Historical

There is often no better way to spice up a bit of historical fiction by adding a murder mystery. The historical detective story has taken crime and history lovers to plenty of times and places through ancient Rome, Tudor Britain and, in the more recent past, Ireland during the Troubles. Brian Stoddart has set his Inspector Le Fanu novels in Madras in the years after World War I. The British are still in power but their grip is slipping, thanks partly to the pacifist uprising being led by Ghandi. It is a fascinating time and place to explore and Stoddart clearly knows his way around.

The Pallampur Predicament has a number of intersecting mysteries that all revolve around life in British India. At the centre of the web is the Raja of Pallampur, brutally murdered in his Madras home after a formal reception. Just prior to that there were rumours of corruption, tax evasion and other strange goings on in Pallampur. As the case unravels connections spiral out to include the nascent British secret service and the influence of international organised crime organisations.

Inspector Le Fanu himself is typical of the historical crime genre. As the readers’ eyes and ears, Le Fanu brings a distinctly twenty-first century view of the world he is living in. He can see the writing on the wall for British Rule, he promotes his staff based on their ability, he clashes with some of his superiors over the way they treat the local people and he has an Anglo-Indian lover, something frowned upon by Madras society. He is also a dogged investigator, keeping his blackboards up to date and following the “rule book” for a successful investigation.

Where The Pallampur Predicament excels, its wealth of historical information, is also where it falls down a little. The plot tends to get bogged down with digressions full of historical exposition. At one point, a character even apologises for the lengthy explanation he has to give to the police about a particular historical point. The central mystery itself takes a bit of a back seat to the history lesson that all of the investigation of red herrings and dead ends brings to the reader. And the resolution of who killed the Raja and why is decidedly weak. But for those who like their history with a dash of mystery, The Pallampur Predicament is worth the effort.

Malla Nunn’s Detective Emmanuel Cooper series steeps the reader in the world of 1950s South Africa. The series have an unerring and chilling sense of place and time. The strict social strata enforced by law and social convention informs everything in this series.

Present Darkness has Cooper on loan to the Johannesburg police. He and his colleagues are called in to investigate the severe bashing of a school principal and his wife. It turns out that the principal had been hosting dinner parties for black students from a local school, much to the disgust of his neighbours. Two of these boys are identified by the principal’s daughter as the culprits and within no time one of them has been fitted up for the crime. That one is Aaron Shabalala, the youngest son of Cooper’s old friend and fellow “native” detective. So despite being officially sent back to Durban, Cooper stays around to try and solve the case.

Running parallel to this story is a character introduced in a prologue – a prostitute kidnapped from the street and taken to a farm where she is held captive by a pair of mystery men. Snippets of her point of view pepper the narrative until their connection to the main plot become clear.

DS Emmanuel Cooper is a complex and well-developed character. He carries around plenty of secrets, some of which are known by his direct superiors and used to keep him in line and some are too dangerous even for that. One of those is the mixed race wife and child, a relationship that is a criminal offence. The two live in Johannesburg and are the reason Cooper is there in the first place. While the earlier novels explored Cooper’s experiences as a soldier during World War II, this instalment focusses on his youth - growing up in the shanties of Sophiatown. Cooper is constantly juggling all of these parts of his life while trying to service his deep and abiding thirst for justice.

Cooper is assisted, once again, by his unlikely team of Detective Shabalala and Jewish doctor and holocaust survivor Dr Daniel Zweigman. These characters have always provided a perfect foil for Cooper just as the other shady characters such as the creepy Detective Mason, serve to bring out his basic humanity.

The Emmanuel Cooper series has been impressive from its outset. Nunn uses the conventions of the crime genre to searingly explore the milieu of 1950s South Africa, the echoes of which are still being felt today. Without lecturing, Nunn and her characters reveal the deep and entrenched prejudices that thrived under the apartheid regime. Putting this social commentary into the background of an engaging mystery, peopled with fascinating characters makes Present Darkness crime fiction at its best.

Based on the true story of the trial of two men in 1871, THE PETTICOAT MEN places real-life characters into a fictional scenario to create an extremely entertaining, and very readable story.

It is true that the young Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park were put on trial for "conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence", they were both well-known cross-dressers and suspected homosexuals, although acquitted due to the prosecutions failure to prove either the sexual activity or that wearing women's clothing was actually a crime. The trial was a sensation due to the nature of the allegations, but also because of their connections to members of the aristocracy.

In THE PETTICOAT MAN there are more characters from society and establishment drawn into the story, which based on the circles they mixed in, comes across as reasonable conclusions to draw. This is probably helped by the feel of the entire book, which has a truthfulness to it that's incredibly compelling.

