Haunting Norwegian Historical Fiction, EYES OF THE RIGEL by Roy Jacobsen

It's sometimes said that the great literature offers two great themes: "A stranger comes to town" and "Someone leaves on a journey." In EYES OF THE RIGEL, Roy Jacobsen weaves together both of these, as new mother Ingrid Barrøy calmly announces she is leaving her island for a while—with her mysterious and calm dark-eyed baby.

It's soon clear that Ingrid is seeking the father of her child. How this little one came to arrive at the end of the long war, how much love is involved, and why her father's gone are mysteries from almost everyone. Perhaps Ingrid herself isn't sure how this journey has come to be. But she is determined to make it, without questioning whether she can complete it and find Alexander. 

Yet, aside from rowing away from the island and landing on Norway's mainland, she has little idea of where to go. That is, she doesn't actually know where to look for Alexander. So her initial impetus is seeking signs of his passing. For this, nearly speechless, she holds up the child, Kaja, whose dark gaze is unmistakably his. Others meeting the baby's gaze seem compelled to point to the faint trail ahead.

From this book of slow and evocative revelation, here are some key moments:

[p. 90] They made some food and ate it to the sound of snoring from the next room, in what Ingrid considered would have been an oppressive atmosphere, had they not had Kaja, who was sitting on the table between them and laughing at their playful fingers, she was so serenely marble-white and oblivious to both war and peace that Ingrid was able to reassure herself—once again—that the journey had not only been undertaken because of Kaja, it couldn't even have happened without her, without a child to lug around, this most divine of all burdens.

[p. 106] "You're walking along a road of bad consciences, my dear."

"Hva?" Ingrid said.

Hübner answered—as far as she could make out—that the Occupation of Norway had been of a special kind, in many places it had been more like co-operation, it had tainted people, now they were washing away the stains, the country is cleaning its hands. Yes, even many of those who did do something of value know that they could have done more, and they would prefer not to be reminded of it.

[p. 110] Ingrid ... realized she would have to resign herself to not understanding what she was doing, and not let it worry here, as if it were possible to think in a way which was unthinkable. Or stop feeling what she felt. What are you doing to me, little one, she thought, and pressed Kaja to her body.

The translation by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw evokes the languages of Scandinavia, but also of isolation and desperation. EYES OF THE RIGEL—the eyes are those of the child, and the Rigel was a ship that Alexander served on—offers the most elusive of mysteries, with delicate clues to their solution, and a finale as wide open as the ocean itself. Readers of mysteries by James Benn, Charles Todd, and Fuminori Nakamura may find much to enchant them in this slowly compelling adventure.

This is the third of a series that Biblioasis brought to America in translation; the previous volumes were The Unseen and White Shadow. When you order Jacobsen's work from a local bookstore, as them to check the Consortium list in the US, or the University of Toronto Press in Canada.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Set a Thief to Catch a Thief, Rock'N Roll Style: ROCK OF AGES from Timothy Hallinan

Hurrah, the new Junior Bender mystery, ROCK OF AGES, is released today! This rollicking crime and caper novel from Timothy Hallinan unfolds one of the goofiest propositions Junior (his real name) Bender has ever received: Aging mobster Irwin Dressler wants the professional Hollywood thief to unravel fraud and murder inside a tour of 1960s-era rock bands.

You might think Junior could just say "not my area" and duck out. But that would reveal that you haven't read enough of Hallinan's addictive Junior Bender series --- because remember reading somewhere that Hollywood's beginnings involved big money from at least one crime syndicate, and that even today where there's movie money, there's graft? Well, Irwin Dressler is the most frightening and capable of all the possible money men on the spot. Just his name is enough to set grown criminals shaking in their shoes. And Junior, although he's on decent terms with the mobster and his staff, can't say no unless he wants to risk his own life and his family. 

Lest you mistake the book title for something, umm, preachy, listen up: The multiple-band tour of drug-worn, alcohol-slurping geriatrics has the name "Rock of Ages" because the investors all had a stake in these bands back in the day, or even dreamed of singing in them. And all the investors on this tour are criminal creeps themselves. With Dressler the creepiest and most powerful.

