The Abominable Man: Review

The Abominable Man (1971) is the seventh novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. It shows Beck facing one of the greatest challenges in his career--challenges calling for quick detective work and professional challenges when his investigation reveals evidence of corruption all the way through some of the highest levels of the force. 

It all begins with the horrific murder of a chief inspector in his hospital room--murdered by bayonet. And it soon becomes apparent that the person responsible has a personal hatred of not only Chief Inspector Nyman but the police in general. As Beck and his team work against the clock to find the madman before he can drastically reduce the number of officers on the force, they find a link to Nyman's reputation for brutal, strong-arm police tactics. Tactics he perfected as a sadistic instructor in the armed forces and used over a forty-year career. Could the madman be someone falsely arrested and abused while in custody? Or perhaps he's a rogue cop who suffered under a harsh Inspector and is looking for revenge. 

Beck and his colleagues finally run the culprit to earth, but the final stand-off with an expert marksman will raise the police body count to at least five and Beck will have to resort to a drastic plan in order to stop the killer before he can claim more lives. The man will be caught--but at what cost? And how much blame rests with a police force which harbored corrupt officers and turned a blind eye to reports of misconduct?

This installment of the Beck series is a hard-hitting novel on a number of levels. It opens with Nyman's very brutal death, but soon turns into a commentary on the method of police work that had its roots in a sadistic drill-sergeant style of instruction and enforcement. Although the reader can't condone the murders, one can still understand the motive. When those who are called upon to serve and protect cause so much harm in one person's life, it isn't hard to understand when that person reaches the end of their endurance. 

Definitely not a puzzle mystery and not entirely a police procedural--although we do watch Beck and his men hard at work gathering the evidence and searching the records for clues to the killer's identity. This works best as a social commentary on the state of the police force in the early 1970s and makes for an absorbing read. But it is also an action-packed police drama--moving quickly from the first murder to the final scene. Sjöwall and Wahlöö are experts at setting the scene and placing the reader right in the middle of the action. ★★★★ for a perfectly paced, police thriller.

This fulfills the "Set Anywhere But US/England" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card.

The False Inspector Dew: Review

The False Inspector Dew (1982) is a stand-alone historical mystery by Peter Lovesey, known as well for his historical mystery series starring Sergeant Cribb and Bertie the Prince of Wales, a modern series with Peter Diamond, several other stand-alones, and short stories. My first introduction to Lovesey's writing was his Victorian series with Sergeant Cribb. These are delightful historical novels with fine plotting and a good deal of fun and humor. I had heard of the Inspector Dew novel for years--it is a Golden Dagger award winner and has been featured on various "Best of" lists. Julian Symons has described it as “one of the cleverest crime comedies of the past few years" in his book Bloody Murder. And it is quite clever and entertaining, indeed.

The book takes place primarily in the early 1920s--with a bit of background filled in with scenes from the sinking of the Lusitania. Alma Webster, a romantically-inclined woman of 28--full of romantic sensation novel plots and no real experience with the opposite sex, falls madly in love with her dentist. The dentist, Walter Baranov, is married to a demanding, self-centered actress and comes to appreciate the unswerving devotion of Miss Webster. There is just one obstacle to their grand passion--Lydia Baranov. When Lydia announces her plans to give up the stage in England for an imagined career in the growing American film industry...and that those plans involve Walter leaving up his dentist practice (which she paid for) and joining her in America, Walter and Alma hatch a plot to remove the obstacle. 

Lydia sets about selling the dental practice and their home, packing up their belongings, and booking passage on the Mauretania, but Walter tells her he refuses to go. He then books his own passage under a false name--choosing by a quirk of humor to sail under the name Walter Dew, the name of a retired famous Scotland Yard Inspector. Alma, who fortunately resembles his wife, will sneak aboard and stand ready to take Lydia's place once Walter kills her and stuffs her through a convenient port hole. Things seem to have gone smoothly--Lydia is gone, Alma slips into her shoes, and Walter prepares to spend the voyage in the obscurity of second class. But then their plans fall apart...a woman's body is spotted in the water, a couple of card-sharpers get involved, "Inspector Dew" is called upon to help the captain and his crew get to the bottom of things, and someone takes a potshot at the "detective" as he does his best to live up to his namesake's reputation. Lovesey provides plenty of twists and turns as it seems that few people on board the Cunard vessel are really who they seem to be. It will be a clever armchair detective, indeed, who anticipates the final twist.

This is a terrific, near-perfect mystery in the traditional mode--it has everything: murder, ship-board romance, small-time crooks, mistaken identity (several), and a closed set of suspects. Lovesey expertly sets the reader up for certain scenarios and then, with a quick flick of the wrist changes things up in the most logical manner. He also seems to be having a great deal of fun playing with all the standard tropes of both detective and romantic fiction--from the passion of the romance-obsessed Alma to the Inspector who isn't really an inspector to the doting mother who's bound and determined to marry off her daughter. ★★★★ and a half stars for near-perfection.

This fulfills the "Man in the Title" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo Card.

All challenges fulfilled: Vintage Mystery Challenge, 100 Plus Challenge, How Many Books, Mount TBR Challenge, Password Challenge, A-Z Reading Challenge, Cloak & Dagger, Men in Uniform, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, My Kind of Mystery, Reading Thru Time

Challenge Complete: Men in Uniform

January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015

I signed up for the lowest level on this one:

• Sergeant: read 1–5 men in uniform novels

and actually completed my fifth book on March 6th. I somehow forgot to log my completion. I'm still reading and hope to make at least Lieutenant before I'm done, but my stated commitment has been fulfilled and I'm crossing this one off my mega-list of challenges.

