The Judge and His Hangman, by Friedrich Durrenmatt

It's 1948. A local policeman, Aphons Clenin, finds a man murdered in his blue Mercedes on a Swiss country road in the town of Twann. The man is a fellow policeman, Ulrich Schmied. It turns out the murdered policeman was on his way to a private party at the house of a rather shady character named Gastmann, a self-described adventurer, with important connections in the worlds of finance, politics and art. Schmied, the murdered man, had actually been sent to the party under a false name in order to spy on Gastmann.

Enter inspector Barlach. He's elderly, world weary and may only have a year left to live. With his assistant Tschanz, the two men explore different avenues and methods in their pursuit of the killer. The most obvious suspect is Gastmann. Barlach and Gastmann go back a long way. In fact, Barlach knows of Gastmann's criminal history – how he has killed for the sheer thrill of it – and has long tried to prove his guilt. To no avail. Gastmann, a truly menacing character, continually taunts. Has he, the most likely killer, actually comitted the crime? Not all is as it seems in this kaleidoscopic, hall-of-mirrors type crime classic.

The Judge and his Hangman by Swiss crime master Friedrich Durrenmatt is taut and gripping. The plot is perfectly designed, revealing itself with consummate skill. The story features a cast of well drawn, compelling characters, especially the duelling Barlach and Gastmann, the latter positively Iago-like in his thoroughgoing evil.

A must for connoseiurs of the genre.