Spencer Quinn. Mrs. Plasky’s Revenge. Forge, 2023.
I recall reading about a performance of Hamlet done for students in the upper elementary grades. True, some of the philosophical musings and allusions went over the audience’s heads. But they applauded vigorously when Hamlet stabbed King Claudius. We all understand revenge. It is sweet.
Well, Mrs. Plasky’s Revenge is hardly Hamlet or The Sons of Katie Elder. Imagine a version of Ocean’s Eleven written by Alexander McCall Smith. Quinn is known here for his mysteries narrated by pets, notably Chet the Dog in the Chet and Bernie mysteries. Mrs. Plasky’s Revenge is not like that.
There is some humor, but not like Chet. Romanian teen Dinu is trying to learn American English from an English tutor whose brother has emigrated to America. His tutor speaks:
“My point,” he went on, “is that no American says ‘it is I.’ They say ‘it’s me.’ The grammar is wrong but that’s how they say it. You must learn the right wrong grammar. That the secret of sounding American.”
“How will I learn?”
“There are ways. For one you could go to YouTube and type in ‘Country Music.’” (2)
There are little things like that interspersed in what is otherwise a serious story. Later in the story, for example, Dinu mentions a coal miner’s daughter. He has been listening to Country Music!
If you have ever seen the old television show Columbo, you might get a sense of how this tale unfolds. Viewers saw the crime being committed in the opening scene. We knew right from the beginning who committed the crime. It is no mystery to the audience. The enjoyment is watching Detective Columbo trap the criminals. So here, we know whodunit from the first page.
In Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge, however, the word trap might be too strong. Discover or even stumbles upon work better. She is a naïve who get ripped off by a common scheme. A retired widow, she gets a phone call from someone claiming to be her grandson Will. Will has been arrested and needs bail money. She falls for the story and sends money to a “Safemo” account.
The next day she learns that both her bank account and her investment account have been cleaned out to the tune of 3.8 million dollars. (She and her late husband had successfully sold an invention of theirs—the toaster knife, a knife that slices bread and toasts it at the same time.)
Her banker and broker get the authorities involved right away. While the FBI agent understands what has happened and maybe has an idea of where the crime originated, there is little they can do because of the politics and diplomatic matters with Russia and Eastern European countries.
After doing some downloads from her cell phone, the authorities determine that it is likely the call came from Romania. The second half of the book, then, takes Mrs. Plasky to Romania. She does get her revenge—not in the way Hamlet or Mrs. Elder’s sons get theirs, but she manages to muddle through to a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
The reason I earlier stated that the tone is somewhat like Alexander McCall Smith’s is that it is lighthearted, humorous in places, and even the bad guys are really not that bad. We also get a somewhat sympathetic view of Romania and post-Communist Eastern Europe in general. Do not expect anything like another Chet and Bernie or even Archie and Queenie. Mrs. Plansky learns two Romanian words: frigorific and noroc. Frigorific means “cold.” She is there in the winter. Noroc means “luck.” That is the essence of the tale.