December Dread by Jess Lourey

December Dread by Jess Lourey – While in snowy Minneapolis in January I met Jess Lourey at her book launch for January Thaw at Once Upon a Crime bookstore. She recommended I start reading her series of Murder by Month Mysteries with December Dread. I finished the book on the beach in the Bahamas today.

Mira James, part-time librarian and part-time local newspaper reporter, is eking out a living in Battle Lake, Minnesota when she is advised the Town Council has decided to close the town library for 2 weeks at Christmas as a budgetary measure. Her editor, Ron, who is also a town councillor urges her to return home to Paynesville where she grew up to spend the Christmas season with her mother and attend a week long Private Investigator Course. When he pays the tuition for the course she is on her way home.

 

Mira dreads the return home as she has unresolved issues from high school. Her drunken, verbally abusive, father died in an accident in which he killed two people. Never a popular girl the circumstances of his death left her even more isolated. Her memories of high school are vivid and mostly bitter.

Her mother gratefully welcomes Mira home though Mira is less positive:

If there’s a phrase scarier to a 30 year old woman than, “Your room is just as you left it,” I have yet to hear it.

Mira describes her bedroom as she left it for university 12 years earlier:

I was greeted by Led Zeppelin and a Footloose-era Kevin Bacon poster on the wall, loaded bookshelves, a multi-colored dresser with Cabbage Patch stickers down the front, worn quilt on wrought-iron bd with my childhood sock monkey perched in the center and lingering smell of AquaNet and Love’s Baby Soft.

Being in the room returns her to memories she had worked to forget after leaving Paynesville.

Mira is credibly insensitive to her mother’s feelings. She rushes out to spend time in almost any way other than with her mother.

Mira finds the private investigator’s course more interesting than she had expected. The instructor, Mr. Denny, has experience as an investigator and as a former police officer.

While the class occupies part of her day the attention of Mira, as with every woman in the Midwest, is drawn to a serial killer who has been working his way west from Chicago each December. Two years earlier there were murders in Illinois. A year ago it was Wisconsin. Now it is Minnesota.

The killer has become known as the Candy Cane Killer because a candy cane or canes has been sent to or delivered to each victim.

Once the killer has slain a classmate of Mira’s in nearby River Grove she is determined to help find the killer.

She is joined in her quest by one of her best friends from Battle Lake, Mrs. Berns, who is under 5’ in height and over 80 years in age and has a tart and engaging tongue. As with Sheldon Horowitz in Norwegian by Night an octogenarian is a lively spirited character.

Their investigation leads them to an online dating service. Mira’s reaction:

“Ugh.” I had a theory that one should never shop online for leather pants or men. I could see why other people did it. It was so lonely in these parts, and if you didn’t fall in love at work or go to church, that left only bars and blind luck. There was just something about it that didn’t fit me right.

Such services are outside my experience.

When Mira is reluctant to go to a Christmas party of her high school classmates Mrs. Berns says:

“Only jocks, prom queens, and dumbasses hang on to high school this long. Everyone else goes on to better things. Go. Confront your past. Get over yourself.”

The mystery is well done but the real heart of the book is small town Minnesota. Lourey is very convincing in her portrayal of life in rural Minnesota. My next post will consider that portrayal with Small Town Mysteries in Saskatchewan.

Mira is a clever interesting woman. It is too bad Lourey is approaching the end of 12 months of mysteries in the series. Her publicist at the book launch was quick to say they will find a solution. (Mar. 6/14)

Reading on the Beach in the Bahamas

I was sitting under one of the thatched roofs today

Sharon and I are on vacation at the Island Sea Resort at the island of Grand Bahama.

Having just left Saskatchewan where it was -28C on Monday morning for the +28C of the Bahamas late Monday afternoon it has been a pleasant weather shock.

We had a quiet day on the beach.

I made some progress reading December Dread by Jess Lourey which is set in rural Minnesota in the cold weather of Christmas time. There is a special pleasure for someone from Saskatchewan in reading such a book on the beach.

