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Inspector Dover #3
Dover Three
It seemed that everyone in the bleak little village of Thornwich had been honoured with the most obscene poison pen letters imaginable. And they showed no signs of letting up. So off goes Chief Inspector Dover of Scotland Yard, his unfortunate young colleague MacGregor in tow, to track down the source.
Not-so-comfortably ensconced in the miserable lodgings of the Jolly Sailor, Dover's easy confidence is quickly shaken when he suddenly has to deal with two suicides - one attempted, the other all-too-successful - black-market babies, and various bowel disorders. When the second suicide begins to look more and more like murder, however, it is only a matter of time before Dover comes face-to-face with a most determined, and totally unlikely killer.
Completing the trilogy that first introduced Dover to an international audience, Dover Three combines black humour and earthy detail in a wickedly perceptive picture of rural English life.
Not-so-comfortably ensconced in the miserable lodgings of the Jolly Sailor, Dover's easy confidence is quickly shaken when he suddenly has to deal with two suicides - one attempted, the other all-too-successful - black-market babies, and various bowel disorders. When the second suicide begins to look more and more like murder, however, it is only a matter of time before Dover comes face-to-face with a most determined, and totally unlikely killer.
Completing the trilogy that first introduced Dover to an international audience, Dover Three combines black humour and earthy detail in a wickedly perceptive picture of rural English life.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
26 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Porter
67 books14 followersJoyce Porter was born in Marple, Cheshire, and educated at King's College, London. In 1949 she joined the Women's Royal Air Force, and, on the strength of an intensive course in Russian, qualified for confidential work in intelligence. When she left the service in 1963 she had completed three detective novels.
Porter is best known for her series of novels featuring Detective Inspector Wilfred Dover. Dover One appeared in 1964, followed by nine more in a highly successful series. Porter also created the reluctant spy Eddie Brown, and the "Hon-Con", the aristocratic gentlewoman-detective Constance Ethel Morrison Burke.
Porter is best known for her series of novels featuring Detective Inspector Wilfred Dover. Dover One appeared in 1964, followed by nine more in a highly successful series. Porter also created the reluctant spy Eddie Brown, and the "Hon-Con", the aristocratic gentlewoman-detective Constance Ethel Morrison Burke.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 31, 2017
I really love mysteries with anonymous letters and malice in small villages.
July 20, 2025
Dover is a true original in the detective genre, a character who is so marvelously consistent, that he leaves one at times flabbergasted… Joyce Porter has a most creditable genius in keeping to the fast rules of her characters and somehow crafting crime and its solution within those straight bounds, something which results in the most gorgeously delightful and unprecedented mayhem.
One word of caution, these are funny books, Dover is an obnoxious character if taken seriously and one hopes (whilst he is believable) that there are very few like him in real life, but on the page he is just so wonderfully awful that he has become, for me at least, one of my very very favorite detectives.
This is the funniest (so far) of the Dover books, but I do recommend reading them in order, as the characters of Dover and his poor sidekick MacGregor do mature over the pages… In total, these books are so much fun!
One word of caution, these are funny books, Dover is an obnoxious character if taken seriously and one hopes (whilst he is believable) that there are very few like him in real life, but on the page he is just so wonderfully awful that he has become, for me at least, one of my very very favorite detectives.
This is the funniest (so far) of the Dover books, but I do recommend reading them in order, as the characters of Dover and his poor sidekick MacGregor do mature over the pages… In total, these books are so much fun!
January 6, 2021
I struggle, a bit, with Inspector Dover of Scotland Yard - obnoxious, incompetent and a cadger of smokes and drinks - he has little to commend him. But somehow he wins me over by the end - this is a simple case, which Dover manages to get wrong from the start, partly because he wants to prolong his stay away from home and also because of the aforementioned incompetence. His long-suffering sergeant, MacGregor, does his best to keep the investigation on track, but his boss manages to derail at every turn, as it moves from a poison pen mystery and finishes as murder, via baby trafficking.
These stories are very much of their time - there are attitudes and language that might have been better airbrushed by an editor, if you can see past that, they are comic capers, not to be taken too seriously as competition to Maigret or Poirot.
