The Psychoanalytic Adventures of Inspector Canal
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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.