Inspector Hobbes and the Common People - Wilkie Martin

    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!