Voices

by Arnaldur Indridason

368 pages - 19.95 $

Vintage Books (11 janvier 2010)

I thought I got a good deal by buying this book in a bookstore ... and indeed it was the case: I have not really enjoyed this book but the price was downright cheap!

The blurb

The third novel in the award-winning Reykjavik Murder Mysteries.

The Christmas rush is under way in a big Reykjavik hotel when the police are called to the scene of a murder. The hotel doorman (and long-time resident of its basement) has been stabbed to death. With the hotel fully booked, the manager is desperate to keep the murder under wraps and his reputation intact.

Detectives Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli discover that the dead man had had a childhood brush with fame and that two old 45s on which he had sung have become prized collectors’ items. Estranged from his family for decades, why had the man continued to pay secret visits to his boyhood home?

As Detective Elinborg investigates a separate case of child abuse, and Erlendur continues to struggle both with his troubled family relationships and the ghosts of his own youth, their parallel stories probe deeper into the riddle of this latest Reykjavik Murder Mystery.

What I think of it 

We meet back with Erlendur and his team, even if Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg only do a few quick appearances where they merely provide the latest news and invite Erlendur to spend Christmas with them, because they do not understand why he stays at the hotel. The Captain couldn't be more depressed as he recalls childhood memories about the disappearance of his brother. So, admittedly, it's interesting to know a little more about this episode in his life that still mark him but I confess that I don't appreciate too much rehash of a sad story on several books. To add to the gaiety of the book, his daughter regularly comes to see her father in the hotel and she's also more depressed than ever...

Some people think this novel is the quintessential noir... But noir fiction is characterized by a pessimistic and often violent vision of society, not a hero über depressed who spends part of the investigation lying on his bed in his unheated room rethinking an event that happened when he was 10 years old...

Apart from that, the atmosphere is as cold as wished for a Nordic polar, the tourists wearing big Icelandic sweaters are quite ridiculous and all the suspects tell lies. Speaking of lies, I often wondered why Erlendur let go some suspects without having questioned them further when he himself hesitated to do so... but it must be said that if he had do it, the investigation would have been solved at about half the book!

The other problem for me is that there are three parallel stories: an ongoing investigation, a trial for an old investigation and the disappearance of the brother of the Captain. These three stories overlap constantly as flashbacks and I often found it annoying because it added nothing to the ongoing investigation.

In a nutshell

It's not that the story is bad but reading the book, it feels like watching an episode of Derrick and I can't say I loved this series... I give it a 2/5.

Interview: Luke Preston, author of Out of Exile

On Luke's blog you'll find this: "Luke spent most of his twenties as a freelance writer, a private investigator and listening to rock ‘n roll. He drinks heavily on occasion, is a half decent musician and his idea of a good time involves a jukebox designed to bleed ears." 

It was enough for me to want to ask him a lot few questions after the release of his book Out of Exile (1st October 2013) which he kindly answered. Please give a warm welcome to Luke!

For those that don’t know you yet, can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

I’m a guy who likes to tell stories, play music loud. My work has been recognised by MTV, the ATOM Awards, the Fellowship of Australian Writers and the Inside Film Awards, winning Best Unproduced Screenplay for The Adventures of Abigail Storm. I don’t believe in writer’s block or in the magic bullet theory. 

Your hero is a good guy but he’s doing a lot of bad things to achieve his goals. Why do you think people root for him? 

As children, we’re told what is right, and what is wrong but the world is far more fucked up than that. As individuals, communities, countries and nations we try to do what is best and what we think is right, but right and wrong is subjective and it is within that small, grey gap that drama exists. A story should be a brutal fight between two ideologies. Some people believe in their heart that Tom Bishop breaks the legal and moral laws and should be punished; others believe he is a good character doing bad things for good reasons. And they’re both right, because the argument in Dark City Blue and Out of Exile is how far into violence and force should a person venture in the name of good? 

Do you plan other books with Tom Bishop? Will it be a series? 

Tom Bishop will be back. I’m already working on the third instalment where Tom Bishop heads to the big city to work at Vogue for an overpowering boss and along the way learns that it’s okay to be himself… I’m just kidding. The third novel will be bigger than Out of Exile and sees Bishop in unfamiliar territory. 

Do you write books like you write screenplays or screenplays like you write books? 

They’re both complementary. Writing screenplays has helped my novels move along economically and writing novels has helped the prose in my screenplays standout. Writers from both disciplines can learn a lot from their long form counterparts. 

Which subjects are most difficult to write about? 

Truth. People can kid themselves in their day to day life and get away with it and live happily ever after. But you can’t get away with it on the page. A writer must first be honest with themselves before they can be honest with the reader and it takes a lot of guts to lay their heart and soul out there for strangers. In many ways being a published author is a great invasion of privacy. But in many other ways it’s about taking standing behind your values and beliefs and picking a fight. 

As writer, do you want to convey a moral in your books or do you only want to tell a story? 

Not necessarily a moral, but for me, every story I write must to say something new about the world in which we live. It may be a fresh point of view on an old issue, or something I’ve discovered that I believe the world should know about or at least pay attention to. In many ways Tom Bishop is a rebellion to political correctness. Western society publically condones men of violent action but when the shit hits the fan, they are the first to be called on. 

If you could experience one book once again, which one will it be? 

Women, by Charles Bukowski. He laid it on the line, his heart and balls and didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. 

You’ve won the What if Award for a The Adventures of Abigail Storm (congrats!), is there any progress on that front ? 

None. It is going to take a special producer to take on a story about an ex-porn star who saves the world from Martians. I don’t know, maybe the world is not ready for it yet. Or maybe I should just turn it into a porno. 

What would be the best Award you could win for your book? 

Awards are lovely and flattery is always welcomed. Although, I’ve won awards before when I didn’t deserve to and also lost awards when I deserved to win. Satisfaction in writing should always come from the act itself, not the result of the act. 

Why so serious question: 

Who’s your favourite villain? 

John Lithgow in Footloose is my favourite villain of all time. Now before you laugh your ass off, hear me out. John Lithgow in Footloose isn’t bad for the sake of being bad; he isn’t driven by greed, by power or by any personal gain. He is driven by the desire to protect the teenagers of Footloose-ville. He believes that rock ‘n roll leads to danger, whereas Kevin Bacon believes rock ‘n roll is about expression and freedom. When the antagonist has a goal just as valid as the protagonist’s, there’s great drama. 

Which book would to take on a desert island? 

Webster’s Dictionary. I would use it to write the books. 

What are you reading now? 

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright & The Comedy Writer by Peter Farrelly. 

Your most effective hair of the dog drink? 

A Red Eye 

1 oz (30 mL) vodka 

6 oz (180 mL) refrigerated tomato juice 

12 oz (350 mL) beer 

1 egg

---------------------------

About Out of Exile

After three years of rotting in a cell, Bishop is busted out of prison in the dead of night and thrown into the middle of a police war where the stakes are high and personal. He must associate himself with dangerous guys to try and save the girl... and the day! 

Out of Exile is not a book you read, it's a effing action-packed film, a kind of Die Hard with a more virile McLane! It's explosive, relentless and incredibly funny. An action-packed book where the hero is not afraid to get his hands dirty

If you want to follow Luke Preston on his blog, on Twitter or Facebook.

And if you should want to buy his book it's here!

Between Two Thorns

by Emma Newman

Split Worlds series (book #1)

Urban Fantasy

Angry Robot - 26th February 2013

400 pages - 16.99 $

ISBN: 9780857663207

I must admit, this is once again the cover that first caught my attention. Then the story: a magical world and a mystery, what more should I want?


The blurb

Something is wrong in Aquae Sulis, Bath’s secret mirror city.

The new season is starting and the Master of Ceremonies is missing. Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is assigned with the task of finding him with no one to help but a dislocated soul and a mad sorcerer.

There is a witness but his memories have been bound by magical chains only the enemy can break. A rebellious woman trying to escape her family may prove to be the ally Max needs.

But can she be trusted? And why does she want to give up eternal youth and the life of privilege she’s been born into?

What I think of it

A very enchanting novel (in all senses). If at the beginning, I thought the idea of ​​a world parallel to ours strongly resembled Harry Potter, the author knows very quickly how to make us forget Hogwarts to transport us into a world of her own, much more mature and complex (it is no longer a duality of good / bad, but a conflict between different groups).

What are the Split Worlds? I admit it's the complex part of the book. It took me some time to be able to get a picture of this organization of a world so different from ours. The world is divided into two worlds, one is Exilium, " one of the finest prisons " where sorcerers have sent Fae to prevent them from interfering in the lives of Mundanes (humans) who live in the other world, in Mundanus (our reality). Between the two worlds is the Nether where live Fae-touched (humans affected by the Fae grace so to speak...)

