Thu 2 Jul 2009
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: JACK S. SCOTT – The Poor Old Lady’s Dead.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
William F. Deeck
JACK S. SCOTT – The Poor Old Lady’s Dead.
Harper & Row, US, hardcover, 1976. Reprint paperback: Popular Library, 1980. First published in the UK: Robert Hale, hc. 1976.
The Chief Inspector had come down with a bug and the Superintendent was not aware of it until Detective Inspector Rosher had taken over the investigation. So the tumble down the stairs by a little old lady at the Haven, an old folks’ home, remains in the ham-fisted hands of Old Blubbergut, as he is unaffectionately known to his colleagues and his underlings.
Rosher has to deal with an alderman who is the dead lady’s nephew and quite influential in the town, and finesse and subtlety are not Rosher’s strong points, if they are points of his at all.
A subplot involves Rosher’s unhappy and hapless assistant, who has to suffer not only from his superior’s taunts but from the demands of a pregnant mistress who, quite reasonably, wants him to leave his wife and marry her.
Rosher can be compared with [Joyce Porter’s] Chief Inspector Wilfrid Dover in some ways, only Dover is a caricature, a grotesque, and funny. Rosher is unfunny and very close to real.
He toadies to his superiors. As for his underlings, “Strangely, he was not unpopular with the rank and file, provided they were on a lowly rung and unlikely to rise far above it.” Like Dover, he cadges meals and drinks from the unfortunate juniors who have to work with him. His personal habits aren’t very pleasant, either.
As some other authors before him have discovered when they made their main character unpleasant, a continuing character must receive some empathy from the reader or be a burlesque like Dover. Otherwise, the normal reader will not buy further books in the series.
Scott made Rosher more appealing and more human, though still not particularly pleasant, as the series advanced. Read this first recorded case of Rosher for a good investigation, some rather bitter humor, and to discover what he was like in the beginning.
Then read the rest of Scott’s novels featuring Rosher. They become even more enjoyable as Rosher mellows somewhat.
Bibliographic Data: [Taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.]
ROSHER, INSP. (Sgt.) ALFRED STANLEY “ALF”. Series character created by Jack S. Scott.
The Poor Old Lady’s Dead (n.) Hale 1976; Harper, 1976.
The Shallow Grave (n.) Hale 1977; Harper, 1978.
A Clutch of Vipers (n.) Collins 1979; Harper, 1979.
The Gospel Lamb (n.) Collins 1980; Harper, 1980.
A Distant View of Death (n.) Collins 1981; Ticknor, 1981, as The View from Deacon Hill.
The Local Lads (n.) Collins 1982; Dutton, 1983.
An Uprush of Mayhem (n.) Collins 1982; Ticknor, 1982.
All the Pretty People (n.) Collins 1983; St. Martin’s, 1984.
A Death in Irish Town (n.) Collins 1984; St. Martin’s, 1985.
A Knife Between the Ribs (n.) Collins 1986; St. Martin’s, 1987.
Editorial Comment:
I may be wrong, but I don’t have any strong feeling that either Inspector Rosher or his creator Jack S. Scott are remembered by more than a handful of mystery readers today, some 20 or 30 years later. Back in the 1970s and early 80s, I’m fairly sure that Joyce Porter’s Inspector Dover’s books were more popular than Rosher’s, and I’m sure that even the obnoxious Dover is now little more than a fading memory, alas.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:02 am
Dover and Rosher are both pretty much forgotten today. The problem with having such an unattractive protagonist is pretty soon they wear thin on the reader as much as they do the other characters in the book. You’re better off to have an Archie Goodwin to puncture their more unattractive traits or balance a Dalziel with a Pascoe.
Generally these types of characters tend to become nicer as the series progresses. Melville Davidson Post’s Randolph Mason started out as a shyster, and quickly became a crusader for justice (or at least his clients), though a sharp one.
Or you can always create a charming monster like Flashman and have the best of both worlds.
I know I read a couple of the Scott books, but I can’t really recall them, though that may be more me than his writing. Dover had a fairly good run for at least the first few books, but as you both say they wore thin quickly.
May 31st, 2019 at 11:37 pm
Just finished this book (May 2019) and came to the Web to look for reviews. I couldn’t agree more — Rosher is damned unpleasant, mean. And I thought the plot here rather underdeveloped. But Scott was an excellent writer, and terrific with character. The portrait of the marriage between Johnny and Madge Howes is superb; I found more suspense in wondering about what would happen to their marriage than in the mystery story, but I don’t mean that as a put-down. I’ve seen rather too many contemporary books bending over backwards to make the protagonist into everyone’s best friend — or, at the other end of the spectrum, all those “girl” and “woman” books that are filled with hateful people. I found Scott excellent at drawing people, warts and all. This is the second Scott I’ve read. Both have left me feeling shaken up and turned upside down, partly because Scott flings out raw and ugly truths so frequently. I’ll keep reading him, but I won’t devour them in rapid succession. I’m thinking one a year, which will take me to retirement. Thanks for posting your review and giving me the opportunity to pitch in with my own 2 cents.
June 1st, 2019 at 9:29 am
Thanks for stopping by, Steve, and adding your perspective on Rosher and this book in particular. For me, it’s been too long since I’ve read any of the books in the series. I really ought to remedy that.
July 1st, 2020 at 4:14 pm
Thank you all for your comments. It is good to know my father’s books are still being read. I recommend ‘Corporal Smothers, Deceased’.