40 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ NOVEMBER 4, 2019
Review_FICTION
in 1974 Italy from D’Andrea (Beneath the
Mountain), Marlene, the wife of a criminal
named Wegener, steals a pouch filled
with sapphires from her husband and
flees. Her plan is to exchange the sapphires
for identity documents and start a new
life. Driving in the Dolomites, she takes
a wrong turn, loses control of her car,
and crashes. Marlene is rescued by Simon
Keller, a Bau’r (a peasant who’s also a
priest), who brings her to his farmstead
to recover from her injuries. Initially,
Marlene thinks Simon is a friend, but the
longer she stays with him, the more she
realizes he may be as dangerous as
Wegener. Trapped in the snow-covered
mountains miles from civilization,
Marlene must make tough choices in
order to survive. The tension rises as she
realizes that sinister events appear to be
connected to tales of the Brothers
Grimm. Disjointed flashbacks won’t
stop readers from turning the pages to
the suspenseful conclusion. Fans of
contemporary dark fairy tales will want
to check this one out. Agent: Piergiorgio
Nicolazzini, Piergiorgio Nicolazzini
Literary. (Jan.)The Secret Guests
Benjamin Black. Holt, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-1-
25013-301-4
An intriguing premise can’t save this
plodding what-if historical thriller from
Edgar-finalist Black (Wolf on a String),
the pen name of John Banville. During
the Battle of Britain, with London under
steady assault from German bombers,
George VI decides that his daughters,
14-year-old Elizabeth and 10-year-old
Margaret, should be moved from
Buckingham Palace to a place of safety.
The princesses are transported in the
dead of night to the neutral Republic of
Ireland, where they are to live, under
pseudonyms, at the Duke of Edenmore’s
isolated estate in County Tipperary. In
exchange for that accommodation, Britain
will supply Ireland with regular ship-
ments of coal. An MI5 agent, Celia Nashe,
who’s charged with their protection,
accompanies them. Though the identities
of the girls is a closely guarded secret,
Celia fears that the truth will be uncov-
ered, placing them in peril from Irish
nationalists eager to score a major propa-
ganda coup by attacking or abductingWhere did the inspiration for the
series come from?
It grew out of my interest in WWI,
which was sparked by my discovery of
a scrapbook my grandparents had
kept about one of their two sons—my
father’s elder brother—who died in
that war. While reading about it, I got
the idea of a Scotland Yard detective
not wholly recovered from his time in
the trenches who
must track down a
killer who’s equally
damaged.Where did you get
the plot of The
Decent Inn of Death?
I can’t remember
exactly, but I
wanted to set the
book in about
1952, and I recalled
how obsessed the
British still were
with WWII, and
wondered if I
could put an
escaped Nazi war criminal at the center.
I came up with the idea of suggesting
the killer might be just such a man
while leaving the question of his
identity open until near the end.Why have you spaced out the books,
in terms of historical setting?
I didn’t want to write “another case
for Inspector Madden” kind of book
where the hero detective never seems
to get any older. Both Madden and
his friend and former superior,
Angus Sinclair, age visibly as theseries progresses, and we learn almost
as much about their lives as we do
about the crimes they are bent on
solving. I knew I was setting myself a
problem by fixing for Madden to quit
the police force, but I’ve enjoyed the
challenge of somehow involving him
in these tales in what I hope seems a
natural manner. I also enjoyed writing
about the changing social scene in
Britain as the years
went by.You’ve been quoted
as saying, “Each of
the Madden novels
has a particular
theme.” What’s the
theme of Decent Inn?
Aging. Angus
Sinclair, who shares
equal billing with
Madden in this
tale, fears that age
has finally caught
up with him as he
struggles to make
sense of the puzzle
he’s been presented with. But he sol-
diers on, and as the story nears its end
has to face the prospect of his own
death. This ties in with the title of the
book, which comes from the G.K.
Chesterton poem “Before the
Romans Came to Rye,” which I first
learned as a boy. Although he’s
shaken to his depths by the thought
that his time has come, the chief
inspector rallies, and by the end he has
come to accept whatever fate has in
store for him.
—Lenny Picker[Q&A]
PW Talks with Rennie Airth
Sleuths Who Age
Airth’s The Decent Inn of Death (Penguin, Jan.; reviewed on p. 39)
draws retired Scotland Yarder John Madden into his former superior
Angus Sinclair’s investigation of a suspicious death.