Death in the Rainy Season by Anna Jaquiery

First Line: The moment he turned down the alley, the dog started barking.

Commandant Serge Morel was enjoying his vacation in Cambodia until the head of a humanitarian organization is brutally murdered and he's called to Phnom Penh to work with the Cambodian police to solve the crime. The victim is French and well-connected, so it does Morel the French policeman no good to protest.

He finds the investigation hampered by the murder having occurred in a country with few forensic resources and his being teamed with a local police detective who clearly doesn't want to be there. But what hinders the investigation most of all is the dead man himself. What was he doing in a hotel under an assumed name? Do land grabs have anything to do with his death? Who broke into his home on the night of the murder? As the rain continues to pour down from the sky, Morel has to slog his way to the answers that will solve this crime.

I had some problems when I read the first Commandant Morel mystery, The Lying Down Room, but I'm happy to say that this second book didn't have them. Well, her, to be precise. I strongly disliked the character of Lila Markov, so I was thrilled that she stayed behind in Paris. With Miss High and Mighty out of the way, I could settle down to enjoy the book.

I liked the depiction of Phnom Penh during its monsoon season, and I learned a bit about the Khmer Rouge as I tried to solve the mystery. Morel, in the homeland of his deceased mother, is much more relaxed here and doesn't resort to his hobby of origami nearly as often as he did in the first book.

In Death in the Rainy Season, the whodunit is rather easy to solve. At least it was for me. It's the eternal "Why?" that kept my little grey cells confused. All in all, the setting and the mystery are strong reasons to read this second Morel book. I wonder if there will be a third?

Death in the Rainy Season by Anna Jaquiery

ISBN: 9781447244493

Pan Books © 2016

Paperback, 344 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Commandant Morel mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet. 

The Lying Down Room by Anna Jaquiery

First Line: For a long time, he watches the people in the queue.

Commandant Serge Morel lives with his father in their large Paris apartment. His father, always a force in his life, is slowly succumbing to dementia, which is a concern for the busy policeman-- especially considering the puzzling new case he and his team have been presented with.

It's August. It's swelteringly hot, and Morel is called to the crime scene of an elderly woman who's been murdered to the soundtrack of Fauré's Requiem and then grotesquely displayed. As the investigation progresses, the suspects narrow down to a middle-aged man and a mute teenage boy who have been delivering religious pamphlets to older women in various neighborhoods.

As more elderly women are targeted, Morel finds his investigation moving away from France back to Soviet Russia, and locating those two men becomes even more critical.

I came to The Lying Down Room by a circuitous route. The second book in the series really caught my eye, primarily because it takes place in Cambodia, but I decided to read the first book to get a better feel for the character of Commandant Morel. I wish I'd gone ahead and read that second book first.

This mystery is well-plotted and has a good smooth pace that moves the story right along. Jaquiery gives readers a strong portrait of Paris in August-- particularly of the murderous traffic and of Président Sarkozy's policies. We're told that "over the past six months Morel's team had closed more cases than any other team at the Criminal Brigade," and we're introduced to them, but the introductions are rather hit or miss. Morel feels that one member belongs elsewhere, and the one that readers see most is Lila Markov of the IQ of 174. She spends the entire book in a perpetual bad mood and just made me want to tell her to get over herself.

Morel has a lot on his plate because budget cuts mean fewer police officers to do more work. His father is in the beginning stages of dementia, and when Morel needs to decompress, he either makes a complicated origami bird or visits his married mistress. All the bones of The Lying Down Room are good, but I didn't particularly enjoy the book because I felt as though I were being kept at a distance; I never felt fully engaged with the story or with the characters. Now I need to decide if I want to follow Morel to Cambodia. If I do, it won't be in the immediate future.

The Lying Down Room by Anna Jaquiery

eISBN: 9781447244424

Pan Macmillan © 2014

eBook, 335 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Commandant Serge Morel mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.