A review by robinwalter
The Ladies of Locksley by Francis Vivian

mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

This penultimate inspector Knollis mystery was interesting for reasons beyond the story and the solving of the mystery in the novel. The dedication reads like a farewell, and throughout the book there were passages that made me think that Vivian was ready to move on. Right from the initial books in the series Knollis has always been opposed to capital punishment, but in the later books of the series that opposition became more explicitly and firmly stated and in this book Knollis himself was chastised by a monk of his acquaintance for 'talking the talk' but not 'walking the walk' when it came to opposing the death penalty. Knollis did  make comments about the death penalty in this book too,  as in the following example:
“Somebody said, in the sixteenth century—wasn’t it Sir Henry Wotton?—that hanging was the worse use a man could be put to. That is also my opinion. It’s all wrong, and not in keeping with the religious opinions we, as a nation, pretend to observe—”

He also made an insightful comment  on the difference between the type of Christianity his friend the monk practised and that of mainstream British society at the time. These sorts of musings have cropped up throughout the earlier books in the series but there were more of them in this book than any one of the others.

The other thing that made me wonder whether this book represented  Vivian  beginning to wind up the show, apart from the fact that it is the 2nd to last Knollis mystery, is the fact that in many ways the mystery itself follows a template he has already used. My initial guess at the culprit, based on little more than just a hunch, turned out to be completely correct. Such an almost unheard of occurrence reinforced my view that Vivian may have been losing patience with the frippery of crime fiction. Not only was the culprit not that hard to guess, but there were several key elements of the story that felt  recycled from earlier stories, including the resolution. Knollis has often spoken about the conflict between his desire to bring murderous to justice and his abhorrence of the death penalty, and in this book that conflict is resolved in the same way as in at least two others in the series.

None of the above is a criticism of the book. I enjoyed reading it because even if Vivian was by this point primarily using Knollis as a mouthpiece for his own views, those views were expressed cogently and with a meticulously careful phrasing that resonated with me.  Ignatius the monk was also an interesting addition. This comment after Knollis apologised for naming the Devil made me smile:
“So far as the devil is concerned, please don’t hesitate to use his name, because I am intimately acquainted with him, and indeed would be very differently employed but for his existence.


The other reason I enjoyed this story as I have enjoyed others in the series is that Knollis' taste in reading and philosophy are catholic, with a small "c". In earlier books in the series his fondness for Donald Duck movies was mentioned, and the following passage was a highlight of the story for me  - an exchange between Knollis and his police colleague.
All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. That’s St. Paul.”
Manson raised an eyebrow. “You read the Bible?”
“Why not?”
Manson shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I just—well, I was surprised, that’s all.”
“Don’t expect me to spend all my days reading Hans Gross, Moriarty, and the American comics, do you? Although I must admit I have a liking for Li’l Abner and the Dagwood family.


A policeman who unselfconsciously and untheatrically references the Bible, a 16th-century politician-poet,  and 20th-century American comic strips? What's not to like? A key reason I chose to read all the Knollis books is because there arent't that many of them. If the reason turns out to be that the author knew when it was time to move on, that's another big plus in my book.