Last Rights by
Barbara Nadel
pbk out January 06
(Headline)
at £6.99
This is a new departure for writer Barbara Nadel, author of the successful
Cetin Ikmen series set in Istanbul. Though with family in Turkey, who must have
been in part inspiration and resource for the Cetin Ikmen series, Nadel was actually
born in the East End of London. In Last Rights, she takes us to West Ham in October
1940.
Francis Hancock is a survivor of the Great War, but his experiences have left
him shell-shocked. When the blitz comes to the East End, he cannot go down a
shelter, which reminds him too much of the trenches. Instead he must nervously run
for his life in the open.
After one raid, the police ask him to store the body of a blast victim. The
trouble is, Frank saw him earlier claiming to have been stabbed by a woman. As
everyone thinks Frank is mad, no one is prepared to believe him, when he says Kevin
Dooley is a murder victim. Even when he finds a pin-sized hole in his chest. Frank
must dig out the truth for himself. Dooley has been a hard man, who fights anyone he
comes up against, including his wife. Frank, assisted by his close friend, Hannah – a
working girl – reckons the only way to the truth is through the wife, Pearl Dooley, and
her sisters. When he learns that the sisters' mother was Victorine Reynolds, he seems
to have solved the matter. Victorine was known as the "Bloody French Maid", who
was convicted and hanged for the murder of her companion, who beat her. It seems
like it is a case of like mother like daughter. Especially when Frank tracks down
another sister, Ruby, who has disappeared after her employer, Shlomo Kaplan, has
been found dead. But of course, there is more to the case than meets the eye.
The novel is written through the eyes and voice of Frank himself. Now, Frank
is not the most bright, or perceptive of men, and Nadel is very successful in evoking
his simplicity and homely qualities. But this gives the book something of an awkward
style that doesn't always work. I was not fully convinced that "mad" Frank would be just
able to see off the violent Dooleys with words, nor of his reasons for seeking
justice for the odious Kevin. However, where Nadel does succeed is in creating the
atmosphere of the blitz-struck East End, and the deprivations of the people at the time.
Homely it may be, but Mrs Miniver it is not. Frank's temperament is well observed,
due no doubt to the author's own experience working for the National Schizophrenia
Fellowship, as is the mixing-pot of his ethnic origins. He is dubbed a "wog" as his
mother is from Calcutta. We little recall now, how long immigrants have lived in and
contributed to society in England. And died in wars. Barbara Nadel's Cetin Ikmen
series has stood comparison with Michael Dibdin's Venice stories. This is another
matter, and though it is difficult to see how Last Rights – as is hinted – will mark the
beginning of a new series, it will be very intriguing to see if it does.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
Last Rights by
Barbara Nadel
