Gownsman's Gallows [Paperback]

Katharine Farrer (Author), Enid Schantz (Introduction), Tom Schantz (Introduction)

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Rue Morgue Press (August 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915230836
• ISBN-13: 978-0915230839
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The reader emerges from this tale eager for more, September 2, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gownsman's Gallows (Paperback)

In the style of Dorothy L. Sayers, Katharine Farrer set her mysteries in Oxford, England. Ms. Farrer creates Inspector Richard Ringwood, an Oxford educated man inspired by Katharine's husband, Austin Farrer. Katharine and her husband Austin (described as a man with a great Anglican mind) mix with the Inklings, a group of scholars dedicated to the "destruction of scientific materialism" who included J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, and C.S. Lewis. The Inklings had specific ideas on how to raise children, and Farrer uses these ideas in her book. Katharine didn't have an easy life, however, as she became addicted to alcohol and barbiturates in the late fifties, had frequent bouts of pneumonia and bronchitis, and died after a fall in 1972. GOWNSMAN"S GALLOWS is the final mystery published by Katharine Farrer in 1957.

Inspector Richard Ringwood's superior office, nicknamed Bloodhound, taps him for investigation of a burned body found in a haystack the Oxford area. Ringwood's wife Claire is having her first baby, and Ringwood is reluctant to leave her, but the Bloodhound is adamant that he needs Ringwood on the job. Ringwood is perfect for the job and jumps right in:

"Inspector Ringwood considered. Then, as if thinking aloud, 'Just the feet of the body left, you said. And the socks, which aren't a straight clue because they belong to somebody who's alive and has an alibi for the time. No fingerprint, no oddity of constitution revealed by the blood they analyzed from the feet. Sothere's only scent left to try. It's been a mild damp day. Might be a chance, even though the trails will be twenty-four hours old at least.'"

Ringwood brings out his secret weapon, his bloodhound, Ranter, and the hunt (and fun) begins.Katharine Farrer writes an extremely smart mystery with layer upon layer of intrigue. She successfully confuses the reader in this whodunit whose participants are enmeshed in oldwar time attitudes and memories. Her characters run the gambit of war time heroes to bums, and she successfully blurs the lines to create fascinating psychological sketches.

GOWNSMAN'S GALLOWS makes the reader sad that it was Katharine Farrer's final mystery, as the reader emerges from this tale eager for more. Farrer was a jewel.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer