Diefenbaker for the Defence by Garrett Wilson and Kevin Wilson

Diefenbaker for the Defence by Garrett Wilson and Kevin Wilson – John George Diefenbaker was a defence counsel in rural Saskatchewan for over 35 years before he became Prime Minister of Canada in 1957. 

The biography, while covering his life until he became P.M., is focused on his trials in the courts of Saskatchewan.

Last year I read the Moonlight Murder Mystery: An Adventure of the Young John Diefenbaker by Roderick Benns. I followed up with a post on my personal contacts with Dief the Chief. (My last post was a review of Garrett Wilson’s legal fictional mystery, Guilty Addictions, and information on his life.)

After a somewhat mysterious medical discharge from the Canadian Army in WW I Diefenbaker was able to use a soldier’s exemption to accelerate his articles so that he became a lawyer at 24.

His first office was in Wakaw which is 85 km down the road from my home in Melfort. (Readers of the blog will recognize Wakaw as the real life town featured in the small town Saskatchewan mysteries of Nelson Brunanski.)

Diefenbaker, while frail in appearance as a young man, had piercing eyes, a powerful voice and a commanding formal presence that served him well in the courtroom.

When his legal career began most of the residents of Saskatchewan, other than First Nations peoples, were immigrants from all the nations of Europe. Around Wakaw a majority of the newcomers were either Slavic or French.

Soon in demand Diefenbaker defended cases throughout our region. It was interesting to read of cases that took place in courthouses in which I have argued cases, including Melfort where I live.

An early prominent case arose on Christmas Day of 1929 when Antena Kropa died after being shot in her home in Humboldt. Beside her was the wounded Alex Wysochan. Her husband, Alex, claimed that a drunk Wysochan had threatened them. As Alex fled the house through a window to get help he heard 3 shots fired. Wysochan retained Diefenbaker to defend him. The most obvious defence was to plead drunkenness. If successful, the defence could not produce an acquittal but would reduce the conviction from murder to manslaughter. Diefenbaker, for reasons not clear in the book eschewed the drunkenness defence and went for an acquittal claiming Kropa had shot his wife and Wysochan. It is hard to know whether Antena and Wysochan being lovers helped or hurt the defence. I think Diefenbaker, an aggressive counsel, was overconfident of his ability to convince a jury, even if the facts for his defence were weak. It proved a fatal decision for Wysochan. The defence was unsuccessful. Wysochan was convicted and hung.

The case illustrates why I am grateful, as a lawyer, Canada does not have the death penalty. The decisions made by a defence counsel in a capital case can have life and death consequences. I am not sure I could defend someone with that responsibility upon me. Diefenbaker does not seem to have been excessively traumatized. He carried on with his legal career.

While immediately a successful lawyer Diefenbaker was an unsuccessful Conservative Party politician for almost two decades. His political career was adversely affected by the presence of the Klu Klux Klan. In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s the Klan had a loud, though fortunately non-violent presence, in Saskatchewan. While not a member of the Klan, Diefenbaker did not effectively distance himself from the Klan when it was actively supporting the Conservative party

Justly famed for his criminal defence work, Diefenbaker also took on civil cases. When the famed naturalist, Grey Owl, died in northern Saskatchewan the public learned he was an imposter. Archie Belaney was not Indian but an English immigrant. Diefenbaker became involved in a court case over his estate. Belaney had lived a complicated family life. Publicly he had lived with Anahaero and she had borne them a child, Shirley Dawn. He had also gone through a marriage to Yvonne Perrier. After death it was determined he had never divorced his first wife, Angle Belaney. Diefenbaker unsuccessfully sought to eliminate Angle’s claim on the basis she had been unfaithful after Archie deserted her. The Court dismissed the argument justly pointing out Archie had left her, neglected her and their children and lived with other women.

The book is at its best analyzing Diefenbaker’s conduct of trials. His skill in final arguments drew full courtrooms to hear him. By the time I graduated from law school in the mid-1970's Diefenbaker had spent a generation away from the courts of Saskatchewan but he was still highly regarded as a defence lawyer. (July 29/13)

"W" is for Guilty Addictions by Garrett Wilson

For this week's post in the Crime Fiction Alphabet hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I have chosen for "W" the book, Guilty Addictions, by Garrett Wilson.

