Discussion for Walpurgis Tide

[Diane , Armchair Tour Guide]

Start Discussion here for Walpurgis Tide by Jógvan Isaksen.

About the Book
Two British environmental activists are discovered dead amongst the whale corpses after a whale-kill in Tórshavn. The detective Hannis Martinsson is asked to investigate by a representative of the organisation Guardians of the Sea – who shortly afterwards is killed when his private plane crashes. Suspicion falls on Faroese hunters, angry at persistent interference in their traditional whale hunt; but the investigation leads Martinsson to a much larger group of international vested interests, and the discovery of a plot which could devastate the whole country.


About the Author (Excepted from Wikipedia)
Jógvan Isaksen is a Faroese writer and literary historian. His crime novels are popular in the Faroe Islands and are often best sellers just before Christmas. Some of them have been translated into other languages. Isaksen has also written some children's books and books about Faroese writers and literature.

[Mome_Rath]

So -- Walpurgis Tide. The main core of this mystery seems to be wrapped around the death of environmental activists protesting whaling in the Faroe Islands. The translator in the forward makes some decent points in defense of the Faroese practice of whale hunting, such as:
1) The annual Faroese whale hunt is sustainable
2) Many cultures highlight the ideal of non-European cultures living in harmony with nature and conducting traditional hunting; is it a double standard to not allow a modern society to continue traditional hunting standards?
3) Have activists employed a hierarchy to animal life, decrying the hunting of whales while turning a blind eye to the clubbing of gannets, a sea bird, as part of a traditional Scottish hunting tradition in the Western Isles? Who decides the hierarchy?
At any rate, both the translator and the author acknowledge the annual whale hunt can seem a bit barbaric, as whales are forced to beach themselves where they are then slaughtered. They also make a point to mention that pollution in the oceans from Western nations is making whale meat unsuable, which may end the whale hunts faster than pressure from activists.

But, all that aside -- about the mystery. I thought it was fairly decent, even if it was awfully convenient for detective Hannis Martinsson to arrive back in the Faroes just in time to take on a new client, spurring the entire mystery. At times I was reminded of John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps, as Hannis races for clues and cover through the extremely scenic terrain of this autonomous island territory of Denmark. There's plenty of action in the books, perhaps compensating for the slight lack of resolution to the mystery at the end. Still, this book gave quite a good introduction to economic and cultural issues facing this quiet, isolated North Atlantic nation. I'd love to read more, but I'll have to wait for more translations.