The Carnival Master

by Craig Russell
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Maria Klee is still on sick leave. She cannot see herself going back to her job as a police detective in Hamburg. She hates herself and her life. She gives up on her therapy and goes to Cologne, hunting for the one person she hates more than herself; Ukrainian crime-boss Vasyl Vitrenko.

Her former boss, Chief Commissar Jan Fabel, is also marked by the cases that broke down Maria. He has decided to leave the police. He turns down an offer to be part of starting up a federal unit to support police forces all over Germany on complicated and multiple murder cases. As long as he is still attached to the police he cannot however refuse to read through the files Commissar Scholz from Cologne has sent in. For each of the yearly Carnival the past two years a woman has been murdered and a piece of flesh has been removed from the victims' bottoms.

The case in itself isn't at first enough to entise Fabel to go to Cologne, but when he realises this is where Maria Klee has disappeared to he decides to kill two birds with one stone. In the middle of what is the madness of the Carnival in Köln he has to attempt to protect the innocent and make sure the guilty are forced to pay.
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This is the fourth book about Jan Fabel by Craig Russell. I have read the previous three books and I like this series. The fact that it is set in Germany adds a new dimension; new places, new procedures and a new culture to get to know. Some things seem familiar though; Jan Fabel is a middle-aged, divorced man, finding it difficult to get his relationships to co-exist with his job. He is no cliché though, no alcohol problems or affliction for a certain type of music so really a new and interesting character to get to know and follow.

I recommend this series, but I do recommend starting at the beginning.

The series about Jan Fabel by Craig Russell consists of the following books:

Blood Eagle (2005)
Brother Grimm (2006)
Eternal (2007)
The Carnival Master (2008)

Edward Finnegans Upprättelse

(English title: Redemption)
by Roslund & Hellström
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Edward Finnegan in Marcusville, Ohio is consumed by hatred, hatred for the person he believes murdered his 16 year old daughter.

On board a cruise ship between Finland and Sweden John Schwarz loses his patience with a drunken passenger's physical advances on several women. When he is placed in police custody for assault it starts becoming clear that he isn't who he claims to be.

Police detective Ewert Grens and his colleagues starts to unravel the complicated story behind John Schwarz. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean lives are turned upside down and political schemes put into play.

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I have conflicting feelings about this book. In the beginning I found it fragmented; the story switched between the US and Stockholm, between yesterday and today, and I thought the dialogue lacked flow. But then I seemed to pass a critical point and was sucked into the plot; I needed to find out what had happened and would happen to John, to Ewert Grens and his colleagues, and couldn't stop reading. But then the ending left a bad taste in my mouth.

I still think I will read more books by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström. But this particular book I would only recommend with caveats.

Roslund & Hellström has also written:

Odjuret (2004)
English title: The Beast

Box 21 (2005)
English title: The Vault

Edward Finnegans upprättelse (2007)
English title: Redemption

Flickan under gatan (2008)
English title: The Girl Beneath the Street

The Soul Collector

by Paul Johnston
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After taking on a serial killer crime writer Matt Wells has resumed his life. The book he wrote about his tangle with "The White Devil" became a worldwide bestseller and he has used the money to create a safety net around himself, his family and friends as well as tracking the follower of "The White Devil" who got away.

But despite all sophisticated alarm systems and careful precautions one of Matt's best friends is murdered. Around the same time on of Matt's fellow crime writers is found dead; the body mutilated and the words "The devil did it" in latin written in a pentagram. Soon cryptic e-mails start taunting Matt to attempt to stop the killings. He realises he has to find whoever is responsible for threatening him and loved ones and killing his colleagues. But is it who he thinks it is?

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I am a great fan of Paul Johnston's writings so I had to read this book even though I normally resent writers re-cycling evil villains. The back blurbs even suggested a re-cycling of the plot. In reality it was not as easy as that and I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an intelligent, action filled, page turner with challenging cryptic clues. Too challenging for me at any rate.

This is the second book featuring Matt Wells and I would recommend starting with the first; "The Death List".

Paul Johnston has also written:

Featuring Quintillian "Quint" Dalrymple in a futuristic (2020-2028) Edinburgh:

Body Politic (1997)
The Bone Yard (1998)
Water of Death (1999)
The Blood Tree (2000)
House of Dust (2001)

Featuring Alex Mavros, half Scottish, half Greek, private detective in Greece:

A Deeper Shade of Blue (2002)
The Red Death (2003)
The Golden Silence (2004)

Featuring Matt Wells, in London:

The Death List (2007)
The Soul Collector (2008)

Long Tail

by Chris Anderson
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"Why the future of business is selling less of more"

Chris Anderson coined the expression "The Long Tail" in a article in Wired 2004. The book is expanding on the subject and provides a thorough account of how the technology of today has diminished the dependence of the big hits. The internet has made it possible for an increasing number of businesses to find profitability in selling many unique items to few buyers, a profitability previously only found in the big hits.

Anderson illustrates this with examples from the book, music and entertainment businesses, but also from further back in time. Sears, Roebuck and Co found their opportunity of doing business in the long tail in the end of the 1800s by starting up a mail order service.

This is the power of the Long Tail. The companies at the vanguard of it are showing the way with three big lessons. Call them the new rules for the new entertainment economy.

1. Make everything available
2. Cut the price in half. Now lower it.
3. Help me find it
   

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I am pleased that I've read this book. It has been a while since I studied economics and statistical distributions. Now I got a refresher course as well as an update in new principles to apply. I am left with the feeling that it is possible to find business opportunities with a starting point in myself. If you can find a way to use channels and filters to enable the correct audience to find your business chances are that audience will be big enough to provide profitability. Perhaps as a large corporation you still need the big hits, but as a small business or individual you have a better opportunity to succeed in a niche business today.

Wikipedia has an extensive article on the concept of "The Long Tail".