Reviews for Dover

The average rating for Dover based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-12-15 00:00:00 Steve Wynne I picked this book off the for sale shelf of our local library, where I am now, in fact. The original location if this book, according to a stamp on the title page was the Morristown-Hamblen Library in Morristown, Tennessee. How it got up to Maine is anyone's guess. Read the first amusing tale last night. Inspector Dover is a memorable, though depressing creation. Many chuckles are on offer from the talented Ms. Porter. Story #2 now read. Dover is a rude fat slob, but he DOES solve his cases pretty effortlessly. Candidates for playing Dover(all dead of course): Oliver Hardy, Laird Cregar, John Candy, Chris Farley. Not sure that the latter two could handle the English accent, however. Story # 3 = "Dover and the Dark Lady" ... I figured out the maguffin of this one pretty quickly, well before the coppers did. #4 = "Dover Does Some Spadework" - No body for Wilf this time, but he has to contend with his wily wife. Reminiscent of Rumpole and "She who must be obeyed". #5 = "Dover Goes to School" sees the guilty party fold up like a cheap tent and confess a la the killer in an episode of "Perry Mason." #6 = "Dover without Perks" - Interesting how the author centers each story around a different segment of British society. #7 = "Dover and the Smallest Room" - Dover gets murder-solving lucky in the bathroom. Don't ask ... #8 = "Sweating It Out with Dover" - I figured this one before Dover, or at least at about the same time. - I just finished "The Mysterious Affair at Styles"(Poirot #1). Dover is the anti-Poirot and undoubtedly meant to be so. #9 - Dover Sees the Trees - Our chubby inspector manages to "solve" all the mysteries up until this one, the ending of which along with the title manage to suggest that the outcome is still in doubt when the last word is read. WE know who did it(as before, I figured it out early), but Dover seems to still be in the dark. #10 and #11 - And done. The last story - "A Souvenir for Dover" is a bit discouraging for those who hope for integrity in law enforcement, and it's almost a dead repeat of an earlier story, but I pronounce myself satisfied and entertained. Don't know that I'll read any of the longer ones(novels) but #1 is supposed to be pretty good. - 3.25* rounds down to 3*.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-13 00:00:00 Donald Leslie Dover pulls rabbits out of his disgusting bowler. I'm surprised I'm not more enthusiastic about this book. I cut my teeth on the Sherlock Holmes stories and I morn the demise of the mystery short story. And God knows I'm a great fan of Porter's hilarious books featuring fat, lazy, foul-tempered Inspector Wilf Dover. Dover is the kind of character that you can laugh at and feel superior to while being terribly grateful that you don't have to work with him. And it's fun to try to speculate as to which one of your friends and co-workers bears the most resemblance to him. Dover is a great character. If Shakespeare's Falstaff was in a permanently bad mood, he would be Inspector Dover. And most of these stories are very good. There is the recurring theme of solving murders by using clues gleaned in the bathroom, which is where Dover (for reasons best left unsaid) spends an inordinate amount of time. There is Dover's conviction (frequently proved correct) that husbands murder wives and vice versa. There is his wistful, but determined hope that some one will recognize his brilliance and offer him a cushy, well-paid position in a successful corporation. How long a successful corporation would continue to BE successful with Dover on the staff is another question. Two of the stories are the same plot, slightly re-worked. They all appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine over a period of years and it's unlikely that readers would have notice the similarity. That's a problem in posthumous story collections. Also, several of the stories show Mrs. Dover in her accustomed state - a rather timid woman who's bowed down by years of subservience to a demanding, ungrateful husband. But "Dover Does Some Spadework" presents her as a determined domestic despot who has Old Wilf exactly where she wants him. Furthermore, it's one of my favorites. Overall, it's worth your time. You get the essence of the Dover books (a sublimely incompetent copper who somehow manages to solve murders) in short form. If you're a Dover fan, pick up a copy.