Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jonasson: A review

This book has three timelines, 2012, 1983, and 1950, and the narrative goes back and forth among the three. The setting of the story is an old tuberculosis sanatorium in northern Iceland and it involves the murder of a nurse and the apparent suicide (or maybe it, too, was murder) of the chief physician in 1983. 

In 2012, a student named Helgi who is a lover of whodunits, has returned to Iceland after finishing his studies in the United Kingdom. He begins work on his Master of Arts dissertation on criminology and takes as his subject the murder and suicide (or possibly second murder) that took place at the sanatorium back in 1983. 

The murder was never actually solved. The detective assigned to the case, a man named Sverrir, was eager to close it as soon as possible and he arrested the facility's caretaker on the flimsiest of evidence. Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir had misgivings about her superior's action but did not have the authority to prevent it. A few days later the chief physician died in a fall at the sanatorium and Sverrir called it the suicide of the nurse's murderer. Case closed.

In his pursuit of research for his dissertation, Helgi contacts people who worked at the sanatorium to learn their memories and opinions about what happened in 1983. He follows leads that were never investigated by Sverrir and he learns that the man is now married to the nurse who had discovered both the deaths. Coincidence? Not likely!

Helgi is considering an opportunity to join the Reykjavik police department as Hulda's successor. He proves his worthiness for that position when he actually solves the decades-old mystery. 

This was an interesting and well-written mystery. I thought I had read books by Jonasson previously but it turns out I had him confused with another writer. He's now on my "read" list and I will likely return to him in the future.

The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin: A review

 

In this second entry in his Malcolm Fox series, Ian Rankin sends Fox and his Complaints team out of Edinburgh. They must go to the town of Kirkcaldy to investigate the possibility that a group of police officers has conspired to cover up the bad behavior of one of their fellow officers, Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of sexual misconduct with women whom he had arrested. His own uncle, who is a former police officer, is the one who brought the charges against him to light. The Complaints team arrives in Kirkcaldy to find no cooperation from their fellow police officers and, in fact, obstruction of their investigation on every hand.

Malcolm Fox intuits very early on in the investigation that all is not quite as it seems. There may be more here than meets the eye, and, since this is an Ian Rankin plot, of course there is.

Fox goes to talk with the uncle. Soon after their conversation the uncle is found dead, at first thought to be a suicide, but things don't add up. What was first put down as a suicide soon is found to be murder. Not only that but the prime suspect in the murder is the nephew, the disgraced Paul Carter.

Then, Paul Carter turns up dead. Curiouser and curiouser.

Meantime, Fox is digging into the background of the uncle's death and finds a link to the days of chaos and violent demonstrations in favor of Scottish independence which took place in the 1980s. This leads him to the death - again, a supposed suicide - of one of the firebrand leaders in the independence movement.

Throughout his investigation, Fox is also dealing with personal trauma as his elderly father's health fails and his only sister's resentment of him (Malcolm) grows.

Rankin has created believable and empathetic characters in this series, and it will be interesting to see how they grow as the series progresses. In this particular book, I especially enjoyed all the "inside baseball" references. Things such as allusions to Midsomer Murders (which I love!), John Le Carre, and a crime scene technician's reference to "woolly suits." When Fox looks askance, she smiles and says there used to be a DI who used that term to refer to the uniformed cops. Yes, we remember that DI well and lament his retirement, but Malcolm Fox is a worthy successor.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: A review

The Van Laar family owns a summer camp for kids in the Adirondacks. Their thirteen-year-old daughter, Barbara, is attending that summer camp in August 1975. When the camp counselor goes to wake her early one morning, she finds Barbara's bunk empty and a cursory search does not find her. Barbara is missing. 

Moreover, fourteen years earlier, Barbara's older brother, Bear, had also vanished when he was eight years old, never to be found. Now it seems to have happened again. But why? Are the two disappearances related and will Barbara be found?

