THE COMPLAINTS - Ian Rankin

I discovered Rankin and 'Rebus' right at the start and followed the series right to the end and apart from a couple of wee moans the entire nineteen novels were great crime writing.

Then Rankin retired Rebus and then the trouble began.

The trouble being he has started a new series with a new cop who is the exact opposite of Rebus.  'Malcolm Fox' works for the Complaints Section in that he locks up other cops ( my prejudice shows here because I hated these bastards when I was a lowly constable)- Fox doesn't drink, Rebus drank like a fish - its almost like Rankin sat down with a chart and drew up a list of what Rebus was and then went completely contrary.

Then to the story, Fox is called to investigate a policeman who is suspected of being involved in a child pornography ring, but then gets involved professionally with this detective after his sister's boyfriend is murdered and Fox ends up quite liking him, and so on and so forth...........

To say I was disappointed in this is a understatement of mammoth proportions, its over wrought ,its convoluted and worst of all its tedious.

Please Ian Rankin, timeshift some Rebus stories because 'Fox' is not the detective who you should be remembered by. (Published 2009)

EPITAPH FOR A SPY - Eric Ambler

Josef Vadassy is a Hungarian refugee living in France earning a living as a language teacher.

While on holiday on the Riviera he innocently takes a roll of film of his holiday into be developed and as a result he is arrested as a Gestapo Agent.

What follows is an intriguing tale of espionage with Josef trying to uncover the real spy prior to his world being destroyed.

It's very Agatha Christie in that it has a cast of characters all in one place at one time with the  spy being one of them. There the comparison ends, its very well written and the tension is continually built. This is Ambler at his peak. (Published in 1938)

THE MORDIDA MAN - Ross Thomas

Another slice of thriller genius from the best.

Chubb Dunjee, ex-politician is employed to recover the brother of the U S President from terrorists, who may be U S citizens and then there are the Lybian terrorists who are aggrieved over the death of their star terrorist.

Usual fantastic story, some of the best names ever given to characters in a book, Bingo McKay, Thane Coombs and Dunjee (The Mordida Man, the bribe man).

Its too amazing to summarize, but again this book is out of print so its hard to get but its well worth the effort. One of Thomas's best. (Published 1981)

PRAGUE FATALE - Phillip Kerr

This is a stunner. Kerr takes us back to 1941 where Bernie is installed as Heydrich's personal body guard and house detective.

Heydrich is now the 'ruler' of Bohemia and Moravia and is busy planning a more efficient way of 'eliminating' the Jewish population.

Just after Bernie is installed as pet detective one of Heydrich's adjutants is murdered in his room. This gives the reader a locked room mystery as the core of the story. There are also side shows involving Czech terrorists and Bernie's latest love interest.

Of the six stories I have read in this series this is by far the best. The main positive is the author has had the courage to go back in time and not continue with the post war stories, a couple of which in my opinion were a bit thin.

Along with a good mystery we have more of the sickening history of Nazism, with many of the characters being real people.

And to cap it off the book has one of the best first pages I have ever read.
A very good story indeed. (Published 2011)

INFANTS OF THE SPRING - Anthony Powell

The first volume of memoirs from the author of 'A Dance To The Music Of Time".

It covers his life from birth until he leaves Oxford.

It's not a riveting read but ambles along in a very gentle fashion, it is especially interesting regarding his schooling at Eton. The talent that was there when he was a pupil was amazing, the  most famous being George Orwell (Eric Blair when he was there).

Like "A Dance...." this volume is  a capture of a period of time, a time that few were privileged enough to experience, although Powell did not himself come from an exceptionally wealthy background.

There are no real clues to who were the original templates for his great novel's characters , he explains they are all composites of several people he met. You can see however that his early education covered here is pretty thoroughly reproduced in the first volumes of 'Dance".

It's an interesting read. (Published 1976)

FIDDLE CITY - Dan Kavanagh

The second 'Duffy' story written by Julian Barnes under under his pen name. Again a very low key story with Duffy being hired to uncover a series of thefts at a freight firm situated at Heathrow Airport - Fiddle City-.

He plods away in an undercover role meeting hindrance after hindrance from staff and management alike but eventually he solves one problem and uncovers a much more serious crime.

Its not a bad read but lacking a lot of the humour that was present  in the previous story of his I have read but it makes sense and is well written as you would expect from Barnes.

The only question I have over this and the whole series is what is the point of having the main man bi-sexual? Generally sex in a crime novel is a distraction , with Duffy doing both boys and girls you just end up twice as distracted.

A fair work and its short so even if it doesn't completely enthrall you it is over quickly. ( Published 1981)

BLEED A RIVER DEEP - Brian McGilloway

The third outing for Inspector Devlin and he hasn't got any smarter. As in the first two of this series half the trouble is caused by Devlin and if not by him, by other members of the constabulary. The trouble unfortunately results in people dieing.

As a detective Devlin is just a dogged plodder and stubborn with it, his solving the crime involves quiet a bit of luck.

This story involves illegal immigrants and gold, again set in the borderlands of Ireland.  Devlin isn't the brightest but the authors plots are outstanding, 8 out of 10 and they save the books.

So, I'll keep reading them, Devlin must learn soon to think just a tad before acting. (Published 2010)