I would read abit and then drift alittle and then people watch and then sea watch and then read some more.

There was a trivia contest with only myself and another man participating. I knew my odds were good when they pulled out the questions and answers from the original Trivial Pursuit game. I do well with the original. Not so well with the current versions. Knowing the Parthenon is on the Acropolis won me a Bahamas ball cap!

We have just come in from having supper at the Tiki Shack just down the beach from our resort. The cook was using half barrels for barbecuing and boiling. We sat at picnic tables on the beach watching the sun set and eating corn on the cob, rice and barbecued chicken and ribs. Two Bahama Mama’s complemented the meal. The evening was topped off by a big beach bonfire. All for $20.00 a person.

It has been a good day.

Further posts for the next couple of weeks may or may not be regular.

Jewish Sleuths and a Jewish Hero

As I read Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller I realized that I was reading the third book in a row that featured a Jewish primary character. In Lineup by Liad Shoham it had been Detective Eli Nachum. In The Missing File by D.A. Mishani it was Detective Avraham Avraham.

Nachum and Avraham were detectives living and working in and around Tel Aviv, Israel. Sheldon Horowitz lived his adult life in New York City until his granddaughter, Rhea, and her husband, Lars, persuaded him to move to Norway.

Somewhat to my surprise it was Horowitz, the non-Israeli, whose Jewish faith and heritage played a significant role in the book.

He has been driven to fight for justice since he learned of the Holocaust. Too young to fight the Nazis he fought in the Korean War.

Horowitz knows the Bible, Old and New Testaments. He invokes Saul, the persecutor of early Christians who converted and became St. Paul. He reflects on God’s actions and powers in the Old Testament. His God is real and part of his life.

For Nachum and especially Avraham there is no role in the book for their Jewish life. Being Jewish does not guide or overtly influence their lives.

Both Nachum and Avrahm appear to be secular, non-religious Jews, as I do not recall any parts of the book showing either is religious.

To the contrary Avraham, on Shabbat, goes to the office when he does not need to be there. It is a very quiet day with few other officers present and even fewer calls.

One of the few signs of Jewish life for Nachum and Avraham is that their day of rest is Saturday rather than Sunday.

Every author must decide which aspects of personality to focus on in their books. Shoham and Mishani concentrated on Nachm and Avraham being solid hard working police officers. I do not think you would have known they were Jewish but for their names and being Israeli. The importance of being Jewish made Horowitz a far more interesting character to me than either Nachum or Avraham.

Every action taken by Horowitz is affected by being Jewish. He cannot abandon the child whose mother is murdered in his aparement. From his tangled mind he calls the child Paul in memory of his son, Saul, and the Christian St. Paul.

Being Jewish compounds Horowitz’s isolation in Norwegian by Night. With but 1,300 Jewish people in Norway he is a member of one of the country’s smallest minorities. Yet Horowitz will not forget that Norway allowed the Nazis to take 772 Jews to concentration camps with but 34 surviving the war.

Horowitz may have lost faith in God but he is still fiercely Jewish.

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller – Sheldon Horowitz is my hero. The creativeness, initiative and courage he displays in Norwegian by Night is remarkable. That Horowitz is an 82 year old man gives hope to all that age need not diminish the human spirit.

With his life long love, his wife Mabel, recently deceased and his son, Saul, long gone Horowitz is persuaded by his granddaughter, Rhea, and her husband, Lars, to move from New York City to Oslo, Norway.

Having visited both New York City and Oslo I know Horowitz experienced a major culture shock. From vibrant, often abrasive, always loud New York City he moves to a tranquil, very orderly, invariably polite Oslo.

Horowitz spends much of his time living in the world within his mind. That world is filled with the people of his life who have died. Sometimes they join him in his memories of past events. At other times they are with him in the present. His family believes he is in the early stages of dementia.

