WILL UNWOUND #690: Wills Mystery Project: “A Mystery of Errors” by Simon Hawke
February 26, 2012Curiosity killed the cat.
I never should have picked this book up.
“Will, do not pick this book,” I said to myself.
I couldn’t help myself. I have no self control. I picked it up. I read it. I regretted it.
I’m a sucker for Tudor England as you can see from my latest Booklist column: Those Wacky Tudors. I am an even bigger sucker for books about Shakespeare. Most books about Shakespeare are fiction masquerading as fact. There are about 16 solid historically verifiable facts about Shakespeare. The truth is we hardly know anything about Shakespeare. In fact a good number of scholars do not even believe that Shakespeare was Shakespeare. All kinds of theories abound. Take your pick: Sir Francis Bacon, Edward DeVere, Christopher Marlowe, or the Earl of Southhampton.
So…who was Shakespeare? Now there is a good mystery.
Unfortunately, it’s not a mystery that is solved in this book. The Shakespeare in this book is a superficial alcoholic wimp who is completely incapable of writing the elevated poetry of the world’s greatest tragedies, comedies, and histories. Shakespeare may not be the murder victim in this book but he certainly is the victim of character assasination.
This is what always happens when authors who exceed their cleverness quotient try to create stories around geniuses. They are posers and parasites to be sure, but one wouldn’t mind so much if they were skillful posers and parasites. However they never are. If they were skillful they would be creating their own characters. Invevitably, they turn the geniuses into cartoon characters, and so we get the depressing narrative of a wimpy, drunken Shakespeare.
When I realized that Shakespeare was a main character in this mystery that should have been my first clue to steer clear, but I stubbornly read on. I suppose my stubborness was born of pride and wonder – pride that I really did have the plot figured out from page one (let’s see… a mystery with the title of A Mystery of Errors couldn’t possibly follow the plot of the play, A Comedy of Errors, could it?) and wonder as in I wonder how bad a mystery can be?
I was right on both counts: 1) yes…the book was about a pair of misplaced twins who wreck all kinds of familial havoc, and 2) yes…this book was the worst mystery I have read to date.
All of which raises a serious readers advisory issue: do we really want to know what a library patron is interested in when recommending a mystery or any other piece of fiction? Although Shakespeare represents one of my top five literary interests, it is probably in my best interest to avoid all pieces of parasitic literature that suck the life out of him as a fictional character.
A Mystery of Errors rates 0 stars….but I have no one to blame but myself.
Isn’t it depressing when you muck up the readers advisory process for youself?
I like Bill Bryson’s book about Shakespeare for an accessible, reality based look into Shakespeare.
Thanks, Jessica. I will definitely try it. Bryson is a very good and entertaining writer.
Yes, I’d also recommend his book.
Got it, stay away from that book!
Thanks for the tip!
Better luck next time…
Maybe you should try only reading mysteries that have received starred Booklist reviews for awhile.
I like to live dangerously.
You’re funny! Thanks for my chuckle of the evening!
Not a mystery, but Shakespeare appears as a character in a few of the many episodes of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman saga. I don’t think you’d regret reading that.
Okay. If you recommend it, I’ll read it RA. Thanks.
You know Will, once you get into the mystery genre, you realize that there are many many types of mysteries. That is what puts the fun in reader’s advisory. I enjoy mysteries but the more I read the more I realize I don’t like all mysteries.
Irene, I have found that mysteries are a lot like the little girl with the curl. When they are good, they are very, very good and when they are bad they are horrid.
As the costume jewelry salesman said, “They can’t all be gems.”
The older I get, the more I appreciate Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50. The freedom to stop reading a book I don’t care for after 50 pages is liberating. (It’s a pity it didn’t apply to college textbooks.) And I am grateful as well for Nancy Pearl’s corollary to the rule for persons over 50, which means all I have to endure now is 37 pages.
