Customer Reviews

Death of a Hollow Man

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It's beem awhile since I read the first book in this series. It was enjoyable because I love "cozies". This one is quite different than the typical English village where death upsets the daily lives of the villagers, but it sure reminded me of Ngaio Marsh. For those of you who have read Ms. Marsh, you know that she sets her mysteries around English theatre. This book by Ms. Graham is set around an English theatre company, and all of the innuendos and undercurrants that surround a small country company. It's a good story, and I found that I still really like Barnaby and Troy. Ms. Graham is the first modern author that I have found that can write mysteries like the old English masters- Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham. Nice subplots, humour, characterization, ambience and setting.

In "Death of a Hollow Man", Caroline Graham presents a typical amateur theatrical troupe in a small English village. The characters and situations are wonderfully described, with sparkling wit and psychological truth. When one of the actors turns up dead, Inspector Barnaby and his politically-incorrect-yet-sympathetic sidekick Sergeant Troy have to sort out the suspects from those who just can't resist the chance to show off. A first-rate whodunnit; I can't believe it's out of print!

You have probably read hundreds of books that use these ever-fresh ingredients. There is one small English village, peopled by eccentric collectors, partner-swapping couples, and a class system in microcosm, housing well-disguised deviants who write poison pen letters, carry guilty secrets, or devise well-planned murders.

Caroline Graham is a current dealer in these items, and I reckon she turns them into as good an entertainment as any writer, past or present, I know. Her own experience in the theatre provides the amazing verisimilitude in this, her second crime novel. The murder occurs during the opening night of an amateur production of "Amadeus".

Older readers will recall how New Zealand writer Ngaio Marsh used the theatre for some of her murder mystery settings. Miss Graham is a much better writer. Rarely in detective fiction will you find such depth and variety of character drawing, and such charming and elegant prose.

Her sleuth is Chief Inspector Barnaby and his assistant is Sergeant Troy. As created by Caroline Graham, they are considerably different from their television depictions in a popular series "Midsomer Murders" that has already run to more than twenty episodes.

Tom Barnaby is using his painting skills on scenery for the local theatrical group where is wife, Joyce,is wardrobe mistress and small-parts performer. As the rehearsals for a production of "Amadeus" move along the reader is introduced to the participants. Their lives, nerves, sympathies, likes and dislikes make for an interesting and complex tale. The ego-driven director is determined to show the world his brilliance even if he is only directing a small acting company in a small village. You don't have to be familiar with "Amadeus", or the theater for that matter, to be completely drawn in to the drama behind the drama.

Opening night arrives and the play begins. In the middle of the performance an unexpected death horrifies the audience. It is then that Tom Barnaby has to put down his paint brush, or rather, leave his seat in the audience, and take up his real occupation, that of police inspector.

Another good story from Caroline Graham.

My first Caroline Graham mystery and I went right back for more! With an unerring eye for the ins and outs of small town theater, Caroline Graham manages to create a great deal of sympathy for all of her oddball characters. They are familiar, yet not stereotypes and even while she savagely skewers them on one page, she shows us unexpected and realistic depth on the next.

Those familiar with the British mystery will not be disappointed. The lovely allusions to village life, the "British-isms" all contribute to the readability of this book.

But why on earth has it gone out of print?