Set in Tallinn in 1419 this is a crime mystery novel with the highlight very much being the period and the setting. This is the second book in the ApoSet in Tallinn in 1419 this is a crime mystery novel with the highlight very much being the period and the setting. This is the second book in the Apothecary Melchior series, but it really is not necessary to have read the first one to enjoy this. It is therefore something quite different, and hugely enjoyable for it.
Tallinn in the early 1400s is an important and lively city. From Hargla's careful research its inhabitants work hard and enjoy a busy social life that tends to involve beer. In the first Melchior novel my favourite chapter was the one in which the Apothecary and those involved with the case go to a beer tasting - it is key in them solving the mystery. Here, the tavern that they prefer most is in the Nunnery, and run by a older and solidly built nun, who stands no messing around from the clientele. It is great stuff. Of course though, there is crime, though not much as the penalties are the pillory, torture and execution. The novel does contain some pretty violent scenes, as that period did indeed do.
The plot is somewhat second-place to the backdrop. Hargla's characters are full of life and form an instant image in the reader's mind. The translator, Adam Cullen, has done a great job and I hope he is soon tasked with the job for the other four (maybe there's more...) Estonian Melchior books, The Hangman's Daughter, The Strangler of Pirita, The Chronicles of Tallinn and The Gotland Devil . This was tremendous fun....more
This was a treat from start to finish. It's a historical novel set in Tallinn (Estonia), more specifically Toompea, the hilly part of the city, in theThis was a treat from start to finish. It's a historical novel set in Tallinn (Estonia), more specifically Toompea, the hilly part of the city, in the fifteenth century. Amongst the town of foreign merchants and engineers designing the wonderful new St Olav's Church the Apothecary is a respected figure. Melchior administers the various medicines and dispenses advice, ignoring superstition and ignorance in favour of new science. When there is a mysterious murder, he is called in to help investigate.
But the murder mystery plays second fiddle to the backdrop of the town and its characters. Hargla writes with considerable dry humour and an extensive knowledge of the day. It's hard not to make some comparisons with Black Adder, but this is much drier, and the wonderful cast of characters are great entertainment.
Two of the most important sections of the mystery take place at the beer-tasting, or Smeckeldach.
"He had to praise them truthfully and with enthusiasm: the Great Guild's mark beer, the Hamburg-style brew, Tallinn beer, and the six-veering beer. Nevertheless Melchior shouted with even greater resonance when Wunbaldus began to tap the Dominican's spring brews, including a laurel beer and his bock, which now stood triumphantly like a flag-bearing knight atop his enemy's tower."
The brutality of life in the 1400's is evident also:
"The fee was once four silver coins and a cask of beer for a hanging". It was a sorrowful tale indeed, and meant that Toompea did not have its own executioner at present. "Quartering costs more". "For a quartering the executioner must be paid six silver coins and two casks of beer on the spot".
I was needing something special in the 'murder mystery' genre, and this is certainly that. I notice there is a second translation in the series, which I look forward to.
Large thanks for my Estonian friend for this book as a gift, and a steer in its direction. It certainly works as an advertisement for a visit to Tallinn also....more
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