The central, and most vocal narrator, is Mattie Stacey. Daughter of the owner of the boarding house in which Freddie and Ernest rent a room to store their women's clothing, and to dress, Mattie is absolutely outraged when her family's good name and address are dragged into the gossip and innuendo surrounding the trial. She's not outraged at either of the men, one of whom she is particularly attached to after he had been particularly kind to her, but because she, her mother, and her brother are decent people, who run a clean house and are loyal to their friends, and they most definitely do not run a questionable establishment. Mattie's the star of this book, her voice is so beautifully crafted she's real, and she's fabulous. Brave and true, she might not have had a lot of formal education but she, and her brother, are self-educated, self-motivated and good people. As is her mother, and had been her father - both theatre people themselves which probably means that the men's antics came as less of a matter of comment than it might.

The situation that Mattie and her family are dragged into because of the cruel and mindless gossip is difficult, but it seems there is nothing like a difficulty to straighten Mattie's back, to firm her mother's resolve, and to ensure her brother makes the best. He's particularly exercised by the situation as he loses his much loved job as a clerk in Parliament, and in Mr Gladstone's office, and must make do with lesser employment, despite the unfairness. Mattie herself, has had her own trials, widowed at a very young age, betrayed by a lover, her malformed foot is a disability that means that she stands out when she least wants to, and seems to imply that life as a childless widowed hat maker might be her lot. Mind you, there's nothing maudlin about Mattie, nor any of them for that matter.

The only downside to THE PETTICOAT MEN is that much of the circumstances leading up to the trial are sketchy, and the fate of Freddie and Ernest a little brush-stroked towards the end. Whilst it's perfectly understandable that the focus would remain with the Stacey family, as this was presented to this reader as a "crime" novel, the balance was a little off. Call it a ripper of a yarn though, and there'd be no quibble at all.

The second book in the Superintendent Le Fanu series set in 1920's India, THE PALLAMPUR PREDICAMENT follows on closely from THE MADRAS MIASMA. So closely it would be worthwhile reading both books in order, although not absolutely necessary.

In the reasons why column, in true police procedural style, Le Fanu is hampered by a difficult boss who hates him and his methodologies. At the end of the first book this boss is promoted even further up the chain, and the results of that are played out in this second story. Without the background many of the twists and turns in that relationship won't be as revealing as they could be. 

There is also a relationship building between Le Fanu and his assistant Habi which grows throughout the two books, as does the unlikely friendship, which is greatly informed by the colonial society in which they both live.

Understanding that societal group, it's petty politics and prejudices, and the tensions with the Congress, Ghandi and a local population resenting their Colonial overlords also benefits from the full story in both books.

As does the difficulties of Le Fanu's romance with his once was live in housekeeper who moves away and then returns in the second novel.

Having said that, the strength of these novels is in the way that all of that background is balanced against an ongoing police investigation, with each book pursuing unconnected crimes. The details of the tensions in post-independence India are fascinating, and weaving them into the life of a Superintendent of Police who is sympathetic to the local cause, supportive of the local people, and a fan of local food and culture works really well. THE PALLAMPUR PREDICAMENT takes Le Fanu from the heights of society - in the household of the Rajah of Pallampur who has been brutally murdered, through to the backstreets of Madras and out into the country. These locations and the people living and working there, along with some tendrils into the Secret Service provide many potential motivations, complications and suspects. All of this gives the author a chance to draw a really clear picture of the time and place.

This series is good, old-fashioned, crime / mystery fiction in the best sense of the style. There's a light touch to the humour, a genuine puzzle to be solved with sufficient red herrings to keep a reader's attention. Along the way there is a bit of a history lesson, particularly about Colonial society, and to be fair, it's not all black and white. Add to that a love affair which is risky simply because of the petty prejudices of others, and this is a series that works for fans of gentler, more puzzle based mysteries, as well as those that like the historical aspects.

Combining history with mystery and a hefty dose of romance, A HISTORY OF CRIME was both a fascinating and slightly frustrating read.

The background to Frédérique Bonnell and her connections to France and New Zealand were unknown territory for this reader - as was the idea that in 1887 New Zealand had financial problems. Needless to say the corrupt land grab and the political and influence corruption behind it was fascinating subject matter for a mystery / crime novel to explore as was the seamy side of Victorian society (as it says in the blurb). 

Bringing Bonnell, a known soprano back to the country that is a big part of her family origins, is an interesting idea, although events that lead to her being thrown from the ship off the coast, rescuing / being rescued by a Maori man, and ultimately "infiltrating the rich and powerful" alongside the Italian tenor she's teamed to sing with did seem to require some heavy lifting to contrive. Whilst the idea that Bonnell and Bartellin would be mixing in those circles worked, the inclusion of the Maori Kaituhi in the plot served, mainly it seemed, as a conduit for voicing the wrongs. Perhaps that might have worked if it hadn't been for the rather heavy coincidence of just the right Maori man being thrown off the same ship as Bonnell, their survival not discovered, her return to the ship undetected, and then the joint spying and informing activities of all and sundry staying under the radar in a very small place.

