Ariel Winter

1st of the Twenty Year Death trilogy. This one written in the style of Simenon / Maigret. Inspector is called out to a boonie town in France to interview a terrible child killer at Malniveau Prison. But first, a random person is murdered on the quiet, rainy town street and left face down in the gutter. Strange! Turns out the child killer provides a lead about disappearing (murdered?) prisoners. In following this up, the detective (Maigret stand in) needs to mix it up with the town folk - including an american author (Rosenkrantz) and his charming young wife (Clothilde). One guesses we'll see more of them in the following books. I admire the author's scheme and his ambition to write it up as Simemon/Chandler/Thompson. One can't be completely at ease with the results as i found myself wincing at some of the supposedly Simenon-esque touches (obsessed with Cigars- aha!). However, i am inclined to grant leeway to this ambitious author and project.… (meer)

The three separate books of the Twenty Year Death trilogy (Malniveau Prison, The Falling Star, and Police at the Funeral) are, in some sense, pastiches or mimics of the styles of famous crime authors of different time periods in the twentieth century: Malniveau Prison is in the style
of Georges Simenon. The Falling Star is in the style of Raymond Chandler and Police at the Funeral is in the style of Jim Thompson.

But, simply saying that they are in the style of or that they are pastiches of these famous authors does not do these books justice. Rather, than simply being copies of the work of the famous authors, it is perhaps more appropriate to view each as being imbued with the
atmosphere of such authors and evocative of a certain period of crime
fiction writing.

The second novel in the Twenty Year Death trilogy takes the reader all the way to Hollywood where the American writer Rosenkrantz and his wife Clothide, who is now known as the famous actress, Chloe Rose, are ensconsed. They are not at the center of this story as in the first book. Instead, enter a hard-boiled Phillip Marlowe type private eye who is hired to watch over Chloe, who everyone thinks is some nutty dame.

This story is typical of the forties and fifties private eye novels where a PI knows everyone but operates on his own. Mobsters, studio executives, and the police all warn this private eye, Dennis Foster, off the case, but as the bodies keep turning up, Foster soldiers on, trying to figure out who is playing him for a patsy. Again, a very enjoyable private eye story taking place in Hollywood, although Winter calls it San Angeles rather than Los Angeles to allow himself room for literary
invention.
… (meer)

Police at the Funeral centers around Shem Rosenkrantz, who has been dying bit by bit for twenty years. Chloe is in the nuthouse and Rosenkrantz has taken up with a sharp dame who is only with him because he is due to come into some money. This book is not really a take off on Jim Thompson except to the extent that its focus is this tortured, drowning character. This book takes the reader on a journey into despair and, as the reader, listening to this narrator, you wonder if he is really as innocent as he makes himself out to be or is he just justifying himself and his actions to the readers.… (meer)

Malniveau Prison takes place in a town in France, Veragent. I always pictured the town in the south of France, but Winter makes clear that you can't find the town on a map. He made it up. There's a prison near this small town and a French inspector has shown up to interview a sick, demented prisoner who is sort of like a Hannibal Lector being interviewed by Clarisse. This prisoner is surprisingly smart, sophisticated, and has very useful information. The pace of the book is deliberately set in this small out of the way town where time seems to move slowly, but somehow the book is fascinating. A body shows up when a baker comes out to the street to see why his basement is being flooded. Supposedly, inmates are being stabbed in the prison. Two young boys disappear and the townsfolk spread out looking for them. Inch by inch, the inspector dutifully puts the clues together and figures out what is going on. In the midst of it, the inspector has some difficulties with an American writer, Shem Rosenkrantz and his French wife, Clothide-ma Fleur, whose father was the man found by the baker
in the gutter. Outwardly, the story evokes the slow, tortured mysteries common before the noir era, but I found this story to be excellent.

… (meer)