My reading list:
1. Police Procedurals by Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini, eds [policemen, all sorts of policemen] (1/9/15)
2. Death of Dwarf by Harold Kemp [policemen] (1/25/15)
3. Caught Dead in Philadelphia by Gillian Roberts [policemen] (2/11/15)
4. Into the Valley by John Hersey [Marines] (2/28/15)
5. Death & Mr. Prettyman by Kenneth Giles  [policemen] (3/6/15)
Challenge Commitment Complete (3/6/15)

Playground of Death: Review

Playground of Death by John Buxton Hilton is the seventh in his Inspector Kentworthy series.Kentworthy has his own peculiar way of investigating matters that makes him something of a puzzle to the local constabulary when he is sent along by Scotland Yard to tend to cases that need an outsiders touch. But he also has a certain flair that allows him to find the solution that others miss.

Such is the situation in Filton-in-Leckerfield. Roger Bielby, a former mayor and all-around big-wheel in the Lancashire town was arrested for the shooting death of his wife Maggie. But he never made it to his initial hearing--he was shot himself by an as-yet unknown killer while on his way into court. The circumstantial evidence against him was quite strong and the local authorities have no doubt that he would have been convicted had he been allowed to face trial. But when Kentworthy examines the case notes and visits the crime scenes, he's not so sure. And then when he reads the journal Bielby had been working on in jail, he becomes convinced that the crimes have roots in the past. Bielby's journal is full of memories growing up in the slum area of town--a child with no father, skirting the law and getting into trouble until his father show up to marry his mother and to try and give him a respectable life. A stint in the army during the war seemed to point him onto the straight and narrow and he returns to his home town a war hero determined to better himself. Hidden in those memories are clues to current events and Kentworthy manages to trace the clues a solution that will surprise the village even more than an accused and murdered ex-mayor.

There must be something about the Kentworthy stories that keep me coming back. At least, I do keep picking up new entries in the series as I find them--but I consistently give them between two and three stars and never more than that, so I'm not quite sure that I can pinpoint what the overall appeal is. This one comes in for ★★ and a half. And most of the star power is for the historical framing of the story. The journal entries, which comprise almost the entire first half of the book, are some of the most interesting parts. The final wrap-up relies heavily on information from those entries and on current interviews with key players from that time period. Kentworthy is his usual peculiar self and his investigation has a somewhat disjointed feel (something I've noted in a few others in the series), but overall a decent police procedural story.

This fulfills the "Historical" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card as well as providing Clue #2 in the Super Book Password.

Death & Mr. Prettyman: Review

Kenneth Giles was a British author wrote ten mysteries under his own name (one non-series) as well as two other series under the names Edmund McGerr and Charles Drummond. Death and Mr. Prettyman (1967) is the third book in the Giles series which features Harry James--who begins the series as a detective sergeant and is currently an acting inspector--and his sergeant Cedric Honeybody. 

In this installment, we are presented with the death of the respectable, elderly solicitor Charles Prettyman during one of London's fabled peasoupers. Prettyman is discovered, knife protruding from his back, in the waiting room of a barrister's office in the very proper Inns of Court. Was he another victim of the "Blue Lady," a serial killer with a taste for smallish men and a penchant for a peculiarly shaped knife? Or did someone use a copy-cat killing to eliminate Prettyman for reasons of their own?

On the surface, Prettyman seems to have been a very harmless and inoffensive solicitor. He was careful in his business matters--managing the affairs of several large estates--and certainly never mixed up in any unsavory circumstances. But then a clerk in Chambers where Prettyman was found is also killed with a knife and a possible witness dies in a fall down a rickety staircase, James and Honeybody begin to think there was more to the solicitor than met the eye. Several trips to the country are called for and James will need to enlist the help of his wife, the "Modest Maidens" Society (a group of female do-gooders), a few old lags, and a peer of the realm to solve the serial killings as well the mystery behind Prettyman's murder.

Giles writes a rather eccentric mystery. Throughout the entire book the dialogue reads like a vaudeville act or an old Abbott and Costello routine. The reader is constantly poised for the "badum-tish" at the end of any given conversation. And yet the camaraderie between James and Honeybody is genuine and a great deal of fun. There are moments when I thought I was in the middle of the "Who's on first" routine and didn't quite follow, but it didn't deter from the enjoyment too much. Not quite as fairly clued as one might hope--a few clues are held a bit too tightly to the chest and James makes a final "research" trip that is not explained until the big reveal at the end, but overall a fun ride. ★★★

This counts for the "Lawyer, Judge, etc" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card as well as for Rich's year in crime fiction (this month is 1967) over at Past Offences.

Quotes:
Porterman is taking Liverpool apart. The police of four counties, by the Home Secretary's orders, are providing him with three hundred men on a three-shift basis. At this moment you could steal the whole of Manchester with out anybody noticing a thing wrong. [Superintendent Hawker; p. 25]

"I know what Miss Christie meant," said Hawker. "She's responsible for every little tea-leaf wearing gloves these days. Until she told 'em they didn't know about crime detection. She should have been locked up years ago." [pp. 26-7]

Nobody's met more loonies than Sir Bradbury. They say he even gibbers to himself when he thinks he's alone. [Hawker; p. 29]

He's devilling a county-court case for me. Nothing to it; two toilet bowls broken, but a matter of principle on both sides. We make our money from principles, Inspector. [Hewson; p. 46]

G: If Scobie gets mean tell him to go get another boy.
H: That's the spirit. When I hear that, I know a man's arrived, sir. That's the spirit.
[Greenaway, Hearman; p. 70]

