Castang's city

Henri Castang #5

by Nicolas Freeling

Vintage PB, 1981; first such; good tight, clean copy w/ light cover wear, reading crease.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Nicolas Freeling born Nicolas Davidson, (March 3, 1927 - July 20, 2003) was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the Van der Valk series of detective novels which were adapted for transmission on the British ITV network by Thames Television during the 1970s.

Freeling was born in London, but travelled widely, and ended his life at his long-standing home at Grandfontaine to the west of Strasbourg. He had followed a variety of occupations, including the armed services and the catering profession. He began writing during a three-week prison sentence, after being convicted of stealing some food.[citation needed]

Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, and France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

From Wikipedia

Series:
* Van Der Valk
* Henri Castang

Reviews

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing the Nicolas Freeling's Complete Opus Undertaking I have just finished "Castang's City" (1980), the fifth book in the French detective series. Alas, it is not a very good crime novel, despite some flashes of brilliance shown by the author. Thus the less I write here the better.

An adjunct mayor in a largish French city (the "Castang's city" - in the Foreword the author warns that it is a fictitious city, not Toulouse or Strasbourg as some readers claim) is gunned down in his Porsche. The connections with terrorism are quickly dismissed and Castang and his colleagues focus on the politician's family.

As usual in Freeling's novels, we have vivid portrayals of the characters, and dialogues are masterfully captured. Yet, the events in the plot are not that interesting; what's more, the rather lightweight story does not justify the volume of the novel, over 300 pages; it is much more than the typical size of Mr. Freeling's work, and it has taxed my patience.

There are some fascinating passages in the book that remind us that the author is one of the very best crime novel writers ever, but they are scarce. I would love to quote one incomparably bravura paragraph but not only does it hint at the denouement but also its language might be perceived as risqué. Read and enjoy for yourself (page 282 of the paperback edition by Vintage Books). On a somber note, the novel contains a moving tribute to one of the greatest poets-singers of the Twentieth century: Castang and his wife, Vera, are stunned by the news of his death on October 9, 1978.

Two and a half stars.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the last of couple of Castang books, I find the plots and criminal element to be not so interesting as the characters and Freeling's free associating observations about life, the universe, and everything.

From Kirkus
A minor official in Inspector Henri Castang's town (""a French city of some three hundred thousand souls"") is gunned down on the street--so at first Castang and colleagues suspect a terrorist band. But then they begin interviewing the official's family--restaurateur wife, slimy son, lazy son, odd daughter, serene mistress--and when the slimy son dies of electrocution followed by his mother's attempted suicide, the investigation focuses hard on the remaining relations. And indeed it appears that son Thierry has fallen in with a secret society involved with group sex, perhaps quasi-political action. Behind this society: a guru-like blackmailer/manipulator/malcontent who is finally trapped in his decadent lair. An unsatisfactory plot? Definitely. Here, more than ever, Freeling uses the mystery format chiefly as a frame for moody socio-cultural reflections, for his quirky, sometimes engaging free-associative style. And --Castang's wife Vera has a baby, Jacques Brel dies.

[Robert LoCicero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was rather difficult to get through. I found the conversations confusing as to who was speaking and frequently found the context unfath0mable. The story line was very appealing and the characters developed were interesting and believable. The story of the search for the assassin of a local bureaucrat in an imaginary French provinical city and the assassin's associates takes Henry Castang, an inspector in the Police Judiciaire, through the mundane and the unusual. The list of family members and outsiders suspected in this crime or involved in sexual "orgies" is long enough to cause the inspector and his colleagues "agita". Not only is the work involved in monitoring these individuals tedious but finding motives and means for this political murder proves very trying. All this goes on for Henry Castang while his wife is giving birth to his first child and some medical issues keeping her from a prompt return home. I did like the story despite the difficulties and found the sprinkling of French phrases and cultural references enjoyable though some seemed dated and others rather obscure. If one can get through the text and has the time to go over passages to make them clearer to one, then this volume, the first of the Castang series, is worth attempting.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1980s and perhaps early 90s I read many of Nicolas Freeling's Henri Castang books and really liked them. I thought I had read them all but turns out I had not. Castang's City was one I had not. These books are as good as I remembered though not typical of many mysteries I read. There is a great deal of interior philosophical thought on the part of Castang, not always easy to follow but generally fascinating to me. Now I feel the need to hunt down the few remaining books of this series that I haven't read and read them. I also discovered that Freeling wrote the Van der Valk books which I have been watching as part of the mystery programming on PBS and I want to read these too.