Review Archive for author's that start with ... V
Review Archive for author's that start with ... V
Pounding the Pavement
(Jennifer van der Kwast), Road
Story (Julienne van Loon), Sugarmilk Falls (Ilona van Mil),
Have
Mercy On Us All (Fred Vargas), Seeking
Whom He May Devour
(Fred Vargas), This Night's Foul Work
(Fred Vargas), The Perfect Suspect (Vincent Varjavandi), Relics
(Pip Vaughan-Hughes),
The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics (Nuri
Vittachi), The Feng Shui Detective's Casebook (Nury Vittachi),
POUNDING THE PAVEMENT
by Jennifer van der Kwast
ISBN 1863254730
280 pages
Bantam
September 1 2005
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
September 11 2005
Jennifer van der Kwast deserves to be able to turn depression into dollars with her semi-autobiographical debut novel POUNDING THE PAVEMENT. Mind, she is careful to warn readers that the annoying mother in the book is not in the least like her real mother, who is not at all annoying. The author, like her protagonist Sarah Pelletier, lost her job and spent months pounding pavements in search of another. Fortunately for an audience eager for a laugh or a different way of looking at unemployment, van der Kwast kept a journal from which she gained inspiration to write a novel which, in turn, inspires readers to hilarity - even if the laugh might issue from the wrong side of the face.
Sarah is basing her last hope on Mark Shapiro, a head hunter she is hunting to trap her a job. Not that he is the answer to this particular maiden's prayer, in fact, he repeatedly proves himself as inept with finding a suitable job as he is at pronouncing Sarah's name. Nonetheless, Sarah is desperate. She has been jobless for several months, her experience in the film industry counting for not much in her non-developing career. She shares an apartment with a beautiful, successful woman (successful in love as well as her career - well, the two seem joined at the hip, so to speak) and is constantly made to feel inferior as she meets new people who seem only interested in her profession. Then, of course, there is the helpful advice of her loving mother.
Nursing a superior inferiority complex, in a temp job she doesn't really want, Sarah meets the man of her dreams who is, alas, dreaming of the perfect girl who has recently dumped him. Sarah feels even more inferior when she glimpses the paragon of perfection.
A publicity handout that accompanies the book notifies readers that Ms van der Kwast, unlike the state of her hapless heroine for most of the book, has found both the perfect job and the perfect man. Good upon her. It would, however, be fitting as well as ironic were she to find such great success with novel writing that she no longer needed a 'proper' job but could make enough money to support both herself and a succession of perfect toyboys in utter and complete luxury.
ROAD STORY
by Julienne van Loon
ISBN 1741146216
155 pages
Allen & Unwin
July 1 2005
$21.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 17 2005
Not many writers are able to brag that they are given the Vogel Award for their debut novel, but Julienne van Loon can do just that - Road Story was the successful nominee for the 2004 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. An academic, van Loon wrote Road Story as part of her Ph.D. thesis. As she lectures in Creative Writing, one hopes that she may, by way of her students, help assure Australia's literary future.
Diana Kooper leaves a wrecked car in metropolitan Sydney. She abandons Nicole Clarke, her closest friend since their school days. Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that Nicole is dead. Diana can only think of fleeing the scene and heads back toward the country where she and Nicole grew up, before, aged fourteen, they ran away from home. Seeing a sign advertising a position for a kitchen hand at a roadhouse, a 'truckies' joint', Diana, on impulse, alights from the bus on which she is aimlessly travelling, and begins working for Bob, the owner of the establishment.
The girl is relatively happy in the isolated place until one day the owner's pet dog is butchered. Diana is uneasy at what the barbaric act may convey but continues to work there. After all, she now has what could be described as a boyfriend. Even so, thoughts of Nicole beset her and when Bob's sister insists she can see the spirit of a woman following Diana, she feels the deserted Nicole may, indeed have died.
Needless to say, given the Vogel, this writer is particularly literate and capable. She evokes the atmosphere of the roadhouse, both the people there and the stifling weather, in a particularly deft manner. The character study of Diana is well done and the hopelessness of the future for a pair of runaways, however well intentioned, is depressingly drawn. The tenuous and deplorably frail nature of some friendships is disturbingly depicted. A plunge into the depths of addiction of various kinds does nothing to lighten the tale while the fecklessness of love that is casual on one side and more intense on the other is painted in its full torment.
While there are authors of this calibre producing fiction, the standard of Australian literature will be high.
