A Little Local Murder

Rating:
Summary: Barnard in a very wicked mood
Review: If the mysteries of Robert Barnard are more a snack than a meal, they are savory, salty and a touch on the bitter side. In this one Barnard has created a British village rampant with small-minded hypocrites, petty and pompous. The great fun of the book is not in deft plotting (it's fairly ordinary) but in the take-no-prisoners descriptions of the shallowness and pretentions of small-town life in the 1970s. There is nothing sly about Barnard's ill regard for his villagers; he loathes all characters who are not police officers (and he's not overly kind about most of them either). Some of the references are dated (Enoch Powell is hardly as rich a punchline now as he was then), but there is sufficient wit and sarcasm that has traveled well.

Rating:
Summary: Immensely Entertaining
Review: Robert Barnard deserves to be more famous than he is. A Little Local Murder is a top-notch mystery, seething with interesting, pathetic, and ridiculous personages, each of whom in his own way believes that the world revolves around him! It is an English village mystery with plenty of discussion of village life in AND out of doors; one really gets the sense of 'being there'. Barnard is extremely witty but he takes his books seriously (which cannot be said for all writers, who think that the way to entertain is to make everything a joke.) It's a pleasure to read an author of such shining and perceptive intelligence.