My Review of Gargoyle Pixie Dog by Bill Todd

My Review:

This is my second enjoyable outing with Danny Lancaster and the fifth book in the series. If anything I enjoyed Gargoyle Pixie Dog (plus six cases from his crime files) even more than Rough Diamond even though I loved that. The stories, or crime files, stand alone so don't be put off if this is your first encounter with Danny, I'm sure it won't be your last.

Danny is missing! That was the first shock but never fear for Bill Todd has roped in Danny's very own Watson, in the shape of Wanda, to kick the narrative off before the focus moves once again to Danny. It was great to see Wanda, a favourite of mine from Rough Diamond, given a more prominent role, with Bob fading into the background a little more. Each case file provides possibilities to account for Danny's disappearance in which I actively sought for clues.  Todd, however, has the confidence to play with his reader and deliberately arranges the cases out of chronological order. I enjoyed playing the detective and love the idea that whilst Danny is solving cases, I was trying to solve his disappearance.

The homeless, and ex forces, Hooper also makes a welcome reappearance and I applaud how Todd uses fictional characters to make important comments on society, Gargoyle Pixie Dog has Danny search for a homeless friend of Hooper's and I was shocked and saddened by some of the statistics that Wanda discovers. The social comment never comes at the expense of the narrative, rather it enhances it by making the reader think about the world we live in. This aspect reminded me of Ian Rankin's Rebus novels and I can pay no higher compliment than that.

Thank you to Emma Welton at damppebbles for inviting me to be part of this tour.