Random Jottings

Random Crime Reading around the World

Now that the hassle of new laptop and setting it up etc is behind me (well almost, scanner on printer not working yet but I am ignoring it for the moment), I am finally getting down to posting about books.   I mentioned in one of my summing up posts of 2012 that I was seriously wondering whether to rename this blog to Random Crime as I seem to read such a lot of crime fiction. This genre has always fascinated me since my discovery of Dame Agatha Christie at the age of eleven when I was given a very old battered Pan edition of what we now call Ten Little Indians and spent a morning ignoring all school work but totally engrossed in wondering How on Earth this was going to end.   After that I was up and running.  

I love 1930's crimfic and Ngaio Marsh is another of my favourites. Gorgeous detective, Roderick Alleyn and I re-read all of these every year or so.   Dorothy L Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey, well what can one say? Love love love them and only read them for the first time about ten years ago, a treat worth waiting for.

Now I read anything I can get my hands on. Enjoy most crime writers, but there have been failures.  Patricia Cornwall is far to gory for me, she goes into the forensics and anatomical detail with almost too much lip smacking enjoyment and after reading four or five, gave up.   Lisa Jackson, OK, but over written and with lots of inner musings along the line of Come on Get a Grip written in italics and all gets a bit wearying. Have tried Dean Koontz but not for me and have yet to enjoy a Sarah Paretsky book, so my hit rate is not 100%.   BUT I still have discovered a wealth of stonking good reads over the last few years and here are a few of them.

Michael Connelly - the Harry Bosch books.   I read them all out of order and we all know he is that well know character the Maverick Cop which can become tiresome after a while, but great fun and tightly plotted. Set in Los Angeles.   His other hero, Mickey Haller an LA lawyer, I find more enjoyable and the court room scenes are totally gripping and fascinating.

Linda Castillo - all her books have an Amish setting and while I am starting to doubt whether this body count can really be kept up (getting as bad as Midsomer Murders) her main protagonist, Kate Burkholder who is the chief of police in a small town, is immensely likeable. Flawed of course, that goes without saying, but immensely readable.

Tess Gerritsen - wrote a slew of romantic/crime books before she started on her Rizzoli and Isles series set in Boston.   These are much better and very well written.   TV series which I can now see on Sky, dire.

These are just a few of the US writers I have discovered recently.

So we turn to Scandinavian detective fiction which has increased enormously in popularity, mainly due to the Wallender series on BBC4.   Ignore the Ken Branagh version which, though watchable is a bit off the wall, the Swedish version so much better.  I read all the books by Mankel but sadly he has now finished with this detective and there will be no more.  The final one in the series was rather melancholy and sad.    I now realise when writing this that I have an inflated idea of just how much ScandiCrime I have read as all my other expertise in this area comes from watching The Killing Series 1-3 on TV. There has been a 'novelisation' of the first series which I found rather unreadable and hope they do not attempt the others.   Other watching was The Bridge which was pretty stunning.

Camilla Lackberg -  brilliant. Here is the link to a review of one of her books and one of Linda Castillo in the same post

http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2009/09/icy-murder.html

I am mentioning also Jo Nesbo though I have found his most recent titles rather gory and upsetting. First one of his I read, the Snowman, gave me nightmares for weeks.   I have his latest on the shelf, but finding it difficult to get into so leaving it for a bit.

Quentin Bates has written thrillers set in Iceland which I have read and enjoyed.

http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2011/02/frozen-out-quentin-bates.html

Now we come to Italy and oh how I love the Montalbano books by Camilleri.  They are set in Sicily and are witty and funny and have reduced me to tears of helpless laughter; they have also reduced me to tears for quite another reason.   Montalbano is a wonderful character, a man of feeling and love and I wish the author a long and happy life so he can continue producing these wonderful books,

I have waiting for me two books by Marco Vichi which are set in Florence. I read and loved the first one, which I reviewed here, and I know this may sound daft, but I am just enjoying having these on my shelves knowing they are there waiting for me.  I am saving them up as a treat, and a treat they will be that I guarantee. Set in Florence in the sixties, before computers and mobile phones, they are engagingly old fashioned in procedure and I found that charming.

