TCHAIKOVSKY CONCERT HALL

At a time when the 1619 Project, terms like critical race theory and cancel culture are in vogue a novel that explores the depths of American racism is very prescient.  The novel in question is Brendan Slocomb’s first literary entry, THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY which centers on the idea that black classical musicians seem to be an anomaly particular a talented violin soloist in American society.  Slocumb’s effort strikes a nerve as it drives home its theme of the lack of opportunity for blacks in high brow musical culture and how members of society react to people of color who have the talent but not the opportunity to pursue a career performing classical music because of the attitude of an elitist aristocratic club that dominates this field.

It is always rewarding when an author’s first novel exceeds expectations.  Slocumb’s work reflects his own struggle to live his life and play the music he loved, when often stymied  for the reasons he states were incomprehensible.  The novel centers around an amazing character, Rayquan (Ray) McMillan, a poor young black man from North Carolina who is blessed with classical music talent and an ability to convey it through the strings of his violin.  He is an individual who is confronted with racist attitudes and actions almost at every turn and is able to overcome the roadblocks placed in front of him by the force of his convictions and personality.  It is a story of family dysfunction, greed, highlighted by an individuals’ fight to maintain his dignity and pursue his love of music when confronted by the inequities of American society.

The story begins as Ray is preparing to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the world’s most prestigious and difficult classical music competition judged by the top musicians in the world.  Almost immediately a significant impediment emerges as after spending time in New York with girl friend Nicole he flies back to his home in Charlotte and discovers that his violin has been stolen.  The violin is not just any musical instrument, but a Stradivarius valued at $10 million.  Ray is at a loss.  First the violin was a gift from his deceased grandmother Nora, secondly it is the only violin he believes that he can play and win the competition.

The plot revolves around the theft, but more so is a commentary about American society.  Slocumb does a superb job developing the background to the crime tracing the evolution of how the violin came into the possession of Grandma Nora’s great grandfather, Pop Pop who was a slave on a Georgia plantation and was freed following the Civil War when his master, and possibly his father gave him the violin.  When the FBI is brought in to investigate two suspects immediately come to the fore.  First, the Marks family, descendants of the Georgia slave owners who claim the violin belongs to them as Pop Pop or Leon as he was known as a slave stole the instrument.  Second, Ray’s own family, particular his mother and Uncle who believe the violin belongs to the entire family and should be sold with the proceeds divided up between five family members.

Ray is adamant that he will not give up his prized possession as the novel evolves.  For Ray, the story reflects his own demons as he struggles with the concept of how a black person could be a violinist of his quality.  Slocumb creates numerous scenes from school, work, and performing that reflect many of the author’s own life experiences dealing with racial discrimination.  Slocumb carefully develops the rift between Ray and his family centering on his mother who is a selfish self-absorbed individual who uses her son’s ability as her meal ticket.  Growing up she tried to block Ray’s love of music preventing him from practicing in the house and demanding that he get a job at a Popeye’s restaurant so he could buy her a 60 inch television.  But for Ray, “every time the conductor raised the baton, a new joy blossomed in his chest.  Each note felt special, a gift.”  This special individual believed that he not only had to prove his talent to white audiences, his family, particularly his mother, but to his own race.

Slocumb creates a number of important characters that allow the novel to proceed at a smooth pace and maintain the interest of his readers. Janice Stevens, a university professor who becomes his friend and mentor.  Grandma Nora teaches Ray humility and strategies to cope with the racism he confronts at every turn.  The Marks family, a group of bigoted racists who see the opportunity for a big pay day.  The McMillans who are nothing but hangers on hoping to cash in on Ray’s talent, and lastly, his girlfriend Nicole.

THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY takes the reader on an important journey providing insights into a field that most do not associate with racism.  It is delicately presented with pathos and empathy and should garner Mr. Slocumb a great deal of admiration and success for his literary thriller.  As Joshua Barone states in his New York Times review “Yet Slocumb isn’t too different from his protagonist: a natural.  He easily conjures the thrill of mastering a tough musical passage and the tinnitus-like torture of everyday racism.  There is a lot of work ahead as he writes his second novel, but as a teacher says to Ray, ‘precision and technique can be learned.’  After all, that’s just practice.”*

*Joshua Barone, “String Theory,” New York Times, February 27, 2022

There is nothing as satisfying as a Swedish noir on a cold winter’s night.  I had hoped that Leif G.W. Persson’s first installment of his Evert Backstrom series, LINDA, AS IN THE LINDA MURDERS  would meet that need.  After reading one of Persson’s earlier works and being quite satisfied, the current instance produced nothing but disappointment.  Persson, the winner of numerous crime writer’s awards begins the novel with a phone call to the Vaxjo Police Authority located in southern Sweden which would lead to a flat in town that contained a scene reflecting the rape and beating of a female victim. Immediately it became obvious that a murder had taken place and that the victim was Linda Wallin, a soon to be twenty-one year old who was due to start her third term of the police course in Vaxjo.

