The King's Anatomist by Ron Blumenfeld

 

Blumenfeld's book is described as a “historical mystery novel” and is a one-off in the sense that it is not structured to allow room for a series to develop.

The Anatomist referred to in the title is a real historical figure, though no doubt the name is familiar only to medical students today. Andreas Vesalius lived from 1514-1564 and is often referred to as the “father of modern anatomy.”   Blumenfeld’s narrator is a fictional “good friend” named Jan van den Bossche of Brussels.  Jan worships Vesalius from childhood and then meets up with many of his former students and followers as he plots a course from Brussels to the remote Greek island where Vesalius has met an untimely and mysterious end.  Van den Bossche is so devoted that he even continues to be a friend to Vesalius after the man has married the woman he loves. Years later, his quest is an attempt to discover the cause of his friend’s death and to deliver some closure to the widow and his daughter.  

It is the journey through 16^th century Europe that provides most of the interest for me. The book explores the two men’s strange friendship while the political and social history of the era unfolds in the background. We visit several cities where Vesalius lived or taught. As the journey proceeds, we encounter political intrigue, war, the black plague, the Protestant Reformation, and even the physical difficulties of traversing the Alps on horseback. Just outside of Milan, Mr. van den Bossche visits a man who has a collection of the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, which may have inspired the medical precision of his friend’s illustrations. Ultimately, van den Bossche arrives in Venice where he boards a ship for a long and stormy trip to the island when Andreas Vesalius had died. And, like any good mystery, the final pages bring some unexpected twists and turns.

This is not a great book, but it develops the sights, sounds, and smells of the 16^th century nicely. One warning might be that some of the details of finding bodies and the dissections are not for the squeamish. 

 Mr. Blumenfeld was born in New York and was a physician, pediatrician, and hospital administrator in the past. This is his first novel.  I give it 3 stars.

Jdy 2/17/23

 

The Twist Of A Knife by Anthony Horowitz

A copy of The Twist Of A Knife was sent to me by a good friend, who is also a published author of mysteries. It garnered my immediate attention because the corpse in this whodunnit is a critic who pans the opening night performance of a thriller titled Mindgame at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.  The first “twist” is that Anthony Horowitz, the author of the book actually wrote a play called Mindgame that was premiered at London’s Vaudeville Theatre in 2000. The second “twist” is that the book deals with a play written by Anthony Horowitz that is opening at the Vaudeville Theatre. The third “twist” is that Horowitz (the author of both the real play and the one featured in the book) makes himself in the play in the book the primary suspect for the murder. Do you have that straight or is the mind game working on you overtime?

As someone who has had a previous life as a theatre director, teacher, and unrepentant anglophile, I can happily vouch for the accuracy of the theatre material right down to the grotty and cramped backstage at the Vaudeville Theatre.  I caught Mr. Horowitz in only one little boo-boo, which was attributing Peter Schaffer’s Black Comedy to his brother Anthony, who did write the classic Sleuth. Horowitz’s depiction of travel around London’s streets and into tube stations is also right on the money.

I am not quite as keen on Horowitz’s police procedures, however. The critic, Ms. Harriet, Throsby’s, is found dead at her home at 10:00 AM the morning following the opening. She has been stabbed to death by one of the several daggers given as opening night presents to the key company members by the producer.

With a speed unknown to most police departments, much less by London’s constabulary, the Peelers are able to process the crime scene, interview people at the first night party, track down the location of all the gifted daggers, and still arrive at the author’s home by 4:00 PM that afternoon armed with a murder warrant. In short order, the author manages to get his former literary partner, who is a cashiered former police detective (Daniel Hawthorne) to help him prove his innocence. 

Hawthorne, posing as a policeman, takes author Horowitz on a series of interviews of the other suspects. None of the interviewees challenge his status, ask to see his warrant card or ask for a solicitor. And no one seems to find it odd that a policeman, fake or not, who was investigating a murder would bring his main suspect along with him as he works the case.

Detective Hawthorne plays an inscrutable Poirot through all the interviews and ultimately schedules an Agatha Christie showdown with all the suspects right on the Vaudeville Theatre’s stage. The coppers sit in the auditorium while Hawthorne takes us through a far too long denouement.   

In spite of my reservations, the book kept me turning the pages. I loved the London theatre ambiance, and missed the other twisty clues that cemented the guilt of the villain. I give the effort 3.5 stars and am only mildly excited by the last pages, which promise at least three more adventures with Horowitz and Hawthorne in the future.

Jim De Young   2/4/23