I will have vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni

Iwill have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni (the winter of Commissario Ricciardi )

Italian crime fiction

Translated by Anne Milano Appel

Maurizio De Giovanni is a Naples based writer,he won a short story prize  for unpublished writers ,he won with a short story about Commissario Ricciardi ,this was later expanded into a novel ,this crime series is set in 1930′s Naples .Maurizio’s books have been translated into numerous languages and he won the Premio Camaiore prize  .A prize awarded by city of Camaiore .This is second book I ve reviewed by the new Italian crime publisher Hersilla press .This book is the first in a series of four the fourth in the series won the prize .

So what is I will have vengeance about ,Well its set in 30′s Naples ,Il Duce is just coming to his full powers after nine years in the job , its 1931 and Riccciardi an elderly police man he is a man with his own secrets an aristocrat so money isn’t his motive to work ,a man  that has no real friends .But when he sees a dead body he sees in his mind the exact moment of death .The victim Mastero Vezzi an italian tenor at the Naples opera house the best of his time .Now when I read this on the rear cover when the book dropped through my door ,I thought oh this is an “italian morse “classical music and a lonesome older cop but no this is paced different to the Dexter books more in line with classic books you see published by Hard case crime from the 30′s to 60′s .I looked up an interview with Maurizio here in Italian that I translated via google translate and the only character he likes are Ed McBain .So this book owes more to American crime than British crime fiction .Riccardi although he may see the crimes is a hard nose cop a loner “walking the line between the living and dead ” as Maurizio put in the interview I couldn’t put it better myself . in the tradition of McBain’s cops .His Bosses aren’t huge fans of his and this cases has pressure as the victim was a good friend of Il Duce ,who now in his ninth year and having used the Il Duce title for six of them years is slowly becoming a dictator and Ricciardi isn’t a fan about needs to find the killer .He has found the victim Vezzi although a true talent was hated backstage by the people in the opera house many of them had chance to kill him so it is down to the Commissaro to find who did it .Before he runs out time and someone else gets the case .

Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi was of medium height ,and slim .He had a dark complexion,striking green eyes,black hair slicked back with brilliantine sometimes a strand or two came free ,falling over his forehead ,and distractedly smoothed it back in place with an abrupt gesture .His nose was straight and thin,like his lips ,his small almost feminine hands were restless, always moving .He kept them in his pocket aware that they portray his emotion ,his tension.

we first meet the commissario Ricciardi .

Now I enjoyed this the first of four books about the Commissario the book is 211 pages longs so is fast paced the action keeps going as the pages turn .The setting seems good Maurizio has lived in the city all his life and is a huge fan of the city in his biography I ve read he has written piece on the home town club Napoli SSC .The dark Spector of Il Duce lurks in the background I feel this will grow over the books .The book was translated from Italian by Anne Milano Appel ,she has done a good job manage to keep the pace feel of the book .

Have you read this book?

Who is your favourite Italian crime writer ?

where the devil can’t go by Anya Lipska

Anya Lipska is a journalist and lives in london this is her debut novel.She is married to a pole .

I like the concept of this book when I received a e-mail from its publicist Louise ,I often wander around my local supermarket which now has a section devoted to polish food and we also have a polish deli ,so a book set in the uk in the polish community seemed like a really interesting book to me .The book’s title is part of an old polish proverb about a women being often the cause of trouble ,I asked Anya on twitter about this and she said it fitted the main character Janusz Kiszka to  tee .He is an older chap a figure-head in the community ,The sort of  come to guy the man who knows everyone and every thing so when he is asked to find a missing young polish  girl by a priest ,this one event leads him to his own past as he returns to his native Poland and faces his own ghosts ,a dead body or two , a perky female police detective Natalie Kershaw ,she  is young and full of get up and go .She is a a new young detective  in what feels like a very male police force world and has  Janusz in her sights as he keeps cropping up in the case of a girl found by the river Thames .All this has repercussions in Poland in the upper reaches of Polish politics .

She followed him as he moved up the side of the bed .He bent over the girl .”No obvious injuries” he said eyes flickering impassively over the splayed body .

Kershaw notice a fuzz of underarm stubble beneath the girls out flung left arm – a detail so personnel it made her feel uncomfortably like a voyeur .