At issue was the fact that Wallin had been involved with another police trainee, Erik Roland Lofgren.  Since Lofgren was black, the racist element in Vaxjo enjoyed writing nasty editorials in the newspapers.  His race also figured in DNA testing when the perpetrator’s analysis pointed to a non-Nordic type.  The question was who then was responsible for the murder?

Persson does a reasonable job developing his story line – but he draws out his work to the point that the reader can become confused by what is presented.  The local police force is supplemented by members of the National Crime Force sent from Stockholm in the persons of Detective Superintendent Evert Backstrom and his investigative unit.  Persson describes Backstrom as “short, fat, primitive, but when necessary he could be both sly and slow to forget things.  He regarded himself as a wise man in the prime of life, an unfettered free spirit who preferred the quiet life of the city, and since a number of sufficient appetizing scantily clad ladies seemed to share the same view, he had no reason at all for complaint.”

Persson uses Backstrom as a vehicle to express his opinions about police work, journalism, and society in general.  If one could imagine a cartoon character with the bubble above his head rendering expressive thoughts to himself then you have our protagonist.  Backstrom’s thoughts and commentary are racist, anti-gay, and misogynistic.  Despite his negative personality traits, he is an excellent investigator despite what some would describe as an unorthodox approach to crime solving.

The use of Backstrom as the lead character detracts from Persson’s writing and plot development.  It is clear he is not the warm fuzzy type, but he drives his unit to solve the murder which is negatively affected by his colleague’s low opinion of him as a person.  The only member of his team that he can stand to be with who he might call a friend is Deputy Inspector Jan Rogersson, an old colleague from the violent crimes division in Stockholm.  Detectives like Erik Knutsson and Peter Theron are too often the victims of his nasty commentary.  Other characters who play significant roles are Lilian Olsson a psychoanalyst attached to the Vaxjo Police Department, a woman Backstrom despises; Detective Superintendent Jan Lewin who is an excellent investigator; his civilian assistant Eva Svanstrom; Lars Martin Johansson, head of Operational Security who despised Backstrom; Detective Superintendent Bengt Olsson in charge of the investigation; Bengt Karlsson, a former abuser who now was a member of the Växjö Men Against Violence to Women Committee; Bengt Olsson, another Deputy Superintendent; and Bengt Mansson believed to be the killer. This leads to repeated comments that there are too many Bengt’s involved in the story by other characters!

Persson’s novel, is in part an ode to good old fashioned police work.  Backstrom’s commentary about computers and other technology employed in scientific police work is not useful nor is his repeated need to drink beer.  It seems that in every scene he longs for a “lager” and can’t seem to get along without one.  Backstrom’s remarks about “poofs,” dykes, tits, queers etc. gets old after a while.  If they had been used sparingly perhaps it would be acceptable, but it is a constant barrage.  If you like this type of character then Persson has created the perfect one.  It is a shame because Backstrom as a character has potential because of his quick wit and policing skills and had Persson employed him differently it would have made for a better story.

Perhaps the best part of the book involves the post-investigative dive into the murderer’s background and the events leading to the crime.  The questioning of the accused by Anna Holt of the National Crime Unit of the victim is incisive and brilliant as she led the murderer down a path that reinforced his guilt even though he refused to accept that he had perpetrated the crime.  Persson’s focus on cognitive interviewing is important to the structure of the culminating investigation and provide important insights into how police solve crimes gaining the cooperation of the accused.

Persson does make a number of important points concerning police work and investigative journalism throughout the novel.  First, his description of the dysfunctional relationship between National and local police cooperation or “hillbilly cops” and “city police” only hurts the investigative process.  Second, the tabloid approach by the press only hinders investigations, hurts the victim’s family, and makes police work that much more difficult.

As to whether I will read another of Persson’s novels – the jury is still out.  Perhaps I will give him another chance, but if I do I hope Mr. Backstrom’s character has undergone a great deal of therapy.  At the outset I had hoped for a novel on par with Henning Mankell, but the one I read does not measure up to the late Swedish mystery writer’s work.