While Horowitz may struggle with aspects of reality in the 21^st Century he convincingly explains he understands the modern world but he is haunted by his past so strongly it is part of his present.

In the voices he hears I was reminded of the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd in which Rutledge carries on silent dialogue with Hamish, the corporal who died while under his command in WW I. It is no accident that both Horowitz and Rutledge are former combat soldiers. Their experiences of battle will never leave their minds.

Three decades after Saul’s death guilt weighs heavily upon Horowitz:

“And then Saul – my Saul – decided to go to Vietnam because his father had gone to Korea, and his father went to Korea because he didn’t go to Germany. And Saul died there. It was me. I encouraged him. I think I took the life of my boy in the name of a moral cause. But in the end I was nothing like Abraham. Nothing like Saul. And God didn’t stay my hand.”

Horowitz repaired watches after returning from war. His description of working with a balance spring, the heart of a watch, left a catch in my throat:

“I bought the watch from a magazine. Nothing you’d have ever heard of. Fancy people don’t own them. Working-class people do. Soldiers. And they get what they pay for. I like them. So I bought a new one recently, and I’m taking the balance spring from Saul’s old watch and placing the old heart in the new one. This way, when I go about my day and check the time, when I make some decision or other, we’re connected. It makes me feel a little closer to him.”

When the old soldier, Horowitz was a Marine in Korea, sees a woman and child in danger he does not dither. He takes action to try to protect them. When left with the responsibility of the young boy of 6 with whom he does not share a language he embarks upon a valiant quest to seek sanctuary. Miller makes credible their incredible pairing.

The book is a modern epic that happens to be a mystery. Great themes of bravery, honour and loyalty share space with moments of absurdity. Horowitz displays improvisational skills on his journey that left me full of admiration.

I thought of Keith Stewart in Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute. Stewart is a middle aged engineer who designs, makes and writes about models of machinery. The modest Stewart equally embarks on a great mission on behalf of a child.

The evil men of Norwegian by Night have been forged by the violence of the Balkans where historic conflicts afflict everyone. They find themselves unable to relate to the peaceful considerate Norwegians.

Horowitz is a character I wish I could have met in real life. His wit and broad knowledge would make every conversation engaging.

While many have highly rated this book it took the Christmas book recommendation of José Ignacio Escribano of the blog, The Game’s Afoot to get me to read the book. I now understand the praise it has gained around the world.

I will long remember Sheldon Horowitz. (Feb. 26/14)

Comment on Margot Kinberg's Post on Mysteries in Graphics

Margot Kinberg at her great blog, Confessions of a
Mystery Novelist, has a post today on providing the plot for
mysteries through graphic design. While I cannot match
   her design I wanted to comment in graphics. Drop on over.
   It is a wonderful post.

Do You Watch and Read Fictional Crime Stories Looking for Errors?

I said in my review of The Missing File by D.A. Mishani that were references to crime fiction in the book.

Mishani's Israeli detective Avraham Avraham, says he enjoys reading crime novels and watching crime movies and television series so he can “prove the detectives wrong”.

Avraham continues on his motive:

With every crime novel I read, I conduct my own investigation and prove that the detective in the book is mistaken, or else deliberately misleads the readers, and that the true solution is not the one he presents.

As his example Avraham claims that Hercule Poirot in The Mysterious Affair at Styles “frames one of the characters who is completely innocent”.

What Avraham and his creator, Mishani, do not disclose is why Poirot would frame a character which I consider unfair to Poirot and his creator, Agatha Christie. If you are going to defame one of the most famous fictional detectives at least provide the basis for your bold statement.

At the same time Mishani is describing a process I go through with in reading and watching legal mysteries though not to prove the fictional lawyer is wrong or mistaken. What I am watching is whether the writer got the actions of the lawyer legally correct.

I cannot watch or read about a fictional lawyer without making that judgment. Sharon and I watched many many episodes of Law & Order. We both enjoyed the show. She will also recall that I would blurt out loud, not every episode, but often enough “that couldn’t happen in court”.

