Mikael is a young man, half Finnish, half New Zealander, who never really knew his father, or the story of his mysterious death. In search of answers - about himself as well, he teams up with Pekka Wall, an acerbic editor and translator of famous science fiction novels, as eccentric as his oldest friend, Mikael Långberg, the brilliant theatre director who had died many years ago in questionable circumstances, during the final days of a notorious Cabaret production. Officially ruled a suicide, unofficially anybody who knew Mikael Senior did not easily accept that verdict.
In pursuit of the truth, young Mikael, and Pekka dig through (as the blurb puts it) layers of performance, paranoia, and betrayal to discover that the truth, and solving a murder aren't always comfortable bedfellows.
Right from the outset, THE BIRTHMARK MURDERS, isn't a straight-forward undertaking. The author deploys a lot of layering here, wrapped up in huge amounts of cultural and descriptive passages, that lend themselves to more immersive reading that might require an expectation switch on the part of some crime fiction readers. The humour is as dry and dark as you can get, redolent of the cultures that the novel inhabits. The prose is on the long-form side of storytelling, again, fitting with the idea of long, cold winters, hot fires, a glass or two, and some tales being drawn out from dark corners.
It's not the fastest read in the world, and there were some points that this reader, confronted as she is daily by an out of control MtTBR, really wished that a little judicious darling killing had been undertaken, but that's more about me than it is about this book. Once settling into the style and the direction the author was pulling me in, the novel is very different, and very engaging, whilst never pretending to be anything other than what the blurb says it is:
Darkly funny, emotionally layered, and rich with a Finnish atmosphere, The Birthmark Murders is a mystery that dances between satire and sorrow, theatre and truth, love and obsession. Prepare to laugh, flinch, and turn pages late into the night.
The Birthmark Murders
Step into a world where secrets smoulder between the lines and truth hides behind the curtain.
When Mikael, a half-Finnish New Zealander, returns to his father’s homeland after decades away, he isn’t looking for trouble—just answers. His father, Mikael Långberg, once a brilliant theatre director, died under mysterious circumstances during the final days of a notorious Cabaret production. Officially ruled a suicide. Unofficially? Nothing adds up.
Teaming up with a reluctant old friend, a sharp-tongued editor and translator of famous sci-fi novels, Pekka Wall, and a local young misfit, Mikael plunges into Finland’s eccentric, icy underworld—where silence speaks volumes, humour cuts deep, and the past never stays buried. As layers of performance, paranoia, and betrayal unfold, he discovers that solving a murder is easy… compared to facing the truth.
Darkly funny, emotionally layered, and rich with a Finnish atmosphere, The Birthmark Murders is a mystery that dances between satire and sorrow, theatre and truth, love and obsession. Prepare to laugh, flinch, and turn pages late into the night.
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