Book 3 of the Dexter 'set' and a brooding Chief Inspector Morse grapples with the murder of a newly appointed member of the Oxford Examination Syndicate. Nicholas Quinn was deaf and though talented, not the unanimous choice of the other 'syndics', to join their studious ranks. Still, Morse needs to tease apart the complex social connections and doggedly unpick the dense layers of motivation and alibi to unmask the culprit.

 

My only criticisms would be the author's penchant for conferring tawdry weakness indiscriminately (all of the key suspects appear to have an appetite for pornography). Dexter commonly challenges the superficial gloss of academia and Oxford, often juxtaposing it with contrastingly brutal and uncivilized aspects of 'real' life. However, the tarring of so many characters with the same feeble brush seemed strikingly implausible. So too, the final gathering of the academics to hear Morse's conclusion. It felt rather reminiscent of Agatha Christie's drawing room finales, but simply not as convincing.

 

I was coming round to the notion that fictional detectives are necessarily a reflection of their environment. But, in that case, Morse might be expected to evince rather more style and class. Certainly, in this book, the depth of the Chief Inspector's intellect is rather betrayed by the shallow nature of his character. Even the long-suffering, up-holder of standards, DS Lewis, seemed to be detrimentally affected, as he went about his gofer duties. Perhaps, Morse will rediscover his love of opera and Wagner, conspicuously absent in this episode and be once more elevated to higher things. One can but hope!

I enjoyed this one more than the first two Morse-novels. There's not as much drinking in this book (now I know that it's part of Morse's character to drink a bit too much but especially in the first book it felt like everytime Dexter didn't know what to write now he added a line about Morse going to the pub, now there's still the sense that Morse drinks a bit more than is healthy without it getting mentioned every chapter) and while there's still lots of red herrings they're no longer thrown out and two paragraphs later unmasked as false leads as it happened especially in the 2nd novel.

This is a slim collection of essays by different authors so naturally the style and substance vary. One I enjoyed was Eric Trust's hagiography of Friederich Guggenberger. Coming from a military family and finishing school during the hyperinflation and depression of the thirties it was no wonder he choose the naval service. As a member of "Crew 34" he was in illustrious company of several future u-boat commanders.

Guggenberger's claim to fame comes from his sinking of the Ark Royal, a British carrier, in the Mediterranean. That and the later sinking of a battleship made Hitler believe his decision to move subs from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean was a good one. It was not. Less tonnage sunk and more casualties was the result.

What made the book really interesting for me was the last essay on the case of Heinz Wilhelm Eck, the only U-Boat captain to be tried, convicted and , was hardly different than actions committed by numerous Allied soldiers and commanders. That hardly makes it right, but execution.....?

Before embarking on his last mission, Eck had been warned by U-Boat veteran Albert Schnee, ranked #22 among German U-Boat commanders, that Eck’s command, the U-852, was one of the largest and slowest U-Boats and to be extremely careful in the transit area, mentioning that traces of wreckage, and presumably survivors, of a torpedoed ship, could place the U-boat in danger. All four type IXD2 boats preceding Eck’s U-852 had been sunk. Schnee’s warning was emphasized by Gunter Hessler. Fifty-four days later, Eck ordered the machine-gunning of the survivors of the Peleus. Unfortunately for Eck, one survived. Ironically, the British knew of his presence less because of the wreckage he failed to sink and instead because of his radio message to Berlin reporting the sinking of the Peleus.

Located and attacked by British aircraft, the U-852 was so damaged that it could not dive, but Eck determined to save his crew by beaching the boat. They managed to fight off further strafing attacks. Eck failed to successfully destroy the boat with demolition charges and more crucially did not destroy the ship’s log which was then captured. It was only the log that linked the U-852 to the Peleus. Crewman escaping the boat were machine-gunned in the water by the British planes and several were killed.

Germane to Eck’s case was the Laconia affair in 1942 in which a German sub had torpedoed a large ex-liner transport carrying thousands of prisoners of war, civilians, and wounded British troops. The submarine, aided by others that came to the scene, began a rescue oiperation and broadcast their position saying they would continue rescue operations as long as they were not attacked. They draped their boats in Red Cross banners. Despite this, they were attacked and bombed by an American B-24 who had radioed for orders and was told to attack the U-boats, their decks covered with survivors. The American commander who gave the order to attack, Captain Robert Richardson, justified his actions as an “operational necessity.” Following this, Admiral Doenitz forbade helping any survivors. Eck wanted to use the Laconia incident and Doenitz orders as justification for his actions during the trial.