That is, he WAS the most powerful. But at least one of his co-investors this time thinks Dressler's over the hill, toothless, and that stealing the money from the tour (modestly successful) should be a piece of cake. Junior's job is to make sure that cake thing is just bait in a big nasty trap.

All this would make a rocking caper novel on its own -- but Hallinan's special touch is the family love (with complications) that drives each of his protagonists. In Junior's case, he's finally got some real time with his teen daughter Rina, with ex-wife Kathy skeptical, and Rina herself pushing Junior to finally explain to her how he makes his living and what his adventures (dangers?) are like.

And just as Daddy-Daughter bonding weekend starts, Dressler applies the screws to Junior.

Mind you, he does his best to protect Rina while he's investigating and maneuvering. It should be safe enough for her to sit in the audience, right? Well, maybe not ... but at least one of the groupies, the elderly but very hip Lavender, is willing to sort of babysit or, umm, teen-sit.

So when danger runs rampant and deaths multiply, Junior urges Rina to stay hidden in the popcorn room with Lavender, with the door locked. He'll rap a pre-arranged code on the door when he comes to get them. He's underestimated how smart and sardonic his daughter is. Rina says to him:

"So, umm, you don't think that anyone else in the world might just knock twice, like for 'two bits'? I mean, that's sort of the default, isn't it? I always knock—"

"This is what happens when I get to clever. I'll just say, 'Hey Rina,' okay?"

"Can't you just hang up on him?" Lavender asked in the background. "I'm not going to live forever."

"I love her," Rina said. "Bye, Dad."

She loved her. I'd had my daughter for less than one day and she'd seen an attempted murder, spotted one of the most terrifying crazies since the Spanish Inquisition, and fallen in love with a groupie from the 1960s. This was probably not what [Rina's mom] Kathy had in mind.

Don't get distracted by all the side-splitting caper humor ... there's serious crime going on here, and as a dedicated mystery reader, your task is to see who's responsible and how to get Rina and Junior out of there alive (without Kathy being ready to kill Junior herself). Because Junior isn't exactly finding the key to do it.

Not yet a reader of this series? No sweat, jump into this one for the kicks and giggles, then go grab the earlier titles. Each one has a great twist and marvelous dynamics.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Brief Mention: THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, Agatha Christie-Style Update from Robert Thorogood

It's time to build up the summer reading stack -- and if you savor a good traditional British mystery with neat clues and a somewhat eccentric sleuth, then the newest from Robert Thorogood should top that heap of books by the hammock. THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB offers 67-year-old widow Judith Potts, who likes to skinny dip in the Thames at night and who hears an outcry and gunshot that signal the death of her riverside neighbor.

Potts is a regular creator of crossword puzzles, so she's good at puzzling out a clue. (She's also fond of a shot of whisky for any reason that comes to mind.) To sort out what's actually taken place next door, though, in her town of Marlow (UK), she recruits a local dog walker who knows a little about everyone who owns a dog in town and a few who don't. When she adds a third to this team, the careful but also very knowledgeable wife of the local clergyman, there's no stopping their investigation. Fortunately, unlike the situation in "cozy" mysteries, none of them need to marry, date, or seduce a police officer to hear them and collaborate -- because DS Malik, the investigating officer, is also female and swamped with three murder cases, and she definitely needs all the help she can call in.

Thorogood has a tidy track record of previous mysteries and is credited with creating the BBC TV show "Death in Paradise" (now running on PBS). He has a gift for the gently absurd, a comfortable pace, and a nice armful of clues and red herrings. Most of all, in THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, it's the dialogue that adds delight, as with this interchange between DS Malik and Judith Potts. Malik is trying (without success) to shoo Judith off the case, and she begins:

"We don't know Mr. Dunwoody was murdered."

"Are you saying the bullet hole appeared in his forehead as if by magic?"

"Well, no, but we can't rule out that his death was a terrible accident. Or what if he did this to himself?"

"You think he committed suicide?"

"It's a possibility."

"Poppycock!"

DS Malik blinked in surprise. Had the woman in front of her just used the word "poppycock"?

For light entertainment in an updated traditional British mystery, THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB is a great choice. Just released by Poisoned Pen Press in America, a year after its British debut.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.