1977 mystery, thirteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry
Tibbett. On an island near Tampica, but still under British rule, the
murder of a US senator has raised racial tensions. Everyone thinks
they know who did it, but the evidence isn't of the best. So Tibbett
is brought in to make it look good, but inconveniently insists on
actually investigating… US vt The Coconut Killings.
It's another 1970s book dealing with these non-white folks who
seem to be demanding to be taken seriously all of a sudden; but as
before with Moyes, while there are certainly archaically racist
attitudes on display, they're being held up for ridicule as they try
to persist in the face of reality. There are good and bad on both the
white establishment and the black revolutionary sides, and more people
who don't cleanly fit into either.
I've generally preferred the Tibbett books in which he's in London,
but this pseudo-Caribbean setting works for me – perhaps because I
don't know much about the actual Caribbean. It's also interesting to
see Tibbett acting with only limited local support, and juggling the
people he needs to keep sweet, while also considering both the
obvious and the less-obvious political implications – rather outside
the usual confines of cosy mystery.
I've said it before and I say it again: Moyes is a forgotten gem of
English detective writing.
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