Book burble: “Jennings has a wonderful feel for the places and tasks that give life and context to a character… [Murdoch’s] warm heart makes him the right sleuth of this cold city.” New York Times

Toronto, February 1895. When the body of a young woman is found naked and frozen in a quiet laneway, Acting Detective William Murdoch, driven by pity for the dead girl sand the desire to secure his promotion, is determined to pursue every lead and reveal the truth. Though influential people bring pressure to bear on the police to solve the mystery quickly, when the body is eventually identified it soon becomes clear that many of those connected with the girl’s life have secrets to hide.

Murdoch mist use ever detective skill he possess and his understanding of human nature to untangle the case before more lives are lost.

“Jennings creates more than period mystery. She brings alive 1895 Toronto.” Publishers Weekly
“A chiller…impressive. An engaging historical mystery.” Houston Chronicle
“A finely flavoured plot, credible characters, and detailed atmosphere make this a winner.” Library Journal

EXCEPT THE DYING (Murdoch Mysteries 1) by MAUREEN JENNINGS (1997) | ISBN: 0857689878 / 9780857689870 (UK PB) | Publisher: Titan Books
PLEASE NOTE: this no longer belongs to Aberdeen City Libraries - it is a WITHDRAWN library book.

DETECTIVE MURDOCH SERIES
1. Except the Dying (1997) [Read: Sat 02 Sep 2017]
2. Under the Dragon's Tail (1998)
3. Poor Tom is Cold (2001)
4. Let Loose the Dogs (2003)
5. Night's Child (2005)
6. Vices of My Blood (2006)
7. A Journeyman to Grief (2007)
8. Let Darkness Bury the Dead (2017)
Shipwreck (2010)

The sense of historical depth was impressively palpable, the characters plausible and the plot line tragic and true to this setting. EXCEPT THE DYING is a riveting first step into the world of crime for Jennings that brings another era to life even more remarkably I at first appreciated. Intrigued and pleased with the hard hitting storyline I was surprised to be a bitty underwhelmed by a vague quality given Murdoch.

Having visited Toronto and having fond memories through various connections I was instantly involved with it as the setting. Apparently now, according to the cover, this series is the basis for a “hugely popular TV series”. However not having a TV and having only ever caught a couple of trailers for the programme I never made effort to catch it not being drawn by an overly earnest and slightly hammy tone I felt present.

…Yet, I have a niggle about this that I cannot quite put my finger on. Somehow this had so much more promise than it delivered for despite its skilful handling of dark and troubling topics this had more of a cosy tone than the noir shadow that I expected. I’ve put off converting my notes into more coherent thoughts and sitting here attempting to define that vague grumble have pulled my rating of six up to seven as I did enjoy immensely the vivid sense of historic setting. Reading this again might well put that doubt into better perspective but also I’m currently deep into a number of different book series so my stack of ToBeReads is bowing the floorboards of the castle-in-the-city, I’ll likely revisit this writer and it is high time this was passed to another reader. So Mr F9 your thoughts eagerly awaited!
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Now listed as ‘Travelling’, because this will be posted later today in one of what is now four (!) late BIRTHDAY BOOKCROSSING parcels!

UPDATE - WED 29 AUG 2018: organisational hic-cups meant alteration to my posting schedule. In the end the total number of late BIRTHDAY BOOKCROSSING parcels totalled five, each under 2 kg’s in weight. These all entered the Postal system last thing today and will be picked up and processed on Thursday 30 August.

Arrived in Somerset as part of Mr Flutterbies9's bumper birthday set of packages.

As you know, we have been watching this series on the tv dramatisation and TC loves them so this book immediately crept to the top of the new tbr pile. However with tbr having just been added to in spectacular fashion, I'm not sure how long he will take to get around to it!

Well, Mr Flutterbies9 read this and passed it on to me where it has sat on tbr for a lot longer than I would prefer. Unfortunately I did not get full review from Mr Flutterbies9 but he did recall that he thought it was a "bit dreamy", not as hard hitting as the tv dramatisation but brilliant on the sense of a familiar yet different place setting.

I have finally got around to this one too. There is a lot of description of both place and social mores from this historic setting and I would be inclined to agree with the book burble quote from the New York Times from rainbow3. This is the only one from this series of books which I have read and I did find that it was coloured by my enjoyment of the tv drama series which I had seen. This particular book is a good entry to the background of Murdoch and his domestic arrangements, the characters in the Toronto police, the plight of the serving classes and even the city itself, however there is not so much in the way of description of Murdoch himself. The solution to the crimes was not a huge mystery but the obstacles in the way of reaching a satisfactory conclusion to the perpetrators' crimes is a lot more convoluted than may be expected.

I feel I would like to read more of this series and see how the books flesh out the characters and the stories as they move along from this base.

I may have a plan for this book but it is not confirmed yet, so watch this space!

Released to the World of Crime Bookbox to continue its journey into the wild yonder.

Received when my "A World of Crime" Bookbox came home.