A body in a hotel room as Kershaw sorts this case .

I like my crime novels that break the mould or have well crafted characters and this book seems to have achieved both ,the narrative stream is told in alternating chapters by Janusz and then Kershaw this is clever as you see two pictures  of what is happening ,but then over time these picture merge and the true course of events becomes clear to the reader .The other strength in this book is Janusz he is like a fish out of water a pole in the uk ,a man with secrets ,but also not the most politically correct guy he is a bit of a misogynist ,he has a girlfriend but their relationship is in limbo a bit ,the way he talked and dealt with women took me back to the noir of the thrities and  forties ,he is like a modern Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe .Also you find out how he end up in the UK and also a bit about Poland in the Eighties and life under the communist state .I also loved the fact that early on I had to google as they described eating various Polish dishes ,so next time I m in the supermarket I may know what are on the shelves .So if you want a page turning winter crime novel that has something a bit different about it this may be the book for you .

Here is a interview with writer 

and Anya Lipska site

This is an e book her is the link to it on amazon 

Steig Larsson my friend by Kurdo Baksi

Steig larsson my friend by Kurdo Baksi

Swedish Non fiction

Translated by Laurie Thompson

Steig Larsson is without a doubt the biggest success in translated fiction of recent times ,he also lead to the great number of Nordic crime books we see on our book shop shelves ,unfortunately he died before the huge success of the books he wrote hit home  ,so this book by a colleague and good friend of the man is a great insight into him as a person and writer .Kurdo Baksi a Kurd writer journalist and magazine owner , that has lived in Sweden since the 80′s like Stieg he is a figure in the anti fascist movement in Sweden and runs a magazine about anti fascism .he first meet Stieg in 1992 as their paths crossed with stieg,s non fiction books on the extreme right in Sweden and the shared beliefs in this movement grew into a great friendship .They both ran magazines Stieg Larsson Expo and Kurdo Baksi Svartitt .We let into the world of Swedish journalism where these two writers Stieg in particular walk a line of danger where because they have highlighted the extreme right with exposes of these movements ,they have to watch what they do ,then there is also the hate mail he got from the right-wing nutters .What you get is Stieg dedication to democracy   and freedom of speech this lead to long hours and as Kurdo put it a man fueled by cigarettes and coffee in equal measures .The two men are drawn closer when Stieg magazine runs into trouble so rather than let it go out of print he and Kurdo join together and publish the two magazines as one as Kurdo is a better business man than Stieg  .THE other thread of Stieg life that kurdo lets us  into is the personnel man Stieg lived with his partner Eva whom kurdo knows well and helps at times when she is worried about Stieg  had traveled a lot in his youth as a sort of backpacker spend time in africa this had a lasting effect on him .

On 30 november 1998 ,T.T . issued a newsflash .The anti racist journal Expo had been resurrected ,thanks to a merger with the swedish magazine svartvitt .

I was quoted ;”expo had been outstandingly good at investigating racism .but they never grasped how to make money .That is where I can help them “

The magazine combine their talents .

So you can say I liked this book in fact I loved it read it in an evening as I want to learn  more a\nd more about Stieg I enjoyed the millenium trilogy when I read it and knew a bits about Stieg’s life, but this book fleshed out the scant facts I had . He comes across as a man who work hard in fact a real workaholic that slept very little  and cared for his fellow-man ,the millenium trilogy is just part of his story his activism was the bigger picture and that in turn is shown in the books of the millenium trilogy which the Kurdo appears in as a character .This bio is a loving tribute from someone who knew Stieg and admired him also due to working everyday with him for later part of Stieg life knew him as he worked on the books that made his name .

Have you read this or Stieg’s trilogy ?

