small glasses

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

These are becoming dark times, and Scotland’s good at dark. I enjoy Scottish noir, or at least Scottish detective novels, such as the Rebus series, and want some more. So I picked up Whisky from Small Glasses by Denzil Meyrick. It’s the first in a fairly new series of detective novels.

The setting, the Mull of Kintyre, is described brilliantly. I’ve never been there, yet now I feel it’s lying somewhere in my past, such are the quality of the Meyrick’s words. The normal people, their conversations, the places, all are bought beautifully alive.

The novel itself presents a pretty good mystery for the hero detective, DCI Daley, to clear up. It’s well paced, with some unexpected surprises to stop the bedtime reader dropping off to sleep.

But I have some problems with this book. The author comes across as great at painting normal people and their lives, but not so good at inventing the odd. It’s not that I’ve got experience with the abnormal, it’s more that those characters didn’t really work for me. It’s as though Meyrick is great at describing what he’s seen and experienced, but can’t quite bring the same qualities to things he invents.

Secondly, which it probably more a comment on my dimness, there were a couple of times in the book when the detective sees something from the situation, and jumps to conclusions which turn out to be correct. I didn’t understand how he got to them, and I wanted the author to tell me. Sergeant Scott, DCI Daley’s ‘Watson’, didn’t do a good job of forcing an explanation out of his boss. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a quality character, and the banter between him and his boss was delicious, but I wanted some suitable dimness so he would get the great detective to reveal how he worked the baddie out.

Finally, although the mystery itself, the details, the resolvers, and many other things were fine, I got really frustrated with yet another detective with (spoilers) marital problems, the nasty criminal being very nasty to the poor detective’s wife, especially when that was built on a coincidence. Ok, so chance plays an important role in real life, but, please, not as the crux of the plot in a whodunnit. I found myself muttering things like “not again” and “here we go” as certain plot techniques were played out like clockwork storytelling, in this book as in so many others. A nasty scene near the end, when the baddie showed the detective a corpse, was so effing obvious I just got annoyed.

Having said that, in the middle of the cliché situation were some great moments of character, and the traditional fight to the death scene was sustained well. The characters grow from their experience, and they do so naturally.

I suppose I should have treated the plot like a piece of folk music, the same dratted song sung well by someone who knows how to bring life to traditional music. The trouble is I prefer the fresh to the stale, no matter how cleverly toasted.

The novel is clearly written to be the first in a series. Indeed, a particular character appears, to my mind, to be set up well to become a baddie in a future book in the series. He’s far more real to me that this book’s evil self–declared genius. The motivation, the pain, the background, could make a very sympathetic nasty man leaving future books’ readers with a difficult moral quandary to consider. There’s a second character set up as a future baddie in the very last scene in the novel, which I felt was unnecessary. I would have preferred that scene to have been omitted; it’s taken away a potentially juicy mystery in a future novel.

So, this is a promising first novel, which some great descriptions and some excellent characterisation, but I do hope Meyrick can drop the need to recycle clichéd plot devices.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by David Monteath. He’s good. I’m sure part of the reason the well–written setting was bought so alive for me was Monteath’s narration.

I will grab more Meyrick: I can feel Kintyre breathe in his writing.

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16 people found this helpful

great

I'm from campbeltown the town "Kinloch" mimics..... almost every character is relatable to the toon!, I loved the book from start to finish and can say I've found a new series after reading the Kim stone and Natalie Ward series.

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2 people found this helpful

Wonderful new detective series

Came across this whilst browsing for a new listen and decided to give it a go, so glad I did, a proper dark detective thriller written with humour and an interesting cast of characters.

A body washes up on an idyllic beach in Kinloch, a fictional town in the west coast of Scotland and DCI Jim Daley is sent from Glasgow to lead the investigation. The bodies continue to mount up and the story of the investigation is intertwined with that of Daley’s marital problems and efforts to get to know the community.

The opening scenes involving the discovery of the first body made me laugh out loud! I really enjoyed the quirkiness of this book, think Agatha Raisin meets John Rebus, will definitely be seeking out more by Denzil Meyrick. David Monteath’s narration is perfection.

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1 person found this helpful

Good from start to finish

I enjoyed every minute of this Audiobook. Often I had to laugh out loud but also sat at the edge of my chair. The voice acting is amazing and I look forward to hearing more of this author and narrator

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Good start to an excellent series

I had already read one other in this series that was on a special deal, so was not disappointed with this the first one. A good introduction to the main characters. DS Scott could have a book series to himself in my opinion. This book was sad and funny in equal measure, with a twist in the tail right at the very end that will carry on into future novels. Excellent narration with all the characters having fairly different accents that made the story easier to follow. Splendid!

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Will not disappoint!

Great listen from start to finish. David Monteath brings to life the wonderful array of characters that Denzil Meyrick has so brilliantly crafted. Highly recommended!

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1 person found this helpful

A Scottish Delight.

Great characters and wonderfully read - amazingly varied number of Scots accents which coloured the people and the location.
My only criticism would be the revelation of the killer as being a little too signposted/predictable but it didn't spoil my enjoyment.

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A master class

David Monteath makes the story come alive with his masterly skills of delivering multiple characters.

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Perfect!

I've listened to a fair few murder mysteries and this one is up there with the best.
I love the unromantic characterisation of small-town Scotland and the entertaining characters and foul language.
Absolutely excellent narration. Characters had different voices without sounding put-on. I'm more familiar with east-coast Scottish accents than west, but sounded pretty good to me.

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Good solid crime thriller which I really enjoyed.

Great narration. The different characters were clearly defined by the narrator, which is not always the case. Good story if a little telegraphed towards the end. Quite a good ending too and humour throughout.

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