Cardboard characters move through a predictable crime being investigated clumsily by an "acting detective" between his dancing lessons and training fo..Show More »r the police atheletic tournament. The writing is stilted with heavy handed metaphors and clunky slang of the period that never sounds natural. The mystery itself is not compelling and actually resolves without the assistance of the detective.

I really wish I had listened to the sample before I selected this book because the poor reading made it even more painful to get through the book. His voicing for both women and children were equally falsetto bringing Monty Python to mind. And attempts at giving different sounds to characters was uneven at best. There were a few sections in which a song was being sung, and the reader proved himself tone deaf. He sounded like he was just trying to get it over with - as was I.



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This is the third in the series involving 1855 Canada. Detective William Murdoch becomes involved with the apparent suicide of Constable Oliver Wicken..Show More », a man who was
the sole support of his mother and invalid sister. But further investigation by Detective Murdoch takes him far afield, and he begins to suspect that the
Eakin family, whose house adjoins the one where Wicken died, is more involved with the case than they admit. We read about a tooth extraction (done with the newly in use laughing gas). We read of the
prejudice toward the few Chinese immigrants, a prejudice which makes Chinese witnesses, such as a laundry owner, unwilling to come forward, and the treatment of mentally ill women, which leads to the disbelief in a woman regarding what she knew and saw. This is a great addition to the series introducing us to a possible romantic interest for Detective Murdoch but with some complications, and the continued presence of the other lovable characters already introduced, such as the family he lives with and rents from.


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I watched the Canadian TV series before finding the book. Loved the TV series..... the book not so much. I wish the written word were as focused as ..Show More »the show.

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This is the fifth book in the Murdoch series. Here, we have the chief inspector upset because someone is sending anonymous letter saying that a partic..Show More »ular police officer is doing something bad, he doesn’t indicate what, but says he will release the information to the papers if the police don’t put an end to it. The case is assigned to Murdoch, who hates cowardly informers who try to intimate rumors and innuendos about someone without coming forward. Also, the officer accused is a friend of Murdoch’s. He investigates the case, finds the culprit, close to home, shall we say, and puts an end to the problem. But this investigation brings him into contact with a schoolteacher who is very upset because she has found pictures of a pornographic nature in her student’s desk, and then the student disappeared. He then finds the body of a murdered young man who also had been in one of the photos found in the girl’s desk. He sets out, with the help of the policeman he is rescuing from falsehood, and the teacher to track down the photographer as well as the girl who might be in danger for having seen something she shouldn’t. Again, this is a good book full of the usual characters we’ve come to love and the introduction of some new ones as well.

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In the sixth book of the series, Detective Murdoch is called to a church where there is the body of the dead minister in his office with a letter open..Show More »er sticking out of his neck. The police are summoned by one of the church ladies who have come to get ready for a prayer meeting. She is extremely upset and the rumor is that she has thrown herself at the minister despite the fact that he is married. His wife is not well liked in the congregation. So was the minister killed by someone in his congregation who had it in for him? Or was he killed by a thief? His new boots and his silver watch are missing. At the same time there is a group of “queer plungers” roaming around who fake accidents and then collect money from the charity of strangers who witness the accident. Murdoch catches three such “plungers” and gets them to assist him in finding out whether or not a homeless person is involved in the murder. Also, there is the possibility that one of the families the minister turned down for the workhouse has it in for him, and this theory is compounded when one of those families is killed by carbon monoxide, along with others in their house, because of a blocked chimeney. Murdoch puts himself into the workhouse and a homeless shelter over-night to try to track down the thieves at least who stole the boots and watch of the dead minister. This is again a very compelling book.

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This is the seventh book in the Detective Murdoch series. In this one a 38-year-old secret leads to murder in Toronto. In 1858, a Mulatto woman in Can..Show More »ada was kidnapped on her honeymoon in Niagara Falls. Her Caucasian husband is implicated in selling her into slavery. In 1896, Murdoch must solve two murders and an attempted murder to determine what happened, and how this kidnapping gave rise to the current murders. A very good book which allows us to see the problems of slaves who escaped through the underground railroad to Canada where their problems were not over. This book had the feeling of finality as various relationships in the series were resolved, but I hope I’m wrong. I love this series and the people so involved.

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