Wed 3 Mar 2021
An Archived Review by Maryell Cleary: CHARLOTTE MacLEOD – Rest You Merry.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
CHARLOTTE MacLEOD – Rest You Merry. Professor Peter Shandy #1. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1978; Avon, paperback, 1979, 1988. Otto Penzler Books, hardcover, 1993.
Charlotte MacLeod is the find of the year for this reviewer. Although this mystery has a Christmas season setting, don’t wait for Christmas to read it. Peter Shandy, professor at Balaclava Agricultural College, co-producer of the Bacalava Buster – a giant rutabaga – and of Sprightly Sieglinde — a fast-growing viola — is a top-notch addition to the ranks of chuckle-stimulating amateur detectives.
After Shandy has over-decorated his home in a grand fling at Balaclava Crescent’s annual Grand Illumination for Christmas, he ducks out to avoid repercussions, returning to find the body of Mrs. Jemina Ames, his neighbor and wife of his agricultural collaborator, behind the sofa in his living room. He recognizes that this is no accident, and is set to proving that by the college’s overpowering president.
Another murder and a budding romance later — he does just that. Along the way we meet Crimble, a sexually athletic custodian; Tim Ames, the very deaf husband of the dead woman; Hannah Cadwell, friend of Jemima and wife of the upright financial officer of the college; the Dysarts, who give parties at which lots of alcohol is imbibed and Heidi Heyhoe, a coed who is mainly occupied with pulling sleds around the Crescent.
I can’t begin to convey the humor of the tale, yet it is also a serious investigation into human motives. I’m going to read more MacLeods.
NOTE: This review was paired with the following one-paragraph one by Bob Adey:
The light humorous detective novel is a very easy form to come unstuck on, but Miss (or is it Mrs.) MacLeod doesn’t. Her picture of college life and the effort of Professor Peter Shandy to uncover the identity of the killer on the campus contain some genuinely funny passages. The author handles her cast with considerable skill and Shandy’s late romance is also nicely done. The detection is also more than satisfactory, so the book is to be recommended on all counts.
March 3rd, 2021 at 5:02 pm
Is this the only Professor Shandy story, ’cause she wrote quite a few mysteries.
March 3rd, 2021 at 5:57 pm
Close to half of her mysteries were in this series, beb. Here’s the full list:
Series
Professor Peter Shandy
Rest You Merry (1978)
The Luck Runs Out (1979)
Wrack and Rune (1981)
Something the Cat Dragged in (1983)
The Curse of the Giant Hogweed (1985)
The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond (1986)
Vane Pursuit (1989)
An Owl Too Many (1991)
Something in the Water (1994)
Exit the Milkman (1996)
I read the series up through Hogweed, I think, but to me, they started getting silly, as opposed to funny. Everyone’s mileage will vary on this, I’m sure.
March 3rd, 2021 at 8:24 pm
I only made it to WRACK AND RUNE before the silliness overwhelmed the humor and the promise of the first one was too obviously not fulfilled. To be fair none of the later books held up for me, I was just stubborn and held on through the third book when I sighed and gave up.
March 3rd, 2021 at 11:18 pm
Heidi Heyhoe is a name for the ages, though.
March 4th, 2021 at 8:07 am
HOGWEED was the one that killed it for me too. I’d read them all to that point. The humor was good for the most part.