J e'll end up asking me if I do not have a background of masochism in crime fiction. Or if my nose was blunt to the point that I tend to buy books that police leave me lukewarm. Or if I am struck by an overdose of thrillers which means that I am more and more difficult to settle in this area.
latest example, The mystery of the house Aranda of Jerónimo Salmerón Tristant (Editions 10-18, 2009, ISBN 978-2-264-04905-6 ; original title, El misterio de la casa Aranda, 2007). For the record, I do not know why his name carries an accent on the "i" "Sad" in the French coverage, and for once the title in VF is faithful to the original title It had to be flayed the author's name! We
immersed here in the city of Madrid in the 1880s, an era still shaken by political tensions, upheavals arising from the dynastic crisis in the death of Ferdinand VII, the Carlist Wars, the first English Republic and the restoration of the Bourbons throne of a constitutional monarchy in favor of Alfonso XII. A political background is not presented in detail in the book and will miss perhaps some French readers, who will wonder what the many allusions rhyme that the author puts into the mouths of his characters on this ;, but this background is not essential from the point of view "policeman."
In this city of Madrid, capital of Spain in tension, a young sub-inspector of police will put his nose in criminal investigations in which the reader will witness. Jerónimo Tristant us simmered stew police that left me feeling a very mixed cuisine too rich in some respects and too bland in others.
Too rich wanting because, in my opinion, embrace too many things at once:
- the hero is a young policeman who had started with petty crime before being brought back on track by a police officer at the heart Gold became his mentor
- A young policeman is, of course, a liberal, in that Spain seeks his way, making it virtually a character avant-garde, almost anachronistic;
- the young man nor believes neither in God nor the devil (this I can not blame him), reads newspapers and liberals love to frequent the ladies priced at Madame Rosa
- from the popular classes, the young man will of course fall in love with a young aristocrat (who is almost forgotten girls at Madame Rosa). Impossible love? No, do so. The damsel is also conquered by liberal ideas and his father, he is an aristocrat, think only of his daughter's happiness and not a common interest;
- avant-garde on the political front, the young man is in police technology, capable of acquiring a few weeks of bases forensic science (forensic, ballistics, chemistry, etc..) which will, of course, a huge help in its investigation;
- the young detective is not facing a single investigation, but both at the same time: on one side, the serial murders of prostitutes (what do the police hierarchy, of course, no interest, but what The young man raised by his great heart, too, will devote its energy to the beautiful eyes that some prostitutes) and the other a house hit by a curse that a stanza of Dante's Divine Comedy would not be abroad;
- suspects came from the distant Philippines, where they float on the scent of Santeria and voodoo, or young aristocratic idlers depraved manners.
Phew, just that ...
Too bland because under these ingredients superabundant, the two plots fall as blown forgotten by the cook. Regulars thrillers have sniffed at ten locations in the round the killer of prostitutes almost from the moment the character in question appears in the novel. When the mystery of the house Aranda, who gives the book its title, it is likely in his grounds but implausible in its implementation.
- the hero is a young policeman who had started with petty crime before being brought back on track by a police officer at the heart Gold became his mentor
- A young policeman is, of course, a liberal, in that Spain seeks his way, making it virtually a character avant-garde, almost anachronistic;
- the young man nor believes neither in God nor the devil (this I can not blame him), reads newspapers and liberals love to frequent the ladies priced at Madame Rosa
- from the popular classes, the young man will of course fall in love with a young aristocrat (who is almost forgotten girls at Madame Rosa). Impossible love? No, do so. The damsel is also conquered by liberal ideas and his father, he is an aristocrat, think only of his daughter's happiness and not a common interest;
- avant-garde on the political front, the young man is in police technology, capable of acquiring a few weeks of bases forensic science (forensic, ballistics, chemistry, etc..) which will, of course, a huge help in its investigation;
- the young detective is not facing a single investigation, but both at the same time: on one side, the serial murders of prostitutes (what do the police hierarchy, of course, no interest, but what The young man raised by his great heart, too, will devote its energy to the beautiful eyes that some prostitutes) and the other a house hit by a curse that a stanza of Dante's Divine Comedy would not be abroad;
- suspects came from the distant Philippines, where they float on the scent of Santeria and voodoo, or young aristocratic idlers depraved manners.
Phew, just that ...
Too bland because under these ingredients superabundant, the two plots fall as blown forgotten by the cook. Regulars thrillers have sniffed at ten locations in the round the killer of prostitutes almost from the moment the character in question appears in the novel. When the mystery of the house Aranda, who gives the book its title, it is likely in his grounds but implausible in its implementation.
Jerónimo Tristan And I did it that I hate above all in the novels, as I wrote in my previous post : the chapter in which the investigator explains in detail his reasoning, the evidence found and how they fit into the puzzle that he alone had the lucidity to comprehend, all reinforced by the confession, the menu also guilty of that explains everything the reader could not learn in the 300 preceding pages and the investigator himself had only a vague idea.
In short, outside of this framework that can disorient Madrid French readers, the mystery of the house Aranda was all very classic. Lovers of pastry cream and heavy final chapter "special revelations" may appreciate the whole. From my side, I prepared a digestive tea, hoping to do better pick the next time my hand grasping a thriller about a radius of bookseller.
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