Letters from a murderer

by John Mathews
Angry Robot - Exhibit A
A Jameson and Argenti case

US/CAN Print

Date: 24th September 2013

ISBN: 9781909223370

Format: Large (Trade) Paperback

R.R.P.: US$14.99 CAN$16.99

ARC

En français ici

I must admit it, I've got a soft spot for stories (in books or TV) about the Ripper. Ripper Street and most recently Withechapel immediately caught my attention, as do the books taking up the mood, style and the blackness of any good book revolving around that story. So naturally, when I saw this book on NetGalley... how to say... I could not miss it! And again, thanks to the excellent house Exhibit A I had the pleasure of reading Letters from a Murderer.

Description

New York, 1891. A new breed of cop for a new breed of killer…

The first in a series of hard-boiled New York Victorian mysteries, featuring Finley Jameson & Joseph Argenti.

If Arthur Conan Doyle had been asked to write a sequel to Gangs of New York, then this would be it.

“One genius criminal profiler. One ruthless, streetwise cop. Both will need all their wits to capture the most notorious killer of all time.”

New York, 1891. A prostitute is found brutally murdered. The victim bears the same hallmarks as a notorious recent killing spree in England. Could it be that killer has crossed the Atlantic to fresh killing grounds? Or is this simply a copycat murder? Fear spreads through a city already rife with cut-throat gangs, corruption and vice. Aristocratic English pathologist, Finley Jameson, is teamed up with Joseph Argenti, a streetwise New York cop, to solve the case. But as the body-count rises and the killer taunts his pursuers in open letters, Jameson & Argenti find themselves fighting not just to prevent yet more victims, but also to save the city’s very soul.

What I think of it

What's about that book? The two main characters Jameson and Argenti, united for better or for worse. Worse, because Argenti, American copper, has some difficulty understanding Jameson, the English aristocrat, to the point where he began to suspect him. All opposed the street cop to the English pathologist. However, the duo works very well, helped by Lawrence, another great character who brings the better out of the two detectives. We like to follow their pilgrimage, we want to be part of their trio.

The secondary characters are also very present, we learn to know the bandits, we know that when Brogan arrives, it will go wrong, that when Tierney comes, it will end badly for someone. So there are heroes on one side, the bad guys on the other side and in between the victims. Again, the author presents them - very briefly for some of them (just the time to die, in fact) - some girls we learn to know better. We get to know the "girls", to like them and fear for them, which makes the murders of the unknown ones more tragic because it could have happened to one of the girls that we know. This is a range of well thought and well written characters you learn to appreciate - or not when it comes to Tierney or Brogan...

The atmosphere: cold, hard and filthy. We are not always in the most exclusive neighborhoods in New York. The docks are very presents, the shallows in background, taverns and brothels provide the framework for the novel. Of course, prostitutes being the victims, the poorest neighborhoods are affected, where crooks of all kinds reign. The contrast is even greater than when we follow Jameson and Argenti at the opera or in the best restaurants in New York.

The investigation was initially conducted by an incompetent lined with dirty cops. Given the lack of results, Argenti takes over the investigation but it doesn't  serve the purpose of some who resent the fact that the upright cop could gain prestige. Argenti and Jameson are launched on false leads in order to harm them, which also hinders the investigation when the killer continues to kill. This is a fight against the killer and against scammers and rogue cops in the city that the two detectives must lead.

The pace accelerates as we go along traps and the progress of the investigation. When Argenti and Jameson find who is the culprit, he does everything to escape them. We are then entitled to some spectacular scenes of chases and attempted murders. The latter being orchestrated by both the killer who will not be taken and by the local ringleader, who wants Argenti to fail.

In a nutshell

For lovers of TV shows, I would say that this novel is a beautiful blend of Ripper Street and Copper, as much for the atmosphere as for the characters. A very good book, full of action, chases and twists. This is the first novel about Argenti and Jameson and I can not wait to read more! I give it a 4/5.

My thought on closing the book: That was some fun!

Here's another great review by Josh on the book. 

Never Saw It Coming

by Lindwood Barclay

Doubleday Canada - 2011

233 pages - 1,99$

Ebook

Mysteries et thrillers

En français ici

Why this book

I've met the author at the QuebeCrime festival last October and I thought he was really cool. He has a lot of humour and knows how to keep his audience alived so I guessed he can do the same with his books. 

Synopsis

Keisha Ceylon is a psychic. At least, that's what she tells people. She watches the news for stories of missing people, then waits a few days and goes to see the family. She tells them she’s had a vision and that she may know where their missing loved one is—for a price, of course. 

Keisha's latest mark is Wendell Garfield, whose wife disappeared a week ago. She's seen him on TV, pleading for his wife to come home, or for whoever took her to let her go. Keisha tells Wendell her vision of what might have happened. Unluckily for Keisha, her vision turns out to be alarmingly close to the truth. As she wades deeper into the mystery, Keisha inadvertently finds herself caught in a web of suspicion and violence that’s much more complicated than she first thought—and which may end up with her own disappearance… 

Also includes a preview of Linwood Barclay’s newest thriller, Trust Your Eyes

What I think of it

A book that will make you forget how late it is. This novel is an expanded version of Clouded Vision and some criticize the fact that the book still looks like a short story. But as a person who sees the glass half full rather than half empty, I think that's what makes its charm. There is no need to always read books that take a month to read. There are so many complicated novels for which we need to focus to remember different characters or different plots. If books were always complex, I would find it boring. Sometimes after a hard, complex or difficult on the emotional side, I find it relaxing to read a more enjoyable and easy to read book. Never Saw It Coming is that kind of book.

Certainly, it is fast to read, but the fact remains that the tone is one of the great thrillers I like: sometimes cynical, often funny, very colorful and with a relentless pace. The characters are well drawn, the story well done.

The story? This is the story of the biter bit, a spinning wheel. We know quickly who is the culprit, but the story does not end there, since it is ultimately more about morality and what we would do in the same situation. There is a great power of questioning in this book: what would I have done if I were Keisha? Would I have done the same, better or worse? This spinning wheel brings back in some characters we thought we'll no longer see. There are a coming and going of various characters in the book, which makes it dynamic.

In a nutshell

This novel asks questions and makes you ask about your values, your decision and that, in some 233 pages. A book that reads quickly, a bit like a short story but that will appeal to readers of thrillers who love dark and funny crime fiction.