I've seen--no that's not true--I've heard of them coming suddenly, like a thoroughbred at the eleven-furlong post. That makes us clerks happy. [Hearman; p. 72]

H: Perhaps I may buy a round in celebration of that dry-cleaning case, a forensic triumph.
G: My opponent was twenty-three, sweating, tongue-tied, and clueless, poor devil.
H: Always take the credit, laddie, because you'll get the blame. Such reputation as I have originally rested on three monstrous coincidences, a doting judge, a senile witness and the fact that old Bromley--before your time--broke his upper plate a quarter through his final speech. 
[Hewson, Greenaway; p. 73]

Whilst at home he was relaxed in dressing gown and slippers, he found the formal hotel occasions trying. And if Elizabeth was eupeptic at breakfast, which was her inclination, Honeybody resembled nothing quite so much as a large grinning, mustachioed bear, its stomach almost audibly welcoming the day's promise of food and drink. [p. 89]
 
...Honeybody, beaming and exuding a smell of stout, entered.
"Holy mackerel," said Harry.
"Disguise, fading into the yokel background, sir."
   The Sergeant's great stomach perilously rested on the upper edge of riding breeches, spread taut against vast thighs. Riding boots, polished bright, encased the size twelve feet. A checked shirt with a red cravat and a vast Harris tweed jacket with patch pockets completed the picture. [pp. 154-5]

Into the Valley: Review

Into the Valley by John Hersey is a reporter's on-the-spot report of a battle which took place on October 8, 1942 on Guadalcanal. Hersey was a correspondent with Time-Life and was attached to Company H of the Marine Corps under the command of Captain Charles Rigaud. The heavy machine gun company was ordered into the valley at the Matanikau River with the goal of forcing the enemy back beyond the river.

As Hersey moves with the company and watches the men under fire, he realizes how much these Marines go through, how many of them deserve citations for their bravery, and how few of them will receive the recognition they deserve--from the runners who carry messages when radio and field telephones won't work to the men who carry the wire spools through the jungle (unable to defend themselves because you can't carry a rifle and a spool at the same time) to the medics who treat and rescue the wounded. 

He gets to know the men very quickly in his short time with them and he asks them the one question he truly wants to know. What are they fighting for? When it comes down to it...out there in the unfamiliar jungles, when it seems like your company is the only one doing its job...what are you fighting for? The answer surprises him until he recognizes it for what it is:

They did not answer for a long time.

Then one of them spoke, but not to me...and for a second I thought he was changing the subject or making fun of me, but of course he was not. He was answering my question very specifically.

He whispered: "Jesus, what I'd give for a piece of blueberry pie." Another whispered: "Personally I prefer mince." A third whispered: "Make mine apple with a few raisins in it and lots of cinnamon: you know, Southern style."

Fighting for pie. Of course that is not exactly what they meant. Here, in a place where they lived for several weeks mostly on captured Japanese rice, then finally had gone on to such delicacies as canned corned beef and Navy beans, where they were usually hungry and never given a treat--here pie was their symbol of home.

Hersey's book is a fine piece of war reporting. He gives us the feel of battle with all the sights and sounds, with all the fears and acts of bravery. We see the men digging shallow grave-like holes to bed down in at night, fording streams, and carrying their fallen comrades from the field of battle. We hear the underlying homesickness and worry that they might not see that home again--but we also see the courage that drives their Captain to make them hold their ground until they can retreat in good order. An interesting peek into the history of World War II. ★★★ and a half.

Caught Dead in Philadelphia: Review

Amanda Pepper is a bit annoyed when a fellow teacher from Philadelphia Prep arrives, wet and dripping, on her doorstep one morning. She's also a bit confused--after all, she and Liza Nichols aren't exactly bosom pals. Liza, a part-time actress & part-time instructor, is beautiful and well on her way to becoming the full-time wife of a scion of one of Philadelphia's wealthiest families. Liza isn't too coherent about her purpose, but swears all she needs is some sleep--could she please take a nap on Amanda's couch until she's supposed to meet Amanda's class in the afternoon? 

But Liza doesn't show up for the discussion of Macbeth and Amanda is definitely annoyed with her morning visitor when she heads home for the day. She figures Liza stood her up to go shopping for bridal clothes or something. But when she gets home she finds her door unlocked and Liza is lying on the floor, dead. Once the police arrive, Amanda is in for another shock...she seems to be a suspect. The handsome detective in charge of the case, C. K. Mackenzie makes her believe he thinks she ran home on her lunch break to shove Liza violently against fireplace.

True to cozy mystery tradition, Amanda decides to do a little sleuthing on her own--to clear her name and to clear up a few other mysteries. Like--who was the Winnie-the-Pooh necklace intended for? Why did Liza really come to her house? Why did Liza tell everyone that she and Amanda were best buddies? Why did she tell her mother and her fiancee that she was spending weekends and overnights at Amanda's house? Why does everyone connected with the case think that Amanda knows more than she's telling? And most importantly--does the killer think Amanda knows something dangerous? By the time Mackenzie crosses her off his suspect list, they've figured out that their relationship needs a little investigating as well. But Mackenzie will need to find a killer before the killer crosses all the victims off of his (or her) list....and before he gets to Amanda.

Winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery (1988), Caught Dead in Philadelphia is, indeed, a very good debut novel by Gillian Roberts. Caught Dead caught my eye because of its cozy academic spin and it kept me reading because it's a nicely done, fast-paced read. Amanda Pepper is a feisty protagonist who still has quite reasonable fears and wobbly legs when confronted with murder. I enjoy her interactions with C. K. Mackenzie (and her efforts to learn his disguised first name) and I look forward to continuing the series to see how their relationship develops.

