Sat 15 Oct 2016
Archived Review: MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH – Remains to be Seen.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Reviews[5] Comments
MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH – Remains to be Seen. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1976. No US paperback edition. First published in the UK by Collins, hardcover, 1976.
Two minor bureaucrats in an obscure Washington office. to justify their salaries not to mention their jobs, start in motion a chain of unlikely events that brings the close attention of several world powers down upon the British descendants of a Russian prince who escaped the Bolsheviks two generations before.
That two of Davydov’s sons, now named Davis, are undertakers is quite crucial to the Plot and to the success that the third son, a dreamer and a fourth-rate poet, has in finally finding himself and quite rightly rising to the occasion.
With some quick shuffling of a dead body or two (you knew?) and a hi-de-do comic routine as minor everyday problems escalate out of control. Butterworth entertains without ever producing real in-the-aisle laughter, lacking the spark of truly insane genius that would set the affair out of the ordinary.
Rating: C plus.
Bibliographic Notes: Michael Butterworth (1924-1986) has thirteen books listed in Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV, all non-series books such as this one. He also wrote two books as by William Dobson, three books as by Sarah Kemp (series character: Dr Tina May), seven as by Carola Salisbury, and one as by Anne-Marie Sheridan.
October 15th, 2016 at 8:35 pm
In a certain sense, this is the epitome of a totally forgettable book. I enjoyed it at the time, but today I remember nothing about it at all, including writing this review.
October 16th, 2016 at 10:17 am
I read three books of his – though not this one – and I can think of many words to describe them but “forgettable” is not one I’d pick.
I reviewed one of them, “The Black Look” on my blog one year ago:
http://atthevillarose.blogspot.fr/2015/11/michael-butterworth-le-noir-est-la-mode.html
Moira Redmond of Clothes in Books has also taken an interest in his work, on my advice:
http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.fr/2015/10/halloween-flowers-for-dead-witch-by.html
http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.fr/2016/08/the-black-look-by-michael-butterworth.html
The book you reviewed seems to have been a departure from his usual subject matter, maybe that accounts for it not being very good?
October 16th, 2016 at 12:04 pm
Thanks for the links, Xavier. I was wondering if the light-hearted approach to the book I read was typical of Butterworth’s crime fiction or not. From the reviews you referred me to, I’d say not. I’m going to stand by my use of the word forgettable, but I’m glad your experience with Butterworth stayed with you longer than REMAINS TO BE SEEN has stayed with me.
October 17th, 2016 at 4:06 pm
This should have been an Ealing comedy. It’s not even GILLIGAN’S ISLAND.
February 24th, 2019 at 8:01 pm
Butterworth wrote four novels as William Dobson, published by Signet in the US.
CHILD OF HELL (1982)
THE CHILD PLAYER (1980)
THE RIPPER (1981)
FANGS(1980)