Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler? (Morgue Drawer series)
By: Jutta Profijt
Rating: 4.5 of 5
“Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler?” is the fifth and latest entry in the Morgue Drawer series by Jutta Profijt. I have read the entire series and have enjoyed all of the books. The latest one is one of my favorites. All of the characters are well-established, so there isn’t a lot of time being spent explaining their back stories – the book concentrates on the murder mystery and the whodunnit.
Speaking of which, I was able to figure out the whodunnit fairly early on but I was stymied by the whydunnit. That kept my interest piqued as I read through the story.
Pascha, the disembodied ghostly remains of a one-time car thief is back at his crime solving routine in this story. He is still just as rude and somewhat crude as ever. He is expanding his ability to communicate via electronic means and in fact, the author writes herself into the story a tad as an individual who gets Pascha’s writings and passes them off as her own. He is still only able to communicate directly with Dr. Martin Gänsewein, the coroner who originally was involved in Pascha’s autopsy. Pascha now pretty well lives with Martin and his girlfriend Birgit (who are expecting and close to the arrival of their first child.)
In this story, Martin’s best friend, Detective Sergeant Gregor Kreidler is arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, Susanne Hauschild (Zuzubee). There is a lot of circumstantial evidence but Pascha, Martin, and Brigit are determined to find out who really killed Zuzubee. Interestingly, Gregor’s girlfriend and Martina’s co-worker, Katrin, seems almost ready to throw in the towel and accept that Gregor is guilty – but that may be because Gregor completely failed to mention his prior marriage to her. To say she is a tad ticked off is to put it mildly.
The story includes murder, possible suicide, gangster under-world types, old folks homes, runaways, and all sorts of other wild and fun happenings… including the ever impending date of arrival of the new baby in Pascha’s circle.
I’m glad that the series has gotten back to solving murder mysteries. The last book in the series moved a little too far away from what I think is the core of what is most successful and enticing in these stories. This book brings the series right back into line and does it in a fun way.
Pascha is still a little crude for my taste – and I’m not sure if part of that isn’t a bit of translation issue or not. As a character, he is mellowing a tad but there are still numerous references to individuals in demeaning sexual manners.
Apart from that, I really enjoyed the book and found the solution to the mystery acceptable. I’m usually not too happy to have long or extended epilogues but in this book, they were both funny and necessary. I look forward to reading future books in this series.
I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, AmazonCrossing, via Netgalley.
“Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler?” is the fifth and latest entry in the Morgue Drawer series by Jutta Profijt. I have read the entire series and have enjoyed all of the books. The latest one is one of my favorites. All of the characters are well-established, so there isn’t a lot of time being spent explaining their back stories – the book concentrates on the murder mystery and the whodunnit.