A few years ago, I decided that I needed to read a Stephen King novel and see what I was missing.  The problem that arose is that I am not a fan of horror stories, so I was in a quandary.  Luckily, Mr. King had just published 11/23/63: A NOVEL, a counter-factual approach to the Kennedy assassination that I found fascinating.  I did not attempt another King novel until his most recent work, BILLY SUMMERS about a hit man who victimized bad people, another excellent novel.  Since I still have not gotten over my aversion to horror novels I chose THE GREEN MILE, another King novel that cannot be categorized as part of the horror genre. The story takes place in 1932 with the United States in the midst of the Great Depression.  In true King form it provides a number of fascinating characters along with phrasing and descriptions that are intriguing, sarcastic, and at times humorous. 

In 1836 Charles Dickens, the English novelist published THE PICKWICK PAPERS by serializing segments in magazines and smaller volumes called chap books.  The process was very successful and lucrative for the author. That serialized format went out of style for novels, but 20 years ago Stephen King revived it for his project THE GREEN MILE a book, which focuses on the magical powers of death row inmate John Coffey and was released in six segments one per month throughout 1996. The process was an immediate hit and in 2018 King and his publisher rereleased it as a complete novel which greatly benefited his reading audience.

The novel itself focuses on John Coffey, a giant of a man who supposedly murdered and raped nine year old twin girls Cora and Kathe Detterick absconding with them from their farmhouse in Trapingus County Louisiana.  Once caught and convicted he was sent to Cold Mountain Penitentiary where he was housed in Section E or death row waiting to meet what King labeled as “Old Sparky,” the electric chair.  The narrator, Block Superintendent Paul Edgecombe who had overseen 72 executions during his career tells his story from the perspective of his later years in a Georgia nursing home delving into Coffey’s the  character of a number of other prison employees and inmates.  Coffey was a large man, with the mind of a child whose traits and behavior would challenge many of Edgecombe’s beliefs formed over decades working in prisons.

Throughout the novel we are presented the inner workings of the prison, the staff that was in charge and conducted policies along with a number of inmates who were waiting to walk the “green mile” to their deaths.  Even in prisons politics rears its ugly head as guard, Percy Wetmore, a political appointee due to family connections acts with extreme brutality towards prisoners carrying his baton/hickory stick like a badge of honor alienating everyone including his fellow guards.  At one point Edgecombe thought of resigning because of him but realized in the midst of a depression it was not the best time to quit.

Aspects of the novel are vintage King including his description of Coffey’s capture, certain absurdities like the adventures of a mouse named Mr. Jingles, character descriptions of  prisoners on E block such as Edvard Delacroix who cherished his trained mouse, Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native-American Chief and member of the Cherokee Council who was executed with dignity, and “Wild” Bill Wharton, a nineteen year old kid who Edgecombe described as the “new psychopath” when he arrived at Cold Mountain, a man who didn’t care about anything who was similar to “back country stampeders” who passed through the prison and were “dullards with a mean streak.”

Edgecombe interfaces his personal life with his prison occupation as he sits in the Georgia Pines Nursing Home solarium writing his memoirs seemingly suffering from PTSD after witnessing over 70 executions.  The job of prison guards at Cold Mountain created a community of insanity among the guards as they took their roles in the executions that King describes.  But nothing they experienced would compare with their interactions with John Coffey.

The key element to the novel is a scheme hatched by Edgecombe to assist Warden Hal Moores wife Melissa who is dying of cancer.  Edgecombe is convinced that Coffey is God’s conduit on earth to provide healing to those who suffer.  His evidence is being touched by Coffey to relieve his excruciating urinary infection, saving Delacroix’s pet mouse who was crushed by Wetmore’s boot, and his belief that he was innocent of the crimes of which he was convicted.  Edgecombe hopes to bring Coffey to Melissa believing he has the ability to cure her.  The last third of the novel centers on this scenario.

King’s use of Georgia Pines Nursing Home outside of Atlanta is perfect for resident Paul Edgecombe to serve as a purposeful narrator for prison life and his retirement.  In a sense living in a nursing home is similar to working in Block E at Cold Mountain – you were just waiting to die, and there was even a version of Percy Wetmore at the old age facility in the person of Brad Dolan!  This juxtaposition has a great deal of truth in it and King’s commentary on both lifestyles is eye opening.  THE GREEN MILE  is a superb read and I look forward to another non-horror novel by Mr. King.