Roberts give us a good mystery plot with an abundance of suspects and motives--enough to keep armchair detectives guessing and waiting for the next clue. Mixed with humor, it makes for an enjoyable, light read. ★★★★

This fulfills the "Academic Mystery" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card.

All Challenges fulfilled: 100 Plus Challenge, How Many Books, Vintage Mystery Challenge, Reading Road Trip, Monthly Motif, Mount TBR Challenge, What's in a Name, Cloak & Dagger, My Kind of Mystery, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Men in Uniform, A-Z Mystery Author Challenge

Death of a Dwarf: Review

According to Classic Crime Fiction, Death of a Dwarf (1955) is the fifth in a mystery series by Harold Kemp and features Detective Inspector Jimmy Brent and his team of sleuths. Like me, the folks at CCF have found very little information about Kemp out on the interwebs. If anyone has any information beyond his birth year (1896) and short bibliography (seven titles in all), I'd love to hear about it. 

Kemp's story, as you might guess, revolves around the late-night murder of a dwarf along the road in the village of Castle Ascombe. The trouble is there is nothing to identify him--not a scrap in his pockets. No one admits to recognizing the man and, given the aroma of whiskey that surrounds the body, he is taken for a wandering drunk who wandered too far into the path of one of the few motor vehicles to travel that way. But Sergeant Mason, the local officer, isn't too sure and he reports to his Division Headquarters where plans are made for Detective Inspector Jimmy Brent to make a run to the country for a look-see.

Before Brent can make his trip to Castle Ascombe, however, somebody (or bodies) relieves Mason of his corpse, leaving nothing but the man's hat behind. Who would want to steal a murdered man? And why was he in Castle Ascombe anyway? Inspector Brent is quite sure that somebody know the answer to that little question. 

Then the vicar starts acting weird--hiding under hedges and telling unnecessary lies. The doctor plays hard of hearing and avoids answering questions. And instead of pussy down the well, we have policemen down there. The lord of the manor would like to believe that everything is all sewn up when it looks like a naturalized Polish citizen has hanged himself after Inspector Brent questioned him once too often. But, again, the officers aren't ready to buy the easy answer. Someone would like them to...but then justice wouldn't be served. And that's what Jimmy Brent gets paid to do.

I had never heard of Harold Kemp before I walked into Half-Price Books on a day that they were holding a bargain price sale (so much percent-off). There on the Nostalgia shelf sat a pristine little hardback with dust jacket and all--even at HPB's normally low price, I probably would have passed Kemp up because it was still a bit out of my price range and a totally unknown author. But with a rather hefty percent off, I couldn't resist. I'm not sure whether I should be glad or not. The story is quite good with a standard motive given a nice little twist. Fairly clued--it's certainly not Kemp's fault that I completely forgot a little tidbit that he prominently displayed for me back in the early chapters. Likeable characters--the interactions between Jimmy Brent and his superiors, colleagues, and underlings are delightful and supporting characters from the village are just as good (save for a few suspects...but then we're not supposed to like them). There's even a knowing little old lady calmly knitting in her little apartment--but none appear to be stock characters used purely for effect. Finely drawn surroundings--nice country village and there's even (see the cover) a menacing castle with ruins. My uncertainty lies in the fact that I'm quite sure that future installments of Brent and company are going to be rather difficult to come by (unless I want to break down and search for him through internet sellers). ★★★★ for an excellent, serendipitous find.

Since this was published in 1955--the same year my friend Richard made his first appearance, this fulfills the Birthday square on the Golden Vintage Bingo card. And--I didn't know this when I picked the book out--the titular murder takes place on his very birthday. He claims to have an alibi...

Police Procedurals:Review

Police Procedurals (1985), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Bill Pronzini, is the second volume in the Academy Mystery Novellas series. For this series Greenberg and Pronzini chose works by respected crime fiction writers--most works which had never appeared in anthologies before--and organized the novellas into editions based on sub-genre. As the title indicates, this collection brings together four novellas that give us a taste of police procedure as envisioned by Ed McBain, Donald Westlake, Georges Simenon, and Hugh Pentecost.

McBain's work, The Empty Hours from 1960 has the Steve Carella and the men of the 87th Precinct investigating the death of a woman found dead in a cheap apartment. From the beginning, things are not what they seem. The woman looks like an African American to the officers first on the scene, but she proves to be Caucasian--blackened and bloated by the intense heat and rapid decomposition. They assume she was a woman down on her luck--but her clothes prove to be more expensive than her surroundings would warrant and her bank account is nice and full. As they check up on her, they find that she was Claudia Davis, a wealthy young woman with a generous trust fund. They also learn that her cousin had come to stay with her not so very long ago, but more recently had died in a boating accident. Now both women are dead. But why? And what happened to the missing $5,000 from her safe deposit box? This is an excellent procedural--very descriptive writing, but not so much of a puzzler and very little misdirection.

Quote:
Nobody like Monday morning. It was invented for hangovers. It is really not the beginning of a new week, but only the tail end of the week before. Nobody likes it, and it doesn't have to be rainy or gloomy or blue in order to provoke disaffection. It can be bright and sunny and the beginning of August. (p. 39)

The Sound of Murder (1960) by Westlake is the story of a young girl who seems mature beyond her years who comes to Detective Abraham Levine in Brooklyn's 43rd Precinct to accuse her mother of murder. Amy Thornbridge Walker is positive that her mother has killed her step-father with a "loud noise" (he suffered from a weak heart) and wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't done in her father as well. She has no proof to offer the detective--just her calm assurance that it happened. Levine, who suffers from a bit of heart trouble himself, begins to believe there may be something to the girl's story and sets out to investigate. But as with the first story, everything may not be quite as it seems. This one is nicely done with a clue planted right in front of the reader but so subtly it will probably be overlooked.

