Rate this book

The Norfolk Mysteries. By Ian Sansom (2013)

by Ian Sansom(Favorite Author)

2.92 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0007360479 (ISBN13: 9780007360475)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Fourth Estate

series

The County Guides

review 1: I really wanted to like this book, for lots of reasons. I love the Golden Age of Crime Fiction - Sayers, Christie etc - and I thought the concept of having a series presumably intended to travel eventually to every county was genius. I also liked the opening chapter, getting to know Stephen Sefton and his background fighting in the Spanish Civil War - what a great foil to cosy mystery detection in England and one that could add real depth and a greater sense of England's place on the world stage in the 30s, an era that I find fascinating and compelling.But the promise of the initial chapters and set-up of Sefton as a sidekick to an eccentric professor with a beautiful, feisty daughter was never fulfilled. Lots of things quickly went wrong: Professor Morley swiftly turned f... morerom engaging to annoying, and while I suspect he was meant to appear to be a Holmesian character with quirks but depth, we never got to see the depth, discovering why he is so obsessive about facts and such a compulsive writer, why his morals and judgement are as they are, what happened to his wife, why does his daughter still live with him, what is the nature of their relationship. The daughter, Miriam, who I really liked, disappears to London for most of the book, abandoning Sefton and Morley in Norfolk, and I don't blame her. We are also never told why Morley needs Sefton as a sidekick anyway - he never does anything useful except stand around smoking, drinking and trying to pick up any vaguely attractive woman that looks twice at him. Dr Watson may not have Holmes' sharp detective skills, but saves Holmes' bacon and his sanity frequently, and there is a clear and touching dependency. Not so with Morley and Sefton.In what little there is of the plot contains too many unbelievable incidents, e.g. (plot spoiler alert): the sex scene, the vicar's suicide, the girl's setting fire to herself, Morley taking to the pulpit at the end of the service and revealing his take on the vicar's death (who for some unknown reason is bizarrely referred to by everyone as "the reverend" and never "the vicar"). I live in a small village where lots of mad and quirky things happen, and I often think "you couldn't make this up", but even to me this story was just ridiculous. I was also bewildered by the inclusion of archaic photos of rural Norfolk which looked as if they'd been chosen to make the place look especially dull and characterless. If I was a native of Norfolk, I would not be pleased. Developing a more flattering depiction of Norfolk - and, to be fair, Morley's endless ramblings about detail do add a spark of interest in a county I know little about - could have turned this into a local bestseller boosting tourism, which may not be any novelist's prime artistic aim, but it's a smart way to sell more books. A valuable trick missed.The story could have been so much better, if only there had been some character development, some depth to Morley, and a more believable plot, which could easily have been spun from the same starting point. The author's missed another trick in not setting up an on-and-off relationship between Sefton and Miriam, which would have added interest, fun, and another layer, and had readers clamouring for his next book in the series to see what happens next between them. Such a shame, as the author can clearly write well, and a much better book was within his grasp. I'm tempted to try the next in the series to see whether he's got a grip there, but am wary of wasting my time and finding further disappointment. I don't want to have it confirmed that the prime purpose of the series is not to entertain readers but to demonstrate the author's own erudition and vast general knowledge, thinly veiled in false irony. Disappointing.
review 2: This is described as being a sort of modern Sherlock Holmes and sure to delight those who read Conan Doyle, Christie, and the other classics. I had the same reaction to this that I did to Sansom's library series -- the characters are not only unlikeable, they are annoying and irritating and I can only take so much of them. As a modern - that is, post-modern -- mystery in the style of Conan Doyle, this is well-written, wry, humorous -- all sorts of good things. It's also boring beyond belief. What Sansom doesn't seem to understand is that Holmes' -- and Poirot's -- quirks were little isolated incidents in a larger story that centered on the mystery. He has made his characters' quirks the focus of the story and the mystery only a sort of secondary distraction. There are none of the fast-paced, action-oriented scenes that we find in the works from the Golden Age.So, I'd say this is not for fans of Holmes, et al., but rather, for fans of -- well, Woody Allen. Post-modern works with a nebbishy main character who succeeds by accident, not design. less

Download links for: The Norfolk Mysteries. by Ian Sansom

Advertising