Andrew Garve (1908–2001)

What a great story from the ever-reliable Andrew Garve; Murderer's Fen is the tale of a murder planned by Alan Hunt - smooth talking salesman and all round con man. It's not a whodunit, but a 'how's he going to get away with it', told in Garve's trademark laconic style. I love the easy to read approach and his hallmark light touch.

Unusually for the bulk of crime fiction (even good crime fiction), the plot hinges on the police not being stupid, with them actually doing some detecting and show more synthesising of clues and other information. So often these days the detective is at the mercy of the events which unfold around them, and the story peters out, rather than being solved by the police. Garve avoids this, and his plotting skills are clearly on display here.

Although this isn't a long novel, Garve displays a great grasp of the psychology of the crime and its impact on those touched by it. Hunt is a true antihero, similar to those created by authors such as Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell, where despite the heinous nature of their crimes and misdeeds, there's a part of you that can sympathise with them, and almost root for them to avoid their inevitable downfall and comeuppance. Garve's ability to create this desire to identify with 'bad' people is a much more interesting way of thinking about good and evil, than that which is displayed by many modern crime fiction authors.

It's a real shame that most of Andrew Garve's novels are now out of print. If you enjoy good crime fiction, make the effort to track down some of his books...they'll certainly repay the effort.

© Koplowitz 2013 show less

Post-war crime novel, in which a wealthy man is found murdered shortly after his son and nephew have returned from service at the end of World War 2. The two young men are the obvious and only reasonable suspects, but one of them has the perfect alibi. So perfect that Inspector James is suspicious... This isn't a whodunnit, because the book opens with the nephew's flight from a German prison camp and his progress across Europe towards England -- and the psychological damage he's taken over show more the years of war. He's determined to live the good life when he finally gets home, and that means planning the perfect murder in order to get his share of his uncle's estate, and enough money to clear out to a new life in South America. The first few chapters cover how he perfects and practices his plans, with a very ingenious method of creating an unbreakable alibi. The plot then shifts to the police investigation of the murder, with the painstaking attention to detail needed to investigate the crime, and finally to the killer's discovery that someone could expose him after all, and his hasty attempts to cover up and then escape. Well-plotted and well-paced, with a rising thread of tension as it becomes apparent that Arthur will have to kill again to escape the hangman's noose. Bax has done a good job in creating a killer who has been hardened by his experiences and understands his own capacity for violence only too well. show less

Boomerang by Andrew Garve is a crisply written thriller about a highflying financial whizz called Peter Talbot. He's a bad boy anti-hero whose moral code allows him to plan and execute money-making scams, as long as nobody gets hurt.

When Talbot meets two other jailbirds they start plotting a complex crime so that he can recoup money he lost in an earlier scam. Most of the action takes place in the Northern Territory of Australia, which is realistically described in quite a lot of detail. show more This doesn't detract from the plot though, as this is a fairly short book (160 pages in the original paperback version that I read), and there are only three main characters. Garve keeps things moving swiftly, and I became hooked within the first few pages, enjoying the 'will-they-won't-they' get away with it premise.

I am glad I've discovered this somewhat forgotten crime writer, who despite the slightly dated feel of the book and scant characterisation, more than makes up for these weaknesses with his solid style and great plotting. Definitely worth searching out If you haven't come across him yet.


© Koplowitz 2012 show less

I have read a few really, really bad Golden Age mysteries, but this was so bad it was almost funny. Almost.

The crime made no sense. The amateur sleuth was annoying and really, really dumb. And the writing was godawful in that it was rife with misogyny and pop psychology that literally made no sense at all.

And to top all of this, the resolution – as hilarious as it was – was entirely implausible.