All of that might have been forgiven but, of course, the two single singers had to fall for each other didn't they. From very early on, their eye-fluttering romance threatened to obscure any of the mystery aspects. Which was muddled even further by much of the history recounting veering into Tell not Show territory a little too often for this reader's personal taste.

Of course, readers for whom one or more of these aspects are neither here nor there - if you're a fan of romance for example, or for fiction that occasionally veers into lesson, may find that these minor niggles never appear. The high point of A HISTORY OF CRIME is undoubtedly the sense of place and time that's generated, and whilst the method of historical telling might have been a little heavy-handed, much of it being news to this reader made for very interesting reading. 

The first book, THE HOLIDAY MURDERS marked a change in series, but not style, for author Robert Gott. Much of this author's crime fiction writing has concentrated on historical time periods, in particular around the second world war.

This reader was very impressed with the first book. It introduced a range of new characters in the newly formed Homicide department of Victoria Police, from Inspector Titus Lambert (and his wife), Detective Joe Sable and Constable Helen Lord. Events from that book physically and mentally scar Joe Sable, scars that he carries forward, along with a serious threat, into THE PORT FAIRY MURDERS.

Linking the small seaside town of Port Fairy on Victoria's Coastline with the team back in Melbourne are elements of the very real threat that the villain George Starling poses, as he hides away there, plotting and planning finishing the job he started in the first book. 

"George Starling hated jews, women, queers, coppers, rich people, and his father. He loved Adolf Hitler and Ptolemy Jones. Hitler was in Berlin, a long way from Victoria, and Jones was dead. He knew Jones was dead because he stood in the shadows and watched the coppers bring his body out of a house in Belgrave. One of those coppers had been a Jew named Joe Sable and that meant one thing, and one thing only - Joe Sable's days were numbered."

Which he nearly manages to achieve late one night in Melbourne. The second connection emerges when a brutal double murder happens in Port Fairy, which allows Lambert to put Sable and Lord into that town, the investigation and inadvertently the firing line yet again.

There are many strong elements from the earlier book that carry forward to this one. Gott draws a very detailed and yet entertaining portrait of war-time Country Victoria and Melbourne. The example of Lord's difficulties as a woman in the police force nicely illustrates the attitude of workforce participation prevalent at the time. The behaviour of the branches of an established family in Port Fairy a particularly telling demonstration of the outcomes of snobbery and favouritism. 

"She didn't have a much higher opinion of her niece. She was pretty, but insufficiently interested in her appearance to do herself justice. Her voice was irremediably awful, beyond surgical help because it wasn't just a question of adenoids. Timbre, tone and pitch were all off."

"Her feelings about her nephew, Matthew, were, if not extreme, at least extravagant. She adored him. He was beautiful - others less smitten admitted to his being good-looking, nothing more - and his decision to live within minutes of her had raised her flagging spirits."

Even the way that the main suspect in the double murder in Port Fairy is an intellectually handicapped man, gives the author the opportunity of drawing out the way that some society and families reacted to people with disabilities at the time.

The action, however, does move backwards and forwards between the investigation in Port Fairy and the threat to Joe Sable posed by George Starling. Unfortunately this leads to one of the major downfalls of THE PORT FAIRY MURDERS in that the two elements never seem to quite jell, spending instead a lot of time competing for attention. Whilst there's something inevitable about the double murder investigation (and not just because the reader knows the truth right from the outset), the potential for Starling to succeed also seems quite high. That threat is constantly being shifted around in focus to allow for much rushing backwards and forwards between Melbourne and Port Fairy, and a series of rather odd coincidences that are a tad heavy handed in execution.

Frankly the Port Fairy component didn't seem to contribute an awful lot to the overall story. The threat of Starling, the investigation of his activities, the further exploration of Sable's Jewish background and the affect that will have on him as well as the expansion of the bone-headed behaviour of so many towards women in the workplace were really involving. The complications of Lord's personal life and how her work impacts on her home life, particularly when Sable needs somewhere to live were particularly engaging. That background, and the search for Starling had some sense of genuine threat and menace to them, and it felt like they could have supported a larger concentration. At the very least, there was something more to say there than some daft old lady with a fetish for a loser nephew to the exclusion of her obviously well-meaning niece, all of which came with a sense of overwhelming inevitability. By the end of this book it was hard to ignore the big question, which was why somebody hadn't done away with many of that family a lot earlier.

Having said all of that, there's enough here to make you wonder if THE PORT FAIRY MURDERS is "the difficult second book" that's got some positioning of characters sorted out, kept a major element of threat in play, set up some ongoing relationships and provided a path into "the series moves forward third book". 

This reader certainly hopes so. For the elements of THE PORT FAIRY MURDERS that did disappoint, these are still such an interesting group of characters, and the historical background is so informative, you'd hope there's a further outing in the works.