Reading for pleasure

Hansjőrg Schneider; translated by Mike Mitchell (Bitter Lemon Press: £8.99; e-book £5.69)

Hunkeler. Apparently they love him in Switzerland, and also in Germany. I refer to Peter Hunkeler, inspector with the Basel City CID, divorced with one daughter, as we are introduced to him in this novel.

First published in 2004, it’s the first of 10 Hunkeler books, and is now the first to be translated into English. The next, Silver Pebbles, was reviewed last month. Four have been made into films. Herr Schneider, now in his mid-80s, has been writing for 40+ years, as well as plying his craft as an actor.

So, having digested Hunkeler’s first outing, what can I tell you about him? I’m unsure of his age. He was born before the Second World War, but it’s not clear when The Basel Killings is set. He has a girlfriend who is taking a sabbatical in Paris. That leaves him time to sleep with a prostitute and a couple of neighbours, smoke and drink to excess, and fall out with his superiors enough to get suspended. A maverick? No, just guilty of an act of stupidity which would have got most cops fired. But insightful? Why, of course.

The first murder is of a hobo known to Hunkeler, who literally stumbles upon his corpse. The deceased was known to wear a large diamond in his ear, as down-and-outs do. He was, until fairly recently, lover of an elegant, pale skinned and beautiful lady who runs a local pharmacy, as down-and-outs are. No, it’s not pressing any realism buttons with me, either.

Schneider does write well about place, in the settings of Basel itself, and Hunkeler’s country house in Alsace. I rather enjoy the outrageously expensive hotel in which our hero orders caviar and champagne in order to impress a manager to obtain a simple piece of information; however, the idea of a police officer doing this at his own expense is laughable.

Of characterisation there is little. We get rather more of sausage and traditional accompaniments. While I’m always happy to read about food, sauerkraut and suspense are not natural bedfellows. There is precious little of the latter, and the discovery of whodunnit is a merciful release from a long section which, while no doubt intended to be atmospheric, was simply dull.

But as I said, they love Hunkeler in Switzerland. Perhaps he improves, or maybe that’s just the Swiss for you.

Jay Rayner (Guardian Faber Publishing: £6.99; e-book £2.19)

I have long believed that Jay and I may well be twins separated at birth. Never mind the significant height differences (you saw that film with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger, didn't you?). Compare our views on matters culinary. Over the years the examples have been legion, and there are many more to be found in this volume. It's a selection from his “Happy Eater” column in the Observer Food Magazine.

Let me give you a few examples. We share a hatred of waiters who don't write down the order. It's just like watching a time bomb, mistakes waiting to happen, to no good effect. While Jay and I, cooks both, know that good food can be fast, in his article “Slow Down” he rails against food which is described as express, quick or easy. And I absolutely empathise with his stomach-churning fear of arriving at a holiday home with an ill-equipped kitchen. (I am still recovering from a week in a house in The Wirral, whose kitchen boasted everything one could need, including decent knives and a knife sharpener. Recovering, that is, from the shock of the new.)

Anyway, as I am significantly the elder of the two, this means that Jay has been much influenced by me. Imitation is the sincerest form and all that. (Er, hang on, I think I've discovered a flaw in my original thesis.) But no matter, as Chewing the Fat also discloses significant differences. Unlike Jay, I love picnics and am partial to decent gin, though I do get his point about the hipster absurdities of the latter.

I have discovered that in writing about food it can be more entertaining (and sometimes easier) to be negative. When someone can celebrate food as joyously as Jay can (see for example the third chapter, “Oink”, a celebration of the pig in all its forms), he is entitled to take a swipe where he pleases. While we share a dislike of breakfast in bed, with the inevitable crumbs until the sheets are changed, I would have lacked the word power, or indeed the nerve, to describe the trauma of sweaty crevices and butter smeared pillows, and not in a good way. This, incidentally, is in a chapter entitled “Bloody Luxury”.

Luxury is, of course, expensive. This volume, on the other hand, is, depending on your choice of hostelry, the price of a not very large drink. It's also much more fun. After all, what is the point of one drink? And no doubt we will soon have the extra delight of Jay and his one man show to repeat the pleasure.

Volker Ullrich (Penguin: £25; e-book £12.99)

Ullrich produced a two volume biography of Hitler which received critical acclaim both in Germany and abroad. It is a magisterial and thorough work, in an area which seems to have been so well covered by so many.

In this book, the author restricts himself to the last eight days of the war, focusing on the German perspective. It is immensely readable and the author has again produced a work of significance. The German army was disintegrating and as many Germans resettled in the east were on the move westwards to flee the wrath of the Russian troops. Yet within this maelstrom, the German military and political leaders who escaped Berlin and relocated their seat of government in northern Germany were still holding on to the belief that a negotiated peace was achievable, notwithstanding the clear indications from the Allies that nothing less than capitulation was required to secure peace.

Even on 5 May, with Hitler dead, Grand Admiral Dönitz summoned his closest associates (including Albert Speer, who was to be later convicted at the Nuremberg trials) with the intention to form a government and cabinet. However, that group was intended not to only seek a cessation of the war but was presciently looking at the steps which would be necessary to ensure the German civilian population was provided with the most basic of human needs such as shelter, food and water, given the continued bombardment and destruction of German cities and with it the disintegration of civil society.

The now well known whirlwind of sexual abuse rained on the German women of Berlin at the hands of the Russian soldiers is retold. However, there is disturbing recounting of similar abuse at the hands of the western forces. There is also insight to the steps being taken by Stalin to ensure that the territory he intended to put under Russian control would be effectively managed. Walter Ulbricht was secretly flown in to Berlin from Moscow, where he met the local communist officials. He forbade any discussion of assistance to be given to women raped by the Russian soldiers, and did not countenance abortion. He was also deeply mistrustful of the German communists despite their years of opposition to the Nazi regime.

What brings this book to life are the numerous insights into the political manoeuvring of those seeking a place in the Germany that was to arise from the ruins of war, all while the civilian population faced desperation. Outstanding.