Review: Dover Two by Joyce Porter

The next in the DCI Wilfred Dover series - and just as good as the first.

Once again, Dover is sent out into the sticks to solve a seemingly unsolvable crime by the Ass. Commission, whom Dover suspects (quite rightly) dislikes him. Considering these little outings are far beneath his position within Scotland yard, Dover is on the look out to solve the crime quite quickly and head back home.

But solving the "Sleeping Beauty" mystery is not going to be that easy as Dover and his trusty Sergeant MacGregor find themselves in a town segregated along religious lines, with a fair bit of tit-for-tat going on. And Sleeping Beauty is just one incident amid many. But someone has it in for the comatose girl, who is murdered, resulting in Dover being sent.

Dover blusters about in his usual manner, throwing round accusations alike breadcrumbs to birds, raising the hackles of all whom he comes into contact with, whilst poor old MacGregor is once again assigned all the leg work so that Dover can spend the majority of his day, sitting idly by, filling his belly and getting his daily nap. And again, as usual, and always in the absence of trusty MacGregor, Dover claims the kudos for himself.

I am loving this series - Dover is despicable whilst we cannot but have a soft spot for MacGregor, who hopes that one day, someone will hears his pleas and re-assign him to another DCI.

Review: Dover One by Joyce Porter

Synopsis: For its own very good reasons, Scotland Yard sends Dover off to remote Creedshire to investigate the disappearance of a young housemaid, Juliet Rugg. Though there's every cause to assume that she has been murdered - she gave her favours freely and may even have stooped to a bit of blackmail - no body is to be found. Weighing in at sixteen stone, she couldn't be hard to overlook. But where is she? And why should Dover, of all people, be called upon to find her? Or, for that matter, even bother to solve the damned case?

DCI Wilfred Dover is not your usual Scotland Yard detective - he is not exactly likeable; he is described as tall, fat, unkempt, lewd, obnoxious; and never without his trademark bowler hat. His Sergeant, Charles MacGregor, is the total opposite - and like Nero Wolfe's Archie Goodwin, does all the leg work for Dover.

Kenneth Cranham as Dover

Dover was obese, lazy, unhygienic (the only man in the Metropolitan Police Service with underarm dandruff) and bordering on corrupt. MacGregor was keen, clean and ferociously ambitious. However, on the rare occasions he was able to put aside plate, pint-glass and cigarettes long enough to concentrate, Dover usually saw the answer first.

For reasons known only to the Scotland Yard hierarchy, Dover & MacGregor are sent to the investigate the seemingly innocuous disappearance of a local girl, Juliet Rigg, from Creedshire. Upon arriving in the village, Dover finds the eccentric inhabitants all had good reason to do away with the victim - for as Dover announces, murder it is.

I am really enjoying discovering some of these lost gems of British crime. This title originally was published back in the early 1960s - so to the modern senses, it may appear to be slightly un-PC - but get over it, afterall what is PC today may not be in 40 years time!

I am certainly interested in following up with the rest of the books in the 15 book series, and look forward to listening to those Inspector Dover books that were adapted for BBC Radio 4 by Paul Mendelson, and star Kenneth Cranham as Dover and Stuart McQuarrie as Sgt MacGregor (I found a few links on youtube)

side note: I love the fact that the author was born in ... Marple!