The False Inspector Dew

For the first 100 pages or so, I thought I was going to really dislike this. In those 100 pages we’re introduced to an apparently excessive number of characters, all dislikable, while being subjected to a little too much 1920s period detail. It’s clear that contrivance is afoot, that all these characters will end up entwined in some way. It’s not clear that such obvious contrivance, with such unpleasant people, is going to be at all enjoyable.

But you know what, it turns out that the next 250 pages are well worth the slight slog of the first 100. All the characters end up on a liner crossing the Atlantic, and farce ensues. Murderous farce, of course, but farce all the same, and increasingly comic. Through a string of coincidences show more and poorly chosen pseudonyms, dentist Walter Baranov ends up being mistaken for a famous police inspector (Dew of Crippen case fame) and tasked with investigating a murder on board, which may or may not be a murder he himself has committed, in consort with his beloved Alma, who is masquerading as his estranged wife and possible murder victim Lydia.

It’s all pretty silly, but is clearly meant to be, and once things get going, it’s a page-turning pleasure. Baranov approaches the case, consciously or not, by presenting such a bumbling front that people feel intimidated into telling him everything, for fear that the great (false) investigator Dew is three steps ahead of them already, operating on a higher plane. Meanwhile the other characters slip in and out of disguises, each other’s rooms, and so on, in the best farcical style. You’re so taken up with the comedy that you’re distracted from the underlying progression of the case, which is in fact very cleverly constructed and subtly revealed, and so the smart plot twists emerge organically and surprisingly. And since it’s a farce, it really doesn’t matter that most of the characters are unpleasant or flawed: that’s what they’re supposed to be.

I could well imagine someone hating the whole thing, if they didn’t have taste for situational comedy and such mixed with murder mystery, and I do think this sort of genre mashup is often done poorly (q.v., perhaps, that Keating book two years ago), but for me the payoff here was well worth getting through the slightly laboured setup. show less

Lovesy is quickly becoming my new favorite British suspense/mystery author. A master of the staggering ending, he creates characters who are both quick-witted and witty. "Dew" is set mostly on one of the huge Cunard liners in 1921. A pretty straight-forward murder plot is hatched between a dentist and a woman who is besotted with him, involving the dentist's wife being tossed overboard after she tosses off a bit of chloroform. Once we board ship, however, all bets are off. The intricacies of the plot, the many characters who aren't what they seem, and an acerbic wit make this book a new classic in the "impossible crime" genre. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey. I have now read four books by this author, and have loved all of them so I am ready to add him to my list of favorite authors. This book is also one of the books listed on the H.R.F. Keating List of 100 Best Crime & Mystery Books, a list that I have been reading from and can give a big thumbs up to, as I have relished all the books I have read so far from the list.

This is a stylish, clever story that kept me guessing all the way through. A convoluted plot that includes murder among the well-to-do aboard a trans-Atlantic ocean liner in 1921. The opening of the book sets part of the puzzle with the question of who is posing as the famous Inspector Dew aboard the Mauretania. We, as show more the reader, think that we know exactly what is going on, but the author has mastered the art of the red herring! The book brought many smiles as I enjoyed this vintage feeling mystery that hearkens back to the crime of Dr. Crippen.

The False Inspector Dew highlights the clever plotting that Peter Lovesey is capable of, and with it’s surprising ending, well developed characters and great setting was a read that I was sorry to see end. I’ve tried to be as vague as I can about the plot because if you do pick up this book, half the fun is not knowing what’s going to happen next or where the author is taking you. show less

Peter Lovesey has never let me down. I did avoid this book for years because I was such a fan of the Sergeant Cribb books (and the television versions) and was afraid this wouldn't be as good, but oh how wrong I was!
Walter Dew was the name of the Chief Inspector who arrested Dr. Crippen (also read Thunderstruck) and it is the alias dentist Walter Baranov assumes to murder his wife when she leaves England on the Mauretania to make it big in movies in the US 1921. In many ways, this story echoes the Crippen saga, with the sinking of the Lusitania and card sharping thrown in. Walter, whose unassuming good nature makes the reader want to pull for him, has his girlfriend Alma (who reads too many romance novels for her own good) take his show more wife's place in their intricately plotted scheme only to have the ship's captain come to him to ask the supposed retired chief inspector to solve a murder.
Oh, there are wheels within wheels in this story and more twists than in a bag of Twizzlers. While Walter thinks he's doing pretty well, he falls into his old habit of becoming overconfident and going off script, which was the ruin of his former career in a music hall mindreading act. We watch him totally fail to act like a chief inspector of Scotland Yard. Too bad he hadn't read crime novels the way Alma read mysteries! show less

All in all, it was a good book. The start was confusing, but after the story progressed, you were able to pick up the threads and make sense of it. I'm sure this was intentional.

The story dragged just a bit in the middle but it had some excellent twists in the end. Not fantastical, but believable and yet unexpected - all the more satisfying. Well written.

I'd definitely recommend this book

Holy crap this was awesome! I read mostly sci-fi and fantasy, but I'm really glad my 2017 reading challenge had me look through my mystery shelf. I've had this book forever, recommended by a friend. Decided to read it with my wife and it had us laughing, cringing, yelling, embarrassed and finally completely satisfied. Looks like we may need to pick up more books by Mr. Lovesey, though I think this is probably his "big one".

We have both been on a couple cruises so it was really interesting to read about a cruise set almost 100 years ago. Including the macarena was kind of a stretch but... (totally kidding). Do have to admit that all the talk about first, second and third class passengers really made us squirm a bit, but there was show more definitely an exotic glamourousness (probably not a word) to it all. show less

If I could I would give six stars. If there was something like “the perfect mystery-novel” this book would deserve that title. The “False Inspector” has everything you ask from a good crime-novel: Claustrophobic scene (crossing the Atlantic on a ship), some characters that make you curious who they really are, some confusion, some funny occurences and several twists that turn the story around without any lack of logic. The best thing: In my opinion the book contains not a single word too many. Everything is at its right place, the timing is perfect and in the (surprising) end you detect that you can interpret apparently solid facts in quite another way than you first thought.