Customer Reviews

Soft Detective

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The murder of Professor Unwala, a former Nobel prize winner, shakes up Detective Chief Inspector Phil Benholme because his son Colin is a viable suspect. Phil, who has the empathic ability to look at a crime from the varying perspectives of the willing and unwilling participants, wonders if he has been too soft on his teenage son.

Phil informs his superiors that he has a personal interest in the case and is rightfully replaced. Though he is no longer officially on the Unwala murder investigation, Phil cannot remain on the sidelines when Colin's future seems bleaker by the clue. He begins his own inquiries, which lead him to wonder if the death of the renowned scientist might be racially motivated or related to illegal drug dealing? In any event, Phil will grit his teeth and wear rubber underwear as he tries to learn the truth even if it means that he turns out to be a failure as a father.

The fourth Benholme novel is the best entry in what is one of the superior English police procedurals of the nineties. The story line is strong and well designed, but it is the characterizations that make THE SOFT DETECTIVE a powerful novel that should be required reading of sub-genre fans. Anyone who wants to spend some quality time with mystery novels, must peruse the novels of H.R.F. Keating (there must be at least thirty-five of them) because they are some of the best.

Harriet Klausner

With a large backlog of books yet unread, but always on the lookout for something different and new, I came across the excellent reviews of THE SOFT DETECTIVE and felt that it looked very interesting, with a good premise. Not finding any of Keating's books in local bookstores to try to judge whether he would be to my taste, I ordered the book anyway. This was one of those times that the chance did not win out. What may have been a good short story was a slow paced and boring novel that, if it weren't so easy to read, I would have put down long before its 270+ pages had come to their own merciful end.

DCI Benholme is a quiet, empathetic person who always looks at the other's point of view. This should be a valuable trait in a detective but it conflicts with the hard-nosed world of policing. It also cost him his wife, who left him for a jock. And maybe he hasn't been such a good father either, although he loves his wife and son. He doesn't get much respect from any quarter. But he is an honest, careful, dedicated investigator, and his first suspect in this murder is none other than his own son. These are the two elements that set this novel apart - the "softness" of the character and his son as suspect, which of course torments him. It is an easy to read, entertaining, and unpredictable book that is skillfully crafted.

HRF Keating is well-known in crime/mystery circles, not just as as a writer, but also as an editor, a critic, etc. For that reason I was keen to read some of his work. I was disappointed in both the way Keating writes, and his plot.

The characterisation (which an earlier reviewer praises) I found to be laboured and unsubtle; the stylistic device used to distinguish between Benholme's thoughts and the main narrative, irritating.

The plot hinges on an event that I personally thought extremely unlikely, as is Benholme's discovery of that event - which amounts to an inspired guess. It was almost as though Keating was coming to the end of his word-count and had to find some way to bring things to a close.

In its favour, the book was easy to read, and the focus on how Benholme's personality influenced the case was unusual and (almost) interesting. I'm glad I bought this 2nd-hand - I'll be looking in the public library should I decide to give him another chance.