In this installment novels from Britain (2), Japan, the Netherlands (2), Germany, France, Sweden (2) and Austria by the following authors: Philip Kerr, Vaseem Khan, Natsuo Kirino, Herman Koch, Tim Krabbe, Volker Kutscher, Camilla Lackberg, Stieg Larsson, Pierre Lemaitre, and Alexander Lernet-Holenia.
41. KERR,
Philip: March Violets (1989, Britain)
Former police inspector, now private investigator, Bernie Gunther is an outspoken anti-Nazi, but still manages to survive in the darkening mood of Germany in the 1930s. A mysterious late-night summons takes him to the palatial home of Hermann Six, one of the country’s wealthiest and most powerful industrialists. There he learns that Six’s daughter, Grete, and her husband have been murdered in their bed and the safe in their home burglarized. Six is intent on recovering an expensive diamond necklace without calling in the police and offers Bernie a large fee. But the case is far more complicated than Herr Six has explained. First, it becomes clear that the police cannot solve the murder. Then several troubling characters in the drama come to Bernie’s attention, such as a gorgeous film star who is Six's mistress, Six’s private secretary who seems crooked, a pair of thuggish Gestapo detectives, and even Hermann Goering himself. As the investigation unfolds, the complications multiply and threats to Bernie’s life emerge again and again. Philip Kerr has done his research and this detective novel is also an excellent piece of historical fiction – like the novels by Volker Kutscher set in the same era. A vivid snapshot of Berlin under the Nazis, kicking off the trilogy “Berlin Noir.” In all, Kerr wrote 14 historical thrillers featuring Bernie Gunther, set in Germany during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War.
42. KHAN, Vaseem: Midnight at Malabar House (2020, Britain)
Vaseem Khan is in the first place known for his series of humorous crime novels set in India featuring retired Mumbai police Inspector Ashwin Chopra and his sidekick, a baby elephant named Ganesha. But recently he has struck out in another direction with Midnight at Malabar House, a police procedural introducing India’s first female police detective, Persis Wadia (several decades before one was actually appointed!). The story is set in Bombay. Starting at New Year’s Eve 1949, just after Indian Independence, the horrors of the Partition with Pakistan and the assassination of Gandhi. Social and political turmoil is rife in the country. Yet Bombay remains cosmopolitan, with thousands of British still left in the city. Wadia is stationed at Malabar House, the city’s most unwanted unit of police officers, where as the only woman on the force she has been sidelined and consigned to the midnight shift. Then she receives a phone call: prominent British diplomat James Herriot has been murdered in his room and his trousers are missing... In this way, India’s most sensational case falls in her lap. As 1950 dawns and India prepares to become the world’s largest republic, accompanied by Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she sets out to investigate a case that becomes more political all the time. Wadia is a real character with an interesting personal story which is gradually fleshed out. The only woman among male colleagues and bosses who tell her that she does not deserve to be among them, she is plagued with doubt, but is also strong enough to continue doing what she thinks is right. An interesting story in a fascinating and unusual setting.
43. KIRINO, Natsuo: OUT (1997, Japan)
Four housewives have to work night shifts in a company filling lunch boxes to make both ends meet. Masako, the leader of the four women, is alienated from her shoplifting husband and teenage son, a hikikomori. Plump and vain shopaholic Kuniko has been ditched by her boyfriend after the couple were driven into debt, leaving Kuniko to fend off a loan shark. Yoshie is a single mother and caretaker of her aged and paralyzed mother-in-law. Yayoi is a 34-year-old mother of two small boys; all three suffer abuse from her drunken, gambling husband Kenji. One night Kenji gambles away the family savings and gets into an argument with Yayoi about Anna, a hostess he is stalking. When he starts hitting Yayoi, she snaps and strangles him with his belt. Yayoi then beseeches Masako and her other friends to help her dispose of Kenji's body. The body is professionally dismembered, put into garbage bags, and thrown away in various spots all over Tokyo. But it isn't long before one carelessly hidden bag is discovered and the police begin to ask questions. And as if things weren't bad enough, the women begin to blackmail each other, Kuniko's loan shark starts pursuing them and a gangster (who is suspected of the murder) begins to hunt the women down... A show window of the social problems that have beset Japan in the new millennium. Readers were shocked that a woman writer in her mid-forties would have the idea for such a crime, which led to lots of media attention. Natsuo Kirino is a leading figure in the recent boom of female writers of Japanese detective fiction. Most of Kirino's novels center upon women and crime. Typically, Kirino focuses on women who do unimaginable things, which is why books as OUT can be considered as “feminist noir.” She writes in a convincing, realistic style, putting us inside the skins of these women. Several of her other novels (such as also Grotesque and Real World) have also been translated into English.
