Customer Reviews

The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge: A Novel

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The philosophical discourse at the heart of "The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge" by Patricia Duncker is wrapped in just enough mystery to keep the reader pursuing the answers to the puzzling mass suicides committed by followers of an ecumenical religious order known as the Faith.

The story opens with the discovery of 16 bodies, adults and children, found by hunters in a field in France, the adults arranged in a semi-circle facing the east with the children at their feet. All but one has died by poisoning; the remaining one, Marie-Cécile Laval, has been shot, but no gun is found at the scene. This second mass "departure," as it is known in the Faith, is much smaller than the one that occurred in Switzerland six years earlier in which sixty-nine teenagers and adults "had either killed themselves, or been assisted on their passage into eternity . . . ." In that departure Marie-Cécile Laval's brother had been the one found shot and, likewise, no gun was found. Because many of the dead at the Swiss site were French, André Schweigen of the French police was consulted. He in turn consulted with a specialized investigator, Judge Dominique Carpentier, known as "the sect hunter," whose mission is to ferret out pseudo-religious sects and determine what charges, if any, can be brought against them. But the Swiss were not anxious to pursue the case and so the French team made no progress. Now, six years later with a new crime on French soil, the Judge can pursue her investigation against the Faith with renewed vigor. Together with Schweigen and her assistant, Gaëlle, they discover a coded guidebook to the Faith, as well as its most prominent member, the world-renown German Composer, Friedrich Grosz, who is the godfather of Marie-Thérèse, the daughter of Marie-Cécile Laval, a friend from the Judge's youth. The Judge is determined to discover how all of these people and clues fit together, but there is another complication, one the Judge is not as prepared to handle: both Schweigen and the Composer are hopelessly and unashamedly in love with the Judge. And so, what begins as a murder investigation enlarges to include an examination of religious sects and the limits of religious freedom, the emotional appeal of opera and--because the Faith is based on the movement of certain stars--the central role of astronomy in many religions. Much like a musical composition, the story starts slowly then builds to a tension-filled crescendo with a fitting and just finale.

Ultimately,"The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge" is primarily a literary work with the mystery serving more as a transparent framework for the philosophical dialogue that infuses the story. Mystery readers who read widely in other genres will find this an interesting read, as well as readers who enjoyed works like "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" and "Olive Kitteridge."

(This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher through an early reviewer program.)

At first I didn't think my IQ was high enough to read this book. I really struggled with understanding the writing for the first few chapters. Eventually I either got used to the writing or it dumbed down a little, because I was able to read and understand it easily enough.

All that being said, this book is definitely more then a simple `whodunit' mystery. Actually as I got closer and closer to the final pages it seemed more of diatribe on philosophical matters then solving the dead bodies that littered the beginning pages.

Reaching the final page left me confused. I wasn't confused about the murder case. I was confused on whether I liked the book or not. Actually I am still asking myself that question. Before I answer that question, I have to ask `what kind of book do you want to read?' I think it works great as a piece of literary fiction. However if you are looking for a mystery book, which I was, it is missing some of the excitement and suspense of the genre.

BookSake Reviewer: Wally

I came to this site after reading the book which advertised itself as a mystery. The mystery is why I slogged through the whole thing and at the end there was no reward. The Judge is a pretty woman with sensuous eyes who prefers details and analysis to any kind of real life. Two men, who are similar in character, are besotted by her in the way of a florid romance novel and I for one found it rather irritating. Also irritating was that after following the winding path of the language I got nowhere other than a number of people killing themselves over their own private beliefs. The Judge is finally allegedly in love, though no real reason is given for this very logical woman to lose her heart. Then the story ends. If I had known this was the kind of book I read at University for European Lit. I would have been okay but I like mysteries. The only mystery here was the ending of the book.

Such a stupid book... such a waste of time. That idiotic André, barely to stand. That stupid Gaelle. That judge... that judge... please do investigate a murder (murders?) and DO NOT be drawn into philosophical considerations about Gott und die Welt: if every real life judge would do the same, the cases would not take month or years to solve, but whole lifes.

And please author, please author: stop mixing languages (mostly English-French, but also English-German) in the same sentence. What is the purpose of it?? If you use English when two French characters speak with one another, you are obviously using English in your novel for the benefit of the readers (we do suppose that the French characters do use French in such situation). What is then your purpose, what do you want to achieve with sentences like "We have un peu de tout", "She doesn't have her permis de conduire"? What does this language mix mean? What do you want to prove herewith? I mean, apart from showing off your "mastery" of foreign languages (besides, do check your German sentences/knowledge: they're not good). And it does not happen once, oh no: it happens all over the book, and it is most irritating.

