Soh Kam Yung reviewed Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
On how sheep might investigate a murder
3 stars
An interesting book that is billed as a 'sheep detective' novel, but is actually more of a novel told mainly from the viewpoint of the sheep as they try to find out their shepherd's murder. They observe the actions of various humans, listen in on their conversations, make some deductions and occasionally do detective work. All this was probably encouraged by the shepherd reading various detective and romance books to the sheep in the past (and also one book on sheep diseases).
Some humour is injected into the story via mis-understandings or the obscure motives of humans. There are some deductions that make sense to the sheep, but are off the mark. For example, 'grass' means one thing to sheep but quite another to humans. Ditto for concepts like 'justice' and 'god' that the sheep attribute to actions or to an actual person.
As the story progresses, it …
An interesting book that is billed as a 'sheep detective' novel, but is actually more of a novel told mainly from the viewpoint of the sheep as they try to find out their shepherd's murder. They observe the actions of various humans, listen in on their conversations, make some deductions and occasionally do detective work. All this was probably encouraged by the shepherd reading various detective and romance books to the sheep in the past (and also one book on sheep diseases).
Some humour is injected into the story via mis-understandings or the obscure motives of humans. There are some deductions that make sense to the sheep, but are off the mark. For example, 'grass' means one thing to sheep but quite another to humans. Ditto for concepts like 'justice' and 'god' that the sheep attribute to actions or to an actual person.
As the story progresses, it gradually becomes clearer that the shepherd's murder is tied to up events that happened in the area in the past that have been covered up. The shepherd and other inhabitants of the village where the murder occurred are also not as innocent as they first appear.
In the end, the murder is solved, but maybe not in the way the reader expects. As for the sheep, they now get the chance to go to Europe, a fantasy destination that their shepherd wanted to take them to before his death.