Allmen, an elegant bon vivant and fine spirit, has come into financial difficulties over the years. Five magical Art Nouveau bowls put him and his factotum Carlos on a business idea: a company for the recovery of beautiful things. The birth of an unusual investigator duo and the launch of a wonderful crime series.
International heist mystery that is slow to start and a little confusing with regards to timeline. The present and the past are blurred into one for the first two parts of the story before the story kicked off when we arrive back in the present. The addition of noticeable paragraphs to signify the end of a story sequence would have worked well.
Johann Friedrich van Allmen is the antihero, who finances his lifestyle through thefts and insurance frauds, using theft as a means also to pay off his creditors. After a night on the town with a mysterious and ethereal woman results in an opportunity too good to pass up - the theft of a Galle bowl featuring a dragonfly. Allmen becomes perplexed when the hue and cry is not raised, and so decides to relieve the owner of even more of the collection. With the introduction of an school chum, Terry Werensbusch, Allmen decides that there is more than meets the eye and has his manservant, Carlos, dig a little deeper. Its is only when Allmen seems to come out on top do things actually come crashing down and all that he has helped himself to is taken away.
The mysterious manservant Carlos is a refreshing character; and the setting of Switzerland makes a nice change of scenery. A decent enough storyline sets the tone for the series, and Allmen and Carlos decide that there is money to be made (and lots of it), in the recovery of lost items.
Like all good crime fiction, this story is based upon real events. In October 27, 2004 in Gingins, Switzerland, glass artworks by Emile Galle were stolen from the Neumann Foundation. A reward 400,000 Swiss Franc was offered.
Allmen and the Pink Diamond
Set two years after "dragonflies", Allmen and Carlos are now running "Allmen International Inquiries" - a business that recovers various things for reward.
Set two years after "dragonflies", Allmen and Carlos are now running "Allmen International Inquiries" - a business that recovers various things for reward.
Allmen is hired to find a missing "pink diamond" and thus begins an unusual game of cat and mouse with various interested parties on the trail of a missing Russian IT expert. One wonders what a mysterious Russian has to do with a missing pink diamond, and just who else is on the trail and familiar faces keep re-appearing.
Always, just when things seem to be over they actually pick up again; and just when Allmen seems to be on the up and up, things come crashing down around him.
This second outing is a much more stream-lined story (editing & layout issues from book one attended to), and the development of the main characters - Allmen and Carlos - is nicely fleshed out. Carlos is by far the most interesting character with still an air of mystery surrounding him.
Another enjoyable read - looking forward to the next three in this series:
- Allmen and the Dahlias
- Allmen and the Disappearance of Maria (using google translate here)
- Allmen and the Erotic (again using google translate here)
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