My review written in 2002 long before I began blogging and when I was writing much short reviews:

41. - 131.) Guilty Addictions by Garrett Wilson - The long time Regina lawyer has written a fictional version of the Conservative Party's legislative funds scandal of the late 1980's. Oxford Lacoste is a young rural Saskatchewan lawyer seeking to unravel the fraudulent scheme which turns murderous as he pursues the truth. The plot is sound and characters well drawn. (It is exciting to have a rural Saskatchewan lawyer as the hero.) Unfortunately, too much of the writing is predictable and cliched. Paperback only (Dec. 27/02)

 

Readers from outside Saskatchewan will not understand the real life background to the book referred to in my review. No one needs to know that information to appreciate the book.

 

I wish I could have liked the book more. Who could be better as a hero than a rural lawyer? Who could be better as an author than a Saskatchewan lawyer. Unfortunately it was not good as I hoped. Others may like it better.

 

Wilson has led a rich and varied life since he was born in 1932 in Limerick, Saskatchewan. He practised law in Regina for over 50 years. He has been a long time prominent member of the Liberal Party. He served in Government in different capacities including a period as Chairman of the Public Service Commission. He was involved in the sport tourism industry and has his pilot's licence. He had a 2,000 acre farm for over 20 years.

 

His volunteer activities as outlined on his website are extensive:

 

    As well, Garrett is a former director and president of the

    Saskatchewan Book Awards and a former director and presently

    a member of the Advisory Council of The Writers’ Trust of

   Canada. He currently serves as a public representative on the

   Saskatchewan Hearing Committee of the Investment Industry

   Regulatory Organization of Canada, and on the Prairie Regional

   Council of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada.

 

   Other memberships include The Writers Union of Canada, The
   Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the Canadian Aviation Historical
   Society, The Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society,
   Heritage Saskatchewan, and the Royal United Services Institute.

I do not where he has found the time but he is also the author of 6 books and editor of a pair of memoirs. His life makes me think I must have wasted a lot of time in mine.

While Political Addictions was not a great book for me I am happy to say my next post is a review of one of his non-fiction books, Diefenbaker for the Defence, and it is an outstanding book.

****

My connections to this week's post could not be stronger with the author and lead character both being Saskatchewan lawyers.

 

 

 

 

Why I read Jacques Pepin's book The Apprentice

In my last post I put up a review of The Apprentice - My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin.

I was drawn to read the book after taking a pair of cruises with the Oceania Cruise Line. Pepin is the Executive Culinary Director for the company

In one of the ship boutiques were copies of this book and I brought a copy back from the cruise.

Oceania's website sets out his role in the company:

    Jacques works closely with our team of Executive Chefs to
    develop menus that blend new and exotic dishes with revered
    classics.
 
Several of his signature dishes are always featured in the Grand Dining Room:

    1.) Steak Frites: New York Strip Steak, French Fries and Garlic

    Butter Rosette;

    2.) Poulet Rôti: Herb-Crusted Free Range Rotisserie Chicken

    with Red Bliss Mashed Potatoes and Jus de Rôti; and,

    3.) Suprême de Saumon: Poached Norwegian Salmon Supreme
    with Rice Pilaf and Choron Sauce.
 
 The roast chicken was my favourite. You could not have a better chicken dish.

There is a restaurant on the line's two larger ships that bears his name. The following description is alittle over the top but it is a lovely restaurant:

    Enter Jacques, the eminent Jacques Pépin's first restaurant to
    bear his name on land or sea, and you will be instantly struck by
    the sensory pleasures. Luscious aromas waft from the gleaming
    glass and brass show rotisserie in the room's heart, where duck,
    pork, chicken and veal roasts slowly turn, sealing in their
    succulent flavors. Handsomely decorated with rich fabrics,
    heirloom antiques, pickled wood furnishings and art from
    Jacques' personal collection, it resembles a classic Parisian
    bistro. Exceedingly comfortable and clubby, the ambiance is
    pure French, as is the cosmopolitan yet wonderfully
    approachable cuisine.

His cooking shows are daily features on one of the ship's onboard television channels. On the shows he had easy charm while skillfully cooking. Watching his shows made me interested in reading about him.

One of his principles emphasized throughout the book is that he abhors waste. Every bit of vegetables, fruits and meat is used in his kitchen. He will not throw away food.

