The Inspector Barlach Mysteries

The first of these two novellas, The Judge and His Hangman, is excellent. Reads like one of the best noirs I've ever seen. Just a masterful translation. The second is decent, though more play-like and has less of the landscape descriptions that make the first so enjoyable. On this latter point, I was reminded of Cormac McCarthy's dark and beautiful prose. Also the use of genre for broader purposes, without losing sight of the appeal of the genre to begin with. ( )

These stories are perhaps not as good as The Pledge - which is one of the most chilling stories of obsession I've ever read, and I am amazed noone's turned into film, because it seems obvious film material. However, The Judge and his Hangman is similarly obsessive and creepy, but Suspicion doesn't quite work for me. Although the premise of the story - Barlach discovers the identity of a war criminal working in a Swiss hospital and has himself checked into the hospital to confront him - is fine, there are too many deus ex machina moments, and the conclusion seems unlikely. I realise that Durrenmatt is not interested in the police procedural per se, but uses it as a way of expressing ideas about Swiss society and its lack of willingness to face up to uncomfortable truths, but still, if you use that format, then you need to take it to a sensible conclusion for the genre and for me, Suspicion doesn't do that. The Judge and His Hangman is highly recommended and if you haven't read The Pledge, you really should ( )

This omnibus edition has two stories, "The Judge and his Hangman" and "Suspicion".

I read the first one many years ago in German class in high school, as "Der Richter und sein Henker". It was a struggle to read in German, and I remember being most glad to be able to finish. Rereading it decades in English, it is a completely new story to me. Inspector Barlach battles a failing career, poor health (ominous stomach pains), and modern changes to police work, to pursue an old nemesis. Many years ago, in an unfortunate incident, this nemesis bet Barlach that he could commit a crime in his presence in a public location and get away with it. Barlach has one last chance bring him to justice, and to solve a murder.

This is a great detective story: it starts with a murder found on an isolated road. Barlach has clues but keeps them to himself while working with a young detective who uses a scientific approach to tracking the killer down. Political influences intervene, and difficulties multiply. In a wonderful scene, an attempt is made on Barlach's life at night. The story has a twisted ending, but loose ends are all tied up nicely.

The second story, "Suspicion" finds Barlach in his hospital bed recovering from surgery. A photo in Life magazine reveals that a notorious Nazi concentration camp doctor may be practicing medicine at a nearby upscale clinic. Barlach investigates from his hospital bed and checks into the clinic. Here he meets with pure unadulterated evil, against which is arrayed Barlach and his associates, including a Jewish survivor of horrific concentration camp experiences.

"Suspicion" does not have the kind of complete plot development that "The Judge and his Hangman" does, but it is a good deal more intense and even chilling.

These stories were written shortly after World War II. The back blurb calls it "existential philosophy"; in the text the term used is "nihilism" for the Nazi doctor. But whatever term is used, in both stories, Durrenmatt confronts the nature of amoral evil head on. ( )

A very interesting provocative book, classifiable as mystery but it's much more. Splendid writing and excellent story telling. ( )

It is my personal belief that a truly great detective novel always opens with the discovery of a body. Friedrich Durrenmatt's novella The Judge and the Hangman does just that. The body of a police inspector has been found in a car parked on a lonely road. The village police man who found it, drove the car into down, the body still in the passenger seat, and filed his report. Inspector Barlach, at the end of his career and at the end of his life, he is suffering from a terminal illness, soon arrives and begins his investigation.

There are essentially two reason to read detective novels: the complexities of the plot, and the character of the detective. Some may argue that the writing style is a third reason, but I think this is so closely tied to the character of the detective that the two can't be wholly separated, they are one in the same. Soon after we meet Inspector Barlach he begins his investigation, and I suspect whether or not you love him as much as I did depends on how you react to this scene.

"Where was the car, Clenin?" (Barlach asked.)

"Here," the policeman replied, pointing at the pavement, "almost in the middle of the road, " and since Barlach was hardly paying any attention, "Maybe it would have been better if I had left the car here with the body inside."

"Why?" Barlach asked, looking up at the cliffs of the Jura mountains. "The dead should be removed as quickly as possible, there's no reason why they should stick around. You were right to drive Schmied back to Biel."

Barlach stepped to the edge of the road and looked down over Twann. There was nothing but vineyards between him and the old village. The sun had already set. The road curved like a snake between the houses, and a long freight train stood waiting in the station.

"Didn't anyone hear anything down there, Clenin?" he asked. "The village is nearby. You would hear a shot."

"No one heard anything down except the sound of the motor running all night, and no one thought that meant anything bad had happened."

"Of course not, why would they." He looked at the vineyards again. "How is the wine this year, Clenin?"

"Good. We could try some."

"Yes, I would very much like a glass of new wine."

And he struck against something hard with his right foot. He bent down and picked up a small, longish piece of metal flattened in the front, and held it between his thin fingers. Clenin and Blatter leaned in to look at it more closely.

"A bullet," Blatter said. "From a pistol."

"You've done it again, Inspector!" Clenin said admiringly.

"Just a coincidence," Barlach said, and they walked down the road toward Twann.

Inspector Barlach, my new favorite detective. Everything he says in this scene ought to drip with sarcasm, and may do so in his mind, but Inspector Barlach plays it with a straight face, never letting on that the local policeman is a near complete idiot. And, the writing style has forced me to read every bit of that into the scene. Mr. Durrenmatt never describes Barlach's tone of voice, nor lets us in on exactly what he is thinking. We know detectives like Inspector Barlach and can fill in these details for ourselves.

The plot of The Judge and His Hangman is a masterwork. We soon discover that the main suspect in the policeman's murder is a lifelong enemy of Inspector Barlach, someone the detective was unable to convict of a murder he actually saw him commit for lack of evidence. Barlach engages his old nemesis in a battle of wits that culminates in a double plot twist ending that leaves the reader satisfied and then leaves the reader satisfied again. So if you read detective novels for the plots, The Judge and His Hangman will not disappoint. ( )