SUGARMILK FALLS
by Ilona van Mil
ISBN 0330436155
362 pages
May 3 2005
$30.00
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 13 2005
It is interesting to note that Ilona van Mil won the CWA Debut Dagger 2002 - and that only for the opening pages and what amounted to an outline of SUGARMILK FALLS. The entirety of the book has certainly fulfilled the initial promise shown by the law lecturer.
The opening chapter of the novel is set in February 1993. A stranger, a woman, arrives in the northern Canadian town of Sugarmilk Falls. Almost the entire population gathers on the night of the 13th February in order to discuss the events of two decades previously, events which themselves had their roots in World War Two.
The protagonist of the tale could well be seen as the town of Sugarmilk Falls. It comprises a racial mix of Ojibwa Indians (the Osweken family), whites of French derivation and the Displaced Person, schoolteacher Marina Grochowska, she who, despite the sacrifice by her Jewish parents in order to preserve her freedom, had spent time in a concentration camp - a fact made obvious by the tattooed numbers on her arm.
Killings, which were indirectly linked to Sugarmilk Falls, began in postwar Paris. They were witnessed by the then Captain, Mathieu Souris, later priest ,with no hope of higher religious office, of the town. Years later, the chain of killings continue in the sugar rich Falls. Motivations for the murders seem to range from racial prejudice, desire for revenge and plain superstition as well as the greed for land rights.
The beauty of the Canadian wilderness is sensitively evoked throughout the narrative. The horrors that can be inflicted upon innocents are graphically drawn against the background of traditional magic belief, the power of a party line and the hatred of those who are different.
The writing is literate and coherent and the plotting of the mystery is excellent. The atmosphere of the place, complete with a maple sugar overload, is evoked in beautiful prose. There is even a feeling reminiscent of some facets of William Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES.
One can only hope that many more novels will be born from the keyboard
of this extremely talented newcomer to the field of crime fiction.
HAVE MERCY ON US ALL
by Fred Vargas
translated by David Bellos
ISBN 1843431092
321 pages
The Harvill Press
London
$32.95
December 1 2003
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
November 28 2003
Fred Vargas is an historian and archaeologist - certainly not mutually exclusive professions. She (the 'Fred' stands for 'Frederique) has of late concentrated more on her fiction writing than archaeological research and Have Mercy On Us All is a tribute to her excellence in both categories.
I have sometimes found that clumsy translations can break the success of a work when published in a language other than the original. Fortunately for Vargas' readers, David Bellos has performed admirably with his sensitive translation. There are occasional lapses (for example 'Are you coming with?') but on the whole, the reader is able to immerse herself in the prose and forget that it is not a direct communication from the author.
The narrative is primarily located in Paris and opens with Joss le Guern running late for his self generated job of reading his version of a news bulletin in his occupation of Town Crier. Joss had been a sea captain but the miserliness of his ship's owner had been the cause of an accident in which shipmates of Joss had drowned. Joss' incomplete vengeance wreaked on the owner had resulted in his imprisonment and subsequent inability to find work in his previous calling. Joss believes he is visited by the shade of his great-grandfather whose vocation was that of town crier, so he, too, took up the role.
Joss is remarkably successful as a news broadcaster, managing to eke out a very profitable living indeed, one augmented further when 'special' notices, carrying more money than those he usually proclaims, begin arriving in expensive stationery. Nothing averse to this increase in his income, Joss reads the notices which are couched in archaic language and catches the unwilling attention of Decambrais, a scholar who previously engaged Joss in mutual loathing and contempt. Decambrais lets rooms and Joss is permitted to occupy one of the coveted habitations as the pair forms an unlikely alliance.
The scholar, scenting something sinister in the texts presented to Joss, seeks the help of the Chief Commisaire, Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg. Intuitive Adamsberg realises there is a link between the quotations and apparent mirror image 4s that have been appearing around Paris. In a previous time the 4s were used as a talisman to protect inhabitants of marked buildings from the bubonic plague. Adamsberg, he whose memory stumbles at people's names, enlists the further help of other unlikely scholars and together they realise that the sender of the special missives received by Joss is predicting another onslaught of the Black Death. Then the first corpse is discovered.
