Skvorecky, Josef

Toronto. 1987. Lester & Orpen Dennys. 1st Canadian Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0886191823. Translated from the Czech by Rosemary Kavan. Kaca Polackova & George Theiner. 288 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Bernice Eisenstein. keywords: Literature Translated Czech Eastern Europe Mystery. FROM THE PUBLISHER - The first in a series of linked detective tales featuring a highly intelligent member of the Czechoslovak police force and his agreeable colleagues. Many of the tales are delightful parodies of ‘standard' mysteries, and most are set in the author's native Czechoslovakia. Lieutenant Boruvka himself is splendidly realized - a pensive, conscience-stricken man driven to melancholy by the fiendish truths of murder, yet always wide awake to the strange methods of murder he encounters. Twelve bizarre plots involve theatrical people or musicians, and one concerns a band of mountaineers. Its solution reveals pent-up emotions of love, jealousy, and envy. Other cases involve blackmail, apparent suicide, and unusual trajectories for weapons - a wealth of gruesome circumstances, The entire book is intended to be read as a continuous account; in the last tale, the reader learns the secret of Boruvka's past. This unusual volume introduces the sad lieutenant and his developing fortunes to all who relish ingenious puzzles. inventory #10614 ISBN: 0886191823.