She Treads Softly: The Hanging Tree

Sunday, May 14, 2017

The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree by Rodney Hobson
Endeavour Press: 4/10/17
eBook review copy: 168 pages
ASIN: B06Y5VXVH9
D.I. Paul Amos series # 5

The Hanging Tree by Rodney Hobson is a highly recommended fast-paced police procedural set in the 1990's.

Detective Inspector Paul Amos and Detective Sergeant Juliet Swift are on the case of a middle aged man found hanging from a tree in his back yard. The two older women living next door heard noise in the night and saw a naked man walking through the backyard so the police were on the scene rather quickly and have a few clues to follow. The murdered man was Duncan Watson. He was apparently the leader of a group of protestors in the sixties who participated in a siege of historic Wykeham Hall in an attempt to save it. Their efforts resulted in failure, but the group is having a 30th reunion this weekend. Amos and Swift rely on interviews while following the various clues that lead to a conclusion.

This is most decidedly an old-fashioned police procedural that follows the clues in the case without the help of current technology or advanced forensics. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as you follow the deductions the detectives make through their interviews and investigations. It is also a simple, short, fast-paced novel. There isn't a lot of time for character development or more than one line of investigation. The Hanging Tree is definitely a novel to read simply for relaxation. It is a good story that reaches its conclusion quickly. And let's be honest, sometimes this is a nice change of pace, especially if you have had a hectic week.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Endeavour Press.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.