Parting Breath is an academic mystery set in Catherine Aird's fictional county of Calleshire, England; it features Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Berebury CID, and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby.
The first sentence of the book is:
“The trouble with universities,” pronounced Professor Tomlin, “is the undergraduates.”
A protest by students is threatened because a student has been sent down (suspended or expelled?). The protesters plan to take over the Almstone Administration building for their sit-in. After the sit-in begins, a dead body on the Quad of Tarsus College is reported. Inspector Sloan is assigned the case and DC Crosby accompanies him to the scene. The dead man is a student and his last words before dying were cryptic: "twenty six minutes".
Soon after that, the porter locks down the administration building, so that the college and the police know where the students taking part in the sit-in are. This limits the suspects to students who ignored the strike or faculty or staff who were not locked into the building. But there are still a lot of suspects to sift through, and the investigation is very complex.
My thoughts:
- I enjoy the subtle humor in Catherine Aird's writing. There are jokes and sly comments about education and teaching undergraduates and getting along with the professors.
- There is not a lot abut the personal lives of the policemen in the Sloan and Crosby series. But in this case, Inspector Sloan's wife is pregnant with their first child. Sloan assumes the child will be a boy, and mulls about which rugby position the child will play while he investigates. He also worries how it will be for a child to grow up as the child of a policeman. This shows the reader another side of Sloan.
- The only negative element of this one is the complexity with so many characters it is hard to keep track. Other reviewers pointed out that the reader does not have enough information to solve the mystery; too many important clues show up too late. That did not matter to me. I enjoyed the academic setting and the characters very much.
- I have now read eight of the Sloan and Crosby series by Catherine Aird, and I can say that she is one of my favorite mystery writers. The first book of the series was published in 1966 and the 28th book in 2023. Some of the books in this series are more serious, although they all have elements of humor. I would put Henrietta Who? and A Late Phoenix in that category. The Stately Home Murder, on the other hand, is lighter and has some very funny moments.
I finished reading this book on January 1st. After I finished the book, I was doing some research and saw at Martin Edward's blog, Do You Write Under Your Own Name?, that Catherine Aird died on December 21, 2024 at age 94. See his remembrance post about her and his review of Parting Breath.
Curtis Evans of The Passing Tramp blog has also written a RIP post for Catherine Aird, with much information about her life and her writing.
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Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1978 (orig. pub. 1977)
Length: 186 pages
Format: Hardcover
Series: Inspector Sloan #7
Setting: UK
Genre: Police procedural
Source: On my TBR shelves since 2010.
22 comments:
I wish I could track this authors books.
I can't remember whether I've looked into this author or not but I know you've mentioned her before. I must do so, as I like the sound of this series. Like you I don't mind not being able to work out who did the deed. I realise I don't read crime fiction to solve the crime, although occasionally it's nice to be right. I'm not sure then, 'why' I do read it... I must think on that. LOL!
This is a well-written series, Tracy, and I have to admit, I feel bad that I haven't read more of these books. I agree with you about the subtle wit, and I think Aird created some solid, interesting puzzles.
I rarely try to figure out the villain. And if I do, something goes out of the book for me. I probably read most of these as they published but I don't remember them particularly. So many writers wrote similar books then.
This sounds like a good series. When there is an overabundance of characters I prefer reading in real book form so I can thumb back if necessary. But... I've also learned with ebooks there's often the option of searching a character's name in the book and I can see where they were first mentioned.
Kelly, I always prefer to read paper books over ebooks, but there are definite advantages to ebooks. And one I especially like is being able to search the book. Sometimes I am trying to figure if a character has appeared earlier or if he or she is a new character.
Mystica, I have had a hard time finding the next book in this series so that I can read them in order. However, they don't have to be read in order. I currently have all of the middle books in this series on the Kindle so I am set for a while.
Cath, I have tried to figure out why I have preferred crime fiction for most of my reading life. There was a point where I would not read general fiction at all. For me, I think it is because with a mystery there is (almost) always a puzzle to figure out, and it keeps me interested, even if I don't figure out the solution myself. With general fiction, the story often doesn't hold my attention throughout the book. That is changing more now though; partially because of my changing tastes and also because I am getting better at picking non-genre fiction that I will like.
Catherine Aird is one of my favorite authors too. I like her humor, especially in his interaction with the Superintendent. She reminds me a little of Jane Austen for some reason I haven't tried to analyze.
A lot of her books are on Open Library, although some aren't available to read online.
Glad you enjoyed this one. She's not an author I've read before.
Margot, I am interested in how the books change in the late 1990s when computers became prevalent.
Patti, whether a story plays "fair" with the clues doesn't interest me, but when something or someone comes out of the blue it can be irritating. On the other hand, I am always more interested in characters or style, and sometimes setting, so the solution is secondary.
Marty, I always forget to mention the Superintendent and their conversations when I review these books. I like these characters with their eccentricities and quirks.
Thanks for the information on Open Library, Marty.
Lark, I read the first book, The Religious Body, in 2005 and I don't remember why, other than it was set in a monastery and I like that type of setting. I did not read another in the series until after I started blogging, in 2013.
I have been looking at Catherine Aird's books wondering if I should give her a go and glad to hear you like her so much that is more than enough encouragement for me to give her a read.
Kathy, Catherine Aird's books are definitely worth trying. They do not need to be read in order, but some of the early ones are very good.
She wrote a long time -- it's sad about her passing. But what a writing career ! College campuses are good settings for crime novels.
I am always impressed when an author writes over a long period of time. She mostly stuck with her main series, but she wrote one standalone in 1967, A Most Contagious Game, which was excellent.
Oh I'm remembering why I like Catherine Aird, reading your review, I always enjoy her books. I haven't read this one, but always like an academic mystery, so will try to find it.
I do enjoy reading Catherine Aird's books, Moira. I enjoy the interactions between the policemen but I especially like to see Inspector Sloan figuring out the solution. I hope to read one or two more this year.
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