Patrick Ohl is back this week for Friday's Forgotten Books. make sure you check out the list of suggested reads later today on Patti Abbott's blog. By the way, please note that Patti's books CONCRETE ANGEL and SHOT IN DETROIT have survived the shutdown of Exhibit A Books and have been picked up by Jason Pinter and Polis Books. Thrilled for Patti as well as readers everywhere......
H. H. Crippen was one of the 20th century’s most infamous murderers—or, at the very least, accused murderers. Over time, much doubt has been cast upon the “guilty” verdict, and some controversial new DNA evidence suggests that the remains found in Crippen’s basement may not have been his wife’s after all. (This evidence cannot be completely trusted, however. I’d go into details, but you’re here for a book review, not a true crime article.) Whatever the truth of the matter, Crippen and his lover, Ethel le Neve, fled to Canada, but thanks to the miracle of wireless communication, were arrested upon arrival by Inspector Walter Dew, who simply took a faster ship to get there first.
H. H. Crippen was one of the 20th century’s most infamous murderers—or, at the very least, accused murderers. Over time, much doubt has been cast upon the “guilty” verdict, and some controversial new DNA evidence suggests that the remains found in Crippen’s basement may not have been his wife’s after all. (This evidence cannot be completely trusted, however. I’d go into details, but you’re here for a book review, not a true crime article.) Whatever the truth of the matter, Crippen and his lover, Ethel le Neve, fled to Canada, but thanks to the miracle of wireless communication, were arrested upon arrival by Inspector Walter Dew, who simply took a faster ship to get there first.
It is this infamous real-life murder case
that inspires The False Inspector Dew
by Peter Lovesey. In it, a dentist named Walter Baranov decides to murder his
shrew of a wife Lydia on board the ocean liner Mauretania. The plan is a perfect one— he will be free to live with
his lover Alma, a girl absolutely devoted to him. And in a touch of irony, to
get away with the scheme he registers under a false name as Walter Dew, after
the famous inspector who caught Crippen. There’s no way the scheme could possibly fail. But, irony of ironies,
when a body is found bobbing in the ocean, the captain of the ship quite
innocently asks the eminent Inspector Dew to investigate!
An awkward situation, investigating a
murder of your own— especially when you haven’t the slightest idea how to act
like a detective! So Inspector Dew goes around talking to his fellow passengers
and discovers that he may not have been the only one up to no good during the
night…
The False Inspector Dew combines a little bit of everything—inverted mystery, comedy, and through an ingenious plot development there’s a genuine mystery to be solved as well. It’s a delightful and downright delicious book to read. The plot twists and turns throughout, making it a definite page-turner. It’s ingenious as well—Lovesey gives his readers every clue, and when you reach the ending you realise just how neatly the author has treaded the line between cheating and fair play, while always remaining firmly on the “fair play” side.
The characters are also on the good side. The
titular “False Inspector Dew” is a wonderful character; he’s a boring lover and
a bad detective who is desperately trying to pass himself off as an
ex-inspector. His lover Alma is a bit on the psychotic side, but in a very
funny way—she is the one who starts the whole romance, finding Walter’s
smallest, most ordinary gestures filled with romantic symbolism. She is a big
reader of romantic novels and has unrealistic expectations, and that makes for
plenty of fun. Even the doomed wife Lydia can be plenty of fun with her
pig-headedness over the most unreasonable requests. And then there are all the
passengers aboard the boat…
The writing is excellent and can be very
funny indeed, especially in those moments where Inspector Dew’s mask drops and
he says something he really shouldn’t have. It can also be quite suspenseful,
such as a great scene during a storm, or another scene where a killer is
apparently caught-red-handed. It’s part of the package that makes The False Inspector Dew such a treat—
and the ending is just plain perfect. It’s a really nice way to wrap everything
up for good.
Overall, I highly recommend The False Inspector Dew. It won the CWA
Gold Dagger Award, and in my opinion it was a very deserved prize. The story is
an ingenious one, with terrific plot twists throughout to easily hold your
interest. The ending is top-notch, and the reader is given every clue to solve
the mystery that crops up. The comedy is terrific. The characters are loads of
fun. And when you look at it in retrospect, there are some passages where I can
only admire the author for creating a grand puzzle-plot in the fine old
tradition. In short, the book is an absolute triumph. I highly, highly recommend it.
Patrick Ohl ©2014
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2 comments:
I read this earlier this year and I can only echo what Patrick said. Just a delightful novel in every way.
Another book I have not read.
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