{"id":10096,"date":"2018-04-04T20:29:21","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T00:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=10096"},"modified":"2024-03-21T15:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T19:03:43","slug":"death-of-a-hollow-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10096","title":{"rendered":"Death of a Hollow Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Death of a Hollow Man<\/a><\/em> (1989) Caroline Graham<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Causton Amateur Dramatic Society is putting on Amadaeus, and its a seething pit of dramas and resentment.<\/p>\n

He always tried to get home before his wife, not only because she hated finding the house empty but because he looked forward to hearing the continuing saga of theatrical folk that started almost the minute she came through the door.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are lots of unlikable characters, but the least likable of the lot is Harold.<\/p>\n

He had long been aware that if it had not been for his careless early marriage and the birth of three numbingly dull children\u2014now, thankfully, boring themselves and their consorts to death miles away\u2014, he would currently be one of the top directors in the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was kinda hoping he would be the one to get killed.<\/p>\n

Inspector Barnaby’s wife Joyce is involved with the group, and so Barnaby also gets to hear all the details, and when a crime occurs, is in place to start solving the mystery.<\/p>\n

Couple of notes. This was written in 1986, and set in the theater, so there are gay men, but surprisingly, they aren’t horrible caricatures. In fact, I liked Avery very much.<\/p>\n

Tim and Avery sat at a table, their heads close. They stopped talking the moment Nicholas entered, and Tim smiled. \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d he said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t talking about you.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect you were.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t you really?\u201d asked Avery, who always thought that everyone was talking about him the second his back was turned, and never very kindly. \u201cI would have.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not that there isn’t blatant homophobia.<\/p>\n

After showing in Tim and Avery, Troy pointedly moved his chair several feet away. Then he sat, legs protectively crossed, giving off waves of masochistic fervor, his breathing ostentatiously shallow. One might have thought the air to be thick with potentially effeminate spores, a careless gulp of which might transform him from a sand-kicker supreme to a giggling, girlish wreck.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But since the homophobic character is a jerk, it hardly qualifies.<\/p>\n

I also liked Diedre, who is also a product of the times in how she is treated by the men with whom she deals.<\/p>\n

She had been brought up to believe that you never spoke ill of the dead. As a child, she had assumed that this was because, given half a chance, the dead would come back and savage you. Later she modified this apprehension to include the understanding that (a) if you only said nice things about them, they might put in a good word for you when your turn came, and (b) it just wasn\u2019t honorable to attack people who couldn\u2019t answer back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s an interesting mystery, and I wish the library had more than two books of the series.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: Felony & Mayhem Press <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Death of a Hollow Man (1989) Caroline Graham The Causton Amateur Dramatic Society is putting on Amadaeus, and its a seething pit of dramas and resentment. He always tried to get home before his wife, not only because she hated finding the house empty but because he looked forward to hearing the continuing saga of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,33,8,42],"tags":[730,61,62],"class_list":["post-10096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-police","tag-1980s","tag-caroline-graham","tag-chief-inspector-barnaby"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2CQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18431,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18431","url_meta":{"origin":10096,"position":0},"title":"Death of a Hollow Man","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Death of a Hollow Man (1989) Caroline Graham (Chief Inspector Barnaby) Inspector Barnaby's wife belongs to the local theater group, so we start during the early rehearsals, and interestingly (for a police procedural) the murder doesn't happen until opening night (about 40% into the book). So not only do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Death of a Hollow Man","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/deathhollowman.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":460,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/460","url_meta":{"origin":10096,"position":1},"title":"Faithful Unto Death","author":"Michelle","date":"October 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Faithful Unto Death (1996) Caroline Graham I picked up a later book in this series somewhere, and being the way I am, decided to go back and start at the beginning of the series. Too bad for me. This isn't the first book in the series, it's simply the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10023,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10023","url_meta":{"origin":10096,"position":2},"title":"The Killings at Badger’s Drift","author":"Michelle","date":"March 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) Caroline Graham Miss Emily Simpson was found dead in her home. An elderly woman, her death didn't seem suspicious, but her best friend, Miss Lucy Bellringer insists that something was wrong and the death should be investigated. I had very very vague memories of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Killing-Badgers-Drift.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":468,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/468","url_meta":{"origin":10096,"position":3},"title":"The Killings at Badger’s Drift","author":"Michelle","date":"October 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) Caroline Graham This is actually the first Inspector Barnaby mystery. How annoying when publishers only have part of a writer's catalog and one is deluded into thinking you've read the first book in a series, only to discover you were terrible wrong. So this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/470","url_meta":{"origin":10096,"position":4},"title":"A Ghost in the Machine","author":"Michelle","date":"October 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A Ghost in the Machine (2004) Caroline Graham Ghost in the Machine may be my least favorite Inspector Barnaby mystery so far, because it takes us forever to actually get to Inspector Barnaby, and even once he becomes involved, we still spend a great deal of time with the characters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13919,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13919","url_meta":{"origin":10096,"position":5},"title":"The Killings at Badger’s Drift","author":"Michelle","date":"February 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) Caroline Graham (Chief Inspector Barnaby) I'd initially forgotten just how messed up this story is. Then once we were introduced to all the characters, I clearly remembered who did the murdering and why. The opening is actually sweet. An 80-year-old woman and her best\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Killings at Badgers Drift","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The-Killings-at-Badgers-Drift.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}