Gerard Cappa > Recent Status Updates

The End of Detective Inspector History:

"Laidlaw sat at his desk, feeling a bleakness that wasn't unfamiliar to him. Intermittently, he found himself doing penance for being him. When the mood seeped into him, nothing mattered. He could think of no imaginable success, no way of life, no dream of wishes fulfilled that would satisfy."

Starting to re-read the best 'Troubles' book - the authentic voice channels the reality of life in a fractured city where anyone might be the next victim. For anyone old enough to remember Belfast in the 70's & 80's this will bring it all back - walking into the 'wrong' bar, quick footsteps approaching from the dark, car headlights slowing down on a rainy night.

Starts with the classic scene - wronged woman suspects an affair - sidesteps into missing person case, a psychic who burns holes in a map by passing her hand over it, and a fluffy dog with a dodgy knee.
Writing is evocative, cryptic, maybe sibylline, certainly seductive. The mysterious city is Budapest in my mind.

More Raskolnikov than Maigret, Simenon's character must sate his urge to kill a man - because he needs to know what it feels like:
"For Frank it was a question of killing his first man and breaking in Kromer's Swedish knife.
Nothing more.
The only problem was that he would have to stand there in the crusted snow ... and feel his right hand slowly stiffening in the cold. He had decided not to wear a glove."

"one of the few genuine masters of the contemporary novel" - a well-earned obituary

This is why Black/Banville is my favourite:

"He beamed at me with a mixture of indifference and disdain. "Marlowe," he said, turning the name over and examining it, as if it were a small coinof scant value. His smile became brighter still."

And then, a couple of paragraphs on:

"What kind of business are you in, Mr Marlowe?" he asked. This time Clare got in ahead of me. "Mr Marlowe finds things," she said.

I had ridiculously high expectations of this book, and I am delighted to say I am enjoying it every bit as much as I had hoped I would.

Black Boat Dancing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgkow...