Customer Reviews

The Bill Slider Omnibus

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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What a find! Why is there no other review here? I have only finished the first of the 3 novels included in this collection, but I am already won over to Inspector Slider. There is much I admire in, say, P.D. James' Commander Adam Dalgleish, who is a published poet and aide to the Commissioner, many ranks above poor, passed-over Inspector Slider. Like Le Carre's George Smiley, like most of us, Slider is an imperfect and partial man, with recognizable failings, and is lovable for it. Were I to meet Commander Dalgleish, I would instinctively call him "sir" - though he would probably put me at my ease with a few well-chosen words. Slider, however - I'd call him Bill and he'd call me Bob and we'd have a curry together like old pals.

He is carried forward by an almost-crushing sense of responsibility for his world, which makes policing the only possible career for him. But while this has made him a good detective, it doesn't give him a black-and-white view of the world, nor make him a great police administrator. He handles his cases with a skill born of experience and intelligence, but somehow these fail him - or nearly so -- in handling what seem to him to be secondary and confusing matters, his career and private life.

I do not want anyone to get the impression that the writing is as, well, pedestrian as Inspector Slider. He may be a bit of an everyday man but Ms. Harrod-Eagles' prose is wonderfully turned-out. This author is a lively and playful wordsmith, her novel is well-written, and if I handled the language as well as she, I wouldn't just be writing reviews.

Oh, I could gripe that his team is not so well-drawn as I'd like (and Dalgleish's team is, of course - P.D. James has it all wonderfully down and I'll keep reading her!). I could ask that Slider's sergeant, Atherton, be fleshed out more - how'd he become a copper? But maybe, over in Omnibus #2, I'll find that out. I intend to read my way there, and see! The plot, at least in "Orchestrated Death", is a bit pushed-about as well. But months, years, after I read P.D. James, or Le Carre, or any really good writers, what I remember are not the plot turns, but the people I have met in the pages. I will certainly remember Inspector Slider.

This is of the variety of murder mystery that is more soap opera than uncovering of complex plot, but Harrod-Eagles is powerful as a writer and insightful as an observer of life, so when read for these details the books are fantastic. However, the mysteries of all three follow the same pattern and intensity is lost over the course of each. Bill Slider is an everyman we would all like to be, namely an honest empathic person lured into deceptive situations by his desire to be forthright in a duplicitious environment, and the assorted cast of characters (Atherton, Joanna, Dickson) are eternal, but there needs to be an increase in pace and complexity. Sometimes the reader feels like a bull waiting for that red cape, just knowing there is not much behind it except the end of the story. As other reviewers have noted, there are numerous typos, mispellings and text manglings apparently arising from the OCR-based digital conversion of this text from an original print form. I will read more from this author because she is a fantastic writer, but it ain't for the mysteries. (Side note: the author has a female name but writes with great insight of the male psychology, esp. re: sensuality. Brava!)

This series was a delight to find, but quite a chore to wade through. The editing errors were simply disgraceful, with several to a page. Can the text have been scanned in from a previous edition? It was distracting, but, after all, quite worth it. I'll buy her other Bill Slider mysteries, but not in the TimeWarner Omnibus editions. Be warned.

I really enjoyed my introduction to the Bill Slider mysteries. Having read the entire Morland Dynasty series I thought I'd try the author's other books. I think Cynthia is a terrific writer and enjoy her puns immensely.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' plots are wonderfully developed and she certainly has a way with words.

The Bill Slider mysteries by Cynthia Harrod-Eagle are clever mysteries, often
spice with humor. They are well written, and I recommend them.

While I truly have enjoyed all the Slider mysteries I had a problem with the British slang, abbreviations and very frequent references to people and situations that I am totally unfamiliar with. I found myself asking (far too frequently) "Who/What is that?". I have lived in Liverpool, England and would not have anticipated this issue.