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  The Manual of Detection (Hardback) By (author) Jedediah Berry

  Book rating: 05

  

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  Short Description for The Manual of DetectionCharles Unwin is a file clerk working for a huge detective agency, and all he knows about solving mysteries comes from filing reports for the illustrious investigator Travis Sivart. When Sivart goes missing, and his supervisor turns up murdered, Unwin is suddenly promoted to detective, a rank for which he lacks both the skills and the stomach.
  Full description

  • Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
  • Published: 05 March 2009
  • Format: Hardback 288 pages
  • See: Full bibliographic data
  • Categories: Contemporary Fiction
  • ISBN 13: 9780434019458 ISBN 10: 0434019453
  • Sales rank: 286,524

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Reviews for The Manual of Detection

• A Flawless DebutBook rating: 5

  Here is a delightful little story, quaint and sinister, told in pleasingly plain prose, yet with a rich noir aesthetic. I enjoyed everything about the feel of this book - the embossed boards, pithy epigraphs, playfully named characters and ponderous formality. As a first novel it is remarkable for its discipline and clarity. This is a literary artifact, retrieved from dreams, elusive of meaning and achingly familiar at the same time.
  It unfolds like a pared-down confection of â??The Man Who Was Thursday' with â??The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman', to which there are several winks and acts of explicit homage. For all this, the author hasn't tried to be too clever - assisted by a clockwork-steady narrative pace, a small collection of resonant motifs, and an almost affectless protagonist, he creates an hypnotic reading experience. That said, the plot is elaborate, but like those of Chandler, it is ultimately inconsequential - merely a vehicle -and the book would probably be disappointing if read purely as a roman a clef.
  The Manual Of Detection eschews pathos, depth or worldly relevance, and presents as a work of pure imagination - a procession of images, impervious to parsing or psychological analysis, that remain with us long after we think we have awoken from Berry's dream. by Sholto Spradbury

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