If you find a mystery reviewer whose judgment proves reliable in terms of what you like, then you will have a solid guide. In years past when I was actively selecting, I got my best guidance on mysteries from the fiction reviewers at Publishers Weekly, but it was still up to me to see if their description of the book fitted it to my tastes. There weren’t that many that did, but they made it worthwhile.
I like Nancy’s rule of 50 but not necessarily for this project. I guess I’m stubborn. I want to see the book through to the end.
Sorry to hear you were so disappointed in your latest mystery read. We all make mistakes. The Tavern friend above who advocated the Nancy Pearl read-50-pages-and-dump-it, if it disappoints, is on to something. In the spirit of Readers Advisory must go on, when you are feeling better, try Dissolution by C. J. Sansom. (Isn’t it lovely how much your Tavern librarians want to help you with your mystery “disability?”)
Yes, thanks for the encouragement, Susan. What is Dissolution about…in general (no details please).
Hi Will – Dissolution – the story takes place around Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries. No further details… you might like it.
With all the wonderful mysteries & mystery authors that have been recommended to you why are you just grabbing any old book on your own?
I’m going to jump to Will’s defense here. The freedom to read whatever your impulses lead you to is one of life’s great joys. Sometimes you are going to be disappointed, but at other times you will discover a great treasure. And since there are millions of books, finding those scattered gems is like finding a diamond where you least expected it.
Roberta, I just had a feel about the book. Intuition gone south.
I’m with Roberta. The Unwinders contributed a great list. Even if you don’t love all of them, they have been vetted by at least one Unwinder.
So, Will, did you read the whole book, liking it less with every page? I’ve acquired the ability to stop reading a book I don’t like or that is poorly written. And I’ve also quit reading a given series when one or more of the books loses me. This is a big deal for me because at one time I (falsely) prided myself on finishing every single book I picked up. I have plenty of time to read now, but I am less inclined to waste any of it reading a book I don’t like after the first couple of pages/chapters. There are naps to take and dogs to play with.
When I was doing reader’s advisory on mysteries I would mention the “biggies”, even those I didn’t read. Then I would talk about my favorite authors/series and encourage the inquirer to try those. Sometimes I got it right and sometimes not. At one time I created a Librarian’s Choice Mystery List of only those I had read (though not necessarily liked) but it got too unwieldy. I keep my own list now and it is huge. The unfortunate thing about series is that the earliest titles are often unavailable.
Trying to decide if I will watch the Oscars, or just keep reading and listening to the Grateful Dead.
Keep reading!
I see a theme of disappointed history-buff developing here, Will! Taking that in stride (and having gotten over my disappointment at having spoilers for Indridason tossed about willy-nilly), I am going to go out on a limb and make another suggestion! Try out Jo Walton’s Small Change trilogy:
Farthing
Ha’Penny
Half a Crown
They are mysteries, featuring a Scotland Yard detective. But they are also alternative histories. Walton sets her story (initially) against the 1930s ramp up to war with which we are so familiar. But instead of what did happen, she then carries forward into a world made completely different by the simple fact of the UK striking a peace with the Third Reich. Fascinating stuff – and since it is alternative history, perhaps there is less chance you will be disappointed?
ru…sounds very intriguing. Thanks!
I used to be one of the “I always finish a book”, finally got over that in the last five years or so. Now I use Nancy Pearl’s rule of 50 for a lot of titles but admit to giving up sooner than that for books that really don’t click for me.
I love mysteries, have since my days of Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew. I’ve recommended a few here for you Will, but can’t remember, did anyone recommend Louise Penny or Julia Spencer-Fleming? You might really enjoy Julia’s books, her main female character is an Episcopalian Priest and her stories keep getting better and better!
pma…yes, I read and gave high marks to Spencer Fleming. Here’s the review: http://willmanley.com/2010/06/06/will-unwound-134-wills-mystery-project-book-3-in-the-bleak-midwinter-by-will-manley/
Yes yes yes yes yes yes to Louise Penny. I am in complete agreement with pma on this one.