The varied inhabitants of Valletta, Malta's ancient, beautiful, and usually calm capital, are all too involved with one another to be trusted to find the murderer of the laundress's retarded son. It falls to outsider Detective Inspector Coffin, brought in from London's Scotland Yard, to be the catalyst that leads to the truth in this inbred and guilt-ridden community.
The New York Times Book Review said: "Makes the island of Malta and its people vividly alive to the reader..."
John Azzopardi, a lawyer who lived in London for several years, is as much the lead character in this story as Inspector John Coffin. Azzopardi has moved back to Malta, welcomed by family and friends. Very shortly after he moves into his apartment, there is a murder nearby. He awakes in the middle of the night, hears someone screaming, and hastens outside to see what is going on. Thus he gets pulled into the murder investigation. His cousin, Joseph de Bono is leading the investigation. But after much questioning, the police can get no answers from the people who were nearby when the crime was committed. Everyone seems to be afraid to talk but it is unclear who they are afraid of.
My thoughts on this book are very similar to my reaction to the first John Coffin book I read, Death Lives Next Door. The format of the mystery is unusual. The death does take place close to the beginning, but there is a large portion of the middle focused on questioning of suspects that goes nowhere. John Coffin shows up to help in the investigation but not until the last third of the book. There is more emphasis on personal relationships and interactions within the community than on the solving of a crime. Nevertheless I enjoyed the story and liked the writing style.
I would not necessarily recommend this particular book to anyone who hasn't already read books by Gwendoline Butler. The crime is horrific, but not described graphically or dwelled upon. However, the book does provide a good picture of Malta and its people, at least the Malta of the 1960s. The only other book I have read set in Malta (The Information Officer by Mark Mills) was set during World War II and the characters were mainly military people stationed in Malta at the time.
I do plan to try later books in this series although they are not easy to find. The John Coffin series was published over 4 decades, the 60s through the 90s. Gwendoline Butler wrote another series under the pseudonym Jenny Melville. The main character in that series was police sergeant Charmian Daniels.
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Publisher: Walker and Company, 1985 (orig. pub. 1964).
Length: 224 pages
Format: Paperback
Series: John Coffin #11
Setting: Malta
Genre: Mystery / Police Procedural
Source: On my TBR pile since 2005.
19 comments:
This sounds interesting and particularly good for the European reading challenge... Malta being quite a hard country to cover I would think.
Well, the setting interests me a lot, Tracy. I know what you mean about middles or sub-plots, etc.. that don't go very far, but the premise sounds interesting, and so do some of the characters. I'm glad you found things to like about this.
I haven't found any other options for Malta, Cath, but there must be history books or travel books that include it.
Margot, I like Gwendoline Butler's books (the two I have read so far) because of the characterization. And it isn't a bad mystery, just unusual.
Skip for me, I'm afraid. I need a faster pace here days.
"these days"
Rick, usually I like fast-paced stories better, but I do like to vary the pacing sometimes. I don't think you would care much for this one.
Tracy, you wouldn't believe it but till this year I didn't even know (or if I did I had long forgotten) there was a country called Malta. It was reading the book that you have mentioned, INFORMATION OFFICER, that made me aware of it. Since then however it seems to be creeping up everywhere. This book seems interesting, I'll see whether I can get the first in the series.
I read a lot of her back in the day.
Neeru, reading The Information Officer is also where I learned of Malta as a separate country. I have found early books in the John Coffin series hard to find, maybe you will have better luck. I have read good things about Gwendoline Butler's books and I guess for now I will look for Kindle copies (not my favorite way to read).
Patti, I cannot understand why I never saw her books when I was younger. Or maybe I did, and even read some, and just don't remember now. But now I am glad to have discovered them.
From your description this author's style sounds a little like Roderic Jeffries's and his Inspector Alvarez series on Ibiza. If they are similar I would be inclined to check her out.
I've read a lot of her books, but not this one. I think the later ones are probably better. I like them a lot.
Mathew, that is interesting. I do plan to read the first book in the Inspector Alvarez series soonish. In the case of the Inspector Coffin series, he is mostly in London, I believe. So not usually such an exotic setting.
Christine, the section in Great Women Mystery Writers on Gwendoline Butler does suggest starting with later in the series, in the 1970s and later. I have purchased 4 or 5 Kindle books in the Inspector Coffin series starting around 1986, so will give those a try.
I was trying to think if I had read any books set in Malta, and probably not. I have read several books by this author, and thought they were fine, but didn't rush to read more. The setting makes this one tempting.
I would love to find more fiction set in Malta, Moira. I will be trying some later books by Butler to see what I think.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, but probably not one for me.
I did like it, Col, though not as much as the first I read by this author. But I agree, not for you.
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