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A review by robinwalter
The Sleeping Island by Francis Vivian
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This eighth Inspector Knollis was interesting for several of the things that marked it as different from others in the series. One notable difference between it and the preceding two is in the nature of the murder victim. In the previous two, the murder victim had themselves been actively planning and preapring a murder, and they were not mourned by anyone. In this one, the vitim was innocent, and the reaction to her death was summed up this way
"I wouldn’t have lost an hour’s sleep if it had been Paul. He’s a louse. Bein’ Brenda makes it different.”
Another difference between this story and others in the series is that it contains the most detailed descriptions to date of Knollis's own appearance, presented as the impressions formed by people seeing him for the first time. The shorter of the two gives a nice sample of the tone of both of them
It was obvious from the first that he was not approachable. There was an air of reserve about him that distinctly said: Keep Off! He was of medium height, a slit-eyed man with high cheek-bones who walked with a straight back and almost military precision.
Yet another difference between this story and the earlier ones was in the complexity of the mystery. I had a strong suspicion as to the likely culprit quite early on, and was misled more by my own fervent desire for it to be someone else. That someone else was presented as a sufficiently credible alternative, but compared to the others in the series, a ruthless application of Occam's razor would have had me smugly saying "knew it!" much earlier on.
That sense of perhaps a slight slip in the quality of the mystery-building is probably why I only scored this at 4/5 the third of the eight I've read to score that low.
Another minor niggle, there were fewer flashes of the humour that is a trademark of the series. One factor that may have contributed to there being less of that humour than in many others was the absence, again, of Knollis's sergeant Ellis. The two of them have an excellent relationship, akin to that Alleyn & Fox but without the classist baggage that keeps Fox in his place. I hope that Ellis will be back for the last two of the series. Probably one of the most amusing examples of the humour I felt was in short supply was the play on words in the very last line of the story, but a less spoilery choice of example is this description of a "golddigger"
She’d stick by him through thick and thin, just to spite the policemen. She’d stick by him to the last penny. Well, to the last fifty pounds!
In summary I would say that by the standards of the series, this represents Vivian having a (slightly) off day. Enjoyable enough but unremarkable and lacking the wow factor of gems like The Singing Masons or The Laughing Dog.
"I wouldn’t have lost an hour’s sleep if it had been Paul. He’s a louse. Bein’ Brenda makes it different.”
Another difference between this story and others in the series is that it contains the most detailed descriptions to date of Knollis's own appearance, presented as the impressions formed by people seeing him for the first time. The shorter of the two gives a nice sample of the tone of both of them
It was obvious from the first that he was not approachable. There was an air of reserve about him that distinctly said: Keep Off! He was of medium height, a slit-eyed man with high cheek-bones who walked with a straight back and almost military precision.
Yet another difference between this story and the earlier ones was in the complexity of the mystery. I had a strong suspicion as to the likely culprit quite early on, and was misled more by my own fervent desire for it to be someone else. That someone else was presented as a sufficiently credible alternative, but compared to the others in the series, a ruthless application of Occam's razor would have had me smugly saying "knew it!" much earlier on.
That sense of perhaps a slight slip in the quality of the mystery-building is probably why I only scored this at 4/5 the third of the eight I've read to score that low.
Another minor niggle, there were fewer flashes of the humour that is a trademark of the series. One factor that may have contributed to there being less of that humour than in many others was the absence, again, of Knollis's sergeant Ellis. The two of them have an excellent relationship, akin to that Alleyn & Fox but without the classist baggage that keeps Fox in his place. I hope that Ellis will be back for the last two of the series. Probably one of the most amusing examples of the humour I felt was in short supply was the play on words in the very last line of the story, but a less spoilery choice of example is this description of a "golddigger"
She’d stick by him through thick and thin, just to spite the policemen. She’d stick by him to the last penny. Well, to the last fifty pounds!
In summary I would say that by the standards of the series, this represents Vivian having a (slightly) off day. Enjoyable enough but unremarkable and lacking the wow factor of gems like The Singing Masons or The Laughing Dog.