The magazine Conde Naste Traveller rates the Oceania Cruise Line as having the best food among cruise lines.

In the book The Lives of the Chefs there is an interview with Pepin. It starts with a question of status:

    Ellen Shapiro: You have said that before chefs became
    celebrities they were relegated to the basement. To what do you
    attribute the emergence of the celebrity chef?

    Jacques Pepin: Twenty years ago you wouldn't have wanted your
    son or daughter to be a chef. It was demeaning, low class,
    considered part of the hospitality industry. When I first came to
    the United States, we belonged to Local 89, the dishwashers'
    union. At the time Americans had only Fannie Farmer, The Joy
    of Cooking, and James Beard to teach them how to cook. Now
    over a thousand cookbooks are published every year. Now all the
    daily papers have food pages. Former gastronomic wastelands
    have excellent restaurants. Even in academia, food is more
    respected. In the late '60s I proposed a Ph.D. thesis on
    gastronomy at Columbia and they looked at me as if I were
    crazy. It was unthinkable. Food, a doctoral dissertation? Now I
    teach at Boston University where we offer a Master of Liberal
    Arts degree with a concentration in gastronomy. But the
    celebrity chef is not a new idea. Respect for the chef goes up and
    down. In France it reached a pinnacle at the end of the 17th
    century with LaVarenne; then chefs were relatively obscure
    again until Escoffier in the late 19th century. In this country the
    radicalism of the 1960's led to all kinds of social changes ranging
    from women's liberation to alternative gardening to the
    proliferation of health food stores. Then the narcissism of the
    '80s set in motion a whole new awareness, a cooking explosion.
    Today, lawyers and producers who want to become chefs are
    studying here. It has become very trendy, very fashionable. To a
    certain extent too fashionable, but I'm not complaining because
    this situation has been terrific for me. Yet after more than 43
    years in the kitchen I can't take myself too seriously. We're no
    great geniuses. We're still soup merchants. The problem is that
    there are chefs 23 or 25 years old who really think they are
    geniuses, and that's dangerous.

As I set out in the spring in my post, Cruising with a Library, the Oceania ship, Marina, has a wonderful library. Combined with great food a cruise on Marina is a wonderful vacation.

The Apprentice - My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin

The Apprentice - My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin - The famed French / American chef's autobiography, is different from most autobiographies because it focuses as much or more on his early life as it does on the years he became famous.

He is as wonderful a writer as a cook. In prose that reads exactly like he sounds Pepin tells of a life devoted to cooking and of his passionate love of good food.

Growing up in rural France on the edge of the mountains he was working in a restaurant kitchen from the time he was 10 as he helped his mother in a series of restaurants she owned.

He left school at 13 1/2 in 1948 to enter into an apprenticeship in the restaurant of a prominent local hotel. While startling today that he left school so young it was common in France at that time to be out of school at 14.

His apprenticeship was grueling. Long hours were spent in the kitchen on menial tasks. Each day it was his responsibility to get the huge black stove started and properly heated with wood and coal. It was a year before he was allowed to actually cook anything on the stove.

While the demands of the apprenticeship were excessive he enjoyed his life in the kitchen and learned the skills that were to make him a great chef.

I had not known that the French chefs of that era did not have written recipes. They learned by watching and following senior chefs. He learned to cook by using his senses. He says:

    By touching a piece of meat, I learned to determine its degree of
    doneness. Raw meat was spongy, well-done meat hard. I learned
    precisely how to determine all the stages in between by pushing
    a finger against the meat. Hearing was significant, too. The snap
    of an asparagus spear, the crunch of an apple, the pop of a grape
    are all indicators of freshness and quality. I learned to listen to
    the sizzling sound of a chicken roasting in the oven. When le
    poulet chante (the chicken sings) I knew that the layers of fat
    had clarified, signifying that the chicken was nearly done. Smell
    was of importance in recognizing quality. A fresh fish smells of
    the sea, sea weed and salt. Fresh meat has a sweet smell, fresh
    poultry practically no smell at all. Melon, pears, tomatoes,
    raspberries, oranges and the like each have their own distinctive
    fragrance when perfectly ripe.

In almost every biographical description of Pepin he is described as a personal chef for Charles de Gaulle. It seemed incredible as he was in his early 20's when de Gaulle was in power in the mid-1950's and was in America when de Gaulle was back as leader in the 1960's.

In the book he explains he was drafted into the French navy. Because of his friendship with a fellow native of Lyons he was assigned to a posting that had him cooking for the Secretary of the Treasury. From there he became chef to the Prime Minister when  the Secretary was made Prime Minister. Pepin stayed as chef when de Gaulle became leader. It was a job, not the prestigious position it is today.

Still Pepin already had formidable cooking skills. By the time he reached 21 he had already spent 11 years in restaurant kitchens.

Looking for a change in life he came to New York City in 1959. He immediately entered the upper echelon of American chefs.

In an era when "foodie" had yet to be invented the number of devotees of fine cuisine were limited. Pepin knew all of them. He cooked with Julia Child, partied with Craig Claiborne and dined with James Beard.

He became famous in America for his fine lucidly written cookbooks and his cooking shows on PBS. His love of food shines through in every telecast.

Unlike many of the chefs on the Food Network today who seek attention by their aggressive loud personalities Pepin always made the food the star of the show.

At the end of each chapter there are favourite recipes from the simple (Eggs Jeanette) to the complex (Braised Striped Bass Pavillion). Reading them makes you want to head to the kitchen.

While America simplified some of his cooking and made him informal the evening meal for some fresh fish (bluefish, black fish and striped bass) he had caught with a friend is amazing.

Pepin said:

    We smoked some of the bluefish fillets, because that brings out
    the best in this oily, thoroughly American fish, and we garnished
    them with a mustard potato salad seasoned with dill. Drawing on
    influences of both the Far East and nouvelle cuisine, we took
    some of the striped bass and made carpaccio flavoured with
    sesame seed oil and soy sauce. We grilled the blackfish, adding
    just a little oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice and also prepared a
    seviche from the same fish, flavoured with hot pepper, cilantro,
    mint, and lime juice. As the piece de resistance, we poached
    some of the striped bass fillets in Champagne and white wine
    and accompanied them with a cream sauce that included
    mushrooms and shallots, a dish that I prepared back at Le
    Pavillon when I first came to this country.

I can only dream of being invited to his home for a meal. It would be a great experience with wonderful food and good wines.

It is one of the few non-fiction books that I have read that drew me along like a great novel demanding I keep turning the pages to find out what new interesting experience was ahead. It is a great book.

In my next post I will discuss why I read the book and more about Pepin. (Sept. 3/13)

"V" is for Vodka Doesn’t Freeze by Leah Giarratano

"V" is for Vodka Doesn’t Freeze by Leah Giarratano – For the letter “V” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie Smith on her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I have read a book from Kerrie's homeland, Australia.

Sgt. Jill Jackson of the Sydney Police is assigned to investigate the murder of a man found in some brush on a cliff overlooking a pool frequented by children. It is instantly apparent to the Police that he was a paedophile.

There is no regret in the police that he has been killed. Some officers would prefer not to aggressively investigate a murder of a man they despise.

On her return home Jackson, thinking of the investigation, suffers a panic attack as she remembers being kidnapped and brutalized as a child by her captors. When she comes home she obsessively checks her house to be sure there are no intruders present.

Clinical psychologist, Mercy Merris, is unraveling. She has spent too much time counseling the victims of paedophiles. The private clinic where she works has unsuccessfully attempted to get her to restrict her practice

Jackson knows and admires Merris who had treated her. She worries about what is happening to the psychologist.

In her police unit Scott Hutchison, a big bluff outgoing man is Jackson’s partner very supportive of her. Her nemesis is Elvis Calabrese a big, overweight offensive man. Each is almost a caricature. I do not make light of the challenges of women in police services but there is no subtlety to these men.

In a review of outstanding cases Jackson notes a pair of murders of men in the Sydney area. It does not take long to determine someone is killing paedophiles.

Much of the book focuses around paedophiles and their connections with each other. Reading about them is difficult, often repellent. In reading the book I wondered whether they could be anything but evil in fiction. Could a writer show any aspect of their lives in a positive way?

I admire Giarrantano for writing about a mystery involving paedophiles. I doubt there is a harder subject.

With the investigation turning into the hunt for a serial killer Jackson is conflicted about diligently pursuing the killer. Should the police go after a vigilante eliminating men who hurt children?

