lørdag den 28. maj 2011

Vanda Symon, The Ringmaster (2008)

(German title: Der ungeschminkte Tod. My review of Overkill).

Well, I read the second Sam Shephard mystery from New Zealand in German, but I was afraid that if I only gave you the German title, you would not read my review.

"Rosie, warte!" rief er und beschleunigte seine Schritte. Sie drehte sich um, und mit genugtuung stellte er fest, dass ihr Gesicht anfing zu strahlen, als sie ihn erkannte.

Detective Constable Sam Shephard, who now works in Dunedin, and her colleague, Smithy, are trying to disperse a group of people who demonstrate in front of a circus. Soon, the department have more important things to care about, however, as they find the body of a young woman who has been assaulted and drowned in the river Leith which runs through the Botanic Garden.

But as Sam has offended her superior, DI Johns, quite successfully, she is sent off to deal with the less interesting circus case while everybody else works on the murder. As she is a stubborn and determined woman, and perhaps a bit impulsive, she does her best to worm her way into the murder investigation. New trouble hits the circus, though, and whether Sam wants to or not, she gets deeply involved in the affairs of the circus before she can return to the murder of young Rose-Marie Bateman. and at some time she begins to wonder if the occurrences in the circus are related to the murder.

I enjoyed the story just as much as Vanda´s terrific debut, especially for the character of Sam, a female protagonist of the very best kind. A slight minus, though, because Sam has a tendency to run into dramatic situations on her own. It was not as difficult to read it in German as I had expected, but I won´t pretend I understood each and every detail, and I certainly won´t admit how long it took me to read it in German.

I bought the German e-book myself (because the English version is very difficult to come by), and fortunately I have the next volumes ready on my shelf - in English. 

Craig´s review of The Ringmaster (Crime Watch).

9 kommentarer:

Joanne Ganley sagde ...

I enjoyed the Sam Shephard series immensely. I'm glad you have the next book in English. Good on you for getting through the German version, though.

Dorte H sagde ...

Joanne: yes, I was a bit proud of my achievement. And now I know that I can do it if I run into the same problem again.

Anonym sagde ...

Dorte - Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed this one as much as you did :-). I agree that Symon's work is very good and that Sam Shepherd is a terrific detective. I, too, admire you for reading it in German. I know I couldn't have done that.

Felicity Grace Terry sagde ...

Sounds like an interesting read. I am so impressed that you read it in German.

Dorte H sagde ...

Margot: well, perhaps you could have read it in Danish. I really hope it will be available in Scandinavia at some point.

Tracy: Germanic studies were part of my education, but at that time I was much better at Dutch than German. So theoretically I could also read crime fiction in Dutch, but I haven´t put it to the test for several years.

Kelly sagde ...

Once upon a time I could read fairly well in Spanish, but I'd really have to work at it now.

Wasn't there a serial killer here in the US by the name of Sam Shephard (or some spelling of the name)?

This sounds like a good series.

Dorte H sagde ...

Kelly: you could probably still read in Spanish if you really wanted to. I hadn´t read anything in German for more than ten years.
Yes, there was a murderer called Sam Sheppard - and this is an excellent series.

Unknown sagde ...

This author sounds quite interesting. I've written this book down to try to find it. Thanks

Unknown sagde ...

This author sounds quite interesting. I've written this book down to try to find it. Thanks