Over the past week I've been bingeing on the books written by
Rhys Dylan about his
fictional creation, DCI Evan Warlow. As one might imagine, the author is Welsh
and all his books take place in mid-Wales. One does get a smattering of Welsh
from some of the characters but it's not overdone.
The books are quite well written with plenty of clues and red herrings scattered about; I don't feel that my time has been wasted, altough of course had the first book not been good then I probably wouldn't have bothered with the rest.
Now for some observations regarding the books from a critical point of view
- Dylan has been churning out these books - there were four or five published in 2022 and a similar number in 2023. The quantity has not been affecting their quality.
- That said, there is room for improvement - two parallel story lines makes for more interesting books. Although Warlow's team is fairly small, DS Alan Banks managed two cases with an even smaller team.
- A map in each book would not go amiss. I've discovered that the author's website purports to have an interactive map showing the location of each book's activity, but the page doesn't load for me.
- I could have done with a little less levity in the books. I agree that some of it is witty but it's too much. In a similar vein, there is a DC whose naivety is unbelievable. I don't see how someone could have reached that rank without becoming more worldly wise.
- When looking at the books from a distance, a common structure becomes apparent. The first chapter generally contains two characters who discover a body; these characters disappear afterwards having served their dramatic purpose. The murderer (or antagonist) is someone to whom we have been introduced towards the beginning of the books and generally has impeccable credentials, so is never suspected until it is almost too late.
- There is a superintendent - not the normal superior of Warlow - who is generally considered to be not very capable at coal face policing. It makes one wonder how she achieved that rank. Whenever she has introduced a new member to the team, that member has proved to be corrupt. I had my suspicions about a character matching this type throughout the ninth book and they were proved to be true.
- Dare I say it - there appears to be a small amout of shipping between Warlow and his inspector. Time will tell.
This day in blog history:
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 483 | Dubrovnik log (0) | Holiday, Dubrovnik | |
| 596 | Edinburgh log (1): Touring the city | Holiday, Edinburgh | |
| 718 | Pompeii (Sorrento log 3) | Holiday, Sorrento, Italy | |
| 864 | Vinyl log 14 - 14 June | Sandy Denny, Van der Graaf Generator, 1975, Vinyl log, Fairport Convention, The Band | |
| 1779 | Master of research (3) | DBA |
