Tue 3 May 2011
Reviewed by Allen J. Hubin: CAROLINE GRAHAM – Death of a Hollow Man.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
Allen J. Hubin
CAROLINE GRAHAM – Death of a Hollow Man. William A. Morrow & Co., hardcover, 1989. Avon, paperback, 1991.
I missed Caroline Graham’s debut with Inspector Tom Barnaby (The Killings at Badger’s Drift), but it seems to me very unlikely to have been better than Death of a Hollow Man, a sensitive, insightful, probing gem of a tale.
The Causton Amateur Dramatic Society is rehearsing for its latest production, Amadeus. We meet the cast, director and crew in full and in depth. They include the lead, Esslyn Carmichael, a conceited womanizer; several young aspirants of varying talent; an assistant director, routinely squelched by the director; and Joyce Barnaby, wife of Tom.
Passions run high and deep, and opening night bids fair to be an unmitigated disaster, for murder waits in the wings for its moment at center stage. A most impressive performance by Graham.
Bibliographic data. This will have to wait until tomorrow as well. Caroline Graham wrote only seven Inspector Barnaby mysteries, but the character has become famous around the world as the sleuth in many seasons’ worth of British TV’s Midsomer Murders, which I’ve never seen. If any of you have, please fill me in — and compare and contrast with the novels, if you can.
[UPDATE] 05-04-11. The Chief Inspector Barnaby series:
2. Death of a Hollow Man (1989)
3. Death in Disguise (1992)
4. Written in Blood (1994)
5. Faithful Unto Death (1996)
6. A Place of Safety (1999)
7. A Ghost in the Machine (2004)
I’d still like to hear more from anyone who can tell me how closely the TV series follows the overall tenor of the books, but in Comment #1, The Doc points out the recent contretemps raised by some badly spoken comments made by the (soon to be former) producer of the series.
Here’s a portion of an online review of the episode that was aired soon after this occurred, which also coincided with Neil Dudgeon taking over as Midsomer‘s new DCI (John) Barnaby.
From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8402199/The-return-of-Midsomer-Murders-review.html —
“Midsomer isn’t roaringly popular because it holds a mirror up to modern Britain, any more than Poirot serves as a primer on 21st-century Belgium. Midsomer brings to life – and gently mocks – an idea of England and Englishness that probably hasn’t existed in this country for decades, but which lives on in the popular imagination, especially overseas.
“Much of what Brian True-May had to say on the subject of Englishness had me squirming in discomfort, but I will say this in his defence: Midsomer Murders has never claimed to have a vice-like grip on reality.
“I can’t think of any English people I know – regardless of their ethnic origin – who’ve been bludgeoned to death with a slide projector.”
May 4th, 2011 at 6:28 am
The Barnaby -producer was fired (he resigned under pressure), because, asked if non-whites would be featured in the next instalment of the series, he answered ‘No, this is traditional England, the last refuge’.
This is a BIG issue in Europe, with politicians and paid media ruling and reporting and opinion-spreading against the majority of the people.
May 4th, 2011 at 6:46 am
This happened only recently, in mid-March. Here’s one link, which contains many others:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8381769/Midsomer-Murders-creator-suspended-after-calling-show-the-last-bastion-of-Englishness.html
May 6th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
And now a vociferous dissent.
** PLOT WARNING !!! ***
The premise for this book is utterly absurd. I hated it. And Graham came from a theater background! Even in an amateur theater community the weapon switch could never take place without being noticed. The actor would’ve realized almost immediately he was using a real razor rather than the prop with the dulled blade. It was too much for me – a former actor – to swallow. I also thought the motive for the crime was far fetched and that murder was an outrageous solution to the killer’s problem.
** END PLOT WARNING ***
On the other hand, I thought her debut THE KILLINGS IN BADGER’S DRIFT was brilliant. Along the same lines as the subversive village crimes in Minette Walters’ early books it’s a milestone in contemporary crime novels. Graham’s other books are OK to barely tolerable. I don’t think she never surpassed her first book.
As for the TV show – the episodes based on her novels (only three) were very true to the books. Only a few of the early original scripts caught the same spirit of the bizarre and the dark underbelly of “cozy” English village life as expressed in her books. Some later episodes didn’t even seem like they belonged to the series – more like something lifted from a tired American crime drama with a serial killer running amok. I do recall that several of the early shows were fun to spot actors who were little known then but are now movie stars. Orlando Bloom played a juvenile delinquent in one, for example.
With the exception of Barnaby’s sergeant, who was a boorish chauvinist in the books, most of the regular recurring characters were as Graham wrote them. I always felt that the actress who played Barnaby’s wife was utterly wasted. A thankless role that got smaller and smaller as the series went on. She is featured more prominently in the few books I read.
I stopped watching the shows when the actor who played the sergeant left the series and was replaced with some dashing absurdly handsome actor who kind of ruined the feel of the show for me. I don’t mind watching dashing handsome actors but he seemed out of place. John Nettles (who plays Inspector Barnaby) also seemed to get very weary in the later shows. Almost as if he were just walking through some of the episodes like a robot.
May 6th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
John
Forgive me for adding the PLOT WARNING to your comment. It’s a big problem in reviewing mystery fiction, of course. How can you talk about how effective the author’s plotting is if you can’t talk about the ending? On the other hand, most readers don’t want to know the ending ahead of time. The judicious use of PLOT WARNING’s is the only way I’ve ever come up with to handle it.
I’m sure I read the first book in the series, but I (alas) don’t remember it, except for some vague impressions. But I’m glad to see your statement “Only a few of the early original scripts caught the same spirit of the bizarre and the dark underbelly of “cozy†English village life as expressed in her books.”
And that’s the impression I have about the book, the little I remember of it. It’s also why I’ve been curious about the TV show. Again my impression only, but I’ve had the feeling the series has been more light-hearted than the books, and/or focusing on the characters and the strange incidents they face, rather than clueing and solid, well-grounded detective work.
I intend to start watching it, but from the beginning. It sounds as though the series has taken on a life of its own, continuing on and on as characters come and go, even leading ones, and getting farther and farther away from its original premise.
— Steve