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The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge
by Patricia Duncker

Release Date: 1st Mar 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978 1 4088 0417 9
RRP: £11.99

Average Customer Rating: 
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A strange case indeed...

The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge certainly lives up to its title for it is an abstraction of a crime novel with a mixture of mysticism, the occult, elitism and the machinations of French law all intertwined in an unmistakably coy continental lilt.

A secretive death cult simply known as the ‘Faith’ and obsessed with reaching some obscure divine elevation is exterminating itself. Unusually, the group of the departed consists of rich, famous or celebrated individuals for whom such an undertaking and fanaticism is normally considered improbable. At the New Year’s departure, Dominique Carpentier, the Judge, recognises one of the dead. The one that was shot rather than poisoned. This fact alone renders the investigation serious – some individual present at the chalet in Jura, but walks away still breathing. Suspicion eventually falls on the German composer, Friedrich Grosz – a tempestuous and formidable man in his sixties – who appears to be connected to every one of the dead. But the Judge finds her professionalism and personal equilibrium unbalanced by the composer’s music, his effusive proclamations of love and erratic behaviour and as the investigation staggers onwards, the boundaries between her role and that of being his judge is blurred beyond recognition.

The delicate nuances between the Judge, the Commissaire Andre Schweigen, Gaelle (the Judge’s assistant) and the composer himself are drenched with emotive passion and offer an extraordinary insight into the author’s perceptions of relationships – both personal and professional. The narrative is wonderfully literate and imbued with multiple languages (Latin, German and French) that create an aura of natural authority and underline a certain fascism on the part of the author with the storyline and characterisation. [The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge[/b] is in no small part similar to Fred Vargas in style and essence – Duncker clearly likes to toy with the reader: challenging their preconceptions about the nature of the characters that would play a part in this performance, an irresistible dramatic flamboyance and a crime novel that concentrates more on the interplay between its protagonist and antagonist than the crime itself.

Invigorating, inventive and savvy enough to tap into the layman’s insatiable curiosity surrounding secretive cults, sects and organisations; Duncker is at the top of her game in The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge. With a flair that is the epitome of European literature, she has produced a startling and enticing mystery novel that will appeal to anyone who likes their fiction heavily padded with philosophical ideology, theological debate and inexplicable connections that bond individuals to each other.

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