by Pat Gray on June 4, 2010
Hello! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to The (Mis)Education of the Excitable Rat RSS feed or get each post delivered to your e-mail account. Thanks for visiting!
The Darkest Room is set on the island of Oland in Sweden, and the setting is half the delight of this intriguing mystery. Like many of the Scandinavian mysteries (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series being a notable 
exception), Theorin’s book downplays the action (although there is, all in all, quite a bit of action), and creates the mists, dramatic blizzards, powerful waves, and other aspects of Oland, past and present, Joakim and Katrine have recently moved with their two young children from Stockholm to the lightkeeper’s manor house at Eel Point, a huge home in need of repair. They are up to the refurbishing, but unfinished business from the past of the manor house and associated lighthouses, nefarious doings on the part of a trio of morally deficient young islanders, and their own past issues converge with deadly results. The manor house is said to be built with lumber from a massive shipwreck and to be haunted.
Meanwhile, Tilda Davidsson, a young policewoman, has moved to Olaf to become part of a newly created police presence in Marnas, a few miles north of Eel Point. Her commitment to her job comes into play in unravelling the events at the manor house, and her struggles with the smug assumptions of the male-dominated police force form a deft counterpoint to the island histories she and Joakim are unearthing.
I find the subtle, quiet tone of this book a delightful change from some of the American mysteries and thrillers with unending, screaming-level action from start to finish . And it’s fun to read about ferocious blizzards on a sunny beach, should you find yourself on one!
by Pat Gray on May 18, 2010
Let the Great World Spin is a delight to read–the language, the imagery, the characters are all extraordinary. Beginning with a poetic recreation of Phillippe Pettit’s tightrope walk (or rather, dance) between the Twin Towers in 1974, McCann uses that human expression of daring and delight as the 
touchpoint of his story of equally dancing characters. Irish born brothers Corrigan and Ciaran immigrate to New York and live in a project in the South Bronx. Corrigan is a monk who choses to serve the prostitutes of the project–mainly by providing them a convenient bathroom, but watching over them with quiet care as well. These characters interweave with several others, finding connection, failure, despair, and joy. The novel will captivate you, and it earns every emotion honestly. McCann’s dance with words is unforgettable. Put in a request for this book right away.
by Pat Gray on March 20, 2010
Another great Scottish mystery writer—I don’t know how I could have overlooked MacBride for so long. He has an ongoing series featuring Detective Sergeant Logan McRae and a memorable cast of fellow officers working in the city of Aberdeen, also known as the Granite City. This is a dark series with frustrated police trying to solve horrific crimes while still pursuing their own lives and loves in occasional snatches of free time. 
McRae is an honorable but stubborn man whose experiences have left him sleeping badly, drinking excessively, and working obsessively. In Blind Eye, he is hunting for a man who is blinding a series of victims by gouging out their eyeballs. The crimes seem to be motivated by hatred of the growing population of Polish immigrants in Aberdeen, but each lead fails, while police and civilians are increasingly agitated by the horror of each new crime.
Once again, this is fairly violent, dark stuff. (It seems as though a good many American and European mysteries being written now are preoccupied with the underside of the human psyche–perhaps not a surprise to anyone reading the newspaper headlines day in day out.) However, the violence is the object of McRae’s concern, not something glorified, even covertly. And McRae is a character of considerable substance and interest. MacBride is a writer worth your time and attention.
by Pat Gray on January 10, 2010
The Silence of the Rain; December Heat; Southwesterly Wind; A Window in Copacabana; Pursuit
Recommended by a friend who rarely leads me astray, this mystery series featuring Inspector Espinosa is a treat of spare but vivid writing set in the lush environs of Rio de Janeiro. Espinosa has a literary and philosophical bent befitting his name as well as a sensual nature that emerges now and then. The characters are distinct and 
intriguing. Like many of his Scandinavian counterparts (such as Martin Beck, created by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, and Kurt Wallander, created by Henning Mankell), Espinosa seems to be mildly depressed most of the time, perhaps because of the pathetic diet of frozen pasta dinners he habitually consumes in the disarray of an apartment he never brings himself to put in order. Darkly comic, worldly wise, these mysteries have memorable moments of human connection and serenity. Their pace is quite deliberate, and Espinosa sometimes seems to turn over every rock on the shore, but they are well realized and engaging. Any of these will be a welcome escape from the January blizzards some of us endure.
exception), Theorin’s book downplays the action (although there is, all in all, quite a bit of action), and creates the mists, dramatic blizzards, powerful waves, and other aspects of Oland, past and present, Joakim and Katrine have recently moved with their two young children from Stockholm to the lightkeeper’s manor house at Eel Point, a huge home in need of repair. They are up to the refurbishing, but unfinished business from the past of the manor house and associated lighthouses, nefarious doings on the part of a trio of morally deficient young islanders, and their own past issues converge with deadly results. The manor house is said to be built with lumber from a massive shipwreck and to be haunted.