Phantoms of Breslau by Marek Krajewski

Phantoms of Breslau by Marek Krawjeswki

Polish crime fiction

Translator – Danusia Stok

Now any one the follows me on twitter or have read comments I ve placed around blogosphere know I been singing  the praises of this book .This is the third in the Eberhard Mock series all set in 1919 Breslau (a city in south-west Poland )it was the capital of the upper silisea region as part of the germany in 1919  ,it is now called Wroclaw and has been in Poland since 1945 .The book opens with the gruesome discovery of four sailors naked and on top of one another on a small island in the river Oder .Thus enter the lead character Eberhard Mock  there is a message left for Mock this means it may be a serial killer on the loose ,this bring him into the dark streets of Breslau ,where there are drinking dens and prostitutes as he is trying to stop there being ,more victims .But as the case unfold we find a world on male escorts and women wanting men dressed up as sailor and workmen etc .This leads Mock down another line of enquiry .When this drop through the door I thought oh no not another european crime novel ,I had a few sent and read in last twelve months but I admit the hard back cover as you can see above is very eye-catching in fact on could say macabre .So I decide to give it a roll rather than but it on the not tojust yet  read pile and boy I m so pleased I did ,yes its crime and dark crime ala Jo Nesbo or Ian Rankin but then its historic but not in the sub Christie way as a lot of historic crime is set around this time ,no this is something different more in common with the american fiction I ve read of the day which is little .Krajewski Main talent is detail the eye for detail from cigarettes smoke in a pip ,to th food they eat he makes 1919 Breslau come to life .We get drawn into a dark and dangerous place as the people there come to terms with the post war world of 1919 .Mock is a hard-drinking trouble detective I felt a german Phillip Marlowe (but a policeman).

he rolled a cigarette of Georgian blend tobacco and lit it up .Listening to the chimes of the school chapel bells ..

He crumpled up his shirt stained by the copper and stuffed it into his bag …

the slabs of glass shattered ,the formaldehyde sluiced over Ruhtgard as he lay curled up on the floor ..

Three snippets of descriptions from the book .

I feel this is the perfect autumn read as the nights draw in you can get drawn into the dark side of Breslau .

Marek Krajewski is a resident and grew up and still lives in Wroclaw (Breslau as was ) .he teaches classic at Wroclaw university .he has written six Mock books also two that of shoot from them and also two modern crime fiction set in Gdansk .The mock series follows the city of the time well (according to the Polish wiki page )the mock books have been translated into 14 languages .Here by Danuisa Stok she has translated the other books in the series as well as the screenplay for three colours .

Have you read this or any in the series ?

 

 

Until thy wrath be past by Åsa Larsson

Åsa Larsson is a swedish crime writer ,she worked as a tax lawyer before becoming a full-time writer .This is her fourth book to be translated into english .Her grandfather was a famous Swedish skier and she has host radio shows in her native Sweden this book features Rebecka Martinsson as have some of her earlier books .She won the best Swedish crime book in 2004 for Blood spilled another from this series ,also the first book in the series Solstorm was made into a film in Sweden .

So Rebecka Martinsson is a Prosecutor in the far north of Sweden ,this job is a cross between our C.I.D and the crown prosecution service they direct the police how to investigate criminal cases deciding when arrests need to be made in the case her police officer is another women Anna-Maria Mella .They are investigating the murder of a young women called Wilma Peterson her body appeared in the river as the spring thaw began .Their investigation draws them to a plane that went missing in the 1940′s people working with the germans during the second world wae ,a pair of brothers that made a lot of  money at the time ,these brothers were very intimating to the locals and still via the sons have an influence in the area the crime happen ,a weird local that knows more than he is saying ,the attitude of the male colleagues towards them and also the friction in the own relationship all add to this book being a real page turner.Why were Wilma and her boyfriend where they were is there a missing crashed german plane from the war  all these are questions you find the answer to in the book .

On sunday someone phoned the police station in Kiruna to say that he had information about the two kids who had featured in the late night news bulletin the day before .He said his was Goran Sillfors .

“I don’t know if what I have to tell you is all that significant” ,he said , “But you said yourselves ,rather a call too many tan one too few ,so i thought..”

A lead on the case maybe ?

So what did I make of until thy wrath be past the title being a quote from the bible well ,I ve read other nordic crime books over the last few years and this one needs to sit near the top of the pile in the leads Rebecka and Anna Maria she has two different female characters one smart that has worked to be were she is ,the other has a family both have men in their lives ,she makes them leap of the page into flesh and blood .I also loved the way she brought the north of Sweden to life describing the scenery so beautifully .

