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viktor_haagI got somewhat distracted in my dealing with Engel's "Murder On Location" by one of my Christmas presents: a copy of Simenon's "Inspector Cadaver" in the handsome new Penguin book design. Of the two, actually, I far and away preferred the Simenon, even in translation, but I am not tremendously surprised by this; Simenon seems to subscribe to the "internal life of the characters" notion much more than Engel, and I seem to favour these kinds of procedurals. Engel has a nice wit, and is reasonably clever with the plotting, but I think sometimes he tosses too many characters into the mix, and I also think he overdoes Cooperman's schticks (yes, we know that Benny likes egg-salad sandwiches, and would probably ilve on them if given the choice: I don't think we need to get battered over the head with the overt references to "chopped egg on white" every single time he stops for a meal).
"Murder on Location" is not my favourite of the three I've read so far (the first three), in fact, i think I'd say that it's the weakest of the three; the whole "film crowd" characterizations seem a bit weak, and are strengthened only by Cooperman's interactions with normal folk, cops, and mobsters (something that Engel seems to have a much stronger grip on).
"Inspector Cadaver" is a quick read, and probably disappointing to those who like to have their mystery thrillers tied up in nice little packages in the end. The guitly are not particularly punished, the innocent are not particularly rewarded, the good guys don't particularly figure much in the story (unless you think of Maigret himself as a good guy) and so can't really come out on top. Maigret gets dragged into a sordid mess doing a favour for someone who's barely a friend, and of course, being himself, he's a bulldog who can't let go when "he should": oddly enough, he doesn't call in the law when he clearly should, either (he is, after all, not there in an "official capacity"). The twist is nicely forecast so that you can arrive to it at roughly the same pace as Maigret; the sordid details are sufficiently hinted at that you know there's a seamy underbelly without having them flagrantly waved in your face.
All in all, highly recommended, but neither of the Simenons that I've read recently have endings which are all that neat and tidy: it looks to me like Maigret is much more the ancestor of the Scandinavian mysteries I like so much than anything particularly British or American. At least there's lots of them for me to get to...
"Murder on Location" is not my favourite of the three I've read so far (the first three), in fact, i think I'd say that it's the weakest of the three; the whole "film crowd" characterizations seem a bit weak, and are strengthened only by Cooperman's interactions with normal folk, cops, and mobsters (something that Engel seems to have a much stronger grip on).
"Inspector Cadaver" is a quick read, and probably disappointing to those who like to have their mystery thrillers tied up in nice little packages in the end. The guitly are not particularly punished, the innocent are not particularly rewarded, the good guys don't particularly figure much in the story (unless you think of Maigret himself as a good guy) and so can't really come out on top. Maigret gets dragged into a sordid mess doing a favour for someone who's barely a friend, and of course, being himself, he's a bulldog who can't let go when "he should": oddly enough, he doesn't call in the law when he clearly should, either (he is, after all, not there in an "official capacity"). The twist is nicely forecast so that you can arrive to it at roughly the same pace as Maigret; the sordid details are sufficiently hinted at that you know there's a seamy underbelly without having them flagrantly waved in your face.
All in all, highly recommended, but neither of the Simenons that I've read recently have endings which are all that neat and tidy: it looks to me like Maigret is much more the ancestor of the Scandinavian mysteries I like so much than anything particularly British or American. At least there's lots of them for me to get to...