Most often it was the use of leading questions when a lawyer was questioning a witness they had called to the stand. On examination in chief you must ask factual questions and let the witness provide the narrative. On cross examination of the other side’s witnesses you can ask leading questions. I understand that screen writers and authors use the leading questions to save time and space but the entertainment practice remains wrong.

I find authors of legal mysteries, especially those who are lawyers, do follow the Rules of Court. Getting it right on paper, where there is more flexibility on length then in a movie or T.V. series, makes it a little easier.

I have occasionally noted to friend and Saskatchewan author, Gail Bowen, that her legal procedure is not always right. She gently but forthrightly explained her decisions as an answer in a set of Q & A we had in 2011:

I’m also grateful to the lawyers who check out ‘the law’ in my books.  Truly this is a case where the errata are my own.  They give me good advice, and occasionally I ignore it.  Writers of fiction are mercifully freed from some constraints.  As Peter Robinson says, ‘never let the truth get in the way of a good story.’

Mishani, as quoted in my recent post on the difficulty of writing and setting crime fiction in Israel agreed it is challenging. In that post I quoted the following passage from The Missing File:

Because we don't have crimes like that. We don't have serial killers; we don't have kidnappings; and there aren't many rapists out there attacking women on the streets. Here, when a crime is committed, it's usually the neighbour, the uncle, the grandfather, and there's no need for a complex investigation to find the criminal and clear up the mystery. There's simply no mystery here. The explanation is always the simplest.

In his own book Mishani writes a complex investigation for Avraham with regard to the missing teenager, Ofer.

As I do not want to provide spoilers I cannot say whether the solutions in The Missing File and Lineup, the previous Israeli mystery I have read, are “the simplest”.

What I will say is that both books are not as complicated as most mysteries being written in this era. Neither The Missing File nor Lineup require a genius at detection nor a forensic scientist to solve the crime. They are competent police procedurals.

 

I ask readers of the blog whether their professional and personal experience leaves them noting whether the writer has gotten it right?

The Missing File by D.A. Mishani translated by Steven Cohen

7. – 754.) The Missing File by D.A. Mishani translated by Steven Cohen – Israeli police detective, Avraham Avraham, is having a quiet shift at the detachment office when Hannah Sharabi arrives at 6:10 pm and advises her teenage son, Ofer, has not come home. Avraham is dismissive and tells her that he will have someone check with her in the morning.

Ofer does not come home that evening or during the night or in the morning. The next day the police begin an intensive investigation into what has happened to the missing Ofer.

Avraham is wracked with guilt over not commencing the investigation the previous night. His feelings are intensified by the memory of his attitude towards Hannah.

There are no leads. Ofer has lived a quiet life. He goes to school. He does his homework. He plays on the computer. He helps take care of sister, Danit, who has Down’s Syndrome, and his young brother. He is not a troublemaker. He has few friends. He does not have a girlfriend. There is no one with whom he is having trouble. There is no reason for him to disappear. There is no one in the apartment building or the school or the community with a reason to harm him. He has no money to go anywhere.

An anonymous phone call saying the body is in some sand dunes near the apartment in Holon (a city just south of Tel Aviv on the coast) causes a futile search.

The caller is Ze’ev Avni, a teacher who lives with his family in the apartment below the Sharabi family. He has had a closer connection to Ofer than anyone outside the immediate family. He had tutored Ofer in English until the sessions were abruptly terminated.

Ze’ev has engimatic thoughts about Ofer. Can the reason for the disappearance involve this rather vain aspiring writer who seeks to stay close to the police?

Ofer’s father, Rafael, is unable to help the police. He is on a ship in the Mediterranean and cannot get back to Israel for several days.

Avraham struggles to move the investigation ahead and struggles even more with a continuing sense of regret.

The investigation is stalled until Ze’ev takes actions that startled me.

