Dover Beats the Band

Inspector Dover #14

by Joyce Porter

Book by Porter, Joyce

Genres: Mystery, Crime

169 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Joyce Porter was born in Marple, Cheshire, and educated at King's College, London. In 1949 she joined the Women's Royal Air Force, and, on the strength of an intensive course in Russian, qualified for confidential work in intelligence. When she left the service in 1963 she had completed three detective novels.

Porter is best known for her series of novels featuring Detective Inspector Wilfred Dover. Dover One appeared in 1964, followed by nine more in a highly successful series. Porter also created the reluctant spy Eddie Brown, and the "Hon-Con", the aristocratic gentlewoman-detective Constance Ethel Morrison Burke.

Reviews

[Krishna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the classic odd couple pairing of crime investigators. Inspector Dover is overweight, hygienically challenged, cynical and lazy. The younger McGregor is conscientious, smart, eager, and a stickler for rules and regulations. But one wonders, if Dover is so lazy and crooked, how he advanced to a senior position in Scotland Yard. The usual trope in detective fiction is that his slovenliness and stupidity are just a facade and underneath there is a sharply observant and brilliant mind. But there is not much evidence of that, until the very end where Dover connects the dots. Most of the detective work is done by McGregor, through solid, patient, police work.

One more thing that strikes the reader is the blatant sexism: though the book was written as recently as 1970 and the author is female, the police women mostly fetch coffee and snacks, drive cars (incompetently) and look curvaceous in uniform. Dover takes a dim view of women in general, an attitude confirmed by the wife of the deceased, who is promiscuous, vulgar, and totally indifferent about her late husband's fate, except for the prospect of financial compensation. There is one female conspirator, who is arguably competent, but she is tall, awkward, loud and mannish.

Joyce Porter writes with some humor and some interesting turns of phrase. But it is mostly easy reading. I can think of air travelers picking up this slim volume from the booksellers before boarding. But on the whole, this is not great crime fiction. One Inspector Dover mystery is probably enough.

[Sara Eames · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonable read.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the last Dover mystery novel, although a collection of short stories was published after the author's death. Porter wrote her popular comedy/mystery series to make money. Having made enough to retire, she did.

This is not my favorite of the series. I think that Inspector Dover is at his best with domestic crimes. He knows from personal experience the barely-beneath-the-surface hostility that runs through every family. Understanding the temptation of both men and women to rid themselves of their annoying spouses in a permanent fashion, he never has far to look for a suspect. And you know how work-averse he is.

However, if your tastes run to thrillers, this may be your favorite. It certainly demonstrates what we already know: that our governments are engaged in a wide variety of shenanigans, some of which are carefully kept from the public eye. And not only does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing, sometimes the right hand doesn't know what it's doing, either.

Of course the murder occurs in a location far away from London or Dover wouldn't have gotten the assignment. Dover would never again see the Gray Lady on the Thames if his supervisors could help it. Having him kicking around New Scotland Yard simply lowers the tone of the place too much for comfort.

And so the Fat, Lazy Scrounger and long-suffering Sergeant MacGregor are dispatched to the hinterlands where the staff of yet another small town police force is rudely disillusioned about Scotland Yard's famous Murder Squad. Fortunately, there's a clue and so with eagerness from Sgt. MacGregor and great reluctance on Dover's part the CID's Odd Couple embarks on the search for a cold-blooded killer.

The book has some fine parts. Dover is always at his most disgusting and most hilarious when he's pitted against a female antagonist. If men irritate him (and most do) women drive him right around the bend. And Policewoman Elvira - chosen more for her figure than for her intelligence - would infuriate almost anyone. The Inspector's brush with a hot-tempered local pathologist is a great scene.

And Sir Egbert Rankin - founder and owner of the sleeziest chain of holiday cottages ever to infest the English coast - is a character no less amazing than old Wilf himself. It's well worth reading and no Dover fan should miss it.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A low four, three and a half rounded up because it's the last one, and I did enjoy the series very much overall. The characters weren't quite as lively or strange as is usually the case, the humour a bit more muted, and so on. Still, an enjoyable read, rather more Slow Horses-ish than the other nine (maybe it gave Mick Herron an idea).

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 2 out of 5]

crude, barely amusing