One advantage of being laid-up is that I’ve been able to do lots of reading. Here are three books I read over a period of four days, the week after my April 16 surgery.
I enjoy mysteries set in other countries, and with detectives from those countries (rather than some American on a foreign jaunt). I’ve read mysteries set in Sweden, Iceland, Nazi Germany, Italy, China, Japan, Bosnia, and elsewhere. Now I’ve added a far more exotic country: Mongolia.
“The Shadow Walker,” a 2008 book by first-time novelist Michael Walters, involves a series of grisly murders which, as the plot develops, seem to involve the gold-mining industry and foreign businesses. The Mongolia we see is trying to struggle out of Third World status and away from its recent Soviet/communist past.
Frankly, the book somewhat disappointed me. There was plenty of local color, but the plot fell flat for me. It moved slowly, with little happening. Too much unnecessary dialogue. A lot of the procedural stuff could have been summed up, rather than forcing us to read mundane details. It came to a conclusion, but not a satisfying one. My thought was, “I read 350 pages for this?”
“Seeking Whom He May Devour,” (2006), by Frenchwoman Fred Vargas, is set in the mountains of southern France. This is a “Chief Inspector Adamsberg” mystery. Lots of sheep, and the occasional human, are being killed by what seems to be a very big wolf and its owner.
It’s sort of a road trip book, as three somewhat quirky characters–a woman and two men–head off to follow the killer’s route and hopefully catch him. Inspector Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg eventually joins them. It was an enjoyable plot, and you learn a lot about wolves and the French police system. I liked Adamsberg.
“Tropical Freeze,” a 1989 book from James W. Hall, is an oddball piece set in the Florida Keys. It’s like a Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard book–quirky characters, and a plot that wanders to and fro and ultimately decides to end.
We’ve got our protagonist named Thorn, an FBI friend working for the local bad guy, a beautiful weathergirl, an inept criminal named Ozzie, a spinster librarian/computer hacker, and other assorted folks. They usually do the unexpected, and anything they plan out is inevitably thwarted through stupidity or happenstance. So if the reader thinks he knows what’s going to happen next, he’s wrong.
Hall is a very good writer, and the book teems with texture and a sense of place. You feel like you’re in Florida. But I’m not really a fan of this kind of meandering plot. I prefer a straightforward, “Here’s the mystery. Now let’s solve it.”