These stories are very much of their time - there are attitudes and language that might have been better airbrushed by an editor, if you can see past that, they are comic capers, not to be taken too seriously as competition to Maigret or Poirot.
June 26, 2025
🍷
When you’re not really sure a book rates a 4th ⭐️ but you’re sure you really liked it, it’s a good idea to award a glass of wine! The mystery part of these mysteries isn’t the focus of them, but the irascible, boorish Dover and all in his milieu is. And I tried not to laugh out loud so often, but there were times I couldn’t control myself…
Rest assured there IS a mystery, a good one actually, and rest assured again that it gets solved, but one shudders to think what might happen if Dover didn’t always have the assistance of his young Sergeant McGregor at his side. Along the way we meet the many oddballs, cranks, and neer-do-wells in the village of Thornwich who supply a surfeit of “local color”…and with Dover and McGregor, the locals and their color, and the mystery amidst all the goings-on, I declare the book very satisfactory!
When you’re not really sure a book rates a 4th ⭐️ but you’re sure you really liked it, it’s a good idea to award a glass of wine! The mystery part of these mysteries isn’t the focus of them, but the irascible, boorish Dover and all in his milieu is. And I tried not to laugh out loud so often, but there were times I couldn’t control myself…
Rest assured there IS a mystery, a good one actually, and rest assured again that it gets solved, but one shudders to think what might happen if Dover didn’t always have the assistance of his young Sergeant McGregor at his side. Along the way we meet the many oddballs, cranks, and neer-do-wells in the village of Thornwich who supply a surfeit of “local color”…and with Dover and McGregor, the locals and their color, and the mystery amidst all the goings-on, I declare the book very satisfactory!
October 4, 2021
These are so much fun! He's terrible. In this case his goal was not solving the mystery per se, but appearing to investigate as long as his sister-in-law was visiting his home.
As usual in a Dover book, Porter's characters are clearly, hilariously drawn. It's always such a pleasure to encounter a mystery with its usual assortment of suspects and be able to tell them all apart with ease.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. )
As usual in a Dover book, Porter's characters are clearly, hilariously drawn. It's always such a pleasure to encounter a mystery with its usual assortment of suspects and be able to tell them all apart with ease.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. )
January 13, 2020
And another dastardly crime solved with precision!
Dover must be the most arrogant, rude, and incompetent policeman of all time. Fat, lazy, a cadger, boozer and a terrible example to his sergeant and most people he deals with. I am sure that the series must end with his own murder, but there would be so many suspects lined up. Enjoyed it!
Dover must be the most arrogant, rude, and incompetent policeman of all time. Fat, lazy, a cadger, boozer and a terrible example to his sergeant and most people he deals with. I am sure that the series must end with his own murder, but there would be so many suspects lined up. Enjoyed it!
June 29, 2022
Holmes he is not.
A refreshingly original Scotland Yard detective. We all know that one bone lazy fellow employee, weaseling out of work and looking for a free meal. That is Dover, who still somehow manages to solve cases. A wise study in human nature and an enjoyable read.
A refreshingly original Scotland Yard detective. We all know that one bone lazy fellow employee, weaseling out of work and looking for a free meal. That is Dover, who still somehow manages to solve cases. A wise study in human nature and an enjoyable read.
January 10, 2023
Great fun!
Dover is completely useless at solving crimes, but his superiors have to put him to work somewhere. This time it's poison pen letters in a tiny town the characters are great fun and the mystery is top notch.
Dover is completely useless at solving crimes, but his superiors have to put him to work somewhere. This time it's poison pen letters in a tiny town the characters are great fun and the mystery is top notch.
October 26, 2020
Crazy.
Obvious villain. Weird ending. Unlikely in the extreme and for me very unsatisfactory all around. There’d be serious repercussions. Unfinished.
Obvious villain. Weird ending. Unlikely in the extreme and for me very unsatisfactory all around. There’d be serious repercussions. Unfinished.
September 14, 2025
The mid-1960's was a bad time for Scotland Yard's PR department. First a brutal, corrupt Inspector named Callender made headlines. Then Joe Orten's play LOOT (featuring a brutal, corrupt Scotland Yard detective) became a hit. But the low point came when Joyce Porter's fictional Chief Inspector Wilf Dover (fat, lazy, uncouth, and dishonest) appeared on the scene.
