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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Dorrington Deed Box in Books

Jul 30, 2019 (Updated Jul 30, 2019)  
The  Dorrington Deed Box
The Dorrington Deed Box
Arthur Morrison | 1897 | Crime, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A handful of stories rather reminiscent in some ways of the Sherlock Holmes shorts, though with a rather different protagonist. Horace Dorrington is a very effective investigator when he chooses to be, and a charming fellow, but he is also totally corrupt and self-serving, with a repertoire that extends to blackmail, fraud, and murder, even of his own supposed clients.

He is, obviously, an anti-hero, and Morrison makes him work as the lead of a series of stories through a few different tricks - firstly, he is outrageously charming, and you generally are waiting for the moment when Dorrington is going to revert to type and pull a fast one on his latest victim. Secondly, he is generally pitted against people even worse than he is.

Still, you can start to detect Morrison struggling to find new things to do with the character after only a few stories, which may be why he only appears in the half-dozen or so collected here. They remain highly entertaining if Victorian crime fiction is your cup of tea.