Fiction Pick of the Week: THE CITY & YTIƆ ƎHT

THE CITY & YTIƆ ƎHT by China Miéville 2009

How do you solve a murder in a city that you’re not allowed to see? A women’s body is discovered in a children’s playground. Inspector Tyador Borlú, of the Extreme Crime Squad for the city of Besźel is assigned to find the killer. When he discovers that she was a resident of Ul Qoma he knows he has a problem. Besźel and Ul Qoma are two cities on the other edge of Europe, somewhere between Budapest and the Urals. These rivals are not adjacent, but geographically superimposed, with shared streets and buildings. All citizens learn to “unsee” those in the other city. All visitors must be trained in unseeing. The mysterious but powerful Breach enforce this ancient separation.

It is a treat to read the matter-of-fact way in which Miéville reveals the intricacies of the accommodations that the Besź and Ul Qoman must make every day.

Winner of the Hugo, Arthur C. Clarke and World Fantasy Awards for Science Fiction.

For Your Consideration: “Cops & Robbers Violence”

Fiction Pick of the Week: In the Guise of Mercy

In the Guise of Mercy by Wendy Hornsby 2009

Maggie MacGowen, documentary filmmaker/sleuth agrees to take on a 10-year-old cold case that her late husband, LAPD Detective , Mike Flint, was not able to solve. Jesus Ramon was a young gang member and a police informant who went missing in 1999 when he left Mike’s car to meet up with his aunt. Mike left Maggie his old files and contacts for the case. One of the original witnesses, Nelda Ruiz has just been paroled, and Mike had hoped to speak with her to try and get more information.

Mike’s former colleagues are eager to help but warn Maggie to “watch six” (watch her back). Whenever Maggie tries to connect the Ramon case with the death of a well-known drug king, she is told not to go there as her life will be in danger. As Maggie continues to find connections, she finds out about a vigilante group of cops that were operating during that period. Once Maggie discovers this, her life is in danger and she narrowly escapes. This fast-paced mystery has many twists and turns in a complex plot. The author covers gangs, barrios, the homeless, cops and filmmaking in spinning this mystery.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Woman with a Birthmark

Woman with Birthmark: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery by Hakan Nesser

This is a fast-paced police procedural, with interesting characters and lots of suspense. The fourth novel to feature intuitive, slightly grumpy Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, it’s also the second to win the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy best novel award. At her mother’s funeral, a young woman dedicates herself to avenging the tragedy that doomed both her mother’s life and her own to failure. Some months later, a businessman is found murdered, with no obvious motive. The only clue is an anonymous call he received before his death, playing a popular song from the sixties. When, less than two weeks later, a second victim is found, having been murdered in the same way and after the same kind of call, Van Veeteren and his team undertake the painstaking work of putting together their meager pieces to try to solve the crimes before the killer can strike again.

Saturday's Pick!

Irish writer Tana French has written an intriguing first novel In the Woods that pulls you into the story in the short prologue and doesn't let go until the end. It is a police procedural and psychological suspense story that centres around the unsolved disappearance of two children twenty years ago and the current brutal murder of a young girl in the same woods. Unknown to anyone except his partner is the fact that the detective investigating this latest crime was involved in the earlier disappearance. When Rob Ryan was twelve, he and his two best friends were playing. Only he was found, "his fingernails digging into the trunk so deeply that they had broken off in the bark", traumatized and remembering nothing.
All the characters are well developed, the plot complex with some surprises and the atmosphere is compelling, especially in the scenes that Ryan has memory flashes. The narrative description might annoy readers who want to solve this quickly but I thought it added to the depth and quality of this beautifully written story.