Simenon's Storm in the Channel (1944) sees now-retired Superintendent Maigret setting off with his wife on holiday to England. But a storm in English Channel prevents their crossing and they take refuge in boarding house. Maigret finds himself on something of a busman's holiday when the maid is found shot to death after helping one of the other boarders carry luggage down to the boat. The local detective thinks the retired policeman may be past it, but Maigret soon proves that he can read clues in a menu with dress measurements doodled on it. It isn't long before the detective has a confessed murderer in charge. This is straight deduction and Maigret makes the most of the few clues he finds.

Quote:
"It must have been a crime of passion....That girl was a really fast one. She was always hanging around the dance-hall at the far end of the harbour."  "Well, that makes it different," murmured Madame Mosselet, who seemed to think that if passion was involved the whole thing was natural. (p. 120)

Murder in the Dark (1949) by Pentecost takes its name from the unusual diamond-buying procedure described in the story. Buying "in the dark" involves a diamond broker obtaining an allotment of rough diamonds with a set amount of carats and agreed upon types [there are various types of rough diamonds] but without seeing the actual stones. The sealed packet is then sold to a customer who is gambling on whether the stones will cut properly and be worth what she or he paid for them...or, hopefully, worth even more. A recently wealthy man comes to New York City to buy diamonds and, being a gambler by nature, decides to buy them in the dark--but before the night is over the man is dead and the diamonds have disappeared. The story turns into a Maltese Falconish tale--with people crawling out of the woodwork looking to find those diamonds. It's up to Lieutenant Pascal to figure out who thought the stones worth killing for and where those gems might be. Fairly good story albeit with one of the main suspects running in and out of the police investigation in a rather improbable way.

Overall, a good collection of mysteries. My favorite is the Westlake story with McBain and Pentecost close behind. Simenon's Maigret continues to fail to interest me greatly--although I must say that prefer this short story to the novels I've read so far. ★★★

This fulfills the "Professional Detective" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card.

2015 Men in Uniform Challenge

January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015

 As Brianna at The Book Vixen says: Who doesn't love a man in uniform? I sure do! And I love reading about them too. They're hot, resourceful and they're always well-equipped. Do you like reading books featuring men in uniform too? If so, then this is the reading challenge for you!

Levels:

• Sergeant: read 1–5 men in uniform novels
• Lieutenant: read 6–10 men in uniform novels
• Captain: read 11–15 men in uniform novels
• Chief: read 16+ men in uniform novels

 I joined this challenge for the first time last year.  I realized that with all the murder mysteries I read that surely to goodness I could collect enough policemen to enter at the most basic level. And I was right.  So that's what I'm going to do again this year.  If I find that I can round up even more of those handsome men in uniform, then I'll ask my commanding officer for a promotion and will try for a higher level.  But my basic challenge will be complete when I earn my stripes for:

Sergeant: read 1-5 men in uniform novels

If you'd like to join in the fun, then click on the 2015 Men in Uniform Challenge link for full details and to sign up.

My reading list:
1. Police Procedurals by Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini, eds [policemen, all sorts of policemen] (1/9/15)
2. Death of Dwarf by Harold Kemp [policemen] (1/25/15)
3. Caught Dead in Philadelphia by Gillian Roberts [policemen] (2/11/15)
4. Into the Valley by John Hersey [Marines] (2/28/15)
5. Death & Mr. Prettyman by Kenneth Giles  [policemen] (3/6/15)
Challenge Commitment Complete (3/6/15)
6. Playground of Death by John Buxton Hilton [policemen] (3/18/15)
7. The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey [officers & crew of ocean liner] (4/1/15)
8. Gods of Gold by Chris Nickson [policemen] (5/23/15)
9.
10.
Lieutenant!

The Forgotten War: Review

Over 200 years before Captain Picard's time, Starfleet Captain Lucien Murat, legendary Starfleet officer and contemporary of Christopher Pike, disappeared during the war with reptilian alien species, the Tarn. A cease-fire was called long since, but it is an uneasy peace that exists between the Tarn and the Federation. In the effort to speed diplomatic negotiations, Picard takes on Commander Karish of the Tarn as an exchange officer. While Karish is aboard, the Enterprise discovers descendants of both Murat and his crew as well as survivors from a Tarn ship on a planet in the No-Entry Zone between Federation and Tarn space. These castaways are still fighting the battle begun two centuries ago...and the Tarn have just perfected fission bombs. Unless Picard can convince both sides that the war is over, the humans will face certain destruction. Officials from both sides have forbidden Picard and his Tarn counterpart Admiral Jord from assisting their own people. Picard must devise a clever plan that will both conform to his orders and yet save the survivors from both sides. If he can't, the war with the Tarn may spread once again into space.

It's been a long time since I read a Star Trek novel. Back in the day--before the Classic Trek films and The Next Generation kicked off a series of spin-offs--all we had was Classic Trek in syndication. I, and most Trek fans, were always hungry for more stories about our favorite starship crew, so when the novels started coming out I grabbed them up as fast as Pocket Books could produce them. And managed to keep up with production. But once the Next Gen went on the air and there were now two series novels to keep up with I managed to fall behind.  That didn't keep me from buying every one that I could get my hands on--I just didn't get them all read. Then my attention wandered back to mysteries and I stopped reading Trek altogether. I thought it about time that I move some of these Star Trek novels off the TBR mountain....

