The Lamp That Went Out

An Austrian detective

This approach is evident in "The Case of the Lamp that Went Out." Its outcome is more complex than the murderer-caught-and-justice-served resolution one usually expects of the genre. The writing is clean and (unlike some novels of the period) the plot is focused and uncluttered by tangent observations--surprisingly so since Groner is also writing to make a point on the need for a sympathetic understanding of the complexities of human nature even in the pursuit of criminal justice. Yet she avoids unnecessary preachiness, letting the tale make the point.