Dangerous in Love

Dangerous Davies #2

by Leslie Thomas

A walk through Kensal Green Cemetery, a meat pie in the greasy spoon, a weekend away complete with flannel pyjamas - Dangerous Davies knows how to treat the woman he loves. Detective Constable Davies has two things on his Jemma Duval, the beautiful, black, hymn-singing social worker, and 'Lofty' Brock, the harmless old eccentric who drowned in the canal. To prove that Lofty's death was no accident, our hero sets out to do some undercover detective work. He soon discovers that something sinister is going on. Something that requires intuition, dedication, brilliant deduction - and a timely blow with a blunt instrument. A001 0099474239

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Humor, British Literature, Detective

Paperback

First published October 15, 1987

About the author

Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, 1931, Leslie Thomas is the son of a sailor who was lost at sea in 1943. His boyhood in an orphanage is evoked in This Time Next Week, published in 1964. At sixteen, he became a reporter, before going on to do his national service. He won worldwide acclaim with his bestselling novel The Virgin Soldiers, which has achieved international sales of over four million copies.

Reviews

[Kath B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the 'Dangerous Davies' series sees the tenacious DC become obsessed with the death of a local old man, Lofty Brock, a veteran of the Second World War, known in the area for tramping the streets with a pram. Dangerous learns that Lofty was teetotal and unlikely to have simply fallen into a canal.

The case coincides with the arrival on the scene of Dangerous' new love interest, a young black social worker called Jemma, he meets in the courtroom whilst hearing the verdict on Lofty's demise.

This series is unique in terms of its characters - Dangerous and his friend, Mod Hughes, are particularly fabulously written men of their time. They expect so little from their lives but still find joy in the least expected places. Dangerous is the object of ridicule in his workplace, the last man to be offered decent caseloads and the first to be sent into potentially dangerous situations. Mod, on the other hand, is a master at avoiding work at all costs and prides himself on taking a philosophical view of life, whilst getting Dangerous to buy his drinks in the local pub, 'The Babe in Arms' to mull over his cases.

The plot, too, is pitched at exactly the right level, illustrating the lengths the Police had to be prepared to go to find answers in the 1970s, travelling from London to all parts of the country to interview suspects and witnesses and risking antagonising other police forces along the way, 'treading on their turf' and opening up supposedly closed cases.

There is humour too; Dangerous, Mod and Jemma find themselves in some ridiculous situations and there are reminders of life at the times; the incongruity of a relationship between a young black woman and an older white man for example, the lack of support for war veterans and the rivalries between police forces across the country.

I recommend the series for crime fans but also for readers who appreciate good writing and good character development. I'm looking forward to moving on to the next one.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes it’s possible to read something and the review will materialise from the end of your fingers like magic.

This was one such occasion:

Love it love it love it love it!

I know what you’re thinking: ‘why isn’t this man writing for The Times?’ I’ll tell you why, it’s the same reason why Leslie Thomas wasn’t knighted.

Nuff said!

[Budge Burgess · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, and almost a very good one. There's actually a potentially very engaging plot in there, I just get the feeling Leslie Thomas didn't quite take it seriously enough. He's got a winning character in Dangerous Davies, he just got a bit lazy building the ensemble cast and fleshing out his anti-hero's world.
A bit more attention to the police background, create a bit more tension between the cavalier attitude of Davies and the actually institutional demands of the Met (plenty of scope for entertainment there), give Davies a bit more depth and backstory and the scope for humour gets greater dimension and depth.
Thomas gives Davies a girlfriend, he goes for all the politically correct angles (she's black), finds some fairly obvious opportunities for humour ... but is careful not to offend anyone even if it gets a bit patronising in places. Thomas otherwise uses the same ensemble cast as in the first Dangerous Davies outing, and perhaps overplays Mod's hand.
And the writer writes himself into a corner - there is a potentially engrossing mystery here, it could have been made so much darker, it could have developed some absorbing mystery and tension ... but it just gets lost playing it for laughs. Some good laughs, some nice touches ... but ohhh. And it probably would be churlish to only award 3 stars, it does rise above average.

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished the last two books in the Dangerous Davies, The Last Detective, series upon which the TV show is based. Dangerous in Love and Dangerous by Moonlight are both fun shortish reads featuring Dangerous, his sidekick Mod, an interesting love interest in the form of Jemma, and his large personality challenged dog, Kitty. Dangerous is an almost beaten down every man character whose intelligence is hidden underneath his clumsiness and lack of ability to climb the career ladder with the police force. One case involves mistaken identity and spotlights the lack of concern shown for the homeless, even when they are veterans. The other involves the unofficial case of a missing person as a widow asks for Dangerous’s help finding out what happened to her husband. Both books highlight Dangerous Davies common decency and his dogged determination to solve crimes and do right by everyone involved.

