Customer Reviews

The Old English Peep Show (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)

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

 

 

Peter Dickinson is one of my favorite authors, so I'm biased, but I really enjoyed this book. I'd rate it about third of the 5 Pibble mysteries, just below 'The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest' and 'One Foot in the Grave'. Maybe 4 and a half stars, rounded to 5. Pibble is partly an anti-hero here, with his career going down-hill, assigned to the case simply to rubber-stamp it. But his mind is too quick [I think Dickinson is superb in showing us this, making real the flights of inference that in, e.g., Agatha Christie seem to come out of the blue], and won't let him overlook the evidence of stage-managing of one murder-account after another. The setting is a beloved British theme-park, and so the staff are experts at stage-managing. The park does sound more like 'Renaissance Fair' than Disneyland, but keeping the Disneyland model in mind reminded me of what sacrileges Pibble kept getting dragged into committing as he investigated. Maybe the villain was predictable, but in every Dickinson book there are wheels within wheels, and watching him get to the heart of things was captivating.

The characteristics of an (older) British mystery include eccentrics, a country house, the Old Retainer, and a detective of roughly the same background as the suspects and wry, dry wit. A former war hero and his twin brother have converted their country estate into a caricature of Olde England and busloads of tourists (mostly American) come to see it, saving the estate from bankruptcy. A son in law is actually the brains behind the outfit, and he calculates what will sell down to the last farthing. (OK, this is more modern than 'farthings'...It is set in current day). The Old Retainer is found hanged and the home office wants it found to be suicide. Our hero is the CID detective who understands that to bring shame on a war hero (who is a hero for failing to win a battle)would make an unhappy Scotland Yard and would very much like to avoid the ramifications to his career if he finds anything but a minor tragedy.

This book has the perfect recipe for either an English romp with wit and charm or a true mystery with clues that the reader has a chance of correctly interpreting. It is neither. I didn't find the characters engaging enough to root for anyone in particular (except perhaps the lion who is mentally disturbed). The one twist that propels the plot is predictable. The most interesting two characters (both women) go nowhere and the killer becomes predictable with an obvious, and sort of boring, motive. There is no sex, very little violence (not counting the lion) and not much wit to redeem it all.

A disappointment from a skilled writer.

I found the writing uninteresting and the mystery was not engaging. I was disappointed because the concept of an English history theme park was interesting to me. The characters failed to engage me and the ones (the ladies) that seemed most interesting failed to develop. While death by lion was intriguing, for the most part, the mystery was predictable.

I was so disappointed in this book! I expected great things from Dickinson; I thought the premise, a sort of English version of Colonial Williamsburg, showed great promise. But Dickinson lets us down with trite characters who are poorly developed and a predictable plot. The machinations of the antagonist are unbelievable and grotesque.

On the plus side, the detective, Pibble, is well-rounded and clever, but certainly realistic as a person. There is some humor here and there, soem good interaction between characters...and the lion is just superb.

The author calls it a "Baroque spoof", but there is a lot of intensity here. Flawless writing--each page is a joy to read. The lion scenes are remarkable.