An enjoyable read with wonderful writing and clever plot lines.

Please accept my apologies as I feel unable to provide a review.

3 Stars

Henri Castang a police officer who has finished law school. He receives a telephone call one Sunday while he is alone at work in a small French town. A man says he has just committed three murders. He arrives at the home to find the man calm. He tells Castang that the victims are his wife, his daughter and a painter named Davids.

Politics come into play in this novel as well. Since M. Davids was Jewish, the politicos are wanting to make sure no Arab-related persons or groups are tied to the crime.

There is much about French police and judicial procedures in this book. I found it all a little confusing, so I skimmed that part. In fact there was much about this novel that I did not like. I found the writing stilted and ponderous. There were poor paragraph transitions and I lost my place a few times.

I usually enjoy a fairly pace-y read, but this was barely crawling. I put it down several times and finally gave up in frustration.

However, I would still like to thank Netgalley and Ipso Books for giving me the opportunity to at least try one of Mr. Freeling’s novels.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Ipso Books for an advance copy of What are the Bugles Blowing For?, the second police procedural set in a small town in France to feature detective Henri Castang.

On a hot summer's afternoon Castang receives a call from Gilbert La Touche telling him that he has shot and killed his wife, daughter and their lover, the painter Davids. The novel follows the investigation and eventual trial.

I really didn't enjoy this novel and can't find any redeeming qualities in it. It may be that it is too literary for me because it isn't entertaining. The prose is opaque, ambiguous and even stilted in parts and is firstly demonstrated by the author's refusal to date or locate the novel with any accuracy. The level of detail regarding the French investigative and judicial processes is tedious and in parts downright boring. The worst part takes a bit of explaining. The novel opens with the French president reviewing a death penalty case and demanding the answer to a question he has about it. The novel then switches back to Castang and follows the entire case until the end when he is summoned to Paris to answer the president's question. The reader is never told what the question is and finding out what the question is is what made me grit my teeth and keep reading.

I found What are the Bugles Blowing For fairly incomprehensible and in the end pointless.