Reviews from CAROL HOWELL

JANUARY - FEBRUARY  REVIEWS

JOHN HARVEY*

GONE TO GROUND   
JOHN HARVEY
Harcourt, Inc.   February, 2008

The violent death of gay academic Stephen Bryan initially looks like the result of a sexual encounter gone bad or a dispute between ex-lovers. But Detective Inspector Will Grayson and his Sergeant, Helen Walker, can’t dismiss the possibility of Bryan ’s death being the latest in a spate of homophobic attacks. Even though Mark McKusick, the victim’s spurned partner, remains on the top of the suspect list, the police team broadens their investigative net in a slow and methodical way that frustrates Bryan ’s sister Lesley, a BBC newscaster.  She, too, can’t believe that McKusick is the killer, and instead begins her own research following a totally different lead. Her brother had been working on a book about which he had received threats, a biography of Stella Leonard, a 50’s film star who died young in a car accident. Lesley befriends the star’s young relative, Natalie Prince, a super-star in her own right, who makes headlines with her outrageous antics and self-destructive behavior, and who might star in a film about her famous aunt. Watching the progress of these two approaches to solving the murder is highly engrossing, and the criss-crossing of their paths and ultimate denouement was highly satisfactory.  As always, Harvey has created interesting lead characters with attractive flaws, and composed a masterful plot line. Top marks!

 - Carol Howell
*PHOTO CREDIT:  PHILIPPE MATSAS/OPALE

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS  
BORIS AKUNIN
Random House Trade PBO 2/08

In nineteenth-century Russia , Erast Fandorin is an aristocratic super sleuth who is known for his ability to solve the unsolvable.  This book recounts two of his adventures: a scam artist extraordinaire is bilking the wealthy out of astounding sums of money and thumbing his nose at the authorities while basking in his infamy; and a serial killer who mimics Jack the Ripper is barbarously annihilating prostitutes and terrorizing the city’s dwellers. Fandorin possesses the insights and attention to detail of a Sherlock Holmes, and has his own capable assistant, young Tulipov, who he has elevated far above the lad’s own expectations. Additionally, he has a Japanese servant named Masa who is loyal to his master and is himself a master of Asian martial arts. The investigations Fandorin spearheads are meticulously executed and rely on logic and attentiveness, with no technological marvels available to grease the skids. I found the characters to be richly drawn, and the exotic background of time and place is fascinatingly portrayed. I quailed each time Tulipov’s disabled sister was labeled with what are now verboten terms, yet the warmth and concern with which he and Fandorin treat her is in sharp contrast and quite remarkable, a reminder that a word is sometimes only a word. The book is filled with wonderful intrusive humor as the narrator laughs at society, his characters and (probably) his readers. On the darker side, events transpire that I found surprising and stunningly shocking. Overall, Akunin has created a microcosm of any human society and, despite the unfamiliar names and places, it’s easy to identify with and relate to his creations. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

 - Carol Howell

CAROLINE & CHARLES TODD
(AKA CHARLES TODD)

A PALE HORSE
CHARLES TODD
William Morrow & Company  January, 2008

Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is summoned by his dyspeptic superior and told to look into the whereabouts of a person of interest to the War Office. Even though WWI has recently ended, the assignment is a mysterious one, with no real information or instructions except the mandate to be discreet regarding the target, one Gaylord Partridge.  He lives in one of a group of small cottages in the shadow of the White Horse of Uffington, a figure cut into the chalk of a nearby hill sometime in pre-history. Rutledge’s task appears futile, and he returns empty-handed to London in time to be sent (by his still-disagreeable boss) to the chill north of England , where a man’s corpse has been found in the ruins of Fountains Abbey. His face is covered by a World War I gas mask, and the only potential clue at the crime site is a book on alchemy owned by a local schoolteacher. The local police inspector is eager to pin the crime on the teacher, as he has an old grudge to settle with the man who successfully wooed the woman who’d rejected him. Rutledge is struck by the possible linkage between his two charges, and is unsurprised to find that everyone surrounding the cases has something to hide. Rutledge, too, carries a secret with him – he’s tormented by the ghost of a soldier he’d been forced to execute during the War, and his lively conversations with Hamish provide an ongoing commentary to his grim investigations.  In this tenth book of the series, the author continues to explore Rutledge’s post-war inner turmoil and ongoing angst about the pain of human interaction and the degree to which suffering can be taken. As always, characters are well drawn and the settings are atmospherically depicted. RECOMMENDED.

- Carol Howell

MISSING  
KARIN ALVTEGEN
Translated from the Swedish by Anna Paterson
Felony & Mayhem Trade PBO 1/08
ISBN: 978-1-933397-86-3

Sybilla Forsenström lives on the streets of Stockholm, occasionally dressing up and cadging a dinner and room at an elegant hotel by a scam that she has perfected. But it all goes terribly wrong when the businessman she’s conned winds up murdered, and the police identify her as the killer. Sybilla finds herself on the run, and, instead of being an invisible member of the homeless community, her picture and name are plastered all over the newspapers. To her horror, another murder is committed, and the killer apparently uses her name in a message scrawled at the scene. Sybilla’s past history is told in spurts, revealing a childhood filled with domineering and glacial parents who sadistically isolated her from her schoolmates but provided her with no alternative comfort or companionship. She is incapable of standing up to them and she is finally psychologically pushed into a nervous breakdown and hospitalized. Her parents prefer to give her an allowance rather than let her return home, and Sybilla’s years of aimless wandering begin, culminating in the nightmarish murder accusation. When a nerdish teenager serendipitously befriends her and believes her protestations of innocence, she at last begins to believe in her own self-worth and determines to clear her name. How she and her youthful comrade try to identify the killer and enable Sybilla to reenter society makes for an intriguing read. At times I stumbled over the narrative’s awkward phrasing, possibly due to questionable translation skills, and I also found that most of the characters were one-dimensional, with the police and press portrayed as caricatures which strained even my cynical credulity. Nevertheless, Alvtegen has garnered a lot of praise and awards abroad and, despite my cavils, I pressed onward and enjoyed the sense of closure the book provided.