I expected these books to perhaps feel a little dated, but I didn’t find that at all. They feel representative of their times and the concerns raised, racism, homelessness, elder fraud, are still issues today. I enjoyed this set of books and read them after watching the TV series. I do think that fans of the TV show will find the books a little darker.

[Erunyauve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dangerous Davies isn't your typical hero; he's not on the fast-track for promotion, and in many ways he is much like the peripheral characters whose apparent incompetence is the mirror opposite of the hero. Dangerous is hardly a stereotype, however - he might be clumsy and cursed with bad luck, but unlike the stereotype, he is not a fool.

The first book in the series introduced us to Dangerous; the second occurs some ten-fifteen years later; he is still a DC, and he has the instincts and empathy to follow up on murders the Met has closed. The story is a bit more convoluted in this case, and as in the first book, seems a bit rushed at the end, but with Dangerous, the getting there is more to the point. I particularly liked the way his love interest, Jemma, is not just a side-story but part of the unofficial partnership (together with his friend, Mod) solving the mystery, and I thought the author dealt particularly well with some of the more subtle aspects of racism.

[KeenReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a gently humorous police procedural, that was a little poignant at times. The crime was intriguing at the start although as it progressed, a large part of the eventual solution became pretty clear well before the end. This did not spoil the book for me, because a lot of my enjoyment was due to the gentle observational humour that was feature throughout the books.
The style of humour reminded me a little of John Mortimer's "Rumpole" books, although I think John Mortimer's humour is more pointed than Leslie Thomas'. The similarity I noticed is in the way they both base their humour on the quirks of the characters they create (and the good characters they both create, so they are commenting humorously about humanity and life in general, not just the situations in theor books).

[Nik Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1987, this is Thomas’s second Dangerous Davies novel. It’s a long time since I read the first, The Last Detective. This one is a joy to read; it’s droll, with slapstick, social commentary, and just plenty of laughs.

Davies is curious about the drowning in the local canal of a familiar homeless person, Lofty Brock. He can’t have been drunk, he was teetotal. Was he pushed? Helping him investigate is Jemma Duval, a beautiful black hymn-singing social worker and Davies’s pal, the workshy philosopher Mod. It’s virtually love at first sight when Davies meets Jemma, who has a missing tooth in the centre of her mouth. ‘Until he had seen that missing tooth he had never realized that something could be so potent, even beautiful, by its absence.’ (p24).

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dangerous and his Welsh friend somehow manage to unravel a mystery which doesn't officially exist, this time with a bit of romance thrown in. The gentle humour is perfect for reading on a gloomy winter day.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a fun read. Mystery, such as it is, is OK.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny and entertaining read.

[Maggie Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Too bad it's not available in audio any more.

[Paul Parkinson]

Liked it. One more available, then I'll have to look for more somewhere

[Ansie de Swardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real fun read. The same charmimg old characters, and our hero's hilarious - and clever - bumbling and sleuthing.

[Sue Garwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful writing, clever plot and excellent characters.

[Sarah Dunsbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot of mystery case but even better great characters and amusing all the way...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

[Caroline Taggart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up from a hotel’s random bookshelf because I’d seen and liked the TV series, but expected the book to be a bit dated. It is in a way, in that computers are new and no one has mobiles, but the central character is timeless enough. The downtrodden Detective Davies, still a constable at 50+ and known as Dangerous because he is nothing of the sort, is a thoroughly decent chap who wants to get at the truth – in this case, why an old man should have drowned in the canal when the towpath was plenty wide enough and he didn’t drink. Dangerous’s doggedness gets him into no end of trouble, but it’s funny, gentle trouble and you know that everything will be all right in the end. His friend Mod, the hard-drinking Welsh philosopher incapable of buying a round (played on TV by Sean Hughes) is a wonderful foil.

I’m not saying this is a work of genius, but it is immensely endearing and passed a very pleasant few hours.

[Huw Collingbourne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mildly entertaining book - 2nd in this series - about a rather haphazard detective. I found the characters rather skimpy, the plot over-elaborate and the humour somewhat forced. Having recently read Leslie Thomas's excellent "Virgin Soldiers" trilogy I am possibly being over-critical of the Dangerous Davies series. Suffice to say that, in my view, these books fall well below the standard set by the Virgin Soldiers books.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you haven't read this and you like English detectives, read it. Its very enjoyable. A very different sort of hero. Leslie Thomas has been a bit forgotten and he shouldn't have been. He's got a very good comic touch.

[Sharon]

part of "The Last Detective"--the series is available on Acorn

[Carolyn Jourdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully funny and with such a loving view of the world.

[Patricia Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd Dangerous book that I read and it is still funny and enjoyable reading.

[Kat Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining. Hapless detective gets the crooks, but never the credit.