So there are several groups in this book: the Fae-touched governed by Fae, Sorcerers who ensure that the Fae behave well, the Mundanus, we humans and finally Arbiters sent by Sorcerers, whose role is to defer any problems between Fae and humans.

The grand master of ceremonies disappeared from Nether and Cathy, a rebel fae-touched must find him, helped by Max an arbiters and Sam, a mundane. In parallel to this story, another mystery unfolds (which Max would prefer to investigate). So there is a small element of mystery, which always pleases me! There are also tensions between factions, problems of "ethnic" affiliations, a hint of struggle for women's rights (in the Nether! Do not worry, this is not a feminist novel!) This is thus a multifaceted  book that should touch different person.

What make this a good story? Mainly for the magic of these parallel worlds. The author has created a new reality and explains it without seeming to. Eventually, all become obvious and logical! Then the atmosphere. If Mundanus lies in our time, the Nether is stuck in the Victorian era it. The characters are dressed in the fashion of the time... and do not know electricity or modern amenities. Moreover, these differences are discovered with Cathy who had to return home after some years in our reality and who rebels against social norms and lack of modernism. This stilted atmosphere typical of the era adds a touch of Victorian novel that reinforces the magic of the book... as do the gargoyle serving as sidekick for Max. But the story is also excellent for the quality of writing, the boundless imagination of the author, the mystery that reveals itself progressively and ends resoundingly.

In a nutshell

A very good book, very pleasant and enjoyable, a magical world that carries you and endearing characters. I warmly recommend it and especially for lovers of fantasy... and Downtown Abbey !

Interview: Dan Newman, author of The Clearing

I'm pleased to welcome Dan Newman on my blog, as his first book The Clearing is now available. He was kind enough to answer my question. 

Will you tell us a little about yourself and your background? Have you always wanted to be writer?

Hi Vanessa! Thank you so much for this – it’s wonderful to be part of Vanessa’s Bookshelves...

I think that I came to writing because of the way I grew up, which was wandering around the globe with my parents – my father worked in international development, so we travelled a lot. I moved from school to school frequently, and I remember doing a lot of writing as it was something that could move with me. I spent time in some interesting places like St. Lucia, the Kingdom of Lesotho and Swaziland, and I think those places really helped form my perspective on things. When I came back to Canada to do my undergraduate degree, I really noticed the gulf between the worlds. That’s always stuck with me.

I only really decided to take on novel writing about sixteen years ago – my first book, The Cull, is still a favourite of mine even though it has all the problems you might expect with an early effort. One day I hope to go back and see if I can salvage it. So I’m not sure I always wanted to be a writer, but I’m pretty sure I want to now. I’m working hard at that one.

What about The Clearing? Would you give us a teaser? 

The Clearing is really a story about how our past stays with us, and left unattended for long periods of time, it will make itself known. In the book, Nate Mason finds himself beset by tragedy, and feels that the only way to move forward is to go back. And the past, his past, is waiting for him – almost as a character itself.

I've seen on your site that you have "other projects in the pipe" that sound promising. Why The Clearing instead of another one for your first book?

Well, as much as I’d love to be in a position to dictate what I’d like to have published, I’m simply not. The publisher gets to make that call, and after reviewing The Clearing, they bought the rights. My deal with Exhibit A is for two books, so I do get to decide what to submit next, but it still has to be something they find interesting and marketable. At the moment I’m just finishing up a sequel to The Clearing, so that may be the next book I submit to them, but I also have another project that is very near and dear to my heart that I would like them to look at. So I have some decisions to make there... 

The book is set on St Lucia where you lived, there are two journalists of which one wanted to be a writer, do you take inspiration from your life to create your characters and story?

For me, the old saw write-what-you-know is a guiding principle. I absolutely look to my own life when I write, and perhaps one of the few advantages I have is that my father’s career provided me with so many experiences in so many unique places and cultures. I really do see my childhood as having been a fantastic adventure. For example, much of The Clearing is based on my own experiences at an old plantation house in St. Lucia. The Bolom, an important supernatural character in the book, is something that as a young kid of eleven or twelve, I absolutely believed in – given what happened up there. And to find out what that was, you’ll have to follow Nate up to Ti Fenwe... J 

There's a deep connection with children in The Clearing and The Journalist (one of the project in the pipe) is also about children, is it an important connection for you? A subject that touch you? 

