The Potter's Field

by Andrea Camilleri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When a body is found in a field of clay having been uncovered by a deluge. It becomes a sensation because the body is recovered in thirty separate pieces. The press would like to sensationalize the find by putting it an the category of ritual killings, Satanic murder and other newsworthy events.




As much as Salvo Montalbano bemoans his slow creep into old age by refusing to wear eyeglasses he can still see clearly and can read the message of the body. The thirty pieces of a corpse, along with burial in a potter's clay field suggests a mafia killing in the old time fashion of wanting to leave a message.

Montalbano believes that the message is obvious. It brings to mind the biblical story of the betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver by his friend Judas. Judas later committed suicide after flinging back the payoff in the faces of his own seducers. He was then buried in a potter's field kept as a burial ground for the indigent.

Potter's field

All that is left for Montalbano is to figure out is the who of the body and the murderer, the why, the where and the how. The killer is cunning but not as smart as Montalbano and the denouement of the mystery is classic.

Camilleri himself is getting older but he has some wonderful books still in him. In addition there are a few that are waiting for translation and that is a comfort to his English reading fans.

The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog

by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amelia Peabody's life is presently seeming to follow the story line of an ancient Egyptian fairy tale about a prince who was doomed to die by the crocodile , the snake or the dog. A young princess from another kingdom fell in love with him, married him, learned of the prophecy and determined that she would save him from his fate. The ending of the fairytale has been lost to the dusts of the desert, but Amelia plans to work on this tale and then finds she is living it.

She and Emerson, having left the children in England begin to find themselves in danger almost from the moment they arrive at Shepheards Hotel. There are a few attempts at kidnapping both of them before one is successfully accomplished and Emerson is spirited away after having been subdued by a cudgel to the head. Thus the adventure begins and  it is filled with excitement, treachery, betrayal murder and more.

Amarna

This time the duo are working at Amarna when the great Pharaoh Akhenaten lived with his beautiful wife Nefertiti.  The tomb of Nefertiti is what they are looking for but they are also trying to keep secret the ancient oasis where they  escaped from on their last dig.

Peabody armed with her parasol and pistol are a match for any villain. I began reading this series and then began listening to  it as narrated by Barbara Rosenblat who does such a wonderful job that all the characters come alive. She does a marvelous job of capturing the essence of both Peabody and Emerson that these characters take on additional dimension that eluded me in the written versions.  I was never a person who really enjoyed audio versions but this experience with Barbara Rosenblat has made me a true fan.

The Chinese Gold Murders

The Chinese Gold Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story by Robert van Gulik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Judge Dee is fashioned after the historical figure of a real Judge Dee, famous in ancient Chinese panels as a scholar and magistrate. Robert van Gulik who was born in the Netherlands and served in the diplomat Service in China and Japan for many years wrote these wonderful books. His interest in Asian languages led him to the discovery of Chinese detective novels and to this historical character. This book details how Judge Dee began his career and how he met up with his constant companions who appear in all the subsequent books.

At the beginning of Judge Dee's career when he was 33 years old he obtained his first appointment to a post in the provinces. Dee went to a port city on the north east coast. He was sent to replace a magistrate who had been murdered. The previous investigation of this murder had been cut short for reasons unknown to the Judge. When Judge Dee finally got settled in his new lodgings several cases came to hand. The first was the case of a wife, the second was the case of a missing member of the magistrates court and finally it was the case of the murdered magistrate.

The judge uses his powers of deduction and insight to solve all these puzzles in a very interesting and informative way. I really enjoy the Judge Dee books.

Sundowner Unbuntu

by Anthony Bidulka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the reasons I read this series is to figure out what the titles mean and I enjoy the mysteries as well.. Each one so far has been a little trip to an interesting place. Russell Quant is an amusing fellow with a tongue-in-cheek approach to life and he takes on the case of a missing person that eventually takes him to South Africa, then to Botswana and finally Zambia with dragging footsteps following him all the way. The reader makes some connections long before Russell does in this particular case and I for one was less forgiving at the end.

The dragging footsteps belong to a vicious person who had no remorse as he brutally went about damaging people and needed more retribution that psychological help. Russel got in the way of this and some of the retribution fell on his own head. This was because of unbuntu.





UNBUNTU - the Africans believe that a community must live harmoniously together, with out the care and watchfulness of their neighbors they are nothing. If a young foolish boy steals something the community cannot let him get away with it, because that would be like stealing from every one, so the thing is always returned. If a bad thing is done to one person in the community by another  a retribution is exacted in some way - unbuntu. In short the community takes care of itself.

Amuse Bouche

The first book in this series   Amuse Bouche
These are special appestizers that are intended to amuse the mouth

Aquavit

The Second  Flight of Aquavit

Tapas

The Third  Tapas on the Ramblas
 Spanish Appetizers eaten on a special street





The Fourth   Stain of the Berry

Telling Tales

Vera Stanhope is one of the most interesting characters in detective fiction that I have come across in a while. She looks and dresses like a bag lady because of an unfortunate figure and a recalcitrant skin condition. She is frequently underestimated and often over looked so she has developed a personality that is warm and caring on occasion and very snarky as the British say, on  others.

