Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason

We all have heard about some mysteries in our childhood, like the mysterious disappearance of somebody or mysterious death of a person and we also have some vague idea about what could have happened. While we may be curious about these mysteries, these mysteries do not haunt us, and we really have no need to go look for the answers. But if one is closely related to a mystery, and there is no way one could find answers for it, finding answers for another similar mystery could rest our demons and bring us peace. That's exactly what Detective Erlendur of Reykjavik, does when he goes about finding what happened to Matthildur when she walked out of her home on a stormy day, because he cannot find what happened to his little brother when Erlendur nearly died of Hypothermia on a stormy night.

Matthildur disappeared during the second World war, and after all these years does anybody care what happened to her. Many of those connected with Matthildur are dead, but finding the truth is compelling and is the only way Erlendur could find peace with himself for suggesting to his father all those years back that they take his little brother along.

While it is not very difficult to guess what happened to her, it is interesting how Arnaldur takes us back and forth into the past, present, dreams and dream-like scenario. Some parts involving Erlendur is not clear, whether it is a dream, hypothermia, past or present which makes it intriguing. Some parts of the story are repetitive there is both an explanation by various players and the scenes are recreated in the past which creates a chilling atmosphere. Chilling and compelling Read!

Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. 

The Eye Collector by Sebastian Fitzek

When the story starts with an epilogue and the first chapter is the end, one can't help asking, if this is just a gimmick or it serves a purpose. Eavesdropping into the Police Radio ex-cop and now reporter Alexander Zorbach discovers that the Eye Collector is at work again. And the countdown begins. The Eye Collector of Berlin is a serial killer, who kills the wife, kidnaps the child and challenges the husband to find the child before the stopwatch in his dead wife's hand stops, playing a deadly game of Hide and Seek. When the husband fails, he sends back the dead child with only one eye, as his name suggests.

Alex gets embroiled in this case. He meets Alina Gergoriev who is blind, who tells him a story that he is not sure if he can believe. Alina tells him that at certain times she has visions about the past. Alina is a massager and on touching her latest client, she sees a vision. She sees him killing the wife and kidnapping the child and is sure that he is the Eye Collector. How did Alina trace Alex? They start investigating the vision and get involved in the case more and more. Will Alex and Alina save the child before the stopwatch stops? Can Alex trust Alina?

This is a fast-paced book with very short chapters and good size font that is really easy on the eye. The events follow one after another, that the thoughts lingering in the back of my mind surfaced only at the end, so whatever happened in the end is not really a surprise, the whole story had been moving towards this conclusion. Still there are other surprises and twists and turns. Given the title I had to think that the book would be gory and graphic. It isn't. At least, he does not go into the mechanics of eye collection. Fitzek uses mythology to explain why the eye collector is doing what he is doing. Do serial killers take a short course in mythology?

By using Alina as one of the key characters in the story, Fitzek points out in his acknowledgements, he wanted to answer his and our questions about blind. Have you ever wondered how do the blind dream? Do they see images like us or is it different? Do they 'watch' TV? How do they distinguish colours? Fitzek points out that he had conducted research and got information to answer some of these questions and to remove some of the preconceived notions we may have about them from watching movies and reading books.

Yes! The reverse story telling does serve a purpose and is not a gimmick. Originally published in German, The Eye Collector is translated into English by John Brownjohn and published in 2012.

The Jewels of Paradise by Donna Leon

The book cover says "A gripping tale of Intrigue, Music and Obsession." Granted this book is about Music but a gripping tale of Intrigue and obsession it is not. It is more like the leisurely walk you take to your favourite place, stand on the bridge, watch the stream rambling, the boats floating by, the birds flying, enjoy the time with no care just stand and stare, see "in broad daylight Streams full of stars, like skies at night". (I am quoting from William Henry Davies' poem Leisure). Looking at the statues of angels, wonder how do the angels get dressed without causing damage to their feathers. Forget about the Twitter and Facebook obsessions travel back to a different time, holding the mundane correspondence of a great musician, wondering what 'treasure' lies hidden among his possessions. By all this I mean, it takes forever for the rambling stream to get to the hidden treasure. But all research is like that, isn't it? You find things in serendipity that you won't find in breaking your heads over it. Right! Now to the story!

When Caterina finds an offer for research work in her home town Venice, she decides to take the plunge without doing much research about this new work. Caterina is a musicologist specialising in baroque opera. Don't worry, I don't know anything about music too, nor am I familiar with the names the story tells me, but that did not get in the way of enjoying this book. Two chests containing the papers of Steffani a famous musician is discovered by his descendants referred to as the cousins. Caterina's work involves reading the documents in the chests in various languages to see if Steffani has left a Will or any inclination to which of the Cousins he wants his estate to be given. There is also a vague mention of a treasure. What does Caterina discover? Caterina works involves reading the background of the famous musician to make sense of the documents. What will Caterina discover about this musician?

I liked the interactions between Caterina and her sister Lina-Tina via email. There isn't much mystery, you actually know where this rambling stream is going, but it is a relaxing laid back journey.

Evil Water by Inger Wolf

When two bodies of missing women were found in two suitcases near a farm, it wasn't just me who wondered, “how do you get a woman into a suitcase anyway? Is that really possible?”, Inspector Daniel Trokic of Århus, in Denmark, also shared my feeling.

Trokic and his team identify the women before long. They had been missing for months. What are the Y marks on the remaining skin of the rotten bodies? Trokic's team meet an entomologists and botanists to help with their investigation which leads them to a disused brown coal mine. What is the connecting link between both the women? How did the killer choose his victims? Will there be more victims? Will Trokic and his team stop the killer in time before he strikes again? What is the Africa connection? Does the Y signify something?

As murder methods go, here is one that is really bizarre and creepy, literally. Inger Wolf plays on our fears and disgust for slimy creatures and adds some obscure African traditions to create a scary tale. I didn't guess who the real killer is, though they were some clues around, and I should have guessed, given the number of mysteries I read. So the mystery is quite satisfying.

I like the ways the some of the ends are tied up. But there are some loose ends. Who is Bernard? How did Frederick know about the parasites? I don't think the police would be foolish enough to release or leak so much vital information to newspapers. So how did Frederick link the cases. He seemed to have made a huge leap connecting the cases, why didn't Trokic or somebody question him to find out how he made the link. There are other such small issues but they do not spoil the enjoyment of the novel. A creepy journey into a dark alley.

Originally published in Danish translated in English by the author Inger Wolf, herself, Evil Water is available as an ebook from Amazon.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my opinion or this post.