[whitebelly]

Auntie Pam: every novel is readable as a stand-alone, characters that were introduced in earlier novels get a short re-introduction, so it’s not as if you wouldn’t be able to follow the plot. On the other hand part of the pleasure is seeing the characters (and in particluar Wallander) evolve, both on the professional and the private level. So if you don’t read the series in chronological order, that pleasure is disrupted, though you can still enjoy every book purely for its ‘crime’ content.

So: for people who like the series and who plan to read them all anyway, I wouldn’t recommend it.

grtz,

WB

[AuntiePam]

Thanks, Whitebelly. I'll read them in order. You make sense -- character development and growth is just as important as various plot elements.

[AuntiePam]

What's the title of the third book, the one that's not translated yet? I can ask Amazon to keep a watch for it.

[whitebelly]

Hello Auntie,

In Dutch (and Swedish) the title of the third book, translated literally, would be "The Man who Laughed". I'm not aware of any plans to have it translated in English yet. It's also the weakest book in the series, which might explain why they didn't translate it in the first place.

wb

[FicusFan]

Am reading "The Athenian Murders" by Jose Carlos Somosa, which is not what you would think it would be (straight-forward whodunnit in ancient times). A really hard nut to crack, much worse (I mean: better) than "The Name of the Rose", which it is often compared to.

I have the Athenian Murders at home, but have yet to read it. Maybe I will dig it out and take a break from my other reading.

[FicusFan]

I have recently started reading a new mystery series, and enjoyed them very much. It is written by Donna Leon, who lives in Italy I think, but it doesn't say where she is originally from. I was trying to decide if the books had been translated into English or written in English from the start (nothing in the credits about a translator).

Anyway it is set in modern day Venice and the main character is a middle-aged detective on the city force. He is trying to solve crimes while fighting the beaurecrats (SP?) and the social climbers who are trying to appease the aristocracy. He has day to day issues with his family that are part of the story, and with his co-workers. The first book is called A Noble Radiance, and the second is Uniform Justice. There is a third one, but it is in Hardcover and I am waiting for it to go into paper.

[whitebelly]

Ficusfan, do read the "Athenian Murders", even if you don't really feel like it. I read it only after a friend of mine nagged and nagged, and now I wished I'd read it sooner. It is BRILLIANT (and completely unlike anything you have ever read before, I think I can safely promise that). And if you don't like the beginning (like I did) and think you're in for an old-fashioned whodunnit in Ancient Times (of which it has all the appearances), please do persevere, because it is nothing of the kind.

Donna Leon is Italian. I hear a lot about her, but I haven't read anything by her. So let me know what you think.

I do have some of the art-crimi books by Iain Pears at home, but haven't read those either. I've read "An Instance at the Fingerpost" which I think was truly excellent.

[FicusFan]

Ficusfan, do read the "Athenian Murders", even if you don't really feel like it. I read it only after a friend of mine nagged and nagged, and now I wished I'd read it sooner. It is BRILLIANT (and completely unlike anything you have ever read before, I think I can safely promise that). And if you don't like the beginning (like I did) and think you're in for an old-fashioned whodunnit in Ancient Times (of which it has all the appearances), please do persevere, because it is nothing of the kind.

Donna Leon is Italian. I hear a lot about her, but I haven't read anything by her. So let me know what you think.

I do have some of the art-crimi books by Iain Pears at home, but haven't read those either. I've read "An Instance at the Fingerpost" which I think was truly excellent.

I will read Athenian Murders eventually, I bought the book in HC. I just have to dig it out of the pile, and work it into my schedule. I am a bit saddened by your comments, because I bought it because I thought it was a mystery (not sure what you mean by old fashioned whodunit) set in ancient times. I am an ancient history fan. But I will give it a whirl, just not sure when.

Thanks for the info on Donna Leon. I just picked up another PB of hers in the same series: Death at La Fenice. I was outraged to discover (on Amazon) that the books I thought were the start of the series are something like the 13th !! Seems they have been published in Europe and she is big hit there. They are trying to get her started in the US, but why didn't they start with the first book in the series ??? I may have to order the first 12 from the UK if they don't start publishing them here.

I also read and loved Iain Pear's An Instance of the Fingerpost. I have another of his The Dream of Scipio which I have yet to start.

[AuntiePam]

You compare Athenian Murders to Name of the Rose. I gave up on Rose about halfway through, because of constantly having to get out the dictionary.

I couldn't tell the meaning of a word by the context in which it was used, and I didn't know which were important and which weren't. Totally frustrated. I enjoyed the movie though.

Would I need a dictionary for Athenian Murders?

[whitebelly]

Ficusfan ... don’t be saddened, it IS a mystery story, it does take place in Ancient Times, but it’s also much more than that (let's say that there's an extra dimension, which is only revealed at the very end ...). In the original (Spanish or Portuguese, I forget), the title is sth. like “The Cave of Ideas”, referring to Plato’s Theory of Ideas, which is a leitmotief in the book. In Dutch it is “The Riddle of the Philosopher”. And I really can’t say more without giving things away ... so read it! (if you’re an Ancient Times fan, you really won’t be disappointed).

AuntiePam, as a non-native english speaker I didn’t need the dictionary once (I read the english PB) so I think I can safely promise you that you won’t need it either ;) . The book is often compared to Name of the Rose by Eco, but then again, every clever and more than averagely complex historical thriller is, so no worries. Actually it is quite an easy read (language-wise), but it is the idea behind the book that is so devilishly clever; even Eco never came up with sth. like that.

Leon features prominently on the crime shelves here, yes. I also prefer to read crime series in the right chronological order – even if the books can be read as stand-alones – because I am as much interested in the development of the main characters (is there a tiny soap addict in every person?) as in the crime story itself. I have a weakness for older, cynical(ish) chief detectives (or similar) whose private lives are non-existant and/or a mess, social misfits and outsiders who are, somehow, brilliant crime solvers. In other words: Anything from Sherlock Holmes to Kurt Wallander. So, is Leon’s detective my type of guy or girl? :p

“Dream of Scipio” is in the “to-read’ pile; a friend read it and was less impressed than she was by “Instance”, but then again, that book really was spot-on.