Vera looks and dresses like a bag lady because of an unfortunate figure and a recalcitrant skin condition. She suffers from a severe form of eczema and it is only when she wears loose baggy clothing that her skin is comfortable. This also explains why she wears a type of walking sandal most of the time.

Stanhope is the perfect Detective Inspector to reinvestigate a case of the death of a young girl ten years prior. She knows people and also knows how to manipulate them on occasion as she ferrets out secrets that only an elephant would remember. The case revolves around the murder of a lovely young girl who was the apple of her father's eye.

 The easiest person to pin the murder on is the the slightly disturbed girl who was obsessed with Mr. Mantell and whom Mantell had recently asked to leave his home.  The death was was supposed to have come as an act of retaliation for Abigail Mantell's manipulation of her father. after ten years in prison someone comes forward to finally verify Jeanie's long ago alibi but it is too late. After she was recently denied parole Jeannie committed suicide.

A central character in the story is Emma Bennett who was a friend of Abigail's and who was severely traumatized by the discovery of the body and has been somewhat withdrawn ever since. There are others who also felt that the easy answer was the wrong answer. As in all investigations the underbelly of a village's life is revealed and a second murder brings the cold case into the present.



This is the second of this series and like all of Ann Cleeves' series is well worth reading.

Wife of The Gods

By
Kwei Quartey

In Ghana on the western part of the African arm there is a custom that goes back for generations. Accepted in the past it has become controversial in the present. The custom relates to the Trokosi which is translated to wife of the gods or slave of the gods. These are young women who are given in their early puberty to the holy man of the village to serve him in all ways and to make reparations for possible wrong doings.  Traditionalists  are in favor of the custom and deny that slavery is involved. The Ghanaian government as well as other organizations oppose the practice.

Detective Inspector Darko Dawson is a city boy who lives in Accra. He is quite pleased with his life as a policeman, husband and father. He has had tragedies in his past having lost his mother when she disappeared after a visit  to her sister in Ketanu, and when his brother was severely  and permanently injured in an accident.

Accra

Aside from having an anger management problem Darko is ordinary except for a special sense called a synesthesia with which he can hear special qualities in people's voices. He describes one voice as the sensation of soft, wet grass on bare feet or the texture of rich warm velvet, and even the sense of a sharp wet river reed scraped across the palm. These descriptions help the reader get a better sense of the character so described.

A young medical student, Gladys Mensah was helping out in the village of Ketanu bringing education about sanitation and AIDS. She was also  trying to help the young girls and women  known as the Trokosi. One day she is found murdered near the area where the village priest/holy man lived.  One of the trokosi Efia is the person who finds the body. Many years ago Efia’s uncle murdered a man and was imprisoned,but the family  feels they have been cursed and are suffering from the gods displeasure. The elders of her family go to the high priest, Togbe  who communes with the gods and tells them that all will be well if they bring him a female child to serve at the shrine. She will belong to the gods and she will give birth to the children they give her through Togbe. Thus at the age of twelve, Efia becomes a wife of the gods. 

Witchcraft and traditionalist healing and spirituality are essential elements of the story. DI Dawson has more modern beliefs and he decries old fashioned notions This is  what makes this story especially satisfying, the juxtaposition between a modern city like Accra and life in a rural area such as Ketanu.

Dawson is sent to the location to clear up this case. He has relatives in the area and he speaks the local language Ewe. He has mixed feeling because he feels more at home with concrete under his feet and memories of the disappearance of his mother in this part of Ghana have kept him from visiting his family, his mother's sister for decades. But on the other hand he may re investigate this mystery as well. He too, has a foot in both worlds even though he has tried to put the past behind him.

This is a story of contrasts. The reader gets a better sense of Ghana because of the inclusion of both the city and the country life. The elements of the story that give a picture of the past make the present stand out as the culture of the Ghanaians evolves as do all ways of life. Solving a mystery with modern techniques at hand make the witchcraft stand out in stark relief. Finally, Gladys and Efia  are women who belong to two different worlds but in a small town in Ghana, their stories come together  in a nice contrast.

This book has been compared to Alexander McCall Smith's Botwana mysteries, but aside from the African setting most things are quite different. The pace, the characters and the subject matter make this a unique mystery of Africa. I am really looking forward to the next in the series Children of the Street.

Death along the Spirit Road

By C.M. Wendleboe

FBI agent Manny Tanno goes back to the area where he grew up, back to very poor Pine Ridge Reservation reservation which is a fraction of the area where the Sioux and Lakota  once roamed free.

When Manny  was growing up in the seventies, Pine Ridge was the poorest county in the nation and the most violent. His uncle tried to shield him from these realities. But as he drives on Highway 41 toward Oglala he has frightening memories of bodies dead in the roadway and scattered in all corners of the reservation.  There were many militants in the AIM movement and in 1975 two FBI agents were gunned down on this highway.

