Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: January Window by Philip Kerr

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.

·         Publisher: ‎ Head of Zeus (January 1, 2014)

·         Language: ‎ English

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 1784081531

·         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.