- Carol Howell

JUDITH CUTLER

THE CHINESE TAKEOUT
JUDITH CUTLER
Allison & Busby pb 2/08
International Publishers Marketing Distributors
ISBN: 9780749081041

A disheveled young Asian man, loudly claiming sanctuary, interrupts the quiet church service that Josie Welford is attending.  The congregation is split over whether Tang should be sheltered, and the fact that he speaks no English means that no one can be sure what he's done or why he's in fear for his life.  When violence and arson break the peace, Josie is distraught at the apparent incompetence of the police to solve the crime.  Josie is the wealthy widow of a renowned criminal, and feels she has special insights into the workings of the criminal mind, so she determines to use her English West Country pub as a base of operations for her amateur sleuthing.  Her detective skills are thoroughly challenged by the villains and she engages the rural dean to be her part-time and occasionally reluctant assistant to unmask them.  Woven through the plot are Josie's commentaries on life and romance, and she debates about whether to add her newly widowed and attractive helper to her select list of admirers.  Cutler's second book in this series provides some additional insights into Josie's background and character, although the other denizens of her pub/restaurant are sketchily drawn and superficial at best.  It's a pleasant read, but frankly doesn't compare to her Sophie Rivers or Kate Powers mysteries.

- Carol Howell

Look for these reviews from Carol on the PAPERBACK PAGE:
SOVEREIGN by C. J. Sansom
A FALSE MIRROR by Charles Todd
WATER LIKE A STONE by Deborah Crombie
DEATH COMES FOR THE FAT MAN by Reginald Hill
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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER  REVIEWS

ABSOLUTION
CARO RAMSAY
Pegasus Books  October, 2007
ISBN:978-1-933648-41-5

The Crucifixion Killer has murdered two women in Glasgow, and Detective Chief Inspector Alan McAlpine has been assigned to head up the investigation. That means he has to return to Patrickhill Station, where he’d been posted early in his career, and where he’d fallen in love with a dying woman. She was unable to speak because of the damage done to her by having acid flung at her face, and he called her Anna and learned to communicate with her as he guarded her and her newborn baby in the hospital. The return to Patrickhill means reliving those appalling but exhilarating days of the past while going about the terrible tasks involved in trying to find the killer who mutilates and gruesomely poses his victims.  Assisted by long-time friends and colleagues, Detective Inspector Colin Anderson and Detective Sergeant Winifred Costello, McAlpine begins his methodical and labor-intensive inquiry, but becomes increasingly distracted by recollections from prior decades. His tendencies to ruminate and drink excessively begin to interfere with the police work (and his marriage), and efforts by his co-workers to return him to focus on the present are decreasingly effective. When the murderer strikes again, and another earlier murder appears to be related to the current spree, the complexities of the overlapping times and events provide the backdrop for an engrossing psychological thriller. The author has created some complex and fascinatingly flawed characters and placed them in an interesting Scottish location, with a well-plotted tale that grabbed and held me, except for the frequency of coincidence, which was mildly abused. Overall, an impressive debut novel. 

- Carol Howell

THE CRITIC
PETER MAY
Poisoned Pen Press  November, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59058-458-3

The corpse of wine critic Gil Petty had been found in a vineyard, strung up like a scarecrow, dressed in the ceremonial garb of a select group of oenophiles. His worldwide fame had made him both revered and hated, his murderer had never been caught, and the case had grown very cold after three years.  Enter former forensics expert Enzo Macleod, expatriate Scot now living and teaching in France, who is determined to reopen and solve the case. He gets reluctant assistance from the local police and, initially, equally grudging help from Michelle, Petty’s daughter, who has come to the area to reclaim her dead father’s personal effects. Enzo sets himself up in the modest cottage that Petty himself had rented years earlier, located in France’s Gaillac region, home to numerous small and as yet unrenowned wineries. Even before he completely moves in, Enzo is attacked and nearly killed, a clear warning that his investigative attentions are most unwelcome. He soon learns that there are countless suspects who could well have committed the crime, including most of the vintners in the region.  His little cottage is soon bursting with numerous willing helpers, including his student/protégé Nicole, his daughter Sophie and her boyfriend, and his semi-estranged lover, Charlotte. Following Enzo’s whirlwind sleuthing through the countryside is a frenetic lesson in wine-making, a bit of bodice-ripping flirtation and romance, repeated narrow escapes from death, and occasional grim reminders that this is, after all, a murderer he’s attempting to identify.  Enzo’s outspoken manner, winning charms, and kilt-clad figure make him a unique protagonist who I’d like to see in additional settings.  However, his cottage at times resembled Heathrow, with frenzied arrivals and departures of relatives and colleagues, a bustle that I would like to see restrained or eliminated.  

- Carol Howell  

Be sure to look for Carol's reviews of 
CLOSE QUARTERS by Michael Gilbert, 
A CLUBBABLE WOMAN by Reginald Hill and
DEATH OF A DUTCHMAN by Magdalen Nabb in
CLASSIC CORNER.
On the PAPERBACK PAGE you will find Carol's
reviews of RUMPOLE AND THE REIGN OF TERROR by
John Mortimer and THE MYSTERY WRITER by Jessica Mann.

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