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jonathanrobert's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
Very much enjoyed it, even more than the first. The author was having fun, and in the good way where we get to have fun too. The characters were well established, the plot rolled along, the surprises came when we perhaps needed a surprise, there were twists, turns, and it wasn't too gruesome (I'm never going to read James Patterson. The "Women's Murder Club" sounded like it would be fun, and then the one I tried began with someone shooting a baby. A baby! Horrible).
Sometimes authors think their detective needs to have some distingushing characteristic (by slavishly copying Christie's fellow with the egg-shaped head and the little grey cells), but really, they just need to be recognizably human and an interesting character in their own right. We spend a lot of time with them, so a copy of Sherlock Holmes who has a horror of yellow and solves crimes by comparing them to movies he's seen will quickly read as false, whereas our detective here, the lazy (but determined) Dover is richly alive in all his Falstaffian glory.
Am so glad to have stumbled onto this series. More to come!
Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.
Sometimes authors think their detective needs to have some distingushing characteristic (by slavishly copying Christie's fellow with the egg-shaped head and the little grey cells), but really, they just need to be recognizably human and an interesting character in their own right. We spend a lot of time with them, so a copy of Sherlock Holmes who has a horror of yellow and solves crimes by comparing them to movies he's seen will quickly read as false, whereas our detective here, the lazy (but determined) Dover is richly alive in all his Falstaffian glory.
Am so glad to have stumbled onto this series. More to come!
Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.
joycerl's review
5.0
I absolutely love the Dover series.Solid mystery with a surprise ending you never saw coming.Cantankerous, snarky Dover bumbling around and solving a mystery that no one thought he could.Extremely funny.
Thankyou Netgalley for this ARC
Thankyou Netgalley for this ARC
annarella's review
5.0
Dover is the perfect anti-hero and I'm becoming addicted to this series.
It makes me laugh and it keeps me hooked till the last page.
A solid mystery and a fun read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It makes me laugh and it keeps me hooked till the last page.
A solid mystery and a fun read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
jrenee's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
anjana's review
4.0
This mystery was better organized than the previous story.It is still a police procedural with everything that that entails, with in-depth interviews and a lot of leg-work. Dover is no less of a slob in this installment only maybe more so. His physical descriptions leave no room for misinterpretations but he does use his brain more than in the first book. He also very visibly grasps at the limelight by any means necessary. He also successfully wraps up the entire case. In this story, a woman in a coma has finally passed on. The town is torn between two different Christian groups and this has raised questions about the impartiality of the local police. The politics of the town provides a very vivid background for the unravelling of this odd case. Macgregor is still suffering but is also seeing different sides of his superior. He does all the leg work but the final pieces are forced together, a little mutinously, by Dover himself. The explanations are brief, physical descriptions of the suspects are fewer as in this case their faiths and their manners of behaviour are more under scrutiny. This confirmed my belief that the author seems to pour very graphic details into those factors that eventually lead to the result. This is not a spoiler as such because I could not have guessed the ending any sooner than the author wanted me to and I doubt many others can either, because of the skillful manipulation of revealing appropriate pieces of information.
Overall I am pleased to make an acquaintance of this author, and a whole new style of mystery narration. Although I do not think the content would be everyone's cup of tea, if one can get past the (graphic) negative caricatures of people and look at it only as part of the story itself, it is more palatable.I say this as someone who is usually very sensitive to the background portrayal of any story, and someone who actually (surprisingly) enjoyed both the stories I have read of this series so far.
I received an ARC of the reprint thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is completely based on my own reading experience.
Overall I am pleased to make an acquaintance of this author, and a whole new style of mystery narration. Although I do not think the content would be everyone's cup of tea, if one can get past the (graphic) negative caricatures of people and look at it only as part of the story itself, it is more palatable.I say this as someone who is usually very sensitive to the background portrayal of any story, and someone who actually (surprisingly) enjoyed both the stories I have read of this series so far.
I received an ARC of the reprint thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is completely based on my own reading experience.
stephbookshine's review
5.0
*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author and Farrago and NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Dover returns, and for anyone who has read Dover One, he is just as bloody-minded and bloody amusing as before!
If you haven’t read the previous book, there is nothing to worry about as each plot stands completely alone, and there cannot be much character development when your main character is already as perfect(ly awful) as DCI Dover. Dover is a textbook reluctant hero who steadfastly refuses to even contemplate ‘coming good’, but somehow seems to muddle through his cases anyway.
The cases follow traditional mystery patterns, with a small pool of suspects and plenty of obscure clues and twists to the reader expectations. This particular case has the fascinating hook of the victim possibly being murdered twice, which really puts Porter’s odd investigative pair through their paces. Keen young MacGregor with his fancy ‘actual police knowledge’ and ‘logical thought processes’ is the perfect foil for his lazy, grumpy, greedy, arrogant, and sadly rather stupid superior.
I am thoroughly enjoying this murder mystery series and look forward to continuing in Dover’s morose foot-reprints for as far as he can be bothered to plod!
Chief Inspector Dover wasn’t very optimistic about his chances of solving the case after all this time. Most of his cases he never solved anyhow, but he belligerently attributed this to the fact that the sticky ones were always, unfairly, shoved onto him. There may have been a faint whiff of truth in this because the Assistant Commissioner (Crime) couldn’t stand the sight of him (this feeling was mutual) and ruthlessly pushed him out on cases which were located in the remote provinces, whenever he got the chance.
– Joyce Porter, Dover Two
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/dover-two-joyce-porter/
Dover returns, and for anyone who has read Dover One, he is just as bloody-minded and bloody amusing as before!
If you haven’t read the previous book, there is nothing to worry about as each plot stands completely alone, and there cannot be much character development when your main character is already as perfect(ly awful) as DCI Dover. Dover is a textbook reluctant hero who steadfastly refuses to even contemplate ‘coming good’, but somehow seems to muddle through his cases anyway.
The cases follow traditional mystery patterns, with a small pool of suspects and plenty of obscure clues and twists to the reader expectations. This particular case has the fascinating hook of the victim possibly being murdered twice, which really puts Porter’s odd investigative pair through their paces. Keen young MacGregor with his fancy ‘actual police knowledge’ and ‘logical thought processes’ is the perfect foil for his lazy, grumpy, greedy, arrogant, and sadly rather stupid superior.
I am thoroughly enjoying this murder mystery series and look forward to continuing in Dover’s morose foot-reprints for as far as he can be bothered to plod!
Chief Inspector Dover wasn’t very optimistic about his chances of solving the case after all this time. Most of his cases he never solved anyhow, but he belligerently attributed this to the fact that the sticky ones were always, unfairly, shoved onto him. There may have been a faint whiff of truth in this because the Assistant Commissioner (Crime) couldn’t stand the sight of him (this feeling was mutual) and ruthlessly pushed him out on cases which were located in the remote provinces, whenever he got the chance.
– Joyce Porter, Dover Two
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/dover-two-joyce-porter/
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
Dover is the perfect anti-hero and I'm becoming addicted to this series.
It makes me laugh and it keeps me hooked till the last page.
A solid mystery and a fun read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It makes me laugh and it keeps me hooked till the last page.
A solid mystery and a fun read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
tonstantweader's review against another edition
3.0
Dover Two is the second in a mystery series from the Sixties that is being republished for a new generation of readers. DCI Dover does not represent the best of Scotland Yard. Dover is played for laughs, a fat, lazy, and filthy detective who hates to walk and hates to work. However, he does have a few intuitive flashes that help bring the intricate plot to a resolution, though sometimes as much by accident as by detection.
When the woman known as the Sleeping Beauty is smothered after nearly a year in a coma after being shot in the head, Dover is dispatched to Curdley to solve the case. Curdley is a very sectarian village about half and half Catholic and Protestant. The victim was Protestant and her sister is convinced the Catholic police did not do their best to solve the case…and that may be true. Dover and his long-suffering Sergeant MacGregor quickly made discoveries that should have been made long before.
I enjoyed Dover Two quite a bit, especially as leavening from more serious books I have been reading. It’s a light mystery. While the shooting happens on a public street, there is an element of the locked-room mystery here. There are witnesses to the left, right, and center, so how did the shooter escape unseen? Or is one of the witnesses the shooter? Dover has an uncanny pleasure in accusing everyone and hoping they will confess. How well that works is a matter of good and bad luck.
Dover is an enjoyable detective, not just due to the humor of this unappealing and lazy DCI and his poor sergeant, but also thanks to the few flashes of intuition and real problem-solving he accomplishes. Those moments of competence balance him enough to make the story worthy.
I received an e-galley of Dover Two from the publisher through NetGalley.
Dover Two at Farrago Books | Duckworth Books Group
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/10/25/9781788422055/
When the woman known as the Sleeping Beauty is smothered after nearly a year in a coma after being shot in the head, Dover is dispatched to Curdley to solve the case. Curdley is a very sectarian village about half and half Catholic and Protestant. The victim was Protestant and her sister is convinced the Catholic police did not do their best to solve the case…and that may be true. Dover and his long-suffering Sergeant MacGregor quickly made discoveries that should have been made long before.
I enjoyed Dover Two quite a bit, especially as leavening from more serious books I have been reading. It’s a light mystery. While the shooting happens on a public street, there is an element of the locked-room mystery here. There are witnesses to the left, right, and center, so how did the shooter escape unseen? Or is one of the witnesses the shooter? Dover has an uncanny pleasure in accusing everyone and hoping they will confess. How well that works is a matter of good and bad luck.
Dover is an enjoyable detective, not just due to the humor of this unappealing and lazy DCI and his poor sergeant, but also thanks to the few flashes of intuition and real problem-solving he accomplishes. Those moments of competence balance him enough to make the story worthy.
I received an e-galley of Dover Two from the publisher through NetGalley.
Dover Two at Farrago Books | Duckworth Books Group
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/10/25/9781788422055/