One of a series -

Publisher's description:

From award-winning British author, Michael Pearce, comes the first in a new series introducing Seymour of Special Branch. Trieste in 1906 is one of Europe's great seaports, the Austrian Empire's main outlet to the Mediterranean and the world beyond. But various nationalist movements are threatening to pull the place apart. The heavy-handed militarist regime has trouble keeping a lid on it, the secret police are everywhere, and now the British consul has gone missing. Was this the result of an ill-advised liaison? Could he have fallen afoul of the secret police, or the even more secret revolutionaries? The Austrian police are of course investigating, but the Foreign Office would prefer this matter to be handled with sensitivity. Britain has commercial interests in the port after all, so perhaps it would be wise to send someone out—someone very special from Special Branch who is capable of speaking the relevant languages; a good officer, but not someone British. That someone should be born here, lived here, but a member of, say, an East End immigrant family from somewhere in Europe. You can never quite rely on them. A bit dubious really, but just the man for the job.

Since this one is the first published book of the series, I think this will have to be the one to start with :)
Oh, and the custom BC # labels on these are adorable.

I know the Southern Italy much better than the Northern one, and Trieste felt... well, much like a foreign place in this book. Not that much Italian (despite all the piazzas and the bars), but with the huge amounts of Serbs and other Slavs, and numerous other foreigners (Brits, Irish, Austrians etc) it was quite a well-mixed and lively city, definitely an interesting place, and with several cinemas too. There were some language issues (the Italian words in the book would have benefited from proof-reading), but it's also fascinating when the characters could have talked with each other in several languages. Did they do like I when I meet people with which I've got multiple languages in common, change sometimes liberally or pick for some specific purpose a specific one? Some of the characters seemed a bit too flat (or they didn't seem to have a strong drive behind them, or history, or that much connection to the reader - at least compared to my very recent reads), but that's just more interesting to see how Seymour will work in the other locations. Maybe Seymour and Athens and the people he'll meet there will resonate quite differently, or he'll relax more to let you know him better. Like what he would really like, or what drives him.

Dead men traveling....

Safe journey little book - I hope you'll make many new friends on your travels!

"Don't ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that's what they're there for. Use your library). Don't apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend's copy. What's important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read... "
— Neil Gaiman

To the finder of this book:
Hello and congratulations! You have not only found yourself a good book, but a whole community of booklovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world at large. I hope you'll stick around a bit and get to know BookCrossing --maybe even make a journal entry on this book. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (its free!)
Feel free to read and keep this book, or to pass it on to a friend or even set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find like you did. If you do choose to join and journal, then you can watch the book as it travels- You'll be alerted by email each time someone makes another journal entry. It's all confidential (you're known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Happy reading!

Thank you very much for this interesting book, Aetm! And thanks to you and your hubby for the company at Kamppi as well.

The protagonist of this book was a kind of an unlikely detective. He was like he had lost his way but in the end he found his way quite well. Somehow this book brought into my mind The Three Evangelists of Fred Vargas. The feeling of the book seemed the same to me. I loved the book. Luckily i have the sixth book of the series as well. I think I'll add those in the middle to my wishlist.

This is my # 71 (120) in
"REDUCE MOUNT TBR 2013" Challenge arranged by Dove-i-Libri.

This is my # 64 in
"KEEP THEM MOVING 2013" Challenge arranged by Booklady331.

A mystery set in Italy? Yes please!

I grabbed this from the table at tonight's meet-up in Helsinki. I haven't read this series before so it's good to start with the first instalment.

I thought this was a fun read. I'd classify it as a cozy, as there's no hard stuff and no gripping excitement either, but more feel-good mystery solving in an interesting environment. Perfect holiday reading! I wouldn't mind reading the other parts of the series either :)

Thanks for checking in. I hope you'll enjoy the story!