Commisioner Alec Blume - set in Rome. Author is Conor Fitzgerald. May not grab you at first but persevere, they are worth reading.

Brunetti books set in Venice and written by Donna Leon. Loved them all, even if Brunetti's smart arse wife who seems to be able to discourse intelligently on Henry James while knocking up spahgetti vongole at the same time, is beginning to get really really boring. But the last one, Beastly Things, was poor and I get the feeling she is tiring of her hero.   A non Brunetti book, published just before Christmas, also pretty poor. Sad.

Then the wonderfully named, Giancarlo Carofiglio.   Superbly written and credit must go to the translater who has done a marvellous job.      Set in Puglia and Involuntary Witness one of the best thrillers I have read in ages and the court room scene totally pinned me to my seat.

Back home and in the last couple of years I have discovered the Roy Grace books of Peter James, set in Brighton, a place I know well, and they are real page turners with a running personal story line in each book which is working up to a climax. Cannot wait for next one in the series.

DCI Banks books by Peter Robinson. Another discovery by me over the last year and gosh they are good. Am now catching up on the TV series which I missed first time around; good as well and sticks to the story lines pretty closely though not sure about the characterisation of Banks.

My latest discovery is Martin O'Brien. I have not reviewed all of his books but click on his name to see a review of my first of his which sent me off in chase of all the others.   They are set in Marseilles and feature a rather gorgeous Daniel Jacquot and they are excellent and totally unputdownable.

There are so many others I have discovered over the last few years, but no room or time to mention them all otherwise I will be hear all night, but as I find new ones (and have just enjoyed a debut thriller set in Maine this week) I will be posting about them. I also realise I have not mentioned PD James, Ruth Rendell and many others but you will have to take it as read that I devoured the lot and loved them.

As a final note, I picked up a battered old Penguin edition of a Simenon Maigret book recently. I have never read any of them and as there seem to be about a hundred or so, I really feel I ought to give them a whirl.  Can I ask any of you out there if you have read them, what you think of them and recommend any titles please?

Merci beaucoup.

 

Iceland, Sweden and Venice - Crime round up

My first book for this post is Cold Comfort by Quentin Bates.  I read his first detective story, set in Iceland as is this, last year and my review is here.  The ending was left rather ambiguous. As you will see from the earlier review, Frozen Out featured a mysterious blogger whose identify was left in doubt and I rather expected this to be continued, or to find out who it was in this new book, but not so. Instead we have a story with no connection whatsoever which slightly disappointed me but then I started to read and the disappointment disappeared as I re-acquainted myself with Sargeant Gunnhildur who is now working in the capital, Reykjavik, and heading up two investigations.  The first is tracking down an escaped convict who is eager to settle old scores, and then the dead body of a TV fitness presenter is discovered in her apartment.  It seems the victim has connections with business men and members of parliament and Gunnhildur soon finds herself in murky waters.   These wealthy and influential figures want no scandal and do their best to hinder the investigation at every turn. 

A nice tightly plotted and well written thriller, I found myself enjoying this title very much.  The heroine, or should I call her a hero in this days of political correctness, is a warm, likable woman who seems to have a good relationship with her teenage daughter - quite a surprise when most detective/police protagonists have dreadful family lives - and has found herself a new partner with whom she seems to be happy.  Shock, horror!

Recommended and I hope this will be a long and successful series.

The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg is the latest in the series featuring Detective Patrik Hedstrom and if you have read them from book one, which I have, it is also part of the enjoyment of these stories to follow his personal and family life which runs like a thread through the investigations.  In the latest Patrik and Erica are married and, as well as their small daughter, are now awaiting the birth of twins.  Tired and exhausted by the lack of sleep associated with small children, he is facing the mysterious death of Magnus Kjellner, found frozen underneath the ice in a lake.  He is part of a small group of friends who are all receiving deeply unpleasant and threatening letters from somebody who clearly wishes them ill.  Though they have known each other for most of their lives they deny having any link which could make them joint targets.

