Sleeping Dogs

‘Sleeping Dogs’ Reviews

INDIAN EXPRESS – 23rd July 2016

Who let the Dogs Out?

Mogford is amongst a growing tribe of Mediterranean crime writers whose works are reaching distant shores to universal acclaim.

Prose as pretty as a Tuscan villa, compelling side characters and, of course, a troubled protagonist, are enough reasons to add this to your reading list.

Sleeping Dogs
Author: Thomas Mogford
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 256
Price: 399

Corfu, the Greek island immortalised by Gerald Durrell in his “family” series, is culturally synonymous with an idyllic paradise just waiting to be experienced. So then, why is Spike Sanguinetti, lawyer from Gibraltar, not enjoying his vacation there?

The latest book to feature the sanguine lawyer, sees Sanguinetti still traumatised by the events of the previous books (murdered women and more). Plus, his business is flagging, his father’s Marfan Syndrome is worsening and he’s also become the part-time guardian of an orphaned toddler. A vacation sounds just the thing. Of course, as soon he reaches, the penny, or rather, the drachma, drops — the brutalised corpse of an Albanian émigré is found on a beach and Sanguinetti is coaxed into taking the case (pro bono, worse luck).

And, as it usually turns out, things are nothing like they seem. Mogford is amongst a growing tribe of Mediterranean crime writers whose works are reaching distant shores to universal acclaim. Prose as pretty as a Tuscan villa, compelling side characters and, of course, a troubled protagonist, are enough reasons to add this to your reading list Shantanu David

EURO CRIME – 12th October 2015

Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Mogford, April 2015, 256 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN: 1408846616

The city of Saranda curved around its amphitheatre-shaped bay. The concrete blur only hazily visible from Corfu now resolved into Soviet-era tower blocks, a low port complex, a few stunted palm trees embedded along the sandy beach.

Kavos, Corfu.
The girl thrusts her things into a bag and nervously checks the window. This is when the door to her room bursts open

Gibraltar.
With his law partner, Peter Galliano, on long-term sick leave and the firm struggling financially, lawyer Spike Sanguinetti sits in the psychiatrist’s office reluctant to discuss his insomnia and panic attacks. He doesn’t even manage the allotted hour. As he leaves, the therapist reminds him that his problems won’t just “go away”. At home that night, babysitting the young, grieving son of his dead lover, he finds his elderly father rocking the boy on his lap, soothing his night terrors.

Corfu.
By way of a much needed break, Spike’s father has insisted on their going ahead with their pre-arranged stay with Peter Galliano at his home on Corfu’s northern coast. Their friendly driver names the villa-owning billionaires of the region, not least the media mogul Sir Leo Hoffmann whose estate borders Peter’s home. A warm greeting and an idyllic evening drink on Peter’s terrace is interrupted by the arrival of Spike’s ex-girlfriend, Gibraltar Police detective Jessica Navarro, another of his father’s surprises and a jolt for them both. Their awkwardness eases over the meal cooked by Katarina, Peter’s housekeeper. The view of the Albanian coast across the Corfu Channel prompts Katarina to describe how her husband swam across the channel to escape that country’s Communist regime. They met, married, and had two sons, but her husband died ten years ago and is buried back in Albania. Towards the end of the evening Peter tells them that everyone has been invited to the Phaeacian Games on the Hoffmann estate tomorrow, a celebration inspired by Sir Leo’s passion for Ancient Greek history and archaeology. Spike decides on another bottle of wine and in the kitchen interrupts an irritable quarrel between Katarina’s son Lakis and Arben, the handsome young Albanian who accompanied Jessica to the house tonight. Arben comments on Spike’s blue eyes, an evil omen in his native Albania …

Sometimes you just want to plunge head first into a short, sharp thriller; one that keeps your attention from start to finish and – if you share my taste for crime in faraway places – paints a vivid picture of its setting and characters. This is just what Thomas Mogford, ex-journalist and translator, provides in SLEEPING DOGS. His fourth Spike Sanguinetti novel sees Gibraltarian lawyer Spike, burnt out and broke, holidaying with his law partner Peter in Corfu. During a grand soiree at the neighbouring villa, celebrating the archaeological finds of its owner billionaire media mogul Sir Leo Hoffmann, more than the statues of the title’s Sleeping Dogs are revealed in the caves below; the dead body of a young Albanian leads to the arrest of another young man for murder. Spike is called in to provide legal help and the story escalates into the pursuit of a missing witness and the murderous terror of vendetta.

