Injury Time

Inspector Sloan #15

by Catherine Aird

Who poisoned Anna Macmillan with a deadly dose of antimony? Where are the priceless pearls that vanished during a country house weekend? What caused the temperature of a health club sauna to rise so dramatically that its sole occupant was dead within minutes? How was the code to an eminent scientist's high-tech alarm system broken on the very day it was issued?

From the investigations of Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan and his enthusiastic, but not very helpful, Constable Crosby in the not-so-sleepy county of Calleshire to the long lunches of civil servant Henry Tyler in the tranquil environs of London's Mordaunt Club, Catherine Aird's collection of sixteen stories takes the reader through an ingenious selection of crimes and puzzles, full of delightful literary subtleties and fascinating legal and medical twists.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Contemporary, Audiobook, British Literature

168 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Kinn Hamilton McIntosh, known professionally as Catherine Aird, was an English novelist. She was the author of more than twenty crime fiction novels and several collections of short stories. Her witty, literate, and deftly plotted novels straddle the "cozy" and "police procedural" genres and are somewhat similar in flavour to those of Martha Grimes, Caroline Graham, M.C. Beaton, Margaret Yorke, and Pauline Bell. Aird was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 1981, and is a recipient of the 2015 Cartier Diamond Dagger award.

Reviews

[Zain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contentment

These short stories by Catherine Aird are fun and interesting. Most of the stories are about Inspector C.D. Sloane, and part of The Calleshire Chronicles. A few other stories are about random detectives, and someone named Henry Tyler.

What makes the author’s’ writing so amusing is her descriptive side snippets that shows what a character is really thinking. I have enjoyed all of the books I’ve read by her so far, and I enjoyed reading this one, too.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most collections of short stories some of these were brilliant, others were chilling, odd and even lackluster. It was amusing to read her humorous take on urban legends, other mystery authors, and even Shakespeare.

[Lady Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of the audiobook narrated by Derek Perkins.

This is a delightful collection of sixteen short mystery stories, some (but not all) featuring Aird's Inspector Sloan. And when I say "short," I mean that none are more than thirty minutes long. Nevertheless, they are clever and complete, albeit with abrupt endings.

I have a feeling that this is a book that I will listen to again.

[Nichola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am about 60% sure I missed almost half of the Literary and contextual references in here. Which is saying something for me. So I might need to reread this but I will say Aird is a great short story writer. Dare I say, a better short story writer than Christie.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally picked up this series of short stories by Aird that contain some cases with Sloan, and a few without but the people remain in the world of her series.

Really great shorts here, gives you an idea of how sharply Aird is at not just creating a crime but the way in which it is solved. It also brings even more into view how well read she is!

If you’re looking for shorts that have a lot of smarts get this book. The last story in this is a wonderful jab at Sloan’s boss! Ha.

[Christopher Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories with Sloan & Crosby plus other characters. This series is really one of my all time favorites.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like puzzles in which the author has time to flesh out her characters. That's not usually true of short stories, though these are clever.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining collection of short stories including Sloan and Crosby mysteries as well as others from an earlier era. I like short stories in general and I think crime short stories must be some of the most difficult to write successfully. Catherine Aird is one of the crime writers of today who is excellent at short stories I think.

I read one of the them twice as it sees Sloan get the better of one of his superiors and the ACC acknowledges that he couldn't have solved the mystery on his own. This is the story entitled 'One Under the Eight' and the mathematics involved is very cleverly done. This has to be one of the cleverest short stories I've read for a long time.

I also liked 'Lord Peter's Touch' in which a group of bell ringers adopt the pseudonyms of the characters in Dorothy L Sayers' 'The Nine Tailors'. This is an excellent collection to read straight through or to dip in and out of in any spare moment during the day.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, some of which feature familiar characters from the author's Calleshire mysteries. Some of the stories are quite short, for example, my favorite, Lord Peter's Touch, an homage to Dorothy L. Sayers, is only five pages long, but still both exquisite and drily humorous. Highly recommended.

