NOBODY'S PERFECT by Donald E,. Westlake

Donald E. Westlake’s Nobody’s Perfect (1978) is a classic Dortmunder novel.

A spendthrift millionaire hires Dortmunder to steal a valuable painting. The man hopes to claim the insurance money and then get the painting back.

To assure that Dortmunder keeps his part of the bargain, the man also hires a stone-cold killer. If Dortmunder tries to take the rich man’s money and then steals the painting for himself, Dortmunder is toast.

Along the way, the police catch Dortmunder breaking into a TV and appliance store. His crew ends up in a riot of Scottish men in kilts. Dortnunder finds himself trapped in an elevator shaft.

Different people steal the painting back and forth at least four times, maybe more. I could well have lost track.

And even more occurs.

I can’t summarize the plot without ruining it for you. Suffice it to say that Nobody’s Perfect is one of the most complex Dortmunder novels I’ve ever read.

I have one more comment.

I write mystery novels, not professionally but as a hobby just to keep my mind alert. Westlake’s descriptions, both of settings and of nefarious schemes, are unsurpassed. Anyone who has ever tried to write a caper novel would surely see Donald E. Westlake as a master of the craft.

FREE FALL by Chris Grabenstein

 

Chris Grabenstein’s Free Fall is a typical John Ceepak mystery.

Now-Chief-of-Detectives Ceepak and his friend Officer Danny Boyle investigate murders in Sea Haven, New Jersey.

 Ceepak is as square as ever. He holds to his strict, boy scout-like code.

Sea Haven is a boardwalk tourist town. Both Ceepak and Boyle are natives of Sea Haven. They know all the locals. They thread their way through the ups and downs long-term small town relationships always bring.

The book ends, as most Ceepak novels do, with a standoff and shootout involving a carnival ride.

In Free Fall, Ceepak and Boyle investigate the murder of a rich old man. Suspects include the old man’s caregivers and his mostly-nasty dysfunctional family.

Along the way, Danny falls in love with one of the caregivers. To further complicate matters, Ceepak’s drunken ne’re-do-well father returns to Sea Haven.

The Ceepak books are quick, entertaining reading.

I picked up this book to give me a break from more-serious reading. Free Fall filled the bill.

DEADLY HARVEST by Michael Stanley

Michael Stanley’s Deadly Harvest is a chilling story simply told.

Botswana CID Assistant Superintendent David Bengu and his protégée Samantha Khama investigate two seemingly unrelated crimes.

Samantha is the first female detective in the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department. Bengu is nicknamed Kubu (hippopotamus) because of his huge size.

The story opens with the kidnapping (and subsequent murder) of a young girl. Samantha has a special interest in the crime.

Often the police do little follow up on missing children, especially if the children come from the lower classes.

As Samantha investigates, she becomes convinced someone is murdering young girls to use their body parts in muti. 

Muti is a magic potion created by a witch doctor. Most muti contains herbs and animal remains. The witch doctors who create it use it for healing and other purposes. But there is a class of muti created by evil witch doctors. That potion contains human remains harvested from chosen victims.

Evil muti gives those who have bought the muti special strength and power.

As we read along, we become aware that some civil servants and politicians purchase evil muti. Even some police officials may have sold themselves to the psychotic witch doctor to gain promotion and power.

That brings us to the second seemingly unrelated crime. Someone murders prominent political opposition leader Bill Marumo.

And the story goes from there.

As I said before, this is a chilling story. We meet an evil witch doctor, a psychopathic killer who strikes fear even in the innocent. This witch doctor seems to have the power to kill by casting spells. He (or she) is purported to be invisible. All the kidnappings and murders are committed, not by the witch doctor, but by surrogates who have sold out to evil.

I love the Kubu stories. They are socially conscious, true to life, and filled with interesting characters. I always learn about Botswana when I read about Kubu.

As in the other books, Kubu’s family plays an integral part in the story.

This time, Kubu watches his father sink into Alzheimer’s dementia. Kubu and his wife Joy take on a little girl with HIV, a child left alone in part because of evil witch doctors.

These books have very human characters in what are sometimes awful situations.

I’ve read all the Kubu novels so far. I recommend them all.

MURDER DOWN UNDER by Arthur W. Upfield

Arthur W. Upfield’s Murder Down Under is a traditional Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte mystery.

Bony takes on a local murder. As always, he does so undercover. He takes on the case to help an up-and-coming officer.

Farmer George Loftus disappears after wrecking his car. He was coming home from a night of drunken revelry. He failed to take the right turn. Then he crashed the car into the Australian rabbit fence near the town of Burracoppin. The fence is the longest fence in the world at that time. (This book’s initial copyright is 1938).

As he investigates, Bony runs into a man who specializes in studying serial murders. This man, Mr. Jelly, disappears from home regularly. Bony promises Jelly’s youngest daughter he will find out why her father is always leaving.

From some of the titles of later books, I take it that Mr. Jelly will return in later Bony books.

As always, Bony’s investigation involves patient waiting, astute observation of the most minute things, and skillful tracking.

Upfield spends two-plus pages letting us watch Bony think about ants. Bony watches a group of ants carefully. He describes the different species of ants, their similarities and differences. 

In another place, Bony observes blowflies. And sure enough! These insects come back to be a major clue.

Bony combines the skills of his aboriginal mother and his white father.

The book describes the Australian countryside in detail. It also talks about Australian racism, about how racists underestimate the unique skills of the “inferior” race. Bony is an investigative genius precisely because he came from two different races. He inherited strengths from both.

Bony is both proud and humble. He knows he is the best investigator in Australia. He says that often. But he always works undercover, often gives the credit to lesser investigators, and has no desire for promotion.

He knows he is great, and that’s enough.

These books are unique. This one starts slowly, and unfolds slowly. Only in the last fifty pages or so is there any real action.

Still, the story is compelling. Bony is an iconic character.

Whoever owns the copyright should reprint these books, perhaps in e-book form.

THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST by Stuart Neville

“You used people like me. You told us we didn’t have a future. You said we had to fight for it. You put the guns in our hands and sent us off to do your killing for you.” 

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Talk about a surfeit of riches! Two excellent books in a row. The first was The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. (That book was not a mystery.)

The second was Stuart Neville’s The Ghosts of Belfast.

I got both books as e-book specials at Amazon.

In Neville’s The Ghosts of Belfast, former IRA assassin Gerry Fegan finds himself haunted by the ghosts of those he murdered.

The ghosts demand that he now kill the politicians who ordered their demise.

Fegan works through the list coldly and with his usual good luck in killing. Then he falls in love.

Marie McKenna is an outcast, a traitor to the cause. She married a Catholic cop, an officer of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Her husband abandoned her, leaving her with a little daughter.

Marie has a history that adds to Jerry’s troubles. As the killing continues, Jerry, Marie, and the child find themselves on the run.

The story goes from there. The book involves, not just brutal murders, but hard-to-read explicit scenes of things like dogfights.

In the end, as Fegan kills each politician, that person’s vengeful ghost goes away. But finally, the reader knows the last ghost will demand that Gerry Fegan kill himself, commit suicide.

The ending of the book provides one of the most interesting twists of all.

Neville fills The Ghosts of Belfast with truth and insight.

“I’m telling you, the media’s a better weapon than Semtex ever was,” Fegan’s handler tells him one time.

And another time, the story says, “The politicians were too busy pandering to the bigotry of their constituents to solve the issues . . . .”

How much does that sound like today? Except more violent.

In times of change, the old guard doesn’t go merrily away. They hang on. They try to adjust, but they are as corrupt and violent as always.

This time, the old guard threatens the peace process, a process involving the British, the Loyalists, and the Nationalists.

Gerry Fegan’s ghosts (with their need for vengeance) change all that. Gerry Fegan’s ghost instructs him to murder one whole faction of the old guard.

But all this makes this book seem too tame. This book is violent, filled with love and hate. It is one of those books you don’t forget.

I’ve had a surfeit of riches lately. And I’m thankful.