The Forgotten War (STNG #57) by William R. Forstchen is a decent Trek novel.  It offers commentary on  the reasons for war and the results of an ongoing battle between two enemies who are equally matched and are neither prepared to look for an alternate solution to the generations of bloodshed. Trek has always examined huge social and historical issues of just this nature, so Forstchen sticks to canon in that way. There are small indicators that he doesn't quite have his characters down, however. Phrasing that just doesn't ring true for Picard. Referring to Riker as "Will" in about 90% of the situations--it should generally be Riker when narrating and unless in relaxed circumstances his colleagues should call him "Number One" (the captain) or "Commander." Small quibbles--but details do matter. And...as another Goodreads reviewer (Jimyanni) noted--this race is awful reminiscent of the Gorn.  If there had been such a big conflict with the Tarn (another lizard-like race) during the time of Pike (not so very long before Kirk), then you would, indeed, expect that it might have been mentioned. Again--small quibble.  Overall--a good read. Quick-paced and full of action.  I do like how Picard and Admiral Jord work together to get their respective peoples to stand down from a final battle that will surely destroy all those on the planet.  ★★★

On the Beach: Review

Some games are fun even when you lose. Even when you know you're going to lose before you start. It's fun just playing them. (p. 65)

On the Beach by Nevil Shute (1957) is my second apocalyptic read this year to focus on Australia. Philip Wylie's Triumph (click for review) gave us a world where nuclear war had wiped out nearly everyone in the northern hemisphere, but Australia and most of the southern hemisphere had escaped nuclear fallout through wind currents that seemed to stay on their respective sides of the equator. This makes rebuilding possible--and man rises from the ashes of his folly. Shute provides a much darker vision. Though the nuclear war in his novel is a short one--lasting only 37 days--the overall destruction is much greater and the seismic records from the war show that about 4,700 bombs were dropped. Again, most of the damage occurs in the northern hemisphere, but this time the wind currents cannot save those living south of the equator... the radiation makes its way slowly towards the few remaining survivors in southern Australia.

In Melbourne, the largest of Australia's southernmost cities, Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes of the Australian navy is appointed as a liaison to the U.S.S. Scorpion, one of the last two nuclear submarines belonging to the U.S. navy. There have been weak Morse code signals coming in from Seattle and the submarine, currently following orders from Australia, is ordered to travel north and investigate. The mission is two-fold: to find the source of the transmissions and to discover if a scientist's theory that the further away from the equator the lower the radiation. Unfortunately, the mission brings back bad news all around--the Morse code has resulted from an unsteady window frame knocking against the transmission key as it teeters in the wind and the radiation samples prove that the fallout is spreading steadily towards all regions on earth. From the time the book starts, those in Australia have six months or less left.

A classic that has held up for over fifty years. Shute's novel is a sobering and harrowing look at how ordinary people might deal withe ultimate nightmare. Most of them choose to conduct themselves as if everything were normal and life would go on after the six month deadline they've been given. Holmes and his wife plan a garden, the father of their friend Moira mends fences and continues prepping his farm for the next season's planting, Commander Towers of the Scorpion buys presents for the family waiting for him back in the States. Some, like scientist John Osborne who buys and races the fast car he always longed for, decide to live life to the fullest--doing things they always wanted to do but kept putting off. Underlying each conversation is the acceptance that the end is coming and there's nothing to be done about it 

It is rather horrifying to think that, as T. S. Eliot wrote, the world may end "not with a bang but a whimper." Each one quietly accepting the end of life as they know it--slowly succumbing to radiation sickness or avoiding the messy ending by taking the suicide pills offered by the Australian government. And it is equally horrifying to realize that most of those who die had absolutely nothing to do with the the decisions made to launch the bombs that destroy everyone. A heart-breaking story--and a different take on the apocalyptic tale. One that focuses on the everyday rather than the major events. ★★★★


Quotes:
You've always known you were going to die some time. Well, now you know when. That's all. Just make the most of what you've got left. (John Osborne, p. 88)

It's not the end of the world at all. It's only the end of us. The world will go on just the same, only we shan't be in it. I dare say it will get along all right without us. (Osborne, p. 89)

Some kinds of silliness you just can't stop. I mean, if a couple of hundred million people all decide that their national honor requires them to drop cobalt bombs upon their neighbour, well, there's not much that you or I can do about it. The only possible hope would have been to educate them out of their silliness. (Peter Holmes, p. 301)

Plain Sailing: Review

Detective Superintendent George Masters and DCI Bill Green of Scotland Yard are off to a small seaside town near Durham expecting to enjoy a well-deserved holiday with their wives. But true to detective fiction standards (busman's holiday and all that)--after enjoying a few days of pure holiday they are called upon to investigate the sudden death of an Essex police colleague's son. This is more than just a murder of one of their own's own as it were. Masters and his team had worked closely with DCI Matthew Cleveland on a case the previous November...so this one is even more personal.

Cleveland's son James was at the seaside resort to take part in a week of sailboat racing and collapsed while more than two miles out to sea. The difficulty with the investigation is that James was poisoned--and with such a fast-acting agent that he must have swallowed or come in contact with it mere minutes before the collapse. The obvious suspect is the other man in the boat...the only one close enough to James during the relevant time period. But Masters and Green know better than to settle for obvious, especially when the obvious just doesn't seem to fit.

Their investigations lead them to an examination of the other members of the sailing circle and soon everyone on the team from assistants, Detective Sergeants Tippen and Berger, to their own wives are ferreting out motives for murder. But whose murder? And the question that remains even after the motive and intended victim are sorted is....how was the poison administered? Once Masters and Green figure that out all that remains is to set a trap to catch the poisoner.

