...it’s quite natural to wonder how to get rid of a ghost you didn’t even summon. [p. 31]
Martin Gänsewein is a mild-mannered forensic pathologist, approaching middle age. Pascha Lerchenberg is a small-time car thief, in his twenties. Together they fight crime: or, rather, they attempt to solve a murder that Pascha is taking extremely personally, given that he was the victim. The first-person narrator of Morgue Drawer Four, Pascha can communicate with nobody except Martin, who initially thinks he's going mad but gradually begins to accept the truth of Pascha's existence.
Martin and Pascha are a typical 'odd couple': Pascha is uneducated, dishonest and enjoys -- enjoyed -- drinking, gambling and whoring, while Martin is shy, middle-class and socially inept. Pascha mocks Martin's car and tries to muscle in on what might be a date with a potential girlfriend. (He is extremely sexist, but at least he can't do much about it any more.) Martin tries his best not to talk out loud when he's answering Pascha. And Pascha is constantly awake and aware, and finds himself becoming more philosophical -- and more compassionate -- than he ever was in life.
This was a very entertaining read. I identified the murderer quite early on, though was prepared to be wrong: there were warning signs, though, and several clues. Regardless, the fun was in the interaction of the two protagonists, and in the sympathetic way that Pascha (who's really not a likeable guy) was written.
I purchased this item on 17 December 2011. Wow.
Translated from the German (original title Kühlfach 4), this fulfils the 'crime novel or thriller in translation' item of the Reading Women Challenge 2021.
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