Customer Reviews

Self's Murder (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I first bought this book (under pressure in an airport), I feared it might be rather dry. But a chapter into it, like the previous reviewer, I didn't want the book to end. The mystery itself was pretty routine, which is why I gave the book only four stars, but I loved it for other reasons. It's sparse and unsentimental, and has little description or dialogue, yet somehow I developed a good sense of the characters, and great deal of feeling for some of them. Second, it reveals the side of German culture often overshadowed by Nazi Era images - love of cars, wines, food, music, technology, philosophy - simply by the everyday way in which these things are named or discussed. The people in the book are rather formal and isolated, some are a bit revolting, some are likeable, most are slightly idiosynchratic, and all seem very like people one has met or could meet anywhere. I wanted to keep reading about Self, the cat Turbo, the friend who built edifices with matchsticks while his wife read him stories, and in the closing scene, to be on the balcony on New Year's Eve clinking glasses with Self and his friends. Whether you liked The Reader or not, this book will make you marvel at what a great writer can do with a good character and few words.

This book is a great read. The characters are very full and human. No pale characters here. These are comlpex full-blooded ex-Nazi sexual warm yet lonely human beings.

A most enjoyable hard to put down novel which I wanted to read and not have finish. I wished it could have been three or four times longer.

Vintage Schlink.

After his last major case (see SELF'S DECEPTION), German private investigator Gerhard Self is thinking he is too old for this type of work. As he drives home to Manheim with his girlfriend Brigette during a nasty snow storm, Self notices a car in the ditch and stops to assist a stranded driver, banker Bertram Welker.

Upon learning that Self is a sleuth, Welker hires the investigator to uncover the identity of a silent bank partner as he is writing the history of the establishment that he co-owns. Self accepts the easy assignment, which pays extraordinarily well. However the detective has self doubts about his client when the bank's archivist mysteriously dies in a car crash just after giving the sleuth an attaché case loaded with money. He digs a bit into his client's past to learn he became a widower last year when his wife died a hiking accident. Two deadly accidents are two to many so Self investigates Welker.

This is a super German private investigator mystery with several super twists that will leave readers and the weary hero guessing as nothing is quite like it first seems including a stranger claiming to be the son of Self. The story line is fast-paced but totally owned by the sleuth as his inquiry into the silent partner leads him to inquire about his client. Fans will enjoy the translation of Bernhard Shlink's entertaining German mystery and seek the previous two thrillers (see SELF'S PUNISHMENT).

Harriet Klausner

I, like others, came upon this book as a result of reading the superb The Reader, also by Bernard Schlink. It is a mystery based on the hard-boiled detective Gerhard Self. I found it very readable and entertaining. Self seems to be in the Sam Spade genre of detectives, only German. He is an ex-Nazi prosecutor with plenty of skeletons in his closet and his motivations aren't always clear. He seems to be indifferent to most, other than his cat and his small group of cronies who get together only occasionally but regularly. Self helps to solve a mystery at the local chemical plant at the request of his old school chum, one with whom he has always had an uncomfortable relationship- the more so as the mystery unfolds.

While I enjoyed this book, and indeed look forward to reading the others in the series, the style of writing threw me off at first. I found that The Reader flowed more easily, somehow. It may be a factor of the translation, which can really vary among translators and which I have found in other books. Rather than making the read difficult, however, I came to enjoy what I considered to be the book's foreign accent. The story has good twists and turns, and good character development of the crusty detective Self. While the mystery and writing are good, what I really enjoyed was the different perspective. The fact that this detective has a background, tastes, and history that is unique adds flavor and interest to the story. It's a fast read and is good for reading on a flight or just curled up on the couch on a dark night.

I can't wait to read more Self!

I am a new fan of Bernhard Schlink. The story was interesting with just enough twists and turns to keep my interest without becoming too complicated. Recommended for anyone wanting to read more by this author.

I liked this book - describes a Germany that certainly isn't travelogue pretty, but very interesting. The description of the computer systems was done in a little too much detail - the only reason that I "downgraded" it a star - but I found Self to be an interesting character - although like most detectives in books, sad and lonely. I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

(Kindle Edition) Interesting to see a German take on basic private investigator genre. Decent translation. Plot isn't that much of a puzzle, but it's fun to read something with a very different sense of place and not written for an American audience.

finish it. I've tried. Schlink is a terrific writer. I enjoy his literary writings quite a bit, but I bought this one by mistake (assuming it was more literary than crime fiction). I'm not a PI fan and have pretty much no use for PI novels. This one, laced with what I found wanting in "Homecoming" by the same author, a tendency to be overbearing with introspective questions, made me shut the book and shove it in my briefcase this morning (alongside my drumsticks, which I wanted to take out and play to the Diana Krall recording of "Frim Fram Sauce").

My bad ... I'll stick with his literature (and be more careful when buying on amazon) ...

Definitely READ his literary novels, amici (they're very good) ... READ something, amici ... always READ

I had high expectations because I had read and enjoyed The Reader. But this novel was lame. Very dime store novelish. I especially disliked the 2 dimensional women. And I had such high hopes because of the poetic last name of the detective, Self.

If you're good at something, you keep doing it to get by no matter what anyone says. "Self's Murder" tells the story of Gerhard Self, an investigator helping a banker by tracking down his lost partner. When handed money by a mysterious man who is killed shortly after, Gerhard is faced with quite the enigma, and it seems he's forced to do what he does best - solve the case. "Self's Murder" is a choice pick for lovers of mystery.