‘A Convenient Solution’ (a Jean Bellimont mystery) by Trevor
Whitton reviewed by Pete Christensen 2012
The Convenient
Solution is a murder mystery taking place in 1308 in France. Jean Bellimont is sort of an everyman’s hero
emerging from the daily troubles and strife of a downtrodden middle class of
the day. Don’t expect an Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power type here. This is more of
a thinking man’s detective. If you place Columbo in breeches and a tunic you
might be closer to his personality.
This being a mystery
of the classic genre Whitton uses dialogue mostly as a means to move plot.
Although I found the gritty descriptions of the hard times, and dismal
conditions to be inventive and engrossing, he never falls into the trap of
getting flowery or over descriptive for the sake of itself ala Norman Mailer.
Although I stand by
the idea that this is as regimented as the film noir ‘s of the fifties there is
a massive layer of societal and class struggles involved that complicates and
intrigues. Taking place during a war between France and England gives us a
clash of nations, beyond that there is the main struggle between the crown and
church. It gets deeper as rich is pitted against poor and powerbrokers feud
with underlings. If all that weren’t enough conflict there’s a mistrust and
resentment between the Italians and French who’re supposedly working together.
It’s amidst this fog of turmoil, deceit, and mistrust that Bellimont must solve
the murder of the French Queen Jean of Navarro, free wrongly accused Bishop
Guichard, and halt French King Phillipe from dismantling the church’s status
and power. While all this is happening there’s yet a subplot involving hidden
Templar gold and a mysterious Jewish couple on the run to further complicate
the case.
With all this
constant conflict, there exist an aura of distrust that permeates everyone
involved. Like a gangster movie or con-man novel you never know who to trust or
what’s real or contrived. Whittson uses this as a super effective agent for
plot twist and character double-crosses that keep you guessing throughout the
work.
By now you may have
the idea this is such a complicated and involved storyline as to be impossible
to follow. Not at all, as Bellimont plods along the cold, muddy streets and
back roads of Medieval Europe he reveals to the reader just enough to keep you
in the loop while keeping you enticingly interested and in the dark as well.
I found this 215
page novel to be unique in its approach and believable in its characters and
situations. Whitton stays true to
Bellimonts human failures and frailty’s while allowing him to slowly and
convincingly unravel a sophisticated and clever resolution that both intrigued
and entertained me. This is a smart novel for the reader that doesn’t want to
be spoon fed literary pabulum and insist on the quality read that’s so rare in
today’s mystery genus.
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