This Corfu-set episode stands up to reading without “prior knowledge” of the previous three Sanguinetti books. Its short, sharp chapters pick up increasing pace as the story weaves between the terrified flight of a young woman from Corfu to her native Albania and Spike and Jessica’s attempts to find the real killer of a murdered man. With a peppery mix of young and old, the mega-rich and the working locals, and the contrasts of Corfu and Albania, this is a well constructed, entertaining and accessible thriller. Lynn Harvey

SHELF AWARENESS – 17th July 2015

Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, plagued by nightmares after the death of his lover, decides to visit his friend and law partner Peter Galliano, who is recuperating from a hit-and-run at his family’s vacation home on Corfu. To Spike’s surprise and initial discomfort, Peter has also invited Spike’s former flame Jessica Navarro, who was recently promoted to detective sergeant in the Gibraltarian police.

For Spike and Jessica, Corfu loses its idyllic aura when the body of an Albanian man is found on the Hoffmann estate, next door to Peter’s house. When one of Peter’s employees is arrested for the murder, he begs Spike to represent Lakis pro bono. Spike, unable to resist the plea of his injured friend, takes on Lakis’s case, in spite of pressure from the wealthy Hoffmann family to hurry matters along.

As Spike and Jessica dig into the events surrounding the murder, they discover that beneath the cheerful, quotidian Greek culture are family vendettas and political corruption. As the clues lead them across Corfu and into Albania, Spike and Jessica end up putting their own lives on the line in their quest for truth.

Dividing its time among several unusual mystery settings–Gibraltar, Corfu and Albania–Sleeping Dogs makes for a captivating Mediterranean read. In exploring the dark legacy of Albanian Communism, Corfu’s turbulent history and Spike’s own tortured memories, Thomas Mogford (Hollow Mountain) has created a deliciously atmospheric novel that belies its bright and sunny settings. Jessica Howard

Discover: Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti is on vacation in Corfu, but murder seems to follow him wherever he goes.

Bloomsbury, $26

CRIME REVIEW – 20 June 2015

Spike Sanguinetti takes a holiday in Corfu but finds himself involved in a murder, followed by a very dangerous trip to Albania.

Lawyer Spike Sanguinetti has had three previous adventures, all of which played out with substantial periods in his home of Gibraltar. In his latest outing he is exclusively in Corfu for a much-needed break, at the holiday home of Peter Galliano, Spike’s legal partner. Keeping him company is his ailing father Rufus, and Jessica Navarro, a beautiful policewoman.

The group visits the adjoining luxurious Hoffman estate for a party, which breaks up in disarray when a young man, Arben, is found stabbed, dead. Arben is working for the Hoffmans and is from nearby Albania, as are Peter’s domestic staff, Katerina and her sons Lakis and Spiros. Peter and his guests are stunned when Lakis is arrested the next day for Arben’s murder, his fingerprints on the weapon discovered in his room.

Spike is roped in to help, and Lakis tells him of a witness, Calypso, who can establish an alibi. Spike and Jessica find where she has been living but the girl has gone, leaving signs of a struggle. Soon after, Lakis is gunned down while being moved, revenge by Arben’s family and a matter of vendetta. This can extend to Spiros too when he becomes of age, unless Spike can find Calypso and have her convince Arben’s family that Lakis was not the culprit.

As with previous books in the series, Sleeping Dogs is full of varied characters. Some of these we have met before, although we find out more about Rufus and Peter, and Jessica has been elevated from an old flame to Spike’s current romantic interest. The Hoffmans are briskly sketched out as a super-rich dynasty with plenty of internal strife, and Katerina and family as sympathetic but vulnerable.

The series has hitherto always featured interesting locations: here we get a taste of Corfu and Albania, to the uninformed surprisingly close. Albania is not necessarily an agreeable holiday destination, but provides a very challenging environment for the protagonists to demonstrate their mettle, especially where they find it necessary to visit a village devoted to the production of cannabis, where the locals are very serious people.

The book is densely plotted and with plenty of action and short chapters to propel the reader on. Spike and Jessica do all you could expect of your lead characters, but have no special skills except for quick minds and a preparedness to do the right thing. Despite the stress which inspired the Corfu trip, Spike shows signs of adopting a more ordered life. Whether he will be able to settle and still provide the thrills we have come to expect of him will be interesting to see. Chris Roberts

SHOTS MAG – 14 June 2015

Sleeping Dogs is a popular title for novels, if not a standout one (this is the second book Shots has reviewed with this title in less than a year). Good title or not, this Sleeping Dogs gets a big Shots Woof! Woof, woof, woof.

