Bonus Review #1: ‘Snuff’, by Sir Terry Pratchett GNU

Published by: Doubleday UK

Publication Date: 13th October 2011

Format: Hardback

I.S.B.N.: 9780385619264

Price: £18.99 (And yes, I did pay that much, I used to get my Discworlds as soon as I could)

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb

According to the writer of the best-selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.

And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, and occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

But not quite all…

 

 

My Review

It was the third anniversary of STPs death a few days ago, and I’ve always got a Discworld on the go, I just don’t write about them. I’ve been collecting them for twenty years. I’m short of a few – mainly the Tiffany Aching books, but I have most in paperback or hardback, and one on Kindle. I’m collecting a new set, a lovely, hard bound edition, to add to my collection.

This is STPs 50th book (Discworld #39) and the second, or possibly third, time I’ve read it since it was published. I always enjoyed the Watch books, the individual characters develop over the course of the novels, and the descriptions are always enjoyable. STPs wit and wisdom infuse his work and characters, making Discworld a joy to read for readers of any age.

In Snuff, Sam Vimes, Lady Sybil and Young Sam (6) take a holiday to the Ramkin country estate. Sam is not happy about leaving Ankh-Morpork and the City Watch, but Lady Sybil (and Lord Vetinari) have decreed he deserves a break. Unfortunately, where policemen go, so goeth crime.

And Sam managed to find a crime. While Young Sam is becoming the world expert on animal poo, a young goblin woman is murdered, and Sir Sam is drawn into investigating. But goblins are vermin, not people, so what crime has been committed?

Back in Ankh-Morpork, Fred Colon goes to visit his friend the tobacconist. His cigar is singing. and then something even stranger happens. Fred gets sick. The Watch have to investigate, and consult with a few goblins working for Harry King. When Wee Mad Arthur goes in search of answers, he finds an even greater crime in Howandaland.

And somehow it’s all connected to Gravid Rust’s attack on the goblin hill on the Ramkin estate.

There are river and sea chases, goblin halls, and poo.

 

And now I really must go, I have to walk into town to catch the train to Lincoln.