Even twenty-six stories into the Masters and Green series, Douglas Clark manages to serve up a darn good police procedural. The focus this time, as mentioned, is on how. Not that the who and why are so very obvious--but the real puzzle at the end of the day is how was James Cleveland poisoned? He didn't eat or drink anything directly before the collapse and tests show that the poison was ingested. It takes some pretty careful observation on George Masters' part to find the solution. 

As I've mentioned before, I always enjoy the camaraderie and rapport of Masters' team. Even though younger member come and go (as they receive well-earned promotions), each new member fits in well without being a cookie-cutter underling just filling in a position. Each character is well-defined and brings something different to the mix. It was also nice to see the wives doing a bit of undercover work--even though Wanda Masters insists that she won't "spy" on these people. What Masters wants is her and Doris Green's impressions--just a general feel of the climate amongst the racing crown. And those impressions prove very useful as well. ★★★ and 3/4 stars

This fulfills the "Involves Water" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card. (I'm zeroing in on my first Silver Bingo....)

The Greatest Generation: Review

In The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw brings to life the stories of a generation of people who taught America what courage really is--from the front-line heroes and heroines to the workers and loved ones at home. Each teaching us about sacrifice, honor, and bravery in their own way. Brokaw brings us profiles of the ordinary men and women who answered their nation's call and who returned home to continue their quiet lives with dignity and a sense of community spirit. He also highlights the lives of more prominent veterans whose service to their country didn't end when the war was over--men and women who served in high levels of government and the armed forces even after the peace treaties were signed.

The stories are poignant and touching--revealing the depths of sacrifice behind each profile. They are stories of loss and love, friendship and valor. They touch on the challenges that the women who served (or worked at home in place of the absent men) faced when the war was over. The difficulties in being forced to return to pre-war expectations. They also highlight the discrimination that all Americans of color faced even as they volunteered to put their lives on the line for their country. 

This is a very moving account that brought tears to my eyes at times and made me proud of the generation who came together for a common cause in the name freedom. How very different our world might be if the men and women of the 30s and 40s had been less dedicated, less resolute in their determination to serve their country (and the Allies) in a time of great need. My only quibble with the book is that it seems so very formulaic--introduce the hero/heroine, give a brief history pre-war, give another brief synopsis of their war-time assignment, and then tell what productive lives they had afterward. A bit more personal attention and a feeling of story-telling, rather than rote recital would bring this up to five stars....as it is: ★★★★

Vicious Circle: Review

Vicious Circle is the 18th book in Douglas Clark's Masters & Green mystery series. But the book (and series) is about more than just Chief Superintendent Masters and Chief Inspector Green--Masters of the Yard is called in along with his special team of investigators whenever there is an odd or delicate case to be detected. This outing proves to be very delicate indeed--because nearly everyone who might be officially involved in the investigation locally (from the Chief Superintendent to the doctor to the coroner) is either directly related to the victim or related to anyone who might come under suspicion should the case prove to be murder. And it very well might...

Mrs. Carlow is an irritable, manipulative old woman who makes life difficult and uncomfortable all of her family. When she doesn't get her way or feels slighted or just because she wants to show who's in charge, she takes an extra dose or two of her heart medicine...or stops taking it altogether. When her granddaughter invites her and her avowed enemy Joseph Kisiel to the family Christmas dinner, Mrs. Carlow downs enough digitalis to make herself thoroughly sick, thus making her doctor (and her granddaughter's father-in-law) late for the meal. To prevent such a thing from happening again, Dr. Whincap arranges for her medicine to be kept from her and only administered in the prescribed daily dose by her daughter, granddaughter, or a nurse. 

Thwarted in that bid for attention, she next takes it into her head that her granddaughter and her husband must allow her to move into their home. When told they can't possibly take her in because the remodeling they've been doing hasn't extended beyond one finished bedroom, she hires a carpenter to show up to finish the rest of the house. He's promptly sent away and before Mrs. Carlow can make another move in her little chess game of irritation she becomes violently ill and dies, apparently from an overdose of digitalis. Enter Masters, Green, and team. Their job is to discover whether the elderly lady managed to squirrel away enough digitalis to have killed herself (whether accidentally or not) or if someone else decided to remove the irritating old woman. It is a difficult job made even more difficult by the fact that several of their local official contacts are also possible suspects.

Clark has given us another satisfying police procedural. It is fairly clued--enough so that I got to the solution well before Masters this time, mainly because I had some prior knowledge (I can't tell you what kind...that would spoil things.). These novels sometimes hang on some fairly technical knowledge of poisons or whatnot and I am proud of myself that I knew the little secret to this one. Not that the technical knowledge is absolutely necessary to get to the solution--you may not know precisely how the deed was accomplished, but there are plenty of clues to point the way to whodunnit. I thoroughly enjoy the relationships among Masters and Green and their supporting team members. There's a lot of give and take and good-humored leg-pulling to go along with the investigation to make for an enjoyable read all round.  3.75 stars.

This fulfills the "Detective Team" square on the Vintage Silver Bingo Card

Challenges fulfilled: Vintage Mystery Challenge, Mount TBR Challenge, Bookish TBR, Outdo Yourself, Men in Uniform, How Many Books, My Kind of Mystery, 100 Plus Challenge, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, A-Z Reading Challenge, Book Monopoly, Book Bingo

Challenge Complete: Men in Uniform

January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014

I just earned my Sergeant's stripes and completed my challenge commitment for the 

2014 Men in Uniform Challenge. It looks like I have a real thing for policemen and those sailing fellas....  I may well get a promotion or two before the year's over--but my official commitment has been fulfilled.