The trial was held in October of 1945 and the verdict was a forgone conclusion given the decisions of the court disallowing the defense time to prepare or even time for their witnesses to arrive.

I’ve probably already included too many spoilers but since the events surrounding the case are fairly well known, it most likely doesn’t matter. This essay alone made the book worthwhile. It’s a fascinating case that raise all sorts of moral and legal issues with regard to how we conduct war and the responsibilities of the combatants.

Blurb - After a hearing-impaired member of the Oxford Foreign Examinations Syndicate is found dead, Inspector Morse follows a murderous trail involving a Middle-Eastern oil magnate, an X-rated theater, and sexual and financial antics.Re-read details: Colin Dexter's Oxford detective puzzles over the murder of an invigilator in a foreign exam syndicate. Stars John Shrapnel. Broadcast on:BBC Radio 7, 2:30am Sunday 10th January 2010

Calvert, skipper of the Skate, the first submarine to surface at the North Pole, and third person chosen by Admiral Rickover to command a nuclear submarine, describes his Annapolis studies and eventual choice of submarine duty as his service during World War II. He is uncommonly forthright in this memoir, describing his terror and mistakes on what would become nine combat patrols: eight on the U.S.S.Jack and the last on the Hado.

He was very lucky. He had some excellent skippers, the first being Tommy Dykers, from whom he learned a great deal, and he had a very forgiving Captain Warder, (later Admiral) who saved him from making a serious career move late in the war. After eight combat patrols, Calvert decided he wanted to become a naval aviator, and he went through all the tests and physical examinations in preparation to be sent back to the states for retraining. He had accumulated all the necessary endorsements except from Warder who was commander of the task force Calvert’s sub was assigned to. Warder, saying that Calvert would thank him for it later, tore up all the paperwork with little explanation. It turned out to be a very smart career event for Calvert. Had he returned to Pensacola for retraining, his career as a naval officer would have hit a dead end because the war ended soon thereafter and there were hundreds of flyers whom the navy had no room for. Instead, he ended the war as the exec on an active sub. The submarine force had lost more than twenty-five percent of its officers and men, so his future was much more secure.

Calvert was with the Jack from the beginning, and coupled with some rigorous training and an obvious talent, he became a superb TDC operator. (The TDC operator set the torpedo’s course based on the approach officer’s readings.) On their first patrol in June 1943, the Jack had five hits and four confirmed kills, despite problems with the dreaded HOR engines, which were a constant nuisance always breaking down, and faulty torpedoes detonators. The sub continued to take its toll on enemy shipping. At one point, Calvert hit an enemy vessel at 5,000 yards, roughly three times the maximum distance recommended for accurate torpedo shooting. A Japanese admiral radioed for assistance during one attack, claiming he was under attack by a wolf pack when it was only the Jack earning for the sub the nickname, "Jack the Pack."

Calvert’s last mission was to Tokyo Bay, but the surrender was announced as they were on their way there. Because there had been some attacks on ships by Japanese forces even after the stand down announcement, they received a message from Admiral Halsey to shoot down any Japanese planes they saw “in a friendly fashion.” Once in Tokyo Bay, they tied up with hundreds of other allied ships. It was here that Calvert and some other officers of his crew almost caused an international incident. They had been given permission to leave the sub and visit the Japanese submarine base, but they had been given explicit verbal and written orders not to leave the base. Seeing a large hole in the wall around the sub base, they decided to take a trip in to Tokyo, so they hopped aboard a train. They were fortunate to find a friendly railroad guide in the Tokyo station who agreed to show them around the city. He warned them several times of remaining together and not to go certain places, because many of the Japanese troops were considering disobeying the Emperor’s surrender and had said they would continue to defend the homeland. When they returned, they were met by an angry MP colonel who placed them all under arrest and promised swift courts-martial. Calvert’s luck held, and his old mentor got him off the hook. There would be no charges. The formal surrender took place the next day, and they sailed for home.

Calvert relates his memoirs with sensitivity and great affection for his shipmates — the scene when he desperately tries to see the chief-of-the-boat following a terrible car accident is truly poignant. He combines an intimate knowledge of the nitty-gritty technical details of submarine warfare with the fast-paced action and nail-biting tension that Tom Clancy will never be able to duplicate (having never been there). He recounts the perilous nighttime cat-and-mouse games that Dykers played with convoy escorts, accompanied on the bridge by a crewman renowned for his night vision—and the disconcerting habit of singing "Nearer My God to Thee" whenever the situation got tense. He was only 24 at the end of the war, and retired as an admiral many years later.