When We Were Orphans – Kazuo Ishiguro

 The book opens in London in 1930. The narrator, Christopher Banks, is by then a famous consulting detective moving in the best social circles. On selected dates, over a period of years, he gives a rambling account of his day that, in a series of nested flashbacks, harks back to events of the previous week, month, even years. These mainly feature his encounters with the attractive socialite, Sarah Hemmings, and memories of his childhood in Shanghai.

It was in Shanghai that he became an orphan, of sorts. First his father, then within weeks his mother, disappeared. Both were embroiled in the opium trade, his father as an executive of a dubious trading company and his mother as an agitator for reform. Their disappearance is a case he knows he must turn his attention to one day.

In 1937 he finally makes the trip to a Shanghai on the front line in the Sino Japanese war, complicated by the stirrings of communist revolt and the gathering storm clouds that will soon break as the Second World War. So there are bigger problems to deal with than some long lost geriatrics. Diplomatic missions are in place, including one led by Sarah Hemming’s new, but old, husband, Sir Cecil Medhurst. That means Sarah is in town, and the friendship is renewed.

For three quarters of the book the pace is steady, the language formal, and emotions restrained, as befits an educated English gentleman. Then in Shanghai, all that is blown to the winds in an action packed finale, as the competing demands of Sarah Hemmings, the diplomatic mission, and the quest to find his parents finally crack his composure and reserve.

It is not a difficult read. Ishiguro’s prose is easy on the eye, though the nested flashbacks demand attention and the odd ruffling back of pages to keep track. However, Banks is a hard character to empathise with, and the whole orphans thing (Sarah is one too, and Banks randomly adopts one of his own) seems rather spurious.

The Naming of the Dead – Ian Rankin

It is summer 2005 and DI John Rebus is one book away from retirement. With most of the City and Borders Police preoccupied with security for the G8 summit down the road at Gleneagles, Rebus and DS Siobahn Clarke are assigned to a routine mission to check out some evidence relating to a recent murder.

The victim was a rapist not long since released from prison; the evidence is a missing part of his jacket. And the site, a clootie well where people leave clothing of the dead for good luck, reveals more evidence relating to two other unsolved murders. These victims too were sex offenders, an excuse for the forces concerned to give the cases low priority. To Rebus a murder is a murder, no matter how unsavoury the character of the victim. He and Siobahn get stuck in, ignoring instructions to keep it all low key during the summit.

Edinburgh is in turmoil with thousands coming to protest, demonstrate, or just enjoy the festival vibe and hear the bands invited to perform. In addition to the great unwashed, the rich and the powerful are in town to press the flesh and do deals – international politicians, business leaders and, to keep an eye on them all, Special Branch. There is also a local power struggle going on with veteran villain Big Ger Cafferty locking horns with self-appointed man of the people, Councillor Gareth Tench.

When, to top it all, a local MP goes over the parapet at Edinburgh Castle, Rebus reckons it was no accident, nor suicide; the only question in his mind is who pushed him, and why.

So, old crimes, new crimes; old foes to rub up against and new enemies made among the visitors. Its chaotic, but Rebus thrives on it and as usual muddles through a twisted but clever plotline.

Good atmosphere, snappy dialogue, and for a change a little bit of detection gets done.

Three Things About Elsie – Joanna Cannon

 Florence Claybourne’s residency at the Cherry Tree Accommodation for the Elderly has been ticking along nicely. She has her own flat, and her lifelong friend, Elsie, for company. But now there are problems. Her memory is not so good and sometimes her thoughts come straight out of her mouth when they would be better to stay in her head. She is due an assessment that could mean goodbye to cheery Cherry Tree and hello to grim Greenbank, where those needing higher levels of support are, in Florence’s view, incarcerated.

To top it all, a new resident has arrived, who calls himself Gabriel Price. But Florence knows that is not his real name; he is Ronnie Butler, a man dead sixty years. She recognizes him, recognizes the scar she gave him, recognizes the man she saw drown in the canal.

Gabriel / Ronnie shows no sign of recognizing Florence, but as evidence of her own erratic behaviour begins to mount – a lost book turning up in the fridge, her kitchen cupboard full of Battenburg cakes, an iron left dangerously on – she knows he is behind it all somehow.

Florence and Elsie recruit fellow resident, Jack, whose son acts as taxi driver, to help investigate Gabriel Price and prove he is really Ronnie Butler. Ronnie Butler who, by drowning in the canal left unanswered questions concerning the violent death, that same night, of Elsie’s sister Beryl.

The story unfolds in three time frames. In the here and now, Florence is lying prone on the floor of her flat, hoping someone will find her before it is too late. While there, she relates the events of the last month and the investigation into Gabriel Price. Assistant manager, Miss Ambrose, and handyman, Simon, also contribute to that narrative. Her thoughts also drift back to the distant past, to the night Beryl died, and Ronnie ended up in the canal.

Relationships within the closed world of Cherry Tree are well portrayed, and sub-plots involving minor characters provide pleasurable diversions. And those three things about Elsie? Read, discover, enjoy.