Mord auf der Buchmesse

Judith Hayes #3

by Anna Porter, Claudia Feldmann (Übersetzer)

Murder mystery

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Anna (Szigethy) Porter began her Canadian publishing career in 1969 at McClelland & Stewart (M&S) as editorial coordinator, under Jack McClelland’s directorship. Porter eventually rose to become VP and editor-in-chief at M&S. She worked with, among others, Margaret Laurence, Matt Cohen, Al Purdy, Irving Layton, Peter C Newman and Margaret Atwood.
Porter started her publishing company, Key Porter Books, in partnership with Key Publishers' Michael de Pencier in 1982. They published, among others, Allan Fotheringham, Jean Chretien, Joe Clark, Margaret Atwood, Peter Lougheed, Fred Bruemmer and Conrad Black.
Anna Porter is an Officer of the Order of Canada and the recipient of the Order of Ontario.
Anna Porter retired from publishing in April 2005. She is the author of, so far, 12 books.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Bookfair Murders takes place at the Frankfurt Bookfair in Germany. A real-lifepublishing convention, the Frankfurt Bookfair is the world's largest trade fair based on the number of publishing companies and visitors which frequent the convention. Agents, editors, and other publishing representative all get together to wheel and deal for international publishing and licensing rights. Big-name authors show up to make good impressions on potential buyers and to stir up media interest. There may be a few underhanded deals and agents and publishers alike may try to steal authors from one another...but no one expects someone to be murdered over a book deal.

But it looks like that's exactly what has happened. Marsha Hillier sidles up beside literary agent Andrew Myles's chair to ask him about the paperwork he's promised her on the latest Margaret Drury Carter romance novel deal. She spends several minutes chatting him up before she realizes he's never going to answer her. Someone has used the biggest, most exclusive party at the bookfair as the venue to drop a bit of poison in Andrew's drink. And pretty much everyone who knew Andrew is a suspect, for while he was the best literary agent in the business he definitely wasn't the most well-liked. To know Andrew was to hate him and Inspector Hübsch of German police force faces the tough task of narrowing down the suspects. His job is made more difficult when a publisher is found dead from the same poison and finding solid links between the two seems impossible.

The mystery won't truly be solved until Marsha returns home and she her freelance writing friend, Judith Hayes follow the elusive romance novelist to her island hide-away. There is evidence that Andrew made a visit there earlier in the year and there are rumors that the dead publisher had claimed to have stolen the publishing rights to Carter's books from under Marsha's nose. What is the truth? And how does all this fit into the killer's motive?

Anna Porter, you had me at the title. After all, what self-respecting mystery and book lover could resist a murder mystery set a large publishing convention in Europe? But just as you ask within your own story

...why in the name of the nine million dollars for this book alone, did she choose to run the store? The inventory-taking alone occupied the better part of chapter two. [about the latest Margaret Drury Carter plot]

why in the name of detective novels did you feel it necessary to pad your plot with the most minute, unnecessary details of the book publishing trade? We spent forever at that bookfair and learned very little about our main characters--except that they like to hop into one another's beds and make snide comments about everyone else. And why did you need to drag in the subplot of Judith Hayes, her atrocious ex-husband, and the neo-Nazis? Did that have a point? I missed it, if so. In fact, Judith is pretty much unnecessary to this story. There's no reason on earth why Marsha Hillier, our trusty editor, couldn't manage to perform Judith's part in the grand finale. Removing Judith and her entourage from the plot would have shaved about one hundred pages off this nearly four hundred page volume.

The solution wasn't much of a surprise. And while the denouement did offer a bit of excitement (and, incidentally, the best dialogue and action of the entire book), it didn't make up for the previous three hundred pages plus. I wanted to like this one. I really did. But I can't say it was a real winner. There isn't even a real detective to follow. Inspector Hübsch pops in and out asking Marsha questions, but there isn't a lot of detective work going on in the narrative. And--while Marsha and Judith wind up discovering the killer, they don't actually behave like amateur detectives. Judith is just out for an interview with Carter so she can earn an article fee and Marsha is trying to figure out if her company really does have the exclusive rights to Carter's book. ★ and a half. [rounded to 2 stars here]

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written! The title and the setting is a hook, the storyline has every clichè in the book, whilst not managing to give the reader that page-turning anxiety. The plot is here and there, without any consistency, the characters do not represent anything and there is a sense of exaggeration in everything she describes. Especially hated when the characters accent were reflected in the written dialogue... it's sufficient to let the reader know that someone has a German accent no need to write every "w" as a "v", that's just frustrating. Overall not the worst book for when travelling, but any John Grisham beats it by miles.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read if you're on holiday. The beginning was a bit confusing but the story improved as it developed. I'm sure all the book fair shenanigans are based on real life- there was no gilding of the lily in picking out some of the less desirable human traits of snobbery and exclusion amongst certain types of people who cannot see past their own vanity. It was a good read but not great. I have forgotten most of it a few weeks later.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was fun to see a nearby community featured. Good thing fiction is expected to take literary licence. Jemseg, New Brunswick is so not a town. LOL

[Wendy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by a Canadian working in the book publishing industry and has plenty of Canadian references.

[Margo Allore · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. It gave some insight into the publishing world (mind you about 20 years' ago). There were weaknesses and there were some questionable timelines in the book. The ending was good.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het verhaal kabbelt voort en het einde is vrij voorspelbaar. Geeft wel een, niet al te positieve, inkojk in de wereld van de uitgeverijen.

[Susan Forsgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting with many layers of plot and story line, that kept the reader guessing.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://quillandquire.com/review/the-...

What I like best about this book is the description of the book trade and book fairs - clever, great detail and a fair bit of snark.

[Shireen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the inside look this mystery book by a Canadian publisher gives the reader into the publishing industry. I liked the basic plot and the characters. But I solved the mystery long before the end, and so I found myself impatient for the final reveal. Porter also has a boring, and sometimes confusing, habit of using narrative instead of dialogue to tell us what characters are saying. Right near the end, she finally, finally writes an extensive piece of proper dialogue, with quotation marks and everything, and it was good. Engrossing. Full of emotion and tension. Too bad, she didn't do that all through the book but only here and there. Printing errors were a bit distracting too. So much for traditionally printed books being superior to POD.

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't resist the title (no doubt the author or her publisher was counting on that!) Actually, it wasn't at all bad - gives you a nice taste of the publishing scene coupled with plausible characters and a satisfying ending

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this because of the inside scoop on the publishing industry (or at least, how it used to be). The plot was a little clunky and the ending quite goofy - but lots of great little character sketches.

[Grace Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was slow to get into the book, although i enjoyed it. It isn't one of those books you can just read and not put down. I found the ending to be quite surprising. So slow to get into it but it is worth it in the end.

[Margaret]

I enjoyed this book. Took me a little bit to get into the publishing world but soon I was hooked. I thought the conclusion was a little predictable but overall, a good read!