Brother Grimm by Craig Russell

A girl's body lies, posed, on the pale sand of a Hamburg beach, a message concealed in her hand. 'I have been underground, and now it is time for me to return home...' Jan Fabel, of the Hamburg murder squad, struggles to interpret the twisted imagery of a dark and brutal mind. Four days later, a man and a woman are found deep in woodland, their throats slashed deep and wide, the names 'Hansel' and 'Gretel', in the same, tiny, obsessively neat writing, rolled tight and pressed into their hands. It becomes clear that each new crime is a grisly reference to folk stories collected almost two hundred years ago by the "Brothers Grimm".

Although this took me quite a while to read, what with my recent busy social schedule, I did enjoy it. When it got to the conclusion at the end it was tough to put down.

It's well written and you're provided with plenty of characters to speculate on "whodunnit" but in the end I must admit that I was none the wiser. My only issue with this book was that it was written like it had been translated (like The Beast), and with all the police titles in German, it means the reading flows slightly less as you pass over these words that you understand their meaning but are not articulated in your head (does that make sense?).

Aside from all that, I am curious to read his first book (the story is reference occasionally as background for the characters) and will definitely be borrowing the next one (Eternal) from book club :)

Buy this book online at Amazon, Amazon UK, Kalahari or Loot