The Psychoanalytic Adventures of Inspector Canal

Reviews and Endorsements

The Psychoanalytic Adventures of Inspector Canal includes three intrigues that weave together psychoanalytic themes, historical mysteries, and contemporary issues in a unique manner. In "The Case of the Lost Object," the conductor of the New York Philharmonic becomes obsessed about the theft from his Lincoln Center office of the slow movement from a precious original musical score. In "The Case of the Pirated Formula," a hard-charging businesswoman is determined to stop a Chinese counterfeit version of the famous green Chartreuse liqueur her company distributes from flooding the American market. And in "The Case of the Liquidity Squeeze," the sex life of the beloved mayor of New York City becomes fodder for public consumption and derision when he is accused of paying for his visits to a so-called massage parlor from public coffers. The psychoanalytic themes of love, desire, and loss intertwine as important relationships develop between Canal and those he assists.

'Inspector Canal's missing score wins highest marks on my music stand. Fink gives us here a novel with a witty tempo, combining suspense and intelligent entertainment that are bubbly, light, and tasty - not just like Perrier but with the kind of good taste only French Champagne can deliver. This is the work of a great maestro conducting sophisticated characters with psychological mastery. The reader can only clap enthusiastically and cry "Encore!"'
- Luz Manríquez, Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, winner of the Diapason d'Or in 2008 for "Music for a Summer Evening"

'Edgar Allan Poe may be the founder of the modern detective genre, but he is also the creator of the most famous French detective begotten by American writers' imagination: the Chevalier Auguste Dupin. Like Dupin, Bruce Fink's Quesjac Canal, who lives in an enclave of extreme refinement, where upper-class tastefulness reigns, comes to the rescue of perplexed local inspectors. His approach to solving mysteries is an interesting combination of psychoanalysis (he spontaneously analyzes anyone with whom he comes into contact), flirtatiousness, and reliance on the curative effects of gastronomy. Who could object?'
- Pierre Verdaguer, Professor of French, University of Maryland, author of La Seduction Policière: Signes de Croissance d'un Genre Reputé Mineur ("Detective Seductions: Signs of Growth in a Reputedly Minor Genre")

Customer Reviews

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Michael Finke (no relation to the author!) on 22/03/2010 08:46:06

(5 out of 5)

So far I've read two of the three stories in this volume, "Missing Movement" and "Liquidity Sqeeze." Both stories read fast and fun. Don't worry: Jacques Lacan may be in the title character's name, but he's not required to enjoy this cycle of detective tales. It's a hoot if you can follow some of the author's allusions to Poe and to Lacan and catch some of the interlingual puns (French/English), but it's also an enjoyable read for anybody who likes a detective tale. (At first I thought the name Quesjac was an allusion to Kojak-which perhaps makes this point.) That is not to say that these are typical detective tales. My sense is that they're all about enjoyment: in "Liquidity Squeeze" Inspector Canal's mission seems in the end less to solve the crime than to teach other crime-solvers how to enjoy life. And there's something different about how "criminals" are seen here, too: they're slaves to impossible desires, whose realizations are displaced onto money/power, as the splendid cover suggests.