Very Important Corpses (An Ishmael Jones Mystery, 3)

Simon R Green has produced another awesome book and it may be one of his best. The Ishmael Jones Mysteries have all been horror/sci fi themed country house murder mysteries but each different enough not to feel repetitive. This one contains the best mystery of the three so far. Mister Green plays fair too. Every clue you need to solve the principle mystery is there. You just have to be paying attention. If you haven't read the other two, you can even start with this one since no really important information is given away which would affect your enjoyment of the previous two.

Lastly, I think I need to address the first reviewer's comments about female characters. Frankly, I don't think any in this book are badly served. All are full characters and don't wait for the menfolk to do their acting or thinking for them. True, none are of the type that are the female leads in the Drood or Nightside books but the Jones Mysteries are neither of those series and female characters like that would be out of place. Ishmael is different from the male leads so why not the female leads as well?

I read the positive reviews and must disagree. This book is a complete bore. It is trying to be a mystery but has the flaws of a Green book. There is yet another group/organization with super duper secrets that sends a super duper agent to be super duper. The Droods are mildly interesting although one of the stupidest organizations out there. Now we have 'the Organization' - who does what? A Walker substitute in the 'Colonel'.

Jones - so he's an alien who lost his way.

Green hit his stride with Hawk and Fisher and the Nightside. Droods - ok but not as hot. This one - skip it. And drop the stupid names. Shaman, Ishmael - give me a break.

Book three in this series. We get a closed door mystery as were the previous two books, but it's not the same as the others. We get more of Green' s snarky humor in Ishmael, which is always fun, and Penny keeps up her spunky personality, to be honest I don't know how he writes it, but it's there. I found this book to be the most entertaining so far even though the crime scenes are horror based. Good mystery, but the conversation between Penny and Ishmael are worth the read.

Pretty good! I love a good who done it, especially one where the killer does not turn out to be who I thought it would be. I just wish Mr. Simon would treat his women characters with a bit more equality, but given his age I can see where he does not see what he is doing.

I now have another series to fit into one of my favorite reading niches: the paranormal, witty, mystery novel. Thank you Simon Green for adding to my reading pleasure and your obvious love of the English language.

Call me Ishmael. Ishmael Jones.
There is a hidden world, of the strange and unnatural. A
shadowy world, of aliens and monsters and men who
have monsters in them. I operate in the darkest parts of
the hidden world, dealing with things that shouldn’t exist
but unfortunately do. And if I’ve done my job properly,
none of you will ever know I was there.

So the story begins with the vaguest of hints at what might be to come and the style with which it will be presented.

Ishmael is a monster hunter with a past, a past I will not share as learning about him is part of the fun. This is the third book in the series (I haven’t read the first two and that didn’t bother me). I’m sure more history exists in earlier and later books as he seems to be a “man in progress”.

The premise here: Ishmael and partner Penny are assigned to get to Scotland ASAP to investigate a conference being held at a great house on the shore of Loch Ness. Their immediate concern: the previous operative on the job has been killed under strange circumstances. The inconvenience: the meeting involves a secretive international economic group of untold power who are not known by the world and want no interference. What could go wrong?

Well, throw in legends of monsters in the house, possible people who aren’t who they seem to be, crimes that don’t make sense, all presented in language that’s a joy to read.

I will definitely continue with this series.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

this is a great book

Good night reading.

I have read of Simon Green books. I especially like this series.