Tangled Web UK Review March 2007
A Venture into Murder by
Henry Kisor
hbk out December 06
Published by Hale
at £17.99
It is always interesting to come across a new name in the crime/mystery pantheon.
Henry Kisor is apparently the retired book editor of the Chicago SunTimes, and the
author of one previous novel. There can be no preconceptions, then, about earlier bodies
of work or expectations to be met.
Deputy Steve Martinez is a Native American Lakota who had been adopted by
white missionaries and brought up as a middle-class American. A stint in the
army and a failed love affair has brought him to the backwaters of Porcupine County on
the shores of Lake Superior. Here, he has found his niche, even though he is brighter
than the average backwater deputy. He already has an ongoing affair with Ginny
Fitzgerald, director of the local historical society. And the only problem on the horizon's
in the shapely form of Mary Ellen Garrigan, who is fond of skinny-dipping and seducing
local cops.
Then the discovery of the body of a small-time mobster in the waters of the lake
kicks off a series of events that shake up this quiet life. A boat has been seen on the lake
that might belong to Morrie Weinstein, entrepreneur, and owner of an underground
nursery in a copper mine that employs many local people. Not a person to upset. Aided
by upstate cop Alex Kolehmainen, the conclusion is reached that the case will get
shelved. Then a second body is found – that of local man Frank Saarinen, who
disappeared while hunting. His body suggests it was hunting accident, but the
coincidences are piling up. Finally, while sorting out a local dispute, Martinez stumbles
on some men up to no good in the forest, and a very old body from the 1900s. Most
people would not connect the old body with the more recent ones, but Martinez sees the
link, and acts on it.
Kisor has created in Steve Martinez a fascinating lawman with a curious history
that serve to carry him through several more stories. Maybe Porcupine County shouldn't
have as many murders as a series will no doubt provide. But then this is the USA, and
you would not have imagined that Inspector Morse would have had to deal with so many
cases in staid Oxford. This is an eminently readable book, with well-rounded characters,
who have a believable life of their own without the author resorting to (a) drunkenness,
(b) failed marriages, or (c) completely unorthodox methods. It's a straight story that will
hold your attention to the end, and leave you hoping Kisor will continue the series.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
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