Dolly and the Singing Bird

Ouch. I'd really been looking forward to this one, as I trawl through mysteries past (I recently re-read Murderess Ink, delighted that since the invention of the Internet I could finally get my hands on the many referenced works).

It began well--the title soprano was likable, the surprising Mr. Johnson equally so, and so the beginning pleased. And then--dear God--she joined Mr. Johnson on some kind of sailing race. If the book were called The Interminable Nautical Descriptions I would have known to steer clear of it. But instead I had to suffer through pages and pages of prose describing the bits of the boat, and the water, and the view, and the relationship of them all to each other (do I need to read a precise description of docking? show more Can't I just trust they know how to do it, did it, and we can move past it? No, apparently). Instead we get treasures like:

"I stood staring by the bare pole of the mainmast while Johnson dropped anchor beside a whorl of stacked peats made of pumice-stone, and I plodded down the companionway as soon as the dinghy was loaded."
Or
"I was between the brass handrail which ran along the side of the coachhouse roof and the ridge of the gunwale. I was against the lee rail of a hard-sailing ship, and if I released my grip of this icy brass rail I should be hard put to it not to slip sideways between those wide manropes and thence into the sea."

Almost all the characters are nautical people, so the entire plot (after the initial excitement) consists of visiting one another in port and discussing the race.

My fault, I suppose, for expecting a whodunnit--but the question of responsibility for the initial corpse is dealt with mid-way through without any particular excitement. At the 3/4 mark another murder is committed, and we finally have something resembling a murder mystery, with actual suspects and a couple of clues, but the perpetrator is fingered in about 20 pages, so so much for that.

An interesting twist figures in the final chapter, but having been bored still for about 180 pages in the middle, it's not enough to redeem me. Kudos for creating some characters compelling enough to have me keep hoping against hope that the book would take a turn for the better, instead of ditching it 52 pages in (my current rule--read at least your age, then discard if you're still not enjoying it).

It's really just a not-very-engaging pseudo-thriller for people who love reading about other people racing boats.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). show less

Tina Rossi is a famous coloratura soprano; clearly we must be prepared for various sorts of mental and physical gymnastics. The novel opens with her preparing to meet her clandestine lover, noted scientist Kenneth Holmes. She arrives at the friend's apartment where they are to meet; Kenneth is not there, but a dead man tumbles from a closet. Just then, a neighbor named Johnson Johnson appears on the scene with a couple of policemen. Johnson helps her get rid of the policemen without disclosing the corpse. Tina later finds out that Johnson is participating in a yacht race that will end near the island where Kenneth works, and agrees to accompany Johnson on the race. Various adventures ensue.

Tina, the first-person narrator, is an show more interesting character. She talks about having to work to avoid notice because of her fame, but she seems pretty content with whatever attention comes her way. She has made her way to fame and fortune from humble beginnings, with the help of her manager Michael, and is clearly quite greedy. She accepts expensive gifts for which she intends no return. She has stashed cash in jewelry across Europe. Is it only love that drives her to find a way to be with Kenneth? Johnson is clever, mysterious, quirky, and all-around fun.

The book is a fairly satisfying mystery, with small puzzles being set throughout and the whole picture remaining murky till the inevitable explanatory denouement. There are a couple of not entirely expected details offered in the summing up; I was prepared for one but don't see the point of the other. I liked the fact that hints were subtle and not beaten into us. I'll look for another, but not quite yet. show less

Dolly and the Singing Bird by Dorothy Dunnett (originally published in 1968 under her maiden name of Dorothy Halliday) is a Johnson Johnson mystery featuring a world-renowned coloratura soprano as the singing bird of the title. It is primarily set on Johnson’s yacht, “Dolly” during a sailing race around the Hebrides.

The soprano, Tina Rossi, is trying to meet up with her lover, a scientist who has been accused of sabotage and who might be a murderer, while trying to avoid various other men who are pursuing her for their own ends. There is one murder early on in the book, a lot of blackmail, and plenty of the back-and-forth intellectual banter and the mysterious allusions Dunnett does so well. The mystery seems to revolve around show more who killed the first man, and who is trying hardest to keep Tina from her lover, and why. Another mystery is the identity of the saboteur.

Johnson is as mysterious a character as he is in the other Dolly books. The reader never finds out who is really is. Tina Rossi is an unusual Dunnett heroine. She isn’t very likable, but she is strong and courageous. The other characters are all minor and there mostly for either comic or sinister effect as the case may be.

