Dead in the Water (The DCI Frank Merlin Series)
We are familiar with dual narrative novels. This is surely a duodecimal narrative novel—at least! New plot lines pop up all the time; even Stalin puts in an appearance. There are three murders under investigation, all loosely related but each with a separate killer, plus several other violent deaths. This is a DCI Merlin murder/mystery set in London in 1942, and if you have read the other two books in this series you will have learned to expect this level of complexity. Once again Merlin and his Scotland Yard team sort it all out by solid policework without the help of any outside sleuth.
All the plot lines develop simultaneously, and the whole action is concentrated in one month (August 1942), narrated day-by-day. The appeal of the book is watching the plot lines converge. This is not so much a whodunnit as a which-of-them-did-what. A very satisfying puzzle, expertly crafted.
