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FEVER
by Friedrich Glauser
Bitter Lemon Press, February 2006
225 pages
9.99GBP
ISBN: 1904738141


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Sergeant Studer is one of the great creations in crime fiction, but I'm betting my last bar of chocolate that most of you won't have heard of him, or of his creator Frederick Glauser.

FEVER, the third book of the series to be translated into English, dates from the Golden Age of crime. But you won't find an awful lot of resemblance to Christie et al when you pick up Glauser's books.

For one he was a morphine and opium addict who spent time in mental institutions in Switzerland. And you just know that the wonderful scene where Studer starts to piece together the case in the midst of a hashish-induced haze was based on personal experience!

FEVER is fantastic when it comes to character-driven writing and a narrative voice to die for. And the translation fairly sizzles off the page, courtesy of translator Mike Mitchell.

The plot's fine, incidentally, but in many ways secondary to what else is going on. Two elderly women are found gassed in their homes. It looks like an accident until Sgt Studer stomps along and insists it's murder. From that point on, a cast of strange characters, including the policemen of several countries, a feisty young woman and an annoying holy man with a propensity for popping up when you least expect him, help and hinder Studer along the way.

Studer himself has led an eventful life. His pursuit of the truth has seen him demoted earlier in his career, but he's worked his way back up and has a reputation for getting results. He's not the kind of man to be shaken off, so it's not much of a surprise when the novel's finest scenes see him in disguise, carrying a false passport and papers, and riding a mule to reach the French Foreign Legion.

The mule, incidentally, is my third favourite character in the book behind Studer and his sane and sensible wife who plays her own part in getting a result. There are two earlier books translated into English -- THUMBPRINT and IN MATTO'S REALM. All of Glauser's books are must-reads if you like sparky writing and faintly off-the-wall characters.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, May 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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