A J Lattimer & Co. - Michael Reidy

In spite of everything I say below, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series (six so far) of murder mysteries. There is nothing pretentious about them. They are well plotted, and the attention to detail is pretty accurate - except when it isn't. American terminology can be found, but that's the prime market, so Brits can turn up their noses but still enjoy the good bits. It's a win-win. While not egregious, such faux pas as the persistent misspelling of “whisky” really grate. “Whisky” = Scotch whisky; “Whiskey” = Irish whiskey or bourbon. We all know that Tony Hetheridge does not drink whiskey.  I also object to paper being referred to as "stationary." (There's a paper aeroplane joke there somewhere.) One wonders what editors do for their money. Briefly, Tony Hetheridge ( Anthony  Hetheridge , ninth Baron of Wellegrave)   is a chief inspector assigned to Scotland Yard's "toff squad," a unit that handles the crimes of the upper class and aristocracy.

  Academics and critics love to talk about novels in epoch-defining terms. “So-and-so destroyed the traditional novel”; This writer “breathes new life into an old form”; or, that “genius reinvented the novel.” It’s all hogwash, of course. The great 18 th century novelists set the theme and subsequent writers have been riffing on it ever since. Scott uses the versatility of digital print production to cast certain words and phrases in different typefaces and colours as well as to include photographs and digital artworks, not common today, but often a feature of early novels. At first glance, Kerry Scott’s Schism appears to be yet another variation on 1984 and Brave New World – and it does draw on those dystopias – but it’s more than that, and more disturbing for it. As with traditional dystopias, there is a dominant way of thought and a sophisticated way of developing and enforcing it. Humanity has been selected and categorized with “disposables” bred for service and target pr