I've read and enjoyed the first three of the four Oldroyd mysteries, and I intend, in due course, to enjoy the fourth one, recently published, but as the series has gone on, my initial enthusiasm has waned somewhat. This is not so much due to plot lines or characters, but rather with writing style. Ellis is a retired teacher, and unfortunately, the characteristics of that profession show through a little too much for my liking. Firstly, he overwrites, he explains too much that simply doesn't need explanation. In this one, for instance, I didn't need to be told that Sherlock Holmes was created by Arthur Conan Doyle, and I seriously doubt that anyone who's ever read a mystery novel needs to be told. Perhaps Ellis's pupils weren't particularly bright back in the day, but most people don't need that level of clarification.
The other, more serious problem is the political correctness of his protagonist, Chief Inspector Oldroyd. On the one hand, Oldroyd is presented as a proud Yorkshireman, vain of his county, its history and idiosyncratic character. On the other, he spends the books (all of them, so far) pretty much apologizing for being male. His wife is using him for a dishcloth, his daughter thinks he's the bank of dad, his sister, a C of E lady vicar, is essentially his lecturer, Oldroyd himself completely internalizes this abuse of his masculinity and Ellis is pretty much presenting this as the right and proper way for men to think and behave. Such an outlook may be required in the teaching profession these days, but the rest of the world isn't buying it, and frankly, he's starting to get right up my hooter.
So why read the books? In truth, I'm not entirely sure. They have a kind of provincial charm, a change from the banal criminality of the gritty, metropolitan crime books. Ellis DOES have a capacity for presenting modern Yorkshire - a truly beautiful part of the world - in an attractive light, and his plots are pleasing to the fans of the MIdsomer Murders type mystery. In this one, we have a classic locked room mystery where a member of the landed aristocracy is stabbed to death during a magic performance being broadcast live on TV from his stately home. What's worse, the hapless Inspector Oldroyd is in the live audience and is landed with the task of solving the mystery. A bit of class politics is tacked on at the end during the denouement, for no apparent reason other than to show Ellis's credentials, or possibly just padding. However, the final resolution is quite satisfying and passes the " I never thought it would be..." test quite nicely.
Recommended for an easy read, but I found it so-so, rather than particularly absorbing.
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![The Murder at Redmire Hall (A Yorkshire Murder Mystery Book 3) by [J. R. Ellis]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bZKr-IniL._SY346_.jpg)
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