Unlikely as it seems for a story resonating with the horrors of a plague of earlier ages, Have Mercy On Us All is written with a great deal of charm. The characters are delicately drawn with much painstaking care devoted to their personal vagaries. The pace is not hurried but ambles along, permitting Adamsberg to dally with the love of his life while Joss is entertained by the ghost of his forebear. There is loving attention to detail. The plot follows some convoluted paths and the resolution of the mystery came, to me at least, as a surprise.
I will be well pleased should further work by this enchanting author
come my way.
SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR
by Fred Vargas
translated by David Bellos
ISBN 1843430908
263 pages
The Harvill Press
London
December 1 2004
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 24 2004
David Bellos has done the English reading world another great favour by translating Fred Vargas' newer novel SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOURÝsubsequent to his translation of the plague centred HAVE MERCY ON US ALL. Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg again has the opportunity to exercise his eccentric reasoning - or instinctive - powers in attempting to solve an unusual crime.
Adamsberg is something of a ladies' man but over the years, his heart, although loaned to several, has remained the true property of Camille, the daughter of the mysterious Queen Matilda, so revered by Adamsberg's offsider, Danglard. The commissaire hears about a story involving the killing of sheep, and then the murder of a sheep owner, and while watching the story on TV catches sight of a woman he is almost sure is Camille. Fortuitously, another woman, Sabrina Monge, is determined to avenge the accidental killing of her boyfriend by Adamsberg, so the latter finds it expeditious to flee Paris and interest himself in what appears to be a series of killings of both sheep and humans, by a wolf.
Suzanne, the first of the murder victims to be discovered , is a friend of Camille's. Camille has moved from Paris to Saint-Victor-du-Mont and is living with a Canadian who is studying wolves, the fastidious Lawrence Donald Johnstone. Black Soliman is a young man who was found in the village as a baby and cared for by Suzanne. He is determined to discover the murderer of his foster mother, as is Watchee, the shepherd who worked for Suzanne. Somehow, they come to the conclusion that the murderer is Massart, a recluse who has recently disappeared from the area. Massart has no body hair. They decide that he is, therefore, a werewolf. (An aspect of the lycanthropy legend I had not previously encountered has werewolves bereft of body hair while keeping their fur inside their skin.) Soliman and Watchee order Camille to accompany them as they attempt to track Massart and exact revenge. They have a lorry - an ill-smelling vehicle which Camille's lover abhors - in which the three can sleep, but they must have Camille as a driver. So equipped, they set out to travel north, following a trail of corpses both ovine and human.
Adamsberg meets with some resistance from fellow law enforcement officers despite his high rank so I was very grateful to the translator for including a note that explained the differences between flics and gendarmes and the customary 'mutual rivalry and mistrust' exhibited by them.
This is a truly delightful tale. The characters are whimsical - Soliman quotes dictionary definitions in appropriate situations and pseudo African stories in inappropriate ones - and Watchee (why not 'Watcher', Mr. Translator? The 'cutesy' translation did not appeal to me) is stoic yet intuitive. Camille, herself, is a musician who does plumbing work on the side and carries, as her favourite reading, a sales catalogue of tools. As ever, Adamsberg pursues an erratic trail seemingly contrary to logic. The story, despite its black overtones, is redolent of gentle humour as well as steaming blood. The resolution of the mystery is not obvious until the final pages of the work, a tribute to Vargas' excellent plotting.
THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK
by Fred Vargas
translated by Sian Reynolds
ISBN 9781846550638
409 pages
Harvill Secker
February 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 22 2008The narrative begins, ominously enough, by Adamsberg putting up a wall, declining the use of a plumb line but reassuring a prospective neighbour that he is not afraid of the ghost of a homicidal (feminacidal?) nun that graces the premises. Adamsberg explains that the house is for the occasional use of his wife and son. If nothing else, it warns the reader that there may be elements of the supernatural within the tale.
Adamsberg visits the pathologist where he notes two fresh male, formerly drug dealing corpses, one black, one white but both very large. He wants the investigation but the relieving pathologist (the usual one suffering from what others might term depression, but he insists is the ìvapoursî) says the Drug Squad has first claim on the bodies. The pathologist, Ariane Lagarde, is reputed to be the most talented in France.
Meanwhile, a New Recruit has entered Adamsberg's squad. Veyrenc has been assigned to guarding Camille, the mother of Adamsberg's young son Tom. Veyrenc and Adamsberg come from adjoining valleys in the Pyrenees but this does not provide a link for them, rather the reverse, since there is a degree of ill feeling between the two places, ill feeling that Veyrenc appears anxious to prolong.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lagarde insists that the two large corpses in her care were despatched by a woman. Not only that, she points the finger at a murderous District Nurse who has escaped from prison.
