Wobble to Death by Peter Lovesey

A “wobble’, for the uninitiated, is a pedestrian contest wherein competitors walk or run for a set period of time, trying to complete as much distance as possible before time is called. It eventually transformed into the modern sport of speed walking. Just such a wobble is the setting for this whodunnit novel set in London, 1879 and the set time is 6 days. That’s a long walk by anyone’s standards but when one of the primary competitors is found dead by strychnine poisoning, Sgt Cribb and his constable partner, Thackeray are called in to investigate.

This first book in the eight volume Sgt Cribb series is the very first book ever published by the highly regarded Peter Lovesey. I’ve been wanting to sample some of his work ever since I saw him as a panelist at a conference. A witty, charming, and downright hilarious speaker, he has won just about every mystery author award in existence. This book shows plenty of signs of that award winning style and it is difficult to believe this is a first effort written more than 45 years ago. I will say that it got off to a bit of a slow start (no racing pun intended) with the body not being discovered until nearly 20% of the way through. Up to that point it was all about the racers themselves and I was starting to think this was a sports novel rather than a murder mystery. But once Sgt Cribb arrives on the scene, it’s filled with all the clues, red herrings, and final denouement that one expects from such a story. There is also a very subtle humor running throughout the book, more due to the nature of the setting than actual events.

The mystery was good and I will admit to having to wait for Sgt Cribb to ID the murderer for me but in hindsight I could see it clearly. That’s a sign of a solid mystery for me. I do feel that I will need another book or two to really get to know Cribb but Thackeray seemed a bit more fleshed out. Happily, this isn’t a series where the main sleuth is a genius and the sidekick a bumbler who serves as a foil for the reader. Rather, both men are capable investigators and work well together while neither is a perfect detective.

Looking forward to sampling more of this series as well as some of Lovesey’s other works.