Sat 12 May 2018
JILL McGOWN – Gone to Her Death. Lloyd & Hill #3. St. Martin’s Press, US, hardcover, 1990. Fawcett, US, paperback, 1991. First published in the UK as Death of a Dancer (Macmillan, hardcover, 1989).
If you didn’t know anything about England except for what you read in their mystery novels, you would have to conclude that there is only one thing on the minds of everyone who lives there, male or female, day or night, and that is S-E-X.
The scene is a public boys’ school, and even so, rape, attempted rape, voyeurism, impotence, nymphomania, repressed homosexuality, it’s all here. Even Inspector Lloyd is carrying on an affair with his sergeant, Judy Hill, and she’s still married. Spare me.
Afterthoughts: I think maybe I should add that McGown does have some sobering things to say about rape, and then secondly, underneath it all is really a pretty fair detective story. There is not a single sympathetic character in the whole book, but if you make it through to the end, you may find that the working out of the mystery is quite satisfactory.
Bibliographic Note: There were 13 books in the Lloyd & Hill series, the last being Unlucky for Some (2004)
May 12th, 2018 at 7:40 pm
Sounds like a bit of over reaction to the sexless classic Brit mystery. There has to be a middle position.
May 12th, 2018 at 7:50 pm
Assuming the fixation on sex I found in this one (*) was true (a) I think you are correct, it was in reaction to the previous no-sex mysteries in the Golden Age of British mysteries, but (b) British mysteries no longer n==find the need to obsess about it in their work.
(*) At the time I wrote this review, it wasn’t just this book I found too much about sex in, nor especially was McGown the only author I found so inclined — and for her, as far as I knew, only this particular book. I think I thought I had found a more general trend in that direction, one that didn’t care for, and rightly or wrongly, was pointing it out.
May 13th, 2018 at 6:03 am
I think those who like British cop stories should give this series another try. I like it very much – I certainly don’t remember the plot of this particular book, but I wouldn’t call the recap typical for the series – and have read them all. If you like Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ Bill Slider series, this is – in my mind – quite similar in general tone.
May 13th, 2018 at 11:20 am
Even before posting this review I’ve had one of McGown’s books high on my TBR pile. If/when I actually get to ot, readers of this blog will know right away. as you will my reaction here.
As for the Bill Slider series, it’s unfortunately one that I’ve never tried at all. Too many books!
May 13th, 2018 at 10:04 pm
Steve, remember this review from M*F past? I remembered it only because I remember commenting on the TV Movie unsold British pilot.
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=49598
As for sex I will never forget my first JD Robb.
May 14th, 2018 at 5:06 pm
Thanks, Michael. Yes, I’d forgotten about this conversation we had a while back. I do remember that at the time I set aside on of McGown’s books to read, promising to get to it real soon.
I think I know where the book is, but “real soon” never came. I think I will try again.
I’ve never read any of the Robb books, so I’m not sure if the sex in them is the same kind as in this book I reviewed. In this one, reading between the lines of my comments, the sex in it seems shameful and/or of a illicit nature.
You can tell me I’m wrong if you wish, but I don’t believe the same is true with J.D.Robb.
May 14th, 2018 at 7:05 pm
Nora Roberts was my late sister’s favorite writer. I knew Roberts would not appeal to me but I decided to try one of Roberts JD Robb books. The sex scenes were graphic and shocking.
It got me interested enough to read about the subject of sex in mysteries. It seems women writers (and readers) have far less problems with sex scenes than men while men have less problems with violence than women (generalizing here).
One comment I remember reading that you can tell the difference between a male writer and a female writer in their sex scenes. Women will mention smells while men don’t.
How would you compare Lawrence Block’s “dirty books” with Jill McGown?
I found Block’s Ronald Rabbit Is a Dirty Old Man to be one of the most disgusting terrible books I have ever read. I found Robb to have more romance and sex than I like. Never read McGown, I have not even watched the Lloyd and Hill TV movie.
May 14th, 2018 at 8:52 pm
In the McGown book, the sex was never described or in any sense explicit. It was pervasive, though, in that (as I recall, which may be badly) almost every character had secrets of a sexual nature to hide.
Quoting from my review: “rape, attempted rape, voyeurism, impotence, nymphomania, repressed homosexuality, it’s all here.” I don’t remember if any or all of the above was part of the solution.
In Block’s book, the sex was fairly explicitly described, or as explicitly as a 1970s mainstream novel could describe sexual activity..