Review: The Eye of Osiris

The Eye of Osiris by R. Austin Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A new narrator for this book, probably in part so that it can have a romance subplot (since Jervis already had one in the first book in the series). The thing is, he feels like a different narrator, not just Jervis over again with a different name (Berkley); he feels more zestful somehow, where Jervis is inclined to be stuffy. Berkley is younger than Jervis, who (according to this book) is younger than Thorndyke, the forensic scientist, though the books narrated by Jervis give the impression that Jervis and Thorndyke are closer in age. All three are doctors, who studied at the same institution, and this is their connection. (I've noticed in passing that Thorndyke's doctors don't seem to much enjoy the actual business of seeing patients, which, given that it's common to all of them, was probably the author's feeling coming out in his characters.)

The moment an attractive young woman appeared, I guessed, correctly, that this was the designated love interest and that there would be no other young women in the book (there's one who's middle-aged); however, she has a lot more personality and intelligence, and is more central to the plot, than is the case with a lot of love interests of the period. I also guessed correctly how the crime had been done (in general terms, not in the detail that Thorndyke later exposits) just past halfway through the book. I tend to find this series predictable in that way, though I do still enjoy the journey to the solution; despite his seriousness about the forensic science (down to doing the experiments described in the books himself to make sure they're accurate and will produce the results he depicts), Freeman's strength is to tell an entertaining story with compelling characters who go through an emotional arc. This one reminds me somewhat of the more cheerful Dickens books, with its delight in the history and architecture of London and its vivid prose, and some of the minor characters could almost have come from Dickens: the lugubrious housekeeper Mrs Gammage, the love interest's sharp-tongued but truly kind middle-aged neighbour and friend, and the argumentative lawyer who will never concede any point of fact even in casual conversation.

It's true that the love-confession scenes are at once stiff and sentimental to the point of unintentional hilarity, but at least there's some development given to the romance subplot, something that many authors of the time didn't seem to feel was necessary. It's more than just "boy meets girl without a defined personality, boy falls instantly in love, they spend minimal time together and hardly talk, then get engaged at the end" (which would describe pretty much any romance subplot by Freeman Wills Crofts, for example); Ruth is a developed character who isn't just any generic young woman, and Berkley's relationship with her develops over time, involves spending time together and discovering common interests and ways of thinking, has ups and downs, and is altogether plausible.

The mystery - has Ruth's vanished uncle been killed, and if so, is it his body that's turning up in pieces, and who is responsible? - is a compelling one, even if I did guess how the thing had been worked to a degree. But it's the story of the search for a solution and everything that happened alongside it that's the true strength of the book, and the reason that I'll continue reading the series.

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