Porter was raised in a middle-class family in a village in the north of England and won a scholarship to attend London University. She served in the military during WWII and then trained Royal Air Force intelligence operatives for many years. In 1964, she resigned from the RAF and told her horrified family that she was now a writer.
Indeed she was, with three books already written and a publisher signed up for all three. She eventually published ten popular mysteries and a book of short stories featuring the infamous Dover.
DOVER THREE (my personal favorite) is a typical Dover tale. An unimportant crime has been committed (the Yard would NEVER send Dover out on anything important) and Scotland Yard's presence has been requested. Once again, old Wilf and his long-suffering partner Sergeant MacGregor are dispatched on a train to the wilds of northern England.
Although recovering from a particularly unpleasant intestinal disorder (DON'T ASK!) Dover is less reluctant than usual to leave the comforts of London. His wife's sister is in town for an extended visit. Wilf-the-Bully has his wife under his thumb, but Sister is made of sterner stuff. A few weeks in a nice hotel at government expense seems like the lesser of two evils.
An uncomfortable bed in a run-down pub in the cheerless village of Thornwich is hardly what he had in mind. Meals (and food is always of first importance to Dover) are sketchy and the only redeeming grace is the local grocer, who befriends the Inspector and provides a steady supply of drinks and cigarettes, as well as a sympathetic and admiring ear. And so our hero settles in to wait out his sentence while making unenthusiastic stabs at investigating the obscene letters that brought him to Thornwich.
Although Dover sees the whole affair as a tempest-in-a-teapot, local ladies who've received anonymous letters are at fever pitch. No sooner does the Shame of Scotland Yard start his lackadaisical investigation than one of the victims attempts suicide. When a second successfully gasses herself, the fat's in the fire for Dover. Butting heads with Thornwich's formidable Dame Alice while fending off the criticisms of the local police proves to be much more work than the Inspector wants, but that, too, is typical.
The mystery is finally solved in a bizarrely entertaining way and Dover's admiring fans are once again treated to a prime example of detective work at its worst and funniest. Porter was a wonderful writer with a genius for creating hilariously eccentric characters. If the conversation between Dover and the senile, pugnacious Dr. Hawnt doesn't make you laugh until you rupture yourself, check your pulse.
Thankfully, these wonderful books are now available in Kindle editions.
Porter was raised in a middle-class family in a village in the north of England and won a scholarship to attend London University. She served in the military during WWII and then trained Royal Air Force intelligence operatives for many years. In 1964, she resigned from the RAF and told her horrified family that she was now a writer.
Indeed she was, with three books already written and a publisher signed up for all three. She eventually published ten popular mysteries and a book of short stories featuring the infamous Dover.
DOVER THREE (my personal favorite) is a typical Dover tale. An unimportant crime has been committed (the Yard would NEVER send Dover out on anything important) and Scotland Yard's presence has been requested. Once again, old Wilf and his long-suffering partner Sergeant MacGregor are dispatched on a train to the wilds of northern England.
Although recovering from a particularly unpleasant intestinal disorder (DON'T ASK!) Dover is less reluctant than usual to leave the comforts of London. His wife's sister is in town for an extended visit. Wilf-the-Bully has his wife under his thumb, but Sister is made of sterner stuff. A few weeks in a nice hotel at government expense seems like the lesser of two evils.
An uncomfortable bed in a run-down pub in the cheerless village of Thornwich is hardly what he had in mind. Meals (and food is always of first importance to Dover) are sketchy and the only redeeming grace is the local grocer, who befriends the Inspector and provides a steady supply of drinks and cigarettes, as well as a sympathetic and admiring ear. And so our hero settles in to wait out his sentence while making unenthusiastic stabs at investigating the obscene letters that brought him to Thornwich.
Although Dover sees the whole affair as a tempest-in-a-teapot, local ladies who've received anonymous letters are at fever pitch. No sooner does the Shame of Scotland Yard start his lackadaisical investigation than one of the victims attempts suicide. When a second successfully gasses herself, the fat's in the fire for Dover. Butting heads with Thornwich's formidable Dame Alice while fending off the criticisms of the local police proves to be much more work than the Inspector wants, but that, too, is typical.
