Good Reads meta-data is 336 pages, rated 3.74 by 943 citizens
Genre: Krimi.
DNA: Japan.
Verdict: Unusual.
Tagline: Tell me a story.
Dutiful granddaughter visits her aging grandfather regularly. He has an unusual form of dementia (which is described in some detail for clinicians) and to hedge against that she plays a game with him that he used to play with her when she was a child. The poser provides two or three details, and the respondent has to make up a story based on that. I might say there is a blue house with a red bicycle parked in front of it on a rainy day. Now weave a short story based on that information.
One day on her way to visit her grandfather, she sees an assault and an innocent bystander who went to the aid of the victim is arrested by the police who mistakenly suppose he is the perpetrator. This all happens far across a river and before she can get to the other side everyone is gone. Later the police show no interest in her claims because they have the culprit and she was so far away, but she is sure.
She puts this information to her grandfather and asked him to weave it into a story. He does. She checks it out…. Hmm. She finds further clues and asks him to elaborate the story with them. He does. She checks and adds more. He elaborates further. Voilà! She does the legwork to feed him intel and he moves the pieces of information around until everything clicks into. Think of Archie and Nero and there it is. She does Archie’s legwork and he does Nero’s cogitation.
There are four more such crime problems, the last being close to home.
It is a charming set up and a delightful premise. That the old man has visions at times when he telling the stories adds to the fun as she has to sort those out to follow the thread.
While we had a long birthday weekend at the Retreat in the Taronga Park Zoo with a harbour view room, we took the 100 bus down Military Road to Mosman and had coffee and a stroll. We went to Hartog’s Books where I acquired this title. (Some historians think Dutchman Derk Hartog was the first European to see Australia, the northwest coast, or even Rottnest Island off Perth.)