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Nov-Dec 2004 On loan from one of the dressingroom matrons, Ulla Moltrecht.
Well, it's been a good month ago that I finished this book now, so... you can take it as a sign, that I can remember little to say about it. It was all right for the genre though, which was a murder mystery, written through the eyes of the detective on this difficult case, in Venice.
I am not familiar with the style of novel though, so there's not so much I Can say about it; The characters were well enough formed. There were interesting deviations of the plot, and surprises thrown in. There was the intrigue there, of seeing the low, base side of high and mighty men, (And their high and mighty social stratum.) There was also the common, working people, and the "low," prostitutes, who were painted is as broad a spectrum as all the other characters; from truly "Low" and base people, to those who were essentially honest, good, law-abiders.
I appreciated the fact that there was little actual violence put in this book, although there were the results of it to be seen, (It's kind of difficult to have a murder mystery without a murder... which has to be violent by definition, more or less.) -There were only the effects of the violence to read about, in a cool, analytic way, and not the blow-by-blow description of the violence it's self.
The family of the detective... I suppose was necessary, (To understand his character,) but at the same time, superfluous. The scenes with them, and the descriptions of their family life... were, well, dull. I felt that they were out of place. And, just not interesting. (The author still made an effort to have it less so though: Because the detective discusses his cases with his wife all the time, who gives her outlook on the personalities he has to deal with, and gives him some suggestions.)
Ah well, I should have known that this type of book has no great appeal to me. In the end, it was acceptable... fodder. (Flavourless, but it fills my appetite.) -and that's better than something foul tasting, or, (Horror,) Nothing at All!