Customer Reviews

A Dead Man in Tangier (Sandor Seymour Mysteries)

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Pearce is a wonderful story teller and he has both a feel and a depth of information for the period in which he sets his "who dunnits." Atmoshphere is most important in his novels and takes precedent over investigative procedure. Neither does Pearce present murder investigations as puzzles to be solved by tantalizing clues sprinkled along the way. Living in the place and time are paramount, with the mystery engaging our attention and drawing us along for the ride. After Victoria and before World War I, the "sun never set" on the British Empire so who knows where Pearce will visit next? Seymour "Of The Yard" has had three thoroughly invigorating outings and "A Dead Man in Tangier" is every bit as enjoyable as the others. Exotic Morocco at the period where the European powers are competing to establish a protectorate is wonderfully evoked--and is compellingly different than the Egypt that Pearce deals with in his Mamur Zapt series (also a tour de force.) I have read historical treatments of this period and I am certain that Pearce has read more of them because this rings very true. If you want a page-turner of a murder mystery that explores the last ripe stage of Colonialism, Michael Pearce is your author!

is crime fiction just to "kill time"? some writers working in this genre give us more: carefully observed settings and characters with a psychological depth. michael pearce gives us precious little. judge this slipshod research: someone working for the "mahzen" (sic), eating "pastrilla" (sic) and speaking "sanussi" (sic)...not to mention the various anachronisms...we don't even really get a chance to guess who the killer is, in that it is not plotted in that way at all- we aren't really involved in the piecing together of evidence....pearce may have visited tangier once but i doubt he spent more than a couple of days....there is a benign passive racism here that is uninterested in other peoples and their cultures....the sun never sets on this type of lazy fatuousness.