44. KOCH, Herman: The Dinner (2009, The Netherlands)
A novel that reads like a thriller as the unreliable narrator only gradually unveils his secret. Set at a five-course dinner in a posh restaurant (deliciously satirized by Koch), the novel lays bare the violence hidden just under the surface of polite society. Two brothers - one a burned-out teacher, the other a successful politician - have dinner with their wives. The real purpose of the meeting is to discuss what should be done about their sons, who have murdered an elderly homeless person by setting fire to her, something which has been covered up so far (although caught on surveillance camera, their faces are not clear). The politician wants to come clean about the truth, even as that will be the end of his career, but the other couple wants to hide the secret by all means, to keep their so-called “happy family” intact, even if that means another murder. The book demonstrates the danger that the more people think in categories (“immigrants,” “Jews,” “blacks”), the easier it is to hate and destroy others. Koch's characters are usually highly disagreeable, distrusting and violent, and they often defend questionable morals and extreme views. Underlying themes in their narratives include happiness, mediocrity, disgust, the right to live, cynicism, violence, beauty, and the ugly.
The Dinner was translated into 21 languages and sold over one million copies throughout Europe. A Dutch movie of the book was released in 2013 (followed by Italian and English-language adaptations).
The Dinner was translated into 21 languages and sold over one million copies throughout Europe. A Dutch movie of the book was released in 2013 (followed by Italian and English-language adaptations).
45. KRABBE, Tim: Delay (1994, The Netherlands)
Jacques Bekker is on a return trip to the Netherlands from New Zealand when his plane is delayed during a stopover in Sydney. He takes advantage of the unexpected four-hour break by paying a lightning visit to his childhood friend (and first love) Monique Ilegems. He arrives on Monique’s street just as a stylish woman is loading a suitcase into the back of a smart car. As we will learn later on, Monique has committed serious fraud (and is carrying a bag full of cash) and is about to flee. She begs Jacques to help her escape from the police. At first he doesn’t feel like it (and keeps looking at his watch as he has to return to the airport to catch his delayed plane - a tense situation I can really imagine, as I am always afraid of missing planes myself), but eventually gives in and forgets about his journey. Soon, Jacques and Monique will be deep in the Australian Outback, on a wicked journey, which also leads them back to their shared past as teenagers, with fatal consequences. Monique appears more and more in her true form, as a great manipulator. This novel combines a Graham Greene-like travelogue with a haunting thriller. A perfect noir novel, which reminded me of the work of the French author Pascal Garnier.
Tim Krabbe also wrote mystery story The Golden Egg, which was made into an acclaimed Dutch film (1998), as well as a worthless American remake.
46. Kutscher, Volker: Babylon Berlin (2008, Germany)
The first novel in a series about detective superintendent Gereon Rath, set in Berlin in 1929 and the 1930s. The historical novel gives a vivid portrait of the Roaring Twenties and of political developments in the late Weimar Republic, including the rise of National Socialism, although – in contrast to the reader – the implications are not yet apparent to the characters involved. People from contemporary history and historical events, such as the Blutmai riots, are cleverly incorporated in the story.
Cologne inspector Gereon Rath is transferred to Berlin through his father's connections after he shoots the son of an influential newspaper publisher in the line of duty. In Berlin he works at the Alexanderplatz police headquarters, also known as the "Red Castle", initially for the vice squad. His goal, however, is to transfer to the homicide department, which is headed by the well-known detective Ernst Gennat, who works according to the most modern scientific criminological methods and has one of the highest clear-up rates. Rath sees his chance when an unidentified body is recovered from the Landwehr Canal and joins the stagnating homicide investigation without being asked. In his investigation, Rath uncovers a connection to a circle of militant exiled Russians who want to buy weapons with smuggled gold in preparation for a coup. Organized crime and paramilitaries like the SA are also after the gold and weapons. Rath falls in love with Charlotte Ritter, who works as a stenographer in the homicide department, and uses her insider knowledge in his investigation. In the course of his investigations, he also comes across the secret mastermind of the Berolina ring association Johann Marlow, known as Dr. M., and makes himself susceptible to blackmail, not least because he uses cocaine in one of the man’s illegal nightclubs. He becomes more and more entangled in the case and comes under suspicion himself after he accidentally shoots a man and lets the body disappear...
As sequels go, The Silent Death and Goldstein are also quite good, but from The Fatherland Files I gradually lost interest. A good idea milked too long, but the first three novels are very good!
