Latest reading in the crime fiction genre

The Creak on the Stairs

Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir

Published by Orenda Books, Translation by Victoria Cribb,  2020

This is the debut novel for this Icelandic writer and is an accomplished work that is listed as the first in a series called Forbidden Iceland.  It is set in the small town of Arkanes (previously the home town for the author) from which, if the conditions are right, you can see the capital of Reykjavik across the water.

Elisabet is a girl in the town whose father was lost at sea when she was very young and whose mother descended into a life of alcohol and poverty with all that attends such a life. She had lost not only her husband but also a young son at two weeks of age, and was thereafter never able to parent her daughter. Elisabet is strikingly beautiful but quite strange, and does not fit in to her school life; she is very much an outcast. She has one friend, Sara, and a neighbour who talks with her, but, beyond that, she leads a solitary life. Elisabet is aware that she is different and is careful not to divulge too much of her thoughts or actions to her friend. However, when she hurts a little girl in her charge while Sara is out of the room, she ruins their friendship as Sara’s mother will no longer allow her daughter to play with Elisabet.

Fast forward from 1989 to 2017 and Elma, the new Chief Investigating Officer at Arkanes police station, is involved in the investigation of the murder of a woman, the body found at the old lighthouse. The woman is Elisabet. To the knowledge of her husband, Elisabet had never looked back when she left the town as a young woman and he cannot explain why she would have been in Arkanes.

Elma herself has recently returned to the town and finds so much unchanged. The families of influence remain in situ, her sister still annoys her, and she constantly finds herself coming face-to-face with people from her school days.

This is what might be described as a ‘slow burn’, the tension building almost imperceptibly. The assumptions made by the reader as to the likely outcome are shattered as the narrative unfolds. As we learn the fate of Sara, and make the connection to her relatives still living in the town, we realize that much has been hidden so as not to disturb the veneer of respectability around her family. We also find it remarkable that Elisabet has led a relatively ‘normal’ adult life with again, the veneer of the perfect family front and centre. Of course, in both instances, inevitably the past catches up with all involved.
The action moves between the late 80s and 2017, and it is these ‘flash backs’ that, if we read carefully, hold the key to what Elisabet’s life was like and what ramifications that life had on the other families under the author’s spotlight. I would definitely be interested in reading future novels by this author, and can see the key character of Elma has room for further development.

A Silent Death

Peter May

Published by Riverrun 2020

Peter May is the consummate crime fiction writer. He creates believable and interesting characters; writes clearly and engagingly; offers tightly constructed plots; and provides wonderful descriptions of the physical environment in which his characters move.

In this latest, the setting is Spain and the characters are both Spanish and Scottish. Jack Cleland has eluded police for many years, carving a very pleasant life for himself in a seaside town in Spain. In a completely random moment, he shoots dead his girlfriend but lays the blame squarely at the young female constable who, with her partner, diverted his attention and made him act instinctively to protect himself. John Mackenzie is sent to bring the criminal back to Britain but finds himself embroiled in the local hunt for Cleland who escaped while in transit to the airport.

Cristina, the policewoman, is grappling with tension at home and at work, and has as her focus both her ill sister and her Aunt who is deaf and blind. With Cleland vowing to destroy both Cristina and her family, time is of the essence, and becomes more so when Cleland makes direct contact with Cristina’s young son.

Mackenzie is late of the Met having alienated both his family and colleagues with his uncompromising personality, and this first assignment with the National Crime Agency in no way helps him re-ignite his career – he is abrasive and direct, seconded to Spain because of his language skill.

The tension builds as Cleland makes direct contact with Ana, Cristina’s Aunt, effectively taking control of her life, a turn of events of which the police and family are unaware.  They are concentrating on the escalation of violence surrounding Cristina’s other family members.

The reader becomes invested in Mackenzie, realising he is genuinely incapable of nuanced responses to others. He is imbued with an honesty that is without guile. He is also remarkably intelligent, holding several degrees, but has up to this point in his life had no desire to do anything other than policing.

