Sat 27 Feb 2016
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: DOROTHY SIMPSON – Wake the Dead.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
DOROTHY SIMPSON – Wake the Dead. Luke Thanet #11. Charles Scribner’s Sons, hardcover, 1992. Bantam Crimeline, paperback, 1993. First published in the UK by Michael Joseph, hardcover, 1992.
Simpson’s Luke Thanet books are on my “mildly enjoyable” list. She’s a decent though not outstanding writer, and Thanet, with one exception that I’ll mention later, is an amiable enough detective. Put that together with my general fondness for British village mysteries, and I usually enjoy them.
A local aristocrat’s bed-ridden mother dies during an annual fête, and the police surgeon (who is attending it) alerts Thanet (who is there also) that in his his opinion it is likely to prove murder by asphyxiation. With bluebloods and several hundred potential suspects, Thanet’s work is cut out for him. Before the investigation gets too far, the MP, his wife, his mistress, and a disgruntled local lady all seem to have motive and opportunity. The dead woman was remarkably ill thought of.
Thanet is assisted as always by his trusty Sergeant, Mike Lineham. His avuncular patronization of poor Mike is the one consistently sour note in Thanet’s characterization. Wife Joan, daughter Bridget, and son Ben are always part of the books — here, a sub-plot is Bridget’s budding romance is a young man of whom Thanet is dubious. This is an old-fashioned village mystery, with decent, engaging characters. If you tire of the grimmer angst-filled variety, ot will make a nice change of pace.
Bibliographic Note: There were in all 15 Luke Thanet novels, beginning with The Night She Died in 1981 and ending with Dead and Gone in 1999. For a full list and a wide array of cover images, check out the Fantastic Fiction website.
February 27th, 2016 at 5:33 pm
I honestly cannot recall which of the Thanet novels I read, though I recall enjoying them in much the way Barry describes, a mildly enjoyable break from heavier going with a pleasant enough mystery and a likable sleuth.
The mystery as sorbet or after dinner mint; a cheese course to clear the palate for heartier fare to come.
Details totally escape me, but I recall at the time thinking of Simpson as one of what was once called ‘lending library’ writers. Mid-list writers who had a virtually guaranteed base of sales and readers that never rose beyond a certain level and never fell below it.
She did the pleasant British mystery with a sort of simple charm. Unfairly or not I think of this kind of Brit mystery as the mystery equivalent of the long running BBC television series LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE, comfortable, and always there.
February 27th, 2016 at 5:49 pm
I concur with both Barry and David on the merits of Dorothy Simpson and the Thanet novels. Always satisfying but never reaching the heights of classic detective fiction you’ll long remember. Not only did they sell well to libraries, the books always sold very well for me as a used paperback mystery dealer.
It’s been over 15 years since her last one, though, and unfortunately most mystery readers are today are always about the latest new novel or author. Not on this blog!
February 28th, 2016 at 5:30 pm
I agree. In the end, I picked up paperbacks of all the Thanet books and read the whole series.
February 28th, 2016 at 6:36 pm
I pretty much agree – I enjoy Simpson’s novels and find her very reliable and consistent in terms of the quality of her output, but there is some ineffable quality missing there. I suppose I find Thanet a little characterless, and so unrelentingly respectable and middle class. Of the recurring characters in the novels, the one I found myself liking the most was Lineham’s bossy wife who, I’m pretty sure, I wasn’t really supposed to like all that much.
Some of Simpson’s novels are being reprinted and she’s been set up with a new website, which says she was forced to give up writing by repetitive strain injury (carpal tunnel, I would imagine), which is terribly sad.