I was drawn to this by the cover blurb, which proclaimed it to be “a delightful mix of classic crime fiction and Robert Galbraith”. The author, Oskar Jensen, has three degrees in History from Oxford University and writes crime, literary, historical and children’s fiction, and Helle’s Hound is his second crime fiction novel about Danish expat art historian Torben Helle. I didn’t see the similarity with the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, but this was still fun to read.
I’d never heard of Oskar Jensen before reading Helle’s Hound but this is his second novel to feature Torben Helle, art historian and amateur sleuth. It’s a preposterous story, but entertaining.
Torben’s friend, Dame Charlotte Lazerton, is dead. A few days earlier she’d told Torben she was worried because she thought her phone was being tapped, but Torben had never expected her to die. The police believe it was natural causes but there are other forces at play, including the British secret service and old enemies from her time working in intelligence during the Cold War. Torben cannot ignore the feeling that someone has killed his friend and mentor, so he sets out to find out who.
As an art historian, Torben isn’t your average amateur sleuth. He relies heavily on his closest friends to help him push matters forward but it’s not long before he’s narrowed down his list of suspects to five: an MP, a journalist, an academic, a civil servant and one of Charlotte’s old schoolfriends. Eliminating each of them from the list turns into quite a project because there isn’t an obvious front-runner, but of course Torben gets there in the end.
My verdict
Helle’s Hound is filled with eccentric characters. From Torben’s friends to the people he runs into as he investigates, there’s a sort of sub-stratum of lunacy that draws you in. The plot is bonkers, but has wit and charm. And yes, it does have a slight whiff of classic crime about it, even though it’s very firmly set in the present day.
The novel is set in parts of London that I know reasonably well, which I found interesting because I could see the locations in my mind’s eye. But even if you’re unfamiliar with Bloomsbury, Oskar Jensen makes it easy for you to imagine the places and architecture, and he conveys the bohemian vibes of the area well too.
The only similarity between this and the Cormoran Strike series that I could see is that Torben and his friend Leyla are each unwilling to commit to each other. The will-they-won’t-they romantic element is dealt with deftly and doesn’t intrude in the plot. It just adds a little curiosity for the reader in the background. Otherwise, however readable this is, it never achieves the page-turning excellence of the Cormoran Strike novels.
As for Torben himself, he’s a rather appealing character. In some ways completely other-worldly, and in others desperately practical and focused. The story romps along with gusto and – as mentioned before – is witty and entertaining. 3 Stars.
Review by: Cornish Eskimo
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