MYSTERIES in PARADISE

13 February 2011

Review: FROZEN TRACKS, Ake Edwardson

Published at Vintage 2008
originally published in Swedish 2007
#3 in the Erik Winter series
English translation by Laurie Thompson
ISBN 978-0-099-47207-0
538 pages
Source: I bought it.

Publisher's blurb
The autumn gloom comes quickly on the Swedish city of Gothenburg, and for Detective Inspector Erik Winter the days seem even shorter, the nights bleaker, when he is faced with two seemingly unrelated sets of perplexing crimes. The investigation of a series of assaults and a string of child abductions take Winter to "the flats," the barren prairies of rural Sweden whose wastelands conceal crimes as sinister as the land itself. Winter must deduce the labyrinthine connections between the cases before it is too late and his own family comes into danger.

My take:

They never worked on one isolated case at a time. That might have been the situation in the best of all worlds, but that wasn't where they were living. In the best of all worlds they wouldn't have existed at all as a profession. In the best of all worlds there was no such thing as CID detectives, no uniformed police officers. Law and order took care of itself. Everybody lived in a land of milk and honey.

In FROZEN TRACKS Edwardson brings together two seemingly separate threads: assaults on young male university students, and child abductions. The Gothenburg CID knows about the first because a couple of the students sustain life threatening injuries and end up in hospital. Knowledge about the child abductions accumulates only slowly, pointing up a hole in Sweden's decentralised policing system. Parents report severally to their local police station stories their 4 year olds are relating about being taken for a ride in a car, a "mister" who has offered them sweeties. But no-one connects the dots until it is nearly too late, and the stories remain just that, local reports that are never passed on to a central office.

Christmas is approaching, and the various members of DCI Erik Winter's team have their own personal problems, one recovering from recent bereavement, one a wife leaves home unexpectedly, and Winter's own family wants to visit his mother on Costa del Sol. As Christmas gets closer the pressure rises, and in neither investigation are there any reliable witnesses, although the reader sees some of the abduction thread through the eyes of the abductor.

'This is the country we have built, the new Jerusalem,' said Winter.

Like his more famous country man, Henning Mankell, for whom this is often a theme, Ake Edwardson asks how life in Sweden has come to this.

I'm not sure however that I found the final tying off of the threads particularly credible.
It also seemed to me that Edwardson used the idea that police investigators are routinely, because of economic pressures, required to deal with more than one case at once, as a justification for writing a complex novel in which the same team was required to handle two "serial" threads. I suspect also that it provided for him, as the author, a technically difficult writing challenge - or am I just being a little too cynical?

My rating: 4.4

I'll be counting FROZEN TRACKS as a title in the Nordic Challenge 2011 and also for the letter F in Crime Fiction Alphabet.

Another review to check: Fiona Walker on EuroCrime

Sunday Salon - 13 Feb 2011 - book recommendations

Book recommendations are something I'm never short of - what to read next I mean, what should go on my list of books to look out for. Getting time to read them is another story.

Where do you get your recommendations from?
Most of mine come from online friends, from lists and "rooms" that I belong to, from blog posts, and award short lists.
I don't always add a title to my lists straight away. But then I will see a title listed for the second or third time, or read a review of it, or it comes up as a discussion book somewhere, and I know I must get hold of a copy some time.

Earlier this year I had a post Best Crime Fiction Reads for 2010. I had been collecting suggestions in late 2010 and 23 fellow bloggers suggested 220 titles, 173 different ones altogether, which I listed here.
I did the same thing in 2009, and if you look at lists like these you'll never be stuck for new books to look out for.

Another place to find recommendations: Crime Fiction Alphabet.
This is a meme running here every week, and anyone can join in at any stage.
This week participants are suggesting books or authors related to the letter F.
Check out what was listed last week for the letter E. Authors included Ethel Lina White, Rhys Bowen, Edgar Wallace, Barry Eisler, Margaret Erskine, R. J. Ellory, Ruth Rendell, Martin Edwards, George Muller, G.M. ford, Carli HIassan, Randy Wayne White, David Liss, William Deverell, and Clare Francis

TBRN (To Be Read Next)

now - FROZEN TRACKS, Ake Edwardson
then - D-E-D DEAD! , Geoffrey McGeachin.
then - BOUND, Vanda Symon
now on Kindle - OPERATION NAPOLEON, Arnaldur Indridason
now on audio - DIED IN THE WOOL, Ngaio Marsh
next Agatha Christie - MURDER IS EASY

News & Headlines

This week's posts:

12 February 2011

Review: CANDIED CRIME, Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen

e-book self-published through Smashwords, 31 Jan 2011
Words: 10203 (approximate)
Language: English
Source: I bought it.

