The Little Victim

I cannot make up my mind whether this is a serious "Golden Age" re-creation or an elaborate spoof of same. Regardless, it is an amazing achievement to have been written by a non-native English speaker and even has some catty asides aimed at other notaqble British mystery writers. From my pont of view, the denoument was a little weak and the clues not QUITE as well hidden as in Dame Agatha's work, but the British characters, at least, are presented on familiar lines and the whole novel is reassuring that cozies can still be well written.

As always with R.T. Raichev, The Little Victim gives the reader fine writing, bizarre intriguing events, a colourful social setting (in this case a sort of Greeneland version of Goa)and a general ambience of raffish elegance undershot with nagging disquiet. The aura of creeping menace beneath the stylish surface is beautifully maintained and, typically, the narrative is threaded with with humour, sly literary allusions and spare yet richly evocative description. Raichev's novels are not long and can be read happily at a couple of sittings: the only problem is that one so wants to spin out the pleasure, and thus a leisurely reading is advised!

R. T. Raichev's new Antonia Darcy/Hugh Payne murder mystery certainly evinces Major Payne's wise pontification: "One ignores the ancient and dangerous power of carnal love at one's peril. Think the ORESTEIA. Think OTHELLO. Think CARMEN. The betrayed lover's psyche must be a terrible place." Yes, think of these classics, and others, as you read. And yes, think about what obsessive love -- not merely carnal -- can stamp upon those infused, nay infected, with it. The Little Victim, the fourth in this esteemed series, is arguably the darkest thus far, depicting the least sympathetic characters. Lord Justice Toby Leighton laments the loss of his daughter, Marigold, also known as Ria. He is a man who values uprightness dearly, costing him his relationship with his daughter. She, rebelling fiercely against him, embarks upon a life of debasement and danger far from her childhood home. Her father searches for her, sending someone after her to Goa, India ("Golden beaches. Sapphire skies"), where, it turns out, she is affianced to the local gangster, Roman Songhera. Hugh and Antonia also toddle to the very same spot. As a favor, they are accompanying a friend of Hugh's aunt to Songhera's estate, Coconut Grove, which she wants to acquire. There, on the estate and nearby, more than one person's life is extinguished, and in a round-about way, Antonia and Hugh, as usual, do their utmost to unravel the murky net (not chain) of events surrounding the deaths. Although our heroes drop out of the story for an interval, when they jump back in, they play key parts. Antonia/Hugh mysteries are all ingenious, and this is no exception. They are gems of canny misdirection and clues that are there but -- generally -- can't be easily applied because so many unknown factors coexist as the story spools itself out. First-time readers may be more easily led around by Raichev's pen than those more familiar with his tendencies. He always presents fresh themes, locations, and characters. But like many talented authors, he nevertheless adheres to certain patterns when writing -- at least he has thus far. Which isn't to say that THE LITTLE VICTIM is altogether predictable; even old pros will be kept guessing on a number of tracks. The pacing of the novel is expert, and the motivations of the characters -- awful as a number of them are -- all make sense. Also, wonderfully as ever, Raichev conjures his signature wry and witty dialogue, portions of it again poking at the art of mystery writing. Raichev's title is inspired by a verse by Thomas Gray: "Alas, regardless of their doom, / The little victims play!" After concluding THE LITTLE VICTIM, the utter aptness of that choice leaves one sad for the father, daughter, and others in this doleful drama of human nature soured and struck down by life. (4.5 stars)

Mystery writer Antonia Darcy and her husband Major Hugh Payne travel to India where they stay at at Coconut Grove in Goa, home of Indian gangster Roman Songhera. However, the felon is upset with his mistress Ria, daughter of Lord Justice Toby Leighton; in fact she is driving him insane with her out of control scandalous behavior as she has done with her estranged concerned dad. At a lavish garden party hosted by Songhera, a drunken Englishman Julian Knight makes two startling claims to Antonia. First he swears he works for Leighton and second he insists he saw Songhera kill Ria. The man fears that Songhera will kill him next to make sure there are no witnesses to testify. Antonia informs Hugh, and the married couple investigate the apparent homicide of Ria; neither expected there were so many suspects wanting the English mistress dead. The latest Darcy-Payne amateur sleuth (see ASSASSINS AT OSPREYS) is an excellent whodunit filled with twists, red herrings, plenty of suspects, a local atmospheric flavor and clever spins while also paying homage to the classic mysteries (including brilliant chapter titles). The story line is fast-paced from the moment the lead couple arrives in Goa and never slows down. THE LITTLE VICTIM is a super one sitting whodunit as nothing is quite like it seems. Harriet Klausner

This is the fourth novel by the brilliant and quirky mastermind who has, in a furious burst of industry, returned the Golden Age of Detective Writing to us in the past few years, mixing classic formula with the pleasures and the psychologizing of the new. More than anything else, R T Raichev is a formalist, and his wit and learning have never been so evident as they are in THE LITTLE VICTIM, the most successful yet of all his books, and one that gives Antonia Darcy and Hugh Payne, his team of middle-aged sleuths, their most baffling case. If the last book, ASSASSINS AT OSPREYS, fell down at all it was in not giving Major Payne enough to do, and here Raichev makes up for that oversight by bringing him front and center for most of the action. The man has seemed rather shadowy in the past, his military bearing standing in for the more complex characterization Raichev has lavished on Antonia and, indeed, on nearly every one of his suspects. But as I say, here Hugh excels and his wit and observations have never been more precise. In fact he's nearly as fey as Philo Vance--and perhaps his drunk scene proves that he's no Nick Charles, nor Raichev a Hammett, but that's okay, in general he will make you laugh out loud with his oh so civilized antics. The scene where he asks a cabbie what James Bond movie was "The Look of Love" written for is like nothing else written since the death of PG Wodehouse. Antonia matches him stroke by stroke. Hugh doesn't steal every scene. To Antonia Raichev devotes the novel's best setpieces, her interview in a folly with a distraught and drunken "journalist," and secondly, chapter 21, "Murder as a Fine Art," in which she thoughtfully gives her solution to the case as it would be were she writing it as a novel. Little by little we see that everything she says is actually coming to pass, or will, in the case we are invested in. It is superbly done, it is rather like "The Locked Room Lecture" (the theoretical dazzler John Dickson Carr inserted into the middle of THE HOLLOW MAN), but rather more amusing and contemporary. The plot itself is baffling and intriguing as you would like--definitely the most Christie-like. It is rather a sordid tale, of course, but one doesn't read R T Raichev because the characters are all going to be loveable like Janet Evanovich--one reads him for the sheer pleasure of the writing and the rollercoaster of the mind trip. Hooray, let's have another one please dear Maestro!