DI Drake's third appearance takes us deep into Wales.

Wales, the land of coal mines, what are to the American eyes unpronounceable names and for those of us of a certain age, Tom Jones.  But there is a lot more there than those trivial pieces of knowledge.  And DI Drake leads us into a view of the Welsh that we would otherwise miss.  Combined with his prickly nature, his OCD and his fears that he will be unsuccessful in solving this grisly murder makes for a melange of interesting activities.

 

First there is DI Drake.  Because of his OCD he is becoming more and more estranged from his wife.  He needs his Sudoku puzzles to provide him with calm along with Bruce Springsteen for company when he drives.  But he also finds that contact with some of the seamier sides of life infuriate him but he cannot let that interfere.  His staff are understanding but they too have their quirks and eccentricities.  And finally there are the citizens of Conwy, a village small enough that everyone knows everyone and their business too.  Big wigs in London want to build a nuclear power plant in the area and need to buy up land, smallholders are unsure and there is, as always, those opposed to the plan.  And an Englishman who owns large swathes of land and cottages by the sea and claims his family has lived in Wales for centuries arouses DI Drake’s ire because he cannot even pronounce Welsh Christian names much less understand the language.  And there is another dark and dirty secret bubbling under the surface.

 

It all starts with a fisherman found on the beach, murdered in a particularly gruesome manner.  He had been one of the small landowners being whipsawed over selling or not selling.  As Drake starts his investigation a second murder is reported, this time of a young girl.  Are the two crimes related?  A hard question that must be answered soon because the Police Superintendent wants action soon.  This is starting to affect relationships at the gentry level - not to be bourne!

 

More than just a Welsh equivalent of a police procedural story it tells of relationships, outlooks, raw feelings.  The language situation I found particularly apt.  The same situation occurs here in the agrarian/fishing South where I live that is now being inundated by New Yorkers and New Jerseyites whose harsh vowels, abrupt ways and lack of understanding grate against the Southern psyche.  This is a good story, one that requires close attention but that is easily given as the author winds his way through the Welsh coast and DI Drake solves a complex murder mystery.

the Marauders by Tom Cooper

The highlights of a hardscrabble town named Barataria on the Louisiana Gulf Coast and the lowlifes that live there.  Creole descendants from the Acadians of Canada who moved south before the Louisiana Purchase make their living as watermen seining for shrimp mainly but also other seafood including the occasional alligator.

 

A cast of the usual colorful characters provide impetus to the plot in a wide variety of ways from a deranged metal detector enthusiast searching for gold, a pair of twins with a garden of Marijuana deep in the swamps and a set of low level criminals intent on finding the garden.  The straight man is a teenager attempting to find his way in life and knowing that the best way is to follow the traditions, build a Louisiana Skiff and drag for shrimp as his family has done for generations.  The BP oil spill plays a large part as well.  I had hoped there would be a little leavening of humor ala Elmore Leonard but, alas such was not to be.

 

The interplay of the various denizens of Barataria is written well, the plot sufficiently convoluted to demand your attention and the outcomes satisfactory.

Pasha - A Captain Kyyd seafaring adventure

Like all good seafaring heroes such as C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower, and Patrick O’Brien’s Jack Aubrey, Julian Stockwin’s Thomas Kyyd has risen far in Britain’s naval forces. In Pasha we find Captain Kyyd has been made a Knight of the Bath thus overcoming his humble beginnings, becoming “a man of consequence.”  And to our further delight his closest friend Renzi has assumed the mantle of Earl of Farndon.  

 

We do not lose anything by all this elevation.  Rather Mr. Stockwin sends his heroes to the Dardanelles and Constantinople during the time of Napoleon’s attempts to break out of Europe in which he was trapped by the British navy. Looking East Bonaparte sought influence at the Court of the Ottoman Empire which would provide him with a land bridge allowing him unfettered access to India and beyond.  To this end he has sent Horace Sebastiani, a brilliant general and diplomat.

 

And around this historical happening we find our heroes in their usual roles but this time separated and each’s activities unknown to the other.  Captain Kyyd’s task is to break into the Dardanelles and Renzi’s to appear at the Ottoman Court as a flighty English scholar but to undermine Sebastiani’s influences. Mr. Stockwin has written an excellent adventure, his heroes have their usual human qualities which keep them from becoming insufferable and the reader can continue to admire them for their fortitude and skills.  And best of all Boney is foiled again.