At the heart of the book for me was the question whether a paedophile can be a victim if he is murdered? Does the predator become victim when murdered?

I thought of Michael Connelly’s character, Harry Bosch. For 20 years he has lived by the motto that everyone matters or no one matters.

 

Michael Connelly, on his website, has an interview from 2002 between himself and his character, Bosch. In that interview Bosch explains his philosophy:

 

    HB: Look, I’ve always said that everybody counts or nobody

    counts. I choose the former over the latter. Everybody counts.

    That goes just as much for the boy on the hill as it does for every

    person that was in the World Trade Center or in the Pentagon or

    on those planes. I’ve never had a problem keeping my eyes on

    the prize. Not this case or any of the others before it.

 

Bosch will not value one person’s life over that of another person. He is widely admired for his commitment to all victims. By this creed the murder of a paedophile is the same as the murder of any other person.

If we decide victims can only be good people we play God on whose lives and deaths have worth.

To her credit Jackson seeks out the killer. She is a true officer enforcing the law rather than making judgments on whose deaths deserve her efforts to solve their murders.

Publishers are squeamish about the issue of murdered paedophiles as victims of crime. On the back cover they would far rather talk about Jackson seeking out living paedophiles participating in a ring than her responsibilities as a homicide detective to find a murderer of paedophiles.

If you like Hollywood you will enjoy the ending to the book.

I was glad I read the book. It did leave me disturbed and thoughtful. I expect it will be some time before I read another book focused on paedophiles. (Aug. 25/13)

****

My connection to this book comes from spending time in Sydney three years ago while my son was on a university exchange to that fine city.

Three Major Cases in the 20th Century Illustrate the German Legal System

Whether in real life or fiction I am always interested in how legal cases are conducted. Starting with a class in legal history in law school through the 38 years I have been practicing law I am familiar with the Anglo – Canadian – American systems of justice. I know much less about the legal systems of continental Europe. Over the past 5 years I have had a chance to read books on a trio of German cases that span the 20^th Century. They have provided with me with the chance to see how Germany’s justice system has dealt with cases drawing great public attention.

TheButcher’s Tale by Helmut Walser Smith dealt with a murder in 1900 when a 19 year old student, Ernst Winter, was killed and dismembered in Konitz, West Prussia. Rumours soon swirled through the town that he was the victim of a Jewish ritual murder.

The blood libel remained strong in the minds of the townspeople despite centuries of efforts by churches and government to convince the populations that it was a myth and had no substance.

The Prussian Government sent in investigators who pursued leads involving Jewish and non-Jewish residents of the community. While not well done the investigators were not swayed by the majority of the population who were sure of Jewish culpability. (The author told me less than 50% of murder cases were solved at that time.)

It is not easy to conduct a neutral investigation amidst public certainty of guilt no matter how little evidence exists.

The Prussian Government went further in protecting the Jewish community. Twice army units were sent to the town to maintain order.

By 1932 the German justice system was being threatened by the rise of the Nazi party. While not yet in power they were ignoring the law and violently attacking Communists throughout Germany.

Crossing Hitler by Benjamin Carter Hett features a fearless German lawyer, Hans Litten, who, as permissible under German law, joins as the legal counsel for the victims in the prosecution of SA Nazi storm troopers charged with assaulting Communists at a party at the Eden Dance Palace.

Litten manages to get Hitler summoned as a witness to try to explain the dichotomy between the Nazi Party publicly stating it would only pursue power by legal means and the actions of the SA in attacking people on the streets of Germany. Hitler is provoked into a profound rage and is fortunate not to have been convicted of perjury. Of all the “what ifs” of 20^th Century denying Hitler power I wonder if he would have been denied power had he been found guilty of perjury.

While Litten draws attention to the Nazis and fights them skillfully in court the legal system is perverted when the Nazis come to power. Hitler has recognized that an independent legal system cannot be trusted to allow him to carry out his plans. Litten is arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp where he loses hope after 5 years and commits suicide.

In 1992 the assassination of four Iranian Kurdish activists in Berlin forces the German legal system to face the challenge of politically directed murders being committed in Germany by the Iranian government.

My last post, a review of the Assassins of the Turqouise Palace by Roya Hakakian, discusses the background to the killings and the 4 year long trial of those killers who were arrested before they could exit Germany.