We live in a political culture where there is a movement to prevent teaching facts that pertain to our past history.  Boards of education and state officials are pressured to teach topics that avoid anything that might be negative about our America.  Be it slavery, the treatment of Native-Americans, white racism, or limiting the rights of women they are all under scrutiny by those who believe it presents white people in a damning light.  Sadly, it has become a political issue which deprives our children of accuracy in their education.  In William Kent Krueger’s latest novel in the Cork O’Conner series LIGHTENING STRIKE the reader is presented with a microcosm of Native-American history and life on the reservation in1963, a topic I imagine proponents of critical race theory would oppose.

Krueger’s seventeenth installment of the Cork O’Conner series serves as a prequel for the first sixteen novels and explores the daily life of the twelve year old Corcoran O’Conner, a precocious teenager and his relationship with his father Liam who is the sheriff of Tamarack County, MN.  The story unfolds in Aurora, MN, a small town on the shores of Minnesota’s Iron Range, the setting of many of Krueger’s previous novels where Cork serves in the same position as his father and is trying to put back his marriage with Nancy Jo and their three children, Jenny a typical teenager, Steven, a kindergartner, and Anne a middle school student.  As sheriff Cork has to deal with the needs of Native-Americans who live on the reservation in northern Minnesota and the myriad of issues ranging from murder, drugs, the environment all wrapped up in local politics.  As I read the series I often wondered about Cork’s background, and Krueger’s latest work provides many answers.

Set in 1963, the novel is about the coming of age of a son trying to unravel the mystery that had been his father.  The story begins as the young Cork and his friend Jorge are hiking in the Superior National Forest along an abandoned logging road.  They will come across a man, Big John Manydeeds hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide.  Manydeeds was close with Cork who served as an excellent guide in the Quetico-Superior wilderness.  Cork’s father, Liam is in charge of the investigation and concludes that all the evidence points to a suicide, not murder.  For Cork, the incident sparks many questions surrounding death, i.e.; the Ojibwe belief in the soul walking a path to a better place and the Christian view of heaven.

Liam and Manydeeds had fought in World War II and experienced many things they would like to forget.  Both experience characteristics of PTSD which Liam is able to cope with, but Big John turns to alcohol for solace in dealing with his demons.  The “suicide” scene at a clearing called Lightening Strike is littered with whiskey bottles as is Big John’s cabin.  The issue of Native-American alcoholism on the reservation is one of the aspects of Indian life that Krueger explores in detail through his characters.  Liam may accept the death was suicide, but his son Cork does not who along with his friend Jorge and Big John’s nephew Billy.  The three boys begin to conduct their own parallel investigation which reminded me of the Hardy Boy mysteries I read as a youngster.

Krueger provides painful glimpses into reservation life and how for over a century the federal government has tried to ruin Native-American culture by forceful assimilation into the white man’s world.  Liam is responsible for enforcing the law on the reservation and must deal with the anger and distrust that Indians feel toward white society.  Interestingly, Liam’s spouse Colleen is half Anishinaabe.

Pressure from Native-American reservation leaders like Sam Winter Moon, Liam’s friend and his mother-in-law Grandma Dilsey, along with Cork’s own investigation convince Liam that Big John did not commit suicide.  The question that emerges is who was responsible for the death.  Emerging evidence points to Duncan MacDermind, the owner of a vast mining complex whose racial views are untenable.  MacDermind, a racist who fought in World War II and was aboard the Indianapolis and survived a Japanese attack that killed over 2000 also suffers from PTSD.  The question is motive.  Why would MacDermind kill Big John?  Rumors of an affair may be the answer, but it is not clear, particularly since the county attorney is in MacDermind’s hip pocket.  MacDermind is not the only person of interest, perhaps Big John’s half brother Oscar was guilty, or perhaps the culprit is someone who we cannot fathom.

Krueger introduces a number of characters that appear in his later novels.  Henry Meloux, a member of the Grand Medicine Society, is a Mide or healer and is the philosophical leader that reservation members turn to for advice.  Sam Winter Moon, Liam’s close friend will serve the same role for Cork.  Both men try to guide Liam and his son and try to make them understand the impact the death of Big John and the disappearance of Louise La Rosa, a young Ojibwe girl whose body was found in the Boundary Waters has on the reservation population.   Liam was under intense pressure as he was caught in the middle as Native-Americans whose badge made him an athame as a white sheriff, whites in the community referring to him as the “squaw man” for having married a half Indian woman, and even his mother-in-law and wife questioning his approach to the investigation.

LIGHTENING STRIKE explores the gentle relationship between a father and son and provides insights into the type of man Cork will become.  It is written with grace and understanding and lays the groundwork for the wonderful series that Krueger has developed as Liam has seeded compelling and complicated wisdom to his son which will make him a better man.