Not sure why I never bothered to review the first six Inspektor Takeda books, but suffice to say, this is my 7th book by Henrik Siebold. I like the Inspektor Takeda books, and think this one is another installment of good quality.
The storyline, more or less:
Inspektor Takeda has been in Germany for a while now — seven books’ worth — and Germans continue to find him charming. A wealthy woman in her mid 70s, Ernestine, has taken a liking to Takeda and invited him for a weekend gathering at her family’s estate near Kiel. She has a thing for Japanese art and Japanese culture.
While Takeda is spending the weekend at Ernestina’s gathering, Claudia begins to investigate the murder of a guy named Connie (Cornelius) Strube. He was in his early 40s, and lived with his mother. The house he lived in, smells like garbage and B.O. The mother says that connie used to work for a courier service at one point.
When Claudia looks around his bedroom, she finds all these contradictions. Connie is obviously incredibly intelligent — he has a shelves of books on math, astronomy, technological stuff. Lots of computer and gaming magazines. Also cocaine and porn. Finally, she finds a business card indicating that Connie was actually self-employed as a private detective. Claudia goes to the address listed as Connie Detektei office. It has been ransacked.
Claudia then begins to call Connie’s phone contacts. There is a man, Mr. Härtling, who hired Connie because he suspected his wife is cheating on him. There is also a high-priced BDSM prostitute that Connie used to go to once or twice a week. And there is Martina, a former girlfriend, who Connie occasionally visits, bringing her envelopes with thousands of euros in cash. Where does Strube get the money?
I won’t spoiler it any more than that, and will just say that the part of the book dealing with Connie Strube was the far more interesting storyline, than the storyline about the rich lady murdered by one of her houseguests, like a game of Clue. In the book, one of the houseguests even makes the joke that this must be a fun pretend game of, “Guess who murdered Ernestine!”, with cheesy clues planted throughout the house, and Ernestine whisked to some other location to help the houseguests bond.
Personally, I don’t care very much about the love story the author wants to tell about Takeda and Claudia, but it is easy enough to just ignore.