10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Entertaining Series, January 4, 2010
This is the third in a series from Rennie Airth featuring his ex-policeman and soldier, John Madden, The first of these, River of Darkness, won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for best international crime novel in 2000 and was nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Airth supposedly found inspiration for the book in a scrapbook about his uncle, a soldier killed in World War I. The second, The Blood-Dimmed Tide, was published in 2003. I have read all three and do suggest that you read them in sequence. They can be standalone but you will benefit from the timeline and character clarity if all three are read.
I have given four stars to each of them largely based on the nice balance of historical accuracy, solid plots, brisk pace, and characters who you take a real interest in. One critique is novels two and three seemed to follow a very similar pattern but that is a small complaint. In terms of The Dead of Winter, the backdrop of World War 2 provides a rich setting for a series of murders that draws in Madden, Sinclair, Bennet, and Styles again. It is a shame that Airth does not provide more insight into what drives the villain because that character is almost one-dimensional. However, you will cheer with every deductive step that is taken to get closer to uncovering the killer and tracking that person down.
I still think that Airth can expand the series even though it is meant to be a closed trilogy. If it does continue, I will be sure to follow the additional adventures of Madden et al.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chilling conclusion to a brilliant trilogy, March 6, 2010
This review is from: The Dead of Winter (John Madden Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)
In three suspenseful crime novels set in England between the two wars, South African writer Rennie Airth tells the story of Scotland Yard detective John Madden and his wife, nee Dr. Helen Blackwell. John is a veteran of the Great War, unhinged by his experiences in the bloodbath in France and by the deaths of his wife and daughter. Helen comes into his life just in time to help nurse him back to health.
They meet in the first book, River of Darkness, set in the years following World War I, when John is assigned to an exceptionally brutal murder case in the countryside that taxes his skills and his already questionable emotional stability to the limit. Through an introduction from Helen, John enlists the help of a noted Viennese psychiatrist who assists him with an early version of what we now know as psychological profiling. The psychiatric insight eventually puts an end to a gruesome series of serial murders, leading John to the killer.
A decade later Germany is in the throes of a Nazi takeover, and England trembles. As we learn at the outset of The Blood-Dimmed Tide, the second book in Airth's trilogy, John Madden is peacefully retired with Helen on a farm far from Scotland Yard. When he chances upon a brutally murdered corpse on a walk through the countryside, his yearning for action comes to life once again. The officer in charge of the investigation, an old friend in a senior post on the force, takes advantage of John's eagerness to become involved again and seeks him out for advice. John circumvents his anxious wife's efforts to keep him out of the investigation and eventually plays a key role in solving the perplexing case.
Set in 1944, a dozen years later, John is drawn into another murder case when a young Polish girl who helps out at his farm is mysteriously murdered as The Dead of Winter commences. The police assigned to the case are reluctant to see more than a chance act of violence, but John uncovers a complex back-story involving an aged German-Jewish neighbor, a French art dealer, Nazi atrocities, and a fortune in stolen diamonds.
Rennie Airth writes with consummate skill, unfolding his complex plots with ease and painting fully three-dimensional portraits of the characters in these three engaging novels. If you're attracted to ably-written crime stories that bear no resemblance to the formulaic drawing-room who-dunits of years past, you'll enjoy these three books. Read them in chronological order, though. The reading experience deepens as you observe the aging protagonists live out their lives.
(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dead of Winter, March 31, 2011
Rennie Airth once again writes another excellant combination of suspensful Investigator Madden World War II murder mysteries. As a student of criminal psychology and fan of mystery, Mr. Airth has never disappointed me. His discriptions of the British countryside and it's people combined with the exploration of the criminal mind are utterly fascinating. Awaiting, hopefully a fourth experience?
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