I think so. I think that because of the intensity of my own childhood – and I mean that in a positive, wide-eyed view of life, way – I see childhood as perhaps the most important phase of our growth. The foundations for everything we are, for everything we will become – it all gets poured during those few short years of childhood. It might also be due to the fact that I’m the father of a young boy, too. And fatherhood changes you. Watching a kid grow amazes and terrifies me all at once. I’m helping with that particular foundation... so yes, I’d say childhood is something I’m very connected to.

Are you still working? If yes, how do you manage to combine work and writing? 

Yes, I still have a day job. And while the fantasy is to write all day and make a good living at it, I still get great satisfaction from the balance I have right now. I try to write every night – usually between 9:00 and about midnight. Then I’ll also do some early mornings on the weekends before my family wakes up – the 6:00 to 9:00 slot is a very productive one for me.

Why have you chosen to write thrillers? 

I’m not sure that was a choice. I started writing and that’s what came out. When I first started, I found myself writing along the lines of Wilbur Smith... perhaps because I had spent so much time in Africa, or because it was Wilbur Smith that first got me into reading. 

Who's your favorite author or the one who inspires you the most? 

I am a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy. I think his novel The Road is the best piece of writing I've ever come across, and I think there are only a small handful of writers that can create that kind of work. Genius is not too strong a word. It’s something to aspire to, even if you know you’ll never achieve that kind of excellence. That’s certainly the case for me.

What are you reading currently? 

Two books just now: I’m on the middle of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, and I've just started Richard Parker’s Scare Me. My taste is all over the map. Always has been.

What's next for you ? 

On the writing front, I’m getting ready to send in my second book for Exhibit A – so there are a few long conversations coming with my agent - the most excellent Carrie Pestritto – to determine just which project that will be.

On the personal front, we’re about to get a dog for my son. We’re getting a chocolate lab, and I can’t wait. I grew up with dogs, and left so many behind with friends when we left to go to the next post. It was heartbreaking. I’m looking forward to bringing this little puppy home and giving him a family for life.

Why so serious questions: 

Surfing or writing?

Aaargh! Can’t I do both? Please!? Well, if I absolutely had to choose, I guess it’d be writing. Fewer sharks.

Your Desert Island read would be...

Easy – The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

Given the choice where would you live? 

Another easy one! Tropical Queensland, east coast of Australia. A small beachside town called Noosa just north of Brisbane. I get back there every chance I get.

Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners ou Royals by Lorde? 

Gotta go with what has stood the test of time (sorry Lorde)... Come On Eileen.. Oh, I swear what he means. At this moment you mean, eeeeeeverything...

Thanks Vanessa!

Dan.

-----

About The Clearing:
When Nate was a boy, he lived in an island, St Lucia. The night of the "event", four boys walked in the forest but only three came back alive. They said it was a monster and no one believed them. Now an adult, Nate comes back to the island to set things right. As soon as he arrived, he realized that he's followed and that his life is in danger as well as his sanity. Against all advice, he decides to unveil the truth.

You can follow Dan on Twitter, his books blog or his personal blog.

Of Fever and Blood

by Sire Cédric

Publishers Square (October 15, 2013)

369 pages - 7.99 $ (ebook)

After reading the first book L'enfant des cimetières and despite my mixed feelings due to the presence of children where I do not like to see them (see my review here), I wanted to try again reading Sire Cédric because, despite this concern, the book was very good. And as I don't like staying on an uncertainty, when the book Of Fever and Blood came out on NetGalley I took the opportunity to rediscover this so popular author. A thank you to Publishers Square and Open Road Media for the book!

The Blurb

This fast-paced, supernatural thriller is a race against time to defeat a deadly force.

Of Fever and Blood begins at the end of an investigation. Inspectors Vauvert and Svärta, an albino profiler, solve a series of sadistic ritual murders and the supposed culprits, the Salaville brothers, are killed in a standoff.

However, one year later, the killings start all over again, but this time in Paris. All forensic evidence point to the brothers, but how can that be?

Their investigation leads Svärta and Vauvert to Judith Saint-Clair, the deathly ill patient at a mental institution that also housed the Salavilles. They discover the incredible truth: Saint-Clair had manipulated the Salavilles into killing young women in order for her to accomplish magic rituals to stave off death. Nothing and no one will stop her from reaching her goal of eternal life . . . death is not an option.

