Sun 6 May 2018
Archived Review: JOHN WALTER PUTRE – A Small and Incidental Murder.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
JOHN WALTER PUTRE – A Small and Incidental Murder. Scribner’s, hardcover, 1990. No paperback edition.
The front cover proclaims this to be “A Mystery Introducing Doll,” but when it’s over, you realize that you still don’t know all that much about Doll. His first name, for example. What it is that he does for a living. He’s a part-time diver, and he’s helped on a murder case before. But that’s it.
He’s a detective only in the sense of catalyst. Scene: a small island in Chesapeake Bay. A man fighting the encroachment of real estate developers has died in a boat “accident,” and Doll’s real job is to break down the island’s hostility toward outsiders.
And once he has, the case is solved, a bittersweet victory. Putre is a good writer, so good that his writing sometimes gets in the way. As a result, the story’s a but uneven; not rocky, not entirely smooth. It’s the characters who carry the story.
Which is a good one. I enjoyed it. If I had any say in the Edgars or any other such awards, this would have my vote for the best mystery of the year, and it’s only March. I can’t imagine a story better than this. Terrific!
[UPDATE] May 6, 2018. Well, the story didn’t win an Edgar. It probably didn’t get a single vote. Does it deserve the praise I gave it back then? I have no idea. I vaguely remember the character; the story I don’t remember at all.
There was a second and final book in the series, Death Among the Angels (1991). Al Hubin read and reviewed it (follow the link) but did not find much to say in the way of a recommendation. In fact, quite the opposite.
May 6th, 2018 at 10:26 pm
Obviously whatever grabbed you didn’t stick. That happens at times. That last paragraph doesn’t sound much like the rest of the review really.
May 6th, 2018 at 10:58 pm
I noticed that too but I posted here what I said then. Not my best effort, but something certainly caught my attention with this book.
May 6th, 2018 at 11:10 pm
Here’s some information I found abut the author from his online obituary. He died in 2012.
http://www.doughtyfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=991991
“…After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Villanova University, he entered Brown University and earned a Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration in the social studies. While at Brown, he met his wife, the former Helen Brawner, whom he married in August 1965. After teaching for several years, he returned to the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he earned a Master of Arts in history in 1971 and a Ph. D. in American Colonial History in 1973. His teaching career, which spanned over 20 years, was spent in New York and Vermont. During those years he taught social studies, was an elementary school principal, and eventually became an assistant superintendent of schools in Bennington, VT. In 1986, Putre retired from education and followed a life-long dream to be a professional writer. Two hardcover mystery novels, A Small and Incidental Murder and Death Among the Angels, were published in 1990 and 1991 respectively by Charles Scribner and Sons.”
May 6th, 2018 at 11:57 pm
Back to your Comment 1, David, call it authorial privilege, if you will, but I’ve added two short sentences to the beginning of the last paragraph. At least I think it flows better now while saying much better what I think I meant to say at the time.