The book was a little too involved to make it the kind of mystery/thriller I usually enjoy reading. It was hard to keep up with all of the different characters and their goings-on. There were many, many sub-plots. I don’t like to criticize Dunnett, since she is my favorite writer, but this book feels like she was experimenting with writing a mystery and hadn’t quite figured out how to do it. It has a lot of the elements of the Lymond books (mysterious origins of leading man, intellectual banter, etc), and I think Tina Rossi may have been an early version of Gelis from the Niccolo books. The story was very muddled, and I didn’t really like the ending because it left too many unanswered questions.

I am giving this book four stars, but primarily because it is a Dunnett book. It isn’t one of her best, and would probably only be enjoyed by other Dunnett fans. show less

Not at all what I expected - fro some reason I was expecting a slow crime story ala Inspector Poirot. It is nothing like that at all, much more in the scope of an Action Adventure, perhaps an earlier Columbo. But set in the UK (Highlands) in perhaps the late 50s. No date is given. But reference is made ot early nuclear submarine testing, and the high ocatnce cultural clues suggest about that period.

Tina Rossi, is a the latest operatic starlet. Maintaining her good figure and voice whilst living the diva lifestyle is not easy but she succeeds with the help of her manager - Michael. She has arranged a set on concerts in Edinburugh so that afterwards she can meet her clandestine lover Kenneth Holmes. Dr. Holmes is a complete opposite to show more her, bueing a sober hardworking government engineer, now based in the secret Navy labs off the Scottish coast. He has a friend with a flat in Edinburgh. However when Tina goes there to meet him, she finds the flat empty, but with traces of being recently occupied. A quick search reveals the cliched (maybe it originaed from this stpry?) discovery of a body (the friend not the lover) in a wardrobe, followed almost immediately by a knock on the door as the police arrive. It turns out a burgler had been spotted in the area. However in order to maitain the clandestine nature of her lover Tina declines to reveral the body to them. However the Johnson Johnson with them (the original discovery of the burglar) stays to offer her comfort, and later invites her onto his yaught which happens to be sailing up past the islands where Kenneth is working. Tina accepts, to her manager's disappoval. And so the scene is set for high drinks jinks and drama aboard the good ship Dolly ,and the fantastic scottish islands.

Well worked plot, which doe sleave you surprised.. Johnson the "hero" of the series, is barely present a bit part to Tina. I wonder if all the rest of the books work out that way. I wasn't that convinced by the characters though, Tina especially seems far too competiant to be an opera singer as well! But some if this is porbably my unfamiliarity with the 50s lifestyle, a lot less taking things to seriously, and a lesser requirement for specialist knowledge. There's a lot of drinking and expectation of casual sex and drugs - the high rollers life of messing about on yachts. Very different from the common life.

The ending drags on for quite few more pages that you'd expect. They'd already had the grand showdown. But then there's more. ANd another bit, and a final final dramatic showdown. And then the reveal.

Really quite enjoyable. I hslal look out for the others - but there is probably a limit to how much of the 50s life i will want to read about at any one time. show less

Before I read the Niccolo series, I had also read something of Dorothy Dunnett's which wasnt Lymond. Equally bemused reaction at an out of focus hero", especially a middle aged bifocal wearing hero such as Johnson Johnson.
This tale is of Valentina Rossi, a photogenic soprano who is secretly having an affair with with an research engineer - something to do with computers and explosives. The main action takes place during a yacht race around the west Scottish islands, after a body is found in a flat where "Tina" and her lover Kenneth were meeting; and there is subsequently an explosion on a nuclear submarine where Kenneth is currently working. The eponymous Dolly is Johnson's yacht, and Johnson, it emerges, is a fixer, loosely employed by show more the UK government.

I can't say much more about the plot, or the way the tale is told without giving away spoilers. I have to say, I read this around 25 years ago, and didn't remember the storyline or the characters that well. I remember that they did feel slightly dated at the time, and it was interesting to see the way that this time around, as a mature adult rather than late teen, they felt a little dated, but it didn't impinge too much. Overall, a bit of glitzy but entertaining fun." show less

While there are mystery aspects to this book, I would classify it more as a suspense/thriller. I was completely surprised by the ending!

BTW, this book is also known as "Dolly and the Singing Bird"

Once I had read a review saying that the detective Johnson Johnson was barely described I this novel, I found that this coupled with the improbable plot meant that this book wasn't one I enjoyed.