Marked for Death

R.O. Thorp

SPENDING a term with one of the world’s most famous freshwater biologist at a stunning medieval university in Middle Europe was supposed to be a spring and summer of ‘enormous opportunity’ for Dr Finn Blanchard, a rising star in sea sciences.

But within days of his arrival, Finn finds himself plunged not into the nearby lake’s fascinating fish life but into a murder mystery involving two suspicious deaths and missing papers which could well lead to the discovery of a missing Shakespeare play.

If you set sail with Death on Ice, last year’s irresistibly compelling killer cruise crime caper starring the memorable scientist twins, Finn and Rose Blanchard, then don your gowns and mortar boards for another murderously enjoyable romp from R.O. Thorp (pictured below), an Australian currently living in Cork in Ireland who was a Clarendon Scholar at Oxford and won the London Short Story Award in 2011.

And after an adventure in the frozen north, we move to warmer, southern climes for another slice of entertaining escapism packed full of chills, thrills, history and mystery, and featuring a perplexing case starring amateur detective Finn (more comfortable with a school of fish than a faculty full of off-beat academics), and an ancient place of learning that harbours the darkest secrets and deadliest rivalries.

After a murderous time on a marine research voyage to the Arctic Circle, Dr Finn Blanchard is focusing on his spring term tenure at the University of St Ludmila in Pereja, a centuries-old town which lies next to an ancient glacial freshwater lake reputed to have a rare microclimate. Finn, a young man with a ‘positive’ disposition and an ‘aura of softness,’ is looking forward to meeting the famous freshwater biologist Dr Martine Saluto (labelled ‘absolutely terrifying’ by her students) after making his own mark with a groundbreaking monograph on Greenland sharks.

It’s only three months since the university’s administrator, Nina Hussar, fell to her death down the stairs of the university’s renowned carillon tower even though she had used the steps for many years. An investigation concluded her death was nothing more than accident but mystery still hangs over the events and Finn is far more interested in discovering whether there are any clues to a long-vanished species of shark in the nearby lake.

One of the first people he meets is Nina’s nephew, Stephen Huskins, an assistant professor in literature, who is clearing his aunt’s belongings from her room and they join forces when the sudden and seemingly unexplained death of an elderly professor unearths cryptic clues to Shakespeare’s missing play Cardenio.

By now, Finn is forced to admit that his research isn’t the only fishy thing at St Ludmila’s and he calls on the expertise of private detective Tom Heissen, who is also Finn’s much lamented ex-boyfriend. With head librarian Amelia Wolfe also joining them in their investigations, the case becomes increasingly dangerous and if Finn can't figure out who the killer is soon, the next blood in the water might be his own…

Marked for Death is glorious skulduggery from start to finish as Thorp lets loose her imagination, her sense of fun and her writing skills on a wacky, cerebral-themed murder escapade which delivers the charm and atmospherics of the Golden Age without losing the scientific know-how of the 21^st century. With the more practical and dominant twin Rose busy tagging manta rays in the Azores, this new case falls to the less worldly but lovable twin Finn who teams up here with the redoubtable Detective Inspector Nevena Marinova, a diverse team of university staff and academics, and a very welcome helping hand from Finn’s former flame and private eye Tom.

With a twisting, turning plot which quickly runs into deep, dark waters, some entertaining personality clashes, lots of dark secrets popping up in both the lake and the university’s dusty vaults, and an interesting ‘play’ on Shakespeare’s real-life missing Cardenio manuscript, Marked for Death is chock-full of contemporary vibes and yet retains the seductive timelessness of the murder mystery genre. A first class performance!
(Faber & Faber, paperback, £9.99)