None So Blind grabs the reader
Ottawa mystery entertains
None So Blind (An Inspector Green Mystery) Barbara Fradkin Dundurn
If you live in Ottawa and you’re a newcomer to Barbara Fradkin’s mysteries, there’s an obstacle to get over: Much of the action takes place in and around the greater Ottawa area and is replete with local references.
But get over it. Some of the best thriller and mystery writers have brought murderous notoriety to small cities and towns.
It’s just that Ottawa isn’t, you know, exotic. It’s here.
None So Blind opens at the Ottawa Police headquarters on Elgin Street, where Inspector Michael Green plies his trade.
It meanders through Kanata, the By Ward Market, Whitehaven, Navan. And as she passes through these familiar places, Fradkin offers little local commentaries — ‘Nate’s Deli bulldozed to make way for a Shoppers Drug Mart.’ Or the ‘Queensway, alternating between a parking lot and NASCAR race track.’
We can relate and after a few chapters, it all starts to feel quite comfortable.
The geography wouldn’t matter, of course, if the book weren’t well plotted and the characters well developed.
Any lover of a good, light thriller will find this book to be a page-turner. This is not in the dark and suicidal Scandinavian genre — it’s more Wexford than Wallander.
Green is, of course, the central character.
He’s senior and sage and in this tale, a target in the early going for an unrepentant academic named James Rosten, a convicted murderer Green had busted early in his police career.
Rosten writes regularly to Green, insisting on his innocence and refusing to — as they say in the legal trade — accept responsibility for his actions and express remorse.
Ergo he doesn’t get parole.
And then things change, mysteriously and dramatically.
Fradkin’s characters are numerous and however incidental, nicely developed.
None So Blind is good yarn and who knows, perhaps Fradkin might eventually do for Ottawa what Rankin did for Edinburgh.