One Foot in the Grave

One Foot in the Grave (1979) by Peter Dickinson is my first entry for the Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon. Fortunately Michelle is allowing those of us who are horror weenies to count mysteries. I have a few ghost story collections hanging out on the TBR pile--so I may venture into those. But my first book is a straight mystery.

This is the sixth book in the series featuring Scotland Yard's Jimmy Pibble. The now retired ex-Superintendent  is in a fancy nursing home called Flycatchers where he is recovering from a stroke brought on by the death of his wife. He has determined that he doesn't have much left to live for and wants to end it all while he still has all his faculties and having recovered enough to have just enough strength. He waits for a wild and windy night and makes his way out to a tower on the property--with the intention of flinging himself from the top. But his plans are interrupted when he discovers a corpse shot through the back of the head, almost execution-style.

His old instincts kick in and he can't help but be interested, especially when his old friend Chief Superintendent Mike Crewe becomes involved. When he learns that the victim had been acting as added security for the mysterious Mr. X (whom Pibble recognizes as a rather important informer in the underworld), it begins to look like someone is making a move on Mr. X to eliminate him before he can provide major information to the police. But the case is complicated by an elderly woman who claims that someone has been killing off wealthy patients--ostensibly so their heirs won't have to wait so long for their inheritance. Crewe tends to trust Pibble's instincts, even if he's not quite up to his previous standard yet, but the local Superintendent is sure that the killer will be found among the victim's discarded conquests on the nursing staff. Could it be that the truth lies somewhere in the middle?

I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with Peter Dickinson's work. My very first taste (back in the 80s and I don't even remember the book) did not go down at all well. For a long time, his name was on my TBF list (To Be Found) with no titles and simply the comment "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" --to keep me from bringing more of them home. But then in 2011 I decided to give him another try when I needed another book with a "Y" as the first letter of a title (not counting "The, A, or An" and brought The Yellow Room Conspiracy home with fear and trepidation. As I note in the review (linked), the book did not wow me as mystery but it did have excellent characters and was a good historical period piece. It gave me hope that I might like Dickinson after all.

After reading One Foot in the Grave, I have decided that Dickinson's strength is his characters. It's not his plots or his ability to mystify--the culprit is, quite frankly, glaringly obvious in this one and I don't think that was planned. But it is definitely worth the price of admission to watch Pibble work his way back from a stroke and his interactions with the nurses, previous colleagues on the force, and, most particularly his fellow residents. Lady Treadgold is a hoot--don't get anywhere near her and her walker if you are a nefarious evil-doer, trust me. Two things keep this from being a five- or even a full four-star outing. The first is the aforementioned weakness in the mystery itself. The second is that while the general outline of Pibble's return to strength is good, especially in his interactions with others, the long internal monologues are a bit taxing. The first chapter where he is making his way to the tower is especially so. It is only 32 pages long, but it reads like it is much longer. Overall, a strong showing and good reason to try the other Dickinson books sitting on my TBR pile. ★★★ and a half


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This also counts for the "Blood Stains" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.