Ebook Description
CANDIED CRIME, DJ´s Daim Stories (Daim/Dajm is a Scandinavian candy bar) vol 1, the first volume in a planned series. Thirteen flash fiction stories, a collection of cosy and humorous crime, some of which have been published earlier on Dorte's blog.

Table of Contents
1.The Knitting Club
2.Grammy
3.Mushrooms and Toadstools
4.The Princess on the Pea
5.A Nightly Burger
6.End of Christmas
7.Spring Cleaning
8.Shots
9.Trick or Treat
10.Tea for Ten
11.Toffee´s Christmas
12.Casualty
13.The Red Shoes

My take:
I sincerely hope we see a lot more of Dorte Jakobsen's writing in publication in the near future. It is hard to write a review of this book as there is so much variety in the flash fiction stories, from vignettes which stir the imagination to longer pieces which introduce the residents of Knavesborough, the location of a cozy that Dorte is currently working on.
Humorous crime isn't usually my cup of tea but this is delightful reading, and I certainly want to read more of Dorte's writing.

My rating: 4.4

About the author:
Dorte Hummelshøj Jakobsen was born in Denmark in 1961. She works as a teacher of English, but in her spare time she reads, writes and reviews crime fiction. One of her stories appeared in "Discount Noir", a collection of flash fiction stories, in 2010 (editors Steve Weddle & Patricia Abbott). See my post Published Friends.
Catch up with Dorte's blog: DJ´s Krimiblog

Other mentions to check:

And interview with Dorte: Thoughts in Progress
Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
Do You Write Under Your Own Name

11 February 2011

Review: THREE SECONDS, Roslund & Hellstrom

Publisher: Silver Oak, January 2011
Translated from Swedish by Kari Dickson
485 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4027-8592-4
Source: my copy was supplied by the publicist and I participated in a giveaway promo in December 2010.

Check my earlier post for the publisher's blurb. In this one I'm going to focus on "my take".

THREE SECONDS is about a sting set up at the highest level in the Swedish police system to eradicate a Polish drug mafia operating in Sweden. Central to the sting is Paula alias Piet Hoffmann, recruited in gaol some 10 years earlier, a criminal who has been infiltrating the company set up by the Polish mafia.

A botched drug deal that results in the death of a Danish police officer is designed to put Paula inside prison, to begin infiltration at the highest level. As with all such covert operations there are those who know what is going on and those who don't. There is always the danger that one of those who is "not in the know" will stumble across information that does not add up. One of those excluded from the insider information is Detective Inspector Ewert Grens of the Stockholm City Police. Grens is a dangerous man to leave out of any secret, and he begins in his bulldog fashion to sniff deeper when the facts simply don't tally.

THREE SECONDS wasn't easy reading. The plot seems to be heading in one direction, and then darts off in another. More than once I consulted the Cast of Characters page at the beginning of the novel, and more than once I was glad that the chapters were broken up into digestible bits. But by the middle of what is really quite a long book, I was hooked. I couldn't work out for the life of me how the plot was going to devolve. In the long run it was all very clever. In addition it felt very authentic and credible.

My rating: 4.6

Other reviews to check:

In 2009, THREE SECONDS was awarded the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award for Swedish Crime Novel of the Year.
It was a top 10 best-seller in Sweden for 8 months.
It has been shortlisted in the Best British Novel category (this refers to where it was published) for a 2011 Barry Award.

I am going to list THREE SECONDS in my books for the Nordic Challenge 2011

10 February 2011

Review - STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG, Kate Atkinson - audio

Product Details

ISBN: 9781846572814
Format:Audio
Imprint: Audio RH UK
Published: 01/09/10

Source: loan from a friend
Warning: What I listened to was an abridged version, approx 6 hours, on 5 CDs, but I think there may also be an unabridged one.
Narrator: Jason Isaacs

Publisher's blurb
A day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a purchase she hadn't bargained for. One moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn.

Witnesses to Tracy's Faustian exchange in the Merrion Centre in Leeds are Tilly, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie who has returned to his home county in search of someone else's roots. All three characters learn that the past is never history and that no good deed goes unpunished.

My take:
I feel a little guilty at having listened to an abridged version, but you know what they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth. My guilt stems particularly from the fact that I have an unabridged version on my Kindle.

I always wonder what the "abridgers" cut out in these versions, what have I missed out on?

However, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG.
I must admit I have come away without any idea what the title actually means (perhaps that was in a bit that was abridged).

