Philip Kerr
(1956-2018) was the creator of 14 Bernie Gunther historical mysteries. Written
between 1988 and 2018, the series about a private investigator in Nazi Berlin
won awards and critical acclaim for quality of plotting, writing, and research.
Not so well
known is the fact that Kerr was a huge fan of the London Arsenal professional football
team, soccer in the U.S. So much so that he created a fictional competitor football
team named London City and gave it a coach named Scott Manson, a former
footballer who featured in three books about the team. In the first one, January
Window (Head of Zeus, 2014), the sport is deeply immersed in the January
window, the period in which new players are added to team rosters. Money and
contracts are waved about with abandon as prime players are sought to bolster a
team’s chances at the playoffs.
The team
manager João Zarco is a colorful character, also a former football player and well-known
for his larger-than-life persona. For him to disappear on the day of a major
game was unheard of. When his body is found later that day in an isolated part
of the stadium, the football world was staggered. He appeared to have been
beaten to death. Questions of motive and of access to the stadium preoccupy the
police, which narrows their focus to Zarco’s business associates. The team
owner, a Russian named Viktor Sokolnikov, is worried about the general fishing
expedition that seems underway in the guise of a police investigation. His own
business affairs won’t necessarily bear official scrutiny. He offers Scott the
temporary manager position with a substantial increase in pay and the proviso
of making it permanent if he can locate Zarco’s killer and forestall a close
review of Sokolnikov’s activities.
This story is a riveting read, even though I did not understand the football jargon and most of the English pop culture allusions were useless on a native Hoosier like me. Some I understood by context, some I ignored, and some I looked up. Real-life football professional teams and players are mixed with fictional ones. I caught a couple of inside jokes and I expect there are others. The plot resolution is deviously contrived and well hidden in a flurry of misdirection. Highly recommended, especially for football (soccer) fans.
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Publisher: Head
of Zeus (January 1, 2014)
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Language: English
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ISBN-10: 1784081531
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ISBN-13: 978-1784081539
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2021
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works
on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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