The Barlow Casebook

Unlike the Sweeney tie-in novels which i reviewed earlier, i can't remember anything about the 1970s crime show starring Stratford Johns as Detective Chief Superintendent Barlow. I probably did see it as a child, or at least was in the room when it was on. So i approached this tie-in novel by Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd completely blind... and enjoyed it very much. The novel is a pretty decent read, with six original scripts from the show converted into a novel.

While it is very well done, this maybe leads to my only criticism i have with the book is that sometimes the dialogue is a little hard to follow as its often rapid fire with no naming of who is saying what so you can get a little lost. What can work well on screen does not always translate to text, and vice versa.

However, this only a minor quibble. As with the Superintendent himself the book is straight forward and leaves no stone unturned. I did hope the story was a novelisation of a now forgotten 70s spin-off of Coronation Street where Ken took time off to investigate crimes but alas...