Frode Grytten's 'The Shadow in the River: In the provincial, decaying Norwegian town of Odda, journalist Robert Bell is a cynical observer, relishing his self-chosen role of outsider, constantly sizing-up and judging his fellow-citizens. He enjoys his lonely job at an outpost for a big newspaper, though has been regularly frustrated at the paper's refusal to publish what he regards as serious investigation, instead having to write frothy pieces. As the story opens, a nineteen-year-old teenager has driven into the local river and, although no body has been discovered, presumably drowned. Read on....
White Nights by Ann Cleeves is the second book to feature the Shetland Island detective Jimmy Perez and the artist Fran Hunter. As the book opens, Fran and a local celebrity artist, Bella Sinclair, are about to hold a joint exhibition of their work at the Herring House, a gallery/cafe on Bella's land in the tiny hamlet of Biddista. An air of menace is subtly conveyed about the strangely low turnout at the exhibition, made even more puzzling given the presence of Bella's rock-star nephew, Roddy. Suddenly, a man bursts into tears in front of one of Fran's pictures. Jimmy takes him into the kitchen to calm down, but the man claims to have no idea of who he is, nor does he carry any identification. While Jimmy is seeing if any of the visitors know the man, he vanishes. As the disappointing evening ends, Jimmy is invited back to Fran's house, and his attention is otherwise engaged. The next morning, the crying man's dead body is found hanging in the boat shed on the beach. Read on....
The week's other new reviews at Euro Crime are:
- Karen Meek on The Darkness and the Deep by Aline Templeton
- CrimeFic Reader on The Manor of Death by Bernard Knight
- Pat Austin on Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi
- Sunnie Gill on the enticingly titled The Affair of the Bloodstained Tea Cosy by James Anderson.
More Euro Crime reviews can be seen here.
If you are in the UK or the rest of Europe, you can enter Euro Crime's current competitions (closing date 31 May) to win copies of Lost Souls by Neil White and a signed copy of Spider by Michael Morley.
Glad you enjoyed Ann's book. I think it's probably her very best to date.
Posted by: Martin Edwards | 26 May 2008 at 17:43