[SuedePuzzler · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories. Most are mysteries, but some are not.

Some of the stories were enjoyable, others felt a bit pointless. My favorite involved a bit of mathematics used to solve a spy mystery.

None felt very realistic. I have previously read Henrietta Who? by the same author and the tone of that was more realistic than these short stories.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories featuring Inspector Sloan. There is a confusing story about a woman killed in a sauna when the heat was turned up too high. A scientific group's alarm is dismantled with ease but how could someone have cracked the code that was only recently implemented. There are 14 other stories; some aren't quite mysteries but all are entertaining.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories. One read like it was edited out of a longer novel, because some editor said "well, it's lovely, but it doesn't advance the plot, does it?" - so she put it in this collection of short stories.

Enjoyed it. A quick read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't always enjoy short stories, since often they short-circuit character development, but I did enjoy these, possibly because I already knew most of the main characters. A few too many "killed the wife", but otherwise a good read.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lively and delightful collection of short mystery stories set in the United Kingdom. The stories are all fairly plotted with plenty of clues, but many of them still managed to surprise me in the end.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short for my taste. I'd just get in tested and it would be over.

[Cynthiaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and entertaining set of shorts.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag, but most of the stories were very good. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange stories, interesting and, sometimes, unexpected twists and ends. Well narrated.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

short stories

[Teri Am · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to Inspector C. D. Sloan and Constable Crosby.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer her longer stuff but some of these short stories are fun.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t often choose short stories but, with Catherine Aird as the writer and Derek Perkins as the narrator, how could I resist? Quirky stories and characters, some familiar. Love them.

[Anne Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

New to me, a fun collection of short stories

[Deb Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catherine Aird's quality of writing is not diminished by the brevity of short stories.

[Jill Stirling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirky and clever.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different than her other books as was a collection of short stories. 5 minute mysteries. Most of the had her same characters.

[Little Red Readinghood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read of short story mysteries.

[Vivienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Good Collection of Short Stories

A collection of very different stories, with diverse themes, one of which, ‘A Fair Cop’ I think is very droll and gave me a chuckle. Another, ‘Double Jeopardy’ didn’t seem to involve a crime at all, but was a very instructive story with a humorous side. ‘Slight [sic] of Hand’ is a talk over lunch at an exclusive club between a highly-placed police officer and a member of the Foreign Office, which sounds boring, but is actually rather a clever little story. ‘Cause and Effects’ is a perplexing problem with an ingenious solution, and again featuring the man from the Foreign Office. These are just a few of the sixteen stories that make up this collection just to give an idea of what is in store.

So far as I remember, I haven’t read any of the C. D. Sloan mysteries, so thought that this collection would be a good way to see if they appeal to me or not. As it turns out, not all of the stories feature Sloan. I enjoy the Sloan stories, but actually prefer the Henry Tyler ones (the Foreign Office man). Aird is a very good writer and has an understated sense of humour that comes through in many of the stories. These stories are very short but extremely well-crafted and carefully thought-out. A solid three-star, but pricey.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a bit different from the usual Catherine Aird fare; it is a group of 16 short stories.  Of course, humor abounds.  This would be a great intro to the new reader of Catherine Aird.  Lots of the stories include Berebury Detective Inspector Sloan and his cohorts.  For a change, there are a few showing the skills of Foreign Officer Henry Tyler.  This is a light-hearted mix of Aird's antics.

Sloan and Crosby Mystery 
11. Harm'sWay (1984)
12. A DeadLiberty (1986) 
13. TheBody Politic (1990) 
14. AGoing Concern (1993) 
** 15. Injury Time (1994) 

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, most of them about Aird's signature character, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan. Ms. Aird is a traditionalist in the art of the British mystery and a very enjoyable practitioner. The pace is sedate, with wicked undertones of humor. A very good read.