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FLESHMARKET ALLEY by Ian Rankin

Little, Brown and Company (February 1, 2006), 576 pages

This is the 15^th adventure of Edinburgh Police Detective John Rebus. Our hero can be a lone wolf – although a few of his peers do make the Rebus grade – he’s acerbic, seemingly knows every pub in Scotland – and their bartenders, him – and if nothing else he is persistent; working round the clock between pints and “malts” to solve cases. This is a very good series with Rebus fighting the good fight – usually on his own terms – exposing the seamy underside of the Scottish criminal element.

In Fleshmarket Alley, a police department reorg has occurred with the “aging” Rebus and the much younger Siobhan Clarke – one of the few who’ve made it inside the Rebus circle – having been farmed out of the St. Leonard’s precinct. Neither of them is thrilled about the “move”. To stay out of the office, Rebus almost immediately inserts himself into the investigation of a murdered Kurdish refugee; Clarke is enlisted by a married couple – whom she knows from a previous case – to locate their missing teenaged daughter.  Just to add to the mix, a pair of skeletons – one an infant’s – is found in the cellar of a near-by pub. All of this seems unconnected – at least initially – but not so in this author’s hands.

A lot of ground with many characters is covered here, but the core of the story is the plight of illegal immigrants/refugees/asylum seekers and the associated xenophobia and resentment among the Scottish “natives” – all troublesome and trouble for Rebus, Clarke and Company, as they go about solving their soon intertwined cases. At times the author’s portrayal of these newcomers to Scotland – and their plight - although admirable, comes across as heavy-handed – and may frustrate the reader. Still Rankin’s point is valid and there is still an engaging mystery here. And for fans of this series, Ger Cafferty, an old Rebus nemesis, pops into the story-line.

Maybe not the best addition to the series, but still a good one. If you are new to the series, start with an earlier book in the Rebus canon.

FER-DE-LANCE by Rex Stout

Farrar & Rinehart, October 24, 1934, 313 pages

Fer-De-Lance introduces master detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin. As author Loren Estleman, (Amos Walker series), points out in the introduction of the edition of this book I read, the reader meets the two protagonists as fully developed characters and seven years into their “partnership”. Wolfe – cantankerous, agoraphobic and massive – is fully entrenched in his twice daily greenhouse visits to his beloved orchids – never to be interrupted – as well as pursuing his insatiable culinary habits. Goodwin, Wolfe’s legman as well as his eyes and ears out in the real world, does most of the sleuthing, while not so gently prodding his boss into action – which is thinking – for when Wolfe applies himself – he is a genius.

In this adventure Wolfe takes on the case of a missing person which quickly intersects with the seemingly unrelated death – presumably of natural causes – of a college president on a golf course. Our weighty hero adds up 2 + 2 and comes up with seven, declaring said golfing university head was murdered - This out of the blue claim subsequently proven, much to the chagrin of the local authorities. And it’s then off to the proverbial investigative races as our two heroes work to collect the clues, find the murderer and collect a hefty fee.

Although Fer-De-Lance sets the pattern for the many Wolfe/Goodwin books to follow, there are a few subtle, yet fascinating differences. The author, through Wolfe’s admissions and Goodwin’s observations, provides the reader with a peek into the inner psyche of the master detective as he goes about his business. Also the solution and the identification of the culprit occur outside of the confines of Wolfe’s office – the usual locale where Wolfe pieces together the puzzle.

Great book – Great series.

Author Rex Todhunter Stout was born on December 1^st, 1886, in Nobelsville, Indiana. Stout served in the US Navy from 1906-08, including a stint as yeoman on Teddy Roosevelt’s Presidential yacht. After his military service, among other endeavors, he devised a banking system for school children’s’ savings plans, from which he received royalties. In 1934, his first Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin novel, Fer-De-Lance, was published and detective fiction history was made – Stout writing more than 70 Wolfe/Goodwin novels/stories during his lifetime.

THE WILL by Reed Arvin

Pocket Books; Reprint edition (February 1, 2011),originally published 2000, 512 pages

Our protagonist in The Will, Henry Matthews, Jr., is an up and coming attorney in Chicago, working his tail off to make partner at a prestigious law firm. He has a beautiful girlfriend, just as driven as he is – she’s a financial advisor/broker – and both are seeking the proverbial brass ring, i.e. lots of money. Both read like 1980’s throw-backs. Out of the blue Henry is called back to his small hometown of Council Grove, Kansas to execute a will his late father had prepared for the richest man in town – “the King of Council Grove” – who has died. “The will” is not what anyone expected, starting with “the King’s” family, and Henry is sucked back into the politics, feuds and small town machinations he thought he had escaped. So begins this very lengthy and very vanilla “legal thriller”.

The crux of this story is why “the King” left most his assets, including most of Council Grove’s businesses, to a seemingly insane homeless man, aka “the Birdman”. Due to a lack of character development, the story’s premise – Henry’s “need” to solve the riddle of the will – is simply never plausible. There is no compelling reason for Henry to stick around, yet he does. So right from the get-go, the story-line has the reader scratching his head with this less then believable quandary.

The supporting cast – the bully son of the King, a crooked politician, a willful, young woman working for the state’s environmental agency, the townspeople and even “the Birdman” – are all one dimensional. And as they are introduced while Henry uncovers his hometown’s “deep dark secrets”, the reader knows exactly how they will fit into the book’s predictable, cookie-cutter, plug-and-play plot.

To compound the issue, this book is also woefully bloated. Scenes that at best would merit paragraphs meander for pages and even chapters. The Will is a long, very dry, superficial tale of redemption and is anything but a thriller.

Pass on this one.