Cologne inspector Gereon Rath is transferred to Berlin through his father's connections after he shoots the son of an influential newspaper publisher in the line of duty. In Berlin he works at the Alexanderplatz police headquarters, also known as the "Red Castle", initially for the vice squad. His goal, however, is to transfer to the homicide department, which is headed by the well-known detective Ernst Gennat, who works according to the most modern scientific criminological methods and has one of the highest clear-up rates. Rath sees his chance when an unidentified body is recovered from the Landwehr Canal and joins the stagnating homicide investigation without being asked. In his investigation, Rath uncovers a connection to a circle of militant exiled Russians who want to buy weapons with smuggled gold in preparation for a coup. Organized crime and paramilitaries like the SA are also after the gold and weapons. Rath falls in love with Charlotte Ritter, who works as a stenographer in the homicide department, and uses her insider knowledge in his investigation. In the course of his investigations, he also comes across the secret mastermind of the Berolina ring association Johann Marlow, known as Dr. M., and makes himself susceptible to blackmail, not least because he uses cocaine in one of the man’s illegal nightclubs. He becomes more and more entangled in the case and comes under suspicion himself after he accidentally shoots a man and lets the body disappear...
As sequels go, The Silent Death and Goldstein are also quite good, but from The Fatherland Files I gradually lost interest. A good idea milked too long, but the first three novels are very good!
47. Lackberg, Camilla: The Ice Princess
Writer Erica Falck has returned to her family home in the small seaside town of Fjällbacka after her parents died. It is in the middle of winter. While trying to cope with the death of her parents, she is writing a biography of Swedish Nobel prize winning author Selma Lagerlöf. Then a young woman, Erica’s childhood friend Alexandra Wijkner, is found dead in her frozen bathtub. Suicide or murder? Patrik Hedstrøm, a young local police detective, is forced to carry out the investigation behind his superintendent’s back because the boss prefers to sleep at his desk and wait until he can take credit in the media for any success his subordinates manage to achieve. The investigation shows that the young woman's death occurred before she was placed in the tub, allowing the liquid to freeze around her as the temperature dropped far below freezing inside her house. At the prompting of Alex's parents, Erica begins to investigate the death of their daughter, teaming up with Patrik Hedstrøm. They fall in love, but circle cautiously around each other, afraid that the other doesn’t reciprocate their feelings. In some ways, the halting, nervous way that the two protagonists deal with each other is the strongest aspect of this novel. These two, both of them in their late 30s, act like nervous teenagers... But together they manage to uncover the dark and seamy secrets of the town. As is usual in the genre of Nordic noir, a heavy emphasis is given to characterization and depiction of the small town where the crime occurs.
48. Larsson, Stieg: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005, Sweden)
The Swedish title of this long thriller, the first book of the Millennium series, is “Men who hate women,” and indeed the novel is a bit too righteous – but it is also a striking novel, full of passion. The author’s rather thickly laid-on targets are violence against women, the incompetence and cowardice of investigative journalists, the moral bankruptcy of big capital and the virulent strain of Nazism still festering away in Swedish society. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on an island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle suspects murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. Both are conflicted, complicated people, idiosyncratic in the extreme, and therefore interesting enough to compensate for the rather mechanical, 19th century plot. They are both believable creations, although Salander is also a bit cartoonish. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history; but, the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander will find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. I don’t like “bestsellers,” but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has a good story and interesting characters. That is not anymore the case with the second (The Girl Who Played with Fire) and third novel (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest) in the series – the story goes on too long and looses all realism as Salander becomes a sort “Count of Monte Christo” who via hacking gathers an enormous fortune which helps her in her revenge. I also hesitate to call Larsson's work "Nordic noir," it is too much plot-driven in an old-fashioned way.
49. Lemaitre, Pierre: Alex (2011, France)
No novel is as literally sick-making as super violent revenge thriller “Alex,” driven by a gruesome and grotesque story line - the fierce plot twists will have you reeling. Only for readers with a very strong stomach, as the in detail described murders are really revolting. Although part of a three-book series about Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven, the real protagonist is Alex Prevost, a young woman who is beautiful, resourceful and tough. She has been kidnapped, savagely beaten and imprisoned in a wooden cage in an abandoned warehouse, where her naked body is attacked by hungry rats. It is a wonder she manages to escape, but that is only the moment that the real story starts: that of a terrible revenge. She evolves from the victim of a brutal kidnapping into the prime suspect of a series of murders, and behind that is hidden another tragic story of exploitation in the past. Don't read this book while you are eating or snacking!
50. Lernet-Holenia, Alexander: I was Jack Mortimer (1933)
A thriller about a taxi driver in Vienna that imports its criminals from the gangster culture of America – albeit with a twist. The crime novel is told from the perspective of Viennese taxi driver Ferdinand Sponer, who picks up American gangster Jack Mortimer only to find that he has been shot dead when they reach their destination. Sponer panics, disposes of the body in the Danube and starts to investigate the crime, while the police, on finding blood in his taxi, make him their prime suspect. The situation is resolved when an American woman confesses to murdering her husband in revenge for his killing of her lover, a certain Jack Mortimer. A relatively sophisticated crime novel for the period with a strong sense of place, the work provides nuanced psychological portraits of the victim and murderers, as well as the hapless Sponer.
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