Agent's Car

This ambush is still used to teach baby FBIs about traffic stops.  Manny now knows the two different versions of the event, both the one that went around the rez at the time and the version he learned about while in training. Both  have a different take on these violent deaths.

 Manny's eldest brother was a leader in the AIM movement, he was an enforcer who eventually went to jail. He now lives in the reservation apparently having found religion while in stir and now is studying to be a holy man. Aside from the modern memories Pine Ridge is close to the sacred Wounded Knee territory where so many helpless innocents were slaughtered.  The entire area is filled with history.

Tanno's present mission is to find the murderer of local land developer Jason Red Cloud. On the one hand Red Cloud is well thought of as a local boy who succeeded but he did develop enemies along the way as Red Cloud made himself a national success story. Manny has lost his country roots and longs for concrete sideways and the environment of DC but as he reacclimatizes to South Dakota he finds his way toward the resolution of the case.  On more than one occasion his life is threatened he gets attacked several times.

What I liked about this book was the character development, the history, the locality and the story.

What I didn't like, because it made no sense was the fact that although Manny had a reputation for solving cases his boss was harassing him and threatening him on a daily basis to get the job done or else. The 'or else' involves getting fired from his teaching position at the FBI Academy and possibly stationed at some forlorn location. In addition to this after several attempts on Manny's life no backup was provided by the FBI, just further harangues. This detracted from my from my enjoyment of the book.

Pine Ridge

Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards has written a series that takes place in the lake district of England. This series has developed some critical acclaim in some blogs are British mystery discussions. I began the series at the beginning which is a smart thing to do because  the subsequent book frequently talked about people, places and things that appear in book one THE COFFIN TRAIL.

The main characters are Daniel Kind an ex-Oxford historian who is seeking the quiet life in a new location and DCI Hannah Scarlett a police detective who had a case fall apart on her so she had been shunted to a newly formed cold case unit, of which she has been put in charge.

A coffin trail was a pathway from small towns to the nearest consecrated ground. It was used for transporting the caskets of dead people for burial. In the area in which where Daniel now lives  the trail is also associated with a large flat=topped stone that the ancients used for sacrifices of different kinds for different purposes, but mostly to appease the pagan gods in one way or another.


Daniel has moved into a lovely house that has unusual history. It is where an acquaintance of his once lived. He is now dead but was accused of murdering a lovely woman and leaving her on the altar stone before he tumbles to his death in a hideous accident. Daniel believes his friend was innocent but the incident was decades ago and is settled for most people.

Hannah is called to reopen this case.  The two dance around the case poking it to see if it stirs. This occupies the first 2/3 of the book. Finally the investigation begins and proceeds nicely to an interesting conclusion.

In THE CIPHER GARDENS Daniel and Scarlett dance the same dance around another case of the murder of as local lothario who was also a mean, disliked man who was part owner of a landscaping business. Both Daniel and Scarlett  worry at the edges of the mystery until finally the case opens up. There is a new murder and it is this one that helps the historian and the detective find the killer.

Mean while back at the ranch or the lakeside cottage Daniel is trying to figure out the mystery of his unusual garden which is called a cipher garden because it is a puzzle set up by early owners of the home to explain either their lives or their deaths.




A subplot running through the story is the relationship between Daniel and his live-in girlfriend who always appears to me to be straining at the leash which is just as well because Daniel has eyes for Hannah who is already in a long term relationship in which there are several cracks in the foundation.These little characterizations don't paint Daniel in the strongest light because the reader really questions his judgement.

In The Woods

In The Woods by Tana French
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There is no way to talk about this book without revealing what it is about. I began this book at least three times before I got past the horrific event in the beginning. Three children who often play in the woods go there one sunny afternoon and all that remains  by the evening is one traumatized child clinging to a tree in a catatonic state with blood in his shoes which had been placed on his feet after they had been filled with the stuff.




Adam Ryan never recuperated from this event even though he moved,  developed complete amnesia about the first twelve years of his life, changed his name and became a homicide detective workong out of Dublin Castle.

He was successful at this endeavor until he and his partner Cassie are called to investigate the death of another child in the same area.






This is more the story of how Rob Ryan slowly decompensates and falls apart. His motives for most things are self preservation in any endeavor which may be understood but his behavior changes from an integrated human to a self pitying, morose heavy drinker who treats people like dirt. He becomes involved with a suspect and turns a deaf ear to any remonstrations.  Everything is related in a way to the trauma he underwent as a child, This event is mentioned on most pages of the book but the author French elects never to let the poor reader in on the secret. We are left stuck in the woods grasping a tree. I think I shall develop amnesia about the book.

This character is apparently not present in the next in the series but I still want the answer of the woods mystery. French leaves the reader with the impression that  a mythic animal making great flapping noises ate two of the children, but left Ryan after spitting  blood into the shoe that fell off while he was running. I guess that could happen.