Tour de Force

What was Detective Inspector Cockrill thinking? The small, curmudgeonly policeman — the Terror of Kent — hates to even visit London. What possessed him to go on a package tour of Italy? Cockrill starts regretting his decision almost instantly.

Part of the tour includes a stop on the island of San Juan de Pirata, a tiny independent nation like Andorra, Morocco or Lichtenstein. The island nation lives up to every British prejudice: an indecipherable language between Spanish and Italian, a pirate as its founder, a thoroughly corrupt police force, inefficient waiters and clerks, and an economy based on smuggling and other skullduggery. One of the tour’s party ends up murdered, at which point Cockrill comes into his glory. A fine irony show more since the victim had described him as “a dusty, brown sparrow who had somehow got mixed up with migratory birds.”

Another five-star read in this series by Christianna Brand. Here’s to dusty, brown sparrows.

Merged review:

What was Detective Inspector Cockrill thinking? The small, curmudgeonly policeman — the Terror of Kent — hates to even visit London. What possessed him to go on a package tour of Italy? Cockrill starts regretting his decision almost instantly.

Part of the tour includes a stop on the island of San Juan de Pirata, a tiny independent nation like Andorra, Morocco or Lichtenstein. The island nation lives up to every British prejudice: an indecipherable language between Spanish and Italian, a pirate as its founder, a thoroughly corrupt police force, inefficient waiters and clerks, and an economy based on smuggling and other skullduggery. One of the tour’s party ends up murdered, at which point Cockrill comes into his glory. A fine irony since the victim had described him as “a dusty, brown sparrow who had somehow got mixed up with migratory birds.”

Another five-star read in this series by Christianna Brand. Here’s to dusty, brown sparrows. show less

a bit tedious; employed Bayard's device skipping sections - would recommend Green for Danger to a reader new to her work

Witty and funny, but also confusing at times.

Inspector Cockrill's 6th outing is a treat!