Book Review: Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Marshall Browne
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: Inspector Anders # 2
St. Martin's, Jun 2002, $23.95, 272 pp.

The Judgment Day uses terrorist techniques to try to sop the development of gigantic international companies that are formed through mergers. The group uses mostly words taken from a fifteenth century manuscript, but also employ deadly tactics as when they kill sixteen high level managers from two Germany's chemical companies, that had been negotiating a merger.

Desperate to stop the Judgment Day organization before other homicides follow, the French police request help from Italian police officer and terrorist expert the one-legged Inspector Anders and Interpol’s Detective Matucci. However, stopping the terrorists only proves slightly more difficult than obtaining cooperation from local police departments spread across Western Europe. As the Judgment Day seemingly commits impossible acts of atrocities, Inspector Anders and Detective Matucci do not seem to have made much progress on solving the case.

The insights into the political rivalries even at local police precincts add depth to the exciting tale, but also slow down the action. The case is fun to follow as Anders and Matucci as they did in The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders conduct a through investigation in which the lack of cooperation hinders their efforts more than the terrorists. Fans who enjoy a realistic insightful look at European police (and for that matter American law enforcement too) will relish Browne Marshall’s latest tale, Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner