2021; 470 pages. Book 5 (out of 5) in the “Unhuman” series.
New Author? : No. Genres : Dark
Humor; Humorous British Detective Cozy Mystery Fantasy. Overall Rating : 7*/10.
Woohoo!
Andy Caplet is going on an overseas trip with his unhuman friend,
Inspector Hobbes! And since it involves
some top-secret skullduggery, the government is picking up the tab! Andy’s wife Daphne gets to go along too!
Actually, Hobbes was mostly
interested in getting Daphne to make the trip, since he wanted to make use of her
archaeological talents. Andy just sort of
wrangled them into including him as well.
Both Daphne and Andy had to
sign NDAs, which means “Non-Disclosure
Agreements”. That means they
can’t tell you any details about this sensitive operation. So let’s just say the destination is
somewhere in the Himalayan mountains area.
And there may or may not be
some big, white-furred bipedal creatures involved.
What’s To Like...
There are at least five
different storylines interwoven in Inspector Hobbes
and the Common People, namely:
a.) What exactly is the secret mission in the
Himalayas;
b.) Will Andy get fired from his reporter’s job
after the newspaper comes under new management;
c.) Will a Land Development company turn the
local countryside into a huge urban neighborhood?
d.) Who shot a little boy while he was
trampolining?
e.) Will
Hobbes catch the runaway rhea?
Like all the books in this
series, the tale is told from the First-Person POV
(Andy’s), and is written in English, not American. So in addition to weird spellings (such as sceptical, kerbside, and faeces), and odd vocabulary (such as faffed, gormless, plus the three words in the
next section), you’ll encounter strange new phrases such as Eton Mess, Lancashire Hotpat, and gaffer tape.
I always love this!
It’s probably best to view
this book as a 5-story anthology. The
“secret mission” tale comes first, and is entirely set apart from the other
four plotlines. Those narratives are
interspersed throughout the rest of the book. The staggered scene shifts means there aren’t
any slow spots.
The ending is multi-faceted,
which is not surprising, given the anthological structure of the
storyline. It’s not particularly tense
or twisty, but it does tie up all but one of the five plotlines. Goodness prevails, and all’s well that ends
well.
Kewlest New Word ...
Sconner (n.) : a person who is tiresome,
objectionable. and irritating. (Scottish)
Others: Parlous (adj.), Grottiest (adj.; British).
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 1,510 ratings
and 100 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.36*/5,
based on 944
ratings and 63 reviews.
Excerpts...
“I believe you have something of mine.”
“Yes,” I said. “We have your rhea.”
Mr. Catt grinned. “You always have my ear if you need to talk.”
“You’d better come in,” I said. “The rhea is at the back.”
“The rhea should always be at the back,”
said Mr. Catt, and tittered.
Mr. Catt entered the kitchen and
beamed. “Mr. Hobbes, you really have
caught Dai the rhea! I hope you’ll be
better soon.” (pg. 300)
“Don’t ask for credit unless you want a
punch in the gob.”
Amazingly fast for such a bulky man, he
seized me by the seat of my trousers and the scruff of the neck.
“Don’t trouble yourself,” I said, hoping to
avoid pain. “I can throw myself out.”
He must have been in one of his better
moods, because he snorted with laughter and put me down. “Go on then,” he said. “But don’t be too rough on yourself.”
I took myself by the collar, lugged myself
through the pub and dived out onto the pavement, much to the astonishment of a
passing cat. (pg. 388)
Kindle Details…
Inspector
Hobbes and the Common People sells for $3.99 at Amazon right now. The other e-books in the series go for either
$1.99,
(Book 1), or $3.99. (Books 2 thru 4).
“We can’t have
monstrous birds disembowelling the public—it wouldn’t look good in the tourist
brochures.” (pg.
179)
There’s very little profanity
in Inspector Hobbes and the Common People. I noted only three instances in the first 25%
of the e-book, all of which were mild and eschatological in nature. Later on, a scatological term shows up. I don’t recall any “adult situations”
cropping up.
Your enjoyment of this book
will depend mostly on how much you like short story anthologies. Frankly, the “secret mission” tale has zero
impact upon the rest of the book. The
other four storylines have only marginal impact on each other, which means
you’ll be searching in vain for an overarching plot thread.
There’s also an abundance of
references to events in the earlier four books of the series. I read them in order, but frankly no longer
remember any of their details, other than the two protagonists.
Still, Wilkie Martin did a
nice job of quilting five storylines into a cohesive unit, and sprinkling an
abundance of wit, humor, and groanworthy puns into an engaging narrative. Sadly, Inspector Hobbes and the Common People
was published in 2021, and no volumes have been added to the series since
then. I fear we’ve seen the last of
Hobbes and Andy.
7 Stars. One last thing. Years ago, on one of my business trips to England, I was treated to a dish called “mushy peas”, which are briefly mentioned here. If you ever find yourself in a restaurant in the UK and they offer this as a side dish, by all mean, give it a taste!
