A review by tmpowers
Gently Does It by Alan Hunter
4.0
The mystery wasn't particularly deep. The culprit is easily guessable after the first round of interviews at the police station. Mr Hunter's clues and character observations can be a bit heavy handed at times and the red herring is so obvious as to be a bit dull. There is also the subtle clue that comes when Gently states flat out what happened about 2/3 of the way through the book.
None of that really hampered my enjoyment of the book at all, though. I found the main character to be very likable and I enjoyed his pursuit of proof to back up his suspicions and loose ends. The story and main character both have a more Colombo-esk style than most mystery books I have come across and I found this more unusual approach to be quite fun.
In the end, the mystery wasn't very mysterious but the likeable Gently and his pursuit of proof (as opposed to a guilty party) kept me turning pages.
Spoiler
(Fisher)Spoiler
I might have preferred a climax that centered more on finding proof or tricking the murderer rather than a possibly deadly confrontation with flying bullets. It seems like a calmer ending would be more inline with the gentle story pace and main character but, at the same time, who wants an anticlimactic murder mystery ending.None of that really hampered my enjoyment of the book at all, though. I found the main character to be very likable and I enjoyed his pursuit of proof to back up his suspicions and loose ends. The story and main character both have a more Colombo-esk style than most mystery books I have come across and I found this more unusual approach to be quite fun.
In the end, the mystery wasn't very mysterious but the likeable Gently and his pursuit of proof (as opposed to a guilty party) kept me turning pages.