In London, following a series of murders, the police must seek a genealogist to find the common point between the various victims. All were strangers, they are all ages and different socio-professional categories and not all have been killed in the same way, but was found on each of them the code 1A137 "tattooed" with a sharp object on a body part. However, this code is used by municipal services to save births and deaths in vital registration. Very quickly, the genealogist realizes that the code corresponds to that of a death certificate of Albert Beck, stabbed in 1879 in the same place the same day as the first victim of the killer. Apparently, the killer mimics the actual murders by a serial killer in London in the late 19th century. While the police are using traditional methods, the genealogist is trying to understand the workings and motives of the psychopath by analyzing records and criminal records of Victorian London. A race against the clock begins to stop harm the killer before it completes its grisly task and finally disappears ...
Dan Waddell has embarked on a gamble by choosing to make a genealogist the hero of a detective series . It is generally believed that the genealogy is a hobby of retired white-haired-love above all the silence and dust of the archives room. Frankly nothing glamorous or thrilling. And yet, his hero, Nigel Barnes, literally grabs you when it launches with greed in the footsteps of the killer, stripping the state registers Civil and newspapers of the 19th century. His unstoppable approach, the way the survey has evolved over the genealogical findings and unbearable suspense of the last fifty pages where everything is happening according to the result of his research ... There is enough here to pick the most reluctant readers.
Oh, there are a few pitfalls. Already, the writing (or translation) is not exceptional. It's okay, nothing more. Then one wonders why, when the countdown to the final murder is under way, police do not appeal to other genealogists to accelerate historical research. Finally, the figure of the inspector conducting the inquiry has all the cliches of the genre: a gruff loner cop in charge who spent his free time drinking wine, it has already done more original. But these few shortcomings are swept with a wave of the hand when one is immersed in this implacable mechanism where the pieces fall into place one after the other before the final apotheosis.
It is wrong to see a thriller of such high quality has passed completely unnoticed at the time of its release in the month October. Probably a timing problem. This is typically the kind of book to enjoy on the beach in summer. In any case I'd have warned. On to business here at very good in the genre. And if you're a fan of the TV series Cold Case , tell yourself that this Code 1879 is for you!
Code 1879 , Dan Waddell, Rouergue, 2010. 280 pages. 20 euros.
The more info: Dan Waddell has released a second volume of adventures the genealogist in August 2009. Hopefully the first game will be successful enough that the editions of Rouergue decide to publish it in France.
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