Meanwhile, Adamsberg accompanies Camille to Normandy, where she is playing in a concert. Talking to some locals, he learns that someone is murdering stags - and stealing their hearts, an unorthodox souvenir. Adamsberg satisfies the locals that he will investigate what they perceive as a crime, even though he has no intention of doing so,
This work struck me as being somewhat different from Vargas' usual fare. In fact, I found it rather more interesting. Perhaps the introduction of nine month old Tom makes Adamsberg a bit more human although his obvious concern for his squad, when any of them is in danger, also serves that purpose.
The characters are quite vivid. I was certainly in no danger of confusing one with another. While Veyrenc's habit of speaking in verse is annoying, the reason for it is plausible, as is his hatred for Adamsberg.
The puzzle itself is suitably mystifying. I must admit that I never spotted who dun it, despite clues being offered.
Finally, I must pay tribute to the translator, Sian Reynolds. All too frequently translations obtrude most unfortunately, with some words, while being obviously a direct translation, are simply not a colloquial representation. Reynolds uses words that cause the prose to flow beautifully and effortlessly. Hers is certainly an improvement on previous translations of Vargas' work that I have read.
THE PERFECT SUSPECT
by Vincent Varjavandi
344 pages
ISBN1920681191
Longueville Books
November 1 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 30 2006
THE PERFECT SUSPECT is a debut novel about a paediatric surgeon written by a paediatric surgeon. It is reassuring to know that whatever the author writes about the topic must therefore carry a degree of authenticity.
The prologue establishes the credentials of Dr. Tom Hackett. He is temporarily posted to a New Orleans hospital and is feeling less than assured that an operation he performed on a two year-old was successful. Happily, the outcome is successful but unhappily, the reader is told that a conversation between the surgeon and his wife is the last the two will ever have.
Six weeks later in Sanctuary (presumably not Sanctuary Point) New South Wales, Senior Sergeant Jack Maguire demonstrates both his humanity and his feel for human nature when pardoning a young constable a spur of the moment theft.
In Sydney, Hackett unaccountably receives a delivery of black roses. His inquiries as to the meaning of the flower turn up several possibilities, all somewhat intimidating.
Back in Sanctuary, a murder witnessed by a nine year-old girl, reputedly brain damaged, occurs; the perpetrator, the self styled Messenger, gloating that soon the perfect suspect will appear.
Tom Hackett is scheduled to work a lengthy shift at the Sanctuary hospital before returning to Sydney. He is horrified to learn of the death of the murder victim, even more horrified when he realises that Kerry Booth was known to him.
Despite the unpleasantness, after his next shift in Sanctuary the surgeon meets a co-worker for dinner. He is devastated when the woman, Beth, is murdered and he becomes a suspect. He is already, so far as the New Orleans police are concerned, a suspect in the murder of his wife, but nothing could be proved.
The body count grows and because Tom is, in various ways, connected with the victims, suspicion is directed at him, especially when his wife's fate becomes known.
Maguire, the policeman investigating the murder cases, is plagued by monsters of his own. He had exiled himself to Sanctuary, where no crime of note ever happens, twelve years previously after he killed, seemingly without provocation, a man he instinctively knew was a murderer, a man who would have killed him and his partner. Although the killing was, in retrospect, justified, Maguire had been unable to provide a satisfactory explanation and the rumours that grew up around him as a result of the incident were devastating. Nonetheless, Maguire is convinced of his own ability to understand a person's motivations and detect whether a suspect is lying.
Maguire's talent is of benefit to him when he investigates Tom Hackett since he realises that the medico is innocent so he would be wasting his time were he to devote himself to limiting his inquiries to that suspect. Nonetheless, unaware of his boss' talent, his partner and second-in-charge, William Tucker, wishes to scrutinise the surgeon further.
The Senior Sergeant realises he needs to ask his former wife, a psychologist, to come to Sanctuary from Perth in order to help with his inquiries and profile the killer.
This is a promising piece of work. The author displays a talent for evoking suspense but he needs more experience before he is likely to master his new craft.