Ana, Cristina’s Aunt, is by no means a secondary character but rather someone the reader wants to know more of; the descriptions of how she navigates her dark, silent world are fascinating, as is the identification of the reason for her lack of sight and hearing – Usher Syndrome. Ana is a wonderful character whose inclusion in the story adds enormously to its attraction.

All three main characters – Mackenzie, Cristina and Ana – are memorable for their unique personalities that combine to engage the reader in a tense and satisfying story line.

I am so interested in Peter May’s attention to detail with relation to the places in which he sets his novels. Be it Scotland, France, China, or now Spain, his research and familiarity with each place shines through in his descriptions of the physical environment and the people living in the cities and towns. 

Having Catalan heritage, I was very pleased to find this novel set in Spain and would be equally pleased were more to follow.

Darkness for Light

Emma Viskic

Published by Echo Publishing 2019

The third book in her “Caleb Zelic’ series is definitely a high point in Emma Viskic’s writing. It feels as if she has hit her stride, engaged in delivering a tightly scripted, cleverly plotted crime thriller. Her main character, Caleb, is fully formed; the writer seems less self-conscious in describing his personality and his interactions with other characters than in the first two novels in the series, Resurrection Bay, and And Fire Came Down.

Deaf due to childhood illness, Caleb navigates his world of life-threatening situations that are part and parcel of being a private investigator with both fear and a blind determination. Without intending to, he becomes involved again with his one-time partner, Frankie, who pulls him into a world of violence and criminal activity. All the while, Caleb is balancing his world and the hearing world, and his love for his partner and her Koori family.

Frankie’s sister and her daughter seem to be at the heart of events as they unfold, involving fraud, crooked authorities, and well-heeled members of society. It is when Tilda, the daughter, is kidnapped, that the stakes become unbearable and Caleb fully immerses himself in finding her, and surviving himself.

Resurrection Bay interested me sufficiently to read the second book in the series. However, it is a case of a third time’s a charm - Darkness for Light is a polished and engaging novel.

The Chestnut Man

Soren Sveistrup

Published by Penguin 2019

From the writer of the Danish television series The Killing comes a ‘classic’ Scandi Noir addition.  As with so many Scandinavian dramas and crime fiction titles, politics are intertwined with the criminal activity.  

In this case, just as the Minister for Social Affairs, Rosa Hartung, is returning to work after the disappearance of her young daughter months earlier, police are sent to a crime scene that they will discover has a link to the missing girl.  

As the mystery unfolds and the details become more worrying, the detective at the centre of the investigation is a lone voice in making connections. Hess has been sent home in disgrace from Europol and everyone dismisses him as an odd fish, including the woman he has been partnered with, Naia Thulin.  However, he cannot be dissuaded from believing that, despite rational argument, there is a possibility that the current investigation is crucial to understanding what has happened to Rosa’s daughter.

This is a tightly plotted story with an original approach to the character development of the crime detective. It is dark and mesmerizing, and leads to a relatively unexpected conclusion.

The Long Call

Ann Cleeves

Published by Macmillan 2019 

Although an avid crime reader, this is in fact my first Ann Cleeves novel. I am, of course familiar with her characters, Vera and Jimmy Perez from the television dramtisations, and, after reading this, am interested to read her earlier works.

Detective Matthew Venn has returned to North Devon where he grew up in a stifling evangelical community before being shunned. His husband has created a wonderful home and brought new life to the local town through the hub that supports the arts and care centre. When a body is found on the beach not far from his home, Matthew is drawn into the secrets of both the wider community and the religious elders who remain determined to have nothing to do with him; this includes his mother who has recently buried her husband.  He has to grapple with the mantle of authority, heading up the investigation; an overly eager constable; an impressive but distracted sergeant; and a completely disengaged DCI. He himself is not cut from the usual detective cloth, being more urbane and self-conscious than the hard men of most crime fiction.

The author indicates there will be more titles featuring Matthew Venn and there is certainly a case for that, presenting as she does a new and intriguing character.