At hand: the case of Captain Exner

It was mid-June. The May rains had ended and the pressure above Central Europe was slowly moving up, which had a positive effect on Captain Exner's mood. He was sitting on the frame of an open window in his studio apartment, getting a manicure. "Let's start going to the water, " he said, "that's good! "

In this detective story, where everything of substance takes place against the backdrop of the faded glory of an old Prague Art Nouveau house, everything is at hand, but the killer escapes until the last moment.

Seven years and five books separate At Hand from the first "Exner", starring Captain Exner and his two adjutants with speaking names, Vlček and Beranek. If in 1964's The Treasure of the Byzantine Merchant the unexpectedly American-style detective is still a bit of a quest, in the 1971 story everything is done, so to speak. No one's gonna take away Captain Exner's penthouse anymore, Mercedes convertible, education, intelligence, wit, a sense of humor and irony or a weakness for women. Erben's handwriting is brisker, the dialogue tighter, the irony more acerbic and Exner himself more mature. He has lost his jinxed pel, gained experience and has become more manly. He is an increasingly better psychologist (which he uses, among other things, in his dealings with the weaker and prettier sex) and a perceptive observer.