Customer Reviews

Last Respects

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

 

 

Horace Bollard was fishing that day but it wasn't a fish that he caught. It was a man - dead for some time. But the coroner discovers several interesting things about the body. First, he didn't die of drowning; second, the body wasn't as damaged as it should be for the amount of time in the water; and third, why was there only evidence of freshwater immersion on a body found in the tidal wash of the river?

Last Respects is the 11th in Catherine Aird's Inspector Sloan mysteries. It is a carefully and originally plotted mystery involving old murders and new. Containing more that her usual assortment of interesting characters and underlying background, this mystery is a bit more serious than her previous books. While it does contain her characteristic light touch, it is a bit more somber than usual. But that works well for story and the people she's created.

An excellent and enthralling mystery, with just enough clues and red herrings sprinkled throughout to make it very engaging. As usual, if you pay close attention, you can figure out the mystery at about the same time as the Inspector. Do you like cosies? Ellis Peters and her George Felse mysteries? You'll like these books.

Highly recommended. And can someone out there PLEASE start reprinting her books? They are terrific!

Catherine Aird's CD Sloan series is a real treat. For those who like British Procedurals done in the classic style, you won't find any better than these. The plots are tight, the characters plausible, and the puzzle a real puzzle. In this book Sloan is investigating the death of a man who was found in water, but who didn't die in water. As he investigates, he comes across a motley array of suspects - an old boatman who seems to see everything, a museum curator, an owner of a sheep farm and an architect. The trick is to find out the motive, and then it would illuminate who the murderer was. But before he does that he uncovers two more deaths - one old and one new, and he has to rush to avoid another one. Murderers seem to find it easier with each subsequent death. You must take the time to read this series. They're as perfect a little puzzle as you'll get anywhere.

A PREVIOUS REVIEWER SUGGESTED OR HOPED THAT SOMEONE START PRINTING HER BOOKS AGAIN -- I SECOND THE MOTION

Aird's "Last Respects" opens with a jaded fisherman finding a man's body in a river, and the Calleshire CID is called in to investigate, and they find that the man did not die of drowning, and that he had only freshwater algae on his body(he was found near a tidal basin). Sloan and Crosby investigate while we follow a dutiful young woman dealign with the recent death of a beloved aunt, and soon she discovers another body, which ties into the man in the river and surprisingly, another old murder. Good enough for me.

Lovely little British mystery with lots of local 'colour'! Catherine Aird's series of books starring PC C.D. Sloan is a gem. In "Last Respects" Sloan is at first perplexed by an unidentified corpse who was found in water...but had been dead much longer than it appeared. With a full cast of characters drawn from the typical British countryside, it will take all Sloan's detecting skills, despite the 'aid' of his sidekick Crosby, and knowledge of tides, sheep-shearing, and municipal building projects to solve this case.

If you're not familiar with British English, you may want to read this with access to an OED! But Aird does a great job of capturing English country life and character wrapped in clever little mysteries.