# Inspector Hobbes and the Blood

By Wilkie Martin · Unhuman, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/inspector-hobbes-and-the-blood-b1038988/

Andy Caplet is an inept reporter assigned to follow Inspector Hobbes through a Cotswold crime wave. Sharing the detective’s lodgings brings Andy closer to a man whose abilities suggest something beyond human, and leaves him poorly equipped to explain what he sees.

## What makes it funny?

Hobbes’s housekeeper, Mrs Goodfellow, can frighten Andy simply by appearing without warning. A License to Quill’s reviewer singles out her calm response to horrors and her elaborate meals: Andy’s alarm does little to disrupt the housekeeping.

### The comedy at work

Andy tells the story through his own shortcomings. Around him, people meet supernatural trouble with practical habits, so his confusion and complaints become part of the joke.

### Try this if…

A supernatural police mystery with a hapless narrator may appeal if you like macabre jokes in a domestic setting. Book-group readers recommend the title and series in funny-detective discussions; one also singles out the audio editions for praise.

### Good to know

Murder, suicide and supernatural violence feature in the story. A License to Quill’s reviewer enjoyed the dark wit but found Andy’s complaining and the crowded sentences wearing, reservations worth weighing if narrator voice strongly affects your enjoyment.

## What to expect

- Genre: Fantasy · Mystery
- On the shelf: Private eye & detective · Paranormal mystery
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy · Situational comedy
- Format: Novel
- Published: 2013

## A few distinguishing details

- The reporter following Hobbes also has to live with him.

## Sources & further reading

- Reader discussion: [Reader discussion](https://facebook.com/groups/TwoGirlsMustReads/permalink/2145058426293304)
- Review: [A License to Quill review](https://www.ceejaywriter.com/6644-2)
- Book information: [Google Books edition](https://books.google.com/books/about/Inspector_Hobbes_and_the_Blood.html?id=BKggzwEACAAJ)
- Book information: [Bibliographic listing](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/wilkie-martin/inspector-hobbes-and-the-blood.htm)