Frozen puddles and frostbitten moss crackled beneath our feet alanen Vittangivaara loomed to our left

or

frost had nipped at every blade of grass,every twig ,making them brittle and crispy white .Sprays of lingonberry and stunted juniper bushes were a dull shade of wintry green .

lingonberry

She catches the interaction between characters so well the slight tension between the women .The way they can be dismissed by their male counter parts in the police .The fear the brothers cause then and now .The crime is realistic which is more than I can say of some of the other nordic crime novels I ve read .I enjoyed reading female leads that I could get on with as a male reader I sometimes struggle with female leads but these two were wonderful ,also as a coffee drinker I must note they like their lot of coffee . So better tha Harry hole for me ,yes she is the other Larsson but Rebecka is not another Lisbeth Salander she is a new face for Nordic crime .and this is part of a series but makes great reading by itself .

Have you read this or any in the series ?

What is your favourite Nordic crime novel ?

Tarantula By Thierry Jonquet or the skin I live in

Source – review copy from serpents tail to tie in with the film coming out .

Translator – Donald Nicholson-Smith

Thierry Jonquet was a french writer ,he grew up in Paris and studied Philosophy at university ,His books were part of the well-known French book collection ” the black series “,the  collection of novels all have a noir ,feel tarantula was one of these ,Jonquet said he his main source of inspiration is the daily newspaper a treasure trove of anecdotal evidence of ,in his words the barbarity of life .I feel he does this in this book it is a little extreme in places but not too much to make it far-fetched .Thierry died in 2009 aged 55 .

The story is two tales that start separate and end up classing into a shocking stand-off in the end .The first tale is of a Parisian Plastic surgeon called Richard Lafargue ,a successful man ,but also a dark character that Keep his wife Eve locked up naked sometimes in a bedroom ,only letting her out dressed in very revealing and sexy clothing to go to parties or to perform sexual acts with people as he watches her voyeuristically get his kicks from this via a one way Mirror .He also has a secret operating theatre in his basements this is where he performs operations that he wants to keep on the hush-hush .He seems like a man who has it all but has lost his way and end up in a very dark place .

“Get yourself ready,” ordered Lafargue .”they won’t be long now “

Eve opened a closet and undressed .first putting her own clothes away ,she proceeded to dress in long black thigh boot ,black leather skirt,and fishnet stockings ,She made herself up ,using whited face powder and bright red lipstick ,the sat down on the bed .

Eve gets ready to perform for her Husband as he sits behind the mirror .

The second trail follows a bungled robbery and the man committing it Alex barney ,we see him on the run after killing a cop ,also he needs to find a new identity this leads him to Larfargue ,they have met in passing through the book ,he ends up at the house stuck in a great stand-off between the three ,from which there lives will change .

Alex Barny rested on a camp bed in an attic room .He had nothing to do ,except wait .The chatter of the curadas in the garriage was an unrelenting racket .Though the window Alex could see the crooked silhouettes of olive trees in the night ,forms fixed in bizarre poses .

We’re introduced to Alex .

I love noir and Novellas ,so read this short book it is only 120 pages long in an evening it packs a hell of a lot into those 120 pages .Thierry shines a light on the dark corners of the human soul and how even the most professional of people can have darkness in their characters ,Eve is trapped ,she loves richard but is trapped by richard performing for him .Richard has trouble having sex so makes eve perform also likes the danger of performing secret operations .Alex is criminal and like a runaway train through the book on a course for a huge crash .The book was sold to be made into a film by Pedro Almodovar ,he read the book when it came out and want to film it over ten years .Now the film the skin i live in has just come out at this years Cannes festival the storyline in the film is far removed from the but the main thread is there the relationship between surgeon and wife ,renamed Robert legard and Vera in the film Robert is played by the well-known actor Antonio Banderas .

Have you read French Noir ?

Do you like Pedro Almodovar films ?

Blood sisters by Alessandro Perissinotto

Source -review copy from Hersillia press

Translated by Howard Curtis

This is a debut in English for the Italian writer Alessandro Perissanto ,He gain in a degree in semiotics but had many jobs whilst studying and eventually end up as a professor in Turin ,he had previously worked in multimedia .

