Snatched

by Bill James

Bill James is on top form in this sharply satirical black comedy set behind the scenes at a museum

George Lepage, the new Director of the Hulliborn Regional Museum and Gallery, has great hopes that his tenure in the post will be short and profitable. He has visions of early retirement, and perhaps – like his predecessor, and his predecessor’s predecessor – a knighthood.

But circumstances do their best to snatch his happy dreams away from him. First a deranged former staff member causes a riot in the Folk Department, and then three recently purchased, ruinously expensive paintings of dubious authenticity are stolen, putting the museum’s security – and judgement – into question. The fate of the upcoming Japanese Ancient Surgical Skills exhibition, and its astonishing collection of tonsil excision implements, hangs dangerously in the balance.

And over everything hangs the grim specter of the former Director, “Flounce” Butler-Minton, whose body may be most definitely dead but whose legacy lives on. And with every day that passes, the rumours of what Flounce did behind the Iron Curtain – and how the haversack straps, the whippet and the legendary Mrs Cray were involved – grow, threatening to erupt into a scandal that may cost the museum, and Lepage himself, everything . . .

208 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2014

About the author

Bill James (born 1929) is a pseudonym of James Tucker, a Welsh novelist. He also writes under his own name and the pseudonyms David Craig and Judith Jones. He was a reporter with the Daily Mirror and various other newspapers after serving with the RAF He is married, with four children, and lives in South Wales.

The bulk of his output under the Bill James pseudonym is the Harpur and Iles series. Colin Harpur is a Detective Chief Inspector and Desmond Iles is the Assistant Chief Constable in an unnamed coastal city in southwestern England. Harpur and Iles are complemented by an evolving cast of other recurring characters on both sides of the law. The books are characterized by a grim humour and a bleak view of the relationship between the public, the police force and the criminal element. The first few are designated "A Detective Colin Harpur Novel" but as the series progressed they began to be published with the designation "A Harpur & Iles Mystery".

His best known work, written under the "David Craig" pseudonym and originally titled Whose Little Girl are You, is The Squeeze, which was turned into a film starring Stacy Keach, Edward Fox and David Hemmings. The fourth Harpur & Iles novel, Protection, was televised by the BBC in 1996 as Harpur & Iles, starring Aneirin Hughes as Harpur and Hywel Bennett as Iles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_James_(novelist)

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny look down the rabbit hole at a minor British museum in the bad old Thatcher days. Funding and staff have been cut, the Director has died and his successor's only hope of keeping the doors open is to snag a touring exhibit of Ancient Japanese Surgical instruments. Meanwhile, the widow has gone off to perhaps become a lesbian in Egypt, staff members are shagging in the dioramas, art of perhaps dubious provenance has been stolen off the walls. And then there's the back story of the Berlin Wall, a Mrs. Cray, a whippet and some haversack straps.

It's all very Jamesian - Bill, that is, not Henry.

[Nini · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading the blurb I was expecting antics which were a cross between the folks at blandings combined with Tom Sharpes Porterhouse blues. However whilst all the "ingredients " for a comic farce were present , including nudity, bizarre Japanese Professors, an incidental art heist, and departmental in fighting , for me the humour just didn't quite get there, and I missed those laugh out loud moments.

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

George Lepage, the new Director of the Hulliborn Regional Museum and Gallery, has great hopes that his tenure in the post will be short and profitable. He has visions of early retirement, and perhaps – like his predecessor, and his predecessor’s predecessor – a knighthood.
But circumstances do their best to snatch his happy dreams away from him. First a deranged former staff member causes a riot in the Folk Department, and then three recently purchased, ruinously expensive paintings of dubious authenticity are stolen, putting the museum’s security – and judgement – into question. The fate of the upcoming Japanese Ancient Surgical Skills exhibition, and its astonishing collection of tonsil excision implements, hangs dangerously in the balance.
And over everything hangs the grim specter of the former Director, “Flounce” Butler-Minton, whose body may be most definitely dead but whose legacy lives on. And with every day that passes, the rumours of what Flounce did behind the Iron Curtain – and how the haversack straps, the whippet and the legendary Mrs Cray were involved – grow, threatening to erupt into a scandal that may cost the museum, and Lepage himself, everything...

I have never read anything by this author before but, after reading the write up for it on Net Galley, I thought I would give it a go. British crime/mystery novels have always been a bit of a hit with me. Add to that the fact that this was supposed to be a "black comedy", then I figured that this book would be ideal.

Don't let the star rating confuse you - this is a decent book. Lots of behind-the-scenes frivolity, great dialogue and well drawn characters. Certainly enough in that to keep most people happy.

The biggest letdown for me was the supposed "comedy" - it fell flat for me and seemed like it was trying just a little hard to be more than it was. And that really hurt this book.

I can imagine if you have worked in museums or the fine arts world, you might get more out of this book than I did. Just wasn't my cup of tea.


Paul
ARH

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book isn't deserving of even the one star I gave it. To say I didn't like it is an understatement to say the least. (But I have a stubborn streak that prevents me from putting a book down once I've started reading it, even if it's awful. I will give any book a chance for redemption until it's very last word.)

"Superbly written...Darkly funny dialog and brilliantly provocative prose" was what I was promised by the cover. And yet that's not at all what I received. Designed to be a farce, the tale lacked clarity and purpose, and not in a humorous way. Instead the bumbling and inept characters, all wholly unlikeable, babbled in circles in an unsuccessful, not-so-comedic comedy of errors. The lunacy of the plot and situations that arose within the pages of Snatched were infuriatingly tedious and lacking substance or intrigue.

The choice of language and the dialogue was odd at best. Halting short sentences mimicking speech demolished the flow of character interaction and did nothing to help the book's frivolous, unfocused plot and meandering chapters. All in all, it was unenjoyable and seemingly endless.

[Readersaurus · Rating 4 out of 5]

George LePage is new to his post of Museum Director. He is ready to bring in a coveted traveling exhibition of ancient Japanese medical tools, bask in a little glory, and retire young(ish). But then there's the matter of the disgruntled paleontologist former museum employee who may have gone mad, live nudity in the prehistoric Britain display, and an art curator who may have wasted a big pile of money on fake El Greco paintings, which are subsequently burgled, anyway. The relaxing last years of his career are not to be.

Quite hilarious if you have been an academic or a museum employee -- Lots-of-behind-the-exhibits-discussion of departmental prestige, bringing the past alive, engaging the public and the endless quest for funding, promotion, and international acclaim.

If you liked crazed and ridiculous "Fawlty Towers"-style comedies, you may like this. Lots of impossibly smart people behaving like boobheads and lots of wordplay and endless conversation. Fun.

If there is ever to be a movie, there are roles here for Stephen Fry and John Cleese, to be sure.

[David Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a comedy by my standards, but it does have all the virtues of a farce with a tight plot taking all members of the cast into unknown territory. It's enjoyable.

http://opionator.wordpress.com/2014/0...

[Stephen Wahrhaftig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bill Jams occasionally offers glimpses of the type of twisted humor that has made the Harpur and Illes mysteries so great. While this is a lesser effort, I found it funny and interesting. Good for Bill a James fans as we hope for more appearances of his great detective characters.

[Genevieve Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag, part fun absurd romp, part densely written comedic character study. Overall I liked it, but it was more a bit of silly fun than a compelling read.

[Margaret]

Strange story, would probably make a very funny British comedy