Grace

 

Based on the Roy Grace novels by Peter James, this series follows Detective Superintendent Roy Grace (played by John Simm) and his sidekick Glenn Branson (Richie Campbell) as they investigate cases in and around Brighton. Grace, whose wife Sandy disappeared years back, is battling demons of his own including having to deal with not-so-nice bosses at work.

Simm and Campbell share great chemistry and the cases are interesting. I've just started with Season 4 and there is a major plot twist that threatens to derail Grace's relationship with Cleo.

Book Within a Book

 

 

A man is murdered, shot dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck, in an upscale gated community and all his neighbours have a motive (surprise, surprise). The man in question was loud, uncouth and had managed to tick off almost everyone in the community including the dog. The police call in Daniel Hawthorne to help them solve the murder.

Anthony Horowitz excels in the book-within-a-book format. While I really enjoyed Magpie Murders, this one didn’t have the same feel. I found real-life Anthony’s intrusion into the fictional verse a bit tiresome especially at times when I really wanted to get on with the story and find out who the killer was. In spite of the tiny flaws, it was an enjoyable read and the cast of characters were quite fascinating – from the grandmaster to the little old ladies who ran a crime bookstore. Not to mention Daniel Hawthorne himself.

If you like cozy mysteries that blend fiction with fact, this one is for you.

A Puzzle of a Book

The Final Curtain is an absolute puzzle of a book by my favourite Japanese author, Keigo Higashino.

A woman is murdered in Tokyo and the police find similarities between her death and the mysterious demise of a woman nearly a decade back – Detective Kyochiro Kaga’s estranged mother. Now, it is up to Detective Kaga to join the dots and unravel the mystery.

The novel had plenty of twists and turns in true Higashino fashion with a pacy plot to keep you guessing right till the end. I found some similarities between this and the plot of The Devotion of Suspect X. When you read it, you should know what I’m referring to – no spoilers here. Kaga is an intriguing character and I like the relationship he shares with his cousin, Detective Matsumiya. The translation has a huge role to play in these books and this one was easy on the eyes, not clunky and unwieldy.

A Mixed Bag

When the Marple anthology was announced, I was really excited. A collection of short stories featuring Agatha Christie’s famous detective by popular (read bestselling) international authors seemed like a real treat. The collection boasted of names such as Ruth Ware, Val McDermid, Kate Mosse and Jean Kwok (loved Girl in Translation) among others. So naturally I was hooked. Without much ado, I gifted the book to myself on my birthday last year.

Midway through the book, however, I realized that it was NOT quite the treat it had promised to be. While a few of the stories were okay, there were some that were bizarre. It transported Miss Marple into situations that were not only unbelievable but completely out of context with her character and values. The stories also seemed hurriedly put together and did not have pack the same punch as an Agatha Christie story would have. I can’t imagine Miss Marple turning a blind eye to a criminal act and covering up for a friend. I guess I'm a Christie purist.
 

It was then that I realized that it is not difficult to replicate an author’s style or give her characters a new lease of life. What is difficult, however, is to see the world through her eyes, acquire her keen insight into human nature. That is where the Marple anthology fell flat.

 
If you are planning to read it, make sure you are well acquainted with all the Miss Marple novels first. Read this in the context of her other work.
 
 

Howcatchem or the Inverted Detective Story

While watching Luther: The Fallen Sun last night, it suddenly struck me that the movie was an inverted detective story. The identity of the serial killer is revealed at the beginning and the movie goes on to describe how Idris Elba/Luther nabs the devilish Serkis in the end.
 
Did you know that the opposite of a whodunit is a howcatchem or an inverted detective story? In a whodunit, one needs to figure out the identity of the criminal whereas in a howcatchem, the identity of the perp is revealed at the start but one needs to figure out how he is caught.
 
While the term "howcatchem" was coined by Philip MacDonald in 1963, the earliest example of an inverted detective story is Malice Aforethought (1931), a crime novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the pen name Francis Iles. Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock is another one.
 
The term was widely used in the 1970s. The television series, Columbo was a popular example of this genre. Keigo Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X (2005) is also a howcatchem. While this is not one of my favourite Higashino novels, the tedious math analogies making me lose interest towards the end, it is still an intriguing read.
 
How many howcatchems have you read or watched? Do write in the comments.