The book I received was a proof copy so it is possible that one or two of the matters which I shall raise have been altered in the final version. I doubt that all will have been corrected, however. To begin with, it seems a reasonable assumption that English is not the writer's first language. He is guilty of some rather clumsy constructions as well as use of words that don't quite fit. An example of the latter is the way he constantly describes some of the characters as 'ladies'. An author totally at ease with English would have used 'women' in the relevant contexts -- especially when describing the murder victims.
My feeling is that Varjavandi's use of 'gut instinct' should have been minimised rather than employed as a major instrument in the book. Which leads me to the first of these occasions, when Maguire correctly diagnoses the murderer who approached him and his partner, dressed in his girlfriend's attire, with further mayhem on his mind. The author describes the murderer as wearing not only a fur coat belonging to the deceased but also stiletto heels. One can safely assume that since he is a large man he has bigger feet than his dearly departed, in which case, he would scarcely have discovered adequately sized shoes, let alone stilettos, in her effects and would not have managed to move easily in them.
The notion of the identity of the killer, while obscure as to the individual's name, could perhaps be guessed at by the reader. I gave a general outline of the author and the protagonist to a friend and asked her to hazard a guess as to the sort of miscreant involved. She got it right.
The conclusion and the solution to the mystery were, perhaps, overly complicated. The surgeon should consider William of Occam and wield that worthy's scalpel -- I mean razor. In some cases, less is more and has a greater impact on the reader.
One minor point -- and I am prepared to have it shot down since it wasn't spelled out and I might have read too much into the descriptions -- is the implication that Maguire suffers from a stomach ulcer induced by worry and stress. I would think, despite the fact that children are unlikely to suffer from such ulcers, that a paediatrician would, nonetheless, be aware of helicobacter pylori. Still, I would be pleased to learn that the author did not intend such a surmise to be made.
Regardless of these quibbles, I feel that Varjavandi displays potential as a novelist.
RELICS
by Pip Vaughan-Hughes
ISBN 0752868624
276 pages
Orion
June 2 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 9 2006I always take great pleasure when a well researched book comes my way and, given that Pip Vaughan-Hughes read Mediaeval History, knew I was in for a pleasant few hours when I began reading RELICS. Brother Petroc, the protagonist, is in love with Devon and as the author grew up there, we are treated to some wonderfully vivid pictures of that lovely place.
Petroc is fond of ale and enjoys drinking, with his friends, especially William of Morpeth, at the Crozier in the cathedral city of Balecester. Unhappily, one night he is seized by a strange knight who first strews gold in his path but then threatens him. Sir Hugh Kervezey was a Knight Templar but, having been expelled from that Order, is now in the service of Bishop Ranulph. Just how such an unsavoury character could serve their Bishop, neither Will nor Petroc can imagine but soon they become very much entangled in the Knight's affairs.
Sir Hugh seeks Petroc out and asks him to obtain a relic, the hand of Saint Euphemia, from the Cathedral, explaining that, as a cleric, Petroc is more appropriate than he to approach the altar. This is the first of many relics with which Petroc is to become familiar. Having obtained the hand, Petroc is horrified to witness Sir Hugh murdering Jean the deacon. Kervezey ensures Petroc is blamed for the murder, then brains Petroc's friend, Will.
The young monk flees Balecester and seeks a former teacher, Adric the Librarian, at his old abbey. He retains the relic and Adric sees that could be an entrée to the good graces of a friend of his, Jean de Sol, a sometime trader in relics, perhaps to be more accurately seen as a pirate.
Petroc makes his way to the ship, the Cormaran, where he meets its captain, Jean de Sol, aka Michel de Montalhac and becomes one of the crew. To his amazement, Petroc is introduced to the delicate art of manufacturing relics, an art practised well by the crew of the Cormaran.
Not long after Petroc's assimilation into the crew, he discovers that the ship has a secret passenger, Anna Doukaina Komnena, a Princess of Greece, from Anatolia. Anna disguises herself as a boy and also becomes one of the crew.
Petroc, Anna and the crew engage in many adventures, all of which seem to involve Sir Hugh, a man with whom Jean de Sol has a vendetta.
There is no lack of excitement and tension in the book, the best feature of which being the descriptions of the lands, the age, the chases and the fights. The characterisations are definitely in second place to the excitement but since this is a debut novel and the author has left various plot hooks protruding begging for a sequel, no doubt he will make up for that deficiency in upcoming works.
