I love a good mystery, as I think I've made abundantly clear. Naturally, I was excited to hear that Henning Mankell, author of the Wallander series, had written a new novel. I was a little disappointed that it didn't feature Wallander, of course, although I still have plenty of that series left to read. The Man from Beijing instead focuses on Birgitta Roslin, a judge dealing with the aftermath of a massacre in a small Swedish village. As the title indicates, she soon discovers that the case is a bit more far-reaching than it might first appear. I read this review from Entertainment Weekly, in which the reviewer calls Mankell's latest "hands down the best thriller [she's] read in five years." Okay, I'm sold. NPR is pretty positive as well, in case you'd like another opinion.
Technically, P.D. James's latest book isn't a mystery - it's about mysteries, however, so I don't feel too bad about lumping it with Mankell's in one post. P.D. James is one of the preeminent modern mystery authors, and I've enjoyed several of her Adam Dalgliesh novels. In Talking About Detective Fiction, James traces the roots of novels featuring detectives (paging Wilkie Collins) and considers their evolution to the modern day. The New York Times review makes it sound really, really good. (Those digs at Agatha Christie! Who knew?) I am 80th on the library hold list - though someone with a 600 page Keats biography sitting on her shelf probably shouldn't be placing any holds at all. At 80th, I imagine I have a while, at least.
No comments:
Post a Comment