The mystery is finally solved in a bizarrely entertaining way and Dover's admiring fans are once again treated to a prime example of detective work at its worst and funniest. Porter was a wonderful writer with a genius for creating hilariously eccentric characters. If the conversation between Dover and the senile, pugnacious Dr. Hawnt doesn't make you laugh until you rupture yourself, check your pulse.
Thankfully, these wonderful books are now available in Kindle editions.
August 27, 2017
Toinen komisario Dover-dekkari oli ensimmäistä vaisumpi, mutta kolmannessa päästään taas asiaan. Tapaus on herttaisen yhdentekevä (syrjäisen pikkukylän naiset saavat ilkeämielisiä nimettömiä kirjeitä), miljöö on erittäin ankea (kylän läpi kulkee jatkuva hengenvaarallinen rekkaliikenne ja ainoa majoitusta tarjoava pubi alittaa kaikki standardit), kyläläiset ovat harvinaisen omituista ja pahansuovasti juoruilevaa väkeä, Dover itse on entistäkin epäsiistimpi, laiskempi ja öykkärimäisempi eikä suuren osan ajasta tee muuta kuin juopottelee pubissa tai ottaa nokosia huoneessaan, tutkimukset eivät etene mihinkään vaikka ruumiita tulee ja mukaan on sotkettu jopa mustan pörssin adoptiobisnestä, ja Doverin ja konstaapeli MacGregorin välit kiristyvät vähän väliä liki sotatilaksi. Toisin sanoen aivan hulvatonta menoa, ja viimeistään loppuratkaisu pudottaa lukijan tuolilta.
August 12, 2019
Loved it! Another typical Dover. D. and Macgregor get sent out to a lonely backwater English town beset by poison pen letters (ala that Christie book). Setting is half the fun- with the 2 staying at an inn that they hate and are sure they will leave after one night (but winding up by staying for 3 weeks). There is a major road through town so every time they cross the street one risks one life. Especially like one of the 1st false leads- the school teacher who is a bit randy and travels all over Europe for adventure and another near the end- the awful Dame who throws her weight around a lot. Dover and M. wind up busting into her bath / shower and observe her prancing around. Finally it comes back the rich guy and the train back to London. Porter at her best.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2015
I've never been a huge fan of this (mean spirited, I think) series, but what an antidote to all the perky women running marginal businesses! Interested only in his own physical comfort, the worst detective inspector at the Yard is sent to look into an outburst of anonymous letters in an ill-favored village. It's anything but comfortable, but better than home, where Dover's unloved sister-in-law is visiting. Dover's sergeant, the smug MacGregor, does some work, but Dover thwarts his efforts to prove that a local suicide was, in fact, murder.
October 17, 2021
I enjoyed these books because I took them tongue in cheek, as I suspect the author intended. In the same vein of P.G. Wodhouse. Insightful view of the mores of the times. Dover is a British inspector Clouseau. The characters can be a bit ciche which I took to be part of the satire.. The mystery is the focus but the characters are the atmosphere and humor. The books become more settled as the progress. I listen to the audiobooks. I will continue through the series.
June 8, 2014
Dover Three is another enjoyable read in this series. It is well worth your time to look for it. The inimitable Dover is unlike any detective you've encountered, I'm sure. While not comedies, the Dover books do have comedic touches that lighten the sometimes gruesome murder scenes being investigated.
August 16, 2021
That the plot is borrowed from an Agatha Christie book doesn't matter, it meant that I guessed who dunnit, it was still a fine outing for Inspector Dover.
The next book, The Unkindest Cut of All, isn't in the Open Library so I'll have some searching to do to read that one. The radio adaptation was wonderful.
The next book, The Unkindest Cut of All, isn't in the Open Library so I'll have some searching to do to read that one. The radio adaptation was wonderful.
March 29, 2013
It's disappointing to finish a book only to realize at the end that you've already read it. I still enjoyed it.
September 21, 2016
I didn't like the solution to this as much as Dover One or Two. But Joyce Porter was a good writer.
August 17, 2019
Read in Danish. Quite funny serie. Danish title: Postkassemord.
3 pluss to 3 1/2
3 pluss to 3 1/2
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews