1985 fantasy, fifth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy.
Shandy and two colleagues are in Wales to look into a hogweed
infestation, but soon find themselves in a fantastical realm.
This is not what one expects from a nice respectable mystery
author. Apart from some framing narrative, it's comic fantasy, written
by someone who doesn't particularly know fantasy; there's a fair bit
of the Connecticut Yankee here, though soap-making is rather more
important than gunpowder. Everyone talks in cod-mediæval, and there's
a blatant authorial hand pushing the story forward.
"A mere prince wotteth not to make a griffin go poof. A prince can't
do much of anything except ride off on gestes and rescue beautiful
princesses from monsters and evil wizards. My uncles have all been
down that road long ago. Bethink ye, once a prince hath rescued one
beautiful princess, that first princess be like to wax exceeding
wroth gin he goeth off and rescueth another. I know because Uncle
Edwy tried it. Aunt Edelgysa found out and beaned him with ye
thighbone of a sheep."
It's moderately amusing, and there's even a small element of mystery.
I don't think it really holds up against comic fantasy by people who know
the genre (though Tom Holt's Expecting Someone Taller wouldn't be
out until two years after this), and I certainly wouldn't recommend
that anyone read this book as a stand-alone, but as a series entry
where one can see several of the regular characters outside their
normal context it works surprisingly well.
Followed by The Corpse in Oozak's Pond.
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