The fourth installment in the Spike Sanguinetti Gibraltar-set series, this one allows our fearless lawyer to travel to several southern European destinations (with a population of 30,000, Gibraltar could become Midsomer-level dangerous if all the books took place there). In this instance, Sanguinetti finds himself detecting and holidaying in Corfu. Dastardly deeds in a beautiful setting has been done, oh a few zillion times at least, but this one sticks in the mind.

Brevity and precision are Mogford’s strong suits. Sleeping Dogs, at a trim 238 pages, tells its story with clarity and detail, there is no padding or fluff. And this befits Sanguinetti, a driven lawyer who lives with his father on the Rock, where old girlfriends dead and living haunt his days and financial troubles nip at his heels. In Sleeping Dogs, he takes a holiday with his father and yes, ex-lover Jessica Navarro, near the palatial manse of Leo Hoffmann, a Rupert Murdoch-style media magnate. On arrival, Spike is struck by the friendly relations between upstairs and downstairs, the zillionaires mingling easily with the local staff.

Maybe not so friendly, he learns, when the body of Albanian factotum Arben Avdia is discovered not far from the setting of a huge Hoffmann bash. Not long afterwards, Lakis Demollari, a driver for the Hoffmanns, is also killed. As Spike and Jessica work to uncover the truth behind the young man’s death, they discover a Brit-Albanian-Greek melting pot not nearly as harmonious as it seems. The febrile atmosphere is heightened by master and servant disparities, ethnic tensions and the availability and usage of recreational drugs.

Linking up with Jessica (in more ways than one), Spike ploughs along a trail of drug dealing and people smuggling to nail Arben’s and Lakis’s real murderer. The recounting of their quest is interspersed with elements of a story told by a woman called Calypso.

The story is a pertinent one, taking on some of the major ironies of the 28-member European Union. Commenting on the poor quality of Corfu’s toilet flushes, one character quips that “no country should get to stay in the EU if their plumbing cannot handle some s**y Andrex.” That line sums up the mish-mash Spike confronts – nationals who must work together but don’t always understand one another’s customs or quirks.

The beauty of Sleeping Dogs is the detail Mogford uses to provide believability. His novels are unique in that people eat and he tells us what they eat (my tummy rumbled more than once at the descriptions of delicious Greek meals). He zeroes in on Spike’s struggles with tobacco addiction, including vaping (again, familiar territory for this reviewer). He talks about the weather, describes pubs and bars, shares Spike’s aches and pains. This is cinema vérité in book form , specific and modern with little superfluous description. Likewise, short chapters allow the story to sprint along and the reader to keep pace over the short time frame of the murders and investigations.

I’ve read two of these books and feel I know Spike and like him. I’m rooting for him to fall in love with a good woman (ha!), to overcome his physical pains and achieve financial success. I’m not hopeful all this will come about but I am keen to read the next book in the series. Judith Sullivan

CRIMEPIECES – 7 May 2015

Thomas Mogford is another of my favourite crime writers. Hollow Mountain was in my top five reads last year and he continues to write high quality crime fiction. For his latest book, Sleeping Dogs, he takes his Gibraltarian lawyer/detective to Corfu. It’s a nice change of scenery for the series and, given that I read it in Greece, a perfect holiday read.

Spike Sanguinetti is advised by a therapist to go on holiday to help eradicate some of the demons that have been tormenting him. He chooses to visit the house of his business partner on the wealthy north coast of Corfu. But his holiday is overshadowed by the death of the handsome Greek/Albanian Arben on the neighbouring estate owned by the wealthy Hoffmann family. When the son of his host’s housekeeper is arrested for Arben’s murder, Spike reluctantly agrees to investigate the case. However lives are put at risk as domestic secrets and dynastic feuds ignite.

I’ve always been impressed by the evocation of the Gibraltar setting in Mogford’s books. It feels genuine even though I’ve never been to that part of the world. So it was interesting to read one of his narratives set somewhere I am familiar with: a Greek island. Mogford puts enough language and local flavour into descriptions of the place to bring alive the setting without it dominating the plot.