What I think of it

I must say that the fantastic and even horror side is very present in the book. Yes, there is an investigation very well conducted but the supernatural elements take over. As such, I'm not sure if the category booksellers give this book (thriller) is the best. In fact, a new category should be created " thriller horror " or " horrific thriller "... in which books from this new generation of writers influenced by Stephen King as Sir Cedric or Maxime Chattam could be put into. In any case, this novel confirms the quality of writing of Sir Cedric, particularly to convey the horror.

About the book, I meet again with Vauvert with pleasure. The giant cop with a fine intelligence has grown since L'enfant des cimetières. If in the first book, he tried to do his job despite the aspects he did not understand and refused to believe in, in this second book, he's much more comfortable with supernatural elements. He accepts those elements as part of life and soon learned to write a police-report-that-can-be-read-by-chiefs. This time he teams up with Eva, a profiler cop from Paris, albino and quite broken because of a violent and muddled past that we discover as the story unfold. Eva is exceptionally competent, knows it and doesn't hesitate to follow her ideas to the great displeasure of Vauvert. If I struggled to appreciate her at the outset - because she seemed too cold and distant - as I discovered her story and, therefore, learned the reasons for her behavior it helped me to like her.

The story gets off like a bat out of hell as a young girl is kidnapped and finds herself locked in a house where the bloodstains are too numerous not to create a sense of immediate panic. Vauvert and Eva save her in extremis and everything seems to end well. Except that a year later, all start over again. Being struck by the story from the beginning created a tension that doesn't falter. Crime scenes are particularly gruesome - very well written in a fairly understated style - and strike a cord with demonic elements (hell and demons represent some kind of deap-rooted fear for most poeple).

If we know fast enough the motive behing the murders, there is a race against the clock to know WHO is the instigator and then WHERE is this famous person because he/she must be stopped as soon as possible to avoid more dead people. Throughout the book, there is a tension and a nervousness, well served by a realistic judicial proceedings. As in L'enfant des cimetières, I like to see Vauvert's efforts to make some situations credibles when they haven't one ounce of reality. In this novel, the police attempt to integrate these supernatural elements in their investigation by affixing a certain logic but when it's not possible, Vauvert doesn't hesitate to think outside the box, even if he finishes to be pursued by justice.

In a nutshell

A good novel one reads quickly, nervous and horrible. A winning trio altogether. I give it 4/5.

Good to know: Sire Cedric was awarded the 2012 Cognac Polar Prize for this book and the Cine+ Frisson 2011 Prize.

My thought on closing the book: brrr! it sends shivers down one spine!

Out of exile

by Luke Preston

A Tom Bishop Fampage

Momentum (October 1, 2013)

254 pages - 4.99 $ (kindle)

Luke Preston was recommended by several authors that I follow on Twitter. As these authors are good, I think that they should also have good taste about books, right? Plus, Luke Preston on Twitter has a keen humour so I wanted to read his second book when I saw it on NetGalley. A thank you to Momentum for the book!

The blurb

Sometimes a little violence is a good thing

You can't go on the kind of spree ex-cop Tom Bishop did and not face consequences.

After three years of rotting in a cell, Bishop is busted out of prison in the dead of night and thrown into the middle of a police war where the stakes are high and personal.

Now, the very man who put him away calls on his help. But what starts out as a simple rescue mission escalates into an adrenaline-fuelled, action packed thrill-ride as Bishop plunges into a web of conspiracy that threatens to destroy his soul, but may provide the truth about his past.

Out of Exile is the anticipated follow up to the award-nominated Dark City Blue.

What I think of it

Out of Exile is the sequel to Dark City Blue that has already caused a stir at the time and that ends with Bishop in prison. Fortunately, not having read the first book does not stop to read the second. Some references are made, of course, but I never felt out of the gang, which is great, but it does make you long to read Dark City Blue!

Out of Exile is not a book you read, it's a effing action-packed film, a kind of Die Hard with a more virile McLane! It's explosive, relentless and incredibly funny. This is an action-packed film where the hero is not afraid to get his hands dirty.

About the characters in the book: we mainly follow Tom Bishop ex-cop who ended up in jail for having taking out the dirty cops who killed his daughter. He's therefore in jail at the beginning of the book. He's a tough guy, violent but who always tries to do what is right. As he says : "Sometimes a little violence is the right thing to do." He is very tall, bald and full of scars (due to bullets received in Dark Blue City), he's the kind of person who would make you want to change of pavement if you crossed him. Yet we can't help ourselves to like him, to know that with him on our side we have the best chance we can get to survive.

One thing I really appreciated is that Bishop does not hesitate to let go of something when he sees that he can't do it. He won't run unnecessarily in front of guns - assuming that him being alive will be more useful. Often heroes risk their lives in situations where logic dictates to hide away from bullets. Obviously, the hero never dies, but it's more difficult to identify with that kind of hero. Bishop reacts more consistently with logic and even if his stamina is much better than mine... I found that he was more realistic in his decisions.

The story is very complex, ultra-fast paced. Tom must team up with a gang of criminals to try to save the victims of a hostage. But he soon realizes that the hostage-taking is a tactic to reach for even more violent and devious ends. He's of course pursued by justice but managed to get the support of some former colleagues. It's a chase against the clock, the dirty cops, cops... no time to lose! There's a lot of stunts, explosions and other ingredients for a good action movie in this book. English is not my mother tongue so I read more slowly than in French and yet I read this book in two days! I couldn't let go of it.

In a nutshell

An explosive book, funny with a very interesting main character which is easy to relate to. A big favorite for this thriller. I give it 5 /5 (and  I run to buy Dark Blue City)

My thought on closing the book: Wow, it rocks!

The King's Hounds

by Martin Jensen

AmazonCrossing (29 octobre 2013)

272 pages - 5.21 $ (Kindle)

I've had this book through NetGalley. I know it's lame but its cover had me from the start... and then, the blurb did the rest!

The blurb

The first in the bestselling Danish series of historical mysteries

The newly crowned King Cnut of Denmark has conquered England and rules his new empire from Oxford. The year is 1018 and the war is finally over, but the unified kingdom is far from peaceful.

Halfdan’s mixed lineage—half Danish, half Saxon—has made him a pauper in the new kingdom. His father, his brother, and the land he should have inherited were all taken by the new king’s men. He lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, Halfdan now wanders the country aimlessly, powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a former monk, he sees no reason not to accept his strange invitation to travel together to Oxford. Winston has been commissioned to paint a portrait of the king at the invitation of his new wife, and the protection of a clever man like Halfdan is well worth its price in wine and bread.

But when the pair’s arrival in court coincides with news of a murder, the king has a brilliant idea: Why not enlist the newly arrived womanizing half-Dane and the Saxon intellectual to defuse a politically explosive situation? The pair represents both sides of the conflict and seem to have crime-solving skills to boot. In their search for the killer, Halfdan and Winston find seduction, adventure, and scandal in the wild early days of Cnut’s rule.

What I think of it

I loved it! An excellent book, very pleasant, very nice, very funny.

I completely fell for Halfdan - who tells the story in the first person - even if he sometimes lacks in moral sense. When we meet him, he's about to rob Winston to steal his food and he's considering it without qualm. Add to that that he's a real womanizer and that he does not hesitate to use violence if necessary. I don't know if it's his humor or the fact that he's sometimes unlucky or clumsy, but he's a very likable character that one quickly appreciates. Winston, the brain of the pair is also a great character: former monk, an intelligence based on the thoroughness and details, he has a sense of his superiority. He regularly highlights the fact that he was the first one to understand one thing and that Halfdan could have done the same by thinking. Winston and Halfdan are a bit like Holmes and Watson, although Watson in this book is a little more crafty and womanizer. Do not forget the donkey, Atheling, which provides some very funny and light scenes, especially when in the presence of Halfdan.

The plot is well done. It a classic whodunit, the number of potential suspects is known quickly, all that is to know is which one did it. The elements are revealed one after the other, in a chain of events that leads logically to the killer. It is easy to know who killed before the end, but the overall context of the book makes that story interesting until the end. We also learn more about judgment and how people defended themselves at the time (and thankfully that has changed!)

I enjoyed getting to know the life in England at the time, which makes this book very interesting from the historical side. It's also nice to discover the historical side of the history of England from the perspective of a Danish. Here, the Danes or Vikings are not the bad guys just because they have invaded the country.

Finally, Halfdan and Winston have three days to discover the murderer so the pace is fast, you won't get bored. There's action, especially as Cnut want to solve the problem as soon as possible, meetings more or less pleasant and characters that bring a lot of freshness. And icing on the cake, this book is the first in a series.

In a nutshell

A little treasure. The light atmosphere of the book - especially thanks to Halfdan I must say - the plot, the historical context: it's all well written, well done and very enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book! I give it 4.5 / 5.

My thought on closing the book : Excellent!