Saki Blogs

Title: DEATH DANCE
Author: Linda Fairstein
Publisher: Little Brown
Edition released: February 2006
ISBN: 0-316-72683-4
Classification: Crime
402 pages

Death Dance is the 8th book Linda Fairstein's series featuring Alexander Cooper. This was my third outing with Alex Cooper, having read a couple of the early books in the series sometime ago, and it was particularly interesting to see where the series had gone in the intervening years.

Alex is an Assistant District Attorney, working in the sex crime division, passionately devoted to her job and to the victims she sees herself as representing. Teamed up firstly with long-time friend Mercer Wallace, they are investigating the drugging rape of two visiting Canadian girls, when called to a missing prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Natalya Galinova after first being listed as officially missing, is eventually found brutally killed in the backstage area of the Opera House. Alex and Mercer team up with Mike Chapman, the third member of a group of long-time friends and colleagues, to investigate the murder. They do this in and around the backstage of the Opera House and amongst some powerful players in the New York theatre world.

Along with these two major investigations, the NY Police are also trying to track down a serial rapist who is attacking women in local parks.

The central plot regarding the death of the ballerina takes most of the focus in the book and, aside from Alex having a life long love of ballet, it was never really clear why a sex-crime prosecutor would be involved so closely in the non-sex related death of Galinova. The investigation of the death proceeds very slowly, intertwined with some interesting aspects of the Opera House, theatre venues in New York and with a cast of "theatre types" both management and talent. There is an unfortunate inconsistency in some of that follow-up which dragged me right out of the story and some fem-jep towards the end which really seemed too convenient. Meanwhile, the investigation into the rape of the two Canadian girls proceeds quickly and a suspect is easily identified. The resolution of that crime is less satisfactory from Alex's point of view, but could have struck a strong chord of reality if the final page dramatic climax had been avoided. The rapist in the park is also resolved but again, the methodology used is a little out of the blue and the plot line never really got much focus throughout the book.

One of the strengths of this book is the long-term relationship between the three investigators. They know each other well and have been through a lot together. The references to previous events, presumably from earlier books, are quite easy to assimilate and give a real feeling for the long-term friendship.

The rather crowded plot; the inexplicable actions in a sub-part of the ballerina's death; a glaring piece of fem-jep which seemed rather unnecessary, and a final "rapping up" of absolutely every loose end on all the sub-plots on the final pages of the book detracted. For me, this was an interesting read, but not one of my all-time favourites from this author.

Tony Grant, part-Aboriginal Lawyer, is murdered on an outback station and his body moved to a meat locker beside the main station house. Where and why he was murdered seems to be something that the local police just can't work out. Ex-policeman and adoptive brother of Tony, Rod comes back to Alice Springs when their father asks for his help.

There is nothing much keeping Rod away any more with his own life rapidly going nowhere. Alongside the murder, Aboriginal and White relationships in the "frontier town" of Alice Springs, land rights and the ongoing battles between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal interests there are the property development aspirations of a Malaysian / Chinese development group headed by an Uncle and Nephew who have an uncomfortable business and personal relationship. Then the death of Tony's friend and niece of the Chen family Dana and it does start to seem that Tony's death must be something to do with a major resort development.

This book was originally released in 1988 and it provides a very realistic view of Aboriginal / White Australian relationships and the situation in towns like Alice Springs in 1988. Moffitt is the author of The Retreat of Radiance, The Colour Man and Blue Angels. He, sadly, is now dead, but if (aside from a slightly silly scene from the point of view of a crocodile for goodness sake) anyone is interested in a realistic view of Aboriginal Australia as of 20 years ago, I can highly recommend this book.

Capable of Murder, Brian Kavanagh
My Rating: Choccies, coffee, sparkling shiraz, book in hand, comfy chair late on a Sunday afternoon in the fading sun read.
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A young Australian girl's elderly english great-aunt leaves everything to her after she dies in her home, seemingly from an accidental fall down the stairs. After Belinda moves into her great-aunt's house it seems that everyone is very interested in her and the house and in particular the garden.

Brian is a recent member of one of my favourite online reading groups, has been very circumspect and is, I hasten to add not somebody I've ever met. Some may not be aware but amongst other editing credits Brian boasts two of the greatest all time Australian movies Odd Angry Shot and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (IMNSHO of course) so his presence piqued my interest and I had to move a few planets to get my hands on one of his books.

Title: MR CLARINET
Author: Nick Stone
Publisher: Penguin
Edition released: February 2006
ISBN: 0-09-947885
Classification: Crime
Price: $29.95 (Aust. Dollars)
560 pages

In Nick Stone's debut book, MR CLARINET, ex-cop, ex-PI, most recently convicted of manslaughter, Max Mingus is contacted whilst still in jail by the desperate father of a child kidnapped in Haiti. Despite offering millions of dollars as a reward, Allain Carver, part of the powerful and rich elite of Haitian society, has to pester Mingus in jail and after release, to take up the search for his son. Mingus has a reputation of getting to the bottom of kidnappings and disappearing children, and of taking those searches very much to heart. Carver has been trying, with various other PI's for 3 years, to find his missing infant son. Charlie Carver is not the only child to go missing in Haiti, and a lot of previous investigators have died or been left scarred trying to work their way through a violent and dysfunctional society.

Stone's Haiti is a country very much on the edge, with occupation forces patrolling streets and gangs controlling others, society conventions are disrupted, there is economic meltdown and increasing slum living conditions, confrontational voodoo practices and rituals are being openly used and discussed, and drug lords enforce their brand of tribal law.

This is a big, elaborate thriller of a book, with action, violence and ritual liberally interspersed throughout. A little judicious editing would have been of some benefit as some of the middle sections of the book drag slightly, and some of the voodoo rituals, whilst perhaps thought to add some colour, came across as pointlessly gratuitous.

All round, a good thriller which, despite showing some weaknesses, indicates promise for a second book.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_fiction

You have just GOT to wonder if there is anything that isn't in wikipedia