In Sleeping Dogs, as well as investigating the killing of Arben, there’s a focus on Spike’s domestic arrangements. This is first seen through his relationship with Charlie, the child he rescued in the previous book, Hollow Mountain, and then in Corfu as he attempts to resurrect his relationship with his childhood girlfriend Jessica.

The quality of Mogford’s writing once more shines through and he makes storytelling look effortless. Which I’m pretty sure isn’t the case. Once more Bloomsbury have produced a writer of quality crime fiction. Sarah Ward

LITERARY REVIEW – May 2015

In his fourth adventure, the Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti goes on holiday to one of the world’s most beautiful (and my own favourite) places – the corner of northeast Corfu sometimes called ‘South Kensington on Sea’. The British have competition these days, in particular from Russian visitors, and it is not as easy as it used to be for rich holiday-makers to ignore the difficult circumstances in which the locals, mostly Greek but also Albanians from across the narrow strait, are living. Sanguinetti and his companions – his father, his partner in a two-man law firm and his about-to-be girlfriend – get involved when the son of their host’s Albanian housekeeper is accused of murder. The story is solidly credible, but it is the setting that is most enjoyable, vividly realised and full of reminders that the olive-clad land and the translucent sea have been the scene of battles and crimes, and will be again. Jessica Mann

BOOKLIST – May 2015

Mogford’s fine series, set in Gibraltar and starring lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, alternates between adventures taking place on the Rock itself—a spectacular setting for crime fiction, both for its insular nature and for its amalgam of African and European influences—and in various, nearly as atmospheric Mediterranean settings nearby. This time it‘s Corfu, where the ever-brooding Sanguinetti, still bemoaning the tragedy he failed to prevent in Hollow Mountain (2014), repairs with his ex-girlfriend, policewoman Jessica Navarro, for a little R&R. Both Rs prove in short supply, as they become involved with amateur archaeologist Leo Hoffmann and are thrust into another murder investigation, this time of a young Albanian killed on Hoffmann’s property. It’s easy to say that novels set in stunning locales project vivid senses of place, but Mogford goes further than that: he uses his settings for not only their beauty and atmosphere but also the multicultural richness they support in the characters and the plot. This series belongs on the reading lists of everyone who cares about international crime fiction, especially those willing to leave the chill of Scandinavia every now and then.— Bill Ott

SUNDAY EXPRESS – 26rd April 2015

The Best Crime Books April 2015

Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury, £12.99)

Mogford’s books featuring Spike Sanguinetti, a lawyer-cum-detective living in Gibraltar, comprise one of the most enjoyable crime series of recent years.

For Spike’s fourth adventure, the criminal possibilities of “a rock the size of Hyde Park” have clearly been exhausted and so he is off on holiday to an area of Corfu so full of well-heeled Brits it’s been christened Kensington-on-Sea. And the unexpected arrival of his ex-girlfriend is not the worst thing Spike has to contend with when a corpse inevitably turns up to spoil the idyllic surroundings. Jake Kerridge

BOOK OXYGEN – 23rd April 2015

Thomas Mogford is another writer with an interesting take on men and their search for love.  His detective is Spike Sanguinetti, a Gibraltarian lawyer, who was introduced to the public in Shadow of the Rock.  Unmarried, with tragic love affairs behind him, responsibility for an increasingly demented father and an orphaned boy, Sanguinetti is a highly attractive character.  In Sleeping Dogs he and his father are taking a holiday with his business partner in Corfu, and the novel is full of ravishing views, delectable food and punishing retsina.  The action takes Spike and his latest love interest over to the Albanian mainland, where organized crime and tribal vendetta ratchet up the narrative tension.  Intelligently written and witty, Sleeping Dogs would be perfect reading on a terrace above the Ionian sea, surrounded by the scent of wild thyme, and with a dewy glass of ice-cold fizz at your side. N.J. Cooper

THE OXFORD TIMES – 23rd April 2015

Thomas Mogford is known for a successful series of novels featuring the Gibraltar-based lawyer and sleuth Spike Sanguinetti (his name reflecting the Genoese background of many on the Rock).

The books are notable for taut action described in fluent, polished prose, with a vivid sense of place and shrewd psychological observation, particularly where the love life of the strapping, blue-eyed thirty-something hero is concerned.

Sleeping Dogs (Bloomsbury, £12.99) is the fourth in the series and, in my view, the best to date. In it, Spike continues his fictional odyssey that has ranged from Gibraltar through Tangier, Malta, Genoa and now to Corfu.

