Mon 4 May 2020
Archived Review: ROBERT BARNARD – Death of a Perfect Mother.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
ROBERT BARNARD – Death of a Perfect Mother. Scribner’s, US, hardcover, 1981. Dell/Scene of the Crime #52, paperback, 1982. Published preciously in the UK as Mother’s Boys (Collins, hardcover, 1981).
To tell the truth, as a second thought about the title might tell you, Lill Hodsden is something less than perfect as a mother, and as a wife. She is the loud, vulgar type, the victim of an over-indulgent self-love, and a haggard creature of sexual cravings and wiles – or so she’s pictured. It is no wonder her two sons are planning to kill her.
Nor are they the only ones. Upon Lill’s untimely passing, the fatal victim of a “mugging†attack before her boys can do more than plan, the spotlight falls on the motives of at least a dozen others as well.
A detective story of sorts does evolve as a result, but it’s a detective story steeped in large amounts of delightfully unmitigated cynicism. And contempt. as well, especially for middle-class conventions, as exemplified best by the fairly incompetent inspector who’s been placed in charge of the case.
I don’t really know what the minimum daily requirement for well-regarded misanthropism in everyone’s diet may be, but there must be one, and in this book Barnard seems to be at odds enough with the world for all of us. Most certainly, for all its inherent honesty, this is not quite the book to be read and appreciated on Mother’s Day.
Rating: B
May 5th, 2020 at 8:26 pm
You might want to read this one after Phil Wylie’s GENERATION OF VIPERS. Not great Barnard, but always worth reading him. Few did humor, even the black kind, as consistently well in the genre.
May 5th, 2020 at 8:47 pm
I read quite a few of Barnard’s books when I was younger — and as I get older there are many more that are still waiting for me. I hope yo get to them all!
I have to admit, though, that it’s been a while since I’ve read any. I think you could easily call quite a few of his books cozies, but he wasn’t an author you cold easily pin down. Ay least I couldn’t. He had a much sharper wit than what pass as cozies today, and DEATH OF A PERFECT MOTHER would be far beyond the pale, as far as cozy readers are concerned.
May 6th, 2020 at 5:48 am
I’ve read a bunch of Barnard’s novels – my favorites are probably the non-series historical ones like OUT OF THE BLACKOUT and THE SKELETON IN THE GRASS, plus the short stories. I missed this one.
May 6th, 2020 at 8:34 am
Although Barnard did have a few series characters, most notably police detectives Perry Trethowan and Charlie Peace. they were fairly colorless, and most of his mysteries were standalones. In spite of a long writing career, I don’t think he was well known at the time, and he’s pretty well forgotten now.