It's Murder with Dover

Inspector Dover #9

by Joyce Porter

Detective Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover is the most idle and avaricious hero in all of crime fiction. Why should he even be bothered to solve the case? This time, Scotland Yard sends Detective Chief Inspector Dover and his woeful assistant MacGregor off on the Stately Home circuit to look into murder. Since Lord Crouch, master of Beltour, can hardly make ends meet despite the hordes of tourists visiting the manor, his hospitality is meagre – though his vegetarian sister, Lady Priscilla, would love to cook for Dover. And the victim couldn't be a drearier "the wettest thing since nappies," according to Dover. In short, the inspector can't wait to be quit of the whole thing, and chief suspects begin to pop up everywhere.“Something quite out of the ordinary.” Daily Telegraph “Joyce Porter is a joy … Dover is unquestionably the most entertaining detective in fiction.” Guardian “Plotted with the technique of a virtuoso.” New York Times “Wonderfully funny.” Spectator “Dover is wildly, joyously unbelievable; and may he remain so for our comic delight.” Sun “Porter has a keen eye, a wicked sense of comedy, and a delightfully low mind.” Harper’s

Genres: Mystery, Crime

185 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

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

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

A gift from a friend with whom I exchange books a few times a year. (There's little overlap in our tastes, which works for us.) Joyce Porter's writing can be quite humorous, but there's a lot of repetition about Chief Inspector Dover's blubber, sloth, churlishness and other glaring flaws. But it didn't take up much of my time. Not sure I'd bother with another in this series.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard about Joyce Porter's crime novels in a slightly unusual way, via a tweet from the admirable Friends of Friendless Churches charity announcing that they had been given the rights. So I investigated a little more.

I thought when I read the book that it was the first in the series, but it seems that Dover the detective is well bedded in by this point. He is such an appalling individual, although admirable in his pursuit of equal opportunities in delivering boorish and offensive behaviour across all classes. I am not sure I could endure him across many stories. At times he reminds me of Reginald Hill's wonderful Dalziel but with all the intelligence stripped away. The relentless casual homophobia from him, particularly towards his mild mannered and hard working sidekick Macgregor is like repeated cold showers but strikes me as entirely authentic for the time and so casual as not to relate meaningfully to any notions of sexual preference. The title is spot on, it really is murder with Dover.

As to the case, it's unsurprisingly dated and daft but it did engage me. Dover moves between a stately pile (complete with herd of zebra) and the village pub 'enjoying' the hospitality of each despite at various times considering his hosts prime suspects. It's inconsequential, I gather Porter was churning them out for financial reasons and given that this is the only one of the series available through the library system, I doubt I'll be actively seeking out more. But I didn't feel I'd wasted my time on it, unlike those of one or two contemporary and best selling churners-out.

[Tuomas Saloranta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Varsin tyypillinen Dover-mysteeri, mutta eipä toimivaa kaavaa kannata muuttaa. Tapahtumapaikkana on klassisesti kartano aatelisineen ja palvelusväkineen, vaikka myös läheisessä kylässä ja jopa suuremman kaupungin alamaailmassa käydään pyörähtelemässä. Värikäs hahmogalleria on taas kerran laaja ja osa jää vähän statisteiksi, mutta toisaalta on hauskaa, että vain yhdessä kohtauksessa esiintyvistä henkilöistäkin on tehty kiinnostavia tai ainakin hupaisia. Tällä kertaa jopa onnistuin arvaamaan murhaajan ja motiivin - yleensä se on aika hankalaa, koska Dover joko on täysin hukassa tai sitten syyttää vuoron perään kaikkia.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting a bit stale by now, Dover and his sergeant head out to a fancy brit home (with tours and all) to investigate the murder of a young man who is set to run the soon to open hotel. Best parts are Dover having to cope with living at the castle, which has very delicately / vegan served food and suffering mightily on account of that.

[subzero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous.

The book ends with "the butler did it" but they do not establish that he did.

Dover is not just repulsive in behavior, but also repulsive to read about, but that I can live with, what I cannot is a mystery that gives you a barely fleshed out hypothesis about the murder and then stops.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Dover story. I love the way the solution played out.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another outing for Inspector Dover. I'm enjoying this series very much.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dover hob-nobbing with the aristocracy! Dear God, what next?

A very dull young man has been murdered on the grounds of Beltour House, ancestral home of Lord Crouch and his sister Lady Priscilla. Always anxious for publicity to attract more fee-paying "guests," they demand that Scotland Yard be called in to investigate the murder and that the senior officer enjoy the hospitality of Beltour House. They didn't count on Scotland Yard sending Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover. No one ever does.

Joyce Porter grew up in a middle class family in a tiny town in northern England and her wicked portrayals of the upwardly-mobile English are the delight of her fans. But Dover himself is ready for a change. Billeted at a stately manor larger than Buckingham Palace, he envisions exquisite meals, fine cigars, and (of course) copious quantities of expensive liquors. The press, acquainted with Dover's laziness, incompetence, and foul temper and also aware that Lord Crouch and Lady Pris live in a style that would be unacceptable to the most impecunious pensioner in England, looks on and licks its chops in gleeful anticipation.

The results are as funny as anything I've ever read. Of course, Dover is as obnoxious and as unpopular with the local police as always. Being dedicated professionals and (perhaps more to the point) all too aware of how difficult it is to get away with murder, they soldier on. They do their best and they could not have predicted the effects of steady rain and Dover's poundage on the stability of the caravan (trailer to Yanks) they've set up as temporary headquarters. The life of a policeman (or woman) is not an easy one, especially when dealing with Scotland Yard's disgrace.

This is one of Porter's best. This wonderful series was reprinted in the 1980's and used paperback copies are still available. Better yet, they're now available as Kindle e-books. If you haven't met Dover, you don't know what you're missing.

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

These have the worst titles, don't they? Impossible to remember. But that's common in mystery novels, I think (and another thing Dame Christie did so well, you never got your Death on the Nile mixed up with The ABC Murders), and Ms. Porter seems to do it deliberately, going so far as to name the first three in the series simply Dover 1, Dover 2, Dover 3. That's all well-and-good if you're shopping at the time of first publication, but it's a bit hard for us now to remember did we read Dover 7 or Dover 10 that time?

Anyway, this generically titled "It's Murder with Dover" has all the features I've come to enjoy in these books: Dover will arrive upon the scene, do as little as possible, we will meet a handful of clearly delineated characters, and ultimately stumble upon a solution. Sometimes Dover also does, sometimes he doesn't, but the reader is usually left with an understanding of whodunnit, even if we can't do anything about it, not being the police.

I do wish MacGregor were a bit brighter. Dover seems awfully easy to manipulate, he should be putty in MacGregor's hands, but he doesn't take nearly as much advantage of his dreadful superior as I would have, in the same situation.

Anyway--lots of fun, in keeping with the others, a jolly good bedtime read.

(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I feel like I should mostly read 3s, but of course I am biased in my selection and pick books I think I'll like, so mostly read 4s!)

[Jazz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 STARS | Chief Inspector Dover is quite an amusing character who seems more interested in eating and sleeping than in detecting. He relies completely, though he won't admit it, on his Sergeant McGregor for all the legwork, questioning of suspects, and deduction. Altogether an enjoyable read, especially if one likes humor in mysteries.

[Gary Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

And another crime solved

What can I say - the bumbling Chief Inspector and his long-suffering sergeant solve another crime - with sheer good luck. Lots of fun reading - but how Dover has survived seven novels without someone killing him is a mystery!