As in earlier Lackberg titles, there are flashbacks to the childhood of one of the protagonists which may go a long way to explain the vendetta being pursued against them, but no clue is given as to who it is, though the reason for the threats become clearer.

The amount of wonderful crime novels coming out of Scandinavia never fails to amaze, so many talented and wonderful writers and Camilla Lackberg is up there at the top. If you have not read any of hers, do try them but though I don't normally say you must read them in order, in this case I think it is a good idea.  Not just because of the investigations which are separate stories of their own, and not just the family thread which I have already mentioned, but for the back stories of the various members of the police and detective force which are humorous and sad at the same time.  

I do think I have to enter a warning here - that there is a double twist at the end of this book. Not only will the identity of the murderer knock you sideways, Camilla Lackberg slips in a shocking event in the personal life of Patrik which will keep you on tenterhooks until the next one in the series comes out.  

Another excellent book by this author.

And, finally, Venice and this must mean Guido Brunetti and the latest by Donna Leon.  I have very little to say about Beastly Things except that I was bitterly disappointed by this rather vague, rambling and uninteresting book.   There are scenes in a slaughterhouse which I thought totally unnecessary and I rather wondered if Ms Leon had decided to take up the cudgels to campaign against some of the practices used.  Don't know.  All I do know is that I found it far and away the poorest of the entire series and was rather upset by this.  Donna Leon is an author whose books I always purchase, I don't ask for review copies etc and yet this time one turned up.   I can only be pleased I did not pay for this particular one as I would have thought my money wasted.   So sorry to say this because, as you all know, I adore these Brunetti books.

Ah well, look forward to the next one.....

Double Whammy

Catch up time now.   Review a book or two Elaine.  Always a good idea on a book blog.  So here goes with two brill thrillers read in the last week.

The Reckoning - Jane Casey.

The second book by this author featuring DC Maeve Kerrigan, determined to make her mark and be a good detective but having to put up with a lot of prejudice and sexism from some of her colleagues. I very much enjoyed the previous one in the series, The Burning, so was pleased when this one arrived and settled down with cup of coffee and cushion on the sofa.  Two bodies have been found and it is clear that they have been tortured before being killed. All pretty gruesome and very few clues and nobody is particularly eager to help the police track down the killers when it is clear that the two murdered men were convicted paedophiles.   DC Kerrigan still feel that murder is murder no matter what the sins of the victim and there is doubt that one of the victims might have been wrongly convicted.  Then a third body turns up and a pattern begins to emerge and not the one the reader is first led to believe when a high profile gangster is caught at the murder scene.   He has returned to this country to find his daughter who has gone missing and when DC Kerrigan, working with a new boss DI Josh Derwent, tracks down another girl who had also vanished some time ago and there appears to be a link, she is soon hot on the trail.

The characters are settling in nicely now in this series.  Maeve is nervous of becoming too close to her colleague Rob Langton, he is scared of commitment as are all fictional police officers it seems, and is now teamed with an abrasive new boss and has to come to terms with his attitude towards women cops.  Once again you think same old, same old but I think that when reading detective stories this is something that we have to accept as, quite frankly, I think that being a cop must make you wary of forming a relationship with the stresses and strains that the job entails, and sexism is still rife in the police force as we well know.

A tight, pacy thriller which I can recommend.  Jane Casey is hitting her stride now with this series and I am hoping there are more to come.

The Hidden Child - Camilla Lackberg

The author has written seven psychological thrillers featuring Erica Falck and Patrik Hedstrom, this being the fifth published in translation in the UK, so I know there is at least another two awaiting me which is always a good thought.

