Wilkie Martin

Something about this series has proven to be a perfect little in-betweener, amusing reads that go down smoothly without late nights or missed appointments. The third in a series about Inspector Hobbes and the hapless Andy, Inspector Hobbes and the Gold Diggers details the adventures of the two as they go on holiday and investigate a bank robbery. For those who have yet to read the series, this installment can stand alone. However, there is background mystery to a couple of characters show more revealed here, as well as interesting character growth from the first, all the more satisfying with the build.

Can I confess? I was on the lookout for the puns. This one had me giggling, probably because it was so unexpected:

“‘Hardly, old boy, I’ve slowed down with age.’
‘Age?’ said Hobbes, looking severe. ‘More like your drunken life style.’
‘Drunken? I haven’t touched a drop since 1950.’
‘Since it’s only ten-past eight, now,’ said Hobbes, ‘you’ve lasted all of twenty minutes.’“

There’s an extended one based on Shakespeare that had me chuckling–and groaning. But don’t worry; it’s not all puns. There’s some straight-forward humor as well:

“‘I banged my head on the windscreen, but I’ll be alright in a moment.’
‘Yes,’ said Hobbes, ‘I saw that. What have I told you about seatbelts?’
‘Umm… seatbelts are for wimps?’
‘No… well, I may have said it once, but I also said that you should wear one.’“

In all seriousness though, Martin did a nice job of keeping within the structure of his world and character set-up and still managing to surprise me. Hobbes and Andy follow the Hobbes-Watson dynamic, with Inspector Hobbes is similar to his namesake; clever, observant and multi-talented, although with a penchant for cracking marrow bones over taking cocaine. Like Watson, Andy is usually two steps behind, frequently distracted by good food and a pretty face. As usual, Hobbes–and the reader–solve the mystery before Andy, so part of the enjoyment is seeing how it all unfolds. I also appreciate the development of Andy’s character. Although Andy plays the role of fool, the laughter around him is more from fondness than mocking, and that Andy is learning to appreciate the humor in it as well.

All in all, this installment tied up a number of interesting background threads as well as a lovely sunset montage that would be a satisfying series ending.

“It was worth hanging in there because I’d seen so many things I wouldn’t have otherwise. It was true some of them gave me nightmares, but it was great to have a life and to be building up a store of memories.“ show less

Andy is married! He really has come of age (even if it happened a little late in life for him). We see glimpses of more maturity, but there is still a lot of the accident prone and lazy man child of previous books. Andy's wife has gone abroad for her job and he finds himself homeless, set up for blackmail, and back in Inspector Hobbes home during a flood. Between helping with rescues, Andy gets embroiled in another supernatural mystery - and comes too close to comfort with a "man eater".

Oh, the puns! The puns! I haven’t read so many puns since reading Robert Asprin. Actually, methinks I doth protest too much; I’m well known with my swim friends for frequent puns-wars with one of the other swimmers, a pundit of amazing talents. There’s a particularly pun-ishing anecdote in which Hobbes tells Andy a story about a pair of lions in a small traveling circus:

“‘Both lions lay limp in their cage, as if dead. A juggler and a clown went in to check–the clown had nicked show more himself shaving and was bleeding. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the lions weren’t dead, they’d merely been sleeping and woke to find two men in their cage and the door wide open.’

‘Gosh,’ I said. That must have been scary, especially for the bleeding clown.’

‘Language, Andy. As it happens, the lions, ignoring the clown, went straight for the juggler.’”

Silence those groans–the puns are part of the fun. Inspector Hobbes and the Curse is the second book in a series about British Police Inspector Hobbes and his sidekick, the penniless, ex-journalist Andy. This book stands alone, enjoyable despite not reading the first. It’s a Holmesian spoof, with a hapless, feckless version of Watson, and a supernatural twist. Told from Andy’s point of view, it follows the attempts of the two to investigate a string of mysterious incidents in the area, beginning with night sightings of a giant feline. First stop–the local Wildlife Park, where we learn about Hobbes’ camel allergy and Andy literally falls at the feet of a gorgeous woman. Subsequent inquires take them to the local pub, various farmers, on a night surveillance or two and even to a local music festival. Matters become more serious when a man dies at Andy’s feet.

