June 2009 Archives

My first encounter with Swedish detective Kurt Wallander and I have to keep blocking out the image of Kenneth Brannagh who plays him in the TV series, which I've avoided. Definitely keen to read some of his other outings - although the repeated references to this being the most difficult case of his (already extensive) career do make me wonder if I risk disappointment when it comes to plot.....

Still the combination of computer hackery, ingeniously interconnecting characters and plotlines and gruesome murders, albeit a touch close to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, together with the police force's own internal politicking, kept me turning the pages well after dusk has fallen by the pool of the Al Manzil hotel.

Amazon.co.uk link: Firewall - Henning Mankell

Historical whodunnit, but hard going.

Set in Victorian England, the main character Edward Glyver carries out a random murder in one of the back alleyways of London and the rest of the novel explains why. En route we discover that he believes he's entitled to inherit one of England's great estates, that he's an amoral, shallow, self-centred opium addict and that his mother worked herself into an early grave for his sake.

Even the denouement didn't make me feel it was worth the preceding 600 pages, although the story does pick up towards the end.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox