Criminal Activities: Reading & Watching

My latest review on Euro Crime is for James Wolff's first novel "Beside The Syrian Sea". It's set in the Middle East and involves a son's attempts to get his father, an ISIS hostage, released from captivity. The father is an earnestly moral cleric and the son is a desperately introverted intelligence worker finding himself suddenly without the boundaries he has so carefully maintained and quite literally in a new land.
I was gripped by it, not just by plot and thrill but by  its characters and their relationships. I also somehow found it "terribly British" ... in the nicest possible way. Read the review in full detail here at Euro Crime.

Meanwhile, as they say, there has been much to watch on telly. I haven't really enjoyed Season 2 of the Belgian thriller "Salamander" but I still watched it through. Nor, I must say, am I enamoured of Belgian thriller "Rough Justice" either. But still watching. Perhaps my dissatisfaction lies in the completely straight-faced, lugubrious main characters of each series? My Belgian favourite? (Sounds like a variety of iris, don't it.) When it comes to Belgian thrillers on British screens over the last 12 months - my highlight remains Season One of "Professor T". Not at all to everybody's taste, (sigh) it was to mine. The Old Man gave up on its fantasy musical breaks and opted for the washing up, but I was hooked. Although ... I realise now ... it carries the motif of straight-faced Belgian leads to bizarre extremes with its emotionally locked-in, germ-obsessive, forensic genius that is Prof T. Yes I know there have been other series predicated on emotionally damaged, clever-clogs analysts - but they don't have fantasy musical numbers! End of.

Aah! Not Belgian I know - but I forgot  season Four of "The Bridge". Now there's another "straight-faced" lead  - but no fantasy musical numbers - yet.
Am I watching? Of course I am.

MrsD's Criminal Reading: The Greek Wall by Nicolas Verdan

Mrs D has been reviewing again. This time it's a thriller by Swiss/Greek writer Nicolas Verdan called "The Greek Wall".  She enjoyed the novel's strong evocation of land and city-scapes, the plot's convolutions, character writing ... and getting a Greek view of some fairly recent events.You'll find her full review over at the Euro Crime Blog.

Nicolas Verdan will be taking part in "Literally Swiss" - a ticketed event billed as a "literary cabaret of writing from and about Switzerland" on Feb 9th 2018, 6pm at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London.

Mrs D's Criminal Reading

I'm not really yawning, honest. But aint it hard to get up on a cold and frosty morning? Or in my case a grey and raining morning.

But I can have a lie-in because this post is about Mrs D's criminal reading habits. She's contributed a list of her favourite Brit-Euro-Crime reading in 2017 to the Euro Crime blog and you'll find that list here.

Now I guess I had better get up and put the kettle on.

Animated Discussions: Lea Vidakovic: Trailer for "Porcelain Stories"

A trailer for an award-winning film "Porcelain Stories" by Serbian born artist, installation artist and animator Lea Vidakovic. I found it thanks to a post on the Dragonframe blog. (Dragonframe is a stopmotion animation software.)

There is a flavour of the Quay Brothers ... in its slow pace and intricate, detailed shots of tiny objects. Perhaps that's an Eastern European thing? It's got a "breathing pace" which I don't mind but may not be for impatient caffeine-freaks.

Settling The Bill At The Post Referendum Café

"Service? We'd like to settle up. What are you paying us?

(Pause)

What do you mean we have to pay you? You said there would be lots of spare money and you would feed us wonderfully after we Brexited."

(Pause)

Really? Well I don't think we'll be coming back here in a hurry, then.

(Comments Off...)

What do you mean you are the only café in town now?

Last Orders At The Post Referendum Café

"Service!"

"Hallo. Today for starters we have a choice of....
Dithers with a side order of Confusion; a warm salad of Backstabbers; or a small plate of Cold Regrets.

For Mains we have ... Roulette Aux Crabb; Brexit of Leadsom; Blanquette du Fox au Sri Lankan Hobnobbing; Gove a la Murdoch; Theresa with a side order of Relief aux Chagrin ... or
Corbyn Ostracised and Served in a Vacuum.