Characterization is well done, if somewhat troublesome for me. Hobbes is classic Holmes, only a little more feral. Still arrogant, with mental and physical capabilities to match. Side characters generally get enough attention to come into their own, including Mrs. Goodfellow the housekeeper, Dregs the dog and Featherlight Binks, local bar owner and frequent brawler.

Andy, however, was often my sticking point. He fulfills most of the tropes of the feckless sidekick: leaping to erroneous conclusions, cowardly, foolish, and repeatedly making one bad decision after another. In fact, he’s pretty much the Gilligan of the book. Amusing at times, but hard to root for as he hares off on one wild tangent after another. It’s clear he’s not the smartest of narrators from the start, when he’s taken to making dinner for himself and Hobbes because the housekeeper is out of town:
“Certainly, he ate his [salad] without fuss, seeming not to mind the big green caterpillar on the lettuce, and he even complimented me on its freshness. He did, however, point out that the potatoes in a potato salad are better when cooked.”
At times, the foolishness was extreme enough to be slapstick, so take tolerance for silliness into account when reading. That said, I enjoyed using Andy’s observations to try and interpret characters and situations for myself, a process that was complicated by Andy’s frank admittance that in Hobbes’ company, he had been encountered supernatural creatures.

A few notes about the writing: Martin may well be trying to channel Sir Arthur, but initially I found the writing style hard to follow. Perhaps it was my own recent reading of Eats Shoots and Leaves, but I think Ms. Truss ought to have no fear that semicolons and colons are going out of fashion. Or, at least, Martin’s doing his best to bring them back. Phrasing is occasionally awkward: “Fortunately, for my well-being, the ten-mile journey could only have lasted five minutes, since the more I got used to his driving, the more frightening it became.” Luckily, once into the story, those instances could be ignored as I focused on the plotting and the humor. It is also written with a number of British slang words, so I finally got a bit of practice with the Kindle dictionary link. “Dozy,” “conker,” “doddle,” “punters,” and “pong” all got a look-up.

Overall, it was an interesting mix of British detective comedy with shades of urban fantasy/supernatural mystery. I’d certainly check out others in the series. It made for a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Three and a half stars, rounding up. show less

The story is narrated by Andy, jobless, broke and homeless he is taken in by Inspector Hobbes and his housekeeper Mrs Goodfellow. Both treat him somewhat like a small helpless child. After reading an article in the local paper about a sheep being killed then a large number of pheasants also go missing, Hobbes decides it’s time he started investigating these strange happenings. First stop is Bob Nibblet the local poacher. Bob, known to have a drink or two, tells them he saw a large black show more cat like a panther.
Their investigation now turns to whether the black cat sighting could possibly be true or is there something more sinister stalking the woods.
Follow Hobbes and Andy as they battle through unlikely suspects as another death occurs.

What a great, funny read! The competent laidback Inspector Hobbes and his bumbling sidekick Andy! Every good country cop needs a sidekick. Someone to bounce those laughable jokes off! Hobbes and Andy are an excellent duo. The prose is in a friendly relaxed style, like a friend telling a story. The reader really gets to know Andy in this story as he fills you in on little episodes from his past. If you think you’ve had a bad day, spend a day in Andy’s shoes. Had me chuckling non stop! The story was well thought out and it all pulled together at the end to finish well. I’d recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good crime novel with a lot of laughs. I also learnt a few new words ‘wolfifesting’ being by far my favourite.
Inspector Hobbes, himself, is intriguing and now I really need to go back and read Wilkie Martin’s first Inspector Hobbes novel to get a greater insight into this character. show less