King's Gold. Michael Jecks. Simon & Schuster (2011)

A very enjoyable crime story with a great cast and a very successfully explored historical context. Late in 1326 the civil war in England has ended with Edward II deposed by Parliament and his son crowned King in his place. This created a very difficult and unstable situation, the old King, now Sir Edward of Caernarfon remains a potent figure for those still loyal to him. He was a prisoner, dangerous both alive or dead. After an attempt is made to fee him, he is moved to a new prison at Berkley Castle, home of one of the strongest supporters of the new regime. Caught up in this process are Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Simon Puttock and both of them find themselves investigating a the murder of a carter. The murder overlaps with a major plot to free and restore the king and the plots threads neatly and cleverly weave together in a very satisfactory fashion. The story is very well structured to give the large cast room to move and develop, the reveals are cunningly staged and the conclusion very well judged.
Finding the balance between context and plot in a historical novel is tricky, Michael  Jecks makes it look easy. The story takes time to reveal itself, that time is taken by introducing the cast and placing them firmly into the context of a war ravaged and uncertain England. Taking this time lets the plot mechanics work much more successfully as both a well drawn cast and the social fractures that surround them are critical to the plot. It arises very naturally from who they are and where they are rather than feeling like it has been imposed on them. The period details are not intrusive, they flow along with the thrust of the story and draw the reader further in rater that getting in the way.
One of the great pleasures of the book is the very large cast, the book is nicely structured to ensure that they all get a chance to be seen and heard and to create a very welcome confusion of possible motives and actions that are resolved with care and skill. One of the stand out cast member is Sir Richard de Welles and hard drinking good natured knight who is revealed to be considerably more with extraordinary economy at a critical point. The reveal is simple and devastating, it does not change the knight, it simply opens a new window on him and provides a strong example of Michael Jecks' control of the story.
The story is widespread but never sprawling, it respects the conventions of crime fiction while weaving them into a context that needs a lot of detail to make it work. The actions have to make sense within the historical context and to a modern reader, they do both with with care and skill. Self assured and confident, this is a great read.

Killing the Messenger. Thomas Peele. Crown Publishers (2012)

This is a heartfelt, superbly structured and beautifully written book about why a journalist was murdered on the 2 August 2007 in Oakland, California. The story is a wide ranging history of a radical religion, fraud, the hideous results of racism, greed, incompetence and the bottomless well of human malice, desire for power and dominance.
Thomas Peele places the killing of Chauncey Bailey in its context of the dreadful history of violent racism that runs through American history. Chauncey Bailey was killed because he was a journalist and he was killed to prevent a story being published. The fact that he was an African-American and was killed by a member of the Black Muslim sect in Oakland is just one of the sad and horrible facets to this case that Thomas Peele  illuminates.
There are four broad threads to the narrative, the first is the response to the attack on the freedom of the press that the murder of Chauncey Bailey represents and that Thomas Peele as a fellow journalist wants to forcefully respond to. The next broad thread is the ugly and murderous history of racist  repression and oppression that was rampant in American society throughout the last century. The third broad thread is the miserable history of Oakland, referred to memorably as the "shitbox of the west". Finally there is the extraordinary and heartbreaking story of the Nation of Islam, a cold-hearted fraud that violently traded on the rage and deep despair of African-Americans to benefit a small number of staggeringly corrupt men. In a carefully researched, artfully structured book, Thomas Peele shows how each of the these threads slowly wound across each other and finally lead to the murder of Chauncey Bailey.
The vicious depths of the fraud carried out by the Nation of Islam and its breakaway sect in Oakland are laid bare in all their sordid and mean details. The exploitation of the rage, sorrow and dislocation of fellow African-Americans is a sad and moving story. The actions of the chief fraudsters themselves are eye watering in their depravity, malice and destructiveness. In particular Yusuf Bey, the patriarch of  the Black Muslim sect in Oakland and founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery, which was the linchpin of his criminal enterprise was an appalling man. A serial child abuser on a very significant scale he ruined the lives of an uncountable number of people in the pursuit of power, vanity and money.
Yusuf Bey flourished in Oakland due to spectacular incompetence, indifference and civic apathy that has dogged Oakland throughout its history. All of these factors played direct contributing parts in the murder of Chauncey Bailey.
Thomas Peele tells a very specific and particular story, rooted firmly in a location that quietly and effectively casts a revealing light across a dark slice of  current history. This is a griping book, easy to read and chilling in its revelations. Journalism may be the first draft of history, this is is simply superbly written history.

Batman. The Black Mirror. Scott Snyder (Writer), Jock, Francesco Francavilla (Art), David Baron, Francesco Francavilla (Colours), Jared K. Fletcher, Sal Cipriano (Letters) DC Comics (2011)

A superb Batman story that uses the story possibilities of Dick Grayson becoming Batman in Gotham City in the absence of Bruce Wayne to the full. The plot is very nicely structured as Dick Grayson does more than don the costume, he becomes Batman and Jim Gordon confronts the possibility that his son is a murderer. A violent incident at a school leads to a trail of a man who holds very specialized auctions, where the lot are from crimes that are from some of Bruce Waynes's most personal cases. This is followed by an extraordinary crime at a Gotham city bank that is owned by someone who has a very close connection to Dick Grayson's past. Along side these cases Jim Gordon is faced with a terrible problem, his son James has come back to town and Jim Gordon has to establish if his son is a merciless killer or not. Both story lines neatly overlap and intertwine and finally come together with a bloody and very satisfying climax.
Among the numerous wonderful aspects to this book is the multiple ways that Scott Snyder uses the possibilities of a new person taking on the role of Batman. With Bruce Wane there is always the sense that the civilian identity is merely a shallow mask, the real substance lies behind the mask. In this story there is a much more complete and complex character who puts on the costume rather than being defined by it. Dick Grayson has a long history and it is used to wonderful effect as he struggles to become Batman and not loose himself in the process. He makes mistakes and has to struggle very hard to be successful, at the same time he is competent and very effective. A nice mix that give real life and force to the costumed action and give the narration a very satisfactory bite. It is also a great pleasure to have opponents whose motivation is greed and the lust for cruelty, the simplicity makes them considerably more dangerous.
The James Gordon story is beautifully paced, a carefully set up series of reveals that push and pull the reader as much as the cast. When the die is finally cast the story continues to move in unexpected directions and use the brutal possibilities with skill and determination. There is a distracting sub-plot featuring the Joker, it is a considerable tribute to the combined talent involved in the book that the intrusion of such a threadbare sequence does not deflate the whole book.
The art by Jock on the Batman  sections and Francesco Francavilla on the Jim Gordon sections is a joy to read in each case, both a distinctive and neither clash nor confuse. Jock's art is angular and sharp edged, it gives a great sense of the razor edges that surround Dick Grayson all the time. The cast are full of energy and force, there is a restless energy in them even when they are still. Francesco Francavilla has much softer edges for his cast, the real action is most often clearly revealed body language that shows the tensions that wrap around everyone. The intense calm of James Gordon may be good news or very bad news. There is a very welcome horror aspect to the story that the art bring out to the full without every loosing it footing in superheroics.  The colouring by David Baron and Francesco Francavilla is virtually a full blown cast member, it is prominent and outspoken while always lifting the story.  The lettering by Jared K. Fletecher and Sal Cipriano manages to be so attuned to the story that it is virtually invisible while giving weight and timbre to the words. A brilliant comic and even better a brilliant Batman story.

The Inspector and Silence. Hakan Nesser (Writer), Laurie Thompson (Translation) Pan Books (1997)

A slow building crime story that quietly and forcefully builds to a strong and bitter conclusion. A young girl is reported missing from a Christian group in rural Sweden, the local Acting Chief of Police calls on Chief Inspector Van Veeteren for help. The Christian group, decline to co-operate with the investigation and there is an open question about the truth of the disappearance in the first place. When the body of a young girl, raped and murdered is discovered, the investigation gains a clear point of focus. The members of the sect, both adult and the young girls cling to silence and Inspector Van Veeteren has to try and understand what he is not being told. The investigation is seriously hampered by a lack of direct evidence and the unwillingness of the group members to co-operate. The case breaks in an unexpected fashion and finally comes to a grim and satisfying conclusion.
This is a very deliberately paced book, the investigation is a study in frustration as the team try to discover something new from scant evidence and uncooperative witnesses. The tensions of the investigation are very well drawn, as the ever present threat of another murdered child is faced with each passing hour. Running along side this are Inspector Van Veeteren's on thoughts about retiring from police work. One of the pleasures of the book is the way that Hakan Neser has avoided the cliche of a policeman afraid to retire as they have no life outside of police work. Van Veeteren is thinking about leaving without agony or severe loss, it is a matter more of having  run the course. It is a natural and difficult process and it is presented in a natural way, it overlaps with the investigation as a child murder is hard to bear.
The rest of the cast are drawn with a wry sympathy that is greatly appealing, everyone is handling a life as well as an investigation and trying to make it all work. The Acting Chief of Police Merwin Kluuge, expectant father and feeling horribly out of his depth with the investigation finds that he has to cope and manage in circumstances he could not have imagined. The way he responds and develops is very nicely written, the character is given the room to grow and develop.
There is a strong editorial voice in the story which adds to the pleasure, the cast are framed a bit by the comments, it does not intrude or act to try and force the reader to respond in a particular way. It is more of an aside that strikes off the situation. The pace of the story does not change when the final deductions are made and the murderer comes directly into the story, it is still a slow pace, the deliberate pacing makes the situation ever more horrible. The murderer is presented with care and restraint, the appalling actions that have been committed and may be committed are left to be realised by the reader and this adds to the force of the situation. This is a great crime drama that never forgets the victims are not just the dead.

WitchFinder: Lost and Gone Forever. Mike Mignola, John Arcudi (Writers),John Severin (Art) Dave Stewart (Colours), Clem Robbins (Letters). Dark Horse Comics 2012

From the classic Western opening through the superbly crafted story that neatly side steps cliches to the sharp finale this is a great comic. Sir Edward Grey, WitchFinder for the Queen of England is in Utah tracking a man from England. After some trouble he meets up with Morgan Kaler who helps he get out of town. They encounter a young white woman, Eris, who is preaching to the Paiute Indians. Morgan Kaler says that Eris is a witch and using her powers to influence the Paiute. A little later they encounter the man Grey has been tracking and find that he is now a zombie and the story moves in unexpected directions from there. The reveals are cunningly staged, full use is made of the possibilities of the Western setting and Grey being out of his normal element.
With the opening scenes of the book when a stranger arrives in town and asks the wrong questions the sense of the mythical West of the Westerns is superbly established. The rest of the story diligently undermines that prospect as the supernatural threads are pulled together. One of the strongest aspects to the story is the unexpected and clever use of zombies, which are a rather threadbare now. In this story they have a purpose beyond hunger for brains, they are part of a larger plot driven by malice and greed. There is a subtle confidence to the storytelling that makes it a pleasure to read, there is one particularly bold stroke involving the local preacher which could easily have gone horribly wrong. Instead it has a genuine force and subtle agony that gives depth and force to the story. The dignified and easy handling of the Paiute is a joy, it is nice to see them being treated as humans without guilt robbing them of the chance to be as confused as the rest of us.
The cast are first rate, Edward Grey is trying to hold on as events and context conspire against him, Morgan Kaler is wonderful. Sharp, colorful and brimming over with energy he is exactly the right Western hero. Eris is a  dangerous woman who has dark plans and the fierce will to bring them to fruition.
John Severin's art is an undiluted pleasure. He has such a complete mastery of comic art that his work is just an deep pleasure to read and linger over. It never calls unnecessary attention to itself, it serves the story with care and wit , at the same time the depth and detail that fill the pages are just a treat. They give the cast a force and presence, the body language is eloquent. The cast fill the spaces with vitality and physical presence, they relate naturally to the context and the action is staged superbly.
Dave Stewart's colouring is so sure and subtle that it nearly passes by without attention, it works for the story, adding tones and notes to the action.  It illuminates the art and gives it the palate it needs to reveal its power. Clem Robbins lettering gives the shadings of conversation without ever intruding.
Everything in this comic is there to serve the story and it does so with conviction and flair. Each element is worth savoring in its own right as it is the work of a very talented and creative artist, separately and combined they show why comics are the wonder that they are. 