THE SHANGHAI UNION OF INDUSTRIAL MYSTICS
by Nuri Vittachi
ISBN 1741147794
329 pages
ALLEN & UNWIN
June 2 2006
$22.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 5 2006Journalist, author and broadcaster Nuri Vittachi has added to the annals of CF Wong, the feng shui detective, and his teenage assistant, British-Australian Joyce McQuinnie, in this savagely gentle humorous adventure. The author has set the action in Shanghai, stating that "China is the most happening place on the planet". If any of the scenes envisaged in the book actually occurred, I could well believe that!
CF Wong is happily ensconced in his new office, surrounded by his secretary Winnie Lim and assistant Joyce, when peace is shattered by a demolition ball hitting the building. Craftily invoking powerful clients of his feng shui business, Wong (with more luck than Douglas Adams' Arthur Dent in a similar situation) manages to delay the destruction by an hour which gives Joyce the opportunity to contact Marker Cai, furniture removalist, weigher of bones (a process of divination) and current object of Joyce's amorous interest, to move their possessions into storage once more.
Meanwhile, veterinarian and vegetarian caterer Lu Linyao is attempting to decide between supervising an important catering job and picking up her daughter from school. Unfortunately, she opts for the former, which sees various kidnappings and murders result.
Joyce moonlights at Lu Linyao's vegetarian catering establishment and learns that the evening's output is to be delivered to a group of vegetarian activists for their sustenance while they storm a new restaurant called This Is Living. Unfortunately, CF Wong is dining at the restaurant so Joyce feels she must warn him to leave the place. She attempts to do so but winds up as a prisoner of the Vegans, condemned, along with Wong, by their mock court to a grisly death. Then Joyce and Wong become entangled in a plot to assassinate the Presidents of the United States and of China. On their shoulders rests the fate of the two most powerful men on earth.
The tale combines biting satire with gentle reflection, some chapters being headed with stories penned (in finest calligraphy) by CF Wong which contain philosophically instructing musings on the nature of Life. In nice contrast to Wong's idealism we are presented with his customary greedy venality and worldly desire to impress which may be subject to pragmatism at circumstances' demand -- for example, to prevent the death of a white elephant and the subsequent ill fortune that would precipitate.
Vittachi spent considerable time in Shanghai in order to present the reader with an accurate representation of the city, complete with the delights of Asian translations of English: for example, this little gem, "No drunkards or psychos without guardians."
Neither the American Secret Service nor their Chinese equivalent escapes Vittachi's scrutiny nor wit. The congested streets of Shanghai come alive under the author's pen. So, too, does a remarkably grisly meal intended to be served to the patrons of This Is Living, a meal which has forever turned me off the idea of visiting restaurants where one selects the fish one will devour from an aquarium.
THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE'S CASEBOOK
by Nury Vittachi
298 pages
ISBN 1741147808
Allen & Unwin
December 1 2006
$22.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 27 2006Nury Vittachi has brought together a true odd couple with his invention of CF Wong, geomancer, and his British Australian assistant Joyce McQuinnie. While the pair comprise a superb investigative team when it comes to the cases they encounter, it might fairly be said that to each, the other is an impenetrable mystery.
THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE'S CASEBOOK is an anthology of stories ranging through various countries including Singapore, where the geomancer is based, Australia, India, Thailand and the Phillipines. The creatures they encounter are more than a little exotic, including, as they do, a tiger, some expensive fish (live ones, not to be cooked -- unless you are Joyce and may need to do so in order to survive) film stars, journalists, school students and kidnappers. In comparison, feng shui practitioners, their Indian counterparts and Chinese fortunetellers seem positively pedestrian.
CF Wong is to be pitied. While he would dearly love to be left in peace in order to pen his SOME GLEANINGS OF ORIENTAL WISDOM, he must, perforce, work at his profession of ensuring his clients take advantage of the best feng shui available to them. His avaricious heart, nonetheless, perceives the necessity of traditional work in order earn an inflated income. If he is fortunate, it is possible he can set Joyce onto working jobs that Wong finds distasteful. Joyce is resourceful, to the extent that in order to please her boss, some minor illegalities (such as housebreaking) may be employed.
Vittachi invariably displays wonderful humour spiced with gentle satire. His mysteries are well plotted, in addition to being very entertaining. While he impressed with his later full length work THE SHANGHAI UNION OF INDUSTRIAL MYSTICS, he shows himself to be a master of the short story form.
The feng shui detective books have so far (the third and fourth) been released here in reverse order of copyright. It would be nice if the first two books in the series were soon to be released.