The Van Laars are a seriously damaged family and not just because of these two tragedies. The father, Peter, is a workaholic and an authoritarian ruler of the family. The psychologically damaged mother, Alice, is an alcoholic and pill addict. The grandparents are equally messed up, a harsh grandfather and a silent, obedient grandmother. What a family life for the two kids to have endured!

The story features several strong female characters. There is Judyta Luptack, a former national trooper and now the first female state investigator at the age of twenty-six. She is idealistic and able to view things in ways that others cannot see. Assigned to the Van Laar disappearance case, she hopes to use those skills to find out exactly what has happened.

The camp director is T.J., a no-nonsense, resilient woman. She runs the camp without allowing interference from anyone, including the Van Laars.

There is Louise, who had been an abuse victim and is now raising her younger brother.

Then there is Alice who is struggling to find her place in the world while dealing with losses that threaten to numb her into oblivion.

We get the stories of all these women with their different timelines. It's a tale with several twists and surprises. It is a very well-written story and I would not be surprised to see it nominated for various prizes.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
 

Reviews

I've fallen behind on reviewing the books that I've read recently so here is me trying to catch up.

*~*~*~*

White Noise

by Don DeLillo

This was a satire about modern life in America. The main characters are Jack Gladney and his fourth wife, Babette. Jack is a teacher of Hitler studies at a liberal arts college in mid-America. They have four children who are deeply into all aspects of brand-name consumerism. Their lives are engulfed by the white noise of television, microwaves, radio transmissions, and sirens, the music of life in the city. None of the characters are particularly lovable or even likable which made it difficult to "connect" with any of them and I think that was probably deliberate. 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

*~*~*~*

Swan Song

by Elin Hilderbrand

This is the fourth and final entry in Hilderbrand's "Nantucket" novels. Chief of Police Ed Kapenash, after serving for thirty-five years in that capacity, is ready to retire, but when a summer home worth millions of dollars burns to the ground and the owners' personal assistant cannot be found, Ed's retirement plans have to be put on hold. The chief's daughter is best friends with the missing girl. He feels obligated to solve the mystery of the fire and find the missing girl before he can move on to the next phase of his life.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars 

*~*~*~*

White Corridor

by Christopher Fowler

This is the fifth in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series featuring detectives Arthur Bryant and John May. In this instance, Bryant and May must solve the murder of one of their own. A member of the PCU was killed inside a locked autopsy room whose only other occupants were dead. Moreover, only four members of the unit have keys to the room. Meanwhile, Bryant and May are stuck in a van miles away in the Dartmoor countryside as a freak snowstorm rages. They had been on their way to a convention of psychics. It will take all of their skill to solve the murder remotely.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

*~*~*~*

Trace Elements

by Donna Leon

When a man who was responsible for working in the field collecting samples of Venice's water supply dies in a mysterious motorcycle accident, Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague Claudia Griffoni investigate. Once again they are supported by the remarkable research skills of Vice Questore Patta's secretary, Signora Elletra Zorzi. With her help, they are able to piece together the tangled threads that lead them to the discovery that the health of the entire region is endangered by "trace elements" in the water and that discovery may very well have been the reason for the motorcycle "accident."

My rating: 2 of 5 stars 

The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths: A review

The "outcast dead" of the title refers to the unknown dead, plague victims, lepers, or simply poor, mostly people who had no one to mourn them. The book begins with a litany for these outcasts and though archaeologist Ruth Galloway is not religious, she does appreciate the sentiment of recognizing the humanity of these dead. 

This entry in the archaeological mystery series features two mysteries. One dates to the Victorian era and the other actually occurs in the current day.

The Victorian-era aspect of the story revolves around a notorious murderer of children. In her latest dig, at Norwich Castle, Ruth has uncovered the bones of Jemima Green who was dubbed "Mother Hook" and who was hanged in 1867 for the murder of five children who were in her care.

Meanwhile, in the modern day, another child murderer, who has been dubbed the "Childminder," is abroad in the area. DCI Harry Nelson is investigating the case of three children who were found dead in their home. The first two were originally determined to have died from sudden infant death syndrome but the coroner has suspicions about the latest one. Then another child is abducted. Could there be two kidnappers/murderers or is one person behind it all?

