Without giving away too much of the plot Inspector Banks in “Watching the Dark” investigates the murder – by crossbow – of a fellow police officer at a police sanatorium. The case has Estonian connections: the murdered policeman had investigated the disappearance of an English lass at a “hen party” in Tallinn six years earlier. Banks and his assigned partner travel to Tallinn for more background and in search of tie-ins.
Robinson has spent time in Tallinn, teaching, as he underlines in his acknowledgments. He does not specify what he taught, but as he has taught crime writing in Canada it is a safe bet that he did the same in Estonia. Among the students he acknowledges, as contributors to the book, is at least one person, known to the undersigned, who lived in the U.S. during the decades of Soviet occupation. One presumes that the course was taught in English, no translator needed. Indeed, as Banks discovers, most Estonians are at least able to converse in English. The younger they are, the better their command of the language.
Robinson accurately describes all the locations – Tallinn's Old Town, Haapsalu, and Viimsi among others. The restaurants referred to are where they should be and actually exist or existed. Niguliste church with its famous Danse Macabre or Surmatants panel painting as well as the bookstore on Harju Avenue feature in the narrative as well. The few Estonian expressions used are correct. The names of the characters – Mihkel Lepikson, Merike Noormets, Aivar Kukk and Joosep Rebane as examples – are as Estonian as can be.
Robinson usually includes musical references in his Banks series. It bears noting that in this book Inspector Banks relaxes listening to recordings of Arvo Pärt's and Erkki-Sven Tüür's compositions. A detail that adds enjoyment to the book.
For those who enjoy a well-crafted crime novel, this book is worth reading, for more than the Estonian content. It is available at Amazon's web site and Indigo's brick-and-mortar outlets. Numerous copies grace the shelves of the Toronto Public library system as well. A pleasant diversion on a rainy day. They have lots of such days in Yorkshire, and we are sure to have many in November here in Toronto.
Tõnu Naelapea