It is clear German prosecutors and judges will fairly try the accused but will political considerations be allowed to usurp the judicial system. Will the desire for greater trade with Germany lead her politicians to make a deal with Iran that does not implicate the Iranian government and will either let the killers go free or receive nominal punishment? To the credit of Germany there is no deal.

As the trial wound down I was struck by the plea, late in the trial, by some of the accused that they should not be punished as murderers as they were just following orders. While Hakakian did not reflect on the attempted justification I thought it must have stirred all the Germans. They would not have forgotten how, in the Nuremburg War Crimes trials after WW II, the effort by German defendants to deflect responsibility by claiming they were just following orders was specifically rejected.

In the beginning and end of the 20^th Century the German legal system reached just results in high profile cases. Political and racial considerations were not allowed to influence the decisions. Unfortunately, for Germany and the world in between those cases the Nazis were able to corrupt its judicial system so there were no checks on their murderous impulses.

Assassins of the Turqouise Palace by Roya Hakakian

Assassins of the Turqouise Palace by Roya Hakakian – Late in the evening of September 17, 1992 three men entered the Mykonos Restaurant in Berlin while a driver waited for them in a black BMW. They went to a private dining area in the back of the restaurant where Kurdish exiles from Iran were meeting to discuss political actions. After cursing the diners as “You sons of whores!” the leader of the intruders opened fire. Four men died.

Each chapter is headed by a quote from Iranian satirist, Hadi Khorsandi and the quote for For Chapter relates to killer’s remark:

Terrorists nowadays! It’s not enough that they kill you; they must also insult you as they do it.

The other quotes equally have a bite to them.

The Kurds of Berlin and the rest of Europe were immediately convinced that the murders were committed by agents of the Iranian Intelligence Services who were killing Iranian dissidents around the world who had been marked for death by the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

German police are less certain. The German government would prefer that the killers were part of the armed section of the violent Kurdish PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party).

While the killers swiftly exit Germany the other two members (Youseff Amin and Abbas Rhayel) of the killing quartet need time to ready themselves to leave the country as they require new passports. Intelligence tips from Britain and the BfV (the federal office for the protection of the constitution) lead the police to the pair and they are arrested before they can depart the country.

The organizer and financier (instructions and funding came from Iran) whose cover was a Berlin grocer (Kazem Darabi) was also arrested.

Once in custody Youssef , the watchman for the killers, provides valuable information on the assassination.

Bruno Jost, the federal prosecutor, assigned to the case is a dedicated, meticulous, incorruptible lawyer determined to build a case not only against the arrested trio but the Government of Iran. He assembles 187 volumes of evidence.

While the actual evidence of guilt is overwhelming many Kurdish exiles doubt there will be a trial. There have been too many examples in Europe during the 1980’s of governments either perfunctorily investigating the deaths of Iranian dissidents or making deals that allow them to go back to Iran. With Germany becoming Iran’s largest European trading partner there is great pressure within the German government to quietly make the prosecution go away.

The laying of the charges is a triumph for the integrity of the German Department of Justice.

While the roles and actions of the lawyers were of the greatest interest to me a large section of the book is focused on the lives of leading dissidents and Shohreh Dehkordi, the widow of Noori Dehkordi, one of those slain.

Amidst doubt the killers would be tried and then doubt there would be an actual verdict the activists persevered in publicizing the case and participating in the trial.

The actual trial consumed 4 years with the court sitting two days each week. I had not known that a major German criminal trial would involve 5 judges. The questioning is essentially done by the judges. It is a torturous process though, when there are judges of ability, there is a thorough examination of the evidence.

There were lawyers for the victims who, under German law, take part in the case. Hans Ehrig provided years of representation pro bono for the victims.

The book provided a great view of how a German trial patiently searches for the truth.

I would have preferred the author to concentrate on one of the groups rather than trying to the stories of the victims, the prosecutors and the lead judge. Telling all the stories diluted the focus of the book.

As I read the book it was like a good mystery. There were bad guys being controlled by a dangerous foreign power. There were victims essentially powerless in the swirling machinations of international politics. There was a dedicated prosecutor and an honest head judge. The intrigues and twists near the end of the trial rival those of skilled writers of crime fiction.

