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Fiction, Reviews

‘A Ghostly Shadow,’ by H. L. Marsay

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Inspector John Shadow of York, hero of H. L. Marsay’s police procedural series, is annoyed by many things. Crowds for one, which is unfortunate for a man living in a tourist city. Festivals. Geese. Modern music. Social interactions. At the beginning of A Ghostly Shadow, he’s annoyed, as Guy Fawke’s Day approaches, by the costumed tour guides leading “ghost walks” through the city. York is renowned for several ghosts, most prominently Guy Fawkes of the Gunpowder Plot and Dick Turpin the highwayman. Currently, a couple new guides from Oxford have established themselves in the city and are dressing as Fawkes and Turpin, taking business away from local ghost impersonators. Also, somebody has been stealing tour brochures from kiosks.

Then the new Dick Turpin is found hanging from a tree, near the very spot where the original Dick swung for his crimes. Shadow’s team must investigate the murder, under pressure from the city, as usual, to wrap things up before it affects business. Inspector Shadow’s attitude is not improved when he sprains his ankle and has to depend on other people’s help.

I suspect my affection for this series springs from my identification with Shadow himself, as a fellow misanthrope (though I think he’s ruder than I am, yet people seem to like him for some reason I can’t divine). But the writing isn’t top drawer (author Marsay is prone to clichés like “pale and drawn”). Nevertheless, the book was fun to read, and there wasn’t much to offend me. Recommended for light reading.

Fiction, Reviews

‘A Viking’s Shadow,’ by H. L. Marsay

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I read and reviewed A Long Shadow, the first in H. L. Marsay’s Inspector Shadow mystery series. I felt that Shadow was slightly derivative of Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse, but the writing wasn’t bad, and I like York as a setting. And I could hardly resist a second volume entitled A Viking’s Shadow.

York’s annual Viking festival actually exists, though I suspect its organization is rather different from what we see in this story. Inspector John Shadow, a solitary and somewhat misanthropic man, relishes eating in the city’s restaurants (Italian and Chinese preferred). So he hates the festival, which crowds the streets with tourists and makes his favorite tables hard to get. But it’s even more inconvenient when, on the first night of this year’s celebration, the “king” of the festival, a businessman named Alfred Campbell who styles himself “Ragnar,” is found murdered in his Viking tent, a replica sword in his chest. Then, on the same night, a beautiful fortune teller who was involved with Campbell is found strangled.

Shadow, assisted by his annoyingly enthusiastic sergeant, Jimmy Chan, is on the case. Lots of people hated Arthur Campbell, for both business and personal reasons. Shadow approaches the case in his old school manner, but has to admit that Jimmy, with his modern technology, has something to offer. And in the end the true culprit – a fairly unexpected one – is brought to light.

I thought the plot of A Viking’s Shadow was well worked out, and I like the characters. Most of the time, when authors try to work Viking themes into mysteries, they make major mistakes, but author Marsay has clearly done her research, and I have no serious complaints. An interesting aspect of the stories is that Shadow (like Morse) is a crossword puzzle fiend. But Marsay does Colin Dexter one better by beginning each chapter with a puzzle clue, which applies to an actual puzzle at the back of the book. I’m not very good at serious crosswords, but I did get one (just one) clue in this book – only because I know Viking stuff.

Pretty good book. I don’t recall any objectionable content.

Fiction, Reviews

‘A Long Shadow,’ by H. L. Marsay

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The shadow of Inspector Morse overhangs the landscape of British detective fiction. Morse may have been the most successful English mystery protagonist since Sherlock Holmes. I have a suspicion that the thirst for a new Morse may be behind H. L. Marsay’s creation of Inspector John Shadow of York, whose first adventure is A Long Shadow. Shadow does crossword puzzles (though he doesn’t seem to ever finish them). He listens only to old music (though it’s 20th Century standards, not opera). He grumps at his younger partner. He’s not Morse’s clone, but he seems related.

One cold night a young homeless woman dies on a street in York. The very same day a skeleton is uncovered by an excavation crew – a murder victim from more than 30 years ago. And soon more homeless turn up dead – all poisoned by cyanide in vodka. Inspector Shadow has an intuition that the present-day murders have some connection to the old one. But who has a motive? The business owners who want the homeless people cleared out? Drug dealers? Some psychopath?

I have to tell you I figured out who the murderer was fairly early on – and I’m not all that good at solving these things. The author needs to work on her (she’s a she) red herring skills. But I liked Inspector Shadow himself, and enjoyed the reading experience. York is an interesting historical city, so I appreciated the setting too. I went ahead and bought the sequel, A Viking’s Shadow, for reasons too obvious to explain.

A Long Shadow doesn’t get my highest recommendation, but it wasn’t bad. I don’t recall the language being too foul.