Wed 13 Jul 2011
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: JONATHAN ROSS – Murder Be Hanged.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
JONATHAN ROSS – Murder Be Hanged. George Rogers #18. St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1993. Prior UK edition: Constable, hardcover, 1992.
I am a Jonathan Ross fan, and it irritates me no end that so few of his books have been reprinted in paperback in this country. He deserves a wider audience here. Obviously his hardcovers have met with some degree of success both here and Great Britain, as this is the eighteenth tale featuring Detective Superintendent George Rogers.
Ross himself is former Detective Chief Superintendent, and though the Rogers books are not as rigorously procedural as some, the qualify for the cognomen. He obviously knows whereof he writes, and even better, writes quite well of what he knows.
George is feeling his years. Of late he has been more interested in golf then women, a state of affairs so at odds with the norm that he fears the change of life is upon him. His attention is distracted from his woes by a call from a young man who wants to meet with him in private, to alert him of a crime that may happen.
Rogers meets him after dark, and learns that the teenager fears that his stepfather is planning to murder his mother. There is nothing to be done, of course, lacking evidence, but Rogers promises to keep an eye on things.
Then the mother is the subject of an attempted shooting, the step-father is missing, and Rogers and his trusty second, David Linegard, have a mystery on their hands. Appearances are deceiving, though (aren’t they always?), and the situation is deeper and darker than it first appeared. Before it’s solved there is murder done, though to and by whom may surprise you.
As always, Rogers a thorny, horny, and engaging lead, and the book is peopled with sharply drawn characters. Ross’s tales are not as deep and philosophical as some, perhaps, but they are far from trivial, and always interesting. The detection is realistic, solutions are never dragged in from left field, the prose is direct and forceful, and the narrative never lags.
Ross is a thoroughgoing professional. If he does not quite belong in the first rank with Hill and Harvey, he is comfortably high up in the second, and I invariably enjoy his books.
Bibliographic Notes: There have been 21 novels in the Inspector George Rogers series, all written between 1968 and 1997. Jonathan Ross was the pen name of John Rossiter (1916- ), who published another dozen or so spy and/or adventure novels under his own name.
July 13th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Over 400 words long, this is one of Barry’s longer reviews, which certainly agrees with his enthusiasm for both the book and the author — it’s obvious, wouldn’t you say?
If I’ve read one of Ross’s novels, and I’m sure I have, I don’t remember anything about it. I’m intrigued by Barry’s description of him as a womanizer (twice), which strikes me as unusual in the overall category of British police procedurals.
I’ll have to obtain two or three of Rogers’ cases to see how closely I agree with Barry’s assessment. I suspect I will.
July 14th, 2011 at 7:16 am
Steve, I read the first Rogers book because Barry was such a big fan. I did sort of like it (as much as I can remember) but I never read another, so I guess I didn’t like him as much as Barry did.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:02 am
I tried a Jonathan Ross mystery and like Jeff, didn’t read another. Barry was right about the lack of reprinting of British books in the U.S. I remember buying British editions from Jeff and other booksellers who would trek to England and buy books unavailable in the States.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:51 am
There must have been something in Ross’s books that hit Barry just right. As I said up above, I’m sure I read one of the Supt. Rogers books, but I don’t remember anything about it — which now makes three of us with about the same reaction.
But I trust Barry’s judgment enough — and I’m intrigued enough — that I do intend to follow through and read another.
January 9th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
i have read or listened to all of the Rogers series over the last few years and i assume the Mr Ross is no longer with us some are better than others but the ones that were read by the late Barrie Cookson certainly gave more feel to the characters. My fav two books were Diminished by death and Body of a woman.