Scan barcode
A review by robinwalter
Dancing Death by Christopher Bush
challenging
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
My deep emotional attachment to, and affectionate affinity for Christmas is matched only by that of penguins to and for the Sahara. Despite that, I very much enjoyed "Dancing Death - A Christmas Mystery"
Dancing Death is my fourth Ludovic Travers story and it was the most challenging. By that, I simply mean that it was the most mentally challenging. It was a delightfully complicated story and one that I struggled to keep straight in my head. What made that a real positive was the way that Christopher Bush wrote the story highlighting his hero's own similar struggles. When I read the following passage, I instantly thought "I can totally relate":
Things were too deep for him to handle. That last terrible business had made him feel so mentally tired that his mind refused, with something more than horror, to think it out from the mass of devilish complications that held it in.
Of course, Travers figures it all out in the end, but expressions of his own limitations and frustrations like the one above endear the character to me. Over the last few months I have been making a conscious effort to read golden age mysteries more slowly in order to get more enjoyment out of the experience. I had to read this one more slowly still, and this is why having likeable characters is important to me.
Dorothy Sayers, Ellery Queen, JD Carr - all of them wrote complex mysteries that require careful measured reading to make sense of. The problem I have with them is that the characters are so intensely dislikeable for me that I cannot make myself spend the time required. Especially with the repugnant Ellery Queen and the marginally-less-so Peter Wimsey, I simply want to be shot of them as quickly as possible (no pun consciously intended).
In contrast I enjoy spending the time that I need to spend to follow Ludo as he traverses the various mysteries. In this one I was particularly delighted to see that in his "foreword summation", Travers included a biblical reference. Initially I was just happy that I got the reference instantly, but subsequently I was even more delighted that the biblical reference he used was one given him by the Scotland Yard chief inspector working the case. It highlights yet again one of the very best features about the series for me. It is truly collaborative.
Travers is a gifted amateur detective, but this is the first of the four of his adventures that I have read in which he was front and centre for the majority of the story. This was as a result of the fact that it was a traditional golden age Christmas mystery, with a closed circle of suspects literally snowed in. This meant that Travers had an unusually free hand to make an early start on all the investigations himself.
Despite this head start though, he was nowhere near solving it all on his own, handing the solution on a platter to the bumbling policeman when he turned up. Once again, as in the other three Travers stories I've read, the contribution of the professional police detectives and Travers' own private investigative colleague were indispensable, and acknowledged as such by Travers. I just love this, it is really refreshing to see a golden age detective who respects and values the meaningful contributions of people who detect for a living.
Of course, despite the glacial pace at which I read the book, and the number of times I went back to make sure that I had people in places and events and dates in mind, I did not figure out who did it, although the biblical reference had made it very obvious from the outset why. I was okay with not solving it because I very seldom do and because this was clearly not a fair play mystery in the strict sense. I doubt there was enough information shared with the reader for anyone to have reached the conclusions that Travers and chief inspector Wharton did. But the journey was fun, and makes me look forward to continuing my own journey of exploration with many more Travers mysteries to read.
Dancing Death is my fourth Ludovic Travers story and it was the most challenging. By that, I simply mean that it was the most mentally challenging. It was a delightfully complicated story and one that I struggled to keep straight in my head. What made that a real positive was the way that Christopher Bush wrote the story highlighting his hero's own similar struggles. When I read the following passage, I instantly thought "I can totally relate":
Things were too deep for him to handle. That last terrible business had made him feel so mentally tired that his mind refused, with something more than horror, to think it out from the mass of devilish complications that held it in.
Of course, Travers figures it all out in the end, but expressions of his own limitations and frustrations like the one above endear the character to me. Over the last few months I have been making a conscious effort to read golden age mysteries more slowly in order to get more enjoyment out of the experience. I had to read this one more slowly still, and this is why having likeable characters is important to me.
Dorothy Sayers, Ellery Queen, JD Carr - all of them wrote complex mysteries that require careful measured reading to make sense of. The problem I have with them is that the characters are so intensely dislikeable for me that I cannot make myself spend the time required. Especially with the repugnant Ellery Queen and the marginally-less-so Peter Wimsey, I simply want to be shot of them as quickly as possible (no pun consciously intended).
In contrast I enjoy spending the time that I need to spend to follow Ludo as he traverses the various mysteries. In this one I was particularly delighted to see that in his "foreword summation", Travers included a biblical reference. Initially I was just happy that I got the reference instantly, but subsequently I was even more delighted that the biblical reference he used was one given him by the Scotland Yard chief inspector working the case. It highlights yet again one of the very best features about the series for me. It is truly collaborative.
Travers is a gifted amateur detective, but this is the first of the four of his adventures that I have read in which he was front and centre for the majority of the story. This was as a result of the fact that it was a traditional golden age Christmas mystery, with a closed circle of suspects literally snowed in. This meant that Travers had an unusually free hand to make an early start on all the investigations himself.
Despite this head start though, he was nowhere near solving it all on his own, handing the solution on a platter to the bumbling policeman when he turned up. Once again, as in the other three Travers stories I've read, the contribution of the professional police detectives and Travers' own private investigative colleague were indispensable, and acknowledged as such by Travers. I just love this, it is really refreshing to see a golden age detective who respects and values the meaningful contributions of people who detect for a living.
Of course, despite the glacial pace at which I read the book, and the number of times I went back to make sure that I had people in places and events and dates in mind, I did not figure out who did it, although the biblical reference had made it very obvious from the outset why. I was okay with not solving it because I very seldom do and because this was clearly not a fair play mystery in the strict sense. I doubt there was enough information shared with the reader for anyone to have reached the conclusions that Travers and chief inspector Wharton did. But the journey was fun, and makes me look forward to continuing my own journey of exploration with many more Travers mysteries to read.