The book centres on Anna Pavesi a psychologist ,that receives a call to come and look into the death in what seems a hit and run of Patriza by her half-sister Benedetta.Well anna is short of money and takes the challenge and heads of from her home to the surrounds of Milan .Now she has to dive into Patrica’s life see who she was and where she worked ,as we follow anna we grasp what may be clues or red herrings .A big question Anna needs to answer who was visited Patrica in the Red lancia Fulvia ? ,maybe this leads to the murder maybe not .She meets Anna’s boss a man full of chat and trying to show how good an employer he is but is he trying to hide something then there is Marco that Anna ends up sleeping with ,but was he involved .there is also the prostitutes near where the hit and run will they talk ,also a large SUV that might be the car that killed Patrica .

Please ,Patriza was my cousin .The person who knocked her down got away and they haven’t caught him .Please I beg you

“I didn’t see anything,but if you come tomorrow morning about seven you’re sure to find Alina .She has red hair very red hair .She might know .”

Thank you ,thank you very much .

Anna questions a prostitute near were the hit and run happened .

Now I really really like Anna and Alessandro’s writing style and the translation by Howard Curtis ,whose previous translation I ve all enjoyed he seems to keep the flow of the prose so well .This is classic crime fiction with a modern Italian twist Anna Pavesi is Miss Marple in tight jeans and forty years younger ,with a dose of Italian style thrown in there is a group of suspects and a good dose of red herrings to keep you turning those pages to the end and a wonderful finish ,Alessandro use modern world , modern cars mention Anna use’s a mobile also Italy’s modern problems like prostitution, which I like to see in a modern book this book was first published in 2006 in Italy ,now the book ends with the glimmer we might meet anna

in a few weeks or a few months I’ll get a call from someone who’s spoken to Benedetta ,someone who thinks I’m a psychologist who specialises in searching for missing persons .

on last page maybe Anna returns who knows ?

This is the second book from new Italian crime publisher Hersillia press ,a publisher worth keeping an eye on by this book ,as with the BBC Italian noir programme earlier this year ,crime fiction is thriving in Italy at moment .

The hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Well Halloween was wondering what to read and though oh I ll reread the Hound of the Baskervilles it is a short book and can be easily read in a day ,Now this was my first reread since my early twenties of this book ,I first read under the covers as a ten-year old ,this time I was struck by a number of things ,the cleverness of the writing using diary ,and telegrams as different chapters .The way Doyle built up the moor as a character in itself ,dark sorrowful and full of mystery .The other thing I had in my head was a spinning wheel of the versions of this book I ve seen on dvd and film from Basil Rathbone ,Peter Cushing ,Jeremy Brett and their sidekicks ,at different points in the book I had a different Holmes in my mind’s eye .one my favourite lines is .

why should a man walk on tiptoe down the alley ?

he was running ,watson -running desperately ,running for his life ,running until his heart burst and fell dead upon his face .

running from what ?

there lies our problem .there are indications that the man was crazed with fear before ever he began to run

how can you say that ?

I m not going to mention much on the story I think most people know the story SIR Charles Baskerville ,dies under strange circumstances ,his nephew comes to england ,there is a myth of an evil curse of a demon hound on the Baskerville family ,Watson goes the Baskerville seat in devon on the dark moors ,e

he meets the locals reports to Holmes ,then Holmes comes into the picture again and there is a shocking climax ! .Watson is the main character in most of this book ,he comes across as an able doctor ,a fairly observant man and a prefect sounding board for Holmes ,Watson’S view is very black and white he is the parts that Holmes character doesn’t have ,compassion ,able to interact with people more openly .well as ever I loved this book it is a true classic in crime lit and the best of the Holmes novels .Now as I said I imagined the different film versions ,I think the best of them is Jeremy BNretts it is in many ways nearest the novel ,but can recommend the Ian Richardson version as it has Brian Blessed ,doing what he does best shouting .

HAVE YOU READ THIS ?

DO YOU LIKE ANY OF THE FILM VERSIONS ?

THREE SECONDS BY ROSLUND AND HELLSTORM

Source – review copy from Quercus .

Three seconds is the fifth novel by the Swedish crime writing partnership of  Anders Roslund ,a tv journalist who set up a well-known Swedish art show (culture news ) .His partner is Borge Hellstrom work with the Swedish drug rehabilitation services and found an organisation to help criminal back in to society .

