Crimefile:Does anyone write better espionage thrillers than Alan Furst? The answer is a ringing no. They are all set before and during the second World War, and the cloak and dagger atmosphere is always expertly created.
The Foreign Correspondent is set in the winter of 1938 and the months following, and is concerned with the hundreds of Italian intellectuals who fled to Paris to escape Mussolini's fascist government. They produced innumerable texts and newspapers, just one of them being Liberazione, which smuggled news and encouragement back to the homeland. When the editor is assassinated by the Italian secret police, one Carlo Weisz becomes the new editor. He is one in a line of Furst's tarnished, yet noble, heroes, men who rise to the occasion even though on the outside not seemingly suited to what they are asked to do. French, British and Italian intelligence agents pursue him, yet he, along with a small group of anti-fascists and the woman he loves, manages to evade them all. This is a novel that shows Furst at his masterful best, his prose beautifully shaped, his use of understatement serene, and his creation of character supreme. Do yourself a favour and buy this book. You won't get better.
You might get as good, however, for Michael Connelly's Echo Park shows him to be in great form also. This one features his series detective, acerbic Harry Bosch of the LAPD, now confined to the Open-Unsolved Unit of the department. In 1993, Harry had investigated the case of Marie Gesto, who disappeared after walking out of a supermarket in Hollywood. The young woman never turned up, dead or alive, and Harry was unable to solve the case. Now, some 13 years later, he gets a call from the DA's office to say that one Raymond Waits, a convicted killer, has announced that he is the one who murdered Marie Gesto. While taking Waits's confession, Harry realises that he and his partner of the time missed a vital clue that would have led them to the killer, and that would have prevented the murders that followed. Always close to the boiling point, Harry begins to crack up, and it is only with a supreme effort, and the help of a female colleague, that he manages to stay on the right side of the law. Superb writing and story as usual from Connelly, who grows in strength with each new book.
The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante sees the return of DI Anna Travis, a slightly less flawed version of Jane Tennison from the Prime Suspect television series. Reunited with her enigmatic superior, Chief Insp James Langton, she is investigating the discovery of the mutilated body of a young woman found on the banks of the Thames. The Black Dahlia was the name given to a notorious unsolved murder in Hollywood in the early 1940s, and this latter-day killing appears to be a copycat version. Soon another body is found, and the pressure begins to mount on the ill-assorted pair of investigators. Will they find the killer before he or she strikes again? La Plante is an expert at winding up the suspense, and The Red Dahlia is a prime example of her style. Highly recommended.
Quercus is the big new name in the field of crime fiction publishing. Its lists have revealed new talents and have reinvigorated authors who have been around the block a few times. Its chief executive is Anthony Cheetham, and Otto Penzler, the owner of The Mysterious Press in Manhattan, is also involved. The following three volumes are examples of what Quercus is publishing.
The Murmur of Stones, by Thomas Cook, is a strange effort, concerned as it is with obsession and madness. It's the story of Diana, who grows up caring for her schizophrenic father, a man who can at times be quite violent. The father dies, but then Diana's own son Jason is diagnosed with the same disease. When he is drowned at an early age, Diana cannot accept the coroner's verdict that her son's death is accidental. She becomes obsessed with the idea that her estranged husband, Mark, murdered him, and from that time on her whole life is given over to gathering evidence. To that end she enlists the help of her brother, David, and especially his daughter, Patty, to the point where the girl begins to show qualities of delusion. It is the brother who tells the story to a detective, so it is obvious from the start that things will end tragically. Not an easy book to read, The Murmur of Stones nonetheless proves to be fascinating in a macabre way.
There is a type of adventure writing that I like to term "rugged", and the next two books are prime examples of it. Peter Temple is an Australian writer, and his novel In the Evil Day is set after the Cold War. John Anselm has run covert operations in foreign war zones, but is now living and working in Hamburg. He spends his days working for a surveillance agency, but it is at night that he seeks to bury the ghosts of the past in drink and lonely introspection. In London, Caroline Wishart is a journalist whose speciality is exposing the sex lives of British politicians. She has stumbled upon a story that could make her career, or maybe finish it for good. Into both these peoples' lives comes ex-mercenary Con Niemand, harbouring a secret that could bring down the government. How will the three of them react in a world where information is more dangerous than explosives? In the Evil Day is a rip-roaring thriller that speeds like a bullet from an AK47 to its violent conclusion.
Finally, there is Joe Gores with Glass Tiger - another example of the rugged type of adventure story mentioned above. Brendan Thorne, ex-army Ranger and master CIA sniper, is working as a game warden at a Kenyan safari park when an FBI team kidnap him and fly him back to the USA. He is brought to meet the new President who, since his inauguration, has been stalked by veteran Vietnam sniper Hal Corwin. Thorne is the only one who can find and defeat Corwin, and to that purpose he pursues his quarry across America. The closer he gets to Corwin, however, the more he suspects that all is not what it should be, and that the President is playing a duplicitous game. Glass Tiger is another rich and violent thriller, that will keep you reading to the last page.
Vincent Banville is a writer and critic