And there is something precious about this book. It's another of Orion's little hardbacks (like Michelle Lovric's Talina in the Tower). And just like that book this one is lovely to hold in your hands too. It has nice creamy coloured paper and wonderful little line drawings pepper the beginnings and ends of every chapter or 'ledger' as they are called here. It's one of those books that says, 'Own me, love me, don't just read me,' and for my money, exemplifies why real books are so much better than their digital siblings.
At this rate you might think I'm cooing about the object because the story itself isn't up to much. You'd be wrong. The story is a gem. Not that you would expect less from Caroline Lawrence.
The Good Looking Corpse begins within hours of the previous book finishing. The streets of Virginia City are teeming with young gunfighters battling it out to take the place of Whittlin' Walt as the 'Chief of the Comstock Desperadoes'. The self-styled and self-schooled detective, P.K. Pinkerton is nursing the bullet injury sustained in the previous story and wondering if anyone will ever take a twelve year old detective seriously when a black servant girl called Martha turns up asking for help. Martha has witnessed the murder of her mistress, 'Short' Sally Simpson, and is convinced that the murderer is now after her too. P.K. can't resist the case, of course, and immediately embarks on an enquiry that takes the reader on a rollercoaster trip through the seemier parts of Virginia City in the company of a glorious cast of larger than life wild west characters and keeps P.K. and the reader guessing as to the identity of the killer right to the very end of the story.
And it's all enormous fun!
P.K. has a Thorn, Foibles and Eccentricities, and the Mulligrubs. The Thorn makes it diificult for P.K. to relate to other people and read their emotions. So P.K. has a system, a series of numbered facial expressions which would be fine if they didn't get confused sometimes. The Foibles and Eccentricities lead to collections, in this case, of different types of tobacco, which P.K. puts to good use in solving the crime. And the Mulligrubs are a dark mood that can only be combatted by the sort of visioning that, in my experience, is more usually advocated by the lovely ladies of the National Child Birth Trust.
Put all this together with the wry, charming voice that Lawrence uses here and you have a matter-of-fact little hero who steers their way through an historical reality that pulls no punches. There are gunfights, mutilated bodies, drunks and gamblers, prostitutes and slavery, and the sheer carnage of the American Civil War. It's all just there. P.K. takes it for granted and so the reader does too. And, quite frankly, it's delightful. I love P.K.'s tendency to capitalise words. I love the odd spelling mistakes and the slang. It brings the whole story alive and it makes you want to join that never ending line of girls and ladies who want to give P.K. a hug and a kiss even though the Thorn means P.K. hates to be touched.
And there you have it. A wonderful story with a wonderful character by a wonderful author. I'm off to find The Deadly Desperadoes now and I can't wait to get my hands on the next one too.
The lovely folk at Orion Books sent me this review copy. If you would like your own please click below and then Amazon will send a small contribution towards maintaining this blog.
Thank you, I've put it on my list of books to read.
ReplyDelete