A Dead Man in Malta

September 27, 2010
Set in 1913, Pearce's thin seventh mystery to feature Scotland Yard's Sandor Seymour (after 2009's A Dead Man in Naples) opens with an intriguing puzzle. Seymour, a troubleshooter routinely dispatched across Europe to handle sensitive inquiries, looks into three suspicious deaths on the island of Malta—two British sailors and a German balloonist have expired after being admitted in good health to a British naval hospital. The aviator, Kiesewetter, entered the hospital for observation after his hot-air balloon landed unexpectedly. Witness reports that an unknown person was seen bending over the supine body of one of the sailors shortly before the sailor's demise add to concerns that a murderer might have been at work. Unengaging scenes between Seymour and his love interest as well as a denouement that doesn't fulfill the promise of the premise will disappoint fans of Pearce's superior Mamur Zapt series (The Mark of the Pasha, etc.).

September 15, 2010

Do-good ladies and do-bad gents discombobulate 1913 Malta.

When Mrs. Wynne-Gurr, Chair of the West Surrey branch of the St. John Ambulance Association (nursing volunteers), visits Malta, teeming with purebred Maltese, unassimilated Arabs and occupying Brits, she deems a minor anomaly to be a major catastrophe and summons Scotland Yard. Off goes Seymour of the Yard to ferret out why two British seamen and one German balloonist, each admitted to the hospital for nonlife-threatening health problems, suddenly wind up dead. Mrs. Wynne-Gurr assumes it's the dire laxity of nursing care, but is it really? While she tut-tuts her way around the hospital, an infiltrator has joined her group: Seymour's mistress Chantale. Her fancied Mediterranean tryst with her beau disallowed by the Yard, she pretends to be eager to start up an Ambulance outpost in her hometown of Tangier, and is in need of advice. Also scurrying about are Felix and Sophia, school kids doing term papers on the hospital, started in the 1500s, and the unsuitable British sway over Malta and the need for local rebellion. Dr. Malia, a retired member of the hospital staff, now convinced war is imminent, skulks about taking measurements to increase patient capacity, while Susie, a very friendly gal, has regular assignations in various hospital corners. Meanwhile, local bands are vying to see who can blare loudest at parties, staff nurses falter in their allegiances and Seymour must figure out how, when and by whom hospital security was breached. He is helped in this task by Inspector Lucca but mostly put upon by everyone else until his impeccable reasoning uncovers all.

An amusing period tale. Seymour's seventh outing (Dead in Naples, 2009, etc.) shows a dry wit and an engaging touch with political folderol, familial brouhahas and mystery logistics. 

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