The town of Glennkill in western Ireland is known for sheep and tourism - an industry that garners nice profits for bed and breakfast owners and pub landlords. We'll meet both shepherds and an innkeeper in this quirky cozy mystery, in which a shepherd is killed and his sheep investigate the murder.
George Glenn is a shepherd who, though married, usually stays in a caravan on his field.
George's sheep agree that a good shepherd is a person 'who never docks the lambs' tails; doesn't keep a sheepdog; provides good fodder and plenty of it, particularly bread and sugar, but healthy things too like green stuff, concentrated feed, and mangelwurzels; and who clothes himself entirely in the products of his own flock, for instance an all-in-one suit made of spun sheep's wool.'
George falls a bit short, but his sheep love him, and don't mind too much when George wakes them early, laughs and says, "You lazy creatures! Come on, get down to work!" The sheep graze while George works in the vegetable garden and makes repairs, and in the afternoon, the sheep gather in front of George's caravan and he reads to them.
Sometimes George reads from a fairy tale, sometimes from a book about diseases of sheep, and once from a detective story. Mostly, however, George reads love stories in which all the heroines are called Pamela and have red hair. George also talks about traveling all over Europe with his flock, and the sheep would love to go, picturing Europe as a huge meadow full of apple trees.
The dream of Europe isn't to be however, because one morning the sheep awaken to find George lying in the green Irish grass beside the hay barn, with a spade driven through his body.
Miss Maple, the cleverest sheep in Glennkill - and quite possibly the cleverest sheep in the whole world - notes that a human killed George, and the flock must find out who murdered him.
All the sheep help investigate, but the primary detectives are Miss Maple; Sir Ritchfield - the lead ram; Zora - a ewe with horns; Mopple The Whale - a stout ram who remembers everything he sees and hears; Othello - a four-horned ram; and Melmoth - Sir Ritchfield's twin brother. Othello had spent his youth in the Dublin Zoo, and considers himself very worldly; and Sir Ritchfield and Melmoth were previously in the circus, which was torturous and harrowing.
After George's body is discovered by the town drunk, the police find George was poisoned before being impaled with the spade. The flock takes note of this, and as part of their investigation, spy on the people in Glennkill.
The sheep learn that the town's most prominent men, including Josh Baxter, an innkeeper/pub owner; Ham, a butcher; Gabriel, a shepherd; and the local clergyman are more anxious than sad about George's death. The men also repeatedly try to break into George's caravan before 'something gets out'. Most of all though, the men are VERY concerned about George's Last Will and Testament, which will be read aloud by George's lawyer.
Conversely, the sheep find that the town's women, including Kate, George's wife; Lilly, a perfumed lady; Beth, a bible thumper; and Rebecca, a newcomer promoting the tourist trade, are distressed about George's death.
It becomes clear that nefarious things have been going on in Glennkill, and the murder of Weasel McCarthy seven years ago - which was never solved by incompetent Inspector Holmes - has some connection with George's demise.
In the end, Miss Maple puts all the clues together, and is convinced she's discovered the killer. So Miss Maple and several other sheep put on a play at the annual 'Smartest Sheep in Glennville' contest, to expose the murderer.
The novel is a unique take on the talking animal mystery. The distress of the people and sheep that loved George give the book a melancholy aura, but much of the novel is fun. For instance:
✸✸ Othello was spying on people in Glennville, and hid in the church confessional. When the pastor discovered he was taking confession from a ram, "[He] gave a high, shrill scream. He ran past the rows of benches, stumbled and fell, got to his feet again, leaped over the iron fence with the candles with a single great, clumsy movement, and disappeared through the small door through which he had come."
✸✸ Miss Maple, Mopple, and Othello were peeking in Beth's window to hear a conversation between Beth and Rebecca. After Mopple ate the geraniums in the window box to provide a clear view, "it looked as if Beth had planted three sheep's heads in her window box."
✸✸ The sheep were annoyed when Gabriel brought his flock to their pasture, and did something about it. As Gabriel was watching, "A Blackface sheep had stumbled and fallen on the grass. The sheep picked itself up with difficulty. After a couple of steps it fell over again. Behind it, a second sheep stumbled. A fat ram was rubbing his head on the wall of the hay barn as if possessed...Shit! said Gabriel. Scrapie. Shit, shit, shit!" Gabriel gathered his sheep at record speed and left.
The sheep get too philosophical at times, and their conversations are sometimes overly long. All in all though, this is an enjoyable cozy mystery.
I had a digital copy of the book and the audiobook, narrated by Caroline Lennon, who does a fine job. It's amusing to hear the sheep's voices. 😊
This book has been adapted to a movie called 'The Sheep Detectives.'
Rating: 3.5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment