Allmen and the Pink Diamond by Martin Suter - 2011 - translated from German 2019 by Stephen Morris

German Literature Month - November 2019

Allmen and the Pink Diamond by Martin Suter - 2011  - translated from German 2019 by Stephen Morris

During German Literature Month November, 2017 I read a very interesting novel by Martin Suter, The Last Weynfeldt.  

I am happy to begin my participation in German Literature Month 2019 with another novel by Suter, Allmen and the Pink Diamond.

Short, 203 pages it is a fast reading detective story.  It is part of a series of novels starring Johann Friedrich von Allmen and his Guatemalan butler Carlos.  Allmen is hired to retrieve a fabulously expensive pink diamond.  Perpetually strapped for cash, there is a huge fee involved if he recovers the gem.

Tracks lead to a grand Baltic beach resort.  Before then they stop in London and Zurich.. A mysterious Russian is the first suspect.  

 It was fun to vicariously indulge in the wonderful food served at the hotel and observe the other guests.  As befits a story set in an expensive hotel on the Baltic, there are semi-shaddy guests, ranging from the idol rich to international software pirates.  Of course there is a bit of mild sex.

I enjoyed reading this but..the characters could be better developed, some of the dialogue does not ring true. This might be a translation issue but an upper class Englishman talks like a character out of an Ali Gee skitt by Sasha Cohen.  I did enjoy the section on stock manipulations.  It ends happily )for Allman and Carlos.  I liked the ending.

I was kindly given a review copy of this novel.  I think the price is to high.  I would not suggest a friend pay $10.95 for this book.  I found

The Last Weynfeldt much more interesting.  

About Martin Suter

Martin Suter, born in Zurich in 1948, is a novelist, screenwriter and newspaper columnist. He has written a dozen novels, many of them best-sellers in Europe and translated into 32 languages. Suter lives with his family in Zurich.