On Secret Service East Of Constantinople. Peter Hopkirk. (John Murray) 1994

A gripping and fascinating history of the attempts by Germany to launch a Holy War in Central Asia as part of its World War 1 strategy. The intention was to create a war that would spill into British India and place intolerable pressure on the British Empire. The subtitle for the book is "The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire". It could have been as easily titled "The Plots to Carve Out a New Empire I Central Asia by Germany and Turkey".
The story is an astonishing one taking place before technology had completely transformed travel and spying, when remote regions were genuinely isolated and the crumbling Ottoman Empire was a pot of riches for whoever could grab them and hold on to them. The region had a long history of secret warfare and espionage as the Great Game between Russia and British India was played out. This game only came to a close in the face of the mutual threat from Germany and Turkey. The Kaiser had an explicit plan to foment a Holy War by the Muslim population in Central Asia against both Britain and Russia, this Holy War would be lead by the Ottoman Sultan, the political and religious leader of Muslim population. Hidden inside this plan was another plan to replace Russia and Britain as the imperial power in the region, gaining the riches of the the Caucasus and India.
The plan was to use a limited number of German soldiers, diplomats and spies armed with some gold, more propaganda and a lot of promises to maneuver Turkey into a declaration of Holy War against the infidels. This would unleash the muslin population into a war that would be funded by the gold seized from Russian and, chiefly, British banks in the region. This would be a very cot effective war if the plans were realized. Peter Hopkirk describes how the plans were made, the move and counter move made across the region, the desperate and frequently confused actions of Germany, Britain and  Russia, before and after the revolution, collided and intertwined.
At its hear this is a story of a number of incredibly brave men from Germany and Britain who fought a secret war against each other. It is a flat out adventure story with daring escapes, endurance, luck and heart stopping courage that grips the reader like a vise. Without technology these men, they were nearly all men though the incredible courage of the women caught up in the wars, massacres and revolutions is fully acknowledged, had to rely on their wits to save themselves and complete their missions.
Peter Hopkirk manages to balance the wider picture of the war across the globe with the details of the struggles in the region, placing the individual stories within a wider context. The results of the actions of that time are still very relevant today, the fantastically cavalier way that the Allies disposed of the the countries in the region, carving them up for their own benefit post war without any reference to the people who lived there is still bearing bitter fruit today.
This is wonderful narrative history, the sweep and dash of the events are told with clarity and a due appreciation for the astonishing people involved.

Dark Side. Belinda Bauer. Bantam Press. (2011)

A superb crime story, as cold and griping as the bleak winter Exmoor landscape that the story is set in. Belinda Bauer has located the battered skull beneath the skin of the English village murder story. A severely disabled, elderly lady is murdered in the small village of Shipcott in midwinter. PC Jonas Holly, the village policeman is quickly sidelined by the investigative team sent to handle the case. The abrasive Detective Chief Inspector Marvel finds Jonas a considerable nuisance and deals with him as such. A second murder places everyone in the village under significant pressure and the investigative team and Jonas in particular. The plot uncoils steadily, the reveals are cunning staged and the conclusion is wholly unforgiving and satisfying.
Belinda Bauer takes the basic structure of the English village murder mystery , the way the community knows everything except what it does not wish to know, the comfort of familiarity and the suffocating closeness of knowing everyone and uses them to amplify the force of the savage story. The cast are varied and bursting with life, the smallest walk on part is so finely drawn that they insist on the readers attention, without ever upsetting the balance of the narrative. PC Jonas Holly is a great leading character, he is not a moss covered village bobby, he returned to Shipcott for a deeply serious reason, the failing health of his wife. The murders in the village are a considerable burden to him, both on a personal and a professional level. That such events could happen on his watch is pressure enough, being very publicly excluded from the investigation adds severely to it. It forces him to act to regain and retain his position within the village, the community expect something from him that he struggles to provide.
The lead investigator, DCI Marvel should be a walking cliche, an abrasive double outsider, transferred from London to the local force and an outsider to the village, he is abrasive, enraged and frustrated. He avoids all the obvious pitfalls he seems set up for and emerges as as gripping and deeply unlikable person in his own rounded right. He gets a deeply satisfying and viciously sardonic treatment from Belinda Bauer and deserves all of it, in particular the happy unfairness meted out to him at the end.
The astonishing skill with which the plot threads are woven and twisted up to the last words of the book is a joy to read. The reader is reminded that justice is a freezing cold process that does not encompass mercy in any way. This is a superb book, very strongly recommended.