The rather plodding pace of the book then accelerates to an ending I had not anticipated.

I found Avraham a rather frustrating police officer. The chain smoking, single, 38 year old Avraham is insecure and consumed with self-doubt. His somber nature would fit well in Scandavia. How can he conduct effective investigations so preoccupied with his own issues?

There is some fine lyric writing, especially since the book has been translated from Hebrew:

That morning, the blue skies stretched out above them as they made their way to the police station, and the breeze, as light as a feather, that accompanied them on their way remained with him long after the case closed.

The closing section lifted The Missing File from an average book and left me wanting to find out what happens in the next Avraham Avraham mystery. In that book, if Mishani can move the whole story along at a better tempo and bring some light into Avraham’s life he will have a good series underway.

It is the second Israeli written and set mystery I have read in a row. Just over a week ago I finished Lineup by Liad Shoham.

Mishani brings an intriguing background to his writing. I will repeat a quote from the back cover I put up in a recent post:

D.A. Mishani is the editor of Israeli fiction and crime literature at Keter Books in Israel and is a literary scholar specializing in the history of detective literature.

My next post will look at references to crime fiction in The Missing File. (Feb. 22/14)

It is Hard to Write Crime Fiction Set in Israel

After reading Lineup by Liad Shoham, a review of which is my last post, I looked for some information on the author and came across a fascinating article he wrote for The Times of Israel late last year titled “It’s not easy being a crime novelist in Israel”.

Let’s start with the fact that Israel is a very small place. An American writer can take his hero from New York and lead him all the way to California, where he can create a new identity for himself. Where can I take mine? To Afula? That’s less than 30 miles from Tel Aviv. And let’s say I take him to Eliat, the furthest place in Israel, so what? He’d still be discovered

In Saskatchewan the population is limited but we are so spread out and there are our neighbouring provinces and the United States so that characters can range far and wide.

He then says:

That’s because Israelis love to play a game where they ask one another “Where are you from?” and the start with the “do you know so and so?” My poor protagonist, who thought he would be incognito, would be exposed in five minutes – not be sophisticated and seasoned police detectives but by the third floor neighbours.

 

It is a universal game. All of us have had small world experiences where someone we meet knows someone we would never have anticipated. Still it sounds like Israelis take the game to a different level.

Shoham continues that Israeli readers would not believe in brilliant police officers citing a famous Israeli joke that police work in pairs as “there needs to be one who can read and another that can write”.

He says there has never been a real life serial killer since Israel came into existence in 1947.

Shoham states:

I am filled with envy every time I read books in which the author did not dedicate whole chapters to what the main characters’ families think. In Israel, the family has such an important role that it is difficult to see how credible characters can be created without getting into the details and about all their relatives.

He goes on that Israeli apartment buildings lack basements and attics in which to conceal evidence and bodies.

Lest you think Shoham's observations are unique to him I am writing another Israeli mystery, The Missing File by D.A. Mishani, where early in the book the sleuth, detective Avraham Avraham explains why "there are no detective novels in Hebrew" such as written by Agatha Christie or Stieg Larsson:

            Because we don't have crimes like that. We don't have serial
            killers; we don't have kidnappings; and there aren't many
            rapists out there attacking women on the streets. Here, when
            a crime is committed, it's usually the neighbour, the uncle,
            the grandfather, and there's no need for a complex
            investigation to find the criminal and clear up the mystery.
            There's simply no mystery here. The explanation is always
            the simplest. 
 

In spite of all the problems Shoham concludes that crime fiction is “blooming” in Israel because “it provides escapism for living in the region and an outlet for a tense people”.

He ends with a story that made me laugh out loud on sex scenes he has written:
 

            After writing my third book, I asked my mother how she  

            was dealing with the licentiousness.
 

            “I don’t read it and just skip forward,” she said.
 

            “How do you know how much to skip?” I pressed on,
 

            She replied, “What do you think you father is for?”
 

What more need be said.