Customer Reviews

The Dons and Mr Dickens: The Strange Case of the Oxford Christmas Plot

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is quite evident in this latest addition to Palmer's stable of victorian mystery novels that the author enjoys an intimate knowledge of 19th century England in general and Oxford University specifically. Had I not read his Bio I would have believed that William Palmer was a "public school" boy raised in the UK. While somewhat less "bawdy" than his earlier contributions, Palmer nonetheless succeeds in incorporating the Dodgson character in to his standard Dickens/Collins partnership, and in the process delights us with even more details surrounding the "Sherlock Holmes type" of Opium prevalence during the period. All in all, this Christmas release is yet another credit to the numerous kudos earned by Palmer with previous books.

In 1853 London, Metropolitan Protective Inspector William Field asks Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to identify the corpse of a white man found in a nearby opium den. The tie that the victim wears tells Wilkie that the dead man is a member of Oxford. Another associate of the two writers, Charles Dodgson recognizes the deceased as a history don at Oxford.

At the urging of Inspector Field, the three associates decide to investigate the murder of the don. Although they have worked previous cases, Dickens, Wilkie, and Dodgson remain writers/wannabe authors playing amateur sleuths. Their actions soon place their very lives and that of Dickens' mistress in danger from an unknown assailant.

The fourth Dickens-Collins Victorian mystery is a clever who-done-it, populated by literary references and their associated footnotes. The story line is fun although the use of Victorian era dialect makes one wonder if Dickens is heading in the direction of Chaucer and Shakespeare, difficult to read without a translator. The plot belongs to the trio of writers as the audience sees a glimpse of them beyond the classroom and outside their novels.

Harriet Klausner

It was a fun read, but seemed to me to fall apart completely in the end. When asked to explain the motivation for some implausible actions by the culprit, the best the detective can come up with are some lame suggestions and the admission that, "who knows 'ow 'is mind was racin'". Who indeed.

And there was a character who was apparently thrown in simply because he had been in the earlier books as he serves no purpose in this one other than to help explain some of the workings of early train service. A good bit of this sort of thing in the book.

This is the only book I have read in this series. Not too bad if you are looking for a quick read and like spot-the-allusions. A disappointment if you were expecting a mystery.

The fourth adventure in William J. Palmer's exciting Victorian histo-fiction series is one you really don't want to miss.

Once again, the team of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins is off to the races in "The Dons and Mr. Dickens (The Strange Case of the Oxford Christmas Plot)." This time, the duo are called back into detective action by their friend Inspector Field of the London Metropolitan Police to help solve a most puzzling mystery. An Oxford don is found murdered in London's Limehouse Hole, a most unseemly area for a don to be found in, dead or alive. And author Palmer, in true Dickensian style, gets the body identified and off they go to Oxford to investigate. Alas, a chief suspect (another don) turns up with a knife in his back (dead).

Told by Collins, Dickens's man Watson, the story picks up steam in his early Industrial Age police procedural, enlisting, along the way Charles Dodgson, a young Mycroft Holmes, and an energetic very young inspector Morse. Also assisting are characters from the previous books, the actress Ellen Ternan, Serjeant Rogers, and Tally Ho Thompson.

Palmer's flair for the Victorian make Dickens more joyful to read than Dickens himself, in some cases, and the author's ability to inject period humor (something not always found in Dickens--just try reading "Bleak House" or "The Old Curiosity Shop"!) makes "The Dons and Mr. Dickens" read quickly, smoothly, and entertainingly.

What are these Oxford dons up to? Well, as Agatha Christie would say, "Murder most foul," and it is up to the geniuses of the central characters to sort it out. What a fun read this series is, injecting conspiracies, mayhem, romance, and a few bodies as well, and this fourth one seems to be the most enjoyable--perhaps what a book of fiction should really be all about.

Very amusing. The Dons mentioned in the title, except for one now known MUCH better by his nom de plume, are appropriately corrupt/ineffectual, so gentle reader can safely trust that William J. Palmer has indeed been professing for many years, somehere, per the bio. Inspector Field is his usual gruff efficient sage self & the watch of Wilkie Collins, Cub Novelist, disappears promptly. An apprentice detective named Morse appears. One may predict that he will master his work, someday, plus enjoy his beer, ruefully, all around Oxford. Ellen Ternan, light of the life of late great Dickens, begins to materialize, participating as a character actress playing a lovely Irish barmaid snitch. Will she be ravished? Mr. Dickens is not sure he likes this role, much, but controls his inimitable self, barely. Petty deduction for gratuitous allusion, in French, but a good, even explosive, read.