A Strange Note to Finish On by Alan Norman
My rating: 3/5 cats
if you like your police procedurals to be wacky slapstick adventures where groups of the elderly are always getting toppled over like bowling pins and there are no criminal repercussions to a detective running over a woman in a car, this is probably one for you.
this book gives a nod to the casual racism and misogyny of pulp mysteries of a certain era. because, how long has it been since you heard a chinese character described as “inscrutable,” right? or as a “gentle oriental” who responds with martial arts skills when called “mr. chink?” or sexual harassment played for laughs?? when was the last time your grandfather wrote a mystery novel? but then it adds camp and stirs, so we also have a tranny club and some drug-addled astrology hippies and many spittakes and falling-into-poo scenes and also people falling down the stairs, falling off roofs, falling into cleavage (SO much cleavage) and generally running a police force like eagleheart, with less shooting and blood. although there is some blood. and a corpse-eating dog.
humor is the bane of the readers’ advisory profession. “i just want a funny book!” is the trickiest request, because humor is the most subjective thing of all, and also the most likely to cause offense if you get it wrong. so not every humorous book is going to be universally effective. i personally am not wild about slapstick—just because that constant level of comedic energy is wearying to me, and humor gets me more if i am allowed some downtime in between to process it. but i do like camp. particularly ensemble-cast murder mysteries based on board game camp. (and this one has a dr. body, which is almost like mr. boddy!)
overall, it was a pretty fun read, but as someone who gravitates towards dark melodrama over goofiness, it is definitely not my usual fare.
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