Abracadaver: The Third Sergeant Cribb Mystery Paperback – 24 May 2018

I first read Sergeant Cribb books and watched the excellent TV series years ago, in fact that lead me to read the books. I have long searched for them, only to find them out of print.But was over joyed to find them on kindle. And they had lost none of their ability to hold me as I read them.So I would say that if you like the Murdoch Mysteries I think that you will find a fellow sleuth on the good Sergeant Cribb .

A well written summer novel. Love the inside look at England in this era.

Only a crusty curmudgeon would not have his spirits lifted by spending several hours with this comical book. Sword swallowers!, Hatchet throwers!, Barrel dancers! Trapeze artists and "Penelope Twing, The Voice of the Swing"! But all is not frivolity; a murder has been committed by a "cunning enemy". The pace is brisk, the repartee entertaining, and the mystery satisfyingly challenging to solve. This is not another banal detective story. Lovesey's dazzling description early in the book of a Victorian music hall performance is as vibrant and colorful as an Impressionistic painting and his witty account of a bobby questioning a stuttering suspect is just one instance of his great sense of fun. Peter Lovesey has won many writing awards and this book is one reason why.

Back to the peace and tranquility of the Victorian Era. At least there was no greed, corruption and hypocrisy in the higher echelons of society back then!

I read crime books perhaps more than any other genre, and I hugely enjoy all stories in historical settings, so this should have been written for me. Why not? Well, it's the first in a series so the characters perhaps need to settle down. But I was saddened that, as it were to echo the music hall setting, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray were almost caricatures of a straight man and his fall guy. The plot was interesting and worked well to the end - but the failings of the characters, for me, was a near fatal flaw. Of course, I'll probably read another one to see if they develop...