Wed 23 Jul 2014
Reviewed by Allen J. Hubin: CHARLOTTE MacLEOD – Vane Pursuit.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
Allen J. Hubin
CHARLOTTE MacLEOD – Vane Pursuit. Mysterious Press, hardcover, 1989; paperback, 1990.
Vane Pursuit is one of the better tales in Charlotte MacLeod’s series about Peter Shandy, professor of botany at Balaclava College in the nether regions of Massachusetts. Shandy’s wife Helen is here working on a book project involving the potentially famous weathervanes created by the nomenclaturally unforgettable Praxiteles Lumpkin.
However, disaster seems to attend her photographic rounds: buildings burn and weathervanes are destroyed. Or mysteriously disappear. One of the casualties is the Lumpkin Soap Factory, the conflagration of which destroys the Lumpkinton employment base, returns one employee to his Maker, and signals the departure of a particularly stellar vane.
These goings-on, plus the antics of a crew of rural survivalists and a fascinating cave dweller, fully engage the Shandys to the brinks of their lives. Vane Pursuit has a stronger plot than some in this series, with less reliance on the soon tiresome tactic of outrageous character names, and the dialog is sprightly.
Vol. 11, No. 3, Summer 1989.
The Professor Peter Shandy series —
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)
July 23rd, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Humor is a funny, and sometimes fleeting, thing. I enjoyed the first Shandy book, read the next two or three to increasingly smaller returns, only to quit altogether by the time the Giant Hogweed rolled around. I’ll have to take Al’s word for it that Shandy had returned to form with this book. I hope everyone will forgive me for this, but cozy books and I just don’t see eye to eye any more.
July 24th, 2014 at 5:35 am
I was just going to say, as long as you skip the virtually unreadable “fantasy” GIANT HOGWEED book, these are fun – as long as you are in the mood for whimsy. I never went back and finished the rest of the series either.
July 24th, 2014 at 2:00 pm
We seem to be in agreement. First book-enjoyable, second book-okay, third book-zzzzzz. I don’t mind whimsy, but it has to be part of a little grit, like having roughage to aid digestion.
July 25th, 2014 at 12:29 am
These degenerated fast, and whimsy rapidly deteriorated to simply silly. It is one of the most difficult tings to do at novel length in a mystery — even Thorne Smith failed at it. These quickly became so cozy they made my teeth hurt, bit MacLeod was a nice lady who sent me a signed copy of her first with a nice note, and my review was largely favorable.