Morgue Drawer Four

This book was very different but I actually enjoyed it. It was my Prime Lend for the month. I am actually going to read the rest of the series. ( )

Morgue Drawer Four, by Jutta Profit, was a truly amusing murder mystery. One of the sleuths is the spirit of the deceased, Pascha. His partner, by default, is the only other person who can hear him--the medical examiner who performed the autopsy. With great difficulty, Pascha cajoles, threatens and guilts Martin into investigating clues. Very funny! ( )

Martin is a nerdy, pudgy coroner who has a non-eventful life collecting antique city maps and maintaining a healthy vegetarian lifestyle. Pasha was a gambler, car thief and drug user, until he ended up on Martin's autopsy table, the result of knowing too much about a dead body and mixing with the wrong people. Martin is horrified when Pasha's hovering spirit starts screaming at him during the autopsy and even more chagrined to find that he is the only one that can hear Pasha, so of course Pasha won't leave him alone, particularly until he can get Martin to find out who killed hiim. In his effort to get rid of Pasha, Martin reluctantly agrees to track down some of the leads to find out who might have killed him, which leads to some uncomfortable yet funny and well-written confrontations between the geeky and gentle Martin and the thugs of the underworld.

I thought this novel, which just won an award in Germany for best crime novel, was funny, well-paced, and clever. Though the "ghost that won't leave you alone" device has been used frequently in other stories, I thought this one was fun because the characters were well chosen and differed so completely in their lifestyles, leading to particularly funny situations. A quick and fun read! ( )

A young man of questionable character finds himself dead. Only one man in the land of the living can hear him, the coroner performing the autopsy. Two men with a huge culture gap, not to mention state of being, must learn how to tolerate each other. Street-wise Pasha and gentle Martin work together trying to solve the mystery of who killed Pasha. I thought it might be a difficult read because it is translated, but not so. This book had me laughing out loud in public places. Though the story takes place in Cologne, Germany, it could be the underside of any city. I had glimmers of the ending and solution, but did not arrive there too early. A quick and enjoyable mystery; this is contains rough language and street situations. ( )