In 1970s Korea, in a nation still recovering from the wounds of the recent war, two American military cops team up with their Korean counterpart to figure out who killed a woman found outside an army base in Martin Limon's The Ville Rat.
Limon has written a respectable and long-running series about his two protagonists, one sardonic and rule-breaking and one more introspective and mindful of Korean culture, in a highly unique setting for a police procedural.
These cops remind me of Chester B. Himes' memorable pair Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones; they both pack .45s and tool around in a souped-up jeep and get done whatever needs to be done, within military structure or without.
Limon himself was in the military in Korea in the 70s, and it shows. A cool, offbeat series for crime readers looking for something different.
I listened to this on audiobook from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.
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