read by Sean Barrett
Lennox, Craig Russell’s Canadian-Scottish private investigator,
clearly owes a great deal to Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. The title of
the third Lennox novel, The Deep Dark
Sleep would certainly seem to confirm the Chandleresque homage. Marlowe and
Lennox share a dry, witty reflectiveness on their respective stomping grounds (Glasgow
and Los Angeles). Both detectives have an uneasy relationship with their
respective police forces and tangle with the gangsters of their particular era
and locale. Both appear to maintain a code of honour quite unexpected amongst
the hard-bitten, cynical characters who populate their driven, thoughtful crime
novels.
In Dead Men and BrokenHearts Lennox has been hired to work on two new cases: one by a woman who
thinks her husband is being unfaithful, the other investigating the
disappearance of a union official and a large amount of cash. Against the
political backdrop of Suez and the Hungarian uprising, there is an abundance of
period detail that makes the whole thing brim with verisimilitude. Everything
seems to revolve around ‘Tanglewood’ – the name overheard by the suspicious
wife who sets Lennox off on his goose chase at the opening of the book. But is
it a surname, a business, a town? Before the dramatic and enthralling climax,
Lennox is forced to go on the run, fugitive from the Glasgow Constabulary,
aided and protected by Twinkletoes, the heavy from the very first Lennox novel
and whose speciality is extracting information from unfortunates by clipping
off their toes with a bolt cutter. The ubiquitous
smog, mystifying mistaken identities, elusive Secret Service personnel, shadowy
and sadistic European politics and morally redundant post-war malaise all
inhabit this entertaining and intriguing narrative, superbly brought to life by
the incomparable Sean Barrett.
In this, the fourth in the Lennox series of novels, the
investigator seriously plans a new life back in his native Canada where he can
put everything behind him – removing himself from the ‘dead men and broken
hearts’ that is said in the book to sum up Lennox’s life past and present. I,
for one, hope he changes his mind.
This
series is a great find. Spread the word: you will definitely fall under the
Lennox spell.
Superb.
* * * * *
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