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A review by shanaqui
Mr. Pottermack's Oversight by Freeman R. Austin
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I was looking forward to Mr Pottermack's Oversight, because I'd read one of R. Austin Freeman's earlier books and really liked it. It was slow and methodical, but in a way that was interesting. This one had the same style, but it was maybe a bit too slow and methodical, and Freeman's interest in writing a sort of inverted mystery (the mystery is more how the detective works out what happened, since we see the crime committed directly, and spend most of the book with the killer) went maybe a bit toooo in depth. There's a certain amount of detail that lends verisimilitude, and then there's getting overly into detail about (for example) casting a copy of a shoe sole from a footprint...
That said, somewhere partway through I entered into the spirit of the thing a bit more and found myself reading as eagerly as I'd expected. I don't know whether the pace just improved a bit there (probable) or maybe I just got used to the new expectations. For a killer, Pottermack is pretty likeable, though the sense that he's justified is set up very very deliberately and transparently (the victim is a blackmailer who originally framed him for the crime he's blackmailing him about).
I really wonder whether the lady in the case has realised that of course it is her lost love... but we're never told that explicitly.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed it, but it felt like a bit of a book of two halves -- though I couldn't put my finger on a specific dividing point. Hard to rate, as a consequence, but ultimately I'll go with my final assessment: a fascinating "inverted mystery", if a little slow at times.
That said, somewhere partway through I entered into the spirit of the thing a bit more and found myself reading as eagerly as I'd expected. I don't know whether the pace just improved a bit there (probable) or maybe I just got used to the new expectations. For a killer, Pottermack is pretty likeable, though the sense that he's justified is set up very very deliberately and transparently (the victim is a blackmailer who originally framed him for the crime he's blackmailing him about).
I really wonder whether the lady in the case has realised that of course it is her lost love... but we're never told that explicitly.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed it, but it felt like a bit of a book of two halves -- though I couldn't put my finger on a specific dividing point. Hard to rate, as a consequence, but ultimately I'll go with my final assessment: a fascinating "inverted mystery", if a little slow at times.