Reading in Reykjavík

Year published: 1997 Genre: Crime, thriller, comic Setting & time: (mostly) the Caribbean island of Saint Martin; 1990s. The Story: Between hits, laid-back professional assassin Henry lives an idyllic life on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin with his wife Frances, but things get complicated when an assignment goes wrong and one of the intended victims survives. The injured capo agrees to bear witness against his former Mafia associates and is moved to Saint Martin by the authorities to keep him out of harm's way. However, their idyll is about to be disturbed because the mafioso who ordered the hit has sent out people to track down the capo and Henry and kill them both. Technique and rating: This is a better put-together book than the previous thriller I read by Bourdain ( Bone in the Throat ) in that it focuses on fewer characters and there are no extraneous storylines here that interfere with the main story, making it more focused and streamlined. It is loosely connecte...

Original Italian title: Il cane di terracotta Translator: Stephen Sartarelli (2002) Genre: Mystery Year of publication: 1996 No. in series: 2 Series detective: Inspector Salvo Montalbano Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Sicily, Italy; 1993 Story: When working on a case, Inspector Montalbano discovers a sealed-off cave and inside it the dessicated bodies of two young people, murdered 50 years before. The bodies have been ritualistically surrounded by a life-size terracotta dog, a water jug and a bowl of money. While on sick-leave, Montalbano has time to investigate the case and makes some interesting discoveries. Review and rating: As with the previous books I read by Camilleri, I found this one to be a good mixture of skilful writing and plotting and great storytelling. Combined with the humour, some quite poignant but never sappy scenes and some of the most mouthwatering descriptions of food I have read in any mystery, it makes for great reading. And of course...