Rating: 4/5
Review:
A very enjoyable read
I have enjoyed all of the books in this series very much –
and far more than I expected to. I grew
tired of the Midsomer Murders TV series a long time ago, but the books are
actually very different in tone and character from what the series became. They are very good novels of character with
crime as their plot drivers.
This time, Barnaby is investigating deaths in a New Age
Commune. As always with Caroline Graham,
the plotting is very good and she weaves a beguiling spell which hooked me
in. She writes very well with a fine
understanding of her characters and their motivations and there is genuine
psychological insight here – and also has a lot of fun at the expense of
charlatan mystics and gurus. It is this
which makes the books so worthwhile; she paints some scathing portraits but
others with genuine compassion and depictions of goodness, all of which I found
very realistic. It's quite a long way
from the slightly twee whodunit feel of the TV series – especially in the character
of Sergeant Troy who is no loveable sidekick but a lecherous, ignorant bigot
with a strong line in unfunny, unpleasant jokes.
The prose is a pleasure to read, with plenty of pithy
phrases ad it carries you along very nicely without ever getting in the way of
the story. So, somewhat to my surprise,
I can recommend this warmly as a very good, involving novel of character as
well as being a gripping crime mystery.
No comments:
Post a Comment