Customer Reviews

A Charitable Body: A Novel of Suspense

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While this book has many examples of Mr Barnard's waspish wit, I think it has two defects. The first is this: one of the strengths of Mr Barnard's writing has been his ability to create really, REALLY despicable characters (like Felicity Peaces' father) whose awfulness sets off the other characters' basic decency. However, of the two awful characters in this book, one is really kind of pitiful and we don't really see enough of the other to appreciate his awfulness.

The second defect, which I think is the more serious, is that the action seems curiously inchoate. That is, the clues in the book to Felicity's and Charlie's actions are either too deeply buried or just too obscure for their actions to make sense to the reader. Felicity and Charlie drift through the book doing things and asking questions for largely incomprehensible reasons. It doesn't help that, so far as I could see, we are never directly told the gender of "the body".

Otherwise, the book stylishly sets out Mr Barnard's usual jaundiced view of Britain's press and its great and good to the general entertainment of the reader. It's not a bad book, just not up to the author's usual high standard.

To be a black cop in rural Great Britain is difficult. To be a black Detective Inspector in Yorkshire is practically unheard-of. And if you have a Caucasian "English rose" for a wife and a mixed-race baby...well, you're asking for trouble. Meet Charlie Peace, the wonderful Yorkshire DI who deftly finesses local pride and prejudice on a daily basis while managing to solve his always-fascinating cases.

This case is no exception: Charlie's friendly wife, Felicity, is invited to join the board of directors for a charitable trust--the local "stately home" is being opened to the public by a blueblood family that's fallen on hard times. The first thing she finds is that the two distinct branches of the famous family are "at odds" with each other (to put it mildly). The second thing that surfaces is a dead body in the local lake. But the body in the lake is seriously outnumbered by the skeletons in the family's closet....

Robert Barnard has won several top Brit and international awards in his career, including the coveted Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. Though not as famous in the USA as some of his colleagues like P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, he's been quietly producing a large number of clever, elegantly-written mysteries. I think of him as one of Britain's best-kept secrets, and I've been a fan of his for many years. There's something delightful about his observations of the eccentric ways of his fellow countrymen, and his tongue-in-cheek sense of humor is particularly welcome (think P. G. Wodehouse with a body count). This is a good title to start with, and other good ones are A Stranger in the Family: A Novel of Suspense and my all-time fave, A Scandal in Belgravia (Missing Mysteries). If you like good Brit mystery, you're in for a treat.

When Agatha Christie was getting old, it showed in her books. She wrote books like "Postern of Fate" that contained long boring conversations that didn't seem to go anywhere, no reason for the things that happened in the book and not much in the way of resolution. Her later books are often fuzzy-minded and poorly written.

Poor Robert Barnard, who has always been one of my favorite writers, seems to be going the same way. His last ten books have been long on fuzzy conversations about family history and vague things that seem to be threatening but you never really see why. Too much talk that doesn't go anywhere, too much wallowing about in old family scandal, not much action and poor characterization. These books don't have the bite, the wit and the action of Barnard's older books. And they certainly don't have characters that anyone could care about very much.

I was somewhat disappointed in this book; I am a huge fan of Barnard's, and I do not think this is one of his best. However, it is very well written and introduces a new and interesting character. Certainly better than huge piles of the mystery books being published these days....