Something Is Rotten

Lambert and Hook #20

by J.M. Gregson, Gareth Armstrong (Reading)

Cajoled into auditioning for a local play by the formidable Mrs Dalrymple, Bert Hook finds that amateur dramatics are not quite as he imagined. He meets a rather surprising cast of characters: moody Michael Carey, a talented actor with a big future ahead of him; shoplifter Becky Clegg, who claims she has put her disreputable past behind her and Jack Dawes with a history of violent crime. But there is a much bigger surprise in store for Hook. When the play's director is found with his throat slashed, Hook is responsible for uncovering the truth - and fast. Who is innocent, who is just playing a part and who is rotten to the core?

Genres: Mystery

Audio CD

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

James Michael Gregson taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before concentrating on full-time writing. He has written books on subjects as diverse as golf and Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Deb Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters feel very one-dimensional. This series just doesn't hold my interest.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

DS Bert Hook is inveigled into agreeing to play Polonius in an amateur production of Hamlet. He is not at all keen on the idea but finds himself agreeing to it and much to his surprise and delight he actually enjoys the rehearsals. But his theatrical career is due to be cut short when the director is found murderer after one of the rehearsals and Hook finds himself trying to envisage which of his fellow thespians could possibly be guilty of murder.

Michael Carey - young actor playing the lead role; two youngsters on the edges of crime who have parts in the play or Marjorie Dalrymple - the organiser of the production. All have possible motives for the crime. Lambert and Hook must try and work out whether it is someone from the past or the present who has suddenly found the director's continued existence just too much to bear.

This is a well written and absorbing crime mystery with some interesting characters and a well realised amateur theatrical background. I like Lambert and Hook as characters and they way they interact and this is one of the best in the series in my opinion. All the books in the series can be read as standalone novels but also as part of a series.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Detective Sergeant Bert Hook is approached by an overbearing local Councilwoman to participate in a rural production of Hamlet, he's sure that his boss, Chief Superintendent John Lambert, will forbid it. However, Lambert's mind is on other things and he tells Hook to break a leg! Unfortunately, there's murder on the mind of at least one member of the amateur troupe. A side plot deals with Lambert's problems at home.

A slightly stolid British police procedural, the character development is the saving grace of this book, making it a fun read. One quickly comes to identify with both Hook and Lambert, and with many of the less savory individuals in the story, as well. I particularly appreciated that both men went home to modest homes with normal families and normal hobbies... no drinking to insensibility whilst directing Wagner, no illicit assignations with co-workers. That was refreshing!