man and His Bomb, by H.R.F. Keating. St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2006. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-312-34988-2.
A Welcome Grave, by Michael Koryta. St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York, 2007. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-312-94751-4.
All the Colors of Darkness, by Peter Robinson. William Morrow, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2009. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-06-136293-4.
The Young Widow, by Cassandra Chan. St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2005. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-312-22748-3.
The Hunt Club, by John Lescroart.Dutton, New York, 2006. Hardcover. ISBN 0-525-94914-3.
The Garden of Evil, by David Hewson.Delacorte Press, New York, 2008. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-385-33957-5.
Hidden Moon: an Inspector O Novel, by James Church. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Minotaur, New York, 2007. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-312-35209-7.
Death in the Morning, by Sheila Radley. Felony and Mayhem Press, New York, 2006. First issued in 1978. ISBN 978-1933397-46-7.
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