Amid the olive groves and sandy beaches of the holiday island – specifically those of the north-east corner where mighty magnates dwell –, Spike becomes involved in a murder case that brings bloody repercussions with the mafia drug barons of neighbouring Albania.

As one familiar with the places described, in Corfu at least, I read with admiration a fine evocation of the scenery I first encountered in 1973, so very different then in the case of tourist hells like Ipsos and Kavos.

That my reading was being done in Greece, on an island some way distant from the Ionian group, brought added enjoyment.

Thomas excels when he moves to the subject of food. And so, appetite whetted by what he says of the varied appetisers, the rich stews, the sticky puddings, I was lucky enough to go straight out to eat some. Christopher Gray

KIRKUS REVIEWS – 16th April 2015

A high-powered Gibraltarian lawyer cuts short an idyllic vacation to defend a hapless man accused of a brutal murder.

Overworked attorney and sometime sleuth Spike Sanguinetti (Hollow Mountain, 2014, etc.) suffers panic attacks, largely related to the death of his ex, Zahra, three years ago. When his doctor and friend Kitty Gonzalez prescribes a getaway, Corfu turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for Spike and his elderly dad, Rufus. Their getaway estate is next door to that of media mogul Sir Leo Hoffmann, and before long they’re rubbing elbows with the wealthy philanthropist. As Spike’s odyssey unfolds, it’s counterpointed by short glimpses of the imperilment and presumed death of a young woman named Calypso. The colorful characters arriving to fill out the company include Spike’s colleague Peter Galliano and DS Jessica Navarro, Spike’s old flame, who kindles his ardor anew. While exploring a local cave with the others, Spike discovers the bludgeoned body of Arben, an Albanian who works for Hoffmann. Lakis, a Greek who first greeted Spike and Rufus on their arrival and tended them at the guesthouse, is arrested for the murder after the police learn that he and Arben had been arguing earlier. Spike, who has taken a liking to the helpful Lakis, instinctively rushes to his defense. He begins to investigate, with Jessica playing Nora to his Nick. And how does Calypso fit into it all?

The first half of Spike’s fourth rolls slowly. Once its focus shifts to treating its fully drawn characters as suspects, however, it has the satisfying flavor of a classic whodunit.

CRIME FICTION LOVER – 13th April 2015

CFL Rating: 5 Stars

Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti is back for a fourth book in this series by Thomas Mogford. Following the violent events of the previous book, Hollow Mountain, Spike is in Corfu to meet up with his legal partner Peter Galliano. He’s taken his curmudgeonly father Rufus and his sometimes girlfriend detective Jessica Navarro with him.

The serenity they’re enjoying at a beautiful location on the north-east coast of the island is soon disrupted by a murder on the adjacent estate of millionaire Sir Leo Hoffman. With a local man falsely accused of the crime, Spike unwittingly becomes involved in a case hinging on the testimony of an elusive Albanian girl who is in fear for her life. As the action pivots between Corfu and Albania, Spike and Jessica race against time to catch a killer.

Although Spike himself is dealing with his own feelings of loss and insecurity after the death of his lover in a previous story, his strong moral core means he’s unable to turn his back on the fate of an innocent man or his friend Peter, who is emotionally invested in the case.

A stand out feature of Mogford’s writing is the wry and easy humour of his characters. The book is peppered with amusing asides, and Mogford cannot resist a few cutting sideswipes at the idle rich, who are personified by Leo Hoffman, and his children, as he plays lord of the manor in foreign climes. The dialogue feels natural and reflective, and there is an assured balance between the lighter and darker aspects of Spike’s psychological make-up. He has proven to be an incredibly empathetic character throughout the series to date.

Previous books have taken us from Gibraltar to Italy and Malta, and Mogford appears to have researched his locations very well. He comfortably paints a picture for us of the tranquility of the Greek coast then immerses us in the moral deprivation of popular holiday resort Kavos. Sleeping Dogs weaves in little snippets of pertinent information about local customs and socio-political mores, and this is especially vital to the plot when the action moves to Albania. Spike and Jessica find themselves at the whim of local superstitions and practices, which seem strange to them. This adds to the interest without over complicating the storyline and what unfolds is precisely written and engaging.

The tight plotting means that no single strand of the story is overplayed, though this is a relatively short crime novel. The investigation takes several twists and turns along the way, which keeps a heightened sense of engagement and, more importantly, keeps us rooting for Spike to clear the accused man’s name and catch the real culprit. An excellent read. Raven Crime