Ruth and Harry, of course, have a history. They had had a brief affair, the result of which is a much-loved daughter, two-and-a-half-year-old Kate. Harry was married at the time of the affair and is still married to the same woman. That isn't going to change, but he adores Kate and revels in his relationship with her and the time he is able to spend with her. Meanwhile, his wife (who seems to be a saint!) supports him in this.

As a result of her archaeological finds, Ruth has become the reluctant star of a television series called "Women Who Kill" in which she works with a history expert, Professor Frank Barker. It is an extremely uncomfortable position for a woman who would prefer to work in anonymity.

The Druid Cathbad, one of my favorite characters in these books, had moved away to Pence by the end of the previous book in the series but he still manages to insert himself into this one. Moreover, we get to meet his adult daughter as well.

All in all, this was a worthy addition to a series that I have greatly enjoyed over the years. It combined my interest in archaeology (as a teenager, my career wish was to be an archaeologist) with getting to better know the main characters in the series, and it moved their personal relationships forward in a believable manner. There are several more entries in this series and I look forward to reading them all!

 

 

Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler: A review

Here's another Bryant and May mystery. They are always fun reads and Ten Second Staircase does not disappoint. (Although, having now finished reading the book, I still have no idea where that title came from or what it means.) 

In this one, Bryant's and May's unit, the Peculiar Crimes Unit of the London Police, is just about to be disbanded as part of a departmental reorganization. But where will that leave our two octogenarian detectives who have no desire to retire?

In order to forestall that imminent closure, the detectives need to solve a couple of cases, one old and one new, both of which have their basis in the historic London mythology of classic crime. 

To aid in their investigations, this time around their unit has a new addition, May's granddaughter, April. And, of course, she has her own set of peculiarities in that she is agoraphobic.

The modern-day mystery here involves a series of second-tier celebrities being killed in very elaborate ways. A witness to one of the crimes is a twelve-year-old boy who insists that the perpetrator was a masked highwayman riding a black horse. Well, he should be easy enough to find in London, right?  

There's a lot to like here. Fowler is, of course, a very talented writer who appears to assume that his readers enjoy the English language as much as he does. Here, he provides us with snippets of history which help to fill in the mosaic of the story he's telling and he does it with a rich trove of that beloved language. Moreover, the social commentary was enlightening and frequently quite amusing. Overall, I found my time spent with Bryant and May to be (once again) time well spent.

 

Desert God by Wilbur Smith: A review

 

I finished reading this one on January 30 so let me just think what I can remember of the plot. Hmm...not much. But I will try to at least give you a brief summary.

Well, it's a novel of ancient Egypt. It says so right there on the cover. The main character is Taita, a slave. He is a eunuch because, apparently, that was a requirement for male slaves. He has in his care two princesses whom he always refers to as "my princesses."

Taita, as he will readily tell you, is very, very good at everything he does, especially warfare, languages, and games. Moreover, he is much appreciated and admired for his many talents. (This assessment, again, is according to him.)

The other characters in this tale are all essentially stick figures. We never get to know them very well.

There was one character, in particular, who I found interesting and who seemed to have the potential to add depth to the story. Her name was Loxias. She was a Greek girl who became a tutor for the princesses. But we just never got to spend that much time with her or to get to know her. The focus is always Taita, Taita, Taita!

Perhaps if I had found Taita to be a more sympathetic character I would have enjoyed the story more but my irritation with him kept me from ever being fully invested. As for the princesses who are the other essential characters in the story, they are too insipid and utterly selfish to care about. 

At some point, the princesses are shipped off to become wives to King Minos of Crete. We may think we have seen the last of them at that point, but then our hero, Taita, also spends time in Crete and in their presence. Ah, well, it would have been cruel to separate him from his beloved princesses.

I struggled just a bit with deciding on a rating for this book and when that happens, I generally settle on a mid-rating. I stayed true to form in that regard.