Lackberg, Camilla: The Ice Princess

A writer, Erica Falck, has returned home after the death of her parents to sort out their possessions. She is out walking when she is called into a house to find the dead body of a childhood friend in what seems to be a suicide but is actually murder. One of the local detectives is an old boyfriend. During the course of the investigation their old feelings are resurrected and they fall in love. The book differs from many in the strong development of many of the characters, not just the central ones, so that it all but becomes a social history of the local area. This does lead to a number of threads in the story being left unresolved with one wanting to know what happens although the crime is solved by the end of the book. This does bring to light unsavoury events from the past which reflect badly on the parents of the dead woman among others though this is done without being too critical of their behaviour. There is a second book featuring the two main characters which may tie up some of the incomplete strands, particularly that of the disposition of the house that Erica and her sister inherited. A welcome change from some crime novels where the crime and its solution take precedent over the participants.

Pedro Almodovar: The Skin I Live In

I am revieing this now rather than the Frightfest films which precede it in time so a to place it next to the book on which it is
based. The differences are obvious. In the book, there is no housekeeper, the reason for the captivity is known more or less
from the start, there is no sub-plot ( the hard to accept co-incidence in the book) and the ending is decidedly different. That said, the film takes the basic premise of the book as the central plot with Almodavar adding his own twist. I was not taken with Banderas's performance which was almost that of a non-existent character but this was a minor blemish on a well made film. While there were flashbacks which did not quite gel all the time, the tale was developed more or less linearally which made the whole thng clear. The one thing that does puzzle me is the change to the ending of the book which does rather change the overall gestalt. A fine film but not a great one.

Jonquet, Thierry: Tarantula

This is the 1995 noir on which the new Almodovar film 'The Skin I Live In' is based, a review of which will follow shortly. The
book is tautly written (as with other non-English novels, the translator is to be congratulated) and developed in an unusual way. A celebrated plastic surgeon keeps his mistress captive and does take her out from time to time either to social functions where some consider her to be his second wife or to less reputable surroundings where he effectivelt pimps her out to punish her. why he does the latter is not explained but he does appear to be increasingly less happy with doing this. It turns out as the book develops that he has a daughter who is unbalanced to the extent that he finally agrees to give up the
regular visits he has been making. After the initial development, the focus switches to a petty crook with limited intelligence who has killed a policeman, having previously been looked after by his best friend who vanished some time back. While holed up, he sees a programme on TV featuring the plastic surgeon and decides that the wayout of his dilemma is to get a new face by forcing the surgeon to give him one. He watches him and concocts a scenario where he captures the mistress and uses the threat of her death to get the surgeon to comply. Naturally, the latter easily outwits him which leads to the
shocking denouement. The ending does rely on a hard to accept co-incidence but, provided this is accepted as possible, it
does not detract from the book. The standard noir formula does require a femme fatale which this book does not really have
so calling the book a noir is a misnomer - it is a tale of obsession and revenge.

Camilleri, Andrea: The Snack Thief

Another Inspector Montalbano mystery which is well up to the author's high standards. The underlying humour does not
detract from the darkness of the plot and there is, this time, something of an elegiac air. Having mentioned elsewhere that
so many detectives have flawed personal lives, deciding which characteristics of Montalbano are drawbacks is both easy and
hard to decide. He does not want to be promoted away from Vigato, enjoys his food rather too much, gets depressed easily,
does not want to commit to his long established lover who lives in Genoa and is, inevitably for Sicily, careful with his dealings with the Mafia. He does not suffer fools gladly and seems to play favourites at times (or rather, the reverse). All these traits do provide a lively and pleasing story. Camilleri has been praised for his sense of place which is apparent in the air of near
resignation at the ongoing socio-political environment and also, conversely, in the leisured pace of things.

Wilson, Robert: The Blind Man of Seville

Just as the previously reviewed book by this author (A Small Death in Lisbon) is multi-layered with different time strands, this
has an extensive back story both in narrative form and as diary extracts which the author has created extensively and then
used only parts of them. The present day story is that of a police inspector in Seville investigating a series of linked murders
to which he receives clues. He is convinced, rightly as it turns out, that the answer lies in the past and the book gradually
unravels the past links through his father's diaries. The latter is a celebrated painter now dead and the deciphering of his
past provides the answer eventually. As is so often the case, the policeman is flawed personally. As well as many self- doubts he is getting over a failed marriage which is not helped by his ex-wife having an affair with the instructing judge.
There are a number of set pieces some of which are background though one turns out to be another killing by the murderer.
Complicated but well written and an acceptable denouement which fits the overall story.