And if you wish to choose your dessert now, we can offer you ... Eton Mess, Westminster Mess, UK Mess or Europe Mess (the difference is in the size of the portions)... Oh ... and we do have a very small portion of Hope on a Bed of  Dual Citizenship.

May I take your order now?"

Events In The Post Referendum Café

"Can I get you any more *pork pies, Sir and Madam?"

"No, thank you. We couldn't eat another crumb."

* Pork Pies - rhyming slang for lies. 

   Hence ... "telling porkies".

Bet you can guess how this household feels about the Referendum result. And the absence of any leadership in Parliament. And the self-destructive nature of the Opposition. And whatever is to come now.

But one thing has started already.
As we drove out of Penzance this morning we followed a car with a shattered rear window. It looked as though someone had put a brick through it, frankly. The car's license plate was Lithuanian.


Welcome to The Post Referendum Café.

Mrs D Ponders Espionage: Dan Fesperman's "The Double Game"

Mrs D be reading again....
and this time it is a spy thriller set in the US and Europe and....
is itself a history of spy literature.

She do enjoy it and recommends it and thinks maybe she should read more Dan Fesperman.

You'll find a Euro Crime review here.

Animated Discussions: Alois Nebel

Received my DVD copy of "Alois Nebel" today and greatly looking forward to watching it.

It's a 2011 Czech animated film by Tomáš Luňák, based on a trilogy of graphic novels. The story is set in the late 1980s in a remote village on the Czech-Polish border where Alois Nebel works as a dis­patcher at the small railway station. A loner, fog brings him hallucinations of trains from the last hundred years passing through his station bringing with them ghosts and shadows from the dark past of Central Eu­rope. His experiences drive him to a sanatorium and his journey continues from there.

Of course I don't know the full story as yet... cos I haven't watched it! The film itself is black and whiteand uses the technique of rotoscoping live-action film.

Animated Discussions: Alois Nebel - Trailer HD

Mrs D Still Listening To "Foreign Bodies"

Mrs D be listening to Mark Lawson's eurocrime series "Foreign Bodies" on BBC Radio 4 with great enjoyment and much nodding of approval. She likes to say that she do read the eurocrime for the social and political content also. (Har! Har!) Whatever, she do enjoy Mr Lawson being able to express what she cannot. Although she do admit that she haven't read half the writers he have talked about so far.

A reminder for those able to tune in to BBC Radio 4 that there is an omnibus edition of this week's series coming up on Friday evening 26th Oct at 21.00.

.... and as part of the overall season.... a series of Saturday afternoon plays based on the Swedish crime writers Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall character of Martin Beck starts this week on Saturday 27th Oct at 14.30. with "Roseanna".

Mrs D Admits Her Ignorance

We do listen today to the first episode of  Mark Lawson's series of 15 minute programmes on European crime fiction on BBC Radio4 called "Foreign Bodies" as mentioned in my previous post. This episode looks at Christie's "Poirot" and Simenon's "Maigret".

Now I did make that Mrs D stand in the corner wearing a dunce's cap. For she tells me that despite reading a lot of crime fiction and sometimes writing about it.... she have never (pregnant pause) read a Poirot or a Simenon. (Gasp!) I tell her she be admitting ignorance then.

But she remains defiant, I do hear her muttering into the corner that she does not want to read Agatha Christie. After some silence, I do hear her say that maybe she should read some Simenon.

Ha-ha. I think so too.

Mark Lawson's European History Through European Crime Stories

The very estimable broadcaster Mark Lawson is to be doing a series of short programmes on BBC Radio4. As of Mon Oct 22 at 1.45pm they will broadcast daily for 15 episodes. The series is called "Foreign Bodies"  in which... and I quote.... "Mark Lawson shows how crimes reflect Europe's times" by taking a look at some of the most celebrated detectives in European crime fiction.

I and Mrs D will be followin' it all closely: on the radio, recorded, or from the BBC website. We shall be there.