The Solve the Murder Book Club selected The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer to read in January
WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION 2023
Plot
Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn’t catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was reading: The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers. And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life…
Review
At first glace this is not a murder mystery book, or even a mystery book, although it does start with a mystery. Truth be told, this book was selected because it was written by Bob Mortimer, the blurb on the back called it “a brilliantly funny first novel” and it had won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction. So we were expecting a laugh a minute.
What we got instead is hard to describe.
It wasn’t as funny as we’d expected although there were some funny bits in it. especially with Boiler Suit Man.
The main character, Gary, finds himself thrust into a mysterious situation when a work acquaintance called Brendan goes missing (mystery). But Gary is not one to be intrigued and try to solve it. No, he is quite happy to let things lie.
In fact Gary only really takes notice when the police inform him Brendan has been found dead (murder mystery?) But even this doesn’t awaken the investigator in Gary to solve the crime. If, indeed, there was one, as Gary’s minimal observations suggests Brendan may not be dead.
So we follow Gary as he stumbles through life not investigating missing people and false identities and hidden data without any spark of enthusiasm on his part. Along the way he manages to get reacquainted with the girl he named Satsuma, and share Battenberg cake with his neighbour Grace and walk her dog. Oh and he also has conversations with a squirrel. As the author is Bob Mortimer, what else would you expect.
The book is being released in USA under the title The Clementine Complex. This misses the joke of the girl of Gary’s dreams being given the name of a small fruit.
An interesting read that is hard to categorise.
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer is available from The City Adventurers Solve the Murder and from Amazon
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