Is this just a minor, although irritating, flaw in a great novel? No: it's a major flaw in a mediocre novel.

But is there nothing positive? Oh yes: I borrowed the book from a library. So no wasted money.

The book opens with three hunters looking down on a clearing on New Year's Day. "Nine adults...stretched out upon their backs, settled into a sedate, reclining curve. Their elbows were bent back, their hands raised, palms facing upward...." At their feet, warmly dressed and swaddled, are the bodies of their children. Sixteen people dead, only one violently.

Commissaire Andre Schweigen is the police representative in charge of the investigation. Six years earlier, the same scene had been set in Switzerland, the difference being that in Switzerland the body count was much higher. There sixty-nine people had been found in the semi-circle, one killed violently. Schweigen sends for Dominique Carpentier, the investigative judge known as the "sect hunter". They had been called to Switzerland because some of the people who had participated in "the departure" had been French citizens but the Swiss had not wanted to proceed with an investigation, so Dominique and Andre had been left with questions and no way in which to get answers.

Now, with the crime on French soil, they can pursue the case and make the connections between the two events. In Switzerland, sixty-eight people had died by poisoning, one had been shot in the head. In France, fifteen had died by poisoning, one had been shot in the head. No gun was found at either scene. Someone had watched people die and then ended the life of one. In Switzerland, the last to die was Anton Laval. In France, the last to die was Marie-Cecile Laval, his sister, and Dominique's best friend from childhood.

Dominique's reputation was built on her determination and her success in ferreting out pseudo-religious sects that prey on the desperate, the lonely, the religious, and the rich. As the authorities examine the house in which the newly dead had been living, there are signs of celebration: Christmas decorations, wrapping paper, gifts, and the things associated with the mid-night celebration of the New Year. Yet, just after that moment, nine adults had willingly died and had taken their children with them.

As Andre and Dominique search through the house, they find a book, old judging by the paper on which is printed, written in a strange language, like Hebrew, but not a language anyone recognizes. There are prayers and poems and a celestial map. Astronomy has been a part of many religions through time and the "Faith" seems to incorporate elements of the monotheistic religions and some incantations of the Egyptians as well. The book is clearly one of a kind and the name of the owner is written in very small script,not meant to be easily seen. The book belongs to Friedrich Grosz, the world famous composer and conductor.

The investigation leads Dominique back to her childhood and the time spent at Domain Laval, a winery of some distinction. It also leads her to Grosz, a larger than life character of formidable charisma. Andre is in love with Dominique, his partner in a long relationship, and, soon, Grosz will be his rival for the love of the judge who is drawn to the Composer but unsettled by his intensity.

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE COMPOSER AND HIS JUDGE has been described as a "metaphysical mystery". Dominique's job as a judge in the French legal system is not to weigh evidence but to find it so it can be passed on to those who decide who is prosecuted and who is not. In that sense, the story is metaphysical. Dominique has to examine the nature of the reality that drove the members of the Faith to choose departure for themselves and their children so that they may become immortal. But the Faith and the deaths are also tied to reality of fact. Has there been financial chicanery, enticing those ready to depart to bestow their assets on the Faith? Has someone committed murder from a distance?

The book has the requirements to be considered an exercise in metaphysics but it doesn't meet the requirements of mystery. The book ends in the only way it can and the author makes no attempt to divert the reader onto a less obvious path. The book is an examination of the philosophies that form personality and intellect, a mystery of sorts, but not a mystery in the conventional sense.

So, why keep reading? THE STRANGE CASE OF THE COMPOSER AND HIS JUDGE is the most beautiful and evocative use of language since THE SHADOW OF THE WIND.

I enjoyed this book and found myself thinking about it a number of times after I'd finished. I liked the judge delving into the past of the cult. It was like the Da Vinci Code, but a super lite edition, since it just used the history and related astrology of the religion as atmosphere in the book, without making much of it. The composer and the judge were interesting characters, although since the book is written in third person, you never really know what they are thinking. It's not a real page turner type mystery, but I didn't even know it was a mystery until I started reading it, I thought it was a novel. The mystery was a plus and the characters and settings kept me reading to the end.