My reading list:
1. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell [policemen] (1/5/14)
2. Shake Hands Forever by Ruth Rendell [policemen] (1/13/14)
3. Too Much of Water by Bruce Hamilton [ship's officers & crew] (1/27/14)
4. Shelf Life by Douglas Clark [policemen] (2/6/14)
5. The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd [navy] (3/8/14)

 

The Poisoned Island: Review

Set in Regency England, The Poisoned Island weaves stories from two voyages to Tahiti (Otaheite to the British at this time) with a tale of what happens when the H.M.S. Solander returned from that second trip. The first voyage in 1769 brings British sailors to the beautiful island paradise--with gorgeous plant life and lovely women. It is a place where magic and myth still have great influence. When the sailors head back to England, they leave behind disease and a war amongst the Tahitians. Over 40 years later, the Solander makes the journey to the island at the request of Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist in charge of the King's Gardens at Kew.  The Solander carries a crew of botanists as well as the usual sailors--a crew charged with bringing back hundreds of exotic plants from Tahiti to enhance the royal gardens. Exotic plants aren't the only things that the Solander brings back to England.  There is also a terrible secret...a secret that someone is willing kill to possess.

The Solander returns to England with her hold full of botanical treasures and in less than a week six members of her crew are dead--some have been strangled and some have had their throats cut, but they all died with the most unsettling, beatific smile on their faces. Thames River Police Constable Charles Horton is called upon by the Thames River Magistrate to investigate the murders. He will have to unravel a botanical mystery involving a pungent, rapidly-growing tree from Tahiti before all the pieces fall into place.

Lloyd Shepherd has done an excellent job of historical world-building--weaving authentic historical figures and events into a fictional tale of incredible believability. No--Sir Joseph Banks did not order such a botanical journey, but if he had....  And the underlying reason for the voyage and the secret that made it necessary makes for a very nice twist to the mystery. Charles Horton is an excellent investigator in a world before a truly organized police force.  He is feeling his way through detective work--possibly forging ground in evidence gathering and witness questioning beforehand historically, but that's okay.  I've already suspended my belief to accept Tahitian magic. Lloyd has also given Horton the perfect spouse to support him in his investigations.  She is stronger than he suspects and, in this particular novel, has an interest in botany herself that can be of great help to him.

It is a mark of how good Shepherd's novel is that the present tense telling of most of the story didn't keep me from enjoying it. I've noted in other reviews how present tense really doesn't work for me.  Generally speaking, it annoys me enough that I'm too busy thinking about how annoyed I am to ever settle down into the world the author has created. Shepherd's story is gripping and his narrative so compelling that while I was aware of the present tense (I think I always will be), it didn't overwhelm my sense of enjoyment.  Four stars.


(Although The Poisoned Island was originally released in Great Britan, it is a new [January 2014] US release and, as such, I'm counting it as a new release for Book Bingo.)

Shelf Life: Review

The Colesworth police department has finally managed to haul in three teenaged vandals and have them brought before the magistrate court. But the women on the bench let the young hoodlums off with just a rather pointed warning. The arresting officer is disappointed. He's not the only one to leave court disappointed. Despite being let go, the vandals are none too pleased to have been read the riot act by those in authority and go off to meditate on their grievances. Joe Howlett, a local tramp who occasionally draws the attention of the law (on purpose) so he can get a bit of rest at Her Majesty's pleasure has been denied his regular room and board. The magistrates are on to his game and let him go with a warning as well. And, if he's brought before them again, they promise him that instead of a room at the gaol, he'll be assigned some work as community service. His day doesn't get any better when he goes off to his friendly fish and chips shop only to find that the owner is absent and his harridan of a daughter is in charge. She isn't about to waste the scraps and leftovers on a dirty, old layabout...and tells him so in no uncertain language. The desk sergeant (Watson) at the police station finds out that his daughter has been running around with Boyce--one of the young vandals. All of these disappointed and distressed lives are heading towards an event that will leave one dead and a cloud of suspicion over Colesworth's finest.

That evening Boyce is brought in roaring drunk and deposited in a cell to sleep it off. When Watson sends a fellow officer to check on the young man at midnight, Boyce is found to be dead. A reporter who got a bit of the brush-off from the police at the court happens to be on the spot when all the officials (police surgeon, Chief Constable, etc) show up to investigate and his nose for news leads him to the pertinent facts--a man the police wanted to put away and who has impregnated the sergeant's daughter has died while in police custody.  The morning headlines are enough to give the Chief Constable and Inspector Snell (head of the Colesworth force) a headache or two.

They quickly decide to call on the Yard to do an outside investigation (and hopefully prevent any cries of "cover up!") and they specifically ask for Chief Superintendent Masters and his special investigative crew. Masters has a certain flair for the oddball cases. And this is certainly one--for the autopsy report shows that Boyce was poisoned. And not by your run-of-the-mill arsenic or strychnine...oh, no. How about a little gold sprinkled in your wine (make that a lot of gold)?  An expensive death, indeed.

I always enjoy the Masters and Green series by Douglas Clark and Shelf Life is no different. The camaraderie and rapport of Masters' team is fun to watch and I enjoy watching Masters show the others how it's done. There is a hint of a feeling that Clark may be trying to complicate things and maybe pull a fast one, but the clues are laid out. I had no trouble figuring out how and once you know how, you've got the who. If you're looking for interesting characters and character interaction in a decent little police procedural from the early 1980s, then you will enjoy Clark's series of mysteries. Three and a half stars.

This fulfills the "Professional Detective" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card.