Reading the Detectives discussion
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Gently Does It
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Gently Does It (Inspector George Gently #1) - SPOILER Thread - (June/July 25)
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I posted in the other read I would read the second book in this series, as I liked this one well enough. My review was 3/5 stars rounded up to 4. It was, not surprisingly, a gentle story despite murder. I found the ending somewhat unrealistic (he meets the murderer with no backup for some reason) but well written.
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I've been interested to see how Norchester is clearly based on Norwich, with the castle and marketplace, and even City playing in green and yellow! I wonder why the author changed the name.
Jackie, I do agree about the ending being a bit far-fetched. This type of confrontation often seems to happen in mysteries, especially in settings like the sawmill here! I have only given 3 stars as I found it a bit slow, but will.read the second book and see if it improves. I liked Gently's humour and determination.
Judy wrote: "Susan, I watched the TV show and, though it was a while ago, must admit I can't immediately see any resemblance to this book except the detective's name! It was set in the North in the 60s, rather ..."Same here, ending seemed incongruous - unaccompanied confrontation with a bold, resourceful killer, when Gently throughout the book was shown to be a diligent, patient plodder with a sixth sense for the rare need for force or chest-beating when confronted with aggressive, possibly drunk and/or cornered suspect (the brutal chauffeur).
But I liked him as a character, and the interesting look at post-war Britain in general-references to bomb sites, rationing, and characters like the maid Susan who were out for the main chance - usually from a man. Not that there wouldn’t have been characters like that throughout history, but I’ve noticed this quiet desperation in post-WWII books I’ve read - desperation to escape the dreary respectability of keeping a stiff upper lip, getting by with little due to rationing, etc.
A small thing, but some of the author’s word choices were odd to me, like in one interrogation scene toward the beginning, he refers to Gently sitting there, and then wrote that he “swam up” in his chair to ask a question?! I assumed he meant he was reclining or leaning back, then leaned in to ask a question, but it was an odd word choice. There were others, but that stuck with me… several to do with the passionate Susan, the aforementioned maid to the murdered man - I wasn’t sure if he was indicating she welcomed attention from any and all men, or she was the dead man’s mistress, along the general manager’s, possibly also the chauffeur’s, and who knows who else! His word choices when describing her were interesting. Same with the daughter of the victim; Gently seems wise in his handling of women suspects, but I was a bit surprised when he took the dumped Susan to the movies. I thought he might be hitting her up for information, but wasn’t sure.
I too want to read on, and will see how his style suits me in the next book! I find it interesting that a couple GR friends have said the tv series was different from the books, in setting, characters, plots. Makes me wonder why? Were there too many 1950s detective series on the Telly at the time? Or was it a Midsomer Murders situation, where there had only been a handful of books, and the showrunners just added on what they wanted to appeal to a certain audience?
Susan wrote: "Interesting, Jackie. I am flagging to be honest. Do we think it helps if anyone was familiar with the TV show?"I don’t think so, I’ve heard the show was different from the books
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PS, no peppermint creams in the TV show, but lots of smoking, as I recall!
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Judy wrote: "Susan, I watched the TV show and, though it was a while ago, must admit I can't immediately see any resemblance to this book except the detective's name! It was set in the North in the 60s, rather ..."Judy wrote: "Susan, I watched the TV show and, though it was a while ago, must admit I can't immediately see any resemblance to this book except the detective's name! It was set in the North in the 60s, rather ..."
Susan wrote: "Interesting, Jackie. I am flagging to be honest. Do we think it helps if anyone was familiar with the TV show?"
I don’t think Gently ever has a sidekick in the books. He does get married about halfway through though, and the later books have a lot about his wife and how wonderful she is, which I personally got a bit bored with. I prefer detectives on the whole to have uncomplicated personal lives and just get on with solving the crimes.
Susan in NC wrote: "Susan wrote: "Interesting, Jackie. I am flagging to be honest. Do we think it helps if anyone was familiar with the TV show?"I don’t think so, I’ve heard the show was different from the books"
Yes, it was very different. Not sure why they bothered to call it Gently at all - I assume they had to pay for the use of the title, they could have called it something different and saved themselves some money.
Judy wrote: "Susan, I believe there are more than 40 books which were published over a very long period, so the production team would have had to decide which era to choose, and the 60s have a lot of appeal, wi..."After the first few books, Gently takes to smoking a pipe instead of eating peppermint creams, don’t know why. Worried about his weight perhaps.
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Peppermint creams seem to be getting hard to find.
This is the start of a new buddy series so very exciting and thanks for the suggestion from, I think, Sandy if I recall correctly. If not, forgive me!
When a timber merchant is found stabbed in the city of Norchester, the local police find an obvious suspect in his son. But Inspector Gently soon realizes that there is more to it than appears on the surface and sacrifices his holiday to prove his suspicions correct, and require every contention of Gently's to be proved to the hilt before they will take action.
Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.