I found myself eager to know if there would be a verdict. Would the trial be prematurely ended by negotiations between the Iranian and German governments?

Having just finished The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver which dealt with the U.S. Government arbitrarily killing those it identifies as its enemies in foreign lands it was very interesting to see how the issue had been dealt with in a trial a generation ago in Europe when it was the Iranian government which was arranging and carrying out the killing of its citizens outside Iran.

I had forgotten about the murderous actions of the Iranian government though they were but 20 years in the past. Iran was rightly condemned. What will history say about America 20 years from now?

Hakakian has written a good book. In my next post I shall discuss this case and two other German cases spanning a century. (Aug. 21/13)

Tracking Past and Present



James Laurenson as Bony in the T.V. Series with a modern means
of tracking, the airplane, and his traditional personal observation

The art of tracking is both similar and vastly different between Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield in 1945 and Trackers by Deon Meyer in 2011.

The tracking is comparable when it involves the examination of human tracks in rural areas. Whether the 1940’s or the 2010’s the tracking involves a person observing and assessing the imprints.

Bony explains the basic difference between rural and urban tracking:

I leave the body to a uniformed constable, and the cause of death to the doctor and the coroner, and to the experts at headquarters I leave fingerprints if any, the weapon, if any, and objects more closely associated with the crime. In a city the scene of a crime is confined to a room, an office, a flat, and, if on a street, to a space within a few feet of the body.

Here in the bush the scene of a crime is extended far beyond the immediate locale. Someone has had to go to the scene of the crime in order to commit it, and, afterwards, to leave the scene of the crime. As the criminal does not grow wings, he needs must walk, and he does not walk about without leaving tracks of his passage for me to see. To the city detective his fingerprints: to Bony his footprints. So you will now understand how it is that I am much more interested in the ground outside a house or hut or camp than I am with the interior.

Bony uses the training of decades and the skills of his aboriginal ancestors in examining tracks.

In Trackers there is tracking in the bush by men using the same skills Bony used almost seven decades ago. I am acquainted with tracking prints left upon ground.

My father was a trapper which meant he was a tracker. In an ever more urban world there are not many today who can distinguish which animals made the tracks they see upon the ground. I am far from being a skilled tracker but I learned some basics of tracking from my Dad such as where to look for animal tracks. You need to search where you would expect animals to be based on terrain, food sources, shelter offered and the quickest safest and most efficient way to travel through an area.

The title to Trackers in Afrikaner translates to spoor in English. It is an apt word for traditional tracking which looks to the traces left behind.

What has changed significantly, even in rural tracking is the use of technology to aid trackers.

In Trackers I noted 26 different types of tracking. They were tracking of vehicles in rural areas by anticipating roads, tracking done by teams of cars following cars, tracking of vehicles by transmitters placed upon them, tracking on foot in the city by visual contact,  tracking of people by observation from nearby buildings, tracking of telephones with electronic intercepts, tracking through talking with friends and enemies, tracking through sleeping with a source and listening to pillow talk, tracking through informants within organizations, tracking through computers searching the world wide web, tracking through the satellites continually orbiting the earth, tracking through reading newspapers and magazines for information on those being tracked, tracking through searching government records, tracking through breaking into buildings, tracking through searching desks and computers, tracking through the mind with skilful questions and brutal demands for knowledge, tracking through the sharing, often reluctantly, of information between powerful organizations, tracking through careful examination of financial records, tracking through the sources of funds in bank accounts, tracking through hidden microphones, tracking through the closed circuit cameras that inhabit every city, tracking through the examination of personal public records, tracking through the study of bodies and tracking through examination of wallets, clothing and other personal items.

Modern trackers would be lost without all their electronic devices.

Yet current technology has its limits. In Murder One by Robert Dugoni the investigators deal with footprints leading up to the window of a home through which a killing shot was made. The investigators try to determine size from computer analysis of the size of the tracks and distance between steps. I expect Bony could have told them by his experience. I believe he would have gleaned more information about the killers if study of the tracks had been left to him.

The powers of observation and reflection are less prized by modern crime fiction trackers. In our instant world we want answers and analysis instantly. Good trackers need patience to find the tiny signs that let the tracker follow their quarry. Bony often takes the time to sit down, make and smoke a cigarette, and deliberate about what he has seen. Few modern trackers pause to think.