The publisher's promo says

Kate Atkinson dovetails and counterpoints her plots with Dickensian brilliance in a tale peopled with unlikely heroes and villains.

This plot dovetailing takes the reader down paths that you just don't expect, leaving you second-guessing from sketchy clues. STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG spans from the mid 1970s when Tracy Waterhouse was just a WPC to the present day when she has just retired as a Superintendent and has taken a job supervising security in a shopping centre. Something that happens in the 70s reaches out and climbs into the 21st century with devastating results.

My rating: 4.6

This is #4 in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series:
Jackson Brodie
1. Case Histories (2004)
2. One Good Turn (2006)
3. When Will There Be Good News (2008)
4. Started Early, Took My Dog (2010)

It reminded me that I still haven't read CASE HISTORIES, although somewhere I do have a copy.

My other reviews, both rated at 4.8:
ONE GOOD TURN
WHERE WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?

Forgotten Book: MRS POLLIFAX and THE HONGKONG BUDDHA, Dorothy Gilman

This contribution to Friday's Forgotten books, being hosted this week by George Kelley, comes from my records of November 1991.
(Friday's Forgotten Books is usually hosted at Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books but this week Patti is still on holidays)

I realise I should have re-read this when I went to Hong Kong on holidays about 4 years back.
However, as usual, all the content of this post is the result of research rather than memory.

Publisher's blurb
Although recently married, Mrs. Pollifax is packed and ready to go to China, where a young agent, Sheng Ti, holds the answers to goings on at the sinister Feng Imports--a one-time agency front. Only Mrs. Pollifax has earned Sheng's trust, and only she can possibly stop what turns out to be a frightening and ominous plot involving drugs, smuggled diamonds, a famous cat burglar turned Interpol agent, a mysterious psychic, and, of course, murder.....possibly her own!

Mrs Pollifax titles listed at Fantastic Fiction.
1. The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax (1966)
aka Mrs. Pollifax, Spy
2. The Amazing Mrs Pollifax (1970)
3. The Elusive Mrs Pollifax (1971)
4. A Palm for Mrs Pollifax (1973)
5. Mrs Pollifax on Safari (1976)
6. Mrs Pollifax on the China Station (1983)
7. Mrs Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (1985)
8. Mrs Pollifax and the Golden Triangle (1988)
9. Mrs Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish (1990)
10. Mrs Pollifax and the Second Thief (1993)
11. Mrs Pollifax Pursued (1995)
12. Mrs Pollifax and the Lion Killer (1996)
13. Mrs Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997)
14. Mrs Pollifax Unveiled (2000)

From Wikipedia:
Dorothy Gilman born June 25, 1923 (also known as Dorothy Gilman Butters) is a United States author of mystery and spy fiction. She is most well-known for the Mrs. Pollifax series of spy novels, about spy and grandmother Emily Pollifax, who chooses to become a spy in her 60s, and who stars in fourteen books written over three decades.
Gilman's books tend to feature uncommon, unique characters, often travelling to exotic locales.

9 February 2011

When did you begin to read crime fiction?

I guess the roots of my love for crime fiction must stem from my avid consumption of Enid Blyton as a pre-teen (see an earlier post). That had a lot to do with what was available to Australian children in the 1950s. And then in high school, I met Charles Dickens, whose novels are riddled with unanswered questions.

In 1962 I left home, came to Adelaide to attend teachers' college. And that really marks the beginning of my path to crime fiction addict.

At the time, when I was reading English at Adelaide University, Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, Ngaio Marsh and Georges Simenon were my light relief. I didn't realise at the time that the grounding I was getting in English literature 1300 to the present day was going to be so important. I didn't realise either that mystery was such an important plot device in many of the classical novels that I was reading, or indeed, that so many of my favourite crime fiction authors would have the same classical education that I had. But part of my selection of the genre was due to the ready availability of Fontana and green Penguin crime fiction paperbacks in a local department store.

By the time I began to keep my "little green book" in 1975, my record now of over 3,000 titles, their authors, and the date I completed reading the book, you can see I am well on my way down the slippery slope of crime fiction addition, although other genres still feature in the early years.

At the time (1975) I was travelling through Asia with friends, prior to joining Fat Albert in Kathmandu in March, a bus that delivered us more or less safely to London in early May.

By the early 1980s crime fiction was my preferred genre. And now 30 years on, if I'm reading anything else, it has to be for a very good reason or I find myself constantly begrudging, what, underneath it all, I think is a waste of good reading time.

So there's my story, what's yours?
If this post inspires a similar one on your blog, let me know, and link to mine.