Review: A Coffin for Dimitrios

A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Coffin for Dimitrios, by Eric Ambler, is an intriguing story about a mystery writer, a dead crook, and a cross-country search for truth. Charles Latimer, an author of British mysteries, is vacationing abroad, when he meets a high ranking Turkish police officer. Their conversation about the differences between reality and fiction eventually leads to Latimer seeing the body of the recently deceased Dimitrios. Dimitrios was a career criminal of the worst sort, peddling in drugs, murder, extortion, and assassination. Yet, for all that he is implicated in countless crimes, very little is actually known about the mysterious criminal. So begins Latimer's adventure, searching for the story behind the mystery.

A Coffin for Dimitrios is well crafted; Ambler slowly doles out more and more information about Dimitrios as Latimer digs deeper into the history of the enigmatic criminal. While some aspects of his past come as no real shock, there are still plenty of surprising twists and side trips to keep the story moving in interesting directions. Each time Latimer uncovers a new lead or a new piece of evidence, Ambler provides a flashback vignette of the event, from the perspective of someone involved. The assorted criminals and spies that Dimitrios was associated with mean that each of these are interesting short stories in their own right.

As you might expect from a book with an author for a protagonist, there are quite a few moments where Latimer muses about writing or about the differences between narrative and historical account. A Coffin for Dimitrios plays around with and subverts some of the genre conventions, which makes some of Latimer's observations ironic in hindsight.

For readers less familiar with the politics and history of the Balkins, a quick refresher might enhance the reading, but such knowledge isn't necessary to enjoy this well crafted mystery.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable, slow-burning mystery with an interesting cast of characters and enough political intrigue and double crossing to keep things exciting.



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