Fever

September 4, 2006
In the first English translation of a European cult classic originally published in Germany in 1936, the third in Glauser's absurdist Studer mystery series (after In Matto's Realm
), Swiss police Sgt. Jacob Studer investigates two questionable deaths in Bern and Basel—both by gas leaks, both victims elderly women once married to the same man. Clues vanish while suspects disappear and acquire different identities. Studer chases a priest, Father Matthias, brother of the dead women's late husband, who may or may not have been an oil company geologist. Lovely Marie may be niece, daughter, secretary or lover to Matthias or the geologist. At a French Foreign Legion post in Morocco, Studer eventually finds the answers, which seem so simple (or are they?), to this hallucinatory, morally ambiguous case. Glauser, the namesake for the German equivalent of our Edgar Award, was a schizophrenic and drug addict who spent much of his life in mental institutions and prisons. His books, although written in a straightforward style, reveal the fine line between sanity and madness.

December 1, 2006
Seventy years after its original publication, the third of Glauser's six classic Sergeant Studer crime novels (after "In Matto's Realm") is available in English for the first time. The multilingual Jacob Studer of the Bern cantonal police thinks of himself as having "the odd screw loose" and is attracted to unusual cases. So when a priest tells him about a clairvoyant accurately foreseeing the deaths of two old women, Studer's interest is piqued. The casein which men disappear, reappear, and switch identitiesultimately revolves around oil-rich land in Morocco, and its resolution includes surprises even for Studer, as it solves both recent and decades-old murders. Glauser (1896-1938), afflicted with drug addiction and depression, was institutionalized for much of his life. Yet his Studer novels live on; strong character development and concise prose keep this work from feeling dated and illustrate why Germany's most prestigious crime fiction award is named for Glauser. For larger crime fiction collections.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2006
First published serially in German in 1937, the third Sergeant Studer mystery released by Bitter Lemon touches on themes that still resonate today--a fight over a distant oil field prized by Shell and Standard, corrupt colonial outposts, missionaries trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. But these are only subtexts to a double-murder investigation commenced by Studer in droll, even muted, madcap style. After meeting an improbable priest in Paris who spouts an even-less-probable story about a clairvoyant corporal in the French Foreign Legion, Studer returns to his home base of Switzerland to find two elderly sisters gassed in Bern and Basel--just as foretold. Smitten by the priest's supposed niece, Studer (with only a minor assist from his long-suffering wife) plows through an array of hidden identities, coded messages, and nefarious tricks to crack the case. Glauser's gift for physical description ("She had a particular way of looking at people: not quite searching, more astonished--a calmly astonished look you could call it.") brings an already lively story even further to life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)