The book centres on two main characters Piet Hoffmann ,a complex man a company owner ,happily married yet on the flip side he is police informant and  face of the polish mafia ,the other main character that appears mainly in second half of the book is Evert Grens a swedish police detective in his late fifties a troubled man from an incident in the past he is first introduce solving a murder in Stockholm .The men collide in a complex plan that involves Hoffman getting caught and sent to a maximum security prison  the most dangerous in Sweden ,there is a killing and Gren is sent to find the killer unaware of Hoffmann’s really purpose he is a there is a lot twists and turns to you reach the climax of the book .

He left Vasagatan and then got caught in a traffic Jam by Slussen .It was nearly five o’clock and he should have been at the kindergarten an hour ago .

Piet Hoffmann sat in the car and desperately tried to fend off the stress and heat and irritation caused by the afternoon traffic ,which he could do nothing about .Three lanes at a standstill as far down the tunnel as he could see .To combat this battle with the city ,he often though about the soft skin on Zofia’s face when he stroked it or Hugo eyes when he managed to cycle on his own ,or Ramus’s hair splashed with carrot soup .

Hoffmann in his normal life as a married man fetching his kids .

Now this won the Swedish crime novel of the year and is bound to be compared to Steig Larsson ,with the fact it is published by the same Publisher Quercus and one of its writers is a Journalist like Larsson ,But to compare them is doing this a disservice .Three seconds is a complex well researched novel it is like a snowman being built very slow it starts to roll out of control as it grows .The detail in the first few hundred pages serve well for the climax of the book  .Grens and Hoffmann  are well penned as characters .This novel is highly original I ve never read such a intriguing thriller .the translation is spot on by Kari Dickson A tutor in scandinvian language at Edinburgh university .

 

OLD MEN RIVER

TITLE – RIVER OF SHADOWS BY VALERIO VARESI

SOURCE – REVIEW COPY SENT TO ME

This is the first translation from  highly succesful series in its native italy ,Valerio Varesi he was born in Turin and grew up in Emilia ,he studied philosophy and became a journalist ending up working in Bologna on the republic in 1998 he published the first commissario Soneri novel there have been a number of follow-up books the series has been made into a wonderful tv series in its native italy called mist and crimes (Nebbie e delitti) ,I watch a few clips on you tube the man character is a beard guy in his late 40′s it looks to be a dark crime show ,so it gave me a feel of the book to start with .Now the book itself is a wonderfully presented book eerie black white sepia picture on cover and a wonderful marble like set of endpapers inside .Now the novel is set round the River po that cuts across northern italy and the bargemen that work on the river ,it opens as two elderly brothers one dies and the other vanishes with in a short period of time ,this is when Commissario Soneri appears to find out what has happened ,as he untangle the story ,which at times is hampered by the fact that these bargemen are a tightly knit secretive community ,but he sees the light bit by bit .Who is Kite and what happened near the end of the second world war to lead to the events that have just happened well to find that out you’ll have to read the book ..

“see you tomorrow for the results of the post-mortem “

Soneri nodded,but he was deep in consideration of the port ,almost hypnotized by the liquid in the glass in his hand .in a whirl of vintage red,he seemed to see the barge man Tonna carried along in the current until he was swallowed up b y the waters .he drank the port in one gulp and reached for the list of the caabinieri quarters in the province

soneri pondering and drink ,something he does a lot.

Well I don’t read many crime novels but when I do find one I love I can’t help but  rave about it and this is one such book Varesi seems to capture a tight-knit community so well it reminds me of the mining villages that surround Chesterfield where I live ,the are always cautious of strangers and tend to do that thing where you’re welcome ,but not really ,if you know what I mean ,well he has caught that wonderfully ,Soneri is a detective in the classic police detective mode ,brooding ,has a vice in his case seems to love visiting the bar .the plot keeps you on your toes til the last few pages ,it is a good insight into how deep wounds caused by war can run in this case it is fascists and partizans with wounds still running deep 40 plus years later .the book is published by Quercus on there Machlehose press ,and was translated by Joseph Frrell ,whohas alos translated the works of nobel laurate Dario Fo.

WINSTONS SCORE

This is like a italian rebus but the ken stott rebus not the John Hannah one ! and below is Luca Barabeschi who plays soneri for the RAI TV SERIES