What do You think about The Glass Sided Ant's Nest (1968)?
The Glass Sided Ants Nest is a different kind of police procedural. In oh-so-many ways it could only have been written by a British author. It goes beyond the location and cultural cues to the “style” and phrasing. But this isn’t a negative quality; it just is part of the overall feel.The book itself concerns a mysterious murder set inside a flat that houses a small transplanted New Guinea tribe. We get dragged into it along with Detective Superintendent James Pibble who is brought in only after the oddness of the crime, the location, and the suspects is fully realized. Pibble seems used to this kind of treatment, for it is implied that whenever a troublesome, odd case turns up he is the one stuck with it.The tribe lives in London in a home owned by one of its members descended from Scottish money. She is married to another tribal member, but having “rescued” them has gotten her degree and PhD in anthropology using them as her field of study. She and the surviving members of the tribe escaped extermination by the Japanese for harboring a downed Aussie airman. Her father and mother and the rest of the tribe were not so lucky.The novel gives us many reveals into the tribe’s society and rules as well as the lives of its members and neighbors. It starts out with the strangeness of the crime and the behavior of the inhabitants and adds quickly to hold one’s interest. And while the crime is somewhat bizarre it never seems to cross into the unbelievable. Instead, the cultural and psychological details make it seem solidly possible. Although a short novel (compared to many of today’s works) the author does a great job of cramming in essential details and personality with minimal “padding”. He gives us a wider look at the story by occasionally shifting viewpoints from Pibble to another character. This fills in quite a lot of detail without long-winded exposition.Overall, I found it pretty compelling and knocked it off in less than 24 hours – making time for it from other activities. Because it is such a different and good book, I’ll forgo including any spoilers. I will add that Detective Pibble is a very satisfying protagonist; he is not perfect, but he gets the job done even when others are deliberately obscuring the truth. The author gets high marks for originality, details, and characterization. There are perhaps a couple too many coincidences that become essential plot points, but it reads very well even after so many years (and the Pond). I for one will be interested in reading future stories with Mr. Pibble to see if the author keeps up the good work. Four Stars plus another half star (4.5).
—Mike
A Murdered Aboriginal Chief in LondonThe Kus are a tribe displaced from their native jungle during WWII and relocated to a large house in London. Although they are living in London and the younger members are beginning to assimilate into the new culture, the tribe has retained many of their aboriginal customs. Aaron, the chief, has been murdered. Since the house is locked up at night, it looks as though one of the Kus committed the murder. When Detective Superintendent Pibble gets the case, he is surprised by the unusual nature of the community. The house has been modified to accommodate tribal customs. The women sleep in one large room, the women's hut. The men sleep and spend a great deal of time in a comparable room, the men's hut. This unusual society exists by the largess of Dr. Ku, a Scottish anthropologist, who married into the tribe. She and her husband Paul, an artist and her former houseboy, are the most assimilated into the London world, but also strangely connected to tribal customs. I enjoyed this novel. The characters from Dr. Ku to Robin, a second generation boy who straddles the two worlds, and Bob Caine, the next door neighbor who was selfishly responsible for the decimation of the tribe during WWII, are unusual and fascinating. The mystery keeps you guessing with clues suggesting that the murderer must be a Ku, but also pointing to an outsider. I highly recommend this novel if you like a good mystery with unusual characters and imaginative background. I reviewed this book for Net Galley.
—Nancy
The final 18 members of the Ku clan, a Stone-Age tribe from New Guinea decimated by the Japanese during World War II, are relocated to a spacious row house in London. Despite being so primitive that they see their door keys as symbols of their membership in the tribe and have been assigned Ku as a surname, the Kus have been muddling along in the years they have been in England. But now their chief, Aaron, has been murdered — and in such a fashion as to suggest that a fellow tribesman has committed the murder.Enter Detective Superintendent Jimmy Pibble. The novel’s title comes from one character’s comparison of the Ku clan in London to a glass ant farm through which a child can observe the ants scurrying in their daily activities. And, indeed, the London house has been remodeled into a Ku sanctuary of sorts, with different large, spacious rooms serving as separate “huts” and tropical foliage everywhere. Author Paul Dickinson provides Pibble — and us — a window into a group trying to assimilate 5,000 years of progress.Author Peter Dickinson lards the novel with unforgettable characters: Dr. Eve Ku, the Scottish-born anthropologist who marries into the tribe; her husband and former houseboy Paul, who joins his wife in straddling both worlds; Eve’s father, the Reverend Dr. John Mackenzie, a missionary revered by the tribe but who held some very odd, syncretic ideas about proselytizing; Robin, a 14-year-old boy with one foot in the world of Ringo Starr and another in the world of jungle drums from that abandoned New Guinean island; the selfish, smug, self-aggrandizing Bob Caine, who thoughtlessly nearly wipes out the tribe; and not least, the jaded, conflicted Pibble himself. As cliché as it sounds, The Glass-Sided Ant’s Nest really is a novel like no other. How wonderful to see that Open Road Integrated Media is re-issuing the 1968 CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning novel (and 1969 Edgar Award finalist) that began the six-novel Pibble series. In the spirit of full disclosure, I received this ebook free from NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media in return for an honest review.
—Ivonne Rovira
