Trying New Private Detectives.

I had been fiercely loyal to my detectives, all this time.

The creators of Hercule Poirot, Ms Marple, Sherlock Holmes, AXL Pendergast and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache made them so unique that every other detective I tried to acquaint with, did not move ahead of that first date.

Recently I tried a few more.

1. Lord Peter Wimsey By Dorothy. L Sayers

Lord’s Wimsey’s loyal fans please forgive me

Busman’s Holiday is the book which read. I loved the characterization of Lord Wimsey and Harriet vane. The wealthy British aristocrat, who quotes Shakespeare and other poets  and has Bunter as his “man” has a definite charm.  He is a brilliant sleuth and I would have loved and spent time enjoying the delectable banter between him and Harriet if it were in a drama, but not in a murder mystery.

The problem was, I had to wait till the sixth chapter for the murder to be discovered even though the absence of Mr Noakes , the victim, is hovering over as the shroud of mystery from the first chapter. After a point of time I got bored of the slow pace and somehow I managed to complete the book. 

2.  Kinsey Millhone by Sue Grafton

I started with A is for Alibi. Kinsey Millhone doesn’t conform to society’s expectations. She is a free spirit who isn’t concerned about her appearance at all. These characteristics about her are underlined in the very first book of alphabet murder series. She is a private investigator and operates alone without a side-kick. I loved her but the plot of the book was shaky. But I am still going to have a go at the remaining books too.

3. Isaiah Quintabe by Joe Ide

I read two books of Isaiah I.Q Quintabe.

I loved him in the first book titled IQ. He is from the hood and is a private investigator. Left on his own after his beloved older brother Marcus dies, Isaiah, an honour student with a supercharged brain , drops out of high school. He has inductive reasoning skills which is not as well developed as Holmes or Poirot. He has built his own Audi when he was working with TK in his scrap yard, has a baton and a self made pellet –gun as weapons. His character is painted in grey and he has a self proclaimed partner, Dodson whom Isaiah just tolerates in the book as their relation goes way back.

It was a gripping plot. So after the first book, I went ahead and read the fourth book in the series, Hi Five which was my big mistake. It bumped off a favourite character, Beaumont, in the beginning.

IQ has to deal with a complex character with multiple personality syndrome who is the only witness to murder. The plot was more gun-violence and white supremacy and involved more shoot-outs than crime-solving. I had started falling in love with Isaiah and this plot revealed him as giving in to his vulnerability , losing everything and running away from the hood.

I am not sure if I am going back to read book 2 and 3 in the series.

But I am planning to watch the Peter Wimsey series with Edward Petherbridge as Lord Wimsey just to see if could rekindle that initial spark of love which I felt for him after my first book.