Denne norske krimi er den ottende i Hanne Wilhelmsen-serien (nummer ni, hvis man medregner Madam Præsident, hvor Inger Johanne Vik er hovedpersonen, men Hanne Wilhelmsen spiller en vis rolle).Et tog bliver afsporet under en snestorm 1222 meter over havet. Togføreren dør, men alle passagerne bliver reddet og hjulpet til et nærliggende hotel, hvor de sner inde i dagevis.
Blandt passagererne er en midaldrende, indesluttet ekskommissær Hanne Wilhelmsen i kørestol, en eller flere mystiske gæster, som de andre passagerer aldrig får at se, plus – viser det sig – en morder.
I denne lukkede kreds af 196 personer sidder Hanne Wilhelmsen i hotellets reception cum opholdsrum og iagttager begivenhedernes gang. Hun er sær og sarkastisk, men stadig særdeles kompetent, og de selvbestaltede ledere får god brug for hendes kunnen, da de finder det første offer, den fodbold-interesserede præst Cato Hammer, dræbt af skud.
Med disse rammer kan det ikke overraske krimi-kendere, at Hanne Wilhelmsen på et tidspunkt henviser til Agatha Christies klassiker, En af os er morderen (først udgivet under titlen Ti små negerdrenge i 1959), hvor ti mennesker havner på en øde ø for at opdage, at én af dem er morder.
Og fungerer det så, dette klassiske plot, i nye klæder? Jo, rammen virker nogenlunde overbevisende, og miljø og personer står stærkt. Selv i ekstra-bitter udgave er der mere ved Hanne Wilhelmsen end Inger Johanne Vik, men hendes manglende bevægelsesfrihed hæmmer plottet noget.
Helhedsindtryk: udmærket underholdning, og interessant at møde Hanne Wilhelmsen igen, men plottet er ikke blandt Anne Holts bedste.
Jeg lånte bogen på biblioteket.
Anne Holt, 1222.
This Norwegian crime novel is from the Hanne Wilhelmsen series which has not been translated into English. I borrowed it from the library.
The plot is of the closed room type, and somewhere the protagonist refers to Agatha Christie´s And Then there were None. A fast and entertaining read, but this is not Holt´s best or most convincing plot.
Two weeks ago I reviewed Håkan Nesser´s A Completely Different Story (not translated yet), featuring a group of Swedish tourists ´marooned´ on a small island, and the narrator refers to Golding´s Lord of the Flies.
Are these closed-room plots just a Scandinavian coincidence, or have you come across similar examples recently?
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7 kommentarer:
Dorte - I do wish more of these novels were translated! Norwegian is not one of my languages yet... There are a lot of locked-room mysteries in English, though. Ellery Queen's The King is Dead has a great one. Writer Hal White has a great site, too, about that kind of story...
I haven't been to visit you in so long that I had to pop in today. You always are suggesting such intersting writers. i really must find more reading time so I can enjoy some of them. i have been keeping a list, eventually...
You just like to tease us who can't read anything but English (well, I could struggle through French).
Margot: oh, but you can just read it in Danish like I did! ;) (In fact Norwegian and Danish are closer than many dialects).
Heather: it is always good to see you! I have also found out I have to keep a list, and I use it every month when I spend my book budget.
Beth: I don´t remember if you have read any of Anne Holt´s books; one of her series has been translated into English, and it is quite good though the female protagonist is a wimp.
A closed-room device is likely hot right now, due to the popularity of Lost.
Dorte - Thanks for your post. I certainly will have to give Anne Holt a second try, this time in English. Also for your information there is a more favourable review of "A Carrion Death" in the 2010 Global Reading Challenge. Thanks again for the fun. It was a great idea.
Regards from Madrid.
Julia: Lost - the novel by Gregory Maguire? I haven´t read that one.
Jose: I know you are not to keen on her, but you should not read her for my sake. Her Johanne Vik series is different from the Hanne Wilhelmsen series in the way that the Vik stories do not seem to be rounded off, really.
I will check that review of A Carrion Death, thank you. In the beginning I meant to read ALL the global challenge review, but they come far too fast for that :D
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