I love all of these books and enjoy them more each time because, as well as getting to know the background of the regular characters, I am finding the stories gaining in authority and interest at each title. At the end of the last book, The Gallows Bird, we were left with a cliff hanger when Patrik's new wife, Erika, finds some of her mother's diaries in a trunk in the attic and a German Iron Cross, all wrapped round a bloodstained baby's shirt. In The Hidden Child she starts to investigate her mother's childhood and teenage years and, naturally, uncovers more than she bargained for.   Erika takes the Iron Cross to a retired history teacher who is an expert on the Second World War and a few days later he is dead.  

As ever, difficult to say anything more without giving away the plot and I certainly don't want to do that as I think this is one of the best of the Lackberg titles and a twist at the end caught me on the hop.

In The Gallows Bird, the chief in charge of the police in Ystad, Mellberg, always glad to palm off work on his subordinates but take the glory for himself, the owner of an awful comb over, was taken for a ride by a woman he met in a club and ended up feeling deflated and miserable.  He has been through a lot, Melberg, discovering he had a son who he had not seen for years and gradually forging a relationship with him, and he is gradually being humanised and I have developed a sneaking fondness for him.  In The Hidden Child, he adopts a stray dog and finds that this leads to a meeting with another dog owner who happens to be the mother of his new detective, Paul Morales and it is all rather delightful and provides a counterbalance to the increasingly murky and unpleasant facts being unearthed in the search for the murderer.

I think this is her best yet and, as ever, I end up saying how much I am looking forward to the next one.  And I should not end this review without mentioning the translator, Tiina Nunnally, who does a terrific job.

OK two down and more to go, including the new Ruth Rendell, which I have just finished but that is for another day as I am now going to concentrate on listening to Test Match Special where England are on the verge of winning the Third Test and will then be the No 1 Cricket Team in the World, and I tell you now after watching cricket for the last thirty years and seeing us at our worse in the 70s and 80s, are thrilled to bits with the way we are playing now.

The Gallows Bird - Camilla Lackberg

The Gallows Bird is the  latest in the series about Patrik Hedstrom and his colleagues and have been saving this up for the weekend along with my mini-Easter egg and I enjoyed both, the reading and the eating.

A woman is found dead, apparently the victim of a tragic car crash.  The car reeks of alcohol and the assumption is that it is a drink drive accident.  But then the autopsy reveals that there are bruises around the mouth, signs that liquor has been forced upon the driver and that this is to be treated as a murder. While this is being investigated a reality Big Brother type TV reality show is being filmed in Tanumshede and the police attention to the mysterious crash is distracted when one of the show's participants is found murdered.

While all this is going on Patrik has a new colleague to deal with, Hannah, a determined and ambitious detective who is working her way up the management pole and yet seems to have an unhappy private life (ok, same old I know but this has a twist).   While all this is going on Patrik's fiance is organising their wedding and life is a tad fraught to say the least.

Then a piece of evidence reveals that the two seemingly disparate homicides are linked, and a pattern emerges of similar deaths over a period of time and in different parts of the country and slowly Patrick realises that these cases are closer to home than he thinks.

This is just a quick summing up of this latest Camilla Lackberg as I don't want to go into too much detail and give anything away and further reviewing make this almost impossible to do.  I have become very fond of Patrik and his now wife, Erica and was slightly disappointed to find that the ending of The Stonecutter which left us with a cliffhanger, is resolved in a paragraph or two at the start of this book. I had hoped it would be given more depth.  But, this slight crit aside, this story is well up to standard and I spent a happy afternoon reading it.   The characters are all well rounded and portrayed and as the series progresses we, the readers, have a chance to become involved with them all, and we do.   Even Patrik's boss, ever eager to take the credit for his work, shows a human and vulnerable side and I must admit I warmed to him.  

We are left with another open ending which augurs well for the next book and looking forward to it already.

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Links to my reviews on Random of